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05-07-55 Special MeetingSpecial Meeting of the Village Council May 7, 1955 Pursuant to due call and noticethereof a special meeting of the Village Council of the Village of Golden Valley was held at the Village Hall in said Village on the 7tth day of May, 1955, at 12:00 otclock Noon. the following members were present: Bies, Foss, Rahn and Stark; and the following was absent: Member Huebsch. Member Stark, Acting Mayor by mutual agreement, called the meeting to order at 12:08 o'clock P.M. Acting Mayor Stark recommended that Mr. Norris Ogard be appointed acting clerk for the purpose of recording Council action of the instant meeting. MOVED BY Foss seconded by Rahn carried to approve the recommendation of the Acting Mayor. Office of Mayor - Status: Acting Mayor Stark announced that this special meeting had een calla for the purpose of determining the status of the office of Mayor of the Village of Golden Valley. He also stated that he understood that Mr. Huebsch was being represented by an attorney and reques- ted that said attorney introduce himself to the Council and the audience. Mr. Oston D. Norton of 609 Northwestern Bank Building, Minneapolis, announced that he had beon ratained as attorney to represent Mr. Huebsch in his absence from the meeting. He also stated that if strict parlia- mentary procedure were followed at the meeting any statements by him would be out of order until a motion had been made and seconded. Acting Mayor Stark assured him that his remarks would be given due consid- eration if he wished to make them now rather than wait for a motion and a second. Mr. Norton in proceeding'wi th his plea in behalf of Mr. Huebsch, stated that Mr. Huebsch had engaged Mr. Norton to represent him at the special meeting of May 7th, 1955, because he, Mr. Huebsch, would be out of town and would not be able to attend the meeting called by a notice sent from the office of the Village of Golden Valley, and received at his address at Noon on Friday, May 6th, 1955• Furthermore, it was Mr. Huebsch's understanding that the meeting was to be held on Monday, May 9th, 1955, for which a proper notice had been sent out. Mr. Norton then stated that in a conversation with Village Attorney Kane, prior to the meeting, he, Mr. Norton, had heard that the proceedings would be "cut and dried", to which Attorney Kane had replied to the affirmative. Village Attorney Kane then requested permission to interrupt the plea long enough to clarify this point. Being granted permission, he stated that he wished to correct fir. Norton's statement in that "the statement was Mr. Norton's and not his" and that he had not replied to the affirmative. Mr. Norton in proceeding, said that he had not had sufficient time to make a prepared statement, but wished to point out certain facts and con- siderations to the Council prior to their making any decision. He pointed out that Mr. Huebsch had been elected to the office of Mayor by a substantial majority, therefore the electorate believed in and desired the program, as set out by Mr. Huebsch prior to his election and that possibly they still wished the Mayor to carry his program to termination. Mr. Huebsch is perturbed because he regards Golden Valley his home, regard- less of the outcome of this investigation and feels that he has a moral obligation to carry out his program to completion. Mr. Norton stated that 1`r. Huebsch is one of the finest men to have served the Village of Golden Valley even though at times he may have been out- spoken in presenting and defending his tiews. Mr. Norton stated that Mr. Huebsch feels that his program is not complete and that he should see it through to the end, therefore, he did what he considered sufficient to maintain his residence in Golden Valley in order to fulfill his,.obligation to the voters. Mr. Norton reiterated that, because of the substantial plurality, he wished to caution the Council to consider t-I.e feelings of the public before taking any precipitous action and also to consider that the meeting was called on very short notice. He also wished the Council, before making a decision, to consider the best interests of the Village and in addition whether they will or will not be supporting the wishes of the people. Mr. Norton felt that the matter should be given more time for considera- tion and soul searching before taking an action that could lead to embarr- assment. He pointed out that he could be wrong, but could only suggest. Mr. Norton continued by saying that because part of Mr. Huebseh's pro- gram had been left unfinished, a program that the voters wanted carried out at election time, by a two to one majority, he wished to caution the Village Council to consider seriously a step which would vitally affect the Village and the Village Council, should they, as a body, consider going contrary to the people's desires. In closing, Mr. Norton, wishing to indulge in retrospect, asked the Council to consider Mr. Huebsch's sincere love for the Village. He further stated that Mr. Huebsch had