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St. Joseph's
ups offer to connect
to Jackson's sewer, water service
Beaver Dam Daily
Citizen - 4/16
Faced
with a critical deadline, management of St. Joseph's Community
Hospital of West Bend increased their offer to $1 million to connect
with the village of Jackson's sewer and water service.
The
village accepted and there is hope the hospital can start constructing
its new $55 million facility at the intersection of highways 45
and PV in the town of Polk this summer, although a final hurdle,
a recommendation from the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning
Commission for the hookup, must first be cleared.
SEWRPC
meets in mid-June - the next scheduled meeting is September -
and hospital management feared if an agreement for the hookup
could not be reached prior to that first meeting, the hospital
would lose precious construction time as well as over a quarter-million
dollars in possible "construction inflation" costs,
said John Reiling, hospital chief executive officer.
The
village had originally been seeking $1.08 million as an "impact
fee" for the hookup, but hospital management said that was
excessive and countered with an offer of roughly $327,000, an
amount they said was more in line with what the village previously
charged other businesses.
The
village accepted that offer, with the proviso that a boundary
agreement be in place with the town of Polk by the time the facility
is completed.
But
Willard Heppe, the town of Polk chairman, said he would work to
reject any such agreement.
"That's
never going to happen," he said. "We're not giving up
our land to the village so they can pay off their big debt."
Del
Beaver, village administrator, said the village would abide by
the lower offer if a boundary agreement could be reached with
the town prior to the hospital taking occupancy.
"They
would then pay the same fees enjoyed by other businesses,"
he said, "if the mechanisms are in place for a boundary agreement,
similar to the one we have with the town of Jackson."
As
part of the latest agreement, the village also dropped its request
to demand annexation of the hospital if "property becomes
contiguous to the village."
Annexation
issue politics has been a major sticking point for the hospital,
and because of protracted negotiations, hospital management had
asked permission from Washington County's Planning, Conservation
and Parks Committee to install a sewerage holding tank for its
town of Polk site until a resolution with the village could be
achieved.
The
committee voted 4-1 to deny the sanitary variance that would have
allowed the tank to be constructed and by the same margin rejected
a hospital request to reconsider the matter several weeks later.
With
an agreement finally hammered out, hospital management can breathe
a little easier.
"We're
obviously pleased with an agreement that will allow us to get
this very important project started," said Janet Ford, a
hospital spokesperson.
She
said the hospital would keep the town of Polk in the loop on all
elements of the project, but would stay out of any political wrangling
between the village and town over a boundary agreement, even though
the hospital could save almost two-thirds of a million dollars
if an agreement is in place.
"That's
an issue between the village and township," she said.
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