City gets behind study, School Board questions its role in shared facility

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

The City of Burlington Common Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to move forward with a study for a shared government services building.

While not everyone is fully on board with being a part of the project – at least one council member said putting everything in one building might be an issue, and the Burlington Area School District School Board indicated Monday night that the timeline might not be right for the district – the council decided it needed to at least move forward with the study.

With Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave announcing that he wants the Western Racine County Service Center torn down by the end of 2017, Mayor Bob Miller has admitted the timeline for a new building – whether it just be municipal government, include the public library or even include the school district offices – will be “very aggressive.”

But in order to find out what the city needs, wants and is willing to fund starts with that study – and the council recognized that Tuesday night.

“We can’t answer any of these other questions until we do the study,” said Alderman Bob Grandi.

The mayor and City Administrator Carina Walters sat down for an interview Monday, confirming the study needs to be done before anything else can proceed.

Walters said all the interested entities – the city, county and school district – need to weigh in on who needs what. The study would give all involved a chance to do that with an aim toward getting the most bang for the buck.

“We are trying to be fiscally responsible,” Walters said. “…At the end of the day, we’re doing the due diligence up front and letting the residents make the decision.”

Miller confirmed, though, that his dream project would be a joint services building that would be a one-stop shop for all local government services.

“I would like to see a facility put up that we can encompass with as many government entities as possible, with the goal being that a user of the system, or a taxpayer, or customer if you will, can go to one place and take care of whatever business they have to take care of,” Miller said, adding that a joint project “makes sense.”

School priorities

However, at Monday night’s special School Board meeting, the sentiment was that the school district may have other priorities first. With a number of aging buildings needing work, some members of the School Board questioned whether a new administration building would even be important at this point.

“It seems this bus is going really fast … and I don’t know if it really matches up well with our timeline,” said Board Member Todd Terry.

Others also pointed out that the district’s facilities study is already complete, and still others questioned whether – in a situation where the district will likely have to go to referendum to pay for the renovations – whether getting into this specific project would doom any other referendum options.

In the end, the School Board voted to have the Buildings and Grounds Committee work with similar committees from the city and county to formalize the study and decide later whether to enter into it.

At Tuesday’s Common Council Committee of the Whole meeting, the question being asked was what should be in the building. Alderman Todd Bauman questioned whether the library should be a part of a new building, as opposed to keeping it government offices only.

Alderman Tom Vos countered with, “I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least take a look at it.”

And Miller reiterated that he is committed to the continued presence of a senior citizen center – currently housed in the county building.

Alderman Tom Preusker said that while a City Hall may not be a hot-button issue for his constituents, it needs to get done – and putting all the facilities in one building may be the way to do it.

“It’s not a flashy thing … but we need to do it,” he said.