Marshfield Common Council Approves Moving Forward with Renovation of Wildwood Plaza for the Marshfield Police Department

Thursday, August 15th, 2024 -- 9:00 AM

(Karen Madden, Marshfield News-Herald) The City Council approved Monday moving forward with the renovation of Wildwood Plaza into a new Marshfield Police Department.

According to Karen Madden with the Marshfield News Herald, in January 2023, the owner of the building at 2504 S. Central Ave. in Marshfield, known as the "Buffalo Building," offered to donate the building to the city, said Steve Barg, city administrator.

The city hired Architectural Design Consultants Inc., of Lake Delton, to study whether the building would work as a police department building. On Oct. 4, the consultants presented their findings at a special Marshfield City Council meeting.

The consultants had determined the Buffalo Building could be renovated into a police station and gave the city options ranging in price from $13.2 to $14.1 million. The city closed with the owner, accepting ownership of the building Dec. 29, Barg said. In July, Mike Maas, an architect with the design consultants, reviewed the findings of the company with the Marshfield City Council and answered questions.

During that meeting, it was decided to hold a special City Council meeting to focus on making some decisions about the Buffalo Building, including whether to proceed with the project and whether to send it to a referendum question. Maas said in July the project could be kept at a cost of $10 million, if that is what the city decided it could afford.

Marshfield Finance Director Jennifer Selenske presented information on how the project will effect Marshfield taxpayers if it's paid for with capital improvement projects money, which comes from borrowing. The projected borrowing rate for 2025 is $2.36 per 1,000 of equalized value, meaning the owner of a $100,000 house would pay $236, Selenske said.

With the borrowing for the renovated police department, the project levy amount would go to $2.43 per $1,000 of equalized value, or $243 for a $100,000 home, during the lowest year and $2.71, or $271 for a $100,000 home, during the highest year before the next five-year capital improvement plan is approved.

During Monday's meeting, which lasted over two hours, several council members spoke out against sending the issue to a referendum. The council approved the project with the money coming from the capital improvement project borrowing.

The city will split borrowing for the project over two years. Following the approval, a Council member made a motion to put the issue to referendum. They tried to make the motion earlier in the evening, but withdrew it when he was told the language of his amendment didn't work.

He wanted Marshfield residents to know they at least considered going to a referendum. The motion ended in a tie, and Mayor Lois TeStrake broke the tie with a no vote.

Another Council member then tried to make a motion that city staff look into building a new building on property other than that of the Buffalo Building prior to the project moving forward.

The motion was eventually changed to a motion to reconsider the project that had been approved. The vote on reconsidering the project ended in a tie, with TeStrake again breaking the tie with a no vote.

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