April 12, 2011
My Dear Readers,
Tonight I become an “elected official.” In taking on this role in our community, I feel it is appropriate to start fresh with an open mind and leave the past in the past.
Therefore, I intend to stop posting on this blog effective immediately. I will leave the past posts here and available for all to see. When my term is done, I’ll bring this back to life.
Since there is a need for information flow from the Chairman to the citizens of our community, I have created a new blog. I will use this new blog to pass on information and address issues and concerns in a way that all can see and where a long term record can be kept. My new blog is:
http://vernonchairman.blogspot.com/
Please stay tuned; I have a feeling it’s going to be a wild ride!
Regards,
Mike
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
My Thoughts on the Election
Good morning blog readers! Well, the election is over and the dust hasn’t quite settled, but it looks like the results I put out last night will stand.
I am so proud that the residents of Vernon selected me to be their Chairman. Next Tuesday, 4/12 is the annual meeting. Please come and show your support when I’m sworn in!
My victory is a little bittersweet for me. I’m disappointed that Marilyn Gauger and Diane Herried were not selected to join me. Both of them are hard working, honest people and both would have made excellent supervisors. That being said, I’m sure that as chairman of this board, I will be able to work with all of the supervisors to continue the work of running this community and continuing to look for ways for our community to do more with less and to keep our tax rate under control.
As I’ve said before, Tom Bird and Bill Craig are hard working public servants who are doing their best to achieve the same goals we all have: have the best services, maintain a rural community and do so at a reasonable tax rate. I will be happy to serve with them! They were selected by the community just like I was, and we will work together based on the guidance of the community! It is so important that as a resident you come to the annual meeting next Tuesday, 4/12 and offer that guidance. That is your chance to voice your opinion about what is important to you and offer the town board guidance on how you would like these important issues handled. This board will take your requests for action seriously!
So, as we get down to work, stay tuned to this blog. I will continue to use this as a forum to gather ideas, comments and thoughts from residents so that your board will best serve you!
In summary, I’m excited, but apprehensive about this new role for me. I don’t want to let you down! I will do everything I can to perform to your expectations. One thing you’ll get from me for certain: you’ll get my honest opinion and straight forward approach to the issues. You will not get disrespect or dismissal. If I disagree with you, I can still be your friend and neighbor!
Regards,
Mike Doble
Chairman Elect
I am so proud that the residents of Vernon selected me to be their Chairman. Next Tuesday, 4/12 is the annual meeting. Please come and show your support when I’m sworn in!
My victory is a little bittersweet for me. I’m disappointed that Marilyn Gauger and Diane Herried were not selected to join me. Both of them are hard working, honest people and both would have made excellent supervisors. That being said, I’m sure that as chairman of this board, I will be able to work with all of the supervisors to continue the work of running this community and continuing to look for ways for our community to do more with less and to keep our tax rate under control.
As I’ve said before, Tom Bird and Bill Craig are hard working public servants who are doing their best to achieve the same goals we all have: have the best services, maintain a rural community and do so at a reasonable tax rate. I will be happy to serve with them! They were selected by the community just like I was, and we will work together based on the guidance of the community! It is so important that as a resident you come to the annual meeting next Tuesday, 4/12 and offer that guidance. That is your chance to voice your opinion about what is important to you and offer the town board guidance on how you would like these important issues handled. This board will take your requests for action seriously!
So, as we get down to work, stay tuned to this blog. I will continue to use this as a forum to gather ideas, comments and thoughts from residents so that your board will best serve you!
In summary, I’m excited, but apprehensive about this new role for me. I don’t want to let you down! I will do everything I can to perform to your expectations. One thing you’ll get from me for certain: you’ll get my honest opinion and straight forward approach to the issues. You will not get disrespect or dismissal. If I disagree with you, I can still be your friend and neighbor!
Regards,
Mike Doble
Chairman Elect
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Town of Vernon Spring 2011 Election Results
Vernon Residents:
The preliminary results are in on the Town Board election. Here are the PRELIMINARY results:
Doble – Town Chairman
Bird – Supervisor #2
Craig – Supervisor #4
THANKS for your support and well wishes! It’s time to get down to work!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
THANKS and Some Final Thoughts
First of all, THANKS for taking the time to read my blog.
I also strongly encourage you to vote for Marilyn Gauger and Diane Herried as well. We’re all excited about the possibility of bringing fresh blood to our town government. Please hire us to work for you by voting Tuesday!
Here are some final thoughts on the issues before the election. As always, if you have questions, please email or call me; questions in the comments are always welcome too. I’m happy to expound on any of these thoughts. My goal is to inform you as much as possible so you can choose who you want to represent you in our town government!
Annexation. The question I get asked the most is where do I stand on annexation? Annexation is a complex issue, but my position is that annexation is VERY BAD for our community! As a community, we need to work to STOP annexation; I will work to do so. Outside communities (Mukwonago, Big Bend, Muskego and potentially Waukesha) do NOT take our property. In order for OUR property to go to a neighboring community through annexation, the Town of Vernon property owner MUST go to the neighboring community and ASK to be annexed. In some rare cases (which happened in the Deluca annexation), if a majority of the land owners go to the neighboring community and ask to annexed, then some unfortunate town land owner COULD get annexed against their will. So, how do you stop annexation of property away from Vernon? Quite simply, we need to take away the property owner’s motivation to leave the town. We won’t be able to make every property owner happy and some will leave, but we MUST try to work with each and every one of them. We can be sensible. We can try to allow property owners to develop their property the same way the neighboring community will allow. It’s all a matter of examining requests for development with thoughts of the consequences of disapproving the request.
Fire Department. What’s done is done. I don’t intend to do anything other than push for the department to continue to develop in a positive manner like it is now. I hate the fact that we spent so much money from our town to fix something that could have been resolved in another way, but like I said, what’s done is done. I intend to move forward without looking back.
Tone of Government. Our elected officials need to conduct themselves with professionalism and respect for the citizens. I understand that the citizens of this community are not dummies! The citizens can take the hard truth and should be privy to the discussions that shape the decisions made by the elected officials. Citizens must be able to ask the hard questions, ask for explanation and approach town government without ridicule and being treated with contempt. Business owners who live in the community should be able to get involved in local politics without fear of retaliation against their business. I will work to change the tone of our government to be what it should be in this town.
Town Staff. We have an excellent staff running the day to day operations of our town. Our DPW director, fire chief, clerk, treasurer, recreation director, building inspector, etc. are all great people who are in these positions because they know what they are doing! If elected, I will consult with them and rely on them to advise the town board on staffing and budget issues. It is not the elected officials place to dictate WHO should get laid off, how operations should be handled, how to run tax collection, etc. The board is an executive decision making body operating with a support staff of professionals behind the scenes. If the board is going to get involved in the minute details of department operations, then why do we have full time staff? It’s time to get out of their hair and let them do their jobs, then hold them accountable if necessary.
Town Zoning. Managing our own zoning is an excellent idea (but it WILL have a financial impact). We will be able to better control our destiny without the Waukesha County “One-size-fits-all” Zoning Code. It’s not a bad code, it’s just a case of what’s good for the Town of Delafield for example, might not be good for the Town of Vernon, and vice versa. Having our own code is probably the best way for us to control annexation as well. We’ll be able to handle the exceptions to the code that may allow us the flexibility to keep a property or two away from Big Bend!
Town Board Meetings. I don’t like agendas for town board meetings that do not specifically outline the issues to be discussed! Blanket agenda items that seemingly allow open discussion of any topic under the guise that no decision will be made is counterproductive to open government. Agendas should be specific and allow for defined meeting start and end times. Yes, sometimes having a rigid agenda is a hassle for the board, but the only way citizens know when to tune in is when you define the discussion. I intend to change the structure of our town board meetings if I’m elected. As a citizen, you’ll know in advance if there are topics that will be discussed that you want to listen to or, more importantly, come down to the town hall and provide comments. Feel free to do so, you’ll be treated with the respect you deserve as a citizen.
THANKS AGAIN and I’ll see you at the polls Tuesday!
I respectfully ask that you vote for Mike Doble on Tuesday!
I also strongly encourage you to vote for Marilyn Gauger and Diane Herried as well. We’re all excited about the possibility of bringing fresh blood to our town government. Please hire us to work for you by voting Tuesday!
Here are some final thoughts on the issues before the election. As always, if you have questions, please email or call me; questions in the comments are always welcome too. I’m happy to expound on any of these thoughts. My goal is to inform you as much as possible so you can choose who you want to represent you in our town government!
Annexation. The question I get asked the most is where do I stand on annexation? Annexation is a complex issue, but my position is that annexation is VERY BAD for our community! As a community, we need to work to STOP annexation; I will work to do so. Outside communities (Mukwonago, Big Bend, Muskego and potentially Waukesha) do NOT take our property. In order for OUR property to go to a neighboring community through annexation, the Town of Vernon property owner MUST go to the neighboring community and ASK to be annexed. In some rare cases (which happened in the Deluca annexation), if a majority of the land owners go to the neighboring community and ask to annexed, then some unfortunate town land owner COULD get annexed against their will. So, how do you stop annexation of property away from Vernon? Quite simply, we need to take away the property owner’s motivation to leave the town. We won’t be able to make every property owner happy and some will leave, but we MUST try to work with each and every one of them. We can be sensible. We can try to allow property owners to develop their property the same way the neighboring community will allow. It’s all a matter of examining requests for development with thoughts of the consequences of disapproving the request.
Fire Department. What’s done is done. I don’t intend to do anything other than push for the department to continue to develop in a positive manner like it is now. I hate the fact that we spent so much money from our town to fix something that could have been resolved in another way, but like I said, what’s done is done. I intend to move forward without looking back.
Tone of Government. Our elected officials need to conduct themselves with professionalism and respect for the citizens. I understand that the citizens of this community are not dummies! The citizens can take the hard truth and should be privy to the discussions that shape the decisions made by the elected officials. Citizens must be able to ask the hard questions, ask for explanation and approach town government without ridicule and being treated with contempt. Business owners who live in the community should be able to get involved in local politics without fear of retaliation against their business. I will work to change the tone of our government to be what it should be in this town.
Town Staff. We have an excellent staff running the day to day operations of our town. Our DPW director, fire chief, clerk, treasurer, recreation director, building inspector, etc. are all great people who are in these positions because they know what they are doing! If elected, I will consult with them and rely on them to advise the town board on staffing and budget issues. It is not the elected officials place to dictate WHO should get laid off, how operations should be handled, how to run tax collection, etc. The board is an executive decision making body operating with a support staff of professionals behind the scenes. If the board is going to get involved in the minute details of department operations, then why do we have full time staff? It’s time to get out of their hair and let them do their jobs, then hold them accountable if necessary.
Town Zoning. Managing our own zoning is an excellent idea (but it WILL have a financial impact). We will be able to better control our destiny without the Waukesha County “One-size-fits-all” Zoning Code. It’s not a bad code, it’s just a case of what’s good for the Town of Delafield for example, might not be good for the Town of Vernon, and vice versa. Having our own code is probably the best way for us to control annexation as well. We’ll be able to handle the exceptions to the code that may allow us the flexibility to keep a property or two away from Big Bend!
Town Board Meetings. I don’t like agendas for town board meetings that do not specifically outline the issues to be discussed! Blanket agenda items that seemingly allow open discussion of any topic under the guise that no decision will be made is counterproductive to open government. Agendas should be specific and allow for defined meeting start and end times. Yes, sometimes having a rigid agenda is a hassle for the board, but the only way citizens know when to tune in is when you define the discussion. I intend to change the structure of our town board meetings if I’m elected. As a citizen, you’ll know in advance if there are topics that will be discussed that you want to listen to or, more importantly, come down to the town hall and provide comments. Feel free to do so, you’ll be treated with the respect you deserve as a citizen.
THANKS AGAIN and I’ll see you at the polls Tuesday!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Diane Herried's Blog
Loyal readers and guests, I would like to pass on the line to Diane Herried's blog. She is currently campaigning for the position of Supervisor #4 in the Town of Vernon. Diane and I have coordinated much of our campaign efforts.
She has some very good thoughts on her blog: http://dherried.wordpress.com/
She has some very good thoughts on her blog: http://dherried.wordpress.com/
DPW Layoff Article by Sarah Craft
By hitting the link below, you can see an article written by Sarah Craft of the Waukesha Freeman regarding the issue of DPW layoffs. I sure hope Marilyn, Diane and I win, or I'm afraid Mr. Salentine will lose his job for being candid.
Please pass this around the community!
Here is the article: http://tinyurl.com/Freeman3-31-11
God bless you Doug! Sometimes all it takes for tyranny to get a foothold is for good people to remain silent. Thanks for being an honest, good person Doug.
Please pass this around the community!
Here is the article: http://tinyurl.com/Freeman3-31-11
God bless you Doug! Sometimes all it takes for tyranny to get a foothold is for good people to remain silent. Thanks for being an honest, good person Doug.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
GUEST POST: Cut Two Fulltime DPW Employees
Note: This is a guest post by Marilyn Gauger.
The Town Board again has confirmed why I am running for office. They made another decision late in the evening, at a special called Town Board meeting. They made this decision again without input from the appropriate people in the know – this time the DPW Director. They cut 2 fulltime DPW employees. Again, the way this was done was rude and disrespectful - 2 employees were told to leave this AM. The timing is also very curious!
Remember they (Town Board) did this before, very late in the evening; when they voted to sever the 50+ year Big Bend Vernon Fire Department.
What are the short term and long term affects of this latest decision? I personally worked for the previous Director LeRoy Titze for 10 years and I know what it takes to maintain 75 miles of road and maintain equipment to cover 34 square miles of property. How will it affect crackfilling, snowplowing? As a bedroom community; our roads, having them maintained and having them clear of snow, is at the top of resident’s wants and needs. That is one of the reasons the previous Boards felt it necessary to have a 6-man crew. That crew does a superior job for Town residents.
My question is why cut 2 fulltime employees? State Budget Bill? OK, to date we don’t even know how it will affect local municipalities. When we are notified of the Town’s fiscal impact we (Doble, Gauger and Herried) will look to our department heads/DPW Director/Clerk/Treasurer to suggest the best possible ways/items to make any necessary cuts.
I looked at the Town’s budget and believe we can realize savings, as proposed by the new State Budget Bill while maintaining our current level of employees - exactly what Governor Walker proposes for State employees. There are approximate savings of:
- $34,000 in WRS
- $14,000 in Health Insurance
Reductions of:
- $100,000 in Capital Equipment based on 2010 purchases (Do we now have more trucks than DPW workers?)
- $20,000 in Legal fees
Omitting:
- $3,500 Fireworks
- $3,000 Appreciation Dinner
And Now the DPW...
Here we go again folks…last night the town board held a closed session meeting, here is the agenda:
http://tinyurl.com/110330Agenda
Contrary to what is indicated on the agenda, the clerk and DPW director were NOT invited to attend. The labor attorney DID attend. The result of this meeting?
Two DPW employees were laid off by the board!
There was NO input from Doug Salentine the DPW director before or during this meeting! This is absolutely infuriating. ONCE AGAIN, THIS BOARD HAS ACTED UNILATERALLY WITHOUT INPUT FROM ANYONE! No public input, no public agenda to see what issues we might be having, no input from the full time DPW director; NOTHING!
Is this leadership? I think NOT!
Please vote Doble, Gauger and Herried on April 5th! Enough is enough!
http://tinyurl.com/110330Agenda
Contrary to what is indicated on the agenda, the clerk and DPW director were NOT invited to attend. The labor attorney DID attend. The result of this meeting?
Two DPW employees were laid off by the board!
There was NO input from Doug Salentine the DPW director before or during this meeting! This is absolutely infuriating. ONCE AGAIN, THIS BOARD HAS ACTED UNILATERALLY WITHOUT INPUT FROM ANYONE! No public input, no public agenda to see what issues we might be having, no input from the full time DPW director; NOTHING!
Is this leadership? I think NOT!
Please vote Doble, Gauger and Herried on April 5th! Enough is enough!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
WI DNR Visits the Town of Vernon - The Kaishian Issue
Last night I attended a meeting of the Town of Vernon Board. The board had requested that two representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) responsible for the closure approval and filling permits for the “Kaishian Property” come to the town to make a presentation regarding this issue. (If you’re not familiar with this property, please see the side note at the end.) Read this carefully please: they were requested to come to the town to make a presentation to inform the town of their action.
Instead, they got an inquisition. They were grilled by Tom Bird for over two hours regarding their review of this property in a manner that was completely unprofessional and uncalled for. He asked the same questions over and over again, picked on their minor inconsistencies, treated them with disdain if they gave any sort of pushback, etc. If you’re thinking of voting for Tom Bird, I suggest you watch the tape, all two hours and 20 minutes of it, and ask yourself, would I like to appear before a board that acts like this?
