Local businessman Mike Conrads approached the Madison City Council to express his opinions on text amendments being considered for Madison’s industrial zoning ordinances during the called meeting held on July 22.
He then closed out his remarks by criticizing a comment made by city manager John Klimm that was posted on social media.
Conrads said his company was going out of business in the Wellington building it now owns, and the 342,000 sq. ft. building it had occupied would have been vacant had the zoning rules under discussion not been in place in the past.
“Luckily, the city has been very good about allowing flexibility, and what is being proposed will remove that flexibility in the future,” Conrads said. If Wellington had gone out of business, what would you do with the property? You couldn’t divide it up like we’ve done. Pennington, Mannington, Bard—they’ve all used our space at Wellington, and it’s worked wonderfully for them and for us.”
Conrads asked that the moratorium on industrial zoning approvals be extended at least temporarily.
Conrads said he was frustrated by comments posted online by Klimm that suggested Klimm was only interested in bringing in what Conrads called the “anti-Rivian crew”—which includes a vocal Facebook group called “Our Communities Oppose Rivian Assembly Plant”—and not inviting all stakeholders to come to the city council meeting and express their opinions.
“I don’t think that’s the role of a city manager,” Conrads said.
Joellen Artz, a top contributor to the anti-Rivian Facebook page, said Klimm’s response was posted on several other Facebook pages, not exclusively on the anti-Rivian page.
Klimm took umbrage to the comments made by Conrads.
“You got up at this podium and said I posted something on social media,” Klimm said. “I don’t post things on social media. I answered an email from a citizen. You can disagree with what was in that email. I stand by everything that was in that email. It was also mentioned tonight that I favored one side or the other. I’ve never refused to communicate or meet with a developer or anybody else.
"You know better than anyone else, Mr. Conrads. I’ve had 10 or 12 meetings with you personally about another business you own. I’ve supported you by getting hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional assistance or whatever. It shocks me that you would get up at a public meeting and accuse me of blocking communications.”