All-Encompassing Meeting On City Hall, Library Set For Dec. 19

The Oak Creek Common Council has agreed to a Dec. 19 meeting that will bring together residents and several community groups to discuss where to put the and .

However, aldermen said Tuesday they do not expect to make a final decision at that meeting, meaning that discussions will likely continue into early 2012.

The Dec. 19 meeting, to be held at 7 p.m. at the , will bring in various groups who have a stake in where those buildings are located. Those groups include the Oak Creek-Franklin School District, community center, library board and the owner and developer of the Delphi site, Wispark.

Alderman Steve Scaffidi proposed bringing in each group separately over a series of meetings in the next several weeks. But other aldermen and Mayor Dick Bolender favored a group meeting that would allow the council to hear from all parties at once while keeping the process moving forward.

Wispark does not want to delay the decision too much because it is anxious to begin lining up tenants, but its work depends on what the Common Council decides to do with the library and city hall, City Attorney Larry Haskin said.

City officials had hoped a decision on whether to keep the city hall and library where it is or move it to the Delphi site , but aldermen said it was likely they would need more information and time to consider their options.

"It's a huge decision," Alderman Dan Bukiewicz said. "And we should make it right. We've made some big decisions here and we've made them fast. Fortunately, when we haven't made them right we've had time to go back and correct them. This could be a decision we can't go back and correct."

Meanwhile, Bolender said he will insist the Dec. 19 meeting be televised, the same way that council and Plan Commission meetings are televised on cable channels 25 and 99.

To get caught up on all the latest regarding the Delphi redevelopment project, make sure to visit Oak Creek Patch's Delphi page.