Four Questions for Paul Esslinger

August 2, 2002

Note: Wisconsin Automated Machinery Corporation (WAMCO) recently announced plans to relocate to Wabash, Indiana and fire at least 35 Oshkosh workers. In early July, the Oshkosh Common Council agreed to subsidize WAMCO's relocation even though the company would make no commitment to keeping jobs in Oshkosh or the Fox Valley. As the meeting minutes make clear, only Councilor Paul Esslinger seemed interested in asking any serious questions about the deal. The Council voted 4-1 to support the relocation resolution, with only Esslinger voting NO. I sent him 4 questions asking him to explain his no vote and other issues surrounding the WAMCO affair. The questions and his responses are below. Paul Esslinger can be emailed at pesslinger@ci.oshkosh.wi.us --Tony Palmeri

Commentary Question 1: In early July the Oshkosh Common Council voted 4-1 to use taxpayer money to relocate Wisconsin Automated Machinery Corporation to an undisclosed location. You were the one NO vote. Why did you vote no?

Esslinger: I voted no for several reasons. First and foremost, I was concerned that the company may relocate to another community, which is now coming true. The night the Council voted on this issue I asked the City Attorney if the resolution could be amended to include a provision that Wisconsin Automated Machinery Corporation (WAMCO) remain in the City of Oshkosh. Unfortunately, it was not possible to do this legally.

I would hope that this would send a message that you can't trust everything you are told by some of these company officials, and that the cost of redevelopment in Oshkosh is now at the expense of people's jobs.

 

Another reason I voted no is because we had (and still don't today) no idea of the type and level of contamination that the property has on it. The $3.5 Million that the Council approved does NOT contain anything regarding the remediation. The amount of money it will take to remediate the property is still not known, and will eventually have to be budgeted for. We also don't know how much it will cost to raze the building on the property. That amount is still yet to be determined, and was not included in the $3.5 Million!

Another reason I voted no is because City staff gave no indication of who was interested in the property once it was remediated, and the potential use of the property. I'm now wondering what "incentives" will be given for a developer to come in and develop the property??!!

I also voted no because I was not convinced that this was the cheapest way to acquire the property. By the City staff's own admission, we could have potentially got the property cheaper through the condemnation process. It may be interesting to note that I raised this issue at the Council meeting, and had an interesting response from Council Member Shirley Mattox. She explained that she was at the same executive meeting that I was at, and that she didn't remember the staff saying that we could potentially get the property cheaper. In other words, she was saying that I wasn't paying attention at the executive meeting. However, when I asked Jackson Kinney (Principal Planner for the City) if it was explained at the executive meeting that the property could potentially be purchased cheaper, he said, yes, it could potentially be purchased cheaper through condemnation. So, in reality, it was Council Member Mattox that wasn't paying attention.

Commentary Question 2: The August 2nd Oshkosh Northwestern reports that WAMCO plans to lay off at least 35 workers. Could these jobs have been saved if the Council had voted NO in early July?

Esslinger: In my opinion, I think these jobs would have been saved. We didn't hear from WAMCO previous to the vote that they were going to move out of Oshkosh. In fact Council Members were told by City staff that the company is "making every effort" to stay in Oshkosh. I also raised this issue at the Council meeting. I said that I was very nervous when I hear these types of catch phrases. After all, how many company representatives have we heard from in the past few months about how well their company is doing, only to have the company to go bankrupt months later with the employees and stock holders holding the bag? These company representatives gave every indication that they were going to stay in Oshkosh, and now many, if not all of the jobs will be lost.

In the end, in my opinion, if we wouldn't have given them the deal, they would have stayed in Oshkosh. Now it looks like we paid them a large amount of money to move out of Oshkosh, and leave behind several unemployed people.

Commentary Question 3: The WAMC property represents the last, large piece of the Pearl Avenue/Marion Road redevelopment area. What are the future plans for that area?

Esslinger: As I stated previously, there has not been any indication from the City staff what the plans are for the property. I just hope that something can be built that will be able to employ people, and not be another park.

Commentary Question 4: What lesson(s) should the Council learn from the Wisconsin Automated Machinery Corporation affair?

Esslinger: I would hope that this would send a message that you can't trust everything you are told by some of these company officials, and that the cost of redevelopment in Oshkosh is now at the expense of people's jobs.

I hope that the employees of Wisconsin Automated Machinery (probably now Indiana Automated Machinery) are able to find comparable jobs to the ones that they lost!!

Thank you for allowing me to tell the story of the one Council Member that voted no. Unfortunately, this is the only "media" outlet that found it important to have my story.

Best Regards,

Paul Esslinger

Oshkosh Common Council

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