Tom Bird should be ashamed; but I know he isn’t. This was completely in character for Mr. Bird. In the end, the representatives from the DNR showed the town quite convincingly that they DID do their job, they did NOT leave any work unfinished, our ground water IS protected, but just in case they WILL continue to monitor groundwater samples during and after any filling occurs. In fact, they will continue to monitor when ANY land disturbance occurs on this site at any time in the future.
I spoke with both gentlemen after the meeting and told them that it WAS necessary for them to explain their findings to the town, and that we ARE concerned, but they DID NOT need to be treated in such a disrespectful manner by our board. I apologized to them.
Now, please do not misinterpret my words. I feel VERY strongly that the town needs to be well informed of issues such as these. There is no resource in our town that needs to more zealously guarded than our groundwater; especially when we’re dealing with chemical contaminates that don’t go away!
Through their reports and explanations they proved that the contamination does exist, but it IS contained within the dump site itself. None of the contamination has leaked from the site into the general groundwater flow. In fact, filling over the dump site would serve to further alleviate any concern. I’ve dealt with Jim Delwiche for the DNR before as a consultant. He is tough and thorough. He does his job and forces property owners and developers to follow the letter of the environmental protection laws. He’s a good man and great person to have on our side protecting our precious groundwater!
Of course all of the facts are very contrary to Dave Nowicki’s campaign flyer against me in the race for town chairman. Here is his flyer:
http://tinyurl.com/Nowicki1
Mr. Nowicki says that we should take legal action against the DNR to require them to complete their work…you can read the flyer. Based on the complete information provided by the DNR, this would be absurd. What I find a little amusing by his flyer is that his issue #2 is controlling legal costs. Now isn’t that interesting. We’re going to file legal action with the court to force the DNR to address an issue that has been put to bed, but we’re going to control legal costs too. He should really do his homework and not listen to Joe Reilly so much.
I ask that you please make an informed decision at the polls next Tuesday, April 5th, and select Doble, Gauger and Herried to serve you on your board! Also, please help re-elect Justice David Prosser to the Wisconsin Supreme Court!
(Side note: Mr. Kaishian owns the old transfer station located at S72 W23820 West National Avenue. It’s the metal building at the top of the hill on National just west of Hwy 164. The property is located in the Village of Big Bend. Mr. Kaishian was recently approved to fill a part of the east portion of this property near Hwy 164. He was approved by the Village and has permits from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. There are no immediate plans for development of this property, just the fill at the corner so he can market the property. The issue is that in the ‘80’s while this property was being used as a transfer station [not by Kaishian], some illegal dumping occurred and there are some nasties buried out there. The WI DNR continues to monitor the situation for any potential groundwater contamination, but has found none.)
Instead, they got an inquisition. They were grilled by Tom Bird for over two hours regarding their review of this property in a manner that was completely unprofessional and uncalled for. He asked the same questions over and over again, picked on their minor inconsistencies, treated them with disdain if they gave any sort of pushback, etc. If you’re thinking of voting for Tom Bird, I suggest you watch the tape, all two hours and 20 minutes of it, and ask yourself, would I like to appear before a board that acts like this?
Tom Bird should be ashamed; but I know he isn’t. This was completely in character for Mr. Bird. In the end, the representatives from the DNR showed the town quite convincingly that they DID do their job, they did NOT leave any work unfinished, our ground water IS protected, but just in case they WILL continue to monitor groundwater samples during and after any filling occurs. In fact, they will continue to monitor when ANY land disturbance occurs on this site at any time in the future.
I spoke with both gentlemen after the meeting and told them that it WAS necessary for them to explain their findings to the town, and that we ARE concerned, but they DID NOT need to be treated in such a disrespectful manner by our board. I apologized to them.
Now, please do not misinterpret my words. I feel VERY strongly that the town needs to be well informed of issues such as these. There is no resource in our town that needs to more zealously guarded than our groundwater; especially when we’re dealing with chemical contaminates that don’t go away!
Through their reports and explanations they proved that the contamination does exist, but it IS contained within the dump site itself. None of the contamination has leaked from the site into the general groundwater flow. In fact, filling over the dump site would serve to further alleviate any concern. I’ve dealt with Jim Delwiche for the DNR before as a consultant. He is tough and thorough. He does his job and forces property owners and developers to follow the letter of the environmental protection laws. He’s a good man and great person to have on our side protecting our precious groundwater!
Of course all of the facts are very contrary to Dave Nowicki’s campaign flyer against me in the race for town chairman. Here is his flyer:
http://tinyurl.com/Nowicki1
Mr. Nowicki says that we should take legal action against the DNR to require them to complete their work…you can read the flyer. Based on the complete information provided by the DNR, this would be absurd. What I find a little amusing by his flyer is that his issue #2 is controlling legal costs. Now isn’t that interesting. We’re going to file legal action with the court to force the DNR to address an issue that has been put to bed, but we’re going to control legal costs too. He should really do his homework and not listen to Joe Reilly so much.
I ask that you please make an informed decision at the polls next Tuesday, April 5th, and select Doble, Gauger and Herried to serve you on your board! Also, please help re-elect Justice David Prosser to the Wisconsin Supreme Court!
(Side note: Mr. Kaishian owns the old transfer station located at S72 W23820 West National Avenue. It’s the metal building at the top of the hill on National just west of Hwy 164. The property is located in the Village of Big Bend. Mr. Kaishian was recently approved to fill a part of the east portion of this property near Hwy 164. He was approved by the Village and has permits from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. There are no immediate plans for development of this property, just the fill at the corner so he can market the property. The issue is that in the ‘80’s while this property was being used as a transfer station [not by Kaishian], some illegal dumping occurred and there are some nasties buried out there. The WI DNR continues to monitor the situation for any potential groundwater contamination, but has found none.)
Change of Blog Description
Please note that temporarily I've changed my blog description. This is how it used to read:
"An exchange of ideas and opinions on matters that are important to our Town of Vernon, Waukesha County, Wisconsin. If you are a citizen concerned with any issue and are looking for honest and respectful discussion of the issues that matter, then this is the place for you to express your opinions and ideas."
I changed it for two reasons: 1) It wasn't clear to some people that I actually write all of these posts; they thought that anyone could write these and post them. I DO allow anyone to comment, but the posts are my writings. 2) I thought it would be easier for folks to know exactly what they were reading when they got to the blog.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love this blog because you can go back a couple years and see my thoughts on issues well before I ever considered running for office. What you see is what you get from me. Judge me as you wish.
I'm passionate about keeping our government open, honest and respectful to the people. We are a government by the people for the people. Sometimes I think the people we elect forget that!
PLEASE VOTE ON APRIL 5TH! VOTE FOR DOBLE, GAUGER AND HERRIED!
"An exchange of ideas and opinions on matters that are important to our Town of Vernon, Waukesha County, Wisconsin. If you are a citizen concerned with any issue and are looking for honest and respectful discussion of the issues that matter, then this is the place for you to express your opinions and ideas."
I changed it for two reasons: 1) It wasn't clear to some people that I actually write all of these posts; they thought that anyone could write these and post them. I DO allow anyone to comment, but the posts are my writings. 2) I thought it would be easier for folks to know exactly what they were reading when they got to the blog.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love this blog because you can go back a couple years and see my thoughts on issues well before I ever considered running for office. What you see is what you get from me. Judge me as you wish.
I'm passionate about keeping our government open, honest and respectful to the people. We are a government by the people for the people. Sometimes I think the people we elect forget that!
PLEASE VOTE ON APRIL 5TH! VOTE FOR DOBLE, GAUGER AND HERRIED!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
I'm back...
Thanks for checking out my blog. I arrived back from vacation early on Saturday AM and am caught up with chores and work. Now, back to politics. I have a couple posts that are coming your way this week leading up to the election.
Keep sending in your comments and questions. And, please don't forget to let people know to become informed before they hit the polls.
Keep sending in your comments and questions. And, please don't forget to let people know to become informed before they hit the polls.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Forum...and an Apology
Dear Town Residents:
I apologize for not being able to be at the forum this evening. I really want you to hear what I have to say. I'm certain my absence will be used against me in this campaign.
Just so all of you know, Joe Reilly set up this forum. When he did, he did not contact Marilyn Gauger, Diane Herried or I about when and where it would be. Two of the three of us cannot be there for this. It's a shame and a disservice to our community. All it would have taken is a phone call or email. I'm traveling on vacation with my family and I am leaving this morning. This trip was planned since before Christmas.
So, I sent an email out to all the candidates on Monday AM to request a forum the last week of this month. I received a response from only Marilyn and Diane. They are both available anytime that week. None of the other candidates responded.
So, I'll return late next week and I'll jump back into the mix, but you had to know that I made an effort to hold a forum where all could participate. But maybe this was the plan all along, set a date with the hope that some of us who oppose "them" could not be there.
On a positive note, I probably have more information about how I think and feel about issues on this blog than any other candidate in the history of Vernon. We usually make decisions on candidates based on a flyer stuffed in a mailbox. My thoughts and feelings are here for all to see. There are two years of posts here for you to get to know who I am.
I would be honored if you choose me to lead your town! Either way, please vote April 5th!
Regards,
Mike
I apologize for not being able to be at the forum this evening. I really want you to hear what I have to say. I'm certain my absence will be used against me in this campaign.
Just so all of you know, Joe Reilly set up this forum. When he did, he did not contact Marilyn Gauger, Diane Herried or I about when and where it would be. Two of the three of us cannot be there for this. It's a shame and a disservice to our community. All it would have taken is a phone call or email. I'm traveling on vacation with my family and I am leaving this morning. This trip was planned since before Christmas.
So, I sent an email out to all the candidates on Monday AM to request a forum the last week of this month. I received a response from only Marilyn and Diane. They are both available anytime that week. None of the other candidates responded.
So, I'll return late next week and I'll jump back into the mix, but you had to know that I made an effort to hold a forum where all could participate. But maybe this was the plan all along, set a date with the hope that some of us who oppose "them" could not be there.
On a positive note, I probably have more information about how I think and feel about issues on this blog than any other candidate in the history of Vernon. We usually make decisions on candidates based on a flyer stuffed in a mailbox. My thoughts and feelings are here for all to see. There are two years of posts here for you to get to know who I am.
I would be honored if you choose me to lead your town! Either way, please vote April 5th!
Regards,
Mike
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Write-in to Challenge Doble in Vernon
This article was published in the Mukwonago Chief on March 8th. One commenter after the article, MD1955, really doesn’t like me and has said some things that I feel need to be addressed. The parts in quotes below are from his/her comments. He/she is a little misinformed and puts out some outright lies. I know there are people out there like this in any community and I don’t get too worked up, but I hate it when there are lies about me floating out there. Plus, MD1955 is just downright misinformed about some issues, yet acts like an expert.
Here are some of the comments and my responses. Please post a comment here if anyone would like me to respond in any more detail. Remember, anyone is free to comment; I do not require you to register or login to comment.
“Mr. Doble, you up and left the fire department board and we still do not know why.” – I left the fire board because, in quite simple terms, it became clear members of the town board had a vendetta against me and were making up “issues” to discredit me. I think in my resignation letter I characterized them as “slanderous misstatements.” When it became clear that this board member would not back off and I would not be allowed to do the job I was appointed to do, I left. It really not that big of a secret or something I’m ashamed of. In retrospect, it might have been better for me to stay and much of the fighting and whatnot of the last two years might have been avoided. I’d much rather work in a positive direction that always fighting the establishment. We need to work on building stronger consensus in this community rather than always being on one side or the other. That’s why I enjoy working with Marilyn and Diane so much; we can disagree, but then discuss solutions that work for everyone.
“You have lied on several occasions on not being a part of the disgusting signs put up in Vernon.” – I assisted in putting up signs to encourage people to vote for Rodell Singert and write in Diane Herried. I did not have any part in any signs that you characterize as disgusting. I think you’re talking about Vince’s “Bird must go” sign. Nothing to do with me; everything to do with Vince feeling wronged by the town board over his building in Vernon. Were the Bird must go signs really “disgusting?” I didn’t think they were in good taste, and I told Vince so, but “disgusting” is a little strong; just my humble opinion.
“I will expect you to be at the forum! I will expect to see what you have in mind for the Town and this will be in public not by phone so later you can lie and say you didn't say that.” – I won’t be at the forum unfortunately. This forum was set up by Joe Reilly without consultation with Marilyn Gauger, Diane Herried or I. Marilyn has an engagement that night and I’m out of town. This is very unfortunate. May I suggest a forum the Wednesday before the election? I can check with ALL of the candidates to see if they are available.
Oh by the way, MD1955 I don't lie. You’ve said this a couple times. You AND Joe Reilly keep saying that. I've been wrong, I've said things that might not have come to pass, but I don't lie. [Side note: That’s actually why I like this blog so much, I can document my thoughts and opinions for all the world to see in advance of the events. My thoughts and opinions don’t conveniently change over time; they are documented there for the whole world to see.]
“Well, when change was happening you certainly made a big fuss- and that was good change, if you look at the outcome of the fire department.” – Even though the current board has put together a great department, we haven’t realized the long term costs yet. We traded in nearly $2m in equity to get $1.5m for a department that will most likely end up costing us more in the long run. Even if it doesn’t, just think of the money we would have saved if this much positive energy and effort was put into recreating a joint department with a new agreement.
“Also Mr. Doble, regarding the Vernon Citizens for Sensible Government; I believe you are the spokesman, Gauger is the secretary, and Vince Siegel is a major contributor.” – I belong to this group and helped to create it. I’m not the spokesman, but I just happen to be the most vocal. Yes, Vince donated the use of his signs. THANKS VINCE! Not only is Vince a client of mine, but a friend. He runs a very honest, clean business unlike many others in his line of work! Too bad Vernon pushed him out. ONCE AGAIN, when did business become so evil in this country? MD1955 you must be someone who worked for government all your life. I’m sorry to have to bring you to reality, but business is the engine that drives our economy, not government.
“It looks like you are the Village of Big Bend's representative/agent (documented on Siegel [name spelling corrected by mikedoble] annexation papers).” – You have a complete lack of understanding of annexation. I prepared documents for Vince to annex his land to Big Bend. In essence, I wrote a letter and petition for him to sign. This is the first step to request that a community evaluate a potential annexation. I have been working on Vince’s new building site for years and I lost revenue as well when Vernon changed their law to disallow Vince to use this building for its intended purpose. So, no, they didn’t stop him from building technically, but they did put rules in place that would not allow him to sell fireworks.
“I know you are a transplant from Florida and are not thoroughly educated on the Town's business.” – Why the negativity? I grew up the son of an US Army officer. We moved a lot. I’m proud of my background serving this county; first as a child (yes, military families serve too!), but then as an US Army officer myself. I’m sorry you think this is a negative. For the record, I lived in Florida for three years while in college. I am certainly not a transplant from Florida. Out of interest for all of you, here is where I have lived: Washington State, Korea, Georgia, Netherlands, Belgium, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Hawaii and now Vernon! In fact I have lived in Vernon since 1998, about 12 years, this is nearly three times as long as I have lived anyplace else. I love it here and am not planning on going anywhere. As to the town’s business, I know much more than you might think!
“You're the one that helped with the annexation and therefore, encouraged the board to look into the same. I hope what you have planned for the town of Vernon is better thought out than just selling the town out to Big Bend. You are all for businesses and that's exactly what Vernon citizens don't want.” – I really appreciate this comment because it gets to the heart of the issue. First of all, ONLY property owners, NOT consultants like me OR villages, can request to be annexed to a neighboring community. So, we should look very carefully at EVERY annexation to understand what might motivate a property owner to annex away from our community! Annexation is terrible for our town, and we must do everything we can to stop it! We stop it by taking away the property owner’s motivation to leave, because legally we can’t do anything to stop it. So we need to have laws, rules and a town board in place that recognizes this, then figure out what is so attractive about the neighboring communities. We can then keep properties in Vernon by having an environment that encourages property owners to stay! It’s quite simple. Helping Vince with his annexation broke my heart, but I wasn’t going to hide the fact that I prepared the documents; that would have been disingenuous.
Anyway my dear readers, thanks for reading along this far and hearing me out on these issues. Please pass on a link to this blog to your friends and neighbors. They need to see who I am and why I so strongly support Marilyn and Diane. Together the three of us can change the tone of the politics in this community.
Here are some of the comments and my responses. Please post a comment here if anyone would like me to respond in any more detail. Remember, anyone is free to comment; I do not require you to register or login to comment.
“Mr. Doble, you up and left the fire department board and we still do not know why.” – I left the fire board because, in quite simple terms, it became clear members of the town board had a vendetta against me and were making up “issues” to discredit me. I think in my resignation letter I characterized them as “slanderous misstatements.” When it became clear that this board member would not back off and I would not be allowed to do the job I was appointed to do, I left. It really not that big of a secret or something I’m ashamed of. In retrospect, it might have been better for me to stay and much of the fighting and whatnot of the last two years might have been avoided. I’d much rather work in a positive direction that always fighting the establishment. We need to work on building stronger consensus in this community rather than always being on one side or the other. That’s why I enjoy working with Marilyn and Diane so much; we can disagree, but then discuss solutions that work for everyone.
