Are unilateral Mayoral decisions holding up development?
In November, Mayor Olson sent an email to all the aldermen related to the powers of the Economic Development Commission (EDC). In his email, he stated, "The EDC will develop a workflow and procedure for the Buxton contract." Buxton is the Retail Development Consultant hired by the city. The consultant was featured in a previous article discussing how they are in a "holding pattern" of sorts when it comes to reaching out to prospective retailers. The administration, Mayor Olson in particular, has been the crutch for this situation.
The Mayor believed the letters which would be drafted and sent by Buxton on behalf of the city cannot go out until the EDC created an "internal communication plan" to address a phone call or email that might result from a business showing interest. In addition, as previously reported, he also wants an Economic Development Director (EDD) to take this role. Both issues are being labeled as overly restrictive when city staff is being argued as being able to handle the possible communications.
Council President Kristen Wilhelm, who also serves as Council liasion to the EDC, had some remarks about the situation.
"His unilateral decisions, without consultation from the Council, placed upon Buxton to not release the letters is overly restrictive to the process in light that he had previously appointed Senior Planner Nick Fuchs as the main contact person in the related Buxton matter." said Wilhelm.
"It's important to note that at the Special Meeting of the Council, held on November 4th (Election Night), the question on who the contact person would be arose. The aldermen attempted to insert a contact name into the motion." Wilhelm continued.
"The Mayor stated, "We'll talk about it later", which did not happen. There was no "later" Council input or vote, but yet another unilateral decision that came by email to all the aldermen stating his appointment."
To recap, the actual first objection, which resulted in a long delay for creating the letter to retailers, was due to no staff appointment. That was resolved by the unilateral decision he made when he appointed Nick Fuchs. Once the letter was created, the next objection to not release the letters was because he believed the EDC needed to write their "internal communication plan" in order to take a phone call from interested parties. The third reason for Mayor Olson not releasing the letters is because an EDD has yet to be hired.
To date, Senior Planner Nick Fuchs is still employed by the city and can answer phone calls or reply to emails.
The EDD position has been approved by the Council and now lies with the Mayor at this point.
The "Internal Communication Plan" was prepared and presented at the EDC meeting the same night the 76th/Rawson/Loomis commercial district concept maps were presented. As stated in the article related to these maps, they were made officially public that evening due to them being shown in a public meeting, but unofficially kept under wraps by a Mayoral statement that they weren't ready to be made public.
Section 10-8 of the City of Franklin Municipal Code gives the EDC the authority to "promote and enhance the City of Franklin; to actively pursue, within the goals and guidelines of the Common Council of the City of Franklin, Wisconsin, commercial and industrial business development/investment for relocation into the City of Franklin to achieve a balanced tax base." Therefore, the EDC is under Council authority, not Mayoral authority. All of this makes the issue of Mayoral delays and holdups a larger concern as the division between Mayor Olson and the Council grows.