Mayor: Land deals have to go through council

Mayor Lionel Rivera testified in court Thursday that he and the City Council have the sole authority to approve city land deals, contradicting previous testimony from a former top official for Colorado Springs Utilities.
Rivera's testimony came during a jury trial in a lawsuit against the city filed by a Colorado Springs man claiming a breach of contract when the city allegedly backed out of a contract to sell him land it owns in the middle of one of The Broadmoor hotel's golf courses. Ted Rubley wants $3.7 million to compensate him for profit he claims he would have made from building and selling six luxury condominiums on the 1.8 acre site.
City attorneys contend Rubley had only a preliminary agreement to buy the land for $850,000, not a final contract. The final decision had to come from the City Council, which rejected the deal in February 2006, city officials said.
Rivera backed up that account, citing provisions in the city Charter that reserve final authority over land deals for the City Council. Any deal would not be complete until the mayor signs documents conveying the land title to the buyer.
"The only way I can sign those documents is when City Council gives me the authority to do so," Rivera said.
The land is owned by the city government and controlled by Colorado Springs Utilities, a city-owned business.
Rivera's testimony contradicted former Utilities CEO Phil Tollefson, who was in charge when the city's real estate office identified the land as "surplus property" and put it up for auction. Rubley was the only bidder, and in 2005 he signed a contract with the city saying the transaction would go through with City Council approval. Rubley claims that provision was removed in a subsequent version of the contract, and Tollefson had authority to complete the deal.
Tollefson said in court on Tuesday he had authority to sign contracts and sell land without the City Council's approval and that he had done so on multiple occasions. Rivera challenged Tollefson's account and criticized the former Utilities chief.
"Mr. Tollefson, in my opinion, provided us limited information with the purpose of leading us in a direction he wanted to head," Rivera said.
"Did Mr. Tollefson feel that the rules applied to him?" asked Will Bain, an attorney for the city.
Rivera replied: "Apparently, in some cases, no they did not. He felt he could do what he wanted to."
But Rubley's attorney, Greg Walta, repeatedly pressed Rivera about city laws and policy that he said granted Tollefson authority to sell land without the council's OK. He cited a part of the city Charter that says Utilities property is subject to the bylaws of the Utilities Board, which is made up of members of City Council. Those bylaws grant authority over land matters to the Utilities chief, Walta said. That's true, said Rivera, but it doesn't remove the City Council's final authority over land sales.
Although The Broadmoor is not named in the suit, Rubley contends the council reneged on the land deal under pressure from resort officials who didn't want a condo development in the middle of their golf course. Rivera said the Council wanted to retain the land for potential use as a water-storage site. The city bought the land from The Broadmoor in 1973 from the Old Broadmoor Water Co., and the two water tanks on it were used for years afterward. The tanks remain on the property, but they haven't been used in several years.
Attorneys are expected to finish their arguments today, when the lawsuit would go to the jury.