In tonight’s Economic Development Commission meeting agenda, Mayor John Nelson nominated Cathleen “Cathy” Richard to serve as the public member on Franklin’s Joint Review Board (JRB).
The JRB reviews and approves tax incremental districts (TIDs) within the city. The board includes representatives from the local school districts, technical college district, county, city, and one public member.
In the past, JRB activity has received limited public attention. More recently, however, TID-related projects in the region have drawn increased interest. In Franklin, the proposed TID for the Poth’s General project at 76th Street and Rawson Avenue prompted public reaction earlier this year.
At a February JRB meeting, residents and former elected officials attended to share input. Because public comment was not on the agenda, the board directed those concerns to the Common Council, which was still reviewing the proposal at the time. Additionally, there generally are no citizen comment periods at JRB meetings. Final approval of a TID requires action by both the Council and the JRB.
The public member position on the JRB is currently vacant. Under state law, the board cannot act on TID matters until the position is filled, and the public member is selected by a majority of the existing board members.
Richard’s nomination comes as the city continues work on current and potential TID projects, including Poth’s General and the proposed Yaskawa headquarters relocation. However, she is receiving much scrutiny and blowback over remarks made on social media over the past few months. Some remarks are more political in nature, usually criticizing conservative viewpoints. Other remarks take on a harsh, vulgar nature – sometimes in response to people that push back on her positions.
Richard’s defense is simple – she has the right to express her views. It’s also a reminder that past incidents, statements and public comments from other city volunteers have also been put under a microscope. Decisions regarding nominations, appointments and any disciplinary handling of Board and Commission members ultimately rest with the Mayor and Common Council.
As of right now there is only one other applicant for the JRB’s public member position – former Mayor and recent write-in candidate for Mayor, Steve Olson. It’s noteworthy that a main avenue of criticism to Richard’s opinions and remarks on social media happens to be from an outlet that had several posts on social media encouraging people to vote for Olson in the April elections weeks prior. Olson also appeared on that outlet in the comments section of a post that criticized Richard’s nomination sharing Mayor Nelson’s letter.
It is unknown if there are going to be future nominations or submissions to be the public member before the JRB’s meeting on May 6th.
The City of Franklin did put out the following release on April 29th:
