Stay tuned, press conference planned for today . . .
This came out about 11:00 last night. I was at the bar reading this, and I just got to the part where I was about to find out something, and my phone battery went dead . . . bummer. Had to wait to get home to find out what it said.
From: Piraino, Janet
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 10:47 PM
To: ALL ALDERS
Cc: MY GROUP; May, Michael; Brasser, Dean; Wirtz, Brad; Carto, Thomas; ‘lbo@isthmus.com’; ‘Joe Sensenbrenner (E-mail)’; Chappell, Robert; deirdrewgarton@yahoo.com; ‘Jim Wood (jwood@wcgpr.com)’
Subject: Agreement on Overture debtMayor Dave asked that I forward on to you the following email from him…
Dear Colleagues,
Please see the attached advisory about a press conference tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10:00 a.m. at the Overture Center announcing that a settlement has been reached on Overture’s long-term debt. The agreement is between MCAD and the banks and I am very pleased that no taxpayer funds will be used in the settlement. That is especially good news in light of the fact that recent estimates put the City’s firewall as high as $5.8 million.
The agreement is contingent upon the Council agreeing by the end of the year to take ownership of the building probably in 2011 or 2012. It will take weeks of detailed negotiations to arrive at a final agreement on transfer of the building.
So, to get us started I have asked the City Attorney to prepare a resolution setting out the broad parameters of the City’s position before we begin negotiations on transfer of the building to us. We will introduce it at the July 6th Council meeting. I’ll send around a draft when it is available, but I can tell you now that the parameters will not be a surprise. They will include a goal of no involuntary lay-offs of staff, a net operating subsidy at about what the City pays now, City ownership of the building, and responsibility for long-term capital improvements.
I will work with Council Leadership to set up at least one general Council discussion in addition to BOE meetings on the topic in July. Our goal will be to adopt the negotiating resolution in August to give our negotiators time to complete a detailed agreement on transfer of the building to the City by the Fall. That agreement will then be brought before the Council for another vote by the end of the year.
Further details of the agreement will be released at the press conference tomorrow. I have asked that a copy be shared with all of you as soon as it is available.
So, to summarize, here is a rough idea of the proposed process going forward:
July 6: Negotiating parameters resolution introduced.
July: Council briefings and BOE action on the resolution.
August 3: Council vote on the negotiating parameters.
August thru October: Negotiations on details of the building transfer.
October: Introduction of resolution approving detailed final agreement.
October/November: Council briefings on the final agreement.
November: Council vote on the final agreement.
2011 – 2012: Transition period.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or Janet Piraino.
Sincerely,
Dave Cieslewicz
Mayor
I guess this meeting ended up being successful. The question is, will this compromise that was hatched behind closed doors without public input be successful. I guess we’ll learn more today and start to find out. I have to say, its a big deal, but I’m not too excited about it. Glad they got it worked out, I wonder if hearing the details will make it more interesting? I’m guessing that buying it for a buck and then renting it back is too good of a deal to be true, devil lurking somewhere in the details. More here from the Wisconsin State Journal.
