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Mayor David Pechulis said the council held an illegal meeting Monday night. Council members denied any wrongdoing.
Pechulis said when the city council meeting ended Monday night, he adjourned it. Pechulis and other citizens left the meeting, but city council members remained and carried on business, the mayor said. He even taped the meeting, played it back and believes it shows two of the four council members seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting.
Attorneys representing the city and Heartland Energy, LLC asked the council members who remained after the others left about the motion to adjourn. Pechulis said at that point city council members denied seconding the motion to adjourn. According to the tape, the council went on to make a final decision on the JOBZ site, approving it.
"You can't make the final decision," he said. "They did that with the Heartland settlement agreement, which is a violation of the open meeting law."
But, Steve Corson, the city attorney, said according to the law, the meeting must be voted on before it is legally adjourned. Since no vote was taken, the meeting was still open and legal, Corson said.
He also said the mayor left as soon as the motion was seconded. Corson said he invited Pechulis back in, but he stayed outside the building.
Illegal or not, Pechulis questioned whether the meeting was necessary in the first place, since the settlement between the city and Heartland already promises Heartland benefits. According to the settlement document, reached in May, if Heartland is approved for the JOBZ program, the city will pay Heartland $150,000 for claims of lost profits and attorney fees. If the site is not approved by Sept. 1, the city will pay Heartland $325,000 by Oct. 1.
Pechulis said the meeting was procedural, not required. He said the council has already made up its mind about Heartland and is not open to debate or discussion.
"That was my point," he said. "Is this more or less a dog and pony show? This doesn't pass the smell test."
The JOBZ site, he said, will give Heartland tax exemptions and benefits, as it will create about 30 new jobs. One major qualification for the JOBZ site to be built requires the business (i.e., Heartland) to be "ready to go," Pechulis said.
This week the city council will forward their part of the JOBZ application to the Department of Employment and Economic Development, which will ultimately approve or reject the JOBZ site.
Michael Drysdale, an attorney representing Heartland, said the project having to be ready is not a problem. He said if the tire-burning plant is not built, "nothing happens."
"There's no cost to the taxpayers because we don't get the subsidy until we buy equipment, construct the building and employ people," Drysdale said. "If ‘ready to go' means there will never be any obstacles to constructing the plant, then very few of these plants would go forward."
Drysdale also said it doesn't stop at the city council. He said a requirement of the JOBZ statute states that schools and counties must have evidence of local support for the site. Either way, he said it's up to others now, and the city is no longer involved.
While decisions are being made, Pechulis is convinced that citizens will be pushing more litigation on open meetings violations.
Corson is hoping things get a bit more neutral.
"When things get hot, you try and let things go a little bit," Corson said. "At some point, we have to say, ‘OK, we have an agenda. We need to follow the rules and that's just the way it is.' The procedure is just as important as the outcome."
