I picked up a pile of paper two weeks ago at my Lakewood Village Hall.

It took hours to flip through.

Twice.

I can’t tell you I fully understand what was provided and I have no idea what was not provided using the exemption that it was still in draft form, but I did find some interesting stuff.

For example, at the end of the election campaign, Trustee Richard Sexson wrote in a campaign mailing that the SportsPlex was “currently a dead issue.”

That was at the end of March, first of April.

On March 20th, Lakewood Village Administrator Catherine Peterson wrote a memo to the Village Board in which the following paragraph on development was included:

Development – Based on discussions with elected officials, it is apparent that there is no sufficient support to move forward with the proposed sports complex.  The developer is out of town and will be notified on Monday to cease all efforts.  The matter will not be placed on an Agenda for further discussion and/or a vote.

Paul Serwatka’s sign hits property taxes, the Tax Increment Financing District and the SportsPlex. It went up the second week of March.

That sounds pretty straight forward.

Was that the final word?

Let’s take a look at the lead-up to the email and beyond.

In a March 3rd email Assistant Village Administrator wrote in an email,

“Looks like we are putting the Sportsplex on the agenda next Tuesday along with our budget.”

That same day Geoff Dickinson of SB Friedman Development Advisors wrote Peterson about a “first draft.”

“I welcome your comments.

“This was written pretty much is [in] one shot and I haven’t re-read it as closely as a normally do given the rush.” [Emphasis added.]

[Note that the election was less than a month away.]

Something happened, because it didn’t make the March 10th agenda.

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More tomorrow.