by Reverend William Englund, pastor of First Baptist Church of St Paul

More than a decade ago, in an attempt to not appear to raise taxes, the City of St Paul began to aggressively assess nonprofit properties. Because First Baptist Church owned property on both sides of a block-long freeway exit, we began to feel the painfully expensive effects of this unfair assessment policy. Members of the church approached City staff several times to address this unfair situation. We did not receive satisfactory responses to our appeals. We needed help.

I asked John Mannillo for a recommendation for legal counsel and he said he would talk to someone about our situation. Within a half an hour, Jack called me, and we set up a time to meet and discuss our case.

And as Humphrey Bogart said at the end of Casablanca, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship”. Over the next ten years, we had a remarkable partnership with our warrior lawyer.

Jack methodically worked with us and others who were also being illegally taxed. He would appeal and lose, appeal and lose. There was always one obstacle after another to be overcome. A member of our congregation, Scott Nordstrand, (now a judge in Wisconsin) worked tirelessly with Jack and others in developing sound legal arguments. Most of the time the discussions were pretty much over my head, but I gained a great appreciation for Jack’s diligence. Scott commented to me “Jack just didn’t know how to lose.”

Even after a Minnesota Supreme Court victory, Jack still had to deal with spurious arguments put forth by the City. It was like a game of “whack-a-mole” at an amusement park. Jack’s faithful persistence finally prevailed.

Not long before he died, a City representative called him to tell him that they would not be appealing Judge Awsumb’s latest decision in our favor. 

Well done, good and faithful servant.