• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Delavan keeps combing Lake Lawn audit

Photo

Joe Salitros

DELAVAN — City of Delavan staff members have been stumped by a pretty big question: When the city council rescinded the amendments to the developers agreement with Lake Lawn Resort, did the city take away its ability to bill the resort for water hook up?

That was one of a list of questions posed Tuesday to the council after a staff review of an audit of the bills and invoices between the city of Delavan and Lake Lawn Resort. They are very similar to the questions auditor Baker Tilly came up with during its audit, Administrator Joe Salitros said.

Salitros on Tuesday presented seven questions that staff want answered to complete the review of the audit. In response, the council voted to have its two attorneys review the cost-recovery agreement and the invoices. The council last week voted to direct staff to review the Baker Tilly audit and help decide the fate of about $300,000 in invoices.

The question is whether the invoices should be billed to Lake Lawn or paid by the city. Under its developers contract, Lake Lawn is supposed to pay the city back for some professional costs the city incurred while dealing with the resort.

The contract was amended, but the city has since rescinded the amendments. That might have taken away the city's ability to recover costs for Lake Lawn to hook up to city water, according to memos and comments by city attorneys.

The council voted to charge Lake Lawn for an unused water main that was built for the resort. The construction was supposed to support Lake Lawn's planned expansion. But the construction of a water park and new condominiums never happened, and now Lake Lawn's future is very murky. Anchor Bank of Madison last week bought the resort at a Walworth County Sheriff's Office auction. The bank foreclosed on a $51.9 million mortgage and was awarded $34 million in court.

The bank bought the resort for $19.97 million.

Other questions posed by staff included whether the city should bill Lake Lawn for city review of the resort's foreclosure filings, and whether the city should bill the resort for questions posed independently to city attorneys by individual council members.

In other news, the city of Delavan will pay up to $8,700 to an Oshkosh company to help the city replace retiring administrator Joe Salitros.

The council Tuesday agreed to hire Public Administration Associates of Oshkosh to assist with the administrator search. The council also voted to ask Salitros to keep working for Delavan until a new administrator is on board. After the meeting, Salitros said he would talk with city officials about that option.

The contractor could at the same time evaluate city functions for efficiency and make recommendations to the council. Council members agreed to allow Mayor Mel Nieuwenhuis to talk with Public Administration Associates about the process and additional cost of doing both jobs at one time.

Salitros' contract ends Jan. 9. He has worked for the city since 2006. Last year at this time, the council voted to extend his contract.