According to the article, a special Council meeting will be held on Thursday, April 7, at 6 p.m., in City Council chambers to discuss the Perfect Landing Restaurant at New Philadelphia airport. There is some confusion, according to Council President Joel Day, about the lease agreement between Holly Nelson of the Oh Holly Corporation, which holds the lease on the restaurant building, and Calvin Schwartz of Hootie Bear Limited.
It appears that Nelson, for reasons yet undetermined, has ended her lease agreement with the City. In some mysterious way Schwartz has assumed the lease. For the past few weeks, Schwartz has been remodeling the restaurant. Information about this change of lease holders has created a number of questions. As Day put it, there is “a lot of misinformation” and “some council members are hearing things about the way the situation has been handled.” His solution? An executive session to discuss the matter on April 7.
This recent inept handling of the City’s business by the Administration and Council President resulted in a call by Mayor Taylor for an executive session to discuss the problem. An executive session is one which is closed to the public. The matters for which City Council can go into an executive session are strictly limited by Ohio Revised Code . The discussion of such items as the lease between the City and Oh Holly Corporation does not fall under R.C. 121.22. (http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/121.22).
When this situation first came to light in the March 14 Council meeting, I asked the Law Director’s office for copies of the last two lease contracts between the City and Oh Holly. While I did not talk directly with Michael Johnson, I left a message with one of his clerks. Some two weeks after, in a short discussion with the Law Director, I was told that the lease contracts would be sent shortly. As of this writing, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of them. Seems strange that the Law Director Johnson, who is responsible for representing the City in such matters is hesitant, or reluctant, to provide such public information to those who ask.
City Law Director Johnson is quoted in the Times-Reporter that Oh Holly could assign its lease to another company with city approval and “the city is required to consent unless there is a substantial reason to not consent.” There is something missing in this statement and that’s the part about obtaining written consent from the City. Since the agreement between Oh Holly and the City of New Philadelphia was approved by legislation by City Council, it requires City Council approval for any revision to that agreement. It is obvious that such approval was never granted.
There is no question that City Council was not informed, a fact supported by the desire of Day to have an emergency meeting to get answers. Rumor, from sources outside the City Administration, indicate that the news of this “transfer” of the lease to Hootie Bear may have come as a surprise to the Mayor as well.
Who made the decision to improperly transfer the lease from Oh Holly to Hootie Bear? Mayor Taylor? Service Director Zucal? Law Director Johnson? They are the only ones who have direct contact with Oh Holly and Hootie Bear.
Who gave permission to Hootie Bear to remodel the restaurant if they are not the lease holders?
Why was City Council not informed until after the fact that Hootie Bear was taking over the restaurant management?
How much money was owed by Oh Holly to the City, or visa versa, and what became of those funds?
Why is an executive meeting being called to discuss this highly questionable situation other than to hide the true facts from the public? Who is being protected?
Why does City Council not demand public hearings on issues which are in the public interest instead of continuing the use of secret, anti-Sunshine Law meetings to hide the City’s business from public scrutiny?
Is this another reason to question the integrity of New Philadelphia’s Administrative and Legislative procedures? Why must the City operate behind closed doors? What are they hiding?
Is the Perfect Landing lease transfer another part of a questionable trend in City government?
You sir are correct in regards to the leasing of this property. You may or may not know, that about twenty years ago the restaurant property was leased to an individual that called the restaurant the hangar. He stuck the city for 100,000's of dollars. He know owns and runs the pro's table on east high. I have asked for many of years, how can this man still be doing business in our city if he owes us all this money? No one has ever been able to give me a straight answer. This property that the city owns is nothing but a liabilty! We always seem to get shorted funds or stuck with a run down piece of property. Keep up the good fight! Great blog!
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