Requesting records to learn how the city almost sold Wyatt Street to a teen

And what the slow response says about the state of records requests in the city

The Wyatt Street duplex that never was. The Wausonian requested emails between a would-be 17-year-old developer and the city’s community development manager. The publication received them earlier this month.

When it came out that the city nearly sold a property on Wyatt Street to a teenager, I requested records between Community Development Manager Tammy Stratz and the would-be developer, Gunther Nowak.

I did this because I think many of us were curious how this possibly could have happened. Were there signs that were missed? Was there some laxity in the process?

I made this request in June. I just got the records a couple of weeks ago.

After reading through the emails, I was left with two things. One: it’s pretty easy to see how this could have slipped through the cracks. I only found one real clue that might have tipped city leaders off.

But two: the more troubling question is why did it take so long to get the requested records?

We might have an answer for that too.