After First Rejecting Funding, Old Loomis Road Will Be Fixed

Old Loomis Road. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors reversed course on a project that would fix Old Loomis Road, at least partially.

The board voted, nearly unanimously, Thursday to pay for fixes to Old Loomis Road. The road, apparently among the worst under the county’s control, was up for a full reconstruction just two years ago with more than $1 million from the state to pay for it, but supervisors scuttled the project and the state grant money was lost.

The project was resurfaced by Sup. Kathleen Vincent, who was not on the board in 2021. She sought approximately $225,000 from the county’s rainy day for what’s called a mill and overlay of the short road that runs approximately 0.38 miles. The smaller project involves taking off the top layer of the road and repaving it. It is a much simpler and cheaper road project than a complete reconstruction, but it doesn’t last nearly as long as full reconstruction. And the county must pay for it all itself.

Vincent has repeatedly told her colleagues that the road is a safety issue, and that she knows of one person and one pet that have been injured on it. “It is not a situation just where there are potholes in the road, but there are actual very serious safety issues going on,” she told her colleagues Thursday. ” There are craters in that road, there are holes that are bored into that road.”

Vincent’s proposal was approved by the board Thursday with 14 supervisors in support and one lone vote in opposition. Sup. Steve Taylor has opposed the project since it was first introduced, citing the board’s unanimous vote just two years ago that killed a much more comprehensive reconstruction project that would have been cheaper for the county. “You rejected $1 million for a 30-year repair,” Taylor said. “And now some of you are going to cast a vote for $225,000. More money for lesser.”

Supervisors killed the project two years ago when they rejected an engineering contract worth approximately $159,000 that would have redesigned the roadway. Sup. Patti Logsdon and former supervisors John Weishan, Jr. and Joe Czarnezki pushed back against the project, with Logsdon and Weishan insinuating that it was being advanced by the department to the benefit of a private business — The Rock Sportsplex and Ballpark Commons Development — and Czarnezki contending that the county should hold off on repairs to incentivize a local municipality to take control of the road.

The road, despite its short length, sits in both the City of Franklin and the Village of Greendale. It provides driveway access for fewer than 10 homes.

The motives of the parks department were so maligned as this project went through committee meetings, that Jeremy Lucas, director of administration and planning, said on the record at a public meeting, “I patently disavow that the parks department has any sort of agenda with The Rock.” Lucas explained to supervisors that the department was interested in fixing the road because it serves as a connection to the Oak Leaf Trail network, and that it was likely to be designed with a smaller footprint than currently exists. It was not going to be designed for commercial use.

Taylor, the lone dissenting vote Thursday, is the executive director of the ROC Foundation, the non-profit arm of Ballpark Commons developer ROC Ventures. He served as a Franklin alderman and a county supervisor as the project initially went before both governments for key approvals and financing.

The road will be fixed in-house by crews from the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT). Donna Brown-Martin said they could have the road repaired by fall and that the county can likely get another 10 years out of the road with these repairs, which is enough time to get back in line for a state grant that could cover a full reconstruction.

Supervisors Get Preview of Minority Rule

Logsdon has been trying to get $75,000 re-allocated to Hales Corners Park for a few repairs.

The money comes to the county by way of a failed ice rink project in the park. In 2015, the county board gave the Friends of Hales Corners Park and Pool $75,000 to help it develop the Alyson Dudek International Ice Center in Hales Corners Park. Roughly eight years later, the project never materialized and the board asked the friends group to return the funds to the county.

Since March, Logsdon has been trying to persuade her colleagues to put the $75,000 back into the park to make repairs to pathways, the wading pool and the playground. A handful of supervisors opposed the project because it was not being funded through the typical process and they felt it was jumping the line of other capital projects around the county.

The board neither rejected the proposal nor advanced it Thursday. Under the county board’s rules, a two-thirds vote was needed to advance or reject Logsdon’s proposal. The board didn’t meet that threshold for either.

This will be the new normal for supervisors. When Gov. Tony Evers signed off on legislation covering local government funding Tuesday, it also included a provision that made two-thirds of the county board the new standard that must be reached anytime the board wants to create a new position or a new government expense.

If the Hales Corners Park vote is any indication of the future, it is one of a board paralyzed.

Burgelis Hosts Pride Ceremony Through the Wire

Sup. Peter Burgelis hosted a Pride Month ceremony he’s long been planning Thursday. But he had to do it while speaking with his jaws wired shut.

The supervisor was attacked June 12 at Mayfair Mall. He told Urban Milwaukee his assailant uttered a homophobic slur before punching him. He had to go to Froedtert for surgery as a result of his injuries.

Burgelis, nevertheless, was at the county board’s meeting Thursday to host the board’s Pride Month ceremony, which honored local LGBTQ+ community and business leaders, activists, government officials, politicians and artists. A full list of honorees is available on Urban Milwaukee.

“Today, we are making up for last time,” he said. “We have dozens of recognitions, not because so much has been done in the past year, but because decades and even years ago, there was little to no recognition of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Burgelis noted that the county courthouse is flying the Intersex Progress Pride Flag and that the courthouse itself would be lit with rainbow colors for the first time Thursday night.

“The county clearly makes a stand that LGBTQ+ residents are seen or heard, and are valued as an honorable part of our community,” Burgelis said.