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THE MESSENGER OF JUNEAU COUNTY
January 17, 2013
Juneau County’s Huebner places 3rd in Fairest of the Fair
NEW LISBON CHAMBER DONATES TO FOOD PANTRY ON BEHALF OF SANTA
Presenting a check from the New Lisbon Area Chamber of Commerce to the New Lisbon Food Pantry, are Evie Hicks and Holly Berry. Accepting the check on behalf of the Food Pantry is Barb Haschke. The Chamber made the $50 donation on behalf the Santa for his appearance at the Chamber sponsored Santa visit at the Lioness Craft Fair in December.
Wisconsin's 47th Fairest of the Fairs is Steffani Koch from Dodge County. The Mayville native was crowned Wednesday night in Wisconsin Dells after competing against 41 other contestants for this year's title. As Fairest of the Fair, she becomes the spokesperson for the Wisconsin Association of Fairs, where she will travel to many of the state's county, district and state fairs this summer. The winner also serves as the official hostess of the Wisconsin State Fair each year. A senior in college, Koch transfered to the University of Wisconsin-Madison this year from UW-River Falls to complete her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. She hopes to practice veterinary medicine focusing on the dairy industry. Steffani enjoys exhibiting dairy cattle at
state and international shows, playing volleyball, traveling and singing. She is an alumna of Mayville FFA, and participated in the UWRF Dairy Club, Pre-vet club, and Chancellor's Student Ambassadors. Koch replaces outgoing Fairest of the Fairs Richelle Kastenson from Union Grove in Racine County. Meanwhile, Bailey Quam of the Lodi Agricultural Fair was named first runner up, with Leah Christenson from Polk County being second runner-up. Juneau County's Brianna Huebner was third and Erika Soukup, Manitowoc County, was fourth runner up. The judges for this year's competition were Rae Nell Halbur, who was also selected as 'Friend of the Fairest,' along with Ron Oleheiser and Terri Wilfert.
Elroy discusses administrator residency again BY EILEEN NALE On January 8, the City of Elroy held a record number of meetings in one day. The first meeting of the day was at 9:00 a.m. with a Street Committee Meeting, then at 9:30 a.m. there was an Ordinance Committee Meeting, then at 10:00 a.m. there was a Finance and Personnel Committee Meeting and then at 5:00 p.m. there was a Public Meeting that was followed up by a 7:00 p.m. City of Elroy Common Council Meeting. The first three meetings were for committees and were held at the Elroy City Hall. The City of Elroy Public Meeting was held at the Elroy Public Library in the meeting room. There were approximately 20 concerned citizens present. This meeting brought to a head several issues that have been of concern to several City of Elroy property owners. During the planning for the City’s 2013 budget, two issues were brought up related to the City’s Administration staff. The first issue related to the number of administrative staff that the City of Elroy has and the second issue related to requiring the City of Elroy Administration staff to live in the city. This primarily dealt with the City of Elroy Administrator and his living requirements, which have stated before that the administrator reside in the city. It was explained that Elroy’s current Administration staff includes a City of Elroy Administrator, Deputy Clerk/Police Secretary, Deputy Treasurer/Utility Clerk, and a part time Administrative Assistant. The information handed out gave a job description of each job in administration. City of Elroy Council member Jim Garvin chaired the meeting. City of Elroy Administrator Mark Steward sat at the front table so that he could answer any questions if needed. All of the Elroy Council members were in attendance along with the City of Elroy Mayor Mark Stanek. Pat Kennedy wrote a letter in support of keeping an Administrator. It was a divided room of people with some for keeping an administrator and some against. Statements were made that how many supervisors it takes, as it looks like the supervisor’s job is to supervise the supervisor. Chris Zindorf said, “I have been in Labor Relations all of
my life and we have too many bodies doing less work. We have better equipment, with backhoes, end loaders and this should make the work more efficient.” Another question asked was has he been a determent to his job by not living in Elroy. The following comments continued to keep coming to the top of the surface of the problem. Some concerns were if Elroy had a flood like we did in 2008, the administrator would not be here to help through this crisis as he couldn’t get to Elroy from Baraboo. A response was that anything can take him away from his job without his wanting it to happen, for example a car accident. Jim Garvin stated that he feels that the administrator should live here and pay taxes here. He felt by living here he would be able to contribute back to the community by attending events that are in Elroy. Mayor Mark Stanek stated that the council could not run without an administrator and that his residency is not a big deal. Ron Brunner said, “We have received three letters and there are approximately 25 people here. I am a citizen of Wyoming and have Brunner Manufacturing