The president of Envision Greater Fond du Lac says email correspondence between representatives of a business group and city officials indicate a business group was simply trying to convince councilmembers to vote for an alternative Lakeside Park master plan. The emails, obtained by a citizen in an open-records request and released over the weekend to the press created a firestorm on social media with some opponents of the plan accusing Lakeside Forward of trying to manipulate the process. Envision president Sadie Parafiniuk says the business group has been trying from the start to convince the council that a restaurant and amphitheater at the park is best for the city. “This is getting really ugly,” Parafiniuk told WFDL news. “What I hope is that people don’t think I can’t even talk to my elected officials anymore without others thinking I’m trying to do something wrong. This is totally normal.” Council president Brian Kolstad says he was part of some of those email conversations, and says he met with Lakeside Forward, but doesn’t think the group did anything wrong. “What I’ve seen so far (emails) Lakeside Forward has been reaching out to councilmembers to try to persuade us to vote in favor of a new plan,” Kolstad told WFDL news. “There’s nothing wrong with that. The bottom line is that the city council has to make those decisions.” One email suggested that Lakeside Forward knew which councilmembers were going to vote in favor of the plan, and which councilmembers may be opposed. “The question may come up whether this constitutes a walking quorum? I always make it a point that anytime I meet with or talk with people and I have suspicion their trying to talk with all councilmembers I let them know right away I do not want to know how the councilmembers are going to vote,” Kolstad told WFDL news. Councilmember Ben Giles, who spearheaded the project on the council, is the subject of a Fond du Lac Ethics Board hearing scheduled for Friday. A complaint filed with the DA’s Office alleged that Giles received a reward for his votes on council in favor of development at Lakeside Park, when mutual donors of Lakeside Forward and the Historical Society allowed their previous donations to the Historical Society be reallocated to hire Giles as the society’s executive director. Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney says an investigation by the Oshkosh Police Department appears to show the donors were aware Giles was being considered for the position and that Giles was aware money would be transferred representing a probable violation of the statute. Last month the Fond du Lac Ethics Board found probable cause that Giles violated three sections of the citys ethics code. A hearing to address the alleged violations is scheduled for December 11.
