Before the Fort Thomas council meeting Monday, member Adam Blau emailed a letter and packet of information to other members. In it he outlined his concerns about actions by Mayor Eric Haas in the time leading up to the development of the One Highland project. In fact, he asked the mayor to resign.
Blau also shared his concerns at the council meeting. They centered on the mayor’s involvement in the development of the property at 25 North Fort Thomas Ave., the former BB&T Bank. He accused the mayor of using his authority to influence the outcome of that project.
Blau said he had been meeting with Tim Schneider, the city attorney, and City Administrator Matt Kremer to express his concerns and to find out what legal action might be taken. He asked council to decide what to do next.
“I believe the information I have disclosed between Mayor Haas and the council overwhelmingly shows that Mayor Haas abused the information he was privy to because of his position as mayor of Fort Thomas. He then used that information to become personally and financially involved in the One Highland project by agreeing to purchase the BB&T building from Greiwe Development if the city didn’t approve Greiwe’s proposed development plan,” Blau said.
At the city council meeting on July 15, 2019, Blau said Haas was the deciding, tie-breaking vote on this deal that put the responsibility and liability of the BB&T building back onto the city, “the vote stated the city would have the responsibility of purchasing it back from Greiwe if certain conditions were not met.”
What happened in 2019
The proposed One Highland project, which now stands at the corner of Highland and North Fort Thomas avenues, consists of a main three-story building with retail on the first floor and 18 condominiums on the floors above. The BB&T bank building was next door. Part of the development plan was to turn that property into a family-style restaurant.
The city’s comprehensive plan had called for a restaurant in the Central Business District, and city officials expressed a desire to have a restaurant as part of the proposed project.
BB&T owned the building and had set a deadline for sale of the property. Greiwe Development agreed to purchase the building. However, the developer expressed concern about finding a restaurant before the BB&T sale deadline.
Haas then stepped in and agreed to enter into a personal agreement (called a “put” agreement) to purchase the BB&T Bank property from Greiwe if a proposed development agreement with the city was not approved. The agreement was for the city to purchase the building if a suitable buyer could not be found by the deadline. The cost of the building was $825,000. (In the end a restaurant company was found and, instead of purchasing the property, the city arranged for an interest-free forgiveable loan to the restaurant.)
Greiwe released Haas from the put agreement in June 2019, a month before city council was to vote on whether the city would agree to purchase that building.
The mayor responds
Haas said he did indeed enter into the put agreement to ensure a restaurant would go into the space, but he said he did it to solve a problem and does not believe he did anything wrong.
“Several attorneys looked at the situation. Not only Roger Peterman, who was on council and does this type of stuff for a living, but also Jann Seidenfaden who was the city attorney. So when I made this offer, they didn’t express any concern at all. All they did was express appreciation for the fact that I was willing to potentially put up my own money to keep this development plan alive,” said Haas.
He said that if the attorneys had said his action would look bad or dishonest, he would not have made the offer and would have looked for a different option. As it stood, he said, they expressed gratitude.
“The put [agreement] was released in June, a month prior to the actual vote,” said Haas. “So, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no issue here. If council or anyone wants to pursue this further, there are methods to do so…I’ve been cooperating and will continue to cooperate with providing any information that anybody needs about this.”
Council to discuss hearing
Blau accused Haas of using his influence to have the city take over the financial commitment of the developer.
“Regardless of Mayor Haas’ intentions or any advice he may have been given, I can give you 800,000 reasons he should have disclosed this not only to council but to the public. I’ve done everything I can to try and ensure this gets handled properly. Which is why I urge council to have a hearing to discuss how we would like to proceed with this matter moving forward now that I’ve provided all the information,” said Blau.
Council members said they had many questions and wanted answers, but most had not had time to read and review the materials. Only Blau and member Jeff Bezold were on council when the One Highland project was in development. Bezold was absent from this council meeting.
Kremer said council could set a special meeting and go into executive session to discuss the matter and decide on next steps. He said there are two options if council decides to pursue the matter. Council could hold a hearing, but that is usually done when impeachment is under consideration. The other option will be to send the matter to the Ethics Board.
“There would be a complaint filed to the Ethics Board to look into it. They would make their determination. And whatever their determination, if they found any evidence or anything, then it would go back to council for discipline. At that point council could do a separate investigation, if that was deemed necessary moving forward. In Tim’s and my opinion, this should be an Ethics Board investigation,” Kremer said.
Council members asked to set a meeting soon with all involved to discuss the matter further. Kremer said he would set a date for the discussion soon.