Mayor's Community Update - 07/27/19

Greetings!  Earlier this year, we provided an update on the proposed soybean processing facility announced in 2018.  Because we continue to receive questions, I thought it was important to revisit the status of the project as it is closely aligned with one of our primary economic development goals to diversify our economic base.  National policy changes on tariffs and their impact on soybeans have significantly slowed progress on this development.  While the project continues to be of interest to the city, we have decided to allow the land option that we had with the developer expire.  This project tied up almost all of the city’s available land for industrial development.  While the developer’s intent is to continue marketing the project and to finalize an investor pool with the goal of constructing the proposed facility, in our discussions neither party felt that it was in the best interest of our community to continue waiting for final commitments on the project while allowing other possible development opportunities to pass.  As business continues to evolve in response to shifting economic conditions, our ability to attract new industry to the community is vital to create a diverse and healthy business mix that promotes growth and fosters economic stability.  We will continue to support work on the soybean project, however, allowing the expiration of this land option frees the city to market available land to other prospective industrial developers and helps us continue to work toward our economic diversification goals.  Additionally, the recent announcement by Silgan Containers to close their Waupun facility is evidence of the shift that continues to occur in the private sector and is yet another reason that we must focus on economic diversification.  The closure of Silgan signals the elimination of 70 jobs and will have a yet-to-be determined economic impact.  Both realities are informing our economic development work for 2020. 

For 2020, the economic development team will focus on industrial park readiness to ensure our ability to effectively market available industrial land with the goal of securing capital investment and job creation aligned with our existing economic development plan.  This involves completing land and site studies, compiling information related to utility capacity, and outlining possible incentives needed to foster development.  As the Silgan closure is better understood, it also may involve the creation of a redevelopment plan for that site and/or work with federal and state partners to leverage resources that may be available to our community because of the closure announcement.   I previously wrote about our goals around quality of place and that will continue to be a focus with ongoing investment in streetscaping, wayfaring signage updates, and examination of our CDA and BID plans to maximize their impact on our goals.  Additionally, workforce development will continue to be of primary importance as availability of talent continues to impact business recruitment, retention and expansion plans. 

Moving forward, we will post information related to budget creation on the city’s website as it becomes available.  If you have questions or ideas to share, we invite you to contact your alderperson who will work with city staff to incorporate any pertinent feedback throughout this process.

Around town, mark your calendar for August 3, and plan to attend the annual Waupun Fine Art & Craft Fair.  Due to construction, the event this year will be held at West End Park.  Looking ahead, the 30th annual Waupun Truck N Show is scheduled for August 9 and 10 and we are working to have North Madison Street open for the event!  I hope to see you around town!