DONATE
A subcommittee of the City County Council is still trying to get to the bottom of the 25-year lease for the Department of Public Safety Regional Operations Center at the Eastgate Consumer Mall.
The council wants to know if it was given complete and accurate information about the lease before it was signed by the former public safety director in 2011.
Emails and other documents related to the investigation of the planning of the $18 million Regional Operations Center were aired during a meeting Thursday night.
Emails from 2010 and 2011 reveal friction between Mayor Greg Ballard and former public safety director Frank Straub. Straub did not want to move operations into the eastside regional operations center but Ballard’s office pushed for it.
The council sued the mayor’s office for the documents in April.
Democrat Monroe Gray and other committee members say they’re troubled by what’s been uncovered.
“As I sit here and read this -- this project was doomed to fail from the start. It never had adequate financing and none of the steps of ordinary construction build, deal was followed here,” Gray said.
Republican Councilman Aaron Freeman said he would like to see the committee find a way to ensure future leases are properly vetted instead of just reading emails aloud.
The subcommittee will meet again next month to discuss more documents.
View More Programs
Support WFYI. We can't do it without you.