APPROVAL REQUEST FOR MEETING

COUNCIL ACTION DATE

April 20, 2010

REPORTS AND State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation ITEM NUMBER

RECOMMENDATIONS State/Municipal Agreement(s) for a Highway
Improvement Project: 27th Street (STH 241); Drexel
Avenue Interchange
Attached are copies of an Intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding with the City and CDA of Oak
Creek, which was approved by the Franklin Common Council on June 16, 2009 and the CDA on June 18, 2009;
a State/Municipal Agreement for 27th Street and another for IH 94 Drexel Avenue Interchange, both dated
November 17, 2009 and delivered to the Director of Administration by the Department of Transportation on
November 30, 2009; and a State/Municipal Agreement for 27th Street delivered to the City Attorney on January
29, 2010. At the time of approval of the Memorandum of Understanding, the terms of which were the result of
the State Legislators for Franklin and Oak Creek working with the Department of Transportation, the
representatives were very hopeful that the terms would ultimately be acceptable to the Department for
incorporation into the Department’s standard form highway improvement agreements for 27th Street with
Franklin and Oak Creek and for the IH 94 Drexel Avenue Interchange with Oak Creek. Following the receipt of
the Department’s proposed agreements in November and January, City staff worked with Representative
Stone’s Office, which was working with the Department, to determine why the terms of the proposed
agreements did not match the terms in paragraph IV. of the Memorandum. Ultimately, Department
representatives met with the Mayor, City Engineer and City Attorney on March 30, 2010 and advised that while
Department superiors have the final decision-making responsibility, the Department does not accept the terms of
the Memorandum, that any construction of the Drexel Avenue Interchange would require a municipal cost share
payment of $500,000 from Franklin to the 27th Street project which it otherwise would not pay under standard
municipal cost share requirements or directly to the Drexel Interchange project (assuming the in place
agreements providing for payments from Oak Creek in the amounts of $3,750,000 and $500,000 and from
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in the amount of $1,600,000; and assuming no other party would
pay the remaining $500,000), and that the deadline for any agreement to be made is May 1, 2010.
Representative Stone and his staff and the Common Council President and the City Attorney again met with
Department representatives on April 12, 2010, with the same result and information, other than that Oak Creek
was also meeting with the Department on April 16, 2010 to discuss whether the Oak creek 25% contribution
should be reduced by an amount in excess of $500,000, due to a reduction in the total project cost from about
$15,000,000 to $12,860,000 which issue is expected to be on the Oak Creek Common Council meeting agenda
this date.

COUNCIL ACTION REQUESTED

The Mayor informed the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Southeast Region Director at the March 30,
2010 meeting that the Department’s position on the Memorandum of Understanding and this subject matter
would be placed before the Common Council for any action it deemed appropriate before the stated deadline.