A Referendum and a Rally

action on Confluence Project heats up

Tom Giffey |

Musician Justin Vernon, left, honorary co-chairman of the Confluence fundraising effort, acknowledges a $100,000 donation from US Bank announced by Mark Degner, the bank’s regional president, center, at a Confluence pep rally Nov. 26.
Musician Justin Vernon, left, honorary co-chairman of the Confluence fundraising effort, acknowledges a $100,000 donation from US Bank announced by Mark Degner, the bank’s regional president, center, at a Confluence pep rally Nov. 26. Photo: Rick Mickelson, UW-Eau Claire

Eau Claire residents may get a chance to vote in a referendum about the proposed Confluence Project. Or maybe they won’t. A petition drive will soon begin to put a public referendum on the ballot, but legal questions remain, and even if that referendum passes, it would require another referendum in which city voters would weigh in on financial support for the proposed arts center-mixed use facility in downtown Eau Claire.

And while the referendum push threatens to slow the public-private project down, the Confluence continues to gain financial momentum. At a State Theatre pep rally organized by Confluence supporters Nov. 26, US Bank announced a pledge of $100,000 toward t he project. Along with the contribution, organizers announced a new fundraising campaign called 40 Under 40, which encourages entrepreneurs under the age of 40 to pledge $10,000 each to the project, all of which will be matched by a private donor. An estimated 250 people attended the pep rally, which featured UW-Eau Claire Chancellor James Schmidt, the Blugold Marching Band, and appearances by Grammy winner Justin Vernon and JAMF Software entrepreneur Zach Halmstad, honorary co-chairmen of the fundraising effort.

Meanwhile, businessman Mike Bollinger announced that his group would begin to collect signatures on a petition to force a referendum vote. Under state law, they must get John Hancocks from 3,619 eligible city voters to get the referendum on the ballot. Bollinger and his committee say they aren’t necessarily opposed to the Confluence Project, but that they believed citizens – not just City Council members – should decide on public funding for the project. However, the City Council has declined to hold a referendum and conditionally pledged $5 million toward the project. The majority of council members agreed that the citizens already had provided extensive input on the issue and that the financial complexity of the issue made it too complicated to address in a simple “yes or no” referendum question.

To complicate matters, City Attorney Stephen Nick told the Leader-Telegram that the proposed referendum wouldn’t be legally eligible for the ballot. In part, that’s because binding referendums must be narrow in scope (and this one would potentially impact publicly funded efforts beyond the Confluence) and can’t overturn previous City Council actions (in this case, the $5 million pledge).
The proposed referendum would enact an ordinance requiring “that certain building projects constructed with funds of the city or a city entity shall be submitted to referendum prior to construction.” Specifically, these projects would be those involving buildings for “dramatic, musical, or artistic performances” costing the city $1 million or more. In essence, if this referendum were to pass – and be upheld as legal – a second referendum would be required to allow city funding for the Confluence to move forward.

Confluence supporters and their City Council allies argued that such a referendum is unneeded and would unnecessarily delay the project, a roughly $80 million public-private partnership involving UW-Eau Claire, the Eau Claire Regional Arts Council, and Commonweal Development.