Tulare City Councilman Greg Nunley is demanding a public apology and a payment of $16.5 million from Tulare City Hall for what he claims is an organized effort to harm his construction and real estate development business.
Nunley’s claims–including accusations of libel, slander and defamation, as well as fabrication of documents and unfair oversight of his development projects by city staff–were presented in a letter signed by Fresno-based attorney James Wilkins and dated March 19. The letter was sent to Tulare City Attorney Mario Zamora.
In his letter, Wilkins claims city representatives “engaged in a course of conduct designed to and has improperly interfered with” Nunley’s various businesses, including Great Valley Builders. Those actions have allegedly harmed Nunley and his businesses, causing “substantial injury and economic damages,” as well as harming their reputations.
The claims made by Nunley and his attorney apparently stem from allegations Nunley’s businesses have failed to pay development fees for several projects, a claim made initially by Visalia-based attorney Michael Lampe, who is currently suing Nunley on behalf of Tulare resident David Frost. A copy of Wilkins’ letter was obtained by Lampe from Tulare City Hall through a public records request.
According to Nunley’s attorney, staff at City Hall allowed the publication of false statements about Nunley’s alleged failure to pay fees on time, as well as his alleged failure to submit proper paperwork regarding his real estate development ventures in Tulare. Wilkins’ letter also claims city staff altered or fabricated documents to support the claims of non-payment of fees and Nunley’s alleged failure to submit proper paperwork for his projects.
Nunley’s claim for payment also alleges the sitting councilman’s development projects were singled out for additional scrutiny by city staff. The alleged discrimination against Nunley includes unfair standards and uneven application of building codes, the letter from Wilkins states. It also alleges Nunley was required to perform additional work not required of other land developers.
To repair the damage to Nunley claims was done to his business and reputation he is demanding payment of $16.5 million dollars, as well as a public apology from City Hall.
Lampe, in a statement accompanying his release of the letter, called for Nunley to remove himself from the City Council.
“Public officials have an absolute obligation to put the public’s interest before their own personal interests. This obligation, legally known as ‘fiduciary duty’, is breached when a public official attempts to benefit at the public expense,” Lampe wrote. “In light of the filing of the attached claim, one would hope that Councilman Nunley will have the decency to resign his council position.”
Apologize, pay the man and stop doing things that are crooked! Learn from your mistakes ppl!
so you think everyone in city hall is all in for being against Nunley?…..that’s quite the conspiracy there Monica.
Really? Between Nunley and Jones you would get the impression they would like to bankrupt Tulare. Tell you flat out Nunley owes lists of people here in town for construction supplies. Guess that is how he plans on paying his Bill’s or for the empty lot next to Evolutions. SMH. Aren’t we just proud as punch of these two crooks on our City Council? But you go right ahead and defend him Monica. 🤣🤣🤣
What world are you living in Monica?’
geesh…..I did tell my kids to vote for Valvadia after the candidate forum…..while Nunley did make some good points, as a developer I could see where his loyalty was going to lay and that’s not what we need on city council.
If you could find the recording of the candidate forum you’ll see exactly what I mean.
Because I can’t get my projects passed through the city, one of his reasons for running.
If anyone pays attention to the city’s budget, isn’t it ironic the amount of the claim is very close to what the city has cash on hand? ($16,742.050) If a council member had the true interest of Tulare at heart, he would not bankrupt the City. There is so much more behind this claim. Nunley has been bullying city staff for years. Please citizens of Tulare and especially members of District 5, please rally at the next council meeting on April 16th to provide comment on why Nunley should step down from his position on council. We made change for the hospital and now let’s change the faces of council.
Wonder if this is the amount needed to settle his divorce andor to catch up on his personal/business bills.
Has the rezoning been completed on the hospital property he purchased? Haven’t seen the 2.1 million in the district’s account yet.
