St. Francis settled quietly with school consultants

While the Racine Unified School District is handling a dispute with a private consulting operation hired to oversee its finances in a rather public way, the St. Francis School District chose to handle similar concerns with the outfit as quietly as possible.

Reports this week from Racine indicate that its school board is raising questions about the Public Business Consulting Group and its claim that the district owes it money for budget savings the district has yet to realize. PBCG bills itself as a group specializing in saving money for school districts and providing business administration services. An audit of the firm will be considered by the board Wednesday. A district employee has asked for an investigation on whether the firm can collect money for purported savings it claims will happen in the future.

In St. Francis, the Public Business Consulting Group settled a claim by the school district that the firm mishandled payroll tax administrative services. PBCG agreed to pay the district $86,000 to avoid a court case. The district ended its relationship with the firm, bringing its business management oversight back in-house. St. Francis officials, however, were tight-lipped about PBCG's handling of its financial affairs. The September school board agenda when the settlement was approved made an oblique reference to the deal and a school board member referred a reporter's questions to Superintendent Carol Topinka, who did not return calls or e-mail asking for comment. An open records request ultimately revealed the substance of the settlement.

Topinka advised the district to end its two-year deal with PBCG in 2006 and the tax problems were discovered after the district business office did an internal audit.

The St. Francis settlement contained stipulations that it wasn't to be disclosed despite the fact that school operations and expenses clearly are matters of public record.

Racine reportedly has already paid $1.5 million to PBCG and has billed the district for another $620,000 for potential budget savings. The firm had a similar arrangement with St. Francis. Some of the terms of its agreement included:

• The firm would be paid 45 percent of any savings resulting from taking a look at district phone expenses.
• PBCG would be paid 10 percent of the savings in maintenance costs up to $100,000 and 6 percent for anything above that.
• A percentage of savings in health care insurance costs.
• A 25 percent cut of any savings from construction projects. For this, PBCG offers its own manual that "includes unique selection methodology designed to reduce costs and improve the governmental entity's contract rights."
• The firm would be paid upwards off $9,166.67 a month plus expenses and an extra $1,000 a day for extra work. The group made $186,000 in 2004.

PBCG also offered to take over the district's business office for 95 percent of the cost the district normally pays. It appears to be the standard contract terms for the firm, which also did business with the Kenosha, Hartford, Tigerton, Rib Lake and the Shorewood school districts, among others.

Army Leaves Bay View for Good: It was the final moving weekend for the soldiers in the 1152 Transportation Company of the Army Reserve who are closing up shop at headquarters in Bay View. The company is transporting its trucks, office equipment and even air conditioners to a North Side reserve base at 48th Street and Silver Spring Drive. Soldiers were picking up trash by hand on the seven-acre site over the weekend as semis fired up to haul some of the larger equipment off the site, which is bordered by Lincoln, Logan, Conway and Bay streets.

The reserve unit -- which specializes in bridge and train track repair -- did not renew its annual lease with the City of Milwaukee and the last day for it to occupy the site is May 9. The city received about $70,000 a year in rent from the Army. It had been at the location since 1952 and now has six months to destroy the smattering of buildings on the site.

So what's next?

While the Port of Milwaukee officially owns the site, city officials with the Department of City Development will have the largest say on what's recommended for the area, which abuts residential neighborhoods full of single-family homes and duplexes. To the east lies the Lake Park Freeway, Jones Island and the lake.

A peek at what various area officials want for the site can be found in a study that looks at train station possibilities for the proposed Kenosha Racine Milwaukee (KRM) commuter line. The KRM study group recommends that a station be placed where Bay meets Lincoln, which is vacant. Its study promises major economic development to sprout up around the station.

According to the study group's recommendations for the Reserve area:

• The area immediately surrounding the station would be lined with mid-rise, high-density housing featuring first floor retail outlets, creating a so-called "pedestrian edge." While it was strongly recommended that the area's 40-foot limit on building height be continued, it was also recognized that taller buildings would offer a more expensive view of the lake.
• Further back from the station location would be so-called mid-density housing, which would act as a transition area from the existing neighborhood.
• The site would be split in half by an extension of Linus Street.
• A viaduct that currently crosses the railroad tracks (locally known as the "double helix") would be torn down for a street-level crossing of the tracks making for easier access to Jones Island and the lake from the west.
• Planners anticipate a doubling of multi-family offerings in the area, while single-family homes are expected to decrease. That would mean a 20 percent increase in the areas population over the next 30 years.
• Office space could be developed east of the station.
• While Bay Street itself is undeveloped to the west of the proposed station, the south side of the street will remain vacant, due to a major sewer line that runs along the street that prevents building there. The north side of street -- a collection of largely abandoned and under-utilized industrial buildings -- could become everything from houses to condos to light industry.
• Even with the new retail offerings surrounding the train station, planners expect Kinnickinnic Avenue retail to benefit extensively as well.

The Navy Reserve has a lease for land across from the Coast Guard Station and the Bay View Terrace. The lease expires in about five years. It has been identified as a site that would be good for another high-rise similar to the Bay View Terrace.

All these promises are contingent on a train station stopping in Bay View, but getting to that point will take substantial political maneuvering, especially surrounding the amount of the tab and who's going to pay it. So far, the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transportation Authority has proposed a doubling of the car rental fee tax to help pay for the rail service. Anti-rail folks and taxophobes are already filling that proposal with potholes of opposition.

Of course, if the train station never materializes, the demand for retail offerings will be pretty much non-existent and the upper hand could be given to those who would advocate for more single-family homes, duplexes and some green space, similar to many neighborhoods planned on the North Side, such as Josey Heights.

Red Dot Dodges Sanctions: Owners of the East Side tavern known as The Red Dot, 2498 N. Bartlett, dodged the bullet of severe sanctions from the city by putting together a detailed plan of promises and some nifty legal work. The Common Council's Licenses Committee recommended last month to suspend the bar's license for 15 days, permanently prevent the use of its outdoor patio and limit its hours to 10 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends. Neighbors had complained of loud music, public sex, public urination, pot smoking and general rowdiness emanating from the tavern.

Red Dot attorney Andrew Arena put together a list of solutions and voluntarily withdrew the tavern's permit for the patio in a special License Committee hearing just before Tuesday's full Council meeting. Arena's letter to the committee also pointed out that the committee overstepped its authority in attempting to limit hours of the tavern, since state law calls for uniform hours for liquor sales and doesn't give municipalities the right to override state law. He added that restricting the hours would result in a 219-day suspension over the course of a year, while state law allows for a maximum 90-day suspension. He termed the sanctions "a death sentence" for the bar.

In response to concerns expressed to the council by neighbor Terri Kinis that Red Dot owner Martin Beaudoin would just ask to open the patio in the near future, Arena wouldn't guarantee that Beaudoin wouldn't come back to the city within the next year to open its patio, but said renovations would be in place before that would occur.

Among other guarantees Arena made to the council to solve the noise issues by the tavern:

• Patrons would not be allowed to use cell phones outside.
• Signs would be posted for patrons to respect the neighbors.
• Two additional "ambassadors" would be hired after 10 p.m. to check on outside activities.
• Only "quiet background" music would be played in the bar.
• The patio would be used as a non-smoking dining area.
• Additional soundproofing would be installed in the bar and the patio.

As a result, all but the suspension was dropped and the Red Dot will serve the 15-day suspension beginning May 19, the day its license expires.