Possible conflicts of interests in Sac City, Iowa dilapidated buildings issue outlined

SAC CITY, IOWA – AUGUST 14, 2010

Members of the Sac City Planning and Zoning Committee, and Sac Development Corporation attended the August 9, 2010 Sac City Council Meeting to demand that the council take ownership of and demolish several dangerous and dilapidated buildings.

The short list of buildings includes the old Sunwise Building, the old Boy Scout Building, and the old Matt's Shoes building. Due to the fact that the old shoe store is right on Main Street, that was the focus of a 40 minute conversation in which the city council took no action with regards to committing to taking ownership of any properties anywhere in town, but did direct the city administrator to go out for bids to hire a structural engineer to look specifically into the old Matt's Shoes building and determine how much it will cost to safely demolish the building so as not to cause harm to the neighboring buildings.

The vocal portion of the group of citizens who attended the meeting all sit on boards or committees in which the city's business is decided away from the prying eyes of the public, and seemed only to be in attendance to attempt to publically shame the council into taking action after an apparent attempt to get them to do it privately failed.

The government office holders or appointees who also sit on other boards or are members of organizations in which their participation may have been in direct conflict with the specific deliberative process surrounding this issue, and who were in attendance and spoke for or against the issue included Shirley Phillips of the Sac Economic Tourism and Development Committee, Steve Gerry, a member of the Sac City Chamber / Mainstreet, Bill Brenny of the Sac Development Corporation, and Mayor Barb Powell of the Sac City Chamber / Mainstreet.

It should be noted that of the participants in the conversation, Bill Brenny alone is the only person with a potential conflict that publically admitted to holding a position with one of the possible conflicting entities, (SDC). All other council people with the exception of Nick Frohardt refused to disclose to TSN the names of the private boards on which they sit. Nick Frohardt has not been queried about his positions on private boards.

Bill Brenny did not abstain from voting.


You can watch the full 40 minute conversation in complete context at http://thesacnews.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-look-sac-city-council-citizens.html



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