3-4-21 email shows fdl city staff was asking for feedback on consultant’s report before it was made public

The group Friends of Lakeside Park is expressing concern about an email that appears to show city staff was asked for feedback on a consultant’s report an alternative Lakeside Park management plan before the report was made public.    An October 19 email, from Fond  du Lac Deputy Procurement Officer and co-chair of the Lakeside Park Management team, Josh Musack, to city staff said the consultant would send him a draft report to share with city staff about a week in advance of their presentation.  Musack said staff could send feedback on questions or concerns in the draft and the consultant would  “adjust as necessary.”    In the email Musack said Johnson Consulting’s preferred option was to locate a restaurant and amphitheater at the Saputo Cheese property, at the entrance to the park,  which was not part of their public presentation.  Fond du Lac city council president Brian Kolstad says it is possible that communication was sent back to the consultant that the “whole purpose of the alternate plan was to have a restaurant near the water.”      “In the end it comes down to this was the plan we were looking at, this was the plan that was approved last year,”  Kolstad told WFDL news.  “Unfortunately it (vote on the plan)  kind of put us in a precarious position with a pending lawsuit, and a very contested election,  that could jeopardize the whole project entirely.”