Wisconsin Builder » Construction Corner

41 years of memories

By Fred Risser • Feb 1st, 2010 • Category: Construction Corner

I was one of the first Democrats to become a member of the state Building Commission when then-Gov. Gaylord Nelson asked me to join in 1959.

At the time I knew little about the commission or its mission.

The Wisconsin Building Commission was created shortly after the end of World War II in 1949 to coordinate what was at that time the most extensive building program in the history of the state.

University and state college enrollments had more than doubled practically overnight, in large part due to the federal GI Bill that provided free tuition for thousands of returning veterans. There also was an urgent need to respond to state facility maintenance and remodeling pressures that were deferred during the war.

In the late 1960s, the state constitution was amended to provide for direct state borrowing to help finance capital expenditures for state agencies and higher-education facilities. The commission became the only state agency that could authorize contracting for state debt. While the state Legislature still must approve all appropriations and enumerate all major state projects valued at more than $500,000, the commission is the body that implements the legislative directives and gives final authorization to any state borrowing.

The commission has the power to defer, alter or even withhold final approval of all construction proposals, excluding highway projects. The commission also submits a capital budget to the Legislature setting forth recommendations for long-range biennial building programs.

During my tenure on the commission, the state’s prison population increased more than 700 percent, from 2,679 inmates in 1968 to 22,431 today. Numerous studies by the commission regarding if and where to build new prisons took place. Overall, we have built or bought 15 prisons in my 41 years as a commission member.

In my opinion, some major mistakes were made by the commission regarding prisons. One example was the commission’s purchase of the privately built, for-profit prison in Stanley. I was the only member of the commission to vote against the purchase of that prison.

The Stanley prison was built by speculators who, after pocketing their profits, left the state with a white elephant that has cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to correct flaws and bring it up to necessary minimum standards. State law now forbids this from happening again.

In recent years, about 50 percent of the commission’s activities have been directed toward the capital needs of higher education. The commission is overseeing about $1.5 billion in such activity.

The commission also is engaged in a plan to eliminate fossil fuel in state heating plants and implement energy efficiency throughout state facilities. The commission is requiring agencies come forth with their long-range capital goals and constantly is auditing its borrowing policies.

The Building Commission has given me the opportunity to help promote the university and the state, for which I am grateful. I am proud of my 41 years as a member of the commission and the input I had on Wisconsin’s building program.

Fred Risser is a Democratic state senator from Madison. He stepped down from the state Building Commission in December after serving on and off since 1959.