“You have lied on several occasions on not being a part of the disgusting signs put up in Vernon.” – I assisted in putting up signs to encourage people to vote for Rodell Singert and write in Diane Herried. I did not have any part in any signs that you characterize as disgusting. I think you’re talking about Vince’s “Bird must go” sign. Nothing to do with me; everything to do with Vince feeling wronged by the town board over his building in Vernon. Were the Bird must go signs really “disgusting?” I didn’t think they were in good taste, and I told Vince so, but “disgusting” is a little strong; just my humble opinion.
“I will expect you to be at the forum! I will expect to see what you have in mind for the Town and this will be in public not by phone so later you can lie and say you didn't say that.” – I won’t be at the forum unfortunately. This forum was set up by Joe Reilly without consultation with Marilyn Gauger, Diane Herried or I. Marilyn has an engagement that night and I’m out of town. This is very unfortunate. May I suggest a forum the Wednesday before the election? I can check with ALL of the candidates to see if they are available.
Oh by the way, MD1955 I don't lie. You’ve said this a couple times. You AND Joe Reilly keep saying that. I've been wrong, I've said things that might not have come to pass, but I don't lie. [Side note: That’s actually why I like this blog so much, I can document my thoughts and opinions for all the world to see in advance of the events. My thoughts and opinions don’t conveniently change over time; they are documented there for the whole world to see.]
“Well, when change was happening you certainly made a big fuss- and that was good change, if you look at the outcome of the fire department.” – Even though the current board has put together a great department, we haven’t realized the long term costs yet. We traded in nearly $2m in equity to get $1.5m for a department that will most likely end up costing us more in the long run. Even if it doesn’t, just think of the money we would have saved if this much positive energy and effort was put into recreating a joint department with a new agreement.
“Also Mr. Doble, regarding the Vernon Citizens for Sensible Government; I believe you are the spokesman, Gauger is the secretary, and Vince Siegel is a major contributor.” – I belong to this group and helped to create it. I’m not the spokesman, but I just happen to be the most vocal. Yes, Vince donated the use of his signs. THANKS VINCE! Not only is Vince a client of mine, but a friend. He runs a very honest, clean business unlike many others in his line of work! Too bad Vernon pushed him out. ONCE AGAIN, when did business become so evil in this country? MD1955 you must be someone who worked for government all your life. I’m sorry to have to bring you to reality, but business is the engine that drives our economy, not government.
“It looks like you are the Village of Big Bend's representative/agent (documented on Siegel [name spelling corrected by mikedoble] annexation papers).” – You have a complete lack of understanding of annexation. I prepared documents for Vince to annex his land to Big Bend. In essence, I wrote a letter and petition for him to sign. This is the first step to request that a community evaluate a potential annexation. I have been working on Vince’s new building site for years and I lost revenue as well when Vernon changed their law to disallow Vince to use this building for its intended purpose. So, no, they didn’t stop him from building technically, but they did put rules in place that would not allow him to sell fireworks.
“I know you are a transplant from Florida and are not thoroughly educated on the Town's business.” – Why the negativity? I grew up the son of an US Army officer. We moved a lot. I’m proud of my background serving this county; first as a child (yes, military families serve too!), but then as an US Army officer myself. I’m sorry you think this is a negative. For the record, I lived in Florida for three years while in college. I am certainly not a transplant from Florida. Out of interest for all of you, here is where I have lived: Washington State, Korea, Georgia, Netherlands, Belgium, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Hawaii and now Vernon! In fact I have lived in Vernon since 1998, about 12 years, this is nearly three times as long as I have lived anyplace else. I love it here and am not planning on going anywhere. As to the town’s business, I know much more than you might think!
“You're the one that helped with the annexation and therefore, encouraged the board to look into the same. I hope what you have planned for the town of Vernon is better thought out than just selling the town out to Big Bend. You are all for businesses and that's exactly what Vernon citizens don't want.” – I really appreciate this comment because it gets to the heart of the issue. First of all, ONLY property owners, NOT consultants like me OR villages, can request to be annexed to a neighboring community. So, we should look very carefully at EVERY annexation to understand what might motivate a property owner to annex away from our community! Annexation is terrible for our town, and we must do everything we can to stop it! We stop it by taking away the property owner’s motivation to leave, because legally we can’t do anything to stop it. So we need to have laws, rules and a town board in place that recognizes this, then figure out what is so attractive about the neighboring communities. We can then keep properties in Vernon by having an environment that encourages property owners to stay! It’s quite simple. Helping Vince with his annexation broke my heart, but I wasn’t going to hide the fact that I prepared the documents; that would have been disingenuous.
Anyway my dear readers, thanks for reading along this far and hearing me out on these issues. Please pass on a link to this blog to your friends and neighbors. They need to see who I am and why I so strongly support Marilyn and Diane. Together the three of us can change the tone of the politics in this community.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
March 3, Town Board Meeting Comments
I have to be honest with you; I find it hard to sit comfortably in the town board meetings with this crew. I tend to watch on TV. I have a hard time controlling my temper with some of the comments and attitudes of my board. I am happy the Mr. Reilly has taken Chairman Michalek’s warnings to heart and has tempered his comments.
Here are my comments on the town board meeting:
1. In public comments Dave Nowicki commented that he’s really proud and happy to see a cool new electronic system in use at the fire department that sends an invoice at the conclusion of rescue runs..… (Of course, I paraphrase.) The fact is that this system is far from implemented, even though we have the equipment to do to this. In reality our department has not invoiced ANY rescue runs since 12/18. Mr. Reilly must have fed him the wrong information.
2. On the Kaishian property, we’re talking about sending a strongly worded letter to stop a development that the village has apparently thoroughly vetted. If that does not work, we’re going to seek a court order? You’ve got to be kidding me. Not that I disagree in principle with protecting our groundwater, but if we had any sort of positive relationship with the village, we could ask them to provide the testing we’re looking to compel them to do. I agree that more communication is needed with the DNR and village on this matter. It’s unfortunate that Supervisor Singert’s opinion is so thoroughly rejected. It’s painful to watch.
3. I’m looking forward to control our own zoning, but our board has not completed a fiscal impact analysis. I’m only concerned about the cost.
4. On the park development, it’s a good idea. We should expend the money in a timely manner when it’s collected for a specific purpose. Have we sought any grants? There are grants available for communities our size for park development.
5. I suspected a candidates forum was in the works without the knowledge of the candidates… Ahhh, Mr. Reilly speaks up from the gallery to give the details of a forum. So there is a forum scheduled for 3/16, at 7:30pm. That’s nice to know. I will be in Chicago that night on my way to vacation. If anyone wants to know how I feel, please read my blog or call me. My cell number is 414-708-9466. I’m happy to speak with any resident about how I feel about any particular issue.
6. Mr. Craig must read my blog... Under the item “n. Vernon Fire Department services, and the costs present, and future for the same.” He talked about the town budget and the reduction in shared revenue from the state. It looks like we’re going to lose close to $200,000 in shared revenue. We need to start planning for this. In addition, under this item, we’re discussing school board updates to the citizens….what gives? Discussion items should really be on the agenda….but, that’s just me. Ahh, now the soap issue under this same agenda item. Does anyone want to sit down with me and go through this issue and write a summary for me? If so, give me a shout. I have the data and invoices for this issue. I just don’t know to where to even go with it. Mr. Craig is dead wrong on his representation. And, oh, by the way, a big part of the return of money from the last fire board was Chief Buchholtz’s salary of nearly $90,000 a year in pay and benefits. Under this same agenda item Chairman Michalek is discussing drainage and other issues around the town….these meetings really drive me nuts.
I’m about done watching the board meeting. I have one final thought; why do we do all the business at the board meeting? I’ve sat on several boards, and boards are typically decision making bodies. They receive recommendations from trusted committees, then act on those recommendations. There needs to be a variety of opinions and experiences brought into play on issues. Too bad our board has removed many of the residents of the commissions and committees. My observation is that our board lays out and discusses all the details and formulates courses of action, then decides how to act. There really is very little input from others in the community. This seems like a bit of a waste of time for the board. Don’t they have enough to do? In my opinion we should have trusted committees to do the leg work and prepare recommendations. Then the board can be presented with the facts to accept or reject recommendations. Just my two cents.
Here are my comments on the town board meeting:
1. In public comments Dave Nowicki commented that he’s really proud and happy to see a cool new electronic system in use at the fire department that sends an invoice at the conclusion of rescue runs..… (Of course, I paraphrase.) The fact is that this system is far from implemented, even though we have the equipment to do to this. In reality our department has not invoiced ANY rescue runs since 12/18. Mr. Reilly must have fed him the wrong information.
2. On the Kaishian property, we’re talking about sending a strongly worded letter to stop a development that the village has apparently thoroughly vetted. If that does not work, we’re going to seek a court order? You’ve got to be kidding me. Not that I disagree in principle with protecting our groundwater, but if we had any sort of positive relationship with the village, we could ask them to provide the testing we’re looking to compel them to do. I agree that more communication is needed with the DNR and village on this matter. It’s unfortunate that Supervisor Singert’s opinion is so thoroughly rejected. It’s painful to watch.
3. I’m looking forward to control our own zoning, but our board has not completed a fiscal impact analysis. I’m only concerned about the cost.
4. On the park development, it’s a good idea. We should expend the money in a timely manner when it’s collected for a specific purpose. Have we sought any grants? There are grants available for communities our size for park development.
5. I suspected a candidates forum was in the works without the knowledge of the candidates… Ahhh, Mr. Reilly speaks up from the gallery to give the details of a forum. So there is a forum scheduled for 3/16, at 7:30pm. That’s nice to know. I will be in Chicago that night on my way to vacation. If anyone wants to know how I feel, please read my blog or call me. My cell number is 414-708-9466. I’m happy to speak with any resident about how I feel about any particular issue.
6. Mr. Craig must read my blog... Under the item “n. Vernon Fire Department services, and the costs present, and future for the same.” He talked about the town budget and the reduction in shared revenue from the state. It looks like we’re going to lose close to $200,000 in shared revenue. We need to start planning for this. In addition, under this item, we’re discussing school board updates to the citizens….what gives? Discussion items should really be on the agenda….but, that’s just me. Ahh, now the soap issue under this same agenda item. Does anyone want to sit down with me and go through this issue and write a summary for me? If so, give me a shout. I have the data and invoices for this issue. I just don’t know to where to even go with it. Mr. Craig is dead wrong on his representation. And, oh, by the way, a big part of the return of money from the last fire board was Chief Buchholtz’s salary of nearly $90,000 a year in pay and benefits. Under this same agenda item Chairman Michalek is discussing drainage and other issues around the town….these meetings really drive me nuts.
I’m about done watching the board meeting. I have one final thought; why do we do all the business at the board meeting? I’ve sat on several boards, and boards are typically decision making bodies. They receive recommendations from trusted committees, then act on those recommendations. There needs to be a variety of opinions and experiences brought into play on issues. Too bad our board has removed many of the residents of the commissions and committees. My observation is that our board lays out and discusses all the details and formulates courses of action, then decides how to act. There really is very little input from others in the community. This seems like a bit of a waste of time for the board. Don’t they have enough to do? In my opinion we should have trusted committees to do the leg work and prepare recommendations. Then the board can be presented with the facts to accept or reject recommendations. Just my two cents.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
We're Getting Close Vernon!
I’m sorry I’ve been silent for so long. I thought it was best to just back off and let things ride for a while. It’s clear that a mere 32 days before the election that it’s time to spool this machine up and git-er-dun! Here’s an image of a sign you’re going to see popping up around the town soon:
I hope you’ll join us in trying to move our town forward. Your support is desperately needed for change. If I had to give you the one thing we plan to change, it’s this:
My Predictions:
So, I was asked recently about my prediction of what this election season has to hold for the three of us….Well, here’s some of them:
1. First and foremost, I just couldn’t imagine “them” not putting up someone to run against me. I was floored when Marie at the town sent out the election filing results to candidates shortly after the deadline in January. Well, this prediction is not so prophetic, everyone should know by now that Dave Nowicki is running against me as a write-in. More power to you Dave. I’m glad to see you’ve taken some interest in the public discourse. Even though you’re acquainted with Joe Reilly, I’m happy to work with you to inform the citizens so they can make the best choice between you and I. We’ve always gotten along in the past, and I’m sure we will in the future.
2. Well, this week you got a letter telling you how great things are now that we’re moving forward with our own department. Honestly, at this point, I can only say time will tell. The board has decided to ignore the cost of legal fees, loss of equity, loss of trained personnel, etc., but, I have to be honest with you, I really like Alex Felde and Pat Hayes. I think we’re in good hands. My prediction is that the incumbents on the board will continue to make an issue over the fire department breakup, when Marilyn, Diane and I have, in essence, moved on to other issues even though we stand behind our opinion on this issue. How ironic is that? Maybe before the election we’ll have actually have invoiced our services since 12/18 and we can see how revenues match up to the budget predictions.
3. During the election cycle Marilyn, Diane and I will be deemed “unqualified” and “unfit” for the office by “them”. (I don’t mean to be annoying, but I say “them” and “they” because I’m not really only talking about Bill Craig and Tom Bird, but Joe Reilly as well. Mr. Reilly tends to be the mouthpiece for “them”.) They will say Marilyn quit the town clerk position because the board wouldn’t give her a raise. (A raise strongly supported by Mr. Barikmo at the time, by the way, despite him holding it against her recently.) They will say Diane was “removed” from the Fire Board due to who knows what. They will say I wanted to buy a $450,000 special rescue vehicle, or wanted to buy $13,000 in soap, etc. You’ve heard the dialogue before. Here’s what I suggest, when you hear Mr. Nowicki call me an “annexation hawk”, give me a call to discuss annexation. When you hear Mr. Reilly talk about soap; give me a call. I assure you I know a hell of a lot more about annexation than Mr. Nowicki, and more about that issue with the soap than Mr. Reilly. If you haven’t already, read this blog. I’ve well documented my feelings on most issues on this blog.
4. I predict that Mr. Reilly will “suggest” a candidate’s forum (why is Reilly so involved?) to publically debate past history. Here’s what I’ll say about a forum, I’m glad to attend if one is held, I’m glad to speak my mind and welcome the chance for people get to know me, but I’m tired of rehashing past issues. It’s time to dig in and figure out how to deal with reductions in shared revenue (it’s coming!), costs of services, road maintenance that has been neglected by this board, renewing our union contract with the DPW workers, etc. I like forums, but unfortunately I’m in and out of town most of March. I have to rely on my supporters to campaign for me!
5. It will be said that Mike Doble is “in bed”, or something to that effect, with Big Bend. I love this community! All of this community! That includes Big Bend. How many of you town residents go to work without going through Big Bend? How many of you go to church in Big Bend? Ever bought beer, wine or liquor at Bob and Al’s Mobile station? Ever been to the Dollar [Liquor] Store? How about the bank? You get the point, Big Bend is an integral part of our community. Why can’t we work with our neighbors? Be friendly? Cooperate? If elected, I intend to do everything I can to promote good relations between the town and village. We had a hard time sharing a 4th of July celebration this year for crying out loud! This must change, and if elected, it will change under my watch.
Anyway, I’ve gone on way too long. I’m sure I’ve lost most readers by now….
One final prediction: Should you choose to hire me to run the business of the town, I will protect every dollar you give the town like it was my own dollar. I appreciate your support!
If you have questions for me one-on-one, you’re welcome to contact me at: doble4chair@wi.rr.com
Regards,
Mike
We will put kindness and respect back
into the public dialogue in this town!
My Predictions:
So, I was asked recently about my prediction of what this election season has to hold for the three of us….Well, here’s some of them:
1. First and foremost, I just couldn’t imagine “them” not putting up someone to run against me. I was floored when Marie at the town sent out the election filing results to candidates shortly after the deadline in January. Well, this prediction is not so prophetic, everyone should know by now that Dave Nowicki is running against me as a write-in. More power to you Dave. I’m glad to see you’ve taken some interest in the public discourse. Even though you’re acquainted with Joe Reilly, I’m happy to work with you to inform the citizens so they can make the best choice between you and I. We’ve always gotten along in the past, and I’m sure we will in the future.
2. Well, this week you got a letter telling you how great things are now that we’re moving forward with our own department. Honestly, at this point, I can only say time will tell. The board has decided to ignore the cost of legal fees, loss of equity, loss of trained personnel, etc., but, I have to be honest with you, I really like Alex Felde and Pat Hayes. I think we’re in good hands. My prediction is that the incumbents on the board will continue to make an issue over the fire department breakup, when Marilyn, Diane and I have, in essence, moved on to other issues even though we stand behind our opinion on this issue. How ironic is that? Maybe before the election we’ll have actually have invoiced our services since 12/18 and we can see how revenues match up to the budget predictions.
