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Candidates wrong in using city property
for political purposes City Council candidates Richard Maddox and Peter Schmidt
wrongfully used city property - the 17th Street Park and city trailer -
for their political sign operation. Maddox who said Sunday
he used the property like it was his own said he had a 'gentlemen's
agreement' to do so. Schmidt
and Maddox's signs sit illegally in city trailer with Beach St. USA
Steve Thompson, the city's chief financial officer who was
detailed by the city manager's office to investigate a story that appeared
on Virginia New Source's web site Monday, acknowledged there was a 'loose'
agreement that allowed Maddox to use the trailer to store his lawn
equipment for maintaining the park. Maddox, he said, is responsible
for cutting the grass. "But that use didn't include
storing political material," he said. He said photos taken by
VNS staff clearly showed Maddox was not using the trailer as intended
under the agreement. He said Maddox's use of the property
will have to 'be revisited' and unlimited use restricted. "We
need to discuss future use," Thompson said. Maddox
also stores his own trailer on the property routinely. He keeps the
lawn equipment in his personal trailer which he pulls from one Dairy Queen
to another to do lawn work. Thompson said if the personal trailer is
used at other Dairy Queen stores, Maddox may not be allowed to keep it on
the property in the future. Maddox who owned the property
gave it up as a public park in a rare sweetheart deal with City
Council in 1994 in exchange for a zoning reclassification allowing him to
build, a Dairy Queen ice cream store, on the east side of Atlantic Avenue.
Zoning prohibits stand alone restaurants on the east side
of Atlantic Avenue, but the city made an unusual exception in Maddox's
case. As part of the deal he was also required to build a
performance stage, operate public restrooms at the 17th Street location
and maintain the park.
He also was $115,000 in tax debt at the time and the city
made him pay the back taxes as part of the deal. But the city then
turned around and spent $130,000 to demolish the old restrooms at 17th
Street. Those responsible for overseeing the use of city property,
Henry Ruiz, resort area manager, and Robert Melatti, of Beach
Events, who uses the trailer during the summer, knew nothing about Maddox
and Schmidt's misappropriation of the property for political purposes,
according to Thompson. Melatti said Monday that while he didn't know about the
misuse of public property, he fully supports Maddox and Schmitt as
candidates for council. Melatti who runs the summer entertainment at the beach
under contract for the city has been meeting with Bruce Thompson,
and Jimmy Capps at the Ramada Inn interviewing council candidates to
determine who'll get their support. Thompson one of a pair
of federal convicts are the city's partners in a plan to build a
4-star hotel at 31st Street and Oceanfront. One official Monday said he finds Melatti's behavior
questionable in playing politics with a couple candidates who are caught
using his Beach Events trailer for politics while depending on the city
for his livelihood and then denying any knowledge of what is going on. WTKR-TV news has a bureau across the hall from Maddox's
office in the Dairy Queen. Maddox's wife was a former WTKR-TV
employee. Maddox campaign has been making political calls on WTKR's
telephone. Maddox said he found nothing wrong with using the phone,
but that it wasn't done intentionally and it was part of a 5-line rollover
system. Monday, however, Susan Maddox told John Wesling, news
director of WTKR, that Maddox would change the telephone system so the new
bureau phone wouldn't be used. It is ironic that WTKR has not covered the beach council
race in which Maddox is involved. Negative coverage of their
landlord's political race could create uncomfortable working conditions.
Wesling, however, said he didn't foresee any problems. Virginia News Source, however, had been monitoring it
since March 31 and found it obvious and blatant. Thompson said there
were no laws broken, but 'the use was inappropriate.' See also: Candidates
use city's property for personal political purposes |
