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Last updated on Wednesday, March 12, 2014
(INDIANAPOLIS) - A special investigating committee looking into a lopsided lease deal for the troubled Regional Operations Center is taking legal action against the city.
Subpoena demands ROC documents from Indianapolis attorneys, officials
Updated: Mar 11, 2014 12:21 PM EDT
By Sandra Chapman - Bio | Email
The Committee voted 6-4 to issue a subpoena demanding city attorneys and public safety officials turn over 30 documents. The move comes after two failed attempts to issue subpoenas.
The measure passed Monday night after the committee added Frank Mascari, another Democrat, to the ROC investigating committee.
No legal action was taken against the owner of the property Alex Carroll. On Monday, Carroll turned over personal loan documents from the deal.
The city will have two weeks to turn over the records.
The ROC was evacuated in September of last year because of safety concerns. It was supposed to reopen at the end of the month, but because of delays getting permits, the Public Safety Director now says IMPD will move back in by the Indy 500 race weekend in May.
Work at the ROC has once again hit a snag, despite a fix-it plan approved in December.
"We are just simply waiting for the city to finish that permitting process and then we're ready to rock and roll and get the work done," said David Brooks, an attorney for 401 Public Safety.
Brooks says the company is handing over 20 records with more than 600 pages, including Alex Carroll's confidential financial papers.
"All the things that would just be financial business of a landlord," Brooks said.
Included in the handover is what Carroll got paid up front and, more importantly, where the money came from. The issue first surfaced last September during a sit down interview with 13 Investigates.
"You get paid your fee up front, so we've been paid," said Carroll. "We were paid a nominal fee up front to allow them to lease the place to what amounted to $9 a square foot."
Now, Carroll and his attorneys are revealing what they previously wanted secret: a $9.6 million loan Carroll obtained using the city's low bond rating.
Off the top, $1.4 million was used to pay 401 Public Safety's existing mortgage on the ROC property. Another $5.6 million was put into a construction escrow account for labor and materials and $1.5 million went to cover financing costs and surveys. What was left was pocketed by 401 Public Safety as a base lease price payment of $1.1 million.
"He got that money, (it did) not come from the city, it was part of the loan proceeds and he ended up paying almost all of it out in tenant improvements," Brooks said.
It's been five months since Public Safety Director Troy Riggs ordered everyone out of the building because of fire safety concerns. Many of those concerns were in the lower level.
Today, Carroll says no one was ever to occupy the basement, but says IMPD began using the area for storage when officers moved in.
401 Public Safety says it's ready to make the safety upgrades, but with no permits and months of delays, it appears plans to move IMPD back in by the end of the month are in jeopardy
Records show 401 Public Safety is making a profit. The company is due to get $800 a month from each lease payment over the next 10 years. That figure jumps to $7,000 a month during the final 15 years of the loan.
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