Thursday, April 12, 2018 • Vol. 53, No. 47 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
Plumbing & Glass Service, Inc. Call Joyce & Ken Buczak Today! S ho
Since 1968!
p Local!
MP#6973
New Home Plumbing Remodeling & Repair Well Pumps • Water Heaters Water Softeners Power Sewer • Drain Cleaning Glass & Screen Repair Mirrors Cut To Size
845-7755
www.plumbingandglass.com
adno=553276-01
Verona Press The
2018 spring election
Diaz, new council: subtle shifts ahead JIM FEROLIE Verona Press editor
Before Luke Diaz joined the Common Council in 2013, it had been 10 years since an incumbent was defeated. That year, four were sent home. Another was defeated the n ex t y e a r, then another in 2017 and two more earlier this month, for a Diaz total of eight in five years. It’s just now getting to the point of what Diaz, Verona’s mayor-elect, sees as what should be the norm in Verona politics – regular campaigns empowering voters to make frequent changes to the direction of the city. T h a t ’s a s i g n i f i c a n t change from how many alders perceived their role a decade ago, more as volunteer civil servants who assumed that if people weren’t complaining, they must be doing their jobs well. In those days, the best way for citizens to encourage a change was starting a telephone campaign to alders or bringing several people to a meeting. Perhaps that’s a reflection of our smartphone culture. Now, alders are sending
email updates, candidates are campaigning on Facebook and the city is putting out electronic newsletters and hosting online polls. After Diaz is sworn in as mayor Tuesday, April 17, he plans more cultural changes from Jon Hochkammer’s administration, as well as some switches in city committees and commissions. He also wants to use what he calls the “soft power” of the mayor’s office to increase the transparency of the city’s dealings and explore technological innovations to improve communications and workflow. It’s only natural, he said, for the city to keep pace with the changing needs of its constituents. “Verona’s gotten really younger, really fast,” he said. “One of the poll workers (in the April 3 election) said (to me), ‘There are a lot of young people voting today.’” But there’s still room for some old-school, fundamental thinking, like bringing down the city’s debt load and putting an emphasis on bringing new businesses and building up the city’s downtown. Diaz hopes to bring “aggressive incrementalism” to the way the city works, making many small changes, rather than the major shift some could expect after a 64-year-old Republican mayor of 12 years is succeeded by a 36-year-old card-carrying Democrat. The new alders who have shifted the council’s politics from a leftward lean to a
Turn to Election/Page 17
Inside Get ready for the season with our spring sports guide Pages 10-15
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Cole Emerick, 5, of Middleton, tests a magnet to see if will stick to the metal side table at the STEM Fair April 7.
Sticking to STEM On the web
A STEM Fair was held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 7 at the public library. The fair was hosted and led by Navigant employees, who showed children how magnets work, demonstrated how rain falls out of clouds and See more photos from the STEM Fair at the library: showed them how to design bead necklaces that imitated computer code. ConnectVerona.com
40 years ago
Spotlight: Verona becomes a city First council went through ‘learning experience’ to modernize, stop Madison JIM FEROLIE Verona Press editor
The grainy, fluttering video recovered recently by the Verona Area Historical Society only shows a piece of the proceedings, but for the 265 people attending, mostly in suits and formal dresses, it was clearly a big deal. The acting governor was there. WMTV’s new evening news anchor – Verona graduate Rick Fetherston – emceed the ceremonies. And Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Shirley Abrahamson, who would later become chief justice, did the swearing in as Verona made the transition
‘It was great except that every Monday morning I had certain people who always called me and gave me their agenda for the week.’ Jane Pearcy, on being an alder from a village of 3,000 to a city during a banquet at Verona Middle School on April 18, 1978. Abrahamson, in her third year on the court at age 44, kept it light, cracking jokes, like pointing out that it was a rare occasion “where I can swear in public and people can swear back at me in public.” The result was serious business. Becoming a city changed the way things were done, for better or for
worse, as Verona continued its explosive growth. But members of the first Common Council – only three of whom were holdovers from the Village Board – had all sorts of troubles and confusion the first year as they learned their way around the new system. By the end of the year, they had several contentious issues to deal with, including the abrupt resignation of the administrator five months later, a petition demanding a referendum over the city’s plan to build a city-community building, what was called the biggest tax rate jump in history, a scandal over cable television that would continue to be an issue for years and a temper-raising split vote over alternate-side parking, a policy that still exists today. Forty years later, it’s still debatable whether the change truly accomplished the purpose some people expected.
Turn to City/Page 3
Introducing
The
Verona Press
Your HCG Weight Loss Coach Whether you need to lose 10 pounds or 100 pounds, our program offers daily results that keep you focused. Lynn Beyler
10 Years Experience!
Call NOW and ask how HCG can help you lose weight! 115 ENTERPRISE DRIVE, VERONA 608-334-7700
adno=565461-01
Mayor-elect promises ‘incremental’ approach to change