As predicted the ‘forensic audit’ of the Ely Historic Rail Road found no evidence of criminal wrong doing and the most egregious finding in the report had already been reported before.
“I am very satisfied with the outcome.” said Rail management board chairman John Gianoli.
Gianoli long with Rail Road executive Director Mark Bassett were the two of the biggest ‘bad guys’ styled by proponents of the audit
Spurred by allegations of fraud by Councilman Marty Westlund the Ely city council voted to budget $10,000 the forensic audit at over the strenuous objections of the Rail Roads director Mark Basset and the Rail Road Management Board.
According to Westland said the committee hasn’t help answer the council’s questions.
“We haven’t gotten answers to the questions we had from the committee,” Westland said.
“The trustees have never given a written request of concerns to the management board, so how are we supposed to give answers when we don’t even know the questions,” Bassett said. “What Westland forgot to mention was that there were no city council members in attendance at the last ad-hoc committee meeting.”
The Ely City council had been involved in what can only be described as a power struggle with the NNRR. But now that the audit is finished, published and accepted both sides have made peace offerings.
“I must admit going thru the window, although legal was not my smartest move. I hate that I got mike (White Pine County Commissioner Mike Coster) involved by asking him to go in for me. My fat ass would not fit in it. I was going to break in the door which would have destroyed the door and window.” wrote Ely City Councilman in a Facebook post. “I even sent Mark Bassett a text telling him I don’t want to have to break a window. Not my smartest move and am sorry about it now. Thank God Mike answered when i called him he talked me out of breaking the 100 year old door and window. Please don’t blame mike for my stupidity. Thank him for saving the door and glass. I am glad cooler heads prevailed that day. It is amazing what 12 months of asking and getting no answers will do to a guy. I handled it wrong. I hate Mike taking heat for my mistake, Thanks to him no damage was done.”
“The following is an e-mail I received from Mark Bassett. I am looking for support so the Mayors veto is not overturned in next Thursday council meeting. The Mayor and I would like to ask for your opinion on this issue. If you would like to make a statement that would be read in the public comment period of the meeting please send me an e-mail about your opinion. Or send it to city hall to Jennifer Lee asking your comment be read in public comment. Her e-mail is jlee@elycity.com Thank You for your support.
—–Original Message—–
From: Mark S. Bassett <mxbassett@sbcglobal.net>
To: Bruce Setterstrom <bruces1958@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, Mar 6, 2015 5:54 pm
Subject: Mayor’s Veto and City Hall
Bruce, I just tried to call you. I reviewed the agenda and saw that there will be an attempt to override the Mayor’s veto on the purchase. Since you voted against the purchase I thought I would reach out to you and share some of my experiences with historic buildings.
City Hall is a historic structure. Because it is historic, it is eligible for grants. Here at the railroad, we have received and spent about $2,000,000 in grant money on our buildings. This was $2,000,000 that did not require a match. Other than administering the grants, it was a “free” $2,000,000. This type of money can be gotten for City Hall. It is not easy, nor does it happen over night but the railroad is proof that it can happen.
If you sit down with a clean sheet of paper, you can design a City Hall rehabilitation that turns our current City Hall into a community showpiece. Staying in City Hall shows the community that it is worth making an investment in these older buildings. If you leave City Hall for the old Join Building, you are essentially saying that these old buildings in Ely don’t matter. Is that the message that you want to send out to the community especially since you are trying to beautify the downtown?
I was a Main Street Project Manager in Laramie Wyoming years ago. What the City of Ely needs to do is become a Main Street City.http://www.preservationnation.org/main-…/about-main-street/…
This is a program that can turn around our downtown and our community.
I have attached before and after photos of the McGill Depot. All of this work was done with grant money.
I will be out of town Sat – Tue. I may have e-mail or cell service. Feel free to contact me if you have questions.
Mark
The rapprochement between Setterstrom and the Rail Road is encouraging if it develops into a peace but that may have to wait for the June Ely City elections.
While Setterstrom has two years before he must seek re-election the same cannot be said for Westlund.
And while the Rail Road Board might seek detente with Setterstrom that might not be true for his friend.
The railroad board pointed its finger squarely at former employee and current city councilman Marty Westland as using his position to wreck revenge on the rail road.
NNRR Board members and Bassett have long accused the Ely City Council and most particularly Westland of using the audit issues to get back at the organization and Bassett, the man who fired Westland several years ago.
In t a long list of Westland actions both before and after he was elected to the city council in 2011 where he inserted himself into NNRR operations is enumerated including the setting up a rival corporation, using the NNRR logo, writing up unfounded safety violations, and interfering in a grant application that may have cost the rail road over $10 million.
In an interview with the Advocate Westland openly questioned whether some of the expenditures listed in a $72,000 loan Bassett made to the rail road could be justified and should be paid back.
click for complete audit:Bertsch WPHRF Audit
But while the $72,000 loan and an additional $95,000 from Bassett to the NNRR raised a justifiable red flag to the corporations auditors Westland’s troubled history with Bassett and the NNRR management board begs the question if the brouhaha over the audit is real or an excuse for revenge.
In the last city election the self described reform movement took the majority on the Ely City council. What is striking about the reform movement was that very few if any of its candidates lived in Ely for more than 10 years if that.
