Members of the Niagara Falls City Council will make another attempt to approve the payment of $4.029 million to a South End landowner, as part of a court-approved settlement of multiple lawsuits, at their regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday night.
The effort comes just days after an attorney for the landowner, Niagara Falls Redevelopment, demanded that the Falls immediately make the settlement payment, or face a new legal action.
The resolution, sponsored by Council Member James Perry (D), directs the city controller to make the payment to NFR by drawing funds from the city’s Tribal Revenue account. Mayor Robert Restaino had previously submitted resolutions asking that the money to pay the settlement be taken from the city’s General Fund balance.
A majority of council members have said they would prefer to use Tribal Revenue funds, which flow to the city from New York state under the terms of a gaming compact with the Seneca Nation of Indians. Those members also said that Restaino had indicated previously that funding to acquire the land for the proposed Centennial Park project should come from Tribal Revenue.
The most recent attempt to approve the settlement payment came at a council special meeting on July 17. That effort failed on a tie vote, with Council Members David Zajac (R) and Perry in favor of the resolution and members Vincent Cauley (R) and Bridgette Myles (D) opposed.
Council Chair Brian Archie (D) was excused from that meeting.
In a letter to the Gazette, Cauley, who voted to approve the settlement agreement, wrote that he did so only “because I wanted to protect the undesirable expenditure of additional funds to the eminent domain case” that spawned the multiple lawsuits tied to the agreement. Cauley, who was not a member of the council when the eminent domain proceedings involving the proposed Centennial Park project began, wrote that he “would not have voted to do so, if I had been on the council. I do not support this action.”
The council member wrote that using money from the city’s General Fund balance to pay the settlement was “completely unacceptable” to him and that “until recently, it was understood that the funding source would be casino funds, thereby not impacting the taxpayer.”
“It is my deep concern that this project is not in alignment with the priorities of our community at this juncture,” Cauley wrote. “I don’t want to obligate the taxpayer for any cost associated with or accruing any debt regarding the Centennial Park/Event Center project.”
Cauley, in his letter, did acknowledge that “NFR is entitled to payment, and the city is obligated to comply.”
Myles said her opposition to making the settlement payment also “goes back to the funding source.”
Acting City Controller Maria Brown, in a memo previously sent to council members, wrote that the General Fund balance was a better source for covering the settlement cost.
“From a financial management standpoint, using the city’s fund balance for this land acquisition is the more fiscally responsible option than using Tribal Revenue funds,” the controller wrote.
But Myles said the memo wasn’t signed by the controller and questioned its contents.
“The controller should come to the council and explain (her opinion),” Myles said. “From the get-go this was not a good process and we’re stuck paying this.”
In his letter to the city, NFR lawyer John Horn “demands” the city “promptly pay the $4.029 million” due to NFR as part of a stipulated settlement order signed June 12 by State Supreme Court Justice Deborah Chimes. The settlement, previously approved by a closely divided City Council vote on June 3, requires the city to pay NFR $4.029 million to cover costs associated with the company’s decision to “donate” 10 acres of its South End property to the city so it can be used for the development of the proposed $210 million Centennial Park project.
The settlement ends four separate lawsuits between the Falls and NFR, over the city’s bid to acquire property for Centennial Park using its power of eminent domain. It also clears the way for NFR to pursue its plan to develop a nine-structure, $1.5 billion data center campus in the same area of the city.
Horn warned that if the settlement payment was not made “by the close of business on Wednesday, July 22,” he had been “directed by my client to request judicial intervention … to compel the city to pay the settlement sum.”
A frustrated Restaino said Wednesday evening, “I sent the letter to all of them. This is a real problem.”