By Bob Peryea
Correspondent
The City of Lake Geneva finds itself the subject of legal action in an attempt by a local citizens’ action group to review a memo of under-standing between the City and a local land-holding corporation.
According to a press re-lease from Care for Lake Geneva, a 501(c)4 organization, the City signed “memorandum of Understanding” with Geneva Ridge Joint venture, LLC. Their press release alleges that the city is withholding the documents citing “attorney-client privilege.”
“There must have some-thing to hide in this document or our elected and government officials would simply comply with the law which is quite clear in this matter,” said President of Care for Lake Geneva Casey Schiche in the press release.
The press release goes on to say, “Residents and property owners continue to be concerned about a secret deal entered into by the city and the developers of the Hummel property.”
The City refused to release the document to the Lake Geneva Times and Genoa City Report.
An email from Mike Hawes, City Clerk of Lake Geneva states in part, “The issues that will be resolved is whether it is in fact a public record, whether it is protected by attorney/client privilege and whether it is confidential document entered in federal court.”
According the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Geneva Ridge Joint Ventures, LLC has had its “certificate of authority” revoked.
A certificate of authority is a license to do business is-sued by the state to out-of-state corporations allowing them to do business in Wisconsin.
According to state law, “Whenever there are grounds for delinquency proceedings against a nondomestic insurer under ch. 645, the commissioner may, after a hearing, revoke, suspend or limit its certificate of authority.”
The nature of Geneva Ridge Joint Venture’s “delinquency” is unknown at this time.
The property, 718 acres south of Lake Geneva, is currently for sale.
The property was the subject of a $123 million dollar lawsuit by Geneva Ridge Joint Venture, LLC against the City. The lawsuit was settled in September, 2011, for $2.1 million with little comment as to why the city’s insurer would pay out a large sum of money. The lawsuit alleged misconduct on the part of City’s elected officials and employees.
According to a press re-lease from the City of Lake Geneva on Sept. 15, 2011, “On June 13th (2011, attorneys for the parties entered into a Memorandum of Understanding that established certain parameters for a settlement;…” It is this Memorandum of Understanding and those parameters that are being questioned by Care for Lake Geneva.
