Common Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, thank you. Back in open session. Okay, we have Exhibit 9877, Resolution to Withdraw from the Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium, sponsored by myself and the Finance Committee. Mr. Smith.

Mr. Mayor, I would move for the adoption of Exhibit 9877. Okay, motion by Smith.

Second.

Second by Arnett. Okay, questions, comments? Okay. Mr. Berg, go ahead first.

I'm going to make comments that are meant to hopefully generate more discussion on the topic. Let me start off by saying that I do a lot of different kinds of real estate, but primarily commercial. And when I do commercial real estate for leasing buildings and or selling, I have to figure out how am I going to find a prospect? And I can start with a sign and put up a sign in front of my property that I'm trying to sell or lease and I'll get some response based on that. But to do a better job, I have to go and I have to put it on what they call different commercial websites. Some of them you might know LoopNet, CoStar, Crexie is a national property drive and our own company has a website. I put them on those in addition to the sign, I give myself a much, much, much better chance of getting a phone call or a lead or a prospect. And for me, it's on that same analogy right now that we're talking about here. And that is economic development, which is making our city more thriving in areas that we feel are appropriate. We don't want to be Oconomowoc and we don't want to be Sun Prairie, but we want to have momentum. We want to be vibrant. We want to have increase in property valuation. We want to have growth because those make the property valuation better. They make the cost of living better and the quality of life better. That's why it's so important to have growth in a city. And that's why it's not easy as a city. We are in intense, and I mean intense competition with other cities. And we know it, but it's getting more intense all the time. And The Department of Administration said that as a state, we're sort of stagnant. We're not growing. But within the state, there's areas that are growing and have growth. We know Dane County has a lot of growth. We know Waukesha County has a lot of growth. But other than that, where is the growth going? That's the question for us as community leaders trying to make our town more appealing to people for living, working, and shopping, and all that kind of thing. It's not easy. It is not easy at all. And I've done it for 32 years. So I know a little bit about the topic. And I've actually leased up and sold a lot of property in Watertown, which I'm proud of. But it's no easy task because Watertown has different degrees of momentum and it's got things that are very helpful. But it's also, when I call prospects, they say, well, Ken, Watertown's not on our radar. We don't view Watertown as being place we want to be okay fine so my point I'm making by giving that example is that we spend millions of dollars on police and fire for all the right reason we spend millions of dollars a lot of money on streets for all the right reason look at what we put into economic development and we there's direct and indirect type of examples of economic development where we We put money into Main Street. Well done and well justified. We put money into VanderWaal Associates. It's needed and justified. But economic development, you know, is always an area that, you know, it's shortchanged. When I was on the council years ago, I tried to get an economic development person under John David and it just didn't happen. It wasn't viable. It wasn't justified. We couldn't make the case for. We finally have someone You know, and, uh, and, and now tonight we did move her up to 30. 31 or 34 hours a week, which is, is great, but it's not an easy or it's not an easy, either. We have her or we have the county. It needs to be both. We can't do the job of economic development by just having Deb Seibel, uh, address the issues of, of that topic. We need to be doing things, uh, countywide and we need to be doing things regionally. We need to be doing things everywhere we can to try to promote our city in the widest, broadest possible example. And I gave the example with me. And I think it applies to what we're doing here. I was at the meeting on Monday for finance. And tonight in the paper is David Schrader. He's telling a story about why he wants us to remain in the Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium. This is a man and his investment group that just bought Breslos. He already bought Johnsonville, and we're going to do something hopefully with that project. We're waiting for it. It's been a year, but hopefully soon we're going to address and deal with Oxbow. That's an $18 million project. So, I mean, that was his land. He's a landowner. He's not involved in that project other than being the landowner, selling it to them, which is up in the air yet because it hasn't happened. but he just, we just saw it in the paper. He bought it through an auction. He owns Breslau. He wants to do more development in our town, but he's telling us that we need to stay active. We need to be covering all our bases. And I'm telling you as a person, how hard it is to have economic development, to spend dollars, you know, at the county level, in addition to what we're doing locally is money well spent. They talk about penny wise, pound foolish. And I'm saying to you, we need to ask ourselves, are we being Pennywise pound foolish, uh, by trying to disconnect from a program that is working for a lot of people? Why isn't it working better for Watertown? Um, you know, I did call Deb, uh, Reinbold and asked her a little bit about her duties. She gave me some of the things she's doing as a person or Watertown. I could read them, but I think right now I'm not, I'm just going to tell you that she feels she's done her job. And she's viewed favorably on a larger scale because she gets recognition for being top executive for the work that she does. So it's obvious that other people view her favorably in the work she's doing. I'm very disappointed in the areas of where she apparently has dropped the ball with Watertown. But it doesn't mean we disconnect. For me, it's actually reconnecting and working on the problem areas and making those areas a strength instead of a weakness. You know, I don't just disconnect because of a problem. I feel the value is so strong to be part of that program that to disconnect is a