Tucson City Council met in Executive Session yesterday to discuss a settlement with the Rio Nuevo District Board. The District Board had presented an offer to the City on Monday of this week.
The Rio Nuevo District Board had made what many consider to be a reasonable offer to the City. The proposal included a request for title to several properties, including the Arena site. It was similar to the settlement proposal submitted by the Bain board. However, expanding on the prior proposed terms the current Rio Nuevo Board proposed a method to resolve the Notice to Proceed, asked the City to reaffirm the TCC lease and responsibilities for ongoing maintenance, asked the City to agree to two Westside projects and required the City to fully cooperate with and resolve the ongoing audits.
The City was expected to refuse the offer due to the provisions that required the City to agree to binding arbitration and continuation of the audits. Council members who seek to avoid responsibility were expected to vote against settlement.
“This is exactly what we have been putting up with for years. Good people are spending good time trying to find a solution for the people of Tucson. Rio Nuevo has never had a chance to exist; this has been the City of Tucson calling itself Rio Nuevo,” said Board member Alberto Moore. “Rio Nuevo and the City of Tucson are synonymous. The City has no integrity. They are interested in shutting it down so that they don’t have to be held responsible. It is too bad that the Mayor has gotten himself caught up in the past bad acts of a corrupt City. Now his fingerprints are on the scandal called the City-of-Tucson-Rio-Nuevo. The Reconstituted Board has investigated, audited, and tried to find solutions. We have worked for economic development for the betterment of downtown to the benefit to the entire area. ”
It has been in the City’s best interest to prolong the lawsuits as much as possible. The convoluted contracts written by City Attorney Mike Rankin on behalf of the City and the Rio Nuevo District back in the days when the City controlled the District have been subject to lawsuits filed by the District against the City. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in lawsuits trying to recoup some of the property and monies the City spent with little or nothing to show for it.
However, Fletcher McCusker said that the Board “fully expects a counter offer.”
City Councilman Steve Kozachik was most perturbed with the binding arbitration provision. He told the Star that “it would be irresponsible of him to vote away the city’s legal rights.” The settlement offer from the Rio Nuevo District required that disputes arising from information revealed in the audits would be subject to binding arbitration. Most major companies require binding arbitration provisions in their contracts.
“There is not a serious business interest that doesn’t require binding arbitration in their contracts. These people cannot be taken seriously, but they are seriously damaging our town,” said one small business owner. “The residents of this area need to get involved and demand that the City grow up and do the minimum required by responsible adults.”
The Rio Nuevo Board did have one victory yesterday when Judge Jan Kearny ruled in favor of the Rio Nuevo Motion to Dismiss the Kromko lawsuit that had argued that Rio Nuevo is subject to Arizona’s gift clause. The court ruled that Rio Nuevo is exempt from the gift clause statute, paving the way for Rio Nuevo to resolve the stalled development of the Thrifty Block, purchased by Don Bourne. The motion was initiated by McCusker after he identified the Kromko suit as one the most significant barriers to Rio Nuevo progress.
The City did have another failure yesterday when they delivered a blow to Tucson’s tourism industry. The City Council voted to close Fred Enke golf course at yesterday’s meeting. The process of shutting down the course will begin immediately. It will be turned into a “natural passive park” mostly likely to be taken over by bufflegrass and tumbleweeds.
Related articles:
Rio Nuevo votes to settle, COT meets today (updated)
Rio Nuevo audit “res ipsa loquitur”
Moore and Hill reveal the truth about Rio Nuevo (transcript)