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Weekly Report

City Manager Weekly Report 3/18/2011

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2011 Property Assessment Open Book and Board of Review Dates Announced

Governor’s Proposed Budget Impact on City Finances

Lt. Lisa Otterbacher Named Acting Police Chief  by Police Commission; National Search to be Conducted to Seek Replacement for Departing Chief James Coan

Whitewater Innovation Center Announces First Business Tenant

Council Approves Water Rate Study

Public Hearing on Effigy Mounds Preserve Restoration Plan Scheduled for March 30th

Fourth Annual Whitewater Environmental Achievement Awards Program Nominations Due by March 31st

Whitewater Parks and Recreation Department Named a Constant Contact All-Star

 

CITY OF WHITEWATER
WEEKLY CITY MANAGER’S REPORT (March 18, 2011) 

 

2011 Property Assessment Open Book and Board of Review Dates Announced

The City and its contract property assessment firm, Accurate Appraisal, announce that the 2011 Open Book and Board of Review dates have now been scheduled.

The Open Book sessions with the City Assessor are scheduled for April 19th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and again on April 20th from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:15 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. These Open Book sessions will be held in the second floor Cravath Lakefront Conference Room at the Municipal Building.  In addition to the statutory required day of Open Book, the assessment roll will also be open for examination during regular office hours at the Municipal Clerk’s office in City Hall.  The City Assessor or his staff will be available during the Open Book days listed above.

The Board of Review for the City will be meeting on May 16th beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building Community Room. Please be aware that the City Assessor cannot make changes to an assessed property value within 15 days prior to the start of the Board of Review under current Wisconsin State Statute.   

Governor’s Proposed Budget Impact on City Finances

Finance Director Doug Saubert has produced an analysis of the potential impact of the Governor’s proposed 2011-2013 Budget on the 2012 City Budget. It appears that based upon the best information that we have today we will have a  General Fund “gap” of almost $100,000 between State revenue cuts and planned employee payments for WRS and health insurance.   

Saubert and I participated in a conference call with 40 other cities in the State yesterday (all members of the new Urban Alliance within the League of Wisconsin Municipalities) and almost all indicated that they are projecting similar gaps in their 2012 budget projections.

Lt. Lisa Otterbacher Named Acting Police Chief  by Police Commission; National Search to be Conducted to Seek Replacement for Departing Chief James Coan

The Police Commission met on Wednesday of this week and unanimously appointed Lt. Lisa Otterbacher to serve as acting Police Chief effective, March 19th.  Police Chief James Coan officially retires from his position tomorrow and will assume his new duties as Police Chief of Centennial Lakes, Minnesota next Monday.

The Police Commission also announced that it will be conducting a national search for a permanent replacement to Chief Coan over the next several months. An outside police executive consulting firm will assist the Commission and city staff in conducting this search and screen process.

Whitewater Innovation Center Announces First Business Tenant

At its meeting on Wednesday this week, the Whitewater University Technology Park Board announced that Blackthorne Capital Management LLC will be the first private business to lease space in the new Whitewater Innovation Center. Blackthorne has signed a three-year lease for Suite 225 in the building and will assume occupancy on April 1st.

Blackthorne Capital is an IT start-up headed by Patrick Monahan and Peter Layton. Monahan, a Whitewater resident, is currently the Entrepreneur in Residence at the UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics.

Council Approves Water Rate Study

The Common Council this week approved a contract with Municipal Economics and Planning (MEP) to conduct a water utility rate study for the community. MEP, which has recently conducted numerous similar water rate studies for other Wisconsin municipalities, has already started its work.

The Whitewater Water Utility has not presented a water rate study and increase to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC) since 2004. Local water rates in the last several years have not been sufficient to generate WPSC authorized returns on investment to properly operate and maintain the Water Utility System. For example, in 2009 the Water Utility had a WPSC authorized rate of return of 6.5% but only received a 2.0 % actual return according to city auditors, Johnson Block and Company.

MEP will be evaluating the current water rate structure and propose alternative rate structures that are adequate, responsive, fair, defensible and understandable. The firm will not only look at next year’s revenue requirements as defined by the WPSC as well as prepare five-year water utility cash flow forecasts and bond coverage tests. MEP will then serve as our advocate before the WPSC to gain approval of rates that are responsive to utility goals and objectives.