indicated that he was willing to stand on the text of his letters in this matter and wished them to be made part of therecords of this meeting. Acting Mayor Stark indicated that it was also the desire of the Council that these letters be made a part of the record of the proceedings. May Lith, 1955 Mr. Duane W. Foss 6331 Winsdale Street Golden Valley, Minnesota The -notice of the meeting for 7:30 o'clock P.M. Thursday, May 5, 1955, does not comply with Minnesota law as we know it which provides for a full two days notice. I therefore suggest that the meeting on the subject of the vote of confidence for the Mayor be held on Monday, May 9, 1955, at 8:00 o'clock P.M. at the Village, Hall. As you realize, I have spent fully a third of any business time in the interests of the Village of Golden Valley and I request the courtesy of a weekend delay, the reason being that a call was received to meet with the operators of a large Wisconsin laundry and dry cleaning company. They request immediate consultation with the view of purchasing new and modern dry cleaning equipment which will amount to a sizeable figure. it is my hope to be present to observe the results of the vote to be taken Monday night, otherwise, the minutes and voting record can be sent to me at 4600 Chatelain Terrace. Sincerely yours, G. A. Huebsch Mayor CAH:ma May 5, 1955 To all Trustees and Officials Request having been made-jthereforeplease be advised that the special meeting of the Council scheduled for 7:30 otclock P.M., Thursday, May 5th, 1955 is cancelled. The notice mailed May 4, 1955, specifying Monday, May 9, 1955 as the next special meeting was done with the purpose of legality together with ful- fillment of courtesy and consideration. Your Million dollar bond issue will be signed by Friday and delivered by our Treasurer (for the purpose of saving money) in Chicago by Friday after- noon, Sincerely yours, C. A. Huebsch Mayor CAH:ma Directed individually to each member of the Council and Stanley D. Kane. May 6, 1955 Dear Mr. Kane: As a result of news reports and statements made yesterday by Stanley Kane, Village Attorney, please be advised that the special meeting on Monday,, May 9., 1955, is hereby cancelled. This statement made in the office of T. G. Evensen in the presence of Mr. Spencer and Mr. Evensen., was that he would not represent the Mayor in any official question, and. that it was his hope that I would secure counsel.,,"" Upon our return next week from our businesstrip we will engage comp4tent municipal attorneys to represent the Mayor. As per my staiement.,,_together with other facts'. I am an inhabitant of our Village, Sincerely yours, C. A. Huebsch Member Rahn asked Mr. Norton if he had received a call from Mr. Huebsch notifying his of the time of this meeting and if he knew where the call came from. Mr. Norton replied that if Mr. Rahn was attempting to estab- lish Mr. Huebsch's physical presence in the vicinity, the answer would be that Mr. Huebsch was out of town when the notices of the meeting was delivered but that he was in town now. Acting Mayor Stark announced that he was of the opinion that the matter before the Council should be brought to a conclusion at this meeting. Member Foss stated that it was his contention that Mr. Huebsch was no longer a resident of the Village of Golden Valley and, therefore, the Council should decide that the office of mayor had been vacated. He further stated that it is very hard to interpret the meaning of "inhabi- tants', but when the Statutes were written the author's certainly must have had in mind that to be an inhabitant you should be a bona fide resi- dent. In his opinion, he did not consider Mr. Huebsch a bona fide resi- dent and that Mr. Huebsch had failed to answer a direct question as to whether he was a resident or not. It was MOVED by Foss and seconded by Stark that tithe office of Mayor be declared vacated by Mr. Huebsch, Mr. Huebsch having ceased to be an inhabi- tant of the Village of Golden Valley". Member Bies asked if anyone knew of any further proof that the residence at 1600 Chatelain Terrace had been disposed of by Mr. Huebsch. Mr. Pinch, the Village Assessor, upon request, submitted the text of a phone call received by one of the deputy assessors from Mr. L. G. Rouser at about 11:00 A. M. on May nth, 1955• Mr. Rouser stated that he had purchased the house at 4600 Chatelain Terrace and is remodeling the kitchen at the present. The final papers will be signed May 21st, and the First Federal Mortgage Company is hand- ling the transaction. At the moment the house is vacant but he wants to file for homestead as he says he will move in on that date. Mr. Norton, attorney for Mr. Huebsch,asked Mr. Pinch if he did not request a formal application from parties filing for homestead. Mr. Pinch replied that he did not. He further stated that if anyone asks for homestead he gets it. To explain, if anyone makes a false claim he is committing a felony and therefore subject to legal action. In the event that Mr. Rouser is incorrectly stating the case, then he is committing such