mistake. It sends all the wrong messages. There's people looking at our town right now, and they're asking, you know, is Watertown a good place to put money as far as a business or to move there as far as a home? or to do apartment projects or any kind of commercial for business. They're looking at our town all the time. And we need to be on the side of being receptive and helping them with that decision. But it's not easy. I was just reminding myself when I talked to Deb Reinbold, she said, one of the things that works against Watertown, we have 60 acres of land right now that's viewed as commercial. It was bought by wastewater. and Pete Hartz, who does a great job for us, and he, in his own way, made arrangements for 60 acres or whatever it was, roughly 60 or 65 acres to be used by the city for development and for marketing. We have that example. Our industrial park is rented up and is sold, and everything's full. We can't do anything more with the industrial park. It retired. It's done. We have land that we thought we were going to have over by farm and plate, and 110 acres just went to the McFarlands, and they bought the land in a way that was disappointing. Now it's got a farm obligation or a farm type of use instead of being commercial or residential. Big mistake, but other than that example, Where do we take people when we say, you know, you know, places they can go other than a 60 acres, they could maybe do a contract himself and ask the city if we want to cooperate. We would, we would do it. The other towns in large part have land available. They even might even, they might even have in place. So my point is that we're not getting phone calls like we should, or also we don't have some of the things they're looking for, uh, in our favor. And the Department of Administration made an error when they told the city of Watertown, and I saw it in some of the reports, that we were projected to be going down in population going forward. And I know that our mayor, and I think even our elder person, Arnett, from Public Works, have refuted, and we told them why that, Information is wrong. And I know Pete Hart's has told him why it's wrong. But that information is somewhere available. And if that stuff comes out and becomes discussion, it works against us as far as a town they want to come to. So we have to turn that around the narrative and make it positive. Because those things are not helping us. And that's why we're not getting the phone calls. When I don't get calls, I get a lot of pressure. to make something happen, but I have to say, maybe my marketing's not as good, maybe I change my sheets, do whatever I can to make my information more available and more appealing. As a city, we got the same obligation, and that's to do the same thing. I'm on the side of, I would be on the side of favoring tabling this today, and then during that time of tabling, we can, well, we've already paid for 26, so we're not gonna have obviously an obligation on that, And I think we work with the county executive and we work with what's going to potentially happen with a restructuring of that. Thrive Ed, although, you know, from what I hear is still going to be there. It might have a different type of structure in some way, but it's still going to have the basic components going forward. Thrive Ed will be the operational side. And that's going to be there maybe with a different funding source to some degree, but it's still going to be there. And I feel we are in a stronger position if we table tonight and we then work with them between now and the end of the year to get, because we're going to have potentially some changes that are being looked at organizationally by Watertown Health Foundation and Thrivent and Jefferson County and maybe Dodge County. These partners can have their discussion. There have been some talk they might have an update by July or August. If they do have that by July or August and we know something more, then we can evaluate that. And they'll at least know that we're a partner like everybody else, instead of us being on the outside, not wanting to be in. And I just think it's the wrong message to send. And I can't, when Mayor Stocks had a conversation with somebody from the Daily Times that went into an article in the paper. And based on the article, and it was just him telling his intent to have that discussion in the paper. But that triggered people that were then upset. And it went on, you know, places where I saw some of the comments that was there. And, you know, I respect people like Robert Marchant, who was our chairman for RDA for several years. people like Dave Schrader, people like Nate Salas from Moss Brothers, people like Andy Grinwald, who's active downtown in our Main Street area. All those people, they want us to continue. They feel that it's sending the wrong message and giving us the wrong appearance for people that are looking at our town for investment. or to have a business or to live here. I just feel we have leverage and we can do something, but it should be in the context of us being a current member because we've already paid and then negotiate some kind of a plan between now and the end of the year between the mayor and Michael Luckey, who told me that he would be willing to go to his board and ask for a proration if we ever want to disconnect in 2027. I'm obviously trying to hit on a lot of the points. Our budget is $22 million. That doesn't take into account water or wastewater or all the tips we have in place. $22 million. You look at the dollars we're allocating for economic development, it's comparatively peanuts when you look at that versus other programs. So let's be not penny wise and pound foolish. Let's be on the side of absorbing this, knowing that any lead that we get could turn into a big lead. Any lead that Robert gets because of a phone call from Deb or somebody in that program could be the one that gives us a large business or a large other type of company, something commercial that could be very beneficial to Watertown. And I wait for that phone call all the time. But it does happen. You give yourself chances by being a member. You're not there if you're not a member. And I don't believe they'll work with people that are currently, and Michael Lucky said, they have an obligation to serve the people that are current members. And if you're not a member, you're not going to be on the same page as far as getting the attention you should. So that's some of the points I want to make.

