Tom Didier hit it on the head at council Tuesday night when he said “why could you just tell us that?” He summed up the way the Henry Administration handles matters: they hide details, they mislead, they withhold.

We all know the matter of the casinos when Mayor Henry insisted he wanted only to hear the word of the people, but had already gone ahead with hiring a firm to lobby for a casino. We know that they misrepresented aspects of the Calhoun Street project to sway votes, we know that they have covered facts in the Earth First garbage contract for whatever purpose, seemingly for purposes of cronyism and nepotism. So, it should have been no surprise when they hid two other factors in the purchase of the new city hall.

Tom Smith was the first to spot the inconsistency buried in a document sent down from the mayors office: instead of the 14 million price tag for the building there were an additional $4 million included in the financing arrangement. Smith asked for an explanation. Two attorneys representing the city explained in a way to confuse the question. Smith asked again. They explain again and Smith said he was angry. He should have been, what was sold to council as a $14 million purchase and renovation project had become $18 without an explanation from the administration. Tom Henry just sent the revised number down to council without an explanation. Perhaps he wanted to see if they were paying attention. Smith was.

Tom Didier grew increasingly angry. Finally he said some things about how his customers just want to know the bottom line of a deal, they don’t want to be nickled and dimed with additional costs as the deal continues. The administration has just raised the cost by $4 million without the courtesy of informing the council president or, apparently, their two men on council, Marty Bender and Tim Pape,

Pape offered a defense of the 28 percent project increase by explaining part of the costs were simply customary fees, while the rest was the last payment. The attorneys chimed in that given interest rates now was the time to borrow the extra money, that last payment. Didier’s question remained unanswered, “why didn’t you just tell us?”

So, when the vote came, Bender voted yes immediately. His boss is the mayor, after all. His vote is always compromised. He made no comment, just did as he was instructed. Brown, who often pillories officials for lesser oversights, also voted quickly yes. Glynn Hines touted the jobs that would be created in renovating the building and voted yes. Goldner saw no problem supporting her friends on the 9th floor. Harper voted against, Smith commented on the disingenuousness of the administration’s actions, voted no, Shoaff added to Smith’s comments and voted no; and Didier voted no. Didier was shaken. You could see if from the gallery. He was angry. He felt betrayed. Three members of council have long noted this administration can not be trusted, now Didier has come to the same conclusion.

So, the whole deal comes to $28 million, not $14, as sold by the Henry Administration.

The first extra $4 million comes from fees of the sort that are oft included in a home purchase, loan origination, underwriting fees, etc. Lawyers. The additional $10 million, first mentioned last Tuesday night, again to the surprise of a few at the table, was an estimate of interest on the bond that will be floated to pay for the building. Expect that figure to go higher, too.

Anyone who has purchased a house knows about the fees. It just would have been a different discussion had the administration been honest with council. Pape, however, tried to explain a portion of that extra $4 million as “normal,” as a “last month’s payment.” That is not necessarily true. A deal can be structured however the participants wish to structure it. The fact remains the administration sold the deal at $14 million. They tried to sneak in another $4 million and scrambled at council, through their man Tim, to rationalize it..

I asked a council member if they had yet seen the full purchase agreement and the answer was no. I have purchased many buildings in the past 20 years. I demand to see each purchase agreement before signing. I demand at least 24 hours to review each and every agreement or I will not go to the closing. Council should not either. Council should demand to see the agreement and have an independent evaluation done to determine whether this is a good deal or a bad deal, Otherwise they are buying a pig in a poke and you can believe they saddle us with many more “unexpected” expenses of providing Tom Henry with a new city hall. Council, in this regard, is letting us down.

The next surprises, unless council does it’s due diligence, will come in the form of hundreds of thousands in change orders when the administration finds “unexpected” problems with the building.

Bottom line, the administration is not to be trusted. Smith, Harper and Shoaff have learned that on a variety of issues, now Didier has been blindsided. Let us see if this prompts him to be more careful and critical of items that come to council. In the meantime, Mr. Smith, who spotted the little surprise needs to get a third party to go over the agreement with him to determine if their are other little time bombs set to explode.

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Tags: Earth First, Fort Wayne City Council, Glynn Hines, John Shoaff, Karen Goldner, Liz Brown, Marty Bender, Mitch Harper, National Serv-All, Tim Pape, Tom Didier, Tom Henry, Tom Smith

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