Council holds discussion about recent US Bank deal to clear the air and keep the city moving forward
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
In open session Monday night during the mayoral report, members of the Elkhorn Common Council and Mayor Brian Olson took time to address questions they had regarding their concerns over the possible acquisition of the US Bank building voted down by the council earlier this fall.
Monday night’s discussion served as an opportunity for council members to ask Alderman Tom Myrin, who they felt came too close to dealings with US Bank, questions regarding his involvement.
Olson referenced the two previous articles the Elkhorn Independent from Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, which contained an article on the sale and a response from Myrin, noting he had fielded several calls regarding the issue.
Olson asked Myrin about his previous email, which was not published in its entirety, in which he said Myrin has said he recused himself for obvious reasons. Olson said typically, once a recusal is made alderman should stay out of the issue at all levels, something to which Myrin said he did.
“As far as discussions about the building, I was not involved in any of those discussions,” Myrin said. “My part of involvement was trying to get a meeting and in those discussions nothing was said about the availability of purchasing the building.”
Olson also questioned Myrin about his email saying that corporate real estate was ready to discuss the sale and any and all options regarding the sale and lease of the building, something which Myrin said was what he was told by corporate real estate.
“So, he was ready to have a meeting,” Myrin said. “It took him several months to get to that point.”
While Myrin has said previously US Bank is a large corporation and the city’s broker working on the project, Stu Rosenberg of ICI Commercial, had troubles making contact with US Bank, Olson said Rosenberg had actually had quite a bit of success.
“Unfortunately, Stu had had good contact with corporate and we were ready to move forward on later in the year, but you weren’t privy to that information because you recused yourself,” Olson said, noting Rosenberg has worked with US Bank in the past on bank sales.
Additionally, while it had been indicated to Elkhorn Independent staff no plans had been made or reviewed, Olson said in all actuality, following staff review of the possibility of the project, staff and Rosenberg did a walkthrough and evaluation of the building, taking measurements.
“I’m just trying to clear the air and get some factual things out there that were maybe misrepresented in the last paper,” he said.
Olson asked why there was a rush, noting in Myrin’s email he said something along the lines of, “let’s get this done.”
Olson said the city would have had to look at various aspects, including how the city would pay for the building and afford any repairs or remodeling before moving forward.
Myrin said thinking about how the city would pay for the project was not his concern as he had recused himself from discussions.
“All I wanted to make sure of is US Bank came to the table ready to discuss, that is it,” Myrin said.
Alderman Hoss Rehberg cited a quote from the Nov. 5 issue of the Elkhorn Independent in which Myrin said he felt it was “silly” the council did not move forward on the item. He asked why Myrin thought it was silly, knowing the facts and what the council had seen.
“I’m not sure everybody had the right facts, first off,” Myrin said. “Nobody asked me about my involvement with that process and assumed I had done something incorrectly.”
Rehberg questioned whether any of the five alderman said he did anything wrong and asked Myrin who voted on the item.
“I’m assuming the alderman did, with some influence from the mayor,” Myrin responded. “I think to myself, I disagree with the comments he made.”
Olson said he clearly stated in the paper that he had done nothing wrong and that the council had an open discussion regarding the issue, noting Myrin did not return his phone call regarding the issue.
“At that particular point, it was very difficult for me to take a phone call from you,” Myrin said.
“I’m sorry that you felt offended, but I think we should be clear, and let me know if I’m wrong fellow colleagues, that we clearly came out and said you didn’t do anything wrong,” Olson replied. “And that came from me, directly. So, I don’t know what influence you’re trying to talk about here.”
Alderman Scott McClory said the only thing that really didn’t sit well with him was Myrin’s comment in his email that with some influential help, the project was moving forward.
“That’s what sat poorly with me because you’re not only the US Bank manager, you’re also an alderman,” he said. “That’s where for me it didn’t pass the sniff test, it just didn’t sit right.”
McClory said if anyone on the council wants to get out of the current city hall building it’s him, something he has been fighting for over the past 12 years.
Myrin said if asked about it at the meeting the council voted against pursuing the acquisition, he could have explained exactly what he meant in his email, noting he’d be happy to share the emails between him and his management regarding the issue.
Rehberg asked why Myrin had not mentioned he wanted to explain the email, to which Myrin said he recused himself because he did not know that’s what they were discussing and did not want to involve himself in any city discussions regarding the sale.
Olson said while he’s not expecting he and Myrin to be best friends and he understands they have differing opinions, but he just wants to get the facts out there, noting that Myrin recusing himself, becoming involved and recusing himself again was something that was questionable to the entire body.
“Not just me,” Olson said. “So, we had the due diligence to vet it out, we spoke with our city attorney, we all agreed that you did nothing wrong … the problem we had was a political decision. Too many deals in this town have gone back-sided. There’s a sniff test.
“We backed you up fully in that paper saying you did nothing, but it didn’t pass the political sniff test. That is the truth, not an assumption or a feeling.”
Olson said moving forward they will need to work together with too many projects and faithful discussions needed to move the city forward, to which Myrin agreed with.
“We’re going to have to work together,” he said. “I understand that your frustrated, or hurt or whatever maybe your feeling was, but the fact of the matter is we have to follow the policy.
“We’ve all had our differences, but we need to work through it, we need to work forward and move on from it.”
To read the previous two articles, visit mywalworthcounty.com and click the Elkhorn tab.
