At the Camp Verde Town Council meeting on April 4, the dispute between the Wischmeyer family and the Town of Camp Verde seemed far from resolution. Accusations of bad faith abounded, and both sides rejected the offers made to resolve the conflict.
But the two parties have been meeting since then, and both sides expressed optimism that a settlement could be reached quite soon.
“We just talked about the details that we need to get better defined in what was generally agreed upon from council and the Wischmeyers,” said Town Manager Russ Martin. He said both parties are close to agreeing on plans for how to accommodate the park design with the Wischmeyers’ property on the edge of the proposed site, but still have to agree to specific language for a legally binding settlement. “Now we just have to get clarity and definition. We’ll get that next week hopefully.”
The Wischmeyers’ lawsuit was filed against Mayor Charlie German on Feb. 28, when Cheri Wischmeyer served the mayor during a council meeting. Some of the lawsuit’s central claims that the plans for the park were developed outside of public meeting framework and that German held a conflict of interest as an owner of property near the proposed park site were dismissed by a judge, but that judge nevertheless requested that the parties come to an agreement on the interaction between the park land and the Wischmeyers’ property.
“I would be hopeful that we can come to some kind of an agreement,” German said.
The Wischmeyers have expressed a desire to get things finished quickly, and some frustration that they feel the townis slowing things down. The two main issues left to resolve remain the exact position of a drainage swale on the edge of the park that the Wischmeyers want to keep away from their property, and the specifics of what kind of vegetation will be planted at the edge of the park and where. The Wischmeyers say they have proposed resolutions to both that they think the town will accept, but are just waiting to hear back.
“I believe that the council wants to resolve this,” Cheri Wischmeyer said. “But I’m not good at the waiting game.”
Town officials have repeatedly stressed that they have every intention of getting started building the park as soon as possible, and that they won’t let the lawsuit get in the way if things can’t be resolved quickly. Nevertheless, they expressed hope that issues could be resolved soon and lead to an amicable agreement.
“Now it’s just a matter of making sure we can now move on from it,” Martin said. “I’ve had issues with the Wischmeyers before and we’ve been able to move on from those, so I don’t anticipate it’s going to be any different here.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551 or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
