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In the Race
Now, here, you see, it takes all the blogging I can do to keep in the same place. If I want to get somewhere else, I must blog twice as fast as that! You see, I'm in the Red Queen's Race...
Franklin School Board-Something Wicked This Way Comes
By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jun 26 2008, 07:14 AM
Residents of Franklin, I don’t know where to begin…
Last night I attended the June 25th regular School Board meeting. I only have three things to cover. Two of them will be quick.
First, important…but it was breezed over. The Budget Draft, in its current form, was approved. Jeff Traylor, Finance Committee Chairperson, was not present, and there was no report.
Next, I’m jumping ahead to the July 4th parade….
The Board will be participating in the parade and handing out ice cream afterwords. They will also be having an “Are you smarter than a 5th grader? contest on July 4th from 2-4 p.m. in a tent at the celebration.
I applaud the Board for their effort in participating in the Civic Celebration.
Now this….
I have to say I was stunned…just stunned at what transpired at the Board meeting.
First I’ll fill you in and then you can read my transcript (which will be missing a few words do to crosstalk).
Dr. Patz offered the Board information that he received a phone call from a “Developer.” The name of the Developer is never stated. Although, I believe it was mentioned once late in the conversation by one Board member, but it was during crosstalk, so it can’t be verified.
The Developer is assumed (by me as I attend Common Council meetings) to either be Greg Devorkin or David Hintzman. Both have had their hands in the Sendik’s on Rawson.
More from me after you read the transcript:
Dr. Patz:
I received a phone call about a week ago from a Developer in the area. He’s got some affiliation, I believe at the current time with part of the development of the Sendik’s on Rawson, and his request was to have the School District write a letter to the City in terms of promoting and endorsing Economic Development. He had apparently had some involvement with the City in his project and it went one direction, and another direction, and so on. But I would seek the Boards direction to ask if you wanted to be involved. It wouldn’t be on behalf of the Developer, per se. It would be a general letter supporting Economic Development.
David Works:
I think it’s a good idea. I think we should do it.
Mary Karolewicz:
Well it would be located obviously in our District. As you know the city’s 70/30 goal of Economic Development and in relation to Residential Development hasn’t been completed yet or reached. It is a while before that will occur because obviously the city is still growing. But it is within our School District’s boundaries; it would help to alleviate some of the tax burden on our residents by sharing it a little bit so I guess I would go along with what Dave said.
Dr. Ward:
It wasn’t clear, was this Business Development?
Dr. Patz: Yes, yes.
Dave Szychlinski:
So are you asking the Board to give the authority to write a letter, not in support of a specific project but in support of Economic Development?
Dr. Patz:
Right that was the request, from this Developer, not particularly on his behalf, but on behalf of Economic Development.
Dave Szychlinski:
I think it’s harmless to send such a letter, and I think the City Council and the Mayor certainly know that we support anything that can be done to even out the tax base but I would be resistant of trying to support any specific project because we don’t have any knowledge or the details of that project but if you feel it is important to send a letter accordingly, then I think you have the consensus of this group to go forward with that.
Dr. Ward:
I guess my only comment would be to make sure the Developer talks about the development in our district because there’s a lot of development in Franklin that’s not in our district. So we would certainly not want to support something that would […] our tax.
Dave Szychlinski:
But having said that. All development in Franklin is good. Yes, we would prefer for it to be in Franklin’s School District […].
Dr. Patz:
I believe it was his opinion that because he was denied some of the things he was putting forward that I believe he felt that he was getting the signal that weren’t concerned with Economic Development for School Projects […] His perception is that Franklin doesn’t want a certain amount of developments to occur in Franklin […]
Dave Szychlinski:
Very interesting question…I’m not sure how his project didn’t get approved. [...]
Mary Karolewicz:
I think a lot of development has gone on along the fringes of Franklin and there have been some consummated general I think overall the city is working at their master plan and the plan commission is looking very hard to generate the right type of development , but it stalls sometimes.
Dave Szychlinski:
Well, having served for a year on the Plan Commission with Mr. Ritter, here’s my observation and the City welcomes development and the City doesn’t channel people into the School District or not into the District, people want to develop where they want to develop. And if parcels of land are…they don’t pay much attention to where the School District boundaries are drawn.
Mary Karolewicz:
And I’m not saying that.
Linda Witkowski:
Do we have meetings with the City?
Dave Szychlinski:
Well, we have that, we have that. I’ve talked to the Mayor about it. I’ve met with him. That’s why it’s an interesting request because the City’s aware of the fact that the School District would like to see more development. […] So I’m not sure this letter is really going to help anything, but if you feel the need to want to do it.
Dr. Patz:
Not a need…I’m just bringing forth this gentleman’s request and certainly we can communicate it personally to the city in the same manner. It’s just not going to be personal to any developer
Dr. Ward:
I’m just not sure...I just don’t think we should talk about a specific project. He would have the opportunity to say to City Official’s , “See the School District approved this Development why don’t you approve it.”
Dr. Patz:
You might want to have a conversation with the Mayor and see if he thinks legal council might be helpful.
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Why the anonymity? At a public meeting...speaking to the Board ...about a request from a Developer. Why is it the name of the Developer could not be said aloud? Why must a records request be done in order to get the Developer's name...even though I know it is either Hintzman or Devorkin?
What is going on with the Board? First, they don't really have a clue as to what is going on in the City in regards to Hintzman and Devorkin; or with Dairy Queen, or with the Fountains of Franklin or with Mayor Taylor and the Plan Commission ....that was evident. Only Mary Karolewicz comes to some of the Common Council meetings...and she got off topic regarding the request for the letter.
Dave Szychlinski told me at a past meeting he had no intention of having meetings jointly with the city unless there was something specific to discuss. All of a sudden he's been having meetings? What's up with that? Is that the Mayor's doing? Development meetings with the Board President all of a sudden. Are they official meetings or just coffee meetings at 5-Star? Because, if all of a sudden we are going to be having meetings...I am wondering why we can't have a public meeting...how about just one? One public meeting between the Common Council and the School Board.
A request from the "Developer?" Not from the common Council or the Mayor? If Developer [insert name here] is making this request rather than the Mayor or the Common Council, isn't that a red flag right there? Doesn't that say that Developer [insert name here] has an agenda? Doesn' t our School Board have more pressing issues at hand (a budget shortfall) than dealing with the City politics of Developer [insert name here]?
Dr. Jim Ward and Linda Witkowski at least had a panicked, quizzical look on their faces and at least attempted to question what the heck was going on.
I tell you, if the School Board wants to show the City or the Community that the are pro-Economic Development....(which we already know they are anyway...the question does not even need to be asked) there is a simple solution....
Don't make Franklin a living Tax Hell!
Because of this incident...
and a couple coconuts ....
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