City Attorney Confirms City Seeking to Sell City Cable Out From Under Citizens

Feb 07, 2014

I was in the courthouse today for a hearing and after court was adjourned, I walked up to City Attorney Wally Duncan and DAR Reporter David Silverberg.

I said, “Hey, Wally, can you tell me when the City will be closing on their sale of City Cable?”

Duncan stood still and silent for 20 seconds and then responded, “Nothing I can tell you.”

The DAR Reporter stated he would look into it as another story.

But then, Duncan said “How did you find out about it?” <-- confirmation! I turned so that Bill Bach, seated in the gallery could hear and said, "I can assure you I did not hear it from a council person. You have leaks within your organization you have no idea about. There are people who do not like how you run things. Especially the selling of bonded assets out from under the citizens of this city." It has been communicated to me that those involved in the sale have been given strict instructions to conduct their due diligence secretly, complete the sale before April (eg, the next City Council election) and without Brian Becker finding out.

This raises huge questions:

    Can the city sell City Cable without voters consent?
    Can City Cable be sold out from under the bond holders?
    Can City Cable be sold without bidding it out?

Citizens of Poplar Bluff, demand that any sale of major assets be done in an open, legal and transparent manner!

  1. Joe Public

    the only difference between this group of people and Russia is the location. They are without a doubt some of the most underhanded people you would ever want to meet. If they are doing something you can bet your bottom dollar its as illegal as it gets

  2. Barry O

    The local newspaper is corrupt and in the pocket of the corrupt city council and chief of police. For instance last year when Rodney Green stole a rifle and shot two people, you never heard how just a week earlier he was arrested in Dexter and a PB local bondsman “bailed” him out. When in reality he was just let go because he was an informant for the Semo drug taskforce. Then when he was arrested aga In he was placed in an area of the jail that the sheriff admitted was a known escapes route. When he was caught again it was in a salvage yard that was owned by the police chiefs family. Now supposedly his family has nothing to do with it anymore, but I know of a business that one of his friends “sold” but the new owner has let slip that the original owner is a silent partner. Crap like this happens all the time in Poplar Bluff. Like Whiteley being given his chief of police job when he ran for sheriff so many times and lost. Corruption abounds in Poplar Bluff and Butler County.

  3. Lonnie

    I just moved to Poplar Bluff, so I don’t know that much about the city council and all that but from what I have seen of the city cable , selling it is not a bad idea. Based on the rates and programming in other places I have lived and what you get here it would be a really big favor the citizens if they did.

    1. Brian Becker

      Lonnie, no one is saying that it is a bad idea – we don’t know. This is about corrupt government officials making backroom deals of assets they do not own nor have the authority to sell without the Citizens who voted to build the network. An open and transparent process would be to get the MOST out of the deal by allowing a public hearing and discussion. What if a group of businessmen from our community were interested in owning this network? Is it okay for the City to take a loss on the sale? And who decides it is a loss, we’ve shown three times here where they make up numbers to make it what they want it to be. There are many questions…and absolutely no answers at this point so it is too early to say whether it is a good or bad deal.

  4. Alan

    Funny how the DAR is going to look into this, and now they are running a story about how Brian’s Court Case with the City is still going on…

    1. Brian Becker

      Alan, I’m just glad the DAR reported that the City won’t transfer electric bill to the new company. Bluff Technologies has the lease agreement, the business license and has had the space inspected by the city inspector and fire department…but the last time I went in Bill Bach told me that until Wally gives him the go ahead, they will not transfer the electric bill to Bluff Technologies. That’s the kind of underhanded and petty stuff I’ve had to deal with since this all started.

  5. Scott

    Brian…. you are great! I only wish you had taken a pic of Wally’s face. I have known the Duncan family many years and am really disappointed that Wally has gotten comfortable massaging the truth and bending rules to please his handlers. We appreciate you keeping the light of truth shining on their shenanigans!

  6. Bj Rexroat

    Is this new information? Because then I understand why I have not read it in our local newspaper. They always keep us up to date and fully informed.