Mayors are, by definition, a member of every committee that city council creates and he could advise the chair that he would be attending in future and expected to play a large part in the affairs and deliberations of that committee. Why the Mayor felt he had to wait until his next term of office before becoming involved in the fashioning of the Downtown Vision wasn’t clear to this interviewer.
The pier, which was the biggest albatross this mayor has worn, is behind him. His citizens love the pier and he takes some satisfaction in having that problem behind him. The pier was not a problem Rick Goldring created; he inherited the mess but, during his first two years in office, he didn’t do very much to make a bad situation any better when there was more than one opportunity to save the city substantial amounts.
When asked what he would do to ensure his citizens knew how much it had cost the city in legal fees to resolve the several law suits that are still not settled Goldring said he would ensure the public knew what it had cost in terms of legal fees at the appropriate time. This city council and its solicitor are loath to tell the public anything about how much they have spent in legal fees resolving the pier law suites.
At some point there will be a trial or the parties will arrive at a settlement. It is our belief that the city will lose its case against Harm Schilthuis and Sons Ltd., the original contractor, and that they will win their case again Aecom, the company that was in place to oversee the administration of the contract.
The pier was a problem Mayor Goldring inherited. It was an ongoing battle and the problems are not all resolved but the pier is something loved by Burlingtonians. The Mayor was right – he hung in and saw the pier completed. The day it opened was one of his proudest.
The pier was designed by Totten Sims Hubicki (TSH). Aecom bought TSH. The result of that purchase was the company managing the building of a pier from a design done by another company were now one and the same. Evidence will eventually show that the problems resolved around the design changes when the city reduced an original 220 foot pier to the 137 foot pier we now have.
When settlements take place there is frequently a gag order – which prevents anyone from saying how much was paid out in the way of a settlement. We were not able to get a clear answer from the Mayor on what he believed the public needed to know and had a right to know about any settlement – should there be one.
Stephanie, what makes you think he cares? Not a lot of votes in the rural area. Seems he would rather promote the Pier and downtown despite it housing less than 7% of Burlington’s total population.
Seems during his interview and through his sober second thought, Mr. Goldring forgot that he should have taken a deeper, harder look into what non-resident Vince Rossi was doing to the City’s rural greenbelt community – aka: the Burlington Airdump.
Talk about not being prepped enough in advance. Both he and his staff should know better.
Tip – take a media relations class.