Carmel mayor under fire

CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) - Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard is under fire.

The council president is accusing him of making secret deals using tax payer money. Now a former city councilman is asking the US Attorney to investigate.

The Carmel Redevelopment Commission is in the hole $200 million, and needs a bailout.

Council members say when they started looking into the "why," they uncovered a secret deal involving Mayor Jim Brainard and a $100,000 tax payer funded payout.

“I think the big problem is this was done in secrecy and there was a big attempt to cover it up,” said Rick Sharp, Carmel City Council President.

Sharp says the secret deal involved former Palladium CEO Steve Libman. He resigned in 2011 after the city hired a private investigator to look into his personal life. Libman later received a settlement check worth $100,000.

News of the payout and the $200 million bailout caught the attention of former city council member John Acceturo.

He ran against Mayor Brainard in the 2011 mayoral race and lost.

“The RDC has created $200 million worth of debt with the sole approval of the Mayor we'd like to know what happened with this money,” said Acceturo.

He contacted the US Attorney's office and requested investigators go through the financial dealings of the Redevelopment Commission as well as the Carmel City Center Community Development Corporation or 4CDC.

“The question we have here is, were federal laws broken by the activities of the 4CDC and the Carmel redevelopment Commission?” said Acceturo.

The US Attorney will not comment on whether he intends to investigate.

24-Hour News 8 requested a comment from Mayor Brainard. We were told he was out of town. His office did not release any statements concerning the issue.