Question - Public Safety Building Idea

What happened to the idea of building a $4.7 million public safety building? Do we still need the room?

In 2006&7 there was a move by the City Council to build a huge police building next to City Hall. The citizens of Columbus were appalled by the cost and through a grass roots effort put in place a spending limit for the Council. All construction projects over $1,000,000 must now go to referendum.

The police area is small, cramped, messy and certainly needs to be addressed. I have hired a firm to do a space study of the entire City Hall structure to determine if offices and space can be used more efficiently to conduct city business... including police. Before we go ahead and build additional space, we need to make sure that we are using what we have effectively. The study should be completed this summer and then I will bring it forward to the council to review and determine what changes can be made. My guess is that when we have a professional take a look at how we use our space, they will be able to find ways to utilize office it better, and our need for additional space will be less. The original plan was to spend almost $5,000,000 on a police facility... I'm sure that this entire project will be significantly less than that.

Question - Economic Impact of Filming

What was the economic impact of the filming of Public Enemies? What about city expenses?

Universal Studios spent a considerable amount of money on services and supplies in the city of Columbus. They made a conscious effort to buy locally as much as possible and many businesses benefited from their purchases. They spent money on lumber and supplies at the local hardware stores, they bought antiques at many of the antique stores in town, they purchased ambulance services, they ate at our restaurants, bought gas at the local gas stations, got a hair cut in town, used the emergency room, went to the dentist for emergency dental work.

All city employee time will be billed to Universal Studios including time for police protection, crowd control, clean up, light removal and replacement, attorney fees, etc. In addition, Universal paid for any city equipment and supplies used including dump truck time, road grader, replacement of cones and barricades lost or damaged. Each department is to turn in their hours to the City Treasurer who will be billing Universal directly.

Universal was generous with their spending and in addition made a contribution to our Auditorium restoration project. This project will benefit the entire city and Universal's contribution will help make this happen.

In hard dollars, Universal Studios, workers, actors, and crew spent at least $500,000 in expenses in Columbus. In addition there were wages paid to employees who worked in Columbus during the filming and construction. I do not have a number for wages at this time, but it will be substantial. There were over 100 people on set for weeks doing construction, dressing windows, painting, etc. They were here several weeks prior to filming and will remain for several weeks putting things back as they were. And remember that these folks ate in Columbus and many of them stayed at the local motel.

We also experienced a huge tourist boom during the filming and continue to have visitors come to our city specifically to see where the film was made. As time goes on we will be able to better measure the tourist impact.

All together a huge economic boom to our community and to the state of Wisconsin. Universal Studios agreed to spend at least $10 million in the state of Wisconsin for the filming in order to qualify for the film credits. In a time of economic downturn, this has been a substantial economic boom to our local economy and to the state.

Question - Downtown or Industrial Development?

There has been a lot of discussion on downtown economic development. What about the businesses outside of the downtown area? How are they being helped?

It is important to pay attention to all of the businesses in our city. We need a good economic base and a vibrant downtown. For many years the focus has been strictly on the industrial park at the edge of town, ignoring our city center. I spend a lot of time visiting our industrial business leaders, learning about their concerns and how the city can help them. In addition, it is important to pay attention to our downtown district. This is not an either / or decision. Both must be vibrant for us to be a healthy vibrant city.

We have economic incentives including a revolving loan fund available to all businesses in Columbus. It provides low interest lending to businesses that create jobs. There are also simple things that can make a difference to a business' success. Plowing the streets in the downtown area makes it easier for folks to pick up their prescriptions at the local drug store. Putting in a sidewalk in the industrial area will make it safer for pedestrians to get to the bowling alley and McDonalds. The new streetlights at the Dix Street intersection will make that entire area much safer for traffic.

We continue to look for ways to help improve the infrastructure that supports our business partners in the City.