Mr. Nunley represents the district I live in, I whole heartedly believe he should now step down form the City Counsel as he will have to recuse himself from a number of issues now and will be an ineffective leader in our community
PLEASE TAKE NOTE
Nunley makes frequent stops to city hall makes unrealistic demands and harasses staff daily. He laughs at staff and bully’s them with request of records that have absolutely no ties to the current job. Nunley has demanded his own personal contracted inspectors since he refuses to use city inspectors which costs the city four to five times the amount of an in house inspector. Later, it was discovered he wanted an independent inspector since they approve all of his jobs with little to no oversight. He has no respect for staff, managers or policies. He feels staff should attend to his demands first before any citizen anytime he comes walks into city hall. He used manipulation and law suit treats to overwhelm staff. He shared with another council member he wants all city hall staff fired and subbed out to firms regardless if it bankrupts the city. Nunley doesn’t care about the city it’s only his self interest that is of importance. He along with his partner Lucy have lied and created havoc and he feels by telling staff members how rich he is and how many attorneys he has they will allow him to get away with not following the rules.. wrong everyone must follow the rules and city standards he is NO exception
What the heck does Sharon Allison have to do with this article or Greg Nunley’s business affairs OR city hall management for that matter? Absolutely nothing. Sounds like a stretch and someone has their chonis in a bunch and trying to deflect.
1.) Whether or not Nunley’s allegations are valid making a claim like this while sitting on the city council is inappropriate. He should resign.
2.) If you review Lampe’s claim and supporting documents it is clear that either Nunley had fees deferred improperly OR documents were forged/altered as Nunley is alleging.
3.) An independent investigation is the only solution that will restore public trust. Either a city councilman or city staff have acted improperly and likely fraudulently – the citizens deserve answers.
George …i agree with your analysis of the situation. However, the City does NOT need yet another independent investigation. Unfortunately when an issue like this is faced with an independent investigation, the private party (aka
Nunley) is able to tell his entire story even if the facts are true or not and city staff is held to the “public servant” standard where they have to bite their tongue so as to not infer the customer (in this case the Council member) is wrong. So with all due respect, a private investigation is not the answer with this. The answer is for council member Nunley to step down, comes to terms with himself and his priorities (his own financial well-bpeing) and quit blaming the city for his financial woes. He has created his own demise. Not the past 20 years of city management.
Spot on
Monica, really…..Who runs for public office as a councilman in his own town and then sues them. It’s his fiduciary responsibility to put the city and the citizens first, not himself.
Just saw today that one of his good friends/partners in Arizona is being indicted for a lot of wrong doing. Something smells very foul here. Mr. Nunley should resign and drop the suit. It’s time to put Tulare first and quit making a mockery of our little town
We should request documents of how many lawsuits Lampe has do e in the past 15,10 and 5 years. How much has he made from our city. Has anyone asked every law suit he settles how come it’s never public. The Chief and Lampe took $500k in a settlement but no body says their are against the city why?
To Ummmmmm…thank goodness for Mike Lampe for keeping Tulare honest. And for anyone who keeps up on Tulare politics, we know who you are.
The Valley Voice is a real asset to our community and was essential to shining a light on the actions of HCCA and the former hospital board that almost destroyed Tulare Regional Medical Center.
During that time I pointed out to the Voice that anonymous commenters on their news articles were using multiple aliases to spread misinformation about Measure I and proponents of change at the hospital district. The Valley Voice was very responsive and started the commenter ID system, so it would be evident if one person was using multiple aliases.
During that time defamatory charges were made by anonymous posters about my husband,Kevin, and Senovia. Gutierrez. But when you step up for public office that goes with the territory and fortunately the community was not swayed by these lies (even when they came from “bots” outside the country).
Unfortunately, in this thread of comments a defamatory comment has been posted and has appeared for days about a community member that is not a public figure by an anonymous poster. She is not related to the topic of the article, so the commenter appears to take advantage of the ability to post anonymously in a public forum to slander.
I ask that the Valley Voice monitor the comments on their website and remove malicious posts about community members that are not public figures and are not connected to the article.
Chris,
Thank you for the heads up. I see which comment you’re referring to and it’s been taken down.
We have a system that emails us every time someone comments, but there has been an absolute avalanche of discussion on Catherine’s recent Political Fix column that practically drowned out every other comment email coming in.
Thanks, Tony, you’re awesome! I’ll have to check out the PoliticalbFix column!
Better wear some hip boots….. Catherine’s post let a lot of dogs out and they are posting a lot of …..wild stuff! lol
It’s not slander to call a racist a racist.
Nunley and his family or ex family are just trash. Kids think it’s ok to throw their trash over the fence because “someone else has to pick it up.” Our city council needs someone interested in improving the city not just getting his permits pushed through.