Milwaukee Post
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6 • Milwaukee County Post • June 22, 2018 Medical College, Children's Hospital to buy land from county Conley News Service WAUWATOSA — Milwaukee County and four of the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center member organizations have reached an initial agreement for the members to purchase the county land they lease and occupy on the MRMC campus in Wauwatosa, according to an announcement June 14. The property being pur- chased will continue to be used by each organization for health care-related serv- ices. The four MRMC organi- zations that have signed option to purchase agree- ments are BloodCenter of Wisconsin Blood Research Institute, Children's Hospital and Health System, Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division is not part of the transaction. Curative Care has a long-standing rela- tionship with the county and MRMC and is working with partners to ensure a successful future for Curative on campus. "This is a win-win situa- tion for the County and for these partners who have heavily invested to build the MRMC campus into a set of world-class health- care facilities," Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said in a news release. "Having MRMC partners own the land they've built on empowers them to continue to invest in creating and maintain- ing innovative facilities. In exchange, the county receives income from the sale of the land and reduces long-term liabili- ties that were built into the leases. It's the right time to transition into the next phase of growth for the MRMC campus and these partners." The Milwaukee Regional Medical Center was formed in the late 1960s from the shared vision of Milwaukee County govern- ment and local business and civic leaders for a major academic medical center in Milwaukee. Time for ownership "The time is right to move from leasing to own- ership," said Milwaukee Regional Medical Center Executive Director Bob Simi. "Just as for a home- owner, ownership strength- ens commitment. The MRMC members are deeply committed to continuing the public benefit that began on this campus when it became the County Grounds more than a cen- tury ago. Their dedication is demonstrated by the bil- lions of dollars they have invested to develop the campus into a major hub of medical expertise, econom- ic value and employment growth." With more than 16,000 employees on the campus, MRMC generates $237 mil- lion in medical research annually and $4.88 billion in economic benefit to the region, according to the 2016 MRMC Economic Impact Study. BUSINESS File photo Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is one of the members of the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. which will buy land it currently leases from Milwaukee County. County to gain income, lessen liability, Abele says Conley News Service MILWAUKEE — When the Foxconn Technology Group manufacturing facil- ity is built in Mount Pleasant, it will contain a new water recycling sys- tem that will reduce the complex's water intake requirements from Lake Michigan. According to the announcement, Foxconn is investing $30 million in a zero liquid discharge (ZLD) system, which in addition to reducing the amount of water the com- pany takes from Lake Michigan, will also almost eliminate the return of any manufacturing process wastewater to the lake. "One of the reasons we chose to locate in Wisconsin is the state's pristine environment, and we take our responsibility to preserve it seriously," said Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn founder and CEO Terry Gou. "This system will be state-of-the-art technology to reduce the water our facility needs to operate by millions of gallons per day. We not only seek to comply with all regulations where we do business, we also work to exceed them when possible." In using this technology, Foxconn expects to reduce its intake of water at the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park in Racine County by more than 3.5 million gallons per day, down to 2.5 million gal- lons per day. The ZLD sys- tem will eliminate manu- facturing process waste- water by distilling it, allow- ing the company to recycle, recover and reuse it. "We applaud Foxconn for its progressive plan to aggressively recycle water used for manufacturing within their facilities and help minimize the amount of water drawn from Lake Michigan," said Dean Amhaus, president and chief executive officer of The Water Council. "This commitment is fitting for Wisconsin, the home of the North American office for the Alliance for Water Stewardship, the first and only global standard that promotes best practices in water stewardship." Conley News Service MILWAUKEE — While the unemployment rate remained at a record low of 2.8 percent for the month of May, the rate of labor force participation increased slightly to 68.9 percent, according to information released last week by the Department of Workforce Development. The data based on infor mation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated Wisconsin's labor force participation rate increased by 0.1 per- cent from April's revised rate of 68.8 percent to 68.9 percent in May. DWD Secretary Ray Allen cited the more than 94,000 jobs available on the J o b C e n t e r o f Wi s c o n s i n . com website as one sign. "It is important to look at all economic indicators when gauging the strength of Wisconsin's economy — our unem- ployment rate is at a record low for the second consecutive month and more people are employed today than ever before in our state's history," Allen said in a news release. Foxconn announces plan for state-of-the- art recycling technology at Wisconn Valley State unemployment remains at 2.8%, labor force participation up