Mr. Smith, go ahead. I think the vision that I have here described by Alderman Berg is exactly what all of us would like to see come to pass. The current model is not working. We are not, number one, the notion that we have cut any prospect of working favorably together with the county ends with the notice provision in this resolution is totally wrong. We will continue to be a member of JCEDC for the next six months. We will be a dues-paying member for six months. What this is intended to do is to recognize the fact that our relationship with economic development through the county is not working well for us. This sends notice that we are serious about expecting a meaningful improvement over the next six months. If we see that, we have every option of reconnecting in a way that will provide a brighter future through a better organizational structure and better performance by them in behalf of the city. Right now, I don't see how we've markedly changed our position and our relationship with them or the benefits that accrue to us from them since the time we had the last conversation in this regard in the last budget time. And I believe that until we prove the seriousness of our intent, which this resolution will do, we are going to continue to find that there is inadequate performance and that we are not receiving the benefit for which we are paying. This is a notice. There's a six-month grace period the county has to begin to perform in a meaningfully improved way. And if they do, I think everybody here is going to be open to the opportunity for a renewed commitment. If that doesn't happen, we have at least given them the opportunity to show that they are concerned to the point that they're willing to take our expressions of dissatisfaction into account and improve. Until we do, until we pass this resolution, until we give this notice, it will not happen. This is an effort to promote leverage and ultimate improvement. Without this, it's going to be the status quo, which is totally unsatisfactory, and as far as I can see, will not change any more in the next six months or one year than it did in the last six months. And that's why I support this resolution. And I believe it's in our best city's interest. And whatever the message that people interpret, it is intended to be an effective means to promote the city in a meaningful way to accentuate the prospect for economic development.

Mr. Lampi. Thank you, Mayor. As you probably know, I'm a huge cheerleader for ThriveVet or any of the economic development groups that help in Watertown and as well as city staff who perform economic development functions as well. I'm also in favor of renewing and revising the relationship with Thrive. And some of the announcements that we've seen recently, whether that has been news about potentially moving to Watertown or increasing the coverage of the organization, lead me to believe that there's opportunity to more fully participate as the largest community in the entire area that would potentially be served. However, I am probably going to vote no on this resolution for two reasons. One is I do believe negotiations could continue and be effective without this particular notice. And the second is that I have been contacted by a number of employers or potential contributors to the community that have expressed some concern with this particular notice as potentially being seen as a vote of no confidence that could potentially impact ongoing economic development efforts.

Okay, nobody else has spoken yet. Mr. Arnott, go ahead.