a felony. As he is already remodeling the home he must consider the pro- perty at 4600 Chatelain Terrace his property. Mr. Norton asked Mr. Pinch which one of his deputies called Mr. Rouser telling him that if he didn't file for homestead his tax would be Mised $150.00. Mr. Pinch replied that he did not know of any of his deputies making such a call to Mr. Rouser. Mr. Norton again asked Mr. Pinch whether hezequired a formal document to file for homestead and received a negative reply. Mr. Norton then asked if the notice of the meeting had been sent to apart- ment 302, Valley Village Apartments at 600 Lilac Drive, to which he received a negative reply. At this point, Acting Mayor Stark pointed out that Mr. Huebsch did not live at Apt. 302. He cited the case in which the mailman in delivering a special delivery letter to Mr. Bryan, the Village Treasurer, asked Mr. Bryan if he knew where he could reach the Mayor to deliver a special delivery letter. He, the mailman, stated that the letter was addressed to Apt. 302, Valley Village Apts. but that the management had a different leasee for Apt. 302. Member Foss stated that in his opinion, even though Mr. Huebsch owned property in the Village, because he lives elsewhere he would not be a bona fide resident of Golden Valley, Member Bies asked Mr. Norton if he believed that Mr. Huebsch was a resident of Golden Valley. Mr. Norton replied that Mr. Huebsch was a resident, a living resident, of 600 North Lilac Drive. Attorney Kane asked the lawyer on what date Mr. Huebsch moved into Apt. 302, Valley Village Apartments at 600 North Lilac Drive. Mr. Norton replied that prior to May 5th, 1955, the apartment was under- going repair and that Mr. Huebsch could not move in before that date. Attorney Kane asked Mr. Norton where Mr. Huebsch slept prior to moving into 600 North Lilac Drive. Mr. Norton replied that he stayed at home (4600 Chatelain Terrace) and at the lake residence as necessary, and now stayed at the apartment. Attorney Kane asked Mr. Norton if Mr. Huebsch were the leasee of apartment 302, Valley Village Apartments. Mr. Norton replied that he has received information to that effect. Attorney Kane then inquired as to the source of Mr. Norton's information. Mr. Norton replied that all his information was received from Mr. Huebsch. Mr. Norton in reply to a question as to who was paying for the cost of repairs of the building at 4600 Chatelain Terrace, replied that he did not know. Member Foss asked Mr. Kane whether Mr. Duff Spencer, of the lden Valley bond attorneys, had any occasion to call Mr. Huebsch after the meeting of Thursday evening, May 5th., 1955. Attorney Kane xeplied that Mr. Huebsch had asked Mr. Spencer to call him and inform him of the proceedings. Mr. Spencer called and reached Mr. Huebsch at Greenwood 3006, the phone at 1823 So. Highway 101, and not at 4600 Chatelain Terrace. A roll call vote was taken with results as follows: Member Bies Yes Member Foss VD , pr,,Huebsch KV Abssent Member Rahn Yes Member Stark Yes Member� asked the Village Attorney if it was necessary to have the Village Clerk declare the office of Mayor vacant, Attorney Kane'replied that it was not. Member Foss requested permission to read a prepared statement which he wished put in the records. The statement is as follows: Member Foss's statemntof May 7., 1955 I feel that at this time it is advisable to clarify some of the misun- derstanding that has existed during the time this question has been under consideration. As you know., Mr. Huebsch has seen fit to make this a personal issue on his part in which he has seen fit to accuse me of a variety of things. On April 19th., 1955, at our regular meeting I asked Mr. Huebsch a very simple question "Are you still an inhabitant -of the Village of Golden Valley?" He refused to answer., using as an excuse that such a question was not on the agenda of business for that evening. He then promised to make a statement on this matter at our next regular meeting on May 3., 1955. Two of the trustees agreed to give him this additional two weeks time to prepare an answer to this "difficult" question so no further action was taken that evening on this matter. On May 3rd., 1955, Mr. Huebsch did deliver his statement. He first accused me of "Pearl Hal-bor" tactics in directing such a difficultquestion at him on April 19th. Certainly the simplicity of the question., its public nature,, and its critical effect on the legality of our proceedings with his status in doubt belies such a ridiculous accusation. His stateTgent then continued in the same vein of personal accusations against me nc*eof which had any bearing on the question at hand. Next he proceeded to argue that such a question was a mere technicality., but mthing could be further from the truth because legally he cannot retain his office in this village unless he is an UbIl inhabitant and I am sure the citizens of Golden Valley would insist that their officials be bona fide inhabitants of Golden Valley. Nowhere in his talk did he answer -our question. When he had firiished his speech the