Weekly Report
City Manager Report 3/11/11
Congratulations to Downtown Whitewater 2010 Award Winners
Green Energy Summit
Police Chief Coan Retiring
Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams Plan to be Presented to Park & Rec Board
Main Street Traffic Improvements Progressing
Congratulations to Downtown Whitewater 2010 Award Winners!
Last evening Downtown Whitewater Inc. held its annual awards reception at the Whitewater Street Restaurant. Congratulations go to the following award winners:
Volunteer of the Year – Kim Scharine, GMA Printing
Honorary Board Member – Jon Kachel, Commercial Bank
Best Creative Fund Raising Event – Downtown Promotions Committee for the Jack
Hanna program
Best Façade Rehabilitation over $7,500 – Dave & Grace Saalsaa - Quiet Hut Sports
Best Business Citizen Award – Home Lumber
Best Sustainability Effort – Whitewater Innovation Center – City of Whitewater,
Whitewater Community Development Authority and University of Wisconsin-
Whitewater
Best Downtown Image Campaign/Event – Whitewater Arts Alliance – Lamp Post Public
Arts Program
Best Design Committee Project – Happy Holly Days Float – Downtown Whitewater
Green Energy Summit
Later today I am speaking at the annual Green Energy Summit at the Frontier Airlines Center in downtown Milwaukee. I was asked to be part of a municipal panel to discuss local governments and sustainability with other speakers from the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and the City of Brookfield. I will focus in on the city’s energy independence plan and implementation of recent water and wastewater improvements, stormwater management, lakes management and the Whitewater University Technology Park and Innovation Center.
I am honored to be able to represent the city and all the good things that we have worked on over the last five to six years on a variety of community sustainability issues.
Police Chief Coan Retiring
Whitewater Police Chief James Coan submitted a letter of retirement to me on March 4th. His retirement from his position as Chief of Police for the city is effective on March 19th.
In his letter Coan stated, “It has been my distinct honor and privilege to serve as your Chief of Police. It has been with immense pride and personal satisfaction that I have led the Whitewater Police Department over the last 18 years. In many respects my tenure here has been the most rewarding of my professional law enforcement career.”
On behalf of the City I want to thank Chief Coan for his many years of dedicated service to our community. I believe that the quality of our police department organization, the outstanding caliber of its personnel and its policies and practices can be directly attributed to his leadership as police chief.
I wish Chief Coan, his wife Kris and son Michael nothing but the best as they move to Minnesota where Coan will be assuming the position of Police Chief of the Centennial Lakes Police Department that provides services to the communities of Centerville, Circle Pines and Lexington. These communities are located in the northern Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area.
The Police Commission did not appoint an interim Police Chief at its meeting earlier this week but will be scheduling a meeting next week to do so. It also will be beginning the process to select a new Police Chief in the near future.
Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams Plans to be Presented to Parks and Recreation Board Next Monday
Rettler Corporation of Stevens Point, WI has been working with the City of Whitewater to develop a conceptual site plan for the Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams. Rettler has previously designed the Whitewater High School athletic fields along with the recent renovations of the UW-Whitewater outdoor athletic complex. The Rettler Corporation has generously donated this work for the Field of Dreams project. Please note that this is a preliminary plan that needs the approval of the Parks and Recreation Board as well as the Common Council of the City of Whitewater. The Parks and Recreation Board will be reviewing this plan at their next meeting, scheduled for Monday, March 14th at 5:00 PM.
View Preliminary Master Plan
Main Street Traffic Improvements Progressing
Earlier this week additional signage for the Mulberry Glen crosswalk on Main Street was installed and is now operational. Two weeks ago two pedestrian crosswalk actuator Navigators were installed at the Main Street intersections of Prairie and Prince. These Navigators will assist visually impaired pedestrians in crossing at these particular intersections. The long planned Whiton/Main Street traffic signal project has finally received the necessary approval from the State Historical Society (no reports of any adverse effect of the planned improvements on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater historic entrance columns has been received). This project now is on schedule for an August 9th bid letting date with construction to probably begin in late September depending on equipment delivery.
Quotes for the Week
“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” - Jeannette Rankin
“Make good habits and they will make you.” - Parks Cousins