Thank you. So, just as a reminder, this is not a new process. We were here six months ago. We expressed very specific concerns, and those concerns have not been addressed at all by this organization. That's why we're back here. If they had shown movement, if they had brought data, this would be a different conversation. They didn't. That's why we're here.

Okay, I'll go last then. The others have not spoken yet, Mr. Byrd. You already did. I have a tape from Michael Luckey I'll read out. I'm grateful for the council and the mayor's continued collaboration as we examine, alongside Dodge County, our many private business partners, our municipalities, and the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation, ways that we can better align all services to address the needs of our region. Conversations on the structure of JCDC are ongoing, and all parties are interested in ensuring that we have the right resources, whether staff, organization, or funding, to accomplish our shared priorities. Michael Luckey, County Administrator, Jefferson County, Wisconsin. My statement with a little Michael Lucky adding into it. The City of Watertown is providing notice of its intent to withdraw from its current agreement with JCDC in accordance with the contract requirement for a six-month notice period. The City of Watertown recognizes the value of regional collaboration. We appreciate the important work JCDC has undertaken to support economic development in the greater Jefferson County area. Partnerships require built trust, effective communication, and transparency. As JCDC explores structural and governance changes, it will be important that the city has a meaningful voice in shaping the future. Over the next six months, the city will thoughtfully evaluate future opportunities for partnership and determine the best path forward reflective of the city's priorities and interests of all stakeholders within both Dodge and Jefferson counties. We're hoping to close the communication gap and build a stronger relationship that's open and transparent. There's also a fiscal consideration. The city has an obligation to its taxpayers to carefully consider its investment of resources. Currently, every citizen in Jefferson County is paying $1.50 to JCDC through their county taxes, approximately $21,942. The current contract requires the state to pay an additional $1.50 per citizen residing in Jefferson County. An additional $21,942. JCDC is in discussions to add Dodge County. This could potentially increase the state's financial investment by another $12,000 per year, equal to $1.50 per Watertown resident living in Dodge County under the current membership dues model. Watertown, split between Jefferson County and Dodge County, is the only municipal member of JCDC that faces this prospect of dual county membership. The Jefferson County Administrator also indicates that the structural changes being discussed might also include a change in the fee structure, which could lower the municipality's base allocation and shift towards more of a fee-for-service model. Staff from JCDC visited with City staff this past Monday. They were a great conversation, and we plan to meet monthly to help open up the communication lines. The City anticipates rejoining JCDC in 2027, contingent upon confirming cost share obligations

and finalizing the operational structure benefiting watertown to support full participation okay mr blankey go ahead sorry to have to go after your statement but um i'm really struggling with this issue because both sides make compelling points. On the one hand, Alderberg is absolutely correct. It's Pennywise pound foolish on a $22 million budget to not spend 22,000 on effectively the we'll use Ken's real estate analogy again, not effectively only listing your city in the daily times instead of on MLS. At the same time, as Alder and Annette pointed out, we have an issue of communication. And six months ago, we were asking for some form of metrics as to what's being done, and that's not happening. So this is a difficult decision because I think there's a lot of value in what they do. It's casting the wide net instead of having a narrow focus. But as a statement you just read, you anticipate us joining in 2027 after we see how the new board and organizational structure looks. So I think at this time, giving the six months notice, to end at the end of this year with the intent of joining in 2027 after we've seen what the new structure looks like I think is prudent.

Nobody hasn't spoken yet? Mr. Molnar, go ahead.

Excuse me. I would have to agree with Oliver Blackie. I think that giving them a notice and letting them know that we're watching, do we want to see what's going to happen in six months? Excuse me. We're letting them know that we're watching what they're going to do and that we're not really satisfied with what they have done, but they have an opportunity of six months to give us a a future window of what they could do. And maybe it's a good way of nudging and pushing to get them to correspond and be a little more active in what they're doing, which they're not doing right now. And I would have to agree with Alderman Blankey's remarks.

Okay, at least two of the others.

Good. Good.

Everybody spoke already, Mr. Berg? Okay. Okay, Megan.

Mayor Stocks, I understand everybody get a chance to make their comment, but everybody has. I want to make an additional comment.

