By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A new vote brought a new outcome on Monday as City Council members rejected requiring developers to reach a deal with organized labor before the redevelopment of the former Barber-Colman factory can move forward.
The vote comes one week after aldermen voted 7-6 to require developers to reach a deal with organized labor in order for the project to move forward, a decision City Hall warned would halt the project in its tracks.
City Council members reconsidered that vote Monday. Alderman Mark Bonne, a Democrat who represents the 14th Ward, as promised made the motion to reconsider as a means of allowing all aldermen to vote on the project. Aldermen then voted 7-7 on the project labor agreement, and Mayor Tom McNamara broke the tie to reject requiring the labor deal.
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The council then voted unanimously on the overall financial deal that helps Milwaukee-based J. Jeffers & Co. to transform the 26-acre site into 964 living units and roughly 130,000 square feet of commercial space.
“The people have spoken,” said Alderwoman Gabrielle Torina, who represents the 5th Ward where the factory is located. “South side no longer left behind.”
The outcome of the vote ultimately rested on Alderwoman Janessa Wilkins, a Democrat from the 7th Ward who was absent from last week’s meeting because of a medical emergency with her husband. With one vote separating aldermen last week, hers would have either created a tie for McNamara to break of solidified City Council’s decision to mandate a labor deal.
“I ran for this seat to speak on behalf of the residents, specifically in Ward 7, and the little guy,” Wilkins said. “That’s who I will be voting for tonight and no one else.”
A project labor agreement, which is a form of collective bargaining on construction projects, has been the biggest sticking point in the potential deal for a $420 million redevelopment of the site.
City Council members on both sides of the debate agree a PLA is a good thing, however, several stood against a requirement for one to be in place as part of the redevelopment deal. They argued that such a mandate put all the bargaining power in the hands of the union and unfairly stripped negotiating power from the developer. They also feared the mandate would kill the project and wanted to provide a path forward for construction to proceed.
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Those in favor of the labor deal say it provides for greater worker safety, ensures skilled laborers handle the job and guarantees no work stoppages so that the project can be delivered on time and on budget.
Wages were not at issue, as the developer is already required to pay prevailing wages whether workers are union or not.
Bonne said he felt like “a man without a country” by making the vote to reconsider. That’s because he continued to stand in favor of a project labor agreement, even though his motion allowed for it to be defeated. A motion to reconsider, by rule, must come from the prevailing side of a vote no later than the next meeting. Bonne said he would make that motion in the interest of democracy to allow Wilkins to vote, but only if all other aldermen were present as well.
“In most of my career in journalism, you knew you were doing your job if both sides were angry with you,” said Bonne, a former Register Star reporter. “I’m hoping the same proves true tonight.”
Perfect attendance was in question with two aldermen previously scheduled to be out of town, but all arrived in time for the vote, including 3rd Ward Alderman Chad Tuneberg who rushed back from Indianapolis, where his son was competing in a national bowling championship.
After moving to reconsider, Bonne continued to stand behind his position in favor of requiring a project labor agreement.
“The developer has created this ticking time bomb by delivering to the council a time-sensitive financing stack without buy-in from the building trades,” Bonne said. “The developer needs to reconstruct the finance package and settle its differences with labor.
“If interest rates go up in the meantime, the developer needs to figure out how to pay for that, even if it means coming back to us, the City Council, and asking for more money.”
The total financial deal focuses on the initial $170 million first phase of the development, when nine long vacant historic buildings along South Main and Loomis streets will be redeveloped into 334 apartments and 105,000 square feet of commercial space. A new 336-space parking deck would also be built.
The city will provide a $6 million cash advance and two no-interest loans totaling $10.25 million. The loans would be repaid over 17 years starting in February 2030. The cash advance would be recouped as property values at the site increase and more tax dollars flow into the city.
The city would also reimburse $3.5 million in infrastructure costs, $1.5 million of which comes from city water funds with the rest coming from federal American Rescue Plan dollars.
Some of the state and federal funding includes $26.5 million in equity from state historic tax credits, $20.7 million from federal historic tax credits, a $4 million state grant and a $6.5 million loan from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s revolving loan fund.
“If we’re trying to transform our city, then here is the moment to do it,” Alderman Jeff Bailey said. “If we don’t do, we’re going to miss out on an opportunity.”
City Council members ultimately decided that was preferable to the estimated $16 million to $19 million it would cost to demolish the property and leave the land as open space.
“I’d like to thank city staff for their hard work in putting this development agreement together, and City Council for ultimately supporting this historic project,” Mayor McNamara said in a statement after the meeting. “I have been invigorated in the last week seeing all of our residents and organizations come together to show their support for this project and this city. This is a great day to be a Rockfordian!”
There will still be more around labor deals for City Council to consider in the future. Torina introduced an item earlier in the meeting to create a project labor agreement policy. That will be discussed at future meetings.
How they voted on the PLA
Here’s how aldermen voted on the requirement of a Project Labor Agreement to be included in the redevelopment deal for Barber-Colman.
For PLA: Jonathan Logemann, Chad Tuneberg, Karen Hoffman, Mark Bonne, Kevin Frost, Frank Beach, Isidro Barrios
Against PLA: Aprel Prunty, Bill Rose, Jeff Bailey, Gabrielle Torina, Tim Durkee, Gina Meeks, Janessa Wilkins, Mayor Tom McNamara (tiebreaker)
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas