Again we have been lied to and deceived by Motown and this time the City Of Vandalia has tried to cover it up. First of all we should thank the Leader Union for the article in the Jan. 14th newspaper with its investigative story about Motown and the check. If it wasn't for the Illinois Freedom Of Information Act and the Leader Union using it to request a copy of the bounced check, you and I would still be in the dark about Motown's latest antics. The City has known about the bad check since Dec. 11, 2009, four days after Bardwell presented it to the City Council with two closed meetings to discuss it.
Our elected and hired officials are in their offices to run the day by day operations and obligations of the city and act as representatives of its citizens needs and concerns when voting on such issues as ordinances and money being spent without having personal motives for the outcome of the vote. Using closed sessions to hide Motown's bounced check from the public until our elected and hired officials can figure a way to cover their "you know what" is deceitful and should not be tolerated. You can see from the Leader Union article that city officials were not prepared and in this writers mind, have lame excuses. Let's analyze some of the remarks our city officials and Motown representatives presented to the Leader Union;
1. Emmett Traylor, representative of Motown, stated that even though the check was returned being stamped "not sufficient funds", this was not the case. It was returned because of not being properly authorized.
Not sufficient funds stamped on the check means there is a reason for dishonoring or returning a check to its depositor, because the amount available in check-writer's (drawer's) account is less than the check's amount. Usually both the depositor and the drawer of the returned check have to pay a penalty to their respective banks.
In the Leader Union article, it is stated that Bardwell did not have authorization to write the check until the extension agreement was approved by the city and and also approved by the Motown project shareholders. This check has been owed to the city for months and should have had nothing to do with an agreement of the extension. This check should have been authorized long before any extension was discussed. I was at the council meeting and from what I saw, Bardwell used this check to influence the extension vote.
2. Givens said she talked to a Bank Of America representative where the check was issued and was told the account requires $250,000.00 balance and used the "not sufficient funds" stamp on a majority of returned checks. He also told her the account could have been frozen for some other reason.
Most checks returned from any bank are for "not sufficient funds", "account closed" or "stop payment". This check not being authorized and with at least $250,000.00 in the account should have been returned with a "stop payment" stamp or something similar. If the account has been frozen, I would think you would get a "not sufficient funds" stamp because the money has been frozen and can not be withdrawn.
3. Givens said she has been in regular contact with Bardwell and he assured her that he is working with shareholders to get authorization to write the check but some shareholders have been traveling over the holidays.
Again, this check should have been authorized before any extension agreement and he is making more excuses to pospone progress on the project.
I have heard time and time again that the citizens of Vandalia would not spend any money for this project. Seems we have been deceived because to date Vandalia has spent $102,628.18. This amount does not count the wages and expenditures of work our hired employees have done on the project.
I like this; City officials say if the project does not become a reality, Vandalia will benefit from some of the preparatory work done for the project. Givens said the city learned lessons of what goes into a business district. Pretty expensive lessons that the taxpayer has to burden.
She goes on to say that the city now has an appraisal on the 120 acres of land Motown plans to build on. Again, pretty expensive appraisal don't you think?
She also says the traffic study could be used for all other projects. This traffic study is geared for a huge complex which has a huge amount of traffic being on the roads. I am sure any other type of industry would not require such expensive roads.
It has always been my belief that Kenneth Bardwell is chairman and CEO of Motown Technology. He being in charge of the corporation should have some knowledge of the workings of a corporation and the aquiring of funds for the project. This is the second time they have "jumped the gun", with the first not having a feasibility study which is required for state funds and investor funds, and now the bounced check. From what has happened in the last year you would think we are discussing hundreds of millions of dollars with a bunch of people who have no idea of what they are doing. Or maybe they have some other motive?
This time I am hoping that our city leaders finally learn this lesson. IF IT IS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, DON'T DO IT!! This lesson though will come from a great expense to the taxpayer which our city funds these ridiculous projects!!
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