BY BRIDGET THORESON
Journal Times | Posted: Friday, March 28, 2008 12:00 am
MOUNT PLEASANT - The donors of the $10 million gift to Mount Pleasant are a brother and sister who say they have no development ties, according to records.
Emil Ebe, 86, and Lorraine Ebe, 84, gave the donation to be used for the construction of public buildings in a new village complex. The contract was accepted by the village on March 10 and announced the same day at a board meeting. They signed the contract Feb. 29.
The Ebes requested anonymity for their donation. They revealed their names to The Journal Times in a letter after the newspaper filed a request March 17 to view the contract under the Wisconsin Public Records Law.
"We have made this donation to the Village of Mt. Pleasant with no expectation of anything in return from the Village of Mt. Pleasant. We are not now nor have we in the past been developers in the Village of Mt.
Pleasant," they wrote in the March 18 letter. "It was our intent to provide the Village of Mt. Pleasant with a new Village Hall and other Village buildings."
The Ebes are not listed as owning any property in the county other than their residence, according to the Racine County Treasurer's office. They have lived in Mount Pleasant since 1949.
According to the contract, received Friday by The Journal Times, the money is coming from a transfer of stocks and bonds, as part of the estates they have built. They have no direct descendants or close living family members to whom they wish to donate funds, according to the contract. As part of the contract, the village agreed to pay funeral expenses for the donors of no more than $20,000 per funeral.
Attempts to contact the Ebes were unsuccessful. In their letter, they said they were private people and did not wish to be interviewed.
The contract outlines the matter of confidentiality in the agreement.
"Mt. Pleasant will use its best efforts to keep the donors' identities confidential," the contract states. "Donors agree and understand that municipalities must maintain open business records and conduct business open to the public."
In a letter accompanying the contract, Village Administrator Mike Andreasen wrote that the first time he met the donors was when they walked unannounced into Village Hall, asked to see him and said they would like to make a donation.
"These individuals ask no public recognition for their act," Andreasen wrote. "They represent no entity that stands to gain from their gift. They have a simple desire to give back to the Community they love in the form of building the new municipal complex without impacting the local taxpayer, their neighbors."
In his letter, Andreasen asked the newspaper not to reveal the donors' identity. "To risk the exposure of their identity and destroy their sense of security, privacy and anonymity would produce irreparable harm," he wrote. "To invade their private lives unnecessarily would be unforgivable to whoever caused such a breach of trust."
Journal Times Editor Steve Lovejoy said the public interest was served by revealing
their names.
"The donors sent The Journal Times a letter through village officials asking that we maintain their anonymity. Repeated attempts to discuss this directly with the donors have gone unanswered." Lovejoy said.
"While we would like to respect the privacy of the donors, the proposed relocation of the village hall has been a contentious issue in Mount Pleasant, and the $10 million donation has fueled speculation that it might be tied to a developer. The issue has also become a factor in next Tuesday's elections, where challengers are seeking to oust incumbents on the Village Board.
"If voters make decisions based on incomplete information while we withhold what we know, we're not serving as a public watchdog, which is our role," Lovejoy said. "When Mount Pleasant, or any local unit of government, is approached with an anonymous cash offer, they need to understand it's going to raise public interest and media interest.
"While this donation appears to be a benign and civic-minded gesture from two longtime village residents, the next donation might come from someone with other motivations. Village residents have a right to know where such donations come from, so they can judge their purpose and satisfy themselves that village government officials are acting in the best interests of the community. That is the tradition of open government in Wisconsin."