3. During the election cycle Marilyn, Diane and I will be deemed “unqualified” and “unfit” for the office by “them”. (I don’t mean to be annoying, but I say “them” and “they” because I’m not really only talking about Bill Craig and Tom Bird, but Joe Reilly as well. Mr. Reilly tends to be the mouthpiece for “them”.) They will say Marilyn quit the town clerk position because the board wouldn’t give her a raise. (A raise strongly supported by Mr. Barikmo at the time, by the way, despite him holding it against her recently.) They will say Diane was “removed” from the Fire Board due to who knows what. They will say I wanted to buy a $450,000 special rescue vehicle, or wanted to buy $13,000 in soap, etc. You’ve heard the dialogue before. Here’s what I suggest, when you hear Mr. Nowicki call me an “annexation hawk”, give me a call to discuss annexation. When you hear Mr. Reilly talk about soap; give me a call. I assure you I know a hell of a lot more about annexation than Mr. Nowicki, and more about that issue with the soap than Mr. Reilly. If you haven’t already, read this blog. I’ve well documented my feelings on most issues on this blog.
4. I predict that Mr. Reilly will “suggest” a candidate’s forum (why is Reilly so involved?) to publically debate past history. Here’s what I’ll say about a forum, I’m glad to attend if one is held, I’m glad to speak my mind and welcome the chance for people get to know me, but I’m tired of rehashing past issues. It’s time to dig in and figure out how to deal with reductions in shared revenue (it’s coming!), costs of services, road maintenance that has been neglected by this board, renewing our union contract with the DPW workers, etc. I like forums, but unfortunately I’m in and out of town most of March. I have to rely on my supporters to campaign for me!
5. It will be said that Mike Doble is “in bed”, or something to that effect, with Big Bend. I love this community! All of this community! That includes Big Bend. How many of you town residents go to work without going through Big Bend? How many of you go to church in Big Bend? Ever bought beer, wine or liquor at Bob and Al’s Mobile station? Ever been to the Dollar [Liquor] Store? How about the bank? You get the point, Big Bend is an integral part of our community. Why can’t we work with our neighbors? Be friendly? Cooperate? If elected, I intend to do everything I can to promote good relations between the town and village. We had a hard time sharing a 4th of July celebration this year for crying out loud! This must change, and if elected, it will change under my watch.
Anyway, I’ve gone on way too long. I’m sure I’ve lost most readers by now….
One final prediction: Should you choose to hire me to run the business of the town, I will protect every dollar you give the town like it was my own dollar. I appreciate your support!
If you have questions for me one-on-one, you’re welcome to contact me at: doble4chair@wi.rr.com
Regards,
Mike
Sunday, December 12, 2010
JS Online: Vernon town chairman won't seek re-election
My reaction to this article is the following:
1. I appreciate Fred’s service and his best effort to do what he feels is right for the town. I don’t harbor any ill feelings toward Fred and consider him a friend, but it IS time for a change. I have very vocally disagreed with the direction the town is heading.
2. I hope that he realizes that his approach was wrong and that the people don’t support this move. I could be wrong, but he has been under fire and this must factor in the decision making process.
3. It’s too bad the one of the architects of this mess won’t be around in the next budget cycle to show the residents how this WILL cause an increase in taxes. I hope not, but fear it’s inevitable.
Lots of people have asked me to run for office in this cycle to help the town get back to normalcy. I’d love to continue to serve the community in a more visible role and I’m contemplating doing so, but I’m concerned about the need for even more money to fix this mess. We’ve spent well in excess of my initial estimate of $150,000. As I’ve stated before we’ve spent lots of cash and capital to get to where we are today.
On the issue of more money to solve this problem, I’ve looked at the town and fire department budgets for next year and have two major concerns:
1. The fire department budget overstates estimated revenues by about $35,000.
2. The town budget, in order to not raise taxes even this year, taps into reserve funds. There won’t be this opportunity next year; the current town board has us tapped dry. Our reserve funds should not be diminished further.
Then again, when I think about these things, I wonder who WILL work to fix these things? I fear the next town board will not be popular when reality sets in and the money has to come from somewhere to correct these past sins.
On another matter, reading the comments after this article, one set of comments struck me as a little troubling not only because of the mis-information repeated, but because of the tone. The comments by “snakecharmer” on 12/9, have the acidic tone that has become all too common in anonymous online postings. I have to admit, some of that tone does reach this blog too and it happens on both sides of the issues. Of course, in the comments I’m called out specifically, that’s OK, I have thick skin, but I do have a couple comments on the specific issues:
1. “Hey there fellow bloggers, Craig, Barikmo, Bird and Riley are town heroes. No other town in the history of Wisconsin ever got a cool half million dollars from a neighboring village for free and unconditionally.” FREE!?! Are you kidding me? This is OUR money! Think about this: It was estimated that the joint department had a value (equity) of about $2.4million. Roughly 85% of that should belong to US in the town, or about $2million of it. In the dissolution of the department we received about $1million in equipment and about $500,000 in cash from Big Bend. So we LOST $500,000 in equity! ($2m - $1m - $0.5m = $0.5m) We got screwed in this deal; it’s certainly NOT free money. To make this even worse, Big Bend lost equity too. This split has been a lose-lose.
2. “If Doble runs he has got a lot to explain --- how the consecutive numbered checks were written for the $13K soap scam…” I have to admit, I don’t know much about the details of this issue: Did I vote with the rest of the fire board to approve these payments? When was this? Did anyone on the fire board know about this issue at the time? I’m going to do a little research on this and make it the subject of a later blog post. If I was duped, then I’ll address it. I’m certainly not perfect and do make mistakes. But, what really bothers me about this comment is the accountability directed at those that were deceived and NOT those that perpetrated the deception. I have to ask who knew about this in the fire department? Why was the fire board deceived, if that is the case? The last I checked, the only member of the command staff that is no longer with the department is Phil Buchholtz. I would suspect that Phil did not act alone on any purchase. Phil was a consensus builder, the rest of the command staff was well involved in all aspects of the fire department operations, were they involved in this? Maybe “snakecharmer” should explain why Doble has a lot of explaining to do, when there are still people on the fire board today that were in place when this “soap issue” occurred. Do they have a lot to explain too? I suggest that if “snakecharmer” wants to take a cheap shot at Doble, then he/she should take the same shot at all of those that should bear some responsibility, but I suspect that would not serve this person’s purpose, therefore it will never happen.
3. “….even the old and confused darling of Big Bend and Vernon's Mr. NoooooO, Rodell Singert.” Really!?! Is this necessary? How does this add to the improvement of our town? Add to the dialogue? I have to say, sometimes Singert goes off on a tangent and speaks longer that he should on an issue, AND he and I don’t always agree, but this is unnecessary. Like Fred, Rodell is doing what he thinks is best for the town at all times. I appreciate his service too.
This post has gotten a lot longer that I intended, but I always feel it is necessary to keep the dialogue alive. Here is one final suggestion for everyone:
Stop making anonymous posts and keep your dialogue productive and insightful; this applies to this blog too! Put your name to your comments. Add to the debate and add your ideas. God knows we need all the help we can get to get our community through this. Ninety percent of the comments I see are back and forth tit-for-tat dribble attacking people and personalities on both sides, this is unnecessary and unproductive. Do we really need to attack those that we disagree with? Anyway, comment on this:
How would you move the community forward?
1. I appreciate Fred’s service and his best effort to do what he feels is right for the town. I don’t harbor any ill feelings toward Fred and consider him a friend, but it IS time for a change. I have very vocally disagreed with the direction the town is heading.
2. I hope that he realizes that his approach was wrong and that the people don’t support this move. I could be wrong, but he has been under fire and this must factor in the decision making process.
3. It’s too bad the one of the architects of this mess won’t be around in the next budget cycle to show the residents how this WILL cause an increase in taxes. I hope not, but fear it’s inevitable.
Lots of people have asked me to run for office in this cycle to help the town get back to normalcy. I’d love to continue to serve the community in a more visible role and I’m contemplating doing so, but I’m concerned about the need for even more money to fix this mess. We’ve spent well in excess of my initial estimate of $150,000. As I’ve stated before we’ve spent lots of cash and capital to get to where we are today.
On the issue of more money to solve this problem, I’ve looked at the town and fire department budgets for next year and have two major concerns:
1. The fire department budget overstates estimated revenues by about $35,000.
2. The town budget, in order to not raise taxes even this year, taps into reserve funds. There won’t be this opportunity next year; the current town board has us tapped dry. Our reserve funds should not be diminished further.
Then again, when I think about these things, I wonder who WILL work to fix these things? I fear the next town board will not be popular when reality sets in and the money has to come from somewhere to correct these past sins.
On another matter, reading the comments after this article, one set of comments struck me as a little troubling not only because of the mis-information repeated, but because of the tone. The comments by “snakecharmer” on 12/9, have the acidic tone that has become all too common in anonymous online postings. I have to admit, some of that tone does reach this blog too and it happens on both sides of the issues. Of course, in the comments I’m called out specifically, that’s OK, I have thick skin, but I do have a couple comments on the specific issues:
1. “Hey there fellow bloggers, Craig, Barikmo, Bird and Riley are town heroes. No other town in the history of Wisconsin ever got a cool half million dollars from a neighboring village for free and unconditionally.” FREE!?! Are you kidding me? This is OUR money! Think about this: It was estimated that the joint department had a value (equity) of about $2.4million. Roughly 85% of that should belong to US in the town, or about $2million of it. In the dissolution of the department we received about $1million in equipment and about $500,000 in cash from Big Bend. So we LOST $500,000 in equity! ($2m - $1m - $0.5m = $0.5m) We got screwed in this deal; it’s certainly NOT free money. To make this even worse, Big Bend lost equity too. This split has been a lose-lose.
2. “If Doble runs he has got a lot to explain --- how the consecutive numbered checks were written for the $13K soap scam…” I have to admit, I don’t know much about the details of this issue: Did I vote with the rest of the fire board to approve these payments? When was this? Did anyone on the fire board know about this issue at the time? I’m going to do a little research on this and make it the subject of a later blog post. If I was duped, then I’ll address it. I’m certainly not perfect and do make mistakes. But, what really bothers me about this comment is the accountability directed at those that were deceived and NOT those that perpetrated the deception. I have to ask who knew about this in the fire department? Why was the fire board deceived, if that is the case? The last I checked, the only member of the command staff that is no longer with the department is Phil Buchholtz. I would suspect that Phil did not act alone on any purchase. Phil was a consensus builder, the rest of the command staff was well involved in all aspects of the fire department operations, were they involved in this? Maybe “snakecharmer” should explain why Doble has a lot of explaining to do, when there are still people on the fire board today that were in place when this “soap issue” occurred. Do they have a lot to explain too? I suggest that if “snakecharmer” wants to take a cheap shot at Doble, then he/she should take the same shot at all of those that should bear some responsibility, but I suspect that would not serve this person’s purpose, therefore it will never happen.
3. “….even the old and confused darling of Big Bend and Vernon's Mr. NoooooO, Rodell Singert.” Really!?! Is this necessary? How does this add to the improvement of our town? Add to the dialogue? I have to say, sometimes Singert goes off on a tangent and speaks longer that he should on an issue, AND he and I don’t always agree, but this is unnecessary. Like Fred, Rodell is doing what he thinks is best for the town at all times. I appreciate his service too.
This post has gotten a lot longer that I intended, but I always feel it is necessary to keep the dialogue alive. Here is one final suggestion for everyone:
Stop making anonymous posts and keep your dialogue productive and insightful; this applies to this blog too! Put your name to your comments. Add to the debate and add your ideas. God knows we need all the help we can get to get our community through this. Ninety percent of the comments I see are back and forth tit-for-tat dribble attacking people and personalities on both sides, this is unnecessary and unproductive. Do we really need to attack those that we disagree with? Anyway, comment on this:
How would you move the community forward?
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Mukwonago Chief Comments 11/25/2010
If you hit the link above (the blog title), you'll see an article from the Mukwonago Chief regarding the fire department. The article is OK, but the comments are infuriating to me. Below is my response.
Ironically, today is my brother Johnny’s birthday. He would have been 45 today. When he was 37 yrs old he died in a house fire because of slow/unconcerned response from his local fire department. The danger of a lack of a cohesive and responsive department is real. Our department has been gutted. I’m confident that with new leadership it’ll rebuild, but right now we’re in a shambles. Anyway, in response to the comments after the article, I had this to say:
In response to criticisms of me and others in the above comments, I must say that the commenter has completed ignored any points that I have made in the past. I have simply stated that I disagree with splitting the joint fire department because it will 1) harm our community by creating a divide when we should be finding ways to work together, and 2) it’s going to cost us a TON of money. These opinions are well documented on my blog: afterthewakeup.blogspot.com
I told you so….
1) If you can’t see the harm that has been caused by the rift in our community, then you are not paying attention. Since this is a matter of opinion and the town board and some others just doesn’t care, then I’ll leave this issue alone.
2) On the matter of money, this HAS cost us LOTS of money. The easiest way to see this is that in order to not raise our taxes, the town board has dipped into our cash reserves to the tune of about $190,000 which will result in cash reserves much less than is recommended for a community our size. If you want to get into more detailed analysis, look at this: It was estimated that the joint department had a value (equity) of about $2.4million. Roughly 85% of that should belong to us in the town, or about $2million of it. In the dissolution of the department we received about $1million in equipment and about $500,000 in cash from Big Bend. So we LOST $500,000 in equity! ($2m - $1m - $0.5m = $0.5m) This is simple math. Never mind the $70,000 +/- in legal and consulting fees we’ve spent.
Please don’t let the facts get in the way of your comments though. Continue to attack anyone that doesn’t agree with the board or who might bring up valid reasons why we shouldn’t be going down this road.
Oh, almost forgot, on the matter of the $150,000 the fire board has been “sitting on,” the commenter has once again not let the truth get in the way of the comments. Most of that $150,000 is money that is invested in interest bearing accounts and came from donations from citizens for specific purposes. You know, someone died and left $30,000 to the department for, say, a training tower. Should we just now grab this money to spend against their wishes? Legally we CAN; but rightfully we CANNOT. If someone in my family left money to the department for a specific purpose and it was grabbed by the town board to cover the cost of this fiasco, I would have a real problem with that.
But once again, let’s not let facts and what is right get in the way of what we want.
I’m really tired of this BS! We have about six or eight fools destroying our community.
Ironically, today is my brother Johnny’s birthday. He would have been 45 today. When he was 37 yrs old he died in a house fire because of slow/unconcerned response from his local fire department. The danger of a lack of a cohesive and responsive department is real. Our department has been gutted. I’m confident that with new leadership it’ll rebuild, but right now we’re in a shambles. Anyway, in response to the comments after the article, I had this to say:
In response to criticisms of me and others in the above comments, I must say that the commenter has completed ignored any points that I have made in the past. I have simply stated that I disagree with splitting the joint fire department because it will 1) harm our community by creating a divide when we should be finding ways to work together, and 2) it’s going to cost us a TON of money. These opinions are well documented on my blog: afterthewakeup.blogspot.com
I told you so….
1) If you can’t see the harm that has been caused by the rift in our community, then you are not paying attention. Since this is a matter of opinion and the town board and some others just doesn’t care, then I’ll leave this issue alone.
2) On the matter of money, this HAS cost us LOTS of money. The easiest way to see this is that in order to not raise our taxes, the town board has dipped into our cash reserves to the tune of about $190,000 which will result in cash reserves much less than is recommended for a community our size. If you want to get into more detailed analysis, look at this: It was estimated that the joint department had a value (equity) of about $2.4million. Roughly 85% of that should belong to us in the town, or about $2million of it. In the dissolution of the department we received about $1million in equipment and about $500,000 in cash from Big Bend. So we LOST $500,000 in equity! ($2m - $1m - $0.5m = $0.5m) This is simple math. Never mind the $70,000 +/- in legal and consulting fees we’ve spent.
Please don’t let the facts get in the way of your comments though. Continue to attack anyone that doesn’t agree with the board or who might bring up valid reasons why we shouldn’t be going down this road.
Oh, almost forgot, on the matter of the $150,000 the fire board has been “sitting on,” the commenter has once again not let the truth get in the way of the comments. Most of that $150,000 is money that is invested in interest bearing accounts and came from donations from citizens for specific purposes. You know, someone died and left $30,000 to the department for, say, a training tower. Should we just now grab this money to spend against their wishes? Legally we CAN; but rightfully we CANNOT. If someone in my family left money to the department for a specific purpose and it was grabbed by the town board to cover the cost of this fiasco, I would have a real problem with that.
But once again, let’s not let facts and what is right get in the way of what we want.
