Madison’s Common Council listened to concerns from the public on a proposed hotel before approving amendments to the Judge Doyle Square project after lengthy deliberation which ended at 2 a.m. Wednesday.
Workers United Union Representative Alex Gillis and a representative from Citizens Against Subsidized Hotels spoke out against the addition of a new hotel in Madison as part of the JDS project. Gillis said the new hotel would directly affect the wages his workers at Monona Terrace would receive due to increased competition.
Representatives from other hotels in Madison also opposed the hotel. Although the hotel is expected to contribute to attendance at Monona Terrace conventions, the representatives argued the main revenue would come from health care software company Epic Systems employees during their training throughout the year.
According to Radisson Hotel general manager Jason Salus, the new hotel could potentially increase competition over the Epic employees that provide substantial income for current Madison hotels, against the intentions of the city officials.
The JDS development project will now enter into its next stage of negotiations to discuss financial aspects of the amendments. Tax incremental funding for the project is not finalized, which leaves open-ended debate for the future of the amendments and the project as a whole.
Ald. David Ahrens, District 15, proposed an amendment to enter into a project labor agreement that allows workers and employers involved in the project to create mutual working conditions agreements and essentially provide transparency between the employer-employee relationship.
Ahrens proposed the amendment due to his concerns about wages that workers will receive and the conditions they will work under during construction.
A proposed amendment at the meeting failed that would have required periodic review of the workers’ payroll by Madison’s Department of Civil Rights to ensure living wages are distributed. The city currently has a living wage ordinance in place to distribute to city employees. The addition simply sought a means to further protect the workers’ wages, according to Ald. Lisa Subeck, District 1.
“This really gets to the core of our workforce,” Subeck said. “I don’t think there’s a resource in this city that has more value than our human beings and that boils down to our workforce.”
According to Assistant City Attorney Anne Zellhoefer, the new parking garage and hotel would need financial contributions from the city in order to enact jurisdiction over the worker’s wages.
Council members also approved an amendment to increase the public benefit of the project. Ald. Marsha Rummel, District 6, proposed an addition to one of the nine previously written project elements by members of the Judge Doyle Square Ad Hoc Committee to provide community space, environmental benefits and affordable housing.
Subeck said it is more important to provide tangible benefits for the community, despite an increase in the city’s tax base with the new project.
“We’re talking about spending community money for community benefits,” Subeck said. “There has to be more when we’re talking about subsidizing elements.”
