Nov. 12, 2016 – Jackson, WI – Tuesday evening the Jackson Village Board approved an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding, originally agreed to in a mediation session on June 2 with the town, and Winter Hess and the citizen group JTRAA.
The Board understandably agreed to allow the Appellation Ridge and Valleywood Subdivisions to attach to the Village in 2030 (as that is what the Village and town had originally unanimously agreed to in the Joint Village/town Revenue Sharing Agreement and Cooperative Boundary Plan Amendment of 2008).
Winter Hess and the JTRAA (with its six members residing in the Twin Creeks, Sherman Parc, and Hidden Creek Subdivisions) will now be allowed to postpone their attachment to the Village (for up to a total of six years from the original date of January 1, 2015) until January 1, 2021.
The amendment reads the town “shall have the right and the option to accelerate the effective date of attachment of the 2021 Area, to (i) 1/1/18 or (ii) 1/19/19 [sic] or (iii) 1/1/20, if it so elects. In order to exercise this option, the Town must notify the Village in writing on or before September 1 preceding the accelerated effective date of the attachment.
If no such notice is given, then the Town shall pay the Village the sum of $50,000 for each calendar year that the 2021 Area remains in the Town and not attached to the Village, provided however such payments shall not exceed $150,000 in the aggregate.
The option payments shall be made no later than December 1 preceding the relevant option year.” The existing cash deposit made in the “Litigation” (the $150,000 cash deposit town officials appropriated from town taxpayer funds and placed with the court on behalf of Winter Hess and the other five members of the JTRAA) will secure the town’s obligations to make such payments described in the amendment.
If any required payment is not made when due, then the Village may apply to the Court for disbursement of the required payment. If the town makes any of the required payments, the deposit shall be reduced by such amount.
The town is responsible for all fees related to the deposit under the jurisdiction of the Court.
Thursday evening the town board also approved the amendment. Now that the town has agreed to have an agreement, legal counsel will draft a formal cooperative agreement which will be required to be approved by both Village and town boards. If they both agree to approve that agreement, a public hearing shall be held, but no sooner than 45 days after agreement is reached and at least forty-five days before submitting the plan to the Department of Administration (DOA) for its review and approval.
The DOA has 90 days to approve the cooperative plan. There may then be an additional hearing before the DOA
if it is warranted.
Signed John Walther Jackson Village Administrator