I’m really tired of this BS! We have about six or eight fools destroying our community.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
No Plan Yet - REALLY!!!
Are they listening? I think not. Come let them know how you how you feel:
November 4th at 6:30pm! This is the annual budget hearing.
So here we are in November of 2010 a mere seven weeks from the dissolution of the fire department as we have known it for years. Vernon has not even given us a clear picture or how they will assemble a fire department in these last few weeks. I even saw a flyer signed by Supervisors Craig and Bird that has the gall to claim that all is well. I must be one of the “misrepresenters” referred to in their flyer, because I don’t believe them since they have not shown anyone a plan for service. Having turn-out gear and pagers is not a plan.
In addition, they state they offered the Village FULL services for $97,500. This is true, but the Village can provide their own service for less and not have to deal with these jokers. Even last year, their cost was less than that. Their total cost in 2010 was about $88,000. Don’t take my word for it, make the call to the village clerk and find out for yourself.
That issue aside, the issue at hand is the Town budget which now includes the fire department budget. From my best examination there are the following issues with the budget:
1. The budget shows a shortfall of $187,000 being made up from the reserve funds. I see this as a problem, we have not have any good reason to tap into our reserve. Why now? Do we have some unanticipated costs this year? Hmmmm.
2. In the fire department budget, there is a line item estimated at $140,000 for public charges for rescue runs. This is down $10,000 from the 2010 budget line item of $150,000. In the three year period from 2006 to 2008, the Village of Big Bend consumed 17.17% of the recue runs. So, shouldn’t this revenue number be down by about 17%? I think so, it should be nearer to $125,000. That’s a difference of $140,000 - $125,000 or $15,000. In addition, with the loss of Big Bend, we also lose the ability to invoice from about a third of the State Highway charges. In 2010 these charges were estimated at $20,000, the current Town Board has included an estimate of $18,480 in the budget. It just seems too high to me. A quick check on the actual 2010 charges shows that the fire department will fall well short of the $150,000 estimated for 2010. So already, I guess there is a shortfall of about $25,000 in the budget for 2011 for the Vernon Fire Department.
Anyway, there is more, I suggest you come to the meeting and hear the details for yourself. Maybe stay after the meeting and quiz those that make brash statements. Have them give you the facts. To be honest with you I’m busy and I’m tired of fighting with these guys, I’m not entirely sure I’ll be there. I leave that night for deer hunting in Minnesota with my son.
Here’s a radical idea: Why don’t Tom Bird and Bill Craig make a flyer that outlines exactly what our fire department staff, equipment and training will look like next year? We have had lots of problems and from what I see they haven’t made much progress. Looks like our department leadership is the same as it was two years ago, but we’ve lost a lot of our trained staff. Give me an organization chart with names in positions and a list of equipment. Some outlines of how we’ll staff a structure fire and what equipment might be there. You know; a plan!
No, they’d rather spend their time saying that folks like me that question them are providing “misrepresentations and deceptions”. Ugh! Just give us the PLAN!
November 4th at 6:30pm! This is the annual budget hearing.
So here we are in November of 2010 a mere seven weeks from the dissolution of the fire department as we have known it for years. Vernon has not even given us a clear picture or how they will assemble a fire department in these last few weeks. I even saw a flyer signed by Supervisors Craig and Bird that has the gall to claim that all is well. I must be one of the “misrepresenters” referred to in their flyer, because I don’t believe them since they have not shown anyone a plan for service. Having turn-out gear and pagers is not a plan.
In addition, they state they offered the Village FULL services for $97,500. This is true, but the Village can provide their own service for less and not have to deal with these jokers. Even last year, their cost was less than that. Their total cost in 2010 was about $88,000. Don’t take my word for it, make the call to the village clerk and find out for yourself.
That issue aside, the issue at hand is the Town budget which now includes the fire department budget. From my best examination there are the following issues with the budget:
1. The budget shows a shortfall of $187,000 being made up from the reserve funds. I see this as a problem, we have not have any good reason to tap into our reserve. Why now? Do we have some unanticipated costs this year? Hmmmm.
2. In the fire department budget, there is a line item estimated at $140,000 for public charges for rescue runs. This is down $10,000 from the 2010 budget line item of $150,000. In the three year period from 2006 to 2008, the Village of Big Bend consumed 17.17% of the recue runs. So, shouldn’t this revenue number be down by about 17%? I think so, it should be nearer to $125,000. That’s a difference of $140,000 - $125,000 or $15,000. In addition, with the loss of Big Bend, we also lose the ability to invoice from about a third of the State Highway charges. In 2010 these charges were estimated at $20,000, the current Town Board has included an estimate of $18,480 in the budget. It just seems too high to me. A quick check on the actual 2010 charges shows that the fire department will fall well short of the $150,000 estimated for 2010. So already, I guess there is a shortfall of about $25,000 in the budget for 2011 for the Vernon Fire Department.
Anyway, there is more, I suggest you come to the meeting and hear the details for yourself. Maybe stay after the meeting and quiz those that make brash statements. Have them give you the facts. To be honest with you I’m busy and I’m tired of fighting with these guys, I’m not entirely sure I’ll be there. I leave that night for deer hunting in Minnesota with my son.
Here’s a radical idea: Why don’t Tom Bird and Bill Craig make a flyer that outlines exactly what our fire department staff, equipment and training will look like next year? We have had lots of problems and from what I see they haven’t made much progress. Looks like our department leadership is the same as it was two years ago, but we’ve lost a lot of our trained staff. Give me an organization chart with names in positions and a list of equipment. Some outlines of how we’ll staff a structure fire and what equipment might be there. You know; a plan!
No, they’d rather spend their time saying that folks like me that question them are providing “misrepresentations and deceptions”. Ugh! Just give us the PLAN!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Town Board Listening Session!!!! Finally!
MONDAY, 9/20 - 7PM!
All the Vernon Town Board is finally holding a listening session.
THIS MEETING IS CRITICAL!
PLEASE BE THERE!
All the Vernon Town Board is finally holding a listening session.
THIS MEETING IS CRITICAL!
PLEASE BE THERE!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Happenings in the Town
There are a couple comments to my last post requesting more information and how to find out more of what is going on.
Here is what happened last week, the Town and Village held a meeting to bid on the equipment in the fire department. Basically, they were to tell the Fire Board what gear and trucks they would like to buy. Those pieces with one buyer were awarded to the only bidder. Those items that had two bidders need to go to the next step in the process which is for each community to prepare a sealed bid.
The Town did not bid for most of the miscellaneous equipment (communications equipment, office equipment, AV equipment, department furnishings, etc.), so the Village ended up being awarded most of this equipment. The big stuff stuff still needs to be bid on (most engines, ambulances, etc.).
Word has it (unverified by me as of yet) that the Village acquired most of department small equipment for about $250,000. If the Town has to purchase this equipment new, it is estimated to cost approximately $800,000. (A good example of a piece of equipment that I know about is the new washer in fire station #3, it was purchased new two years ago for $3,500 if I remember correctly; the Village just bought it for $264!) I am working to verify all of this right now....more to come!
If you want to know more, the best way is to pay attention to the newspaper, go to the Town Board meetings (or as an alternative - watch it on TV, CH 25) and go to the Fire Board meetings. I'll do what I can to pass the information on to people that pay attention to this blog.
Here is what happened last week, the Town and Village held a meeting to bid on the equipment in the fire department. Basically, they were to tell the Fire Board what gear and trucks they would like to buy. Those pieces with one buyer were awarded to the only bidder. Those items that had two bidders need to go to the next step in the process which is for each community to prepare a sealed bid.
The Town did not bid for most of the miscellaneous equipment (communications equipment, office equipment, AV equipment, department furnishings, etc.), so the Village ended up being awarded most of this equipment. The big stuff stuff still needs to be bid on (most engines, ambulances, etc.).
Word has it (unverified by me as of yet) that the Village acquired most of department small equipment for about $250,000. If the Town has to purchase this equipment new, it is estimated to cost approximately $800,000. (A good example of a piece of equipment that I know about is the new washer in fire station #3, it was purchased new two years ago for $3,500 if I remember correctly; the Village just bought it for $264!) I am working to verify all of this right now....more to come!
If you want to know more, the best way is to pay attention to the newspaper, go to the Town Board meetings (or as an alternative - watch it on TV, CH 25) and go to the Fire Board meetings. I'll do what I can to pass the information on to people that pay attention to this blog.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Well, well, well....
I have to tell you that this is certainly suspect. I've been working very hard to keep my mouth shut and let them continue to work for the Town's benefit. But this really concerns me:
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/news/100897579.html
What's to say they didn't have the consultant change the report to meet their needs? Where's the integrity in this process? I'm disturbed to say the least and expected more from our Board.
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/news/100897579.html
What's to say they didn't have the consultant change the report to meet their needs? Where's the integrity in this process? I'm disturbed to say the least and expected more from our Board.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Big Bend, Vernon Open Negotiations
I'm happy to post this link:
Big Bend, Vernon Open Negotiations
I have my fingers crossed that this development will stop the madness and at least get the ball rolling in the right direction. I've been a strong advocate of negotiating with the village from day one. It makes no sense for two communities, so closely tied, to duplicate efforts in fire and rescue services. Never mind the cost to actually create the separate services in the first place.
I commend the Vernon Town Board for taking this first step. I feel a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
It’s now time to watch closely that our two governments work to strike a fair compromise that we can all live with. An agreement like this is very similar to a marriage; we need to continue to work and grow together. We will not agree all the time, or even most of the time, but we need to understand the benefits of our arrangement, we need to compromise, and we need to operate in good faith to keep the marriage strong.
It truly is the best thing for both communities.
Big Bend, Vernon Open Negotiations
I have my fingers crossed that this development will stop the madness and at least get the ball rolling in the right direction. I've been a strong advocate of negotiating with the village from day one. It makes no sense for two communities, so closely tied, to duplicate efforts in fire and rescue services. Never mind the cost to actually create the separate services in the first place.
I commend the Vernon Town Board for taking this first step. I feel a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
It’s now time to watch closely that our two governments work to strike a fair compromise that we can all live with. An agreement like this is very similar to a marriage; we need to continue to work and grow together. We will not agree all the time, or even most of the time, but we need to understand the benefits of our arrangement, we need to compromise, and we need to operate in good faith to keep the marriage strong.
It truly is the best thing for both communities.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Are they listening?
I’ve been rather quiet the last few weeks; I know. Mostly this has been driven by my job. With spring comes my busy time of year, sorry. I have not been quiet because I feel any less passionate about the issues in our town.
So, why do I ask, “Are they listening?” Well, on April 13th, at the meeting of the electors (commonly referred to as the “Annual Town Meeting”), I made several motions for the town board to consider. These motions all passed with an overwhelming majority of the electors present voting in favor. In essence I asked the current town board to consider the following:
- Reconsider their action of 12/17, and continue the intermunicipal agreement with Big Bend that governs our Fire Department.
- Reconsider the five member plan commission and reseat the seven member commission with more citizen members.
- Consider attempting to protect the community from annexation by being more accommodating to businesses that want to locate here.
In my commentary on the fire department, I asked them to reconsider the action, but then use the consultant to assist in negotiating a better deal with Big Bend. The consultant could suggest a more favorable funding formula, add the costs of the fire stations into the equation, consider mutual aid issues, etc. All those things I’ve been saying all along. Adjust the agreement, but let’s not completely divorce ourselves from Big Bend. We stand to gain a lot by partnering with our neighbors. Share costs, develop in a mutually beneficial manner, etc.
On the plan commission matter, my point is that complete control by a few is never a good thing. Open discussion, community involvement, and outside opinions ARE good things. I think this is self explanatory.
Can we stop annexation? Not really. I’m realistic enough to understand that we’re not going to completely stop businesses from annexing away from the town, because Big Bend (and Mukwonago for that matter) has services that we in the town don’t offer or even want. Services like sewer and water, financing capability, assessment power, etc. But in the town we can offer lower taxes, a friendly business environment, high quality building standards, and a master plan that keeps business and homes separated (to a certain degree).
Anyway, I want to know if the town board will act. I want them to listen. I want them to at least have a discussion in public on the how-and-why it’s a good idea to go-it-along with a fire department. If they need more information to have this discussion, then why didn’t they have this information before making this decision?
What’s my plan? Well, if I was in the driver’s seat on this, I would have agreed to an identical budget with Big Bend and reluctantly kept the agreement in place. But, I would have put Big Bend on notice that Vernon is going to explore other options and review the agreement. I would have then spent 2010 figuring out the least expensive, most efficient, and best way to provide fire service to the community. We all agree that some things need to change. I would have reminded Big Bend that Vernon could withdraw from the agreement any time. We don’t have to wait a year to have our own department, we can do this anytime. We’re the 800 pound gorilla in the room and we have the control! We could have negotiated a better deal without the risk of losing our partner. I would have worked to avoid the current turmoil and negative reaction from the electorate. I would have kept the electors in the loop on this discussion and used their ideas to create a better agreement. In short I would have taken a more methodical approach.
So, come to the town hall this Thursday, May 6th, and find out if they’re listening. I really hope they are and I really hope we can have a little less talk and a lot more action!
So, why do I ask, “Are they listening?” Well, on April 13th, at the meeting of the electors (commonly referred to as the “Annual Town Meeting”), I made several motions for the town board to consider. These motions all passed with an overwhelming majority of the electors present voting in favor. In essence I asked the current town board to consider the following:
- Reconsider their action of 12/17, and continue the intermunicipal agreement with Big Bend that governs our Fire Department.
- Reconsider the five member plan commission and reseat the seven member commission with more citizen members.
- Consider attempting to protect the community from annexation by being more accommodating to businesses that want to locate here.
In my commentary on the fire department, I asked them to reconsider the action, but then use the consultant to assist in negotiating a better deal with Big Bend. The consultant could suggest a more favorable funding formula, add the costs of the fire stations into the equation, consider mutual aid issues, etc. All those things I’ve been saying all along. Adjust the agreement, but let’s not completely divorce ourselves from Big Bend. We stand to gain a lot by partnering with our neighbors. Share costs, develop in a mutually beneficial manner, etc.
On the plan commission matter, my point is that complete control by a few is never a good thing. Open discussion, community involvement, and outside opinions ARE good things. I think this is self explanatory.
Can we stop annexation? Not really. I’m realistic enough to understand that we’re not going to completely stop businesses from annexing away from the town, because Big Bend (and Mukwonago for that matter) has services that we in the town don’t offer or even want. Services like sewer and water, financing capability, assessment power, etc. But in the town we can offer lower taxes, a friendly business environment, high quality building standards, and a master plan that keeps business and homes separated (to a certain degree).
Anyway, I want to know if the town board will act. I want them to listen. I want them to at least have a discussion in public on the how-and-why it’s a good idea to go-it-along with a fire department. If they need more information to have this discussion, then why didn’t they have this information before making this decision?
What’s my plan? Well, if I was in the driver’s seat on this, I would have agreed to an identical budget with Big Bend and reluctantly kept the agreement in place. But, I would have put Big Bend on notice that Vernon is going to explore other options and review the agreement. I would have then spent 2010 figuring out the least expensive, most efficient, and best way to provide fire service to the community. We all agree that some things need to change. I would have reminded Big Bend that Vernon could withdraw from the agreement any time. We don’t have to wait a year to have our own department, we can do this anytime. We’re the 800 pound gorilla in the room and we have the control! We could have negotiated a better deal without the risk of losing our partner. I would have worked to avoid the current turmoil and negative reaction from the electorate. I would have kept the electors in the loop on this discussion and used their ideas to create a better agreement. In short I would have taken a more methodical approach.
So, come to the town hall this Thursday, May 6th, and find out if they’re listening. I really hope they are and I really hope we can have a little less talk and a lot more action!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Thank You Vernon!
I cannot express how thankful I am to all Vernon residents that showed up at the polls and exercised that most basic right in our democracy; the right to vote!
I’ve mentioned before that I thought a referendum on the issue of splitting the fire department would have been a good idea. I have NEWS for ya’ll, yesterday’s vote WAS that referendum! I heard a resounding message intended for our town board: we need to do better!
I can’t say how impressed I am with the write-in vote for Diane Herried! Wow! She was only shy by seven votes; and that’s before a recount! I have my fingers crossed for her, but whichever way it goes, it is a major victory. The town board should now be paying attention!
I will post an update and more thoughts after the recount is complete on Friday. We still have lots of work to do. So, say a little prayer for a positive outcome in the recount and stay tuned!
I’ve mentioned before that I thought a referendum on the issue of splitting the fire department would have been a good idea. I have NEWS for ya’ll, yesterday’s vote WAS that referendum! I heard a resounding message intended for our town board: we need to do better!
I can’t say how impressed I am with the write-in vote for Diane Herried! Wow! She was only shy by seven votes; and that’s before a recount! I have my fingers crossed for her, but whichever way it goes, it is a major victory. The town board should now be paying attention!
