Controversy

by Jay Allen

As I close in on my first 100 days in office, we have accomplished a lot of good things.  We have begun to address some of the major capital projects which have been neglected by previous administrations.  We now post draft minutes to the website within a few days of the meetings.  We are making progress toward having our entire agenda packets available for download.  We now stream Council, Plan Commission, and Committee of the Whole meetings on the internet.  We held the first town hall meeting in over a decade.

However, a rather intense controversy is brewing.  The City has been interviewing construction managers for the library project.  It came down to two choices:  Tri-North, from Fitchburg, and Mortenson Construction from Minneapolis.

At this juncture, I do not have all the details.  I was not part of the selection committee.  However, I do know that the committee, by a 3-2 vote, selected Mortenson.  On Tuesday, July 14, Paul Woodard will have a memo to the Council explaining the process, and his perceptions of why the committee did what it did.  I am looking forward to reading that letter.

Since this news went out, I have been contacted by two dozen people who are very unhappy that we are not going with the local company.  At this juncture, I am really torn.  Tri-North has done a lot here.  They built a great green building, which has added to the tax base.  They employ a lot of people who make good wages.  There must have been something in the materials which caused the selection committee to lean toward Mortenson.

I will be looking more into this, and I hope to have information to report soon.  In the meantime, I would appreciate hearing what your thoughts are regarding this situation.  Please let me know.