here. This meeting was publicized and is this what government is all about? Who would come into this town and pay $700 to $800 for a place to rent that has bad streets, with the retail businesses like a Russian roulette wheel. We have to face it we have 25 people here concerned out of a population of 1,400.” Ed Brown said, “What kind of dollars do we have to work with? You borrowed in the spring to finish Center Street. After eight years a second coat is not on. This costs everybody when not followed through.” Larry Krueger said, “I think it should be Mark’s residency on the ballot or a referendum – don’t leave it up to the council.” Ron Brunner said, “I am impressed with Mark’s abilities and he has done a super job. Residency an issue – well half of my workers don’t live in town. Mark has been put on trial here and that is a big mistake. I say that the City of Elroy needs to cut back on other stuff and keep Mark Steward here.” Another question was asked as to how many people could write a grant if Mark left – with not much response. Jim Stott said, “We need public support of
our local businesses. The business support that I get is hardly anything locally, but rather a 20 mile radius that supports my business. That is just not right.” Callie Nelson said, “Businesses come into Elroy and they are lucky if they survive two years. We are very fortunate to have corporations that have a large employee base here.” This was the end of the City of Elroy Public Hearing and next was the Elroy Common Council meeting that started at 7:00 p.m. Mayor Mark Stanek stated that they haven’t gotten anyone for the Police Commission appointment, but that he has some one he is recommending for the Utility Committee and that would be Bruce Lange. This was unanimously approved. Mayor Mark Stanek thanked the Garden Club for all of their work in making Elroy’s Main Street and Central Park Garden area look so nice. Next on the agenda was an application for a property to be rezoned for Nalani Bever. This involves Parcel #29221391 and #29221138 that is on Second Main Street. The request was to rezone the property from R-2 Residential to I-1 Industrial. Nalanie said, “Larry Ormson has showed interest in purchasing the property to use as cold storage. The property is 1 ½ lots and was owned by the family.” Attorney Dan Berkos, who is representing Ormson’s interest in building on this site said, “Larry will move the building around so that it will work well in the neighborhood. They will plant trees to buffer the noise and would have all the doors that open on the south side to prevent noise for the residential area. NTM is here to create some more jobs in the community and is not a fly by night operation. He is proud of Elroy and calls it home. His business is successful and Larry is willing to invest in Elroy again. Larry is willing to do anything to create a buffer or set back the building to accommodate.” “We wouldn’t have bought the house if we would have known this. You can’t tell me that this is going to improve the value of my property. Already the noise from the cooling fans is awful and this will make it much worse,” said Trepes. Council person Jill Mendum said that she
hears all the noise from the opening of the doors and conversations on her street and she lives on Franklin. To this Berkos responded that the building that would be put up would buffer the noise as is and would block the noise. After much discussion it was agreed to rezone the Bever property from residential to industrial and that when NTM builds they need to follow the agreed upon stipulations. They are that there will not be any production in this building and be used for cold storage; that 15 eight foot trees will be planted on the north property line; they will have a setback of 50 feet from the north property line and that the shipping doors will all be on the south side. The new Community Development Authority now has committee members of Jim Garvin, Bob Hart, Rich Brown, Jim Stott and Kari Preuss. There was a lot of discussion on this with Mark Pfost stating that the words eminent domain scares him. He further showed concern who would own the property. In other business there was a trailer park inspection that was scheduled for Friday, January 11. Trailers one, five and nine are empty and Garvin feels they need to go as they wouldn’t have to evict anyone. Garvin further asked if Trailer four and five are empty. Garvin continued that after the inspection on Friday he is going to recommend that all empty trailers need to go. He also asked the owner if there is a reason the trailers shouldn’t be razed. “There are three houses that are on the short list to be razed. One is the Coppernoll house and another is the Steffen house next to Kwik Trip. The Muhn house is the third one and is an estate right now. There are also six to eight houses that need to be looked at to improve housing in Elroy,” said Jim Garvin. The Muhn house estate is being represented by Attorney Bill Jefferson so he can’t comment on it. In other discussion Larry Krueger mentioned that maybe the Amish would tear it down for the material seeing that it can’t be burnt. The one that is on the short list to evaluate its future and the possibility of tearing it down is the Steffen house next to Kwik Trip.