Stoughton
“Our family will take good care of your family.” Family Owned, Family Operated, Celebrating 97 Years Of Service
(608) 873-4590
Thursday, October 3, 2019 • Vol. 138, No. 11 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
www.gundersonfh.com East Madison/Monona • West Madison/Middleton • Mt. Horeb Stoughton • Black Earth • Oregon • Cross Plains • Fitchburg • Lodi
adno=66920
Courier Hub The
Kettle Park West
KPW Phase 2 TIF decision pending Developer has asked for $3 million JUSTIN LOEWEN Hub correspondent
Photo by Mackenzie Krumme
Seth Weaver, 9, center, opens a hand-made cage to see if his egg survived the fall from the top of a ladder during STEM Night at Kegonsa Elementary School Thursday, Sept. 26. Volunteer Rod Pennington, right, looks over Weaver’s shoulder wanting to know how Weaver constructed the cage.
Students for STEM in science,” Stypula said. “This can steer what books they want to read and what classes they will take in high school.” Stypula is a senior research scientist at Promega and volunteers from the biotechnology company ran the stations.
Inside More STEM photos Page 7
Stoughton Area School District
SASD seeks child care choices
Community resource expands programs, services and space
Planning for next year after options for 2019-20 fell through
MACKENZIE KRUMME
SCOTT DE LARUELLE
A new ‘clinic atmosphere’ New services
Unified Newspaper Group
The Free Health Clinic is undergoing a major transformation. FHC, which opened in 2008 as Shalom, has seen between 6-10 patients a month in its five hour monthly window in a house. But the donation of a facility at 1520 Vernon St. has provided the ability and impetus for the clinic to increase providers and services. As of Oct. 1, the new space is officially “theirs,” said FHC president Angie Rowin-Tippit. It is set to open before the end of this year, however. And a lot must happen before the clinic is ready for patients, including renovations and a Nov. 1 fundraiser to pay for the monthly $600 condo fees. After the new space opens, FHC plans to offer dental work for
• Dental for children ages 1 to 5 years old • Women’s reproductive health • Educational classes • Partnership with Edgewood College
preschool age children, reproductive health care for women and more mental health services. Currently, the clinic provides services to eight communities, with more than 49,000 combined residents. Board members know there are more people who could use the resource, as health insurance is often a last priority
Courier Hub
after rent, food and childcare. “Regardless of the ability to pay we are only as healthy as the people that live in our community,” board member and FHC Advanced Practice Clinician Dr. Tina DeGroot said. The current 800-square-foot house does not provide enough space or privacy for the amount of need that is out there, Rowin-Tippit said, as patients are having examinations in bedrooms and meetings in the kitchen. The new space,which was a previous clinic, is nearly triple the size at 2,300 square feet with three exam rooms, waiting area, reception area and two private bathrooms. As a result of the interior transformation, board members want to take advantage of the opportunity and expand health care services and
Turn to Clinic/Page 10
Turn to KPW/Page 12
Unified Newspaper Group
After plans fell through at the last minute to establish after school child care sites, Stoughton Area School District officials are focusing on ways to put programming in place for next school year. District superintendent Tim Onsager discussed the issue with the school board at its Aug. 26 meeting, where he described how several attempts to partner with non-profit or for-profit groups didn’t work out. Last year, SASD teamed up with the Stoughton
Community Recreation Department to create a new afterschool care program at the Kegonsa Elementary School attendance area; the first in the district. The program had around 15 students enrolled by last winter, but Onsager said city officials “made it very clear” they couldn’t continue the program another year without grant funding. “It was not something they could sustain financially,” he said. “They were also having a tough time hiring people.” The district was working with a company to bring after school sites to Fox Prairie and Sandh i l l e l e m e n t a r i e s , bu t they couldn’t get enough students at the sites to operate. The district then contracted with Fort
Turn to Child care/Page 12
Fall Season is Here!
NOW OPEN!! Let us be your one-stop shop for all things fall: • Mums • Flowering Kale • Asters • Pumpkins • Gourds • Straw Bales • Decorative Metal Art • & More!
3/$
20
ON SELECT MUMS 10/3/19-10/9/19
Hours: Sun. 9am-5pm • Mon.-Sat. 9am-6pm • www.kopkesgreenhouse.com
adno=110102
D u r i n g Ke g o n s a E l e m e n t a r y School’s STEM Night students experimented through 12 science stations. Principal Erin Conrad and senior research scientist Yolanda Stypula organized the event on Thursday, Sept. 26. “The event sparks students interest
The developer of Kettle Park West will have to wait a little longer to find out whether it can get TIF assistance from the City of Stoughton. Forward Development Group has been working with the city on the westside commercial and residential development since 2009. In July, it formally requested $3 million in tax-increment financing from TIF District No. 7 to help fund onsite costs of KPW phase 2, which features a residential
subdivision. The Common Council did not approve the request at its Sept. 24 meeting, citing a need for additional time to review the TIF application, finance director Jamin Friedl wrote in an email to the Hub. The council plans to revisit FDG’s TIF request Tuesday, Nov. 26, though it might handle the issue sooner, Friedl wrote. Phase 2 onsite projects include alleys, trails, interior streets, extensions of existing streets and facilities for managing stormwater runoff. FDG initially requested $5.4 million of TIF assistance in 2016 for phase 2 on-site projects,