CORRECTION:
Sheila Muehling, AZGOP treasurer: “I have to make a correction. We deposited $790, 882.61.
That was after realtor and sale fees. It was not $890,000. Editor’s Note: Muehling is referring to a 4-18-22 Briefs posting
regarding the sale of the AZGOP headquarters. Muehling’s rapid response to
reader’s questions/concerns is greatly appreciated. – ft
Correction to
Correction: According Finance Report $$789,593.13 was received
Question are they wrong? According to two (2) CPA’S the sales
price of $850,000.00 should have been shown on report as a sold asset and of
cost of sale shown as an expenditure.
Considering all the questions
readers have regarding the
AZGOP Headquarters 4-15-22 Briefs Briefs asked
AZGOP Executive Treasurer Sheila Muehling this past weekend for:
1.
copy of the purchase
contract for the old AGOP building on 24th St.
2.
the cost of the lease
for the new location.
Muehling quickly responded: “I am sorry but I do
not have a copy of the purchase contract with the buyer of the 24th Street
address. I never asked for it and saw no reason to.
Question? Shouldn’t an
elected treasurer have COPY ALL DOCUMENTS pertaining to finances?
We sold the building for
$100,000.00 more than the appraised value. The contract required nothing in the
way of improvements as a condition of the sale of the property. It was sold as
is. I wish people would use their heads and think about what we were dealing
with by keeping the property. Here are just a few of the issues.
1.
The sewer system was
completely crushed under the building from age. It had been showing issues by
backed up toilets for several years but no one, not (former Chairs Robert)
Graham and (Jonathan) Lines or (current chair Kelli) Ward in her first two
years paid any attention to why the plumbing issues were there.
2.
As a building
contractor, I gave an in-depth review of the condition of the building
including plumbing, asbestos, roof issues, mold issues, electrical issues, security
issues as it relates to the Internet and Wi-Fi connections. That was in the
first quarter of Ward’s first term. No one wanted to address the issues.
Everyone was ok if I, as a contractor, wanted to donate the upgrades but
putting money into the building was never something anyone wanted to consider.
When I asked Lines about getting his roofing company in to update the roof
system he said he would but never did anything.
Question? As a reputable contractor I’m sure that is was
obvious that the condition of building was from many, many years of neglect?
3.
The 24th Street building
became a magnet for the homeless and drug pushers. Ward approved numerous
cleanup efforts and we asked Phoenix PD to patrol the area both in the daytime
and at night. That never happened. They told us to post signs saying private
property.
4.
Employees, GOP PC’s and
our constituents did not want to go to the building during the day because of
homeless people approaching them. Every morning our receptionist Felecia had to
pass by a sleeping woman on the bench at the front door. The day time was not
great but the nighttime was very dangerous. I personally would never go down to
the building by myself after dark. You couldn’t leave the building without more
than one person towards the end of our ownership.
5.
The last straw was
finding asbestos in the drywall, ceiling and flooring. When we had to open the
wall due to the flooding of the toilet we were advised that people working in
the building were being exposed to a dangerous level of asbestos.
Leadership looked at remodeling and adding a
second story to allow for more meeting space. That was doable but we had two
major issues:
1.
Cost to build up because
we could not expand the footprint was astronomical. With the plumbing and
asbestos issues, we would have had to gut the building and start over.
2.
With the additional
space we had to also add additional parking. There was nowhere to get the
property to create the parking the city would have required.
All of the above and many other related issues left us with no choice. Sell the building, rent an office to get through the next two to three years and buy or build a new office closer to the state capital.
Question? Why close to Capital that location is not any safer than 24th St. If the goal was to be closer to Capital why rent space in far North Scottsdale? Why Not Camelback Corridor or Central?
This was
our long-term goal. With that goal in mind, we put the $890,000 into a
protected account and started looking at a plan to raise funds and invest in
the future. That was the unanimous vote of the members of the Executive Board.
A bylaw was passed at the annual meeting
prohibiting this money from being used for anything but investment in a new
headquarters for the AZGOP.
Question: I’ve read Bylaws four (4) times and haven’t been able to
locate a Bylaw being passed. Could it have been a resolution? Where would be a
copy of said document?
On your second question, we pay $4803.79 a month
which includes all utilities except our COX expenses.”
Question: What is square footage of new space? How much per square
foot?
