By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review
“I am perplexed regarding your repeated vitriolic statements against two members of council,” Dist. 6 Alder Becky McElhaney wrote, in an email to Wall that she later shared with Wausau Pilot & Review. “Council members are employed by their respected residents and answer only to them. They have done nothing illegal and your continued narrative is troubling to both me and the residents I serve. All developments within the city need resident buy-in and support to be successful. You are eroding both very quickly.”
Wall, who is spearheading The Foundry on 3rd in partnership with Wausau Opportunity Zone, Inc. sent a letter last week to some news organizations accusing Alders Gary Gisselman and Tom Kilian of breaking the law and causing a delay in the project, which he then said was at risk of “never happening.”
Wall, the president and CEO of T. Wall companies, is refusing to take responsibility for any delay, though WOZ spokesman Chuck Ghidorzi told council members an extension was necessary in part to ensure the developer’s financial stack was in place. Instead, Wall placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Gisselman and Kilian. But Dist. 7 Alder Lisa Rasmussen, in an email to Wausau Pilot & Review, said Wall’s statement that the two alders caused the amendment vote to be postponed is false.
“The entire council voted to hold action on the extension, take no enforcement action on the Sept. 1 deadline and obtain written confirmation from WOZ on the items offered during public comment at the meeting,” Rasmussen said. “That work began immediately the next day, and I hope it takes a fraction of the 60 days we allowed to accomplish it.”
Ethics complaint filed over candy bar distribution raises eyebrows
Wall has made headlines in Wausau and in other communities for unusual actions related to development deals including in Madison, where he filed an ethics complaint against a city assessor for passing out candy bars at a meeting.
Madison’s ethics board ultimately tossed out the complaint against Chief City Assessor Michelle Drea. Wall’s complaint said she gave members of the Board of Review candy bars “immediately before the Board was to consider our objection to the assessments on two properties.”
“By doing this action she unintentionally (but most likely intentionally) influenced the members of the Board of Review to support her side,” Wall said, while asking the commission to reprimand Drea.
In news reports Drea said the candy bowl, which included small KIND bars and fun-sized Kit Kats, Snickers bars and M&Ms, was accessible to anyone in the room. Reddit users in particular took exception to Wall’s actions, and Drea herself accused Wall of abusing the complaint process to harass her.
“It is about a pattern of threats and intimidation of a public official to improperly influence the assessments,”Drea is quoted in a Madison news report found here.
In Wausau, Wall threatened to sue over a failed Riverlife project that fell apart prior to his agreement with WOZ. Then, Wall sent a notice of injury to the city attorney in regard to the project, which he noted in an email to Wausau Pilot & Review. Hours later, he sent a second email saying the notice would be withdrawn “after conversations with the city…and after seeing the confusion our prior legal notice caused.”
Dist. 10 Alder Lou Larson said he is “appalled” by the attacks on his colleagues and what he called public lies “designed to cover up” Wall’s failures. In email he sent to Wall and shared with Wausau Pilot & Review, wondered openly why he, too, wasn’t named in the initial letter since he has also voted repeatedly against the Foundry project.
“I feel bad that you’ve left me out of your mess,” Larson told Wall. “I am the Alderman from district 10 whom has voted against every vote you’ve brought to us in the last 3.5 years of my being on the council, with the exception of the vote to fire you from Riverlife. I stand tall with my colleagues, Alders Kilian and Gisselman.”
Rasmussen’s response was a bit more measured, but she, too, called Wall out for accusing her colleagues of being”bullies.”
“Mr. Wall failed to understand in his rant that council meetings are not courtrooms and we are not a jury,” Rasmussen wrote. “We were not having a ‘hearing’ last week, we were meeting to consider options and receive current information. Council members have a right to express their opinions and those of their residents, whether others agree or not. The notion that either alder referenced in the letter is a bully is plain false. I have worked with them both for quite some time and we may not always agree, but neither one is a bully, as Mr. Wall stated to one media outlet.”
Council President McElhaney said the repeated emails, appearances and letters that included name-calling and accusations of illegal conduct necessitated a response. She said she is baffled by Wall’s refusal to acknowledge that T. Wall Enterprises delayed the development agreement, which had agreed-upon completion dates that could not be met.
“Whatever the reason for an extension, it would be considered a delay from the planned development agreement,” McElhaney’s email stated, adding that she also voted for the amendment to have staff obtain written assurances that taxpayers would not bear the responsibility of costs due to the delay.
Rasmussen said that for now, she will separate her thoughts on the letter from Wall from her thoughts on the merits of the project – and the well-documented need for residents and commerce downtown.
“As council members, we receive a lot of negative comments and there are accusations lobbed all the time,” Rasmussen said. “We asked for this job and sadly, that is part of it. My hope is that as a council we can focus past this and move forward in a way that brings new life to the mall site, and returns the area to an active, vibrant place that generates new tax base for the community.”