bond attorneys pointed out the fact that Mr. Huebsch had failed as of that moment to sign our recent 1.,000,000 sewer lateral bond issue which were to be delivered to the purchasers Friday, may 6th, 1955. At this time,, to prevent jeopardizing this issue with its excellent interest rate., the council agreed to take no action on this question until Thursday evening, May 5th, 1955, for no other reason than to give Mr. Huebsch an opportunity to sign these bonds. Such a meeting was then duly called by two trustees. On Thursday afternoon at 3 P.M. I received a call from Mr. Kane., our village attorney., to the effect that Mr. Huebsch had signed 999 of the 1000 bonds involved but refused to sign the last bond. I then made a hurried trip down- town to the offices of T. G. Evenson and Company in the First 11ational Bank Building. Mr. Evenson's firm was retained to handle the sale of these bonds. Present were Mr. Evenson, Mr. Kane, Mr. Spencer., whose law firm est furnish the legal opinion on these bonds,, and Mr. Whitney. At this time Mr. Kane and Mr. Evenson informed me that Mr. Huebsch had said he would not sign the last bond unless the council agreed to again take no action that night on the question of his status ' but that he would sign it if we agreed to hold the meeting at his pleasure. on lhmday evening., May 9th, 1955. 1 was amazed that any man would use the sale of public bonds to force a delay of a decision as to his right to contiue in a public office. I was told that Mr. Huebsch would return to Mr. Evenson's office shortly to see if we had agreed to his terms. At this time Mr. Evenson called the bond buyers in Chicago to inform them of the situation and told that they could not accept these bonds unless their attorneys would approve it the next morning. I then returned with 14r. Kane to his office to await Mr. Huebschts decision. No decision was reached before 5:15 P.M. Thursday so I drove Mr. -Kane home. When we reached his home Mr. Spencer was on the line waiting to talk to Mr. Kane. After a short conversation., Mr. Kane said that Mr. Spencer and Mr. Huebsch desired to talk to me. When I picked up the phone Mr. Spencer said that Mr. Huebsch had agreed to sign the bond upon two conditions, and then proceeded to put Mr. Huebsch on the phone. Mr. Huebsch then informed me that he would sign the bonds if; 1. 1 would see to it that no action was taken on the question of his status that evening. 2. That I would agree to his desire to meet on Monday evening to discuss the question. I told Mr. Huebsch that in the first place I was only one member of the Council and could not decide for the other members and that also he was gambling with the sale of a million dollars in public funds in order to extort a promise out of me. He said that his conditions still stood so therefore to prevent any further delay in the delivery of these bonds and to protect the village, I agreed to his conditions and that is why this council could take no action at its 7:30 meeting that evening. Such is not the case, now, the bonds have been delivered and paid for and I believe that the people should know these facts. Mr. Huebsch is not an inhabitant of the Village, he and his family now reside at 1823 South Highway 101, the buyer of his home has already filed. homest ad exemption an the property previously owned by Mr. Huebsch in Golden Valle#Y. It is nay opinion that not only is Mr. Huebsch no longer mayor of Golden Valley but that also he has exercised the worst possible kind of bad faith on the people and officials of this village. Signed: Trustee Attorney Kane called attention to two letters written by Mr. Huebsch, one of which was written by a stenographer, a member of the Village staff, but never sent; this letter was ordered destroyed by the Mayor. The other letter had been duly signed and sent. Attorney Kane requested that the above two letters be included in the records. Mr. Norton, attorney for Mr. Huebsch, objected to the inclusion of the one letter which had never been published. Acting Chairman Stark asked if signa- tures were affixed to either of the letters. Attorney Kane replied that a signature was not affixed to the first letter but that the second one had been signed and copies sent to all members of the council. Acting Mayor Stark then replied that the matter of inclusion of the first letter would be decided at a later date. Mr. Ogard, Acting Secretary, requested that the minutes of the meeting be edited by the individual councilmen and other village officials before final submission for approval. Mr. Norton requested that he be permitted to edit his own statements prior to their being written up in final form. Both requests granted. MOVED by Hahn and seconded by Foss that the meeting be adjourned at 12:41 o'clock P.M. Motion carried.. Acting Mayor Stark recommended that Mr. Norris Ogard. be appointed acting clerk for the purpose of recording Council action of the instant meeting. MOVER by Foss seconded by Rahn carried to approve the recommendation of the Acting Mayor. r Ac ing Mayor Attest: Village Clerk