FOR SALE: The City of Franklin
As discussed in the previous post, FT decided it would be interesting to peer into Olson's recent campaign donations and Mayoral appointments.
Franklin's Facebook Groups have some hard-hitting Olson supporters who have attacked many that dared call out Olson’s actions. Group administrators had to push back when it got too heated, shutting off political posts. During the heat, a few people stood out in their overly-zealous support for Olson, but one person in particular that truly stood out was Doug Milinovich.
Milinovich is known by many for his attacking, often rude posts and posing random questions to Olson's challenger. He made recent claims of being an independent thinker, going as far as posting the dictionary definition of “independent”.
Milinovich, a real estate agent, poses his questions and defends the Olson perspective on Facebook, while holding a seat as Franklin's representative on a 3-member board. The board consists of County Executive Chris Abele, the County Comptroller, and an appointee of respective Mayor (or Village President) in which County land is located. So, for Franklin, that seat was given to Mr. Milinovich.
The County land board came about through recent state legislation supported by the County Executive. The law better enables the County Executive to sell county lands to private entities without the previous need to go through the County Board. This was argued to help with mega development projects such as the Milwaukee Bucks arena and the Couture apartment tower being built in Downtown Milwaukee. For now, the board deals with the County’s non-park lands. However, Franklin’s rural character includes these County lands that could go up for sale, and don't be surprised if in the near future legislators in Madison modify current powers.
The position Milinovich holds is a powerful one, especially in Franklin. And, based on Olson's campaign finance report, it looks like Milinovich understands that very well. He made a $100 donation to Olson's campaign on January 23rd through his Realtors conduit.
About a week later, on February 1st, several other realtors stepped forward via the same conduit. Olson ended up taking in just under $2000 in donations from the conduit in total. For a small Mayoral race, that's a nice chunk of change.
Let's bounce back to retail development and how Ballpark Commons has, overall, received minimal light in this election cycle; especially odd given the Mayor could tout some business development but yields doing so. Even in the video graciously done by a young man involved in real estate, posted in Facebook groups and shared on Olson's re-election page, he heavily touts a new business park over the new “Downtown” concept contained in the Ballpark Commons layout.
Hmmm...time to take a peek at those campaign finance papers again, and let's look at the lands where both the new business park and the proposed Ballpark Commons are going to be located.
With regards to the new business park, the city on October 18th, 2016 rezoned 101.12 acres of county land to the Planned Development District (PDD) that could consist of the future business park. While the county still owns the land, this helps open more doors for private developers to want to purchase the land for development. This is where you get nearly $2000 in donations from realtors funneling into the re-election campaign of a Mayor who appoints a fellow realtor to a key deciding role on freeing up that land.
Recalling the past turbulence of the Ballpark Commons development proposal, history is helpful for readers. One of the first donors to Olson's campaign are members of the Bartels family. Those who've lived in Franklin, and had schoolchildren over the years, probably know member(s) of this family. They're a good family with strong support for Franklin. The Mayor occasionally cites the patriarch of the family, J. Michael, as one of the instrumental figures in helping get Franklin's existing business park. Unfortunately for those seeking a successful Ballpark Commons project, J. Michael Bartels did have some objecting statements about the project. Ballpark Commons is near his home. His subdivision has had "concerns". Combine those "concerns" with the family's contribution of $900 to Olson's campaign. This raises legitimate questions about Olson's true meaning of video statements related to Franklin not being able to support retail settings.
One could connect the dots by understanding that a portion of the Ballpark Commons development (Yes, it’s much more than a stadium.) involves county land, some of it non-parkland. If the Ballpark Commons developers want to obtain land from the county to get key components constructed it would need to clear the 3-person board. If either the County Executive or County Comptroller say "NO", that leaves...you guessed it....Doug Milinovich as the ultimate decider on the projects fate.
The Bartels family is influential and in a position to offer some Olson persuasion. Olson seems to have a back up plan with Mr. Milinovich as a crucial board appointee that decides the fate of county lands in Franklin. Also, recall the nearly $2000 contributed to Olson's campaign from realtors and how hundreds of acres could open up for a business park. Again, Milinovich's board position provides an avenue to get a 2-1 vote if either the County Executive or Comptroller oppose those sale(s).
FT will be watching for all these outcomes, and the developers of both the business park and Ballpark Commons may have a reason to read up on that “independent” dictionary definition posted by Mr. Milinovich.
UPDATE (3/31 9:33pm): Since the posting of this went on Facebook, Mr. Milinovich has taken issue with the usage of the word "appointed" being used in this piece. Looking back at the post, FT think this is the following paragraph that upsets him:
"Milinovich, a real estate agent, poses his questions and defends the Olson perspective on Facebook, while holding a seat as Franklin's representative on a 3-member board. The board consists of County Executive Chris Abele, the County Comptroller, and an appointee of respective Mayor (or Village President) in which County land is located. So, for Franklin, that seat was given to Mr. Milinovich."
Reviewing what has been presented on public forums, using Milinovich's and Mayor Olson's responses to questions regarding the matter, this is the best we can come up with:
Milinovich posted on Facebook's Franklin, WI Political Debate Page on March 30th @ 3:06am stating, "I was nominated by the Mayor, it went to a Board who voted. So no the Mayor did not place me in it, I was voted in! I further will point out that it is a volunteer position and there is no compensation what so ever."
Mayor Olson went into further detail with a comment on the same Facebook page on March 31st @ 5:39pm, stating, "I recommended Doug Milinovich to the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council as Franklin's appointment to satisfy a State requirement that a real estate professional be a third decision maker option for any County land sales (non-parkland) in the City. He was confirmed unanimously by the 20 village presidents and city mayors and county executive."
Bottom line, the position on this board is an appointment, and Mayor Olson initiated the appointment by the ICC via nominating Milinovich to represent Franklin on this board. The other members of the ICC aren't going to deny a fellow Mayor or Village President his/her nominee to represent their respective cities/villages. The vote to confirm the nomination is merely a formality. In reviewing what FT posted on this matter, there's no reason to retract or make changes. Based on the Mayor's own words, this 3rd person, this "decision-maker option", is "Franklin's appointment". Who nominated Franklin's appointment? The Mayor did.
To further this and prove the point: What could happen if Mayor Olson loses re-election and Basil Ryan wins? According to Mayor Olson, "I believe (Milinovich's position on the board) is a one year appointment that comes up again sometime in October 2017." What happens, then? In this scenario, Basil Ryan would be the one making the nomination for Franklin's appointment.
Milinovich is trying to pick away at this piece and have readers focus on word usage in an effort to deflect, and perhaps try to silence this story. As much as Milinovich wants to distract readers and intimidate this website, there's no denial that, in fact, Milinovich now wields a lot of power when it comes to non-parkland county land sales in Franklin, and it just so happens that both of Franklin's large-scale development proposals involve non-parkland county land.