Calling LakeExpo 'FAKE NEWS,' Osage Beach Mayor Reveals Two Other Developers Want The Outlet Mall

Osage Beach Mayor Michael Harmison Sr. took to Facebook on Wednesday in response to an editorial published by LakeExpo.

He called our editorial "FAKE NEWS" and disputed claims he says we made in the editorial. He also revealed, "I have recently had 2 other developers wanting to redevelop the mall." However, he refused to send us his response for us to publish, despite our request. Since he posted it publicly on Lake area Facebook pages, we've republished it, verbatim, below.

LakeExpo has been in communication with both the developers and city officials throughout the past year, previous to the new mayor's election, as we covered the unfolding saga with the outlet mall.

The catalyst for our editorial this week? The city’s plan to adopt a dramatic change to its TIF policy, in the wake of the outlet mall fallout. With the city board meeting coming up quickly, we thought we’d bring this major proposed policy change to light. When we asked the developers what they thought about it, they expressed genuine shock: this was the first they’d heard of the policy change.

Before publishing, we called Mayor Harmison to get his perspective. He texted saying he couldn't speak with us until Wednesday afternoon. We published the editorial (below) on Tuesday night.

The Outlet Mall Deal Is Dead, And Osage Beach Is Doubling Down On The Fear That Killed It

Hopes the Osage Beach Outlet Mall would be redeveloped are all but dead. Developers who floa…

At 10:31 Wednesday morning, the mayor texted: “In light of your misinformed article today, I am going to respectfully pass on getting back with you this afternoon. FAKE NEWS at its finest!”  

We replied expressing concern over this claim and offering to talk, issue clarifications or corrections, or even publish a written response from him as a letter to the editor. He refused, simply responding, “I have other avenues that I will be giving my firm response to the miss information provided in Lake Expo. This is a perfect example of why our society is sick and tired of false reporting!!”

In the interest of fairness and so the LakeExpo audience may understand the mayor’s position, we have opted to publish—verbatim—the mayor’s post, below.

Sadly, this article is a perfect example of FAKE NEWS and why our society is so frustrated with reporters attempting to make news & creating division instead of simply reporting the news. Beginning tomorrow, I will be going on several local radio stations to, once again, reveal the facts surrounding this issue. This agreement was canceled by the developers NOT by me, the Alderman or the City! After THEY cancelled the agreement, I met personally with Dan Foster on July 7th and he advised me that they wanted to get things going again which I agreed would be great. Since that time, we have literally heard NOTHING from them, yet this article is writing making me, the City Attorney and the Alderman out to be the bad ones Killing the deal and making this project go “dark, for good.” (silly journalistic embellishment) And in typical, modern age “journalism” fashion, The author even inserts a READER POLL slanted to fit his narrative. Of course, only providing his readers with the false information, the response to this poll is going to be, yes Osage Beach should issue a TIF. The author also writes that the hiring of Columbia Capital was the “final straw”. This is simply journalistic laziness. Had he researched this, he would have seen that the developers also did not like the Cities 1st draft of the redevelopment agreement. They had the opportunity to change, request changes, add or discuss removal of items to move on to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. draft, however, THEY instead, quit and stopped the process. And yes, Nathan, I have recently had 2 other developers wanting to redevelop the mall, however, it is currently being tied up until the current developers make a move. Yes, The City of Osage Beach has had successful TIF’s and bonds, however, they have never paid out PRE-CONSTRUCTION BONDS as requested in this TIF. All of the others have been pay as you go. Paying developers MILLIONS OF DOLLARS BEFORE a single bit of construction takes place is very rare and not something we believe the tax payers want to risk. The Outlet Mall will be redeveloped & we believe a form of public support will be important in that effort. However, allowing the city to fully investigate any investors financial risk is absolutely what residents expect and deserve. They do not deserve, false statements, false information and slanted claims in an attempt to side step the process.