I will post an update and more thoughts after the recount is complete on Friday. We still have lots of work to do. So, say a little prayer for a positive outcome in the recount and stay tuned!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Recall? I don't think so...
NOT TRUE: Rumors have circulated that VRSG is planning to recall Fred Michalek, and only Fred, from the Town Board.
This must come from a statement made by me at the 3/31 VRSG public meeting when I said that I would not hesitate to initiate a recall if things don't change. I also said to the group that I've told Fred directly that if our Town Board continues to operate as "out of control" as they have, that I would be the first to sign that recall petition for Fred. He is our chairman and is in charge of the meetings after all.
So, why this post? Someone walked away from our VRSG meeting spreading the rumor that our next more was to recall Fred, and only Fred. I just want to clear up a couple things:
1. Fred Michalek is a good person and deserves our respect – no recall is needed at the moment. So we’ll continue to respectfully disagree with his position on splitting the fire department and his lack of control of how the board meetings are run. Most of us believe that Fred is an intelligent enough leader to get into the facts of splitting the fire department, contemplate the consultant’s report (when it comes out) and seek council from those that understand the complexities; then make a rational decision. We hold out hope that he changes his mind and supports a renegotiation of the joint fire agreement with Big Bend.
2. VRSG is only focused on the election at the moment – we have no plans for any recall. AND no, we did not put out the “Reilly Must Go” signs; not quite our style.
3. VRSG will continue to work after the election to supply information to residents so they can get the other side, and “the rest of the story.”
So there you have it! If you have questions about what I said, please call me: 414-708-9466.
Remember: Write-in Herried and vote Singert on Tuesday!
This must come from a statement made by me at the 3/31 VRSG public meeting when I said that I would not hesitate to initiate a recall if things don't change. I also said to the group that I've told Fred directly that if our Town Board continues to operate as "out of control" as they have, that I would be the first to sign that recall petition for Fred. He is our chairman and is in charge of the meetings after all.
So, why this post? Someone walked away from our VRSG meeting spreading the rumor that our next more was to recall Fred, and only Fred. I just want to clear up a couple things:
1. Fred Michalek is a good person and deserves our respect – no recall is needed at the moment. So we’ll continue to respectfully disagree with his position on splitting the fire department and his lack of control of how the board meetings are run. Most of us believe that Fred is an intelligent enough leader to get into the facts of splitting the fire department, contemplate the consultant’s report (when it comes out) and seek council from those that understand the complexities; then make a rational decision. We hold out hope that he changes his mind and supports a renegotiation of the joint fire agreement with Big Bend.
2. VRSG is only focused on the election at the moment – we have no plans for any recall. AND no, we did not put out the “Reilly Must Go” signs; not quite our style.
3. VRSG will continue to work after the election to supply information to residents so they can get the other side, and “the rest of the story.”
So there you have it! If you have questions about what I said, please call me: 414-708-9466.
Remember: Write-in Herried and vote Singert on Tuesday!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
You have to ask yourself these questions….
EDITED 3/10/10 with less reactionary and more informative responses from me.
The Mukwonago Chief just published an article written by Amy Nixon entitled “Citizens group seeks to save joint Fire Dept.” (3/10/10 Ed. Note: Good article by the way Amy! Please don’t take to heart Mr. Reilly pointing at you and giving you a hard time at the meeting last night. [Thanks for calling him out of order Mr. Michalek.] I think your article was pretty fair and well balanced.)
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/news/87114212.html
In reading this article, you have to ask yourself some questions. I suggest you think about the following excerpts from the article then try to answer the questions that follow the excerpts. If you don’t know the answer, then please ask whoever said these things:
CHIEF: “At Thursday's [March 4] Town Board meeting, Supervisor Joe Reilly said he was against a referendum on the issue, citing the April 1997 annual meeting in which residents voted 44 to 14 to direct the board to "review all joint departments, joint projects, cost sharing arrangements, service contracts and other agreements between the town and village or city so annexing such territory is hereby authorized to modify, suspend or terminate the same."
QUESTION: If at the April meeting of the electors a motion passes to renegotiate the agreement with Big Bend and continue the joint fire department, will your honor this motion or are you going to pick and choose which motions of the people to follow? Is the 1997 motion more valid than a 2010 motion?
MY COMMENTARY: This is a little silly, but hey, I’ll make the motion and we’ll see what happens. According the Mr. Reilly the will of the people should prevail, we’ll see if he’s a man of his word.
CHIEF: “Supervisor Bill Craig said that it will actually cost the town more if it does nothing and cited the village's intent to put in sewer, which he said will lead to big-box stores which will force a joint department to purchase costly equipment such as ladder trucks. The town would be paying for the village's growth, he explained.”
QUESTION: How do we service the Waynez World building? Isn’t that a big box? When the village develops, doesn’t that trigger a shift in the funding formula so that they pay more and more as the village develops? Long term, won’t the town costs start to shift downward?
MY COMMENTARY: I have spoken to fire fighters close to this issue and they all admit that it would be hard to justify a ladder truck for this interchange. Plus this interchange has easy access from the surrounding communities that do have ladder trucks (New Berlin, Waukesha, Mukwonago and Muskego all have ladder trucks). I’ve been told by senior fire fighters that if there was a fire of the size necessary for a ladder truck, then the situation would be addressed through mutual aid.
Mutual aid is a formalized system in the county that in essence is an agreement between departments to provide assistance to adjacent departments when there is an emergency outside of the capability of one department to handle. Have you ever heard of a “five alarm” fire? We’ll that means that besides the original fire company, four additional [local or mutual aid] fire departments are alarmed to respond. This is a real situation that we deal with now; not speculation on some distant circumstance.
The truth is that we don’t need to buy any more fire trucks if we get the “big box” that Mr. Craig is referring to. BUT, IF we do, AND we’re partnered with the village, the village has the ability to force whoever is making the impact, PAY for the impact. This is called an “impact” fee. The Town of Vernon alone does not have this power; only villages and cities do. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a partner in our fire department that has the power to have developers pay for their impacts? I want people to pay their OWN way, the best way to do that under state law is to be a village/city or be partnered with village/city. Despite their higher taxes, there are some advantages to being a village. Why don’t we remain a town and keep our way of life, but partner with the village to get the benefits for our fire department? Makes sense to me.
CHIEF: “Instead of keeping the Fire Department as is, Reilly suggested the village could contract with the town.”
[RHETORICAL] QUESTION: Maybe Mr. Craig and Mr. Reilly should talk to each other because if the Village contracts with us, don’t we have to buy that truck? Sorry, I forgot, we don’t need a truck….see above. [This is a rather snotty comment by me, but I’ve decided to leave it in only for the humor of it. Much like my comment about razing the barn just south of town hall in an earlier post….]
CHIEF: "We're trying to do what's in the best interest of the town - the town - not the village," said Reilly. "Last night [at the VRSG meeting] we heard a lot of misstatements. We are not (being) deceiving … we wouldn't do anything to hurt this town."
QUESTION: What is the plan to provide fire service to the town and how much will it cost? Shouldn’t the town board have considered the costs and impacts of not partnering with the village before this decision was made? If the costs were considered, then where is the data to prove to me that this is going to be better for our community and not hurt our community? Can you give me a plan?
MY COMMENTARY: I have never suggested that the town board is WILLFULLY not working in the best interest of the town. I DID suggest that the town board demonstrates from their actions that they do not have enough information or understanding of the complexities of this issue to make a decision that will benefit the town in the long term. I feel this decision was made in haste, in the heat of a battle of wills with the village, and without consulting the people. This was a big decision. We the citizens should have been involved. It should not have been made at 12:15am without this being specifically on the agenda.
When I read the agenda for that meeting on 12/17, I did not go to the meeting for two reasons: first, I read in the Mukwonago Chief just two days earlier that Fred Michalek was reported to have felt comfortable that an agreement had been reached with the village over the budget; second, I did not see anything on the agenda that would indicate anything other than the town board would discuss this agreement (in closed session) and then maybe suggest some changes to the ordinance that governs our joint fire department and maybe some other budget negotiation matters before meeting with the village again. I breathed a sigh of relief after quietly following this issue for four months. Here is the article I refer to:
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/news/79317052.html
This article actually says that Big Bend finally acquiesced and agreed to shift the $4,000 budget item to cover increased insurance costs instead of legal fees. Big Bend gave in and completely compromised. Read it for yourself. Yet, two days later the town board took action to not continue our agreement with the village.
CHIEF: “Craig stated that although the citizens committee insinuated that it is the Town Board who voted to split the department, it is not the town that dissolved the agreement.”
BACKGROUND (From the minutes of the meeting on 12/17):
QUESTION: Did the town board’s action (or maybe inaction) cause the joint fire department dissolution provision to come into play?
MY COMMENTARY: In all things said by a member of town board recently, stating that they did not take action to dissolve the fire department is the MOST disingenuous. Nearing the deadline of 12/15, the village was willing to agree to pretty much anything to avoid the provision in the ordinance that calls for the dissolution of the joint fire department (see above), including removing the $4,000 in attorney fees from the budget. The board spent about four hours in closed session contemplating their action (or inaction, I guess) to break away from the village. Is this really about a $4,000 budget item? I think I’ve proven not.
Ask your town board why they think putting $4,000 for attorney fees in the Fire Department Budget is a bad idea when they spent $110,939.70 in attorney fees in 2009? (Don’t blame this on Paff, he was only there for three of those months.)
Anyway, my fingers are getting really tired of writing these things over and over again. But this is my only platform. At town board meetings I only get 3 minutes to state my case in public comments; I try to remain calm and respectful. The town board can respond however, whenever they like, can take all the time they like, then they can play the tape of the meeting over and over again. I don’t have the power to get the message out like they do. They can pretty much say whatever they want with no consequences and then put it on TV and hammer the point home over and over again. It’s an uphill battle for me and others that see the benefits of partnering with the village.
Any of you out there that read this, please call me if you want more information. I’d be happy to sit down with you and lay out the details, provide facts and figures, and help you become informed. Please call me at 262-662-9745. I’d be happy to back up anything I’ve said AND I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong. Is the town board willing to do the same?
Oh and by the way, all of the quotes from the town board above were made under an agenda item from the March 4th Town Board Meeting that reads:
But who I am to say so, I used the some logos without permission.
The Mukwonago Chief just published an article written by Amy Nixon entitled “Citizens group seeks to save joint Fire Dept.” (3/10/10 Ed. Note: Good article by the way Amy! Please don’t take to heart Mr. Reilly pointing at you and giving you a hard time at the meeting last night. [Thanks for calling him out of order Mr. Michalek.] I think your article was pretty fair and well balanced.)
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/news/87114212.html
In reading this article, you have to ask yourself some questions. I suggest you think about the following excerpts from the article then try to answer the questions that follow the excerpts. If you don’t know the answer, then please ask whoever said these things:
CHIEF: “At Thursday's [March 4] Town Board meeting, Supervisor Joe Reilly said he was against a referendum on the issue, citing the April 1997 annual meeting in which residents voted 44 to 14 to direct the board to "review all joint departments, joint projects, cost sharing arrangements, service contracts and other agreements between the town and village or city so annexing such territory is hereby authorized to modify, suspend or terminate the same."
QUESTION: If at the April meeting of the electors a motion passes to renegotiate the agreement with Big Bend and continue the joint fire department, will your honor this motion or are you going to pick and choose which motions of the people to follow? Is the 1997 motion more valid than a 2010 motion?
MY COMMENTARY: This is a little silly, but hey, I’ll make the motion and we’ll see what happens. According the Mr. Reilly the will of the people should prevail, we’ll see if he’s a man of his word.
CHIEF: “Supervisor Bill Craig said that it will actually cost the town more if it does nothing and cited the village's intent to put in sewer, which he said will lead to big-box stores which will force a joint department to purchase costly equipment such as ladder trucks. The town would be paying for the village's growth, he explained.”
QUESTION: How do we service the Waynez World building? Isn’t that a big box? When the village develops, doesn’t that trigger a shift in the funding formula so that they pay more and more as the village develops? Long term, won’t the town costs start to shift downward?
MY COMMENTARY: I have spoken to fire fighters close to this issue and they all admit that it would be hard to justify a ladder truck for this interchange. Plus this interchange has easy access from the surrounding communities that do have ladder trucks (New Berlin, Waukesha, Mukwonago and Muskego all have ladder trucks). I’ve been told by senior fire fighters that if there was a fire of the size necessary for a ladder truck, then the situation would be addressed through mutual aid.
Mutual aid is a formalized system in the county that in essence is an agreement between departments to provide assistance to adjacent departments when there is an emergency outside of the capability of one department to handle. Have you ever heard of a “five alarm” fire? We’ll that means that besides the original fire company, four additional [local or mutual aid] fire departments are alarmed to respond. This is a real situation that we deal with now; not speculation on some distant circumstance.
The truth is that we don’t need to buy any more fire trucks if we get the “big box” that Mr. Craig is referring to. BUT, IF we do, AND we’re partnered with the village, the village has the ability to force whoever is making the impact, PAY for the impact. This is called an “impact” fee. The Town of Vernon alone does not have this power; only villages and cities do. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a partner in our fire department that has the power to have developers pay for their impacts? I want people to pay their OWN way, the best way to do that under state law is to be a village/city or be partnered with village/city. Despite their higher taxes, there are some advantages to being a village. Why don’t we remain a town and keep our way of life, but partner with the village to get the benefits for our fire department? Makes sense to me.
CHIEF: “Instead of keeping the Fire Department as is, Reilly suggested the village could contract with the town.”
[RHETORICAL] QUESTION: Maybe Mr. Craig and Mr. Reilly should talk to each other because if the Village contracts with us, don’t we have to buy that truck? Sorry, I forgot, we don’t need a truck….see above. [This is a rather snotty comment by me, but I’ve decided to leave it in only for the humor of it. Much like my comment about razing the barn just south of town hall in an earlier post….]
CHIEF: "We're trying to do what's in the best interest of the town - the town - not the village," said Reilly. "Last night [at the VRSG meeting] we heard a lot of misstatements. We are not (being) deceiving … we wouldn't do anything to hurt this town."
QUESTION: What is the plan to provide fire service to the town and how much will it cost? Shouldn’t the town board have considered the costs and impacts of not partnering with the village before this decision was made? If the costs were considered, then where is the data to prove to me that this is going to be better for our community and not hurt our community? Can you give me a plan?
MY COMMENTARY: I have never suggested that the town board is WILLFULLY not working in the best interest of the town. I DID suggest that the town board demonstrates from their actions that they do not have enough information or understanding of the complexities of this issue to make a decision that will benefit the town in the long term. I feel this decision was made in haste, in the heat of a battle of wills with the village, and without consulting the people. This was a big decision. We the citizens should have been involved. It should not have been made at 12:15am without this being specifically on the agenda.
When I read the agenda for that meeting on 12/17, I did not go to the meeting for two reasons: first, I read in the Mukwonago Chief just two days earlier that Fred Michalek was reported to have felt comfortable that an agreement had been reached with the village over the budget; second, I did not see anything on the agenda that would indicate anything other than the town board would discuss this agreement (in closed session) and then maybe suggest some changes to the ordinance that governs our joint fire department and maybe some other budget negotiation matters before meeting with the village again. I breathed a sigh of relief after quietly following this issue for four months. Here is the article I refer to:
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/news/79317052.html
This article actually says that Big Bend finally acquiesced and agreed to shift the $4,000 budget item to cover increased insurance costs instead of legal fees. Big Bend gave in and completely compromised. Read it for yourself. Yet, two days later the town board took action to not continue our agreement with the village.
CHIEF: “Craig stated that although the citizens committee insinuated that it is the Town Board who voted to split the department, it is not the town that dissolved the agreement.”
BACKGROUND (From the minutes of the meeting on 12/17):
Chairperson Michalek stated reconvening in open session to consider taking actions on those matters in discussed in Closed session including but not limited to issues regarding the Intermunicipal Agreement, “would accept a motion to give notice to the Big Bend Village Board dissolving the Town of Vernon’s participating in the Big Bend – Vernon Fire Department per the provision of the “Inter-municipal Agreement for Creation of a Joint Fire Department and a Joint Fire Board and a Joint Fire commission between the Village of Big Bend and the Town of Vernon”.
MOTION Supervisor Reilly moved to give notice as stated by Chairperson Michalek, seconded by Supervisor Bird.
QUESTION: Did the town board’s action (or maybe inaction) cause the joint fire department dissolution provision to come into play?
MY COMMENTARY: In all things said by a member of town board recently, stating that they did not take action to dissolve the fire department is the MOST disingenuous. Nearing the deadline of 12/15, the village was willing to agree to pretty much anything to avoid the provision in the ordinance that calls for the dissolution of the joint fire department (see above), including removing the $4,000 in attorney fees from the budget. The board spent about four hours in closed session contemplating their action (or inaction, I guess) to break away from the village. Is this really about a $4,000 budget item? I think I’ve proven not.
