Victoria MN Newspaper

Floor to Ceiling

VICTORIA SUFFERS LAWSUITS BY RESIDENT

WHO HAS RETAINED A GLOBAL LAW FIRM

Mayor Tom O'Connor began the February 10th council meeting by stating,"A civil action lawsuit and a criminal complaint is pending against us so there will be no Visitor's Presentation or council discussion tonight regarding financing of the new buildings because of the litigation."

Mayor O'Connor was referring to plans for the new Victoria City Hall and Victoria Public Works facility.

The mayor also stated that he and other councilmembers have received a barrage of emails in recent days. Victoria councilmembers and staff received an email communication in February from resident Tom Funk, for example, that read, in part, "I started spreading the word today about my plan to sue the city and remove four of the five councilmembers. Joe Pavelko will be the only one on the council that will not be sued. Don Uram (city manager) and Mike Norton (city attorney) will be named in the suit."

This is in addition to the administrative action filed and subsequently withdrawn by Mr. Funk to the Information Policy Analysis Division (IPAD) at the State."

"This is also in addition to a criminal action recently filed with Carver County and subsequently passed to Scott County to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest," said the Mayor after the February 10th council meeting. "Needless to say we are all at a loss and feel all potential charges are groundless even though we have not seen what is in either of the civil or criminal complaints."

Back in January, City Manager Don Uram reported, "Sheriff Jim Olson informed me that Tom Funk has filed a criminal complaint against the City Council that included a violation of the open meeting law. He was unable to tell me anything more specific about the complaint."

Tom Funk has admitted he was behind the unsigned yellow flyer sent to residents last summer that the mayor and others have addressed as containing false information about city debt and other things.

In January, the City of Victoria received a letter from Alan L. Kildow, attorney with DLA Piper. Mr. Kildow wrote, "DLA Piper has been retained by Thomas C. Funk, who is a resident of the City of Victoria. Mr. Funk hereby request (sic) and demand (sic) that the City of Victoria immediately abandon, cease, and desist proceeding with the proposed transaction set forth in that certain Contract for Exchange of Real Estate and Private Redevelopment Between The City of Victoria, Minnesota, and Hartman Brothers LLC."

Google information informs that DLA Piper is the largest law firm in the world with offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Beijing, Dubai, Cairo, Kuwait, Warsaw, Bulgaria, Turkey, Brazil, among many other offices including in Minneapolis, Minnesota and other U.S. cities. DLA Piper has 77 offices in over 30 countries.

FOCUSING ON MARSH LAKE ROAD

AS DEVELOPMENT IN VICTORIA CONTINUES

Council approved a Joint Powers Agreement between Carver County and the City of Victoria to complete a feasibility study on Marsh Lake Road between County Road 43 and County Road 11.

City Engineer Cara Geheren stated, "Marsh Lake Road will become a county road in the long term plan. We're seeking to do a feasibility study to see what the long term layout will be, to get the right amount of curvature and alignment and right of way needs and access spacing, to look at specifics of that corridor."

"Also lacking," said Cara, "we don't have a good cost estimate, of what it's going to cost so that both the county and the city can plan for long term costs. Carver County will actually do most of the feasibility in-house, which keeps the cost down significantly. They're asking for the city to share in outside costs, which could be $20,000 for us but maybe not that much."

She said that length of Marsh Lake Road is 1.66 miles.

Asked Councilmember Tom Strigel, "What is the trigger for the county to take over the road?"

Replied Cara, "It depends on road needs for the county. It's better to approach this jointly. The county takes the lead on improvements and then the city cost-shares. We've worked very closely with the county on what's been done so far. It's important to get out in front of the platting."

Platting of neighborhoods adjacent to Marsh Lake Road is already occurring with Lake Wasserman Ridge, Lakeside Estates, and Wasserman Lake Woods -- all located on the north side of the road. There is more unplatted property north of Marsh Lake Road. All of the property south of the road is zoned agricultural.

Added Cara, "Our state aid dollars can be used to help pay our share of the cost, and the road will have to meet state aid standards. We will start getting complaints from people who currently live there. We'll probably have to get the road done in the next five to ten years."

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