DEFAULT IS NOT IN OUR STARS, BUT IN OURSELVES: Part 7 — Risky Monkey Business (It’s Only Worth The Paper It’s Printed On)

INTRODUCTION: The Michigan Statute of Frauds requires certain contracts to be in writing in order to be legally enforceable in court. Included in the list are contracts that cannot be completed within one year — like the redevelopment of Bay City’s Wenonah Park, overseen between 2017–2023 by Mike Bacigalupo, former head of the State Theatre.

However, it turns out there never was a formal, written contract between the State Theatre and Bay City for the years-long project, only a “verbal agreement with the City of Bay City to build, insure, and maintain the pavilion, accessory building, and the band shell Wenonah Park located in downtown Bay City.”

Need proof?

Here it is!

Surprised?

Shocked?

Stunned?

Nah, just another day in “Mr. Bacigalupo’s Neighborhood”.

SMALL TOWN…HUGE FRAUD (First in Stupidity, Last in Honesty)

This stunning nugget of truth has appeared in the State Theatre’s publicly-available “Financial Statements and Other Supplementary Information” since 2017.

However, that detail was left out of a March 13, 2017 City of Bay City document prepared for a Finance Policy Committee meeting held at the DoubleTree Hotel to accommodate the overflow.

Sure makes that $900,000 Michigan Revitalization and Placemaking Program (RAP) grant for a purported “multi-phase Wenonah Park project” look more and more like a “Bacigalupo Bailout”.