The fire review panel spokesman calls the Sofa Super Store fire report complete, comprehensive and fact-finding. They were ready to release it this week when the mayor said no.  At least one councilman plans to ask the mayor to change his mind at tomorrow night's council meeting.

“The taxpayers paid for this report, Meryl. Yours and my money and we deserve to be able to see it and we deserve to be able to see it the minute it was given, the minute it was finished.  Its been finished and we cant see it,” said councilman Tim Mallard.

But the mayor claims the report does not yet do what the city paid more than one hundred thousand dollars for it to do.
    
That is, to serve as an over-arching report which includes the findings of other agencies-     agencies which have not yet finished their reports.
    
The international association of firefighters calls that a “fake excuse,” saying the mayor is trying to bury this report.
   
News Two’s Meryl Conant sat down with the mayor today about these claims and about the skepticism now surrounding a report that is supposed to be independent.

“What do you say to the critics who say ‘how can it be independent if he can control when, then perhaps he can control what?’”

Riley responded, “The mayor cannot control what. So if anyone says that that is wrong. I have not seen it and I won’t see it and it will be independent. But, my job is to make sure it is complete.”

There also has been speculation that the mayor made this decision to protect the city from any liability in the fire.  When asked if that was true, the mayor adamantly said no.   

We will have more of our sit down interview with the mayor tonight at 11.