Ask your town board why they think putting $4,000 for attorney fees in the Fire Department Budget is a bad idea when they spent $110,939.70 in attorney fees in 2009? (Don’t blame this on Paff, he was only there for three of those months.)
Anyway, my fingers are getting really tired of writing these things over and over again. But this is my only platform. At town board meetings I only get 3 minutes to state my case in public comments; I try to remain calm and respectful. The town board can respond however, whenever they like, can take all the time they like, then they can play the tape of the meeting over and over again. I don’t have the power to get the message out like they do. They can pretty much say whatever they want with no consequences and then put it on TV and hammer the point home over and over again. It’s an uphill battle for me and others that see the benefits of partnering with the village.
Any of you out there that read this, please call me if you want more information. I’d be happy to sit down with you and lay out the details, provide facts and figures, and help you become informed. Please call me at 262-662-9745. I’d be happy to back up anything I’ve said AND I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong. Is the town board willing to do the same?
Oh and by the way, all of the quotes from the town board above were made under an agenda item from the March 4th Town Board Meeting that reads:
9. ANNOUNCEMENTS. The following individuals will be given the opportunity to make announcements at the meeting in regards to activities they have undertaken since the last meeting on behalf of the Town, future activities and citizen contacts. It is not contemplated that these matters will be discussed or acted on but referrals to the appropriate committees and/or individuals will be made.This is a violation of the open meetings law. I’m not suggesting they should not respond, just put it on the agenda next time.
Town Board, Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, Department of Public Works Director and Building Inspector.
But who I am to say so, I used the some logos without permission.
Friday, March 5, 2010
We Just Lost Another One.....
Vince Siegle, American Fireworks, just petitioned to annex his property on Enterprise Drive into the Village of Big Bend. The Town of Vernon just lost another property….
As most of you know, I am a land development consultant. I have been working with Vince on his property in Vernon for about three years; this is no secret. I've been assisting him in developing plans to build a fireworks store where he normally has his fireworks tent along I-43 during the summer fireworks season. Since this annexation was a confidential matter between my client and I, I was not able to reveal this until now. I assisted Vince in the preparation of his annexation documents.
It saddens me to see another property in the town go over to the village! Here we go again…
Let’s be clear, I predicted this would happen last year the night the town board voted to change the town ordinance. The town board's policies have stopped a property owner from doing what they want to do. So, we’re going to get the impact anyway, just the property will be in the Village of Big Bend.
Sure, Vince could have built his store in the Town of Vernon, but when the ordinance changed, he couldn’t sell anything but (essentially) sparklers. AN ORDINANCE THAT WAS CHANGED BY THE CURRENT TOWN BOARD! If they would have left the ordinance alone, he would have built in the Town! He needs to be able to sell all LEGAL fireworks in order to pay for a store. One of the reasons I’ve been pushing the town board so hard and trying to hammer the point home on annexation, is because I knew this was going on.
A little history for you: Vince bought this property several years ago when the old ordinance was in effect. Our previous ordinance would have allowed Vince to sell the same fireworks as he sold in his tent in the past several years, but the new ordinance is now more restrictive than all of the surrounding communities. Vince was deep into the process of getting his building ready for construction when the town board changed last April. The change in the ordinance pulled the rug out from under him and his plans to build a store.
VINCE IS ANNEXING TO THE VILLAGE OF BIG BEND BECAUSE OF THE POLICIES OF THE TOWN OF VERNON!
Simple as that.
What a shame.
As most of you know, I am a land development consultant. I have been working with Vince on his property in Vernon for about three years; this is no secret. I've been assisting him in developing plans to build a fireworks store where he normally has his fireworks tent along I-43 during the summer fireworks season. Since this annexation was a confidential matter between my client and I, I was not able to reveal this until now. I assisted Vince in the preparation of his annexation documents.
It saddens me to see another property in the town go over to the village! Here we go again…
Let’s be clear, I predicted this would happen last year the night the town board voted to change the town ordinance. The town board's policies have stopped a property owner from doing what they want to do. So, we’re going to get the impact anyway, just the property will be in the Village of Big Bend.
Sure, Vince could have built his store in the Town of Vernon, but when the ordinance changed, he couldn’t sell anything but (essentially) sparklers. AN ORDINANCE THAT WAS CHANGED BY THE CURRENT TOWN BOARD! If they would have left the ordinance alone, he would have built in the Town! He needs to be able to sell all LEGAL fireworks in order to pay for a store. One of the reasons I’ve been pushing the town board so hard and trying to hammer the point home on annexation, is because I knew this was going on.
A little history for you: Vince bought this property several years ago when the old ordinance was in effect. Our previous ordinance would have allowed Vince to sell the same fireworks as he sold in his tent in the past several years, but the new ordinance is now more restrictive than all of the surrounding communities. Vince was deep into the process of getting his building ready for construction when the town board changed last April. The change in the ordinance pulled the rug out from under him and his plans to build a store.
VINCE IS ANNEXING TO THE VILLAGE OF BIG BEND BECAUSE OF THE POLICIES OF THE TOWN OF VERNON!
Simple as that.
What a shame.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Another Example....
For those of you that are now paying attention, here is another example of our town board’s mindset. In order to advertise for our citizens group to assemble, I created a flyer for Vernon Residents for Sensible Government (VRSG) using the town logo and the fire department logo. I pulled both of these logos from the internet and pasted these on the flyer.
Low and behold, not three days later, an item appears on the town board’s agenda that reads:
“Town of Vernon and Fire Department logos by unauthorized parties.”
I’m guessing VRSG is one of those “unauthorized parties”. Come on, we're a group of citizens. We can't use our own town and fire department logo? Maybe Big Bend will give us 17% of the permission we need to use the logo? How would that work anyway? Come to the meeting at 7pm tonight and find out what happens. If you cannot be there, please tune your TV to cable channel 25 at 7pm to watch it yourself from the comfort of your recliner. You can print a copy of the agenda here:
http://www.townofvernon.org/Uploads%20to%20Website/TB%20Agendas/2010/030410.pdf
If you cannot be at the meeting, but would still like to comment, please contact your town board members and let them know how you feel. They are always happy to hear from residents. Their contact information is here:
http://www.townofvernon.org/town_board.htm
Once again, THANKS for caring!
Low and behold, not three days later, an item appears on the town board’s agenda that reads:
“Town of Vernon and Fire Department logos by unauthorized parties.”
I’m guessing VRSG is one of those “unauthorized parties”. Come on, we're a group of citizens. We can't use our own town and fire department logo? Maybe Big Bend will give us 17% of the permission we need to use the logo? How would that work anyway? Come to the meeting at 7pm tonight and find out what happens. If you cannot be there, please tune your TV to cable channel 25 at 7pm to watch it yourself from the comfort of your recliner. You can print a copy of the agenda here:
http://www.townofvernon.org/Uploads%20to%20Website/TB%20Agendas/2010/030410.pdf
If you cannot be at the meeting, but would still like to comment, please contact your town board members and let them know how you feel. They are always happy to hear from residents. Their contact information is here:
http://www.townofvernon.org/town_board.htm
Once again, THANKS for caring!
VRSG Meeting Last Night
A Great Success!
To those of you who attended, THANKS!
VRSG held its first meeting last night at the Lion’s Club Community Center. I’m proud to say that we had quite a crowd; more than we expected at about 65 people. Next time we’ll find a larger venue. If you missed the meeting and would like a copy of the presentation, then please email VRSG with “Presentation” in the subject line. The email address is vrsg@wi.rr.com. You can also send any questions, comments or corrections to this address as well, or post a comment to this blog.
In attendance at the meeting were four members of the town board; all of them except Fred Michalek. I’m really sorry Fred chose not to be there, but I understand. I think all in attendance found it informative and insightful. This is a very complex issue and very difficult to understand the nuances of the path we’re on. Hopefully the town board is now listening. The town board has indicated that their policies are widely supported by the citizens of this community; we intend to prove that this is not true.
For those of you that are reading this and willing to put yourself out there like we have, please come to the town board meetings on the first and third Thursday of the month and voice your opinion.
Tonight is one of those meetings, please make the time to be there!
To those of you who attended, THANKS!
VRSG held its first meeting last night at the Lion’s Club Community Center. I’m proud to say that we had quite a crowd; more than we expected at about 65 people. Next time we’ll find a larger venue. If you missed the meeting and would like a copy of the presentation, then please email VRSG with “Presentation” in the subject line. The email address is vrsg@wi.rr.com. You can also send any questions, comments or corrections to this address as well, or post a comment to this blog.
In attendance at the meeting were four members of the town board; all of them except Fred Michalek. I’m really sorry Fred chose not to be there, but I understand. I think all in attendance found it informative and insightful. This is a very complex issue and very difficult to understand the nuances of the path we’re on. Hopefully the town board is now listening. The town board has indicated that their policies are widely supported by the citizens of this community; we intend to prove that this is not true.
For those of you that are reading this and willing to put yourself out there like we have, please come to the town board meetings on the first and third Thursday of the month and voice your opinion.
Tonight is one of those meetings, please make the time to be there!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Vernon Residents for Sensible Government
I have to admit, I never thought I’d be involved with one of THOSE groups. You know the ones, they come to meetings at the town and disagree with anything other than the status quo? They are disagreeable, just be disagreeable?
We’ll, I’ve joined one of those groups. But, this group is different. We base our action on facts and reasonable opinions based on being informed and making resonable assumptions. We then get involved to try and shape policy and support candidates for our government that represent what we feel is best for our town. We don’t plan to go to board meetings and chant slogans, no secret handshakes, no inflammatory commentary or personal attacks; just calm sensible public discourse.
This new group is called “Vernon Residents for Sensible Government," or VRSG for short. Why did we form? Basically we don’t like the way our current Town Board is handling our relationship with Big Bend, among other things. Read my blogs below to find out more.... Like I’ve said before, we as a town can benefit greatly by sharing costs with our neighbors. Our board has decided unanimously to not share fire and rescue services with the Village of Big Bend. We’ve been doing this cost effectively for more than 40 years! In fact our current fire department has a cost per resident that among the lowest in the county.
Anyway, you can get more details by reading this blog and, possibly, by attending Town Board meetings. In addition, VRSG is planning on holding an informational meeting on March 3rd at 6:30 at the Big Bend Lion’s Club near the Village Hall. This is the time and place for you to get your questions answered and to get the information you need to make an informed decision. If you can’t make that meeting, a summary of the proceedings will be posted to this blog.
Oh, by the way, you don’t need to agree with us to attend the meeting. Please come to offer your opinion. We respect everyone’s opinion; we’re all in this together and some will disagree with us. That’s OK! We can still be friends and neighbors. Quite frankly, I would enjoy having those who disagree attend the meeting and provide information to support the Town Board. If you show up, you’ll be provided an opportunity to speak and not be treated with anything but respect. Sometimes we all need some alternative perspective.
We’ll, I’ve joined one of those groups. But, this group is different. We base our action on facts and reasonable opinions based on being informed and making resonable assumptions. We then get involved to try and shape policy and support candidates for our government that represent what we feel is best for our town. We don’t plan to go to board meetings and chant slogans, no secret handshakes, no inflammatory commentary or personal attacks; just calm sensible public discourse.
This new group is called “Vernon Residents for Sensible Government," or VRSG for short. Why did we form? Basically we don’t like the way our current Town Board is handling our relationship with Big Bend, among other things. Read my blogs below to find out more.... Like I’ve said before, we as a town can benefit greatly by sharing costs with our neighbors. Our board has decided unanimously to not share fire and rescue services with the Village of Big Bend. We’ve been doing this cost effectively for more than 40 years! In fact our current fire department has a cost per resident that among the lowest in the county.
Anyway, you can get more details by reading this blog and, possibly, by attending Town Board meetings. In addition, VRSG is planning on holding an informational meeting on March 3rd at 6:30 at the Big Bend Lion’s Club near the Village Hall. This is the time and place for you to get your questions answered and to get the information you need to make an informed decision. If you can’t make that meeting, a summary of the proceedings will be posted to this blog.
Oh, by the way, you don’t need to agree with us to attend the meeting. Please come to offer your opinion. We respect everyone’s opinion; we’re all in this together and some will disagree with us. That’s OK! We can still be friends and neighbors. Quite frankly, I would enjoy having those who disagree attend the meeting and provide information to support the Town Board. If you show up, you’ll be provided an opportunity to speak and not be treated with anything but respect. Sometimes we all need some alternative perspective.
After the Wakeup - Notification of New Posts
All - I just realized that new posts are not being notified to registered users; it doesn't work that way.... So to that end, I've added several of my contacts to the notification list. I would appreciate it if you would send new posts to those in your contact list that you think might be interested in what I have to say. The more people that become informed the better.
As always, folks who have questions about my posts should contact me at mikedoble@wi.rr.com or on my phone at 414-708-9466. If you don't care to be notified of posts from my blog, then please let me know at the above address and I'll remove you from the list.
As always, folks who have questions about my posts should contact me at mikedoble@wi.rr.com or on my phone at 414-708-9466. If you don't care to be notified of posts from my blog, then please let me know at the above address and I'll remove you from the list.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Attack Doble! He Disagrees!
So, Amy Nixon was not quite accurate with my comments in the Mukwonago Chief….that’s OK it happens. I said to the town board in public comments last week that I estimate it will cost $150,000 when all is said and done to split the fire department. I never said that money had already been spent….anyway. Not that big of a deal. The money might as well already have been spent, the town board just doesn't want to listen to anyone.
This IS is a big deal though….here we go again with Mr. Craig's personal attacks. Instead of speaking to the reporter and correcting the facts then providing insight and information (hopefully factual information), he says this (as reported by Amy):
"Mike (Doble) resigned from the Fire Board because I asked him pertinent questions … " said Craig. "They are trying to incite fear into taxpayers … when we as the Town Board don't have the numbers together yet. In the worst case scenario, we're not even talking $40,000 to $50,000 for the whole thing." – From Amy Nixon’s Mukwonago Chief Article 2/9/2010
What does my resignation from the fire board have to do with how much it’s going to cost to disband the fire department? This type of comment/statement is just indicative of how Mr. Craig’s mind works. If he doesn’t like what I have to say, then he’ll say something to discredit me. Well Mr. Craig, I made a HUGE mistake of resigning from the fire board and feel partially responsible for what’s happening here. I quit. I took myself out of the position that might have made the difference to prevent this mess. I deeply regret that decision. So, I will not quit again. Keep it coming.
Friends who happen to read this blog, please come to the town board meetings, or post comments (with your name preferably), or at least watch the meetings at the town so you can see what’s going on in our town! It’s time for change. Let Mr. Craig and the others on the board know that you demand answers.
(Oh, by the way, this is the first acknowledgement in public by any board member that this whole splitting of the department thing will cost us some money. ONLY $40,000 to $50,000!!! You sure can buy a lot of patience in dealing with the village for $40,000 or $50,000! What a shameful waste of our money…..Never mind that more likely than not it will cost way more than this….Never mind that we elected these guys to deal with problems....)
This IS is a big deal though….here we go again with Mr. Craig's personal attacks. Instead of speaking to the reporter and correcting the facts then providing insight and information (hopefully factual information), he says this (as reported by Amy):
"Mike (Doble) resigned from the Fire Board because I asked him pertinent questions … " said Craig. "They are trying to incite fear into taxpayers … when we as the Town Board don't have the numbers together yet. In the worst case scenario, we're not even talking $40,000 to $50,000 for the whole thing." – From Amy Nixon’s Mukwonago Chief Article 2/9/2010
What does my resignation from the fire board have to do with how much it’s going to cost to disband the fire department? This type of comment/statement is just indicative of how Mr. Craig’s mind works. If he doesn’t like what I have to say, then he’ll say something to discredit me. Well Mr. Craig, I made a HUGE mistake of resigning from the fire board and feel partially responsible for what’s happening here. I quit. I took myself out of the position that might have made the difference to prevent this mess. I deeply regret that decision. So, I will not quit again. Keep it coming.
Friends who happen to read this blog, please come to the town board meetings, or post comments (with your name preferably), or at least watch the meetings at the town so you can see what’s going on in our town! It’s time for change. Let Mr. Craig and the others on the board know that you demand answers.
(Oh, by the way, this is the first acknowledgement in public by any board member that this whole splitting of the department thing will cost us some money. ONLY $40,000 to $50,000!!! You sure can buy a lot of patience in dealing with the village for $40,000 or $50,000! What a shameful waste of our money…..Never mind that more likely than not it will cost way more than this….Never mind that we elected these guys to deal with problems....)
Town Supervisor Craig, Ashamed?