Yeah, make it quick, Mr. Berg.

The point that we've made to different degrees is that we see the value of economic development. We know why we need to be a partner in a program that has benefit for bringing in prospects that might be businesses or investors and or people that want to move here. It helps. And this program with Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium is viewed very favorably on a bigger picture. to the point where I got note of, it's called Mad Waukee, Mad Waukee Corridor. It's the Dane County, Waukesha County type of corridor. And it had become very appealing for investment people to be somewhere in that corridor, which includes Watertown and the area around I-94. And that Mad Waukee Corridor, is something that Deb Reinbold and their program have emphasized. And they've made it into a topic that has picked up a lot of appeal in a larger audience as far as our area around Watertown. It's more than Watertown. It's in areas within the state. And it's because of some of the efforts they've made on a big picture, larger scale that are benefiting us in indirect ways, which we will again, see benefit from that program. A lot of times you participate, you involve yourself in programs and you wonder, you know, where is my bang for the buck? Where is my value of what I'm paying in? You can't always see it, but the next phone call that comes in could be because of, and what they've done with that Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium and with Thrive Ed, They've actually made Jefferson County an appealing area for moving to residentially and for commercial. They've done their job on a big scale. They clearly have done some things wrong in our view with our city. But those are the kind of things you repair and you improve on in the context of salvaging the relationship because of all the value of that relationship. That's why everything I know is if we continue And then we end up seeing what might play out as far as a reorganization. If it happens with Watertown Health Foundation, if they do become a player in helping to finance in a different way, then that'll be publicly known. And everybody that is a current member will be told for a continuation of membership, this will be the way it's going to be. And we'll be treated as an equal because of our continuing role and not showing our intent to disconnect. So I just feel it sends the wrong message, and I feel there's something that's going to happen in the next two or three months, four months maybe, and it's going to actually have an ability for us to then react favorably. And I think you have a relationship with the county executive, Michael Luckey. I'm sure that he will treat us in a fair, good way. So I just have a lot of confidence that we can actually have this work in our favor. We just need to be patient. We need to show the areas of dissatisfaction and get them to improve on those areas. I'm told about the MOU and the fact that it didn't get to the right people until a later time than we thought. Why did that happen is beyond me. But there's communication and it's not all with the executive director, Deb Reinbold, as far as being at fault. There's a lot of things that are areas for improvement. But I would be on the side of making a motion to table this and let this play out in the next few months in the context of us being current members.

Is that a motion, Mr. Byrd?

It is.

Motion by Byrd. Okay, I'm not here in a second. Okay. And Mr. Berger, I agree with you. I'm trying to salvage that relationship and it's getting better every day now. Okay. Ms. Haas, go ahead.

So as I mentioned earlier, just even in our conversation now, there are still a lot of unknowns. We don't know what the organization is going to look like after the restructuring. We don't know if we're going to have better communication, and we would be taking a gamble on just... you know, letting this kind of ride out and waiting for it to renew, auto-renew. And so I think that it would be a better idea to just, at this time, end the membership. And hopefully we will, you know, we'll get a better understanding of what the plan is moving forward, even just organizationally, because again, I would also not want to see us rejoin a membership and have the organization be going in a completely different direction than Watertown is trying to go. So that's another thing to look at as well. So I think, again, a lot of unknowns and yeah, I think it's a good idea to just not renew right now.

Okay. Okay, Megan.

Smith?

Aye.

Arnett? Huss? Aye. Moldenhauer?

Aye.

Lampe? Burke?

No.

Ntuki? Aye. Blanke? Aye. Motion carried.

Thank you. Okay. Mr. Blanke's original motion here. Business.

Okay. That was two and a half hours ago.

Yeah. Okay. Convenient closed session for Statute 19.85 to confer legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning a strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved. Claim of Jay Wellman.

Mr. Mayor, I move to go into closed session for the stated reason.

Motion by Arnett and second by Lampe. Okay.

Arnett?

Aye.

Pass. Aye. Moldenhauer? Lampe? Burke? Ntuky? Aye. Blanke?

Aye.

Smith?

Aye.

Motion carried.