Bidwell has already been paid $150,000 plus expenses
According to a disputed contract, the city of Crossville’s Municipal Advisor, Larry Kidwell, was owed a 1% commission worth roughly $400,000 for bond closings on the newly established rec center. However, during the City’s most recent meeting, the council voted 3-2 against paying him those commissions.
This followed a motion by councilman James Mayberry, who says Kidwell has worked with the city for nearly 40 years and has played a significant role in bringing the new recreation center to the city.
“This was initially discussed in our work session last week,” Mayberry said. “And the discussion boils down to the fact that Mr. Kidwell has worked for the city of Crossville for 36, 37 years as our municipal advisor. He’s had a contract for all these years, and the discussion at this point is whether or not his contract is valid.”
Mayberry said the contract reads:
A fee of 1% of the municipal securities that the company provides for municipal advisory services leading to the closing of transactions valued, acquired, or divested by the city … If written termination of this agreement is not tendered by either party 180 days before the end of the term of this agreement, this agreement will automatically renew as per the original terms of this agreement.
“There was a big discussion early on about how the property taxes were going to go up due to paying for this facility. Another discussion was the annual expense of operating This facility. Mr. Kidwell had worked with the YMCA to join and accept operating the facility, which is saving the city millions of dollars over the years. He also created a sports authority entity part of the city that would eliminate the property tax for financing the facility, So it’s totally financed off sales tax revenue. Plus, there’s a commitment from the YMCA to have a capital campaign on this project. So, he’s very instrumental in helping this all come to fruition.”
Despite debate over the validity of the contract due to a date discrepancy, Mayberry said the contract was still valid. Councilman Art Gernt disagreed with paying Kidwell and said as much.
“I can’t support this,” Gernt said. “I’ve thought about it and thought about it. Everybody knew what the deal was; he went into a totally separate entity, a different nonprofit corporation was acquiring the bonds. He had to go in and get contracted with the sports authority, who is asking for the bonds to be issued. The agreement was offered, accepted, and that was going to be the deal until the last second where, and I mean the absolute last second, when we get a bill for $600,000. It’s not fair to the taxpayers to pay this. If a judge tells me otherwise, so be it.”
Officials have agreed to pay Bidwell $150,000 plus any expenses.
“And that’s a fair compensation,” said Gernt.
The motion failed 3-2. James Mayberry and Mark Fox voted for and Art Gernt, Mike Turner and Mayor RJ Crawford voted against.
Photo via the City of Crossville.
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