Law Department

October 30, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
I am disheartened by the inaccurate and malicious statements made by Ald. Zima during the
press conference he called today regarding the Hotel Northland. In it, he accused not only the
Mayor of wrongdoing, but also me and Dr. Kevin Vonck. These issues have been vetted in
public for the last 10 months, and at no time has Alder Zima taken the opportunity to discuss any
of these issues directly with me. We have been forthcoming throughout this entire process, and
have answered all questions by alders when asked. To put it simply, we did not offer money to
settle the private dispute between Mr. Harenda and Mr. Frantz. Claiming that we did is an
absurd spin on the situation. We were asked to mediate a quickly deteriorating partnership, and
in doing so, were asked to support a request to the Council and RDA for certain funds. We made
clear that RDA and Council approvals were necessary, and that any contribution by the City
could only be used for the Hotel Northland project. In addition, the Alder alleges that the City
caused the defaults with Huntington Bank by going outside the disbursement agreement. This is
patently false. The City distributed the funds with the consent of all the lenders, including
Huntington, and the Borrower defaulted, not the City. The implications that City officials
misused City funds or somehow acted inappropriately with City finances is untenable. While I
have yet to receive a copy of the complaint, I look forward to cooperating with any investigation
in this matter so that we may put these allegations to bed once and for all.
Sincerely,
Vanessa R. Chavez
City Attorney
(920) 448-3080

100 North Jefferson Street Green Bay, WI. 54301  920 448 3080  Fax 920 448 3081 
World Wide Web http://www.greenbaywi.gov