For those of you who don't know, the Village President Jamie Soneberg is a deputy Sheriff with the Waukesha County Sheriff’s office. From what I understand, Deputy Soneberg has an impeccable service record. Deputy Soneberg is assigned by the Sheriff to patrol areas that include the Town of Vernon.
Bill Craig at last Thursday’s meeting has asked that Jamie be reassigned. Here we go again….
Mr. Craig has a history of this. Everyone that disagrees with Mr. Craig and his view on how he governs comes into his crosshairs. First it was Marilyn Gauger, then president of the Big Bend-Vernon Fire Board. Mr. Craig said some things that implied that Mrs. Gauger had done wrong. If fact, she conducted herself with the utmost integrity. She continued to follow policies that had been in place for years in the conduct of the Fire Board’s business. As it turns out, these policies violated the letter of the law as written in the intermunicipal agreement between the town and village. Mrs. Gauger continued to conduct the Fire Board’s business following an unwritten policy explicitly condoned by the Town Attorney John Macy, and the past two Town Chairs. Yet she was taken to task by Mr. Craig and was not reappointed. (This relates to verbal approval from the Town Chair and Village President to seek legal counsel for private matters relating to Fire Board performance evaluation issues. The key word being PRIVATE matters. The subject of legal closed session meetings.)
And then there’s me….Mr. Craig pushed for me to not be reappointed to the Fire Board when my term was up. I was at the meeting in the third week of May 2009 when Mr. Craig urged the other board members to not reappoint me since “new blood” was needed even though significant progress was being made in applying stabilizing controls to the Fire Department budget and leadership. No, he didn’t want to overlook minor details of operation issues (i.e. verbal approval for legal fees) to see the big picture and the progress being made. In a follow-up meeting with Mr. Craig he continued to ask for minute details of the Fire Board’s dealings and ignore all progress made by the Fire Board in years of hard work. My integrity was questioned and I decided to resign knowing that continued personal attacks would most likely follow….
So, now we get to Jamie. Jamie is in Mr. Craig’s sights. This is despicable; Mr. Craig should be ashamed. The voters should be outraged. The voters in this community need to start paying attention. We do not need this in our community. Not one of us deserves this, not one of us has done anything other than serve this community with the best of intensions. What are Mr. Craig’s intensions? What’s he trying to accomplish? Is this really Town business?
So, Mr. Craig cites a conflict of interest? Is it a conflict of interest when Mr. Craig (a real estate agent) lists a property for sale in the Village of Big Bend? Is a conflict of interest when Mr. Craig is a member of the Town Board and Town Plan Commission when a land division is considered for approval by the Town? Is it a conflict of interest when Mr. Craig’s business is located in the Village and not the Town? These questions are as absurd as claiming that Jamie’s patrol duty as a Sheriff’s deputy is a conflict of interest. Where will this insanity end?
Bill Craig at last Thursday’s meeting has asked that Jamie be reassigned. Here we go again….
Mr. Craig has a history of this. Everyone that disagrees with Mr. Craig and his view on how he governs comes into his crosshairs. First it was Marilyn Gauger, then president of the Big Bend-Vernon Fire Board. Mr. Craig said some things that implied that Mrs. Gauger had done wrong. If fact, she conducted herself with the utmost integrity. She continued to follow policies that had been in place for years in the conduct of the Fire Board’s business. As it turns out, these policies violated the letter of the law as written in the intermunicipal agreement between the town and village. Mrs. Gauger continued to conduct the Fire Board’s business following an unwritten policy explicitly condoned by the Town Attorney John Macy, and the past two Town Chairs. Yet she was taken to task by Mr. Craig and was not reappointed. (This relates to verbal approval from the Town Chair and Village President to seek legal counsel for private matters relating to Fire Board performance evaluation issues. The key word being PRIVATE matters. The subject of legal closed session meetings.)
And then there’s me….Mr. Craig pushed for me to not be reappointed to the Fire Board when my term was up. I was at the meeting in the third week of May 2009 when Mr. Craig urged the other board members to not reappoint me since “new blood” was needed even though significant progress was being made in applying stabilizing controls to the Fire Department budget and leadership. No, he didn’t want to overlook minor details of operation issues (i.e. verbal approval for legal fees) to see the big picture and the progress being made. In a follow-up meeting with Mr. Craig he continued to ask for minute details of the Fire Board’s dealings and ignore all progress made by the Fire Board in years of hard work. My integrity was questioned and I decided to resign knowing that continued personal attacks would most likely follow….
So, now we get to Jamie. Jamie is in Mr. Craig’s sights. This is despicable; Mr. Craig should be ashamed. The voters should be outraged. The voters in this community need to start paying attention. We do not need this in our community. Not one of us deserves this, not one of us has done anything other than serve this community with the best of intensions. What are Mr. Craig’s intensions? What’s he trying to accomplish? Is this really Town business?
So, Mr. Craig cites a conflict of interest? Is it a conflict of interest when Mr. Craig (a real estate agent) lists a property for sale in the Village of Big Bend? Is a conflict of interest when Mr. Craig is a member of the Town Board and Town Plan Commission when a land division is considered for approval by the Town? Is it a conflict of interest when Mr. Craig’s business is located in the Village and not the Town? These questions are as absurd as claiming that Jamie’s patrol duty as a Sheriff’s deputy is a conflict of interest. Where will this insanity end?
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Posting Comments: Anonymous said...
Those of you that are not registered are able to post comments. No problem. You post these comments an "anonymous" user. IF you want to your comments to have a greater impact, please add your name to the comment at the end. Some of you do this; most don't.
It's much easier to show those that read this that those of you who are posting really do care and are not afraid to say so. I recommend using your name or becoming a registered user to have the greatest impact.
Another side benefit to being a registered user is that you will be notified automatically when a new post is made.
It's much easier to show those that read this that those of you who are posting really do care and are not afraid to say so. I recommend using your name or becoming a registered user to have the greatest impact.
Another side benefit to being a registered user is that you will be notified automatically when a new post is made.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Everyone Supports the Town Board?
I’ve been told by the Town Chair that most in the Town agree with the Town Board’s position that the Town should have its own Fire Department. Sharing costs with the Village is not a good idea because of ALL the baggage. (Of course I’m paraphrasing the board’s position….)
Do you agree? Is this a good idea? Are people just telling the Town Board members what they want to hear?
Please sound off. A simple answer is OK: I don’t know enough to have an opinion, I don’t agree with them, I agree with them, etc.
They read this blog, let them know how you feel.
Do you agree? Is this a good idea? Are people just telling the Town Board members what they want to hear?
Please sound off. A simple answer is OK: I don’t know enough to have an opinion, I don’t agree with them, I agree with them, etc.
They read this blog, let them know how you feel.
Please Read the Paper and ACT!
Dear Loyal Readers,
Thanks for keeping up with my rants regarding the current actions of the Town Board. As you can tell from my writing I firmly believe that the path were on is one of failure. The decision to disband the long standing agreement with Big Bend for fire service is a disservice to us and our entire community. Plus, I believe that it will cost the Town of Vernon more than $150,000 to divorce ourselves from the Village of Big Bend and establish our own fire department. This new department will provide a lower level of service than we have now and will cost us more than we pay now year to year. Please let me know if you disagree.
There are so many issues the Town Board has not addressed; as a matter of fact they have not addressed any issues yet. They have retained a consultant to evaluate the situation and to assist in developing the new department. This consultant will cost $25,000. Cha-ching…. we’re nearly 20% to my $150,000 estimate. I could go on and on, but I’ll get to the point. This is all entirely unnecessary. We just need to work with our neighbors to resolve the issues. Trust me; there are issues, but nowhere near $150,000 worth. Please get informed and get involved. Even if your involvement is just a comment or two on this blog!
So in order to provide the information that our Town Board refuses to provide, I have teamed up with several other concerned citizens of the Town of Vernon to create a group called Vernon Residents for Sensible Government. The VRSG will be holding a series of meetings to provide information so you can make an informed decision on this matter and so you can speak intelligently about this issue with your elected officials. Hey, you may disagree with us. That’s OK! We can respect that, but please only draw your conclusion after availing yourself of the facts. We’re willing to provide them.
So, why read the paper? We have sent a letter to the Editor of all the papers that server our area to outline some questions that YOU should demand be answered BEFORE we proceed any further with this matter. I know for sure this letter will be in tomorrow’s issue of the Mukwonago Chief. After tomorrow look for it in the Mukwonago Chief Letters to the Editor:
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/opinion/83357007.html
If this link does not work, go to the Mukwonago Chief Home Page and hit the “Opinion” menu option. The home page is:
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/
The VRSG plans to hold a meeting in early March so you may come and ask questions and become informed. It’s obvious that we’re very opinionated about this matter, come and figure out why!
Stay tuned.
Thanks for keeping up with my rants regarding the current actions of the Town Board. As you can tell from my writing I firmly believe that the path were on is one of failure. The decision to disband the long standing agreement with Big Bend for fire service is a disservice to us and our entire community. Plus, I believe that it will cost the Town of Vernon more than $150,000 to divorce ourselves from the Village of Big Bend and establish our own fire department. This new department will provide a lower level of service than we have now and will cost us more than we pay now year to year. Please let me know if you disagree.
There are so many issues the Town Board has not addressed; as a matter of fact they have not addressed any issues yet. They have retained a consultant to evaluate the situation and to assist in developing the new department. This consultant will cost $25,000. Cha-ching…. we’re nearly 20% to my $150,000 estimate. I could go on and on, but I’ll get to the point. This is all entirely unnecessary. We just need to work with our neighbors to resolve the issues. Trust me; there are issues, but nowhere near $150,000 worth. Please get informed and get involved. Even if your involvement is just a comment or two on this blog!
So in order to provide the information that our Town Board refuses to provide, I have teamed up with several other concerned citizens of the Town of Vernon to create a group called Vernon Residents for Sensible Government. The VRSG will be holding a series of meetings to provide information so you can make an informed decision on this matter and so you can speak intelligently about this issue with your elected officials. Hey, you may disagree with us. That’s OK! We can respect that, but please only draw your conclusion after availing yourself of the facts. We’re willing to provide them.
So, why read the paper? We have sent a letter to the Editor of all the papers that server our area to outline some questions that YOU should demand be answered BEFORE we proceed any further with this matter. I know for sure this letter will be in tomorrow’s issue of the Mukwonago Chief. After tomorrow look for it in the Mukwonago Chief Letters to the Editor:
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/opinion/83357007.html
If this link does not work, go to the Mukwonago Chief Home Page and hit the “Opinion” menu option. The home page is:
http://www.livinglakecountry.com/mukwonagochief/
The VRSG plans to hold a meeting in early March so you may come and ask questions and become informed. It’s obvious that we’re very opinionated about this matter, come and figure out why!
Stay tuned.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Village is TAKING Our Land!!! Yikes! Run for the hills!
Sorry for the delay in postings. I have so much to write about, but so little time….I’m going to try and make this a Sunday habit, so stay tuned. Here’s my latest installment regarding my opinion that the Town of Vernon Town Board has lost its mind:
So the Village is TAKING our property? What? Is this true? Our Town Board seems to think so; I’ve heard them say this, or imply this, more than once.
The fact is that the Village CANNOT initiate the taking, or annexation, of Town property. A property owner or MAJORITY of property owners in a continuous geographic area must initiate an annexation petition. In fact, it is ILLEGAL for any village or city to initiate an annexation or to provide incentives or contractual benefits to a property owner in exchange for requesting annexation of their property!
(Do you want to know more? Go to: http://www.doa.state.wi.us/section.asp?linkid=132&locid=9)
Even though this is true, our Town Board continues to spread the myth that somehow the Village is “taking” our land. Why do they spread this myth? Why do they keep making us believe the Village is the “bad guy”? Honestly, I don’t know. I can only speculate as to their motivations.
Here’s what I know to be true: the Town has made it attractive for property owners to take their land into the Village! What Mike? That’s blasphemous! OUR Town Board is causing these annexations!?! How can you say that!?! Well, it’s true….
Think about this, would property owners such as Deluca and Ball have ever annexed their properties to the Village if the Town had been more progressive in their support of the business that resides on these properties? If the Town had policies in place that encouraged and worked with businesses to expand and be successful, then they would have no motivation to move the property into the Village. So, in the case of the Deluca property we did not allow them to expand; the Village did. So, we have the IMPACTS (more trucks, more traffic, etc.) anyway, but the Town has lost the tax base. WE AS A TOWN AND OUR LEADERS CAUSED THIS!!! Not the Village. The Village just decided to be flexible and work with this business.
Most of the Town Board members involved in negotiating with Mr. Deluca did not have the forsight to see this. What a shame. Yet it’s the Village’s fault!
So, where does this leave us today? Our Town continues to more toward more and more isolation from the Village of Big Bend. We are no longer working together to solve problems as a community even though most reasonable people know and understand that we ARE a community. The Town knows best…we’re going it alone. We’re going to spend a TON of money in the next few months to realize that we can NEVER operate our Town without consideration of our neighbors. We’re going to lose the opportunity to work with the Village of Big Bend to create high quality, thoughtful development on the interstate interchange. We’re going to lose our opportunity to have ANY input or benefit from this development. Over what, a few line items in the budget and some poor decisions by some members of the Fire Board and Fire Department? Where I come from you work to solve problems, not create more by pretending we can do it better on our own. We all know that sharing costs will end up costing us all less in the long run.
(On a side note: keep in mind that this is the same group that has not yet figured out how to tear down the condemned barn near the Town Hall! And that's been over a year! Anyway, I digress....sorry.)
The Town Board has forgotten that the Village has the control no matter what. That’s the way the law of the State of Wisconsin is written. If we don’t find ways to work together, then isolated we will become and more of our tax base will leave the Town and we will lose more of our ability to negotiate with the Village on issues that will benefit the Town.
So remember, when it comes to annexation, it is the Town’s policies and business environment that cause annexation, not the Village. Come on Vernon! Wake up! Oh wait; this is AFTER the wake-up....wow I should have stayed asleep.
So the Village is TAKING our property? What? Is this true? Our Town Board seems to think so; I’ve heard them say this, or imply this, more than once.
The fact is that the Village CANNOT initiate the taking, or annexation, of Town property. A property owner or MAJORITY of property owners in a continuous geographic area must initiate an annexation petition. In fact, it is ILLEGAL for any village or city to initiate an annexation or to provide incentives or contractual benefits to a property owner in exchange for requesting annexation of their property!
(Do you want to know more? Go to: http://www.doa.state.wi.us/section.asp?linkid=132&locid=9)
Even though this is true, our Town Board continues to spread the myth that somehow the Village is “taking” our land. Why do they spread this myth? Why do they keep making us believe the Village is the “bad guy”? Honestly, I don’t know. I can only speculate as to their motivations.
Here’s what I know to be true: the Town has made it attractive for property owners to take their land into the Village! What Mike? That’s blasphemous! OUR Town Board is causing these annexations!?! How can you say that!?! Well, it’s true….
Think about this, would property owners such as Deluca and Ball have ever annexed their properties to the Village if the Town had been more progressive in their support of the business that resides on these properties? If the Town had policies in place that encouraged and worked with businesses to expand and be successful, then they would have no motivation to move the property into the Village. So, in the case of the Deluca property we did not allow them to expand; the Village did. So, we have the IMPACTS (more trucks, more traffic, etc.) anyway, but the Town has lost the tax base. WE AS A TOWN AND OUR LEADERS CAUSED THIS!!! Not the Village. The Village just decided to be flexible and work with this business.
Most of the Town Board members involved in negotiating with Mr. Deluca did not have the forsight to see this. What a shame. Yet it’s the Village’s fault!
So, where does this leave us today? Our Town continues to more toward more and more isolation from the Village of Big Bend. We are no longer working together to solve problems as a community even though most reasonable people know and understand that we ARE a community. The Town knows best…we’re going it alone. We’re going to spend a TON of money in the next few months to realize that we can NEVER operate our Town without consideration of our neighbors. We’re going to lose the opportunity to work with the Village of Big Bend to create high quality, thoughtful development on the interstate interchange. We’re going to lose our opportunity to have ANY input or benefit from this development. Over what, a few line items in the budget and some poor decisions by some members of the Fire Board and Fire Department? Where I come from you work to solve problems, not create more by pretending we can do it better on our own. We all know that sharing costs will end up costing us all less in the long run.
(On a side note: keep in mind that this is the same group that has not yet figured out how to tear down the condemned barn near the Town Hall! And that's been over a year! Anyway, I digress....sorry.)
The Town Board has forgotten that the Village has the control no matter what. That’s the way the law of the State of Wisconsin is written. If we don’t find ways to work together, then isolated we will become and more of our tax base will leave the Town and we will lose more of our ability to negotiate with the Village on issues that will benefit the Town.
So remember, when it comes to annexation, it is the Town’s policies and business environment that cause annexation, not the Village. Come on Vernon! Wake up! Oh wait; this is AFTER the wake-up....wow I should have stayed asleep.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
