http://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2017/10/24/final-agreement-between-state-and-foxconn-appears-imminent-key-local-figure-says/792335001/A key local participant in efforts to prepare the way for a massive Foxconn electronics factory in the Village of Mount Pleasant said Monday night that he's been told all major issues between the giant Taiwanese manufacturer and the state have been settled.
If so, it signals that, despite doubts raised last week, a final agreement between the state and company on the up to $10 billion, 13,000-job development is imminent.
"We have been told by the Foxconn people and the state people that everything has been resolved," Alan Marcuvitz, an attorney who has been advising Mount Pleasant, said at a meeting of the village board. "There are some technical issues regarding the execution of the (state-Foxconn) document because one of the companies is from overseas. They are smoothing out that problem."
Delays in execution of a final contract between Foxconn and the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. on a $3 billion taxpayer incentive package for the flat-screen plant have fueled speculation that serious problems have arisen to threaten the deal.
Gov. Scott Walker on Sept. 17 signed legislation authorizing the incentive package, but final state action on executing a contract specifying the incentives and Foxconn's obligations rests with the WEDC board. The deal was supposed to be completed by Sept. 30, but now the board is not expected to vote before its Nov. 8 meeting.
WEDC Chief Executive Officer Mark Hogan has said the state and Foxconn continue to work together toward a final agreement, and that the delays are not a sign of problems.
But last week, Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee), a member of the WEDC board and opponent of the deal, said the vote delay was caused by an unspecified issue "very, very major to the contract."
"They didn't do their due diligence," he said of WEDC.
Marcuvitz, however, indicated Monday night that the path to a final agreement has been cleared.
"I'm not going to say 'if' the Foxconn project goes ahead," he told village trustees. "I'm going to say 'when.' "
A state-Foxconn deal isn't the only one pending.
Last month, the village and Racine County signed a “memorandum of understanding” with a company subsidiary that envisions $764 million in local help for Foxconn, with the money to be repaid over 30 years by property taxes on the company’s vast manufacturing complex. That preliminary agreement, too, has yet to be finalized.
The village board, however, approved two other steps in anticipation of a Foxconn deal.
Trustees agreed to give the state jurisdiction over village roads in the project area while work to improve them is underway. Racine County similarly is expected to temporarily give the state jurisdiction over county roads in the Foxconn development area. The state then would take charge of all the roadway work.
The board also approved contracts with several firms for Foxconn-related work. Contracts were approved with:
--The Sigma Group Inc., of Milwaukee, to assess whether soil and groundwater were contaminated by a former salvage yard just east of I-94, and a former petroleum storage site north of Braun Road.
--Pitts Brothers & Associates LLC, Kenosha; Single Source Inc., Brookfield; and The Nicholson Group LLC, Hartland, for property appraisals.
--Real Estate Underwriting Services Inc., Wauwatosa, to review the appraisals.
--G.J. Miesbauer & Associates Inc., Belleville; and TerraVenture Advisors LLC, Elm Grove, to acquire properties and help displaced residents and businesses relocate. Some 120 properties are affected, Miesbauer estimates. TerraVenture also will manage acquired properties, providing such services as securing them, winterizing them and coordinating utility disconnections.
