Dear editor:
Standing tall and firm in the face of adversity is never easy. The many issues and problems with what is known as the A.C.A. building are not just about the building itself, but about government gone awry and ethics.
The front page headlines of the Tuesday, Dec. 20, WTO, "Main Street Confronts City Council," wasn't exact. Main Street did not go to the city council meeting to confront the city council members, but rather to educate them.
To my knowledge and understanding, the only thing the city council members are guilty of is placing trust and faith in Mayor Mark Phillips in his dealings as Gro-Warren president and his dealings with Tim King and other investors in what is known as PPP's. Tuesday night, it became all too apparent that this trust and faith was misplaced. The fact of it is, Mayor Mark Phillips has broken the trust and faith our entire community placed in him.
During the council meeting, Mayor Phillips called me a coward. He must have been looking in a mirror as it was cowardly to remove Main Street from the agenda after we made an official request. It was also cowardly of Mayor Phillips to insinuate that Marjorie Lopez (Gro-Warren president after Mayor Phillips ran for the exit) is somehow responsible, when most of the financial irregularities happened on his watch. Mayor Phillips was also a coward for not answering the questions put forth by Main Street President, Julia Tarr.
Neither the city manager nor mayor can produce any financial documents related to the A.C.A. building. They can manufacture all kinds of documents that hand the buildings over to the developer and Tim King, but nothing else.
Make no mistake folks, this is a scandal and Main Street's Monday night presentation to the city council was only the beginning of exposing the real facts and truth. No petty stunt like removing us from the agenda or name calling is going to deter the inevitable.
It is my strongest belief that neither the mayor nor city manager could withstand an ethics investigation, something I believe the city council members are becoming most aware of.
In closing, I thank our city council members for allowing me to bring into the light the many issues, problems and concerns surrounding Gro-Warren's past and the A.C.A. building. It was a long evening and every resident in the room appreciated their time.
We look forward to working with city council in this effort and hope to get the process underway right after the holidays.
Thank you,
Dan Ristau,
Warren