MEP expects to complete its water utility study and presentation to the WPSC by June 15, 2011 with the required public hearing before the WPSC scheduled for late summer.    

Public Hearing on Effigy Mounds Preserve Restoration Plan Scheduled for March 30th

Neighbors and interested community members are invited to attend a public hearing on Wednesday, March 30th at 7:00 PM, held at the Whitewater Municipal Building in the 2nd floor conference room.  The public hearing will be held jointly by the Parks and Recreation Board and the Landmarks Commission.  This will be the third meeting in a series of public meetings and the draft restoration plan will be presented at the meeting and the intention of the meeting is to generate discussion and direction for the plan.  The City has contracted with Jennings & Associates, a planning firm that has significant background in land restoration and planning, as well as archeological preservation, to produce this Plan for the community.

For more information, please contact Matt Amundson at (262) 473-0122 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Fourth Annual Whitewater Environmental Achievement Awards Program Nominations Due by March 31st                          

The Whitewater community and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater are pleased to invite nominations for the Fourth Annual Whitewater Environmental Achievement Award.  This award was created to recognize individuals, high schools and companies from Whitewater and the surrounding area who have made especially noteworthy contributions to addressing important environmental issues. Please see more detail at http://www.uww.edu/sustainability/awards/.

We are now accepting nominations, with a deadline of March 31, 2011. Award finalists will be contacted in early April and recipients will be announced during Earth Week at UW-Whitewater.

The winners of the 2010 Whitewater Environmental Achievement Award were Eric Compas and George Savage (individual category), Crave Brothers (company category), and Hillcrest High School (high school category).

Whitewater Parks and Recreation Department Named a Constant Contact All-Star

The Whitewater Parks and Recreation Department has received the 2010 All Star Award from Constant Contact®, Inc., the trusted marketing advisor to more than 400,000 small organizations worldwide.  Whitewater Parks and Recreation is one of Constant Contact’s 2010 top performers and most prolific user of its tools, whether within Constant Contact’s email marketing, event marketing, social media marketing, or survey products – or a combination of all four.

“We are happy to be recognized by Constant Contact for our use of email marketing. Constant Contact’s tools have helped us distribute the youth sports newsletter and maintain our database of interested patrons. In the future we plan to expand our use of Constant Contact to provide a monthly Parks and Recreation newsletter,” according to Matt Amundson, Parks and Recreation Director.  Constant Contact looked at criteria including the following when selecting this year’s All Stars:

  • Frequency of campaigns, events and surveys
  • Open, bounce and click through rates
  • Usage of social features
  • Mailing list sign up tools
  • Use of reporting tools

“We work hard to listen to our customers, and we use that feedback to create products and services designed to help them better engage with their customers and prospects,” said Gail Goodman, chairman, president and CEO of Constant Contact. “The Constant Contact All Star Awards are our way of recognizing our customers that have successfully used Constant Contact to market their companies. We have some of the most committed, passionate customers out there and we’re proud we can be a part of their continued success.”


About Constant Contact, Inc.
Constant Contact is revolutionizing the success formula for small organizations through affordable, easy-to-use Engagement Marketing™ tools that help create and grow customer relationships.  More than 400,000 small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and member associations worldwide rely on Constant Contact as their engagement hub for starting and driving ongoing customer dialogs through email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online surveys.  All Constant Contact products come with unrivaled know how, education and free coaching with a personal touch, including award-winning customer support. 
 
Constant Contact and the Constant Contact Logo are registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All Constant Contact product names and other brand names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Quote for the Week

"It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself." 

-Eleanor Roosevelt

A citizen sent me the following story and I thought I would pass it along at the end of my report this week:

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.  He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help."  There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.

He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up.  A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.  The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?  What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way." I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story:  Be thankful for what you have.  Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.

Face your past without regret.  Handle your present with confidence.  Prepare for the future without fear.  Keep the faith and drop the fear.

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling!  And even more beautiful is knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

How blessed are we, to be able to play softball whenever we want.

Kevin M. Brunner

City Manager