Sewer Rate Study Commissioned In Beaver Dam
7/9/14 – There was close to a one million dollar shortfall in revenue projections for Beaver Dam’s new wastewater treatment plant. As a result, city officials have commissioned a rate study to determine how much sewer rates will be going up. The city was awarded $20 million in stimulus money in 2009 to expand their outdated wastewater plant and incorporate green technology into the upgrade. Half the $20 million was an outright grant but the other half was a low-interest, tax-free loan. A public-private partnership was established with Kraft Foods that allows the city to covert waste from their plant into biogas. The biogas is, in turn, used to generate electricity that city is selling back to Alliant Energy with the profit keeping Beaver Dam sewer rates among the lowest in the state. However, the profit from 2012 and 2013 was not as high as projected, coming up $993-thousand dollars below estimates. That, along with some unexpected costs, depleted a contingency fund. Money was then taken from the city’s general fund to replenish the depleted contingency fund. City Finance Director John Somers notes that the city needed a new treatment plant one way or the other. Even if the city did not use grant funding to build the revenue-generating biogas system, he says city residents would have seen a rate increase anyway years ago to build the new facility. Somers says the rate study has been completed but city officials still have to determine how to structure the rates for residential, commercial and industrial customers. The figures on the wastewater shortfall were included in a portfolio from the city’s financial advisor that was handed out Monday, prior to a vote on borrowing for this year’s capital improvement projects. And the news came as a surprise to some city officials. Alderman Robert Ballweg noted during the council meeting that this was the first time he has heard about the million dollar deficit in the wastewater treatment fund and subsequent use of general fund dollars to cover the shortfall.
Waupun Refinances Existing Debt
7/9/14 – The City of Waupun is refinancing debt from 2007 and 2012. The common council Tuesday approved the sale of over $9.4 million dollars in Water and Electric System Revenue Bonds. General Manager for Waupun Utilities Randy Posthuma says refinancing the existing debt will save customers money in the long run. He says it’s a savings that they like to pass on to customers if they have the opportunity to do so. Posthuma says customers will save nearly $475-thousand dollars over the twelve year span. He says FirstMerit Bank was the lowest bidder in the sale, but Posthuma says Waupun Utilities was excited to have the local – Fox Valley Savings Bank contribute as well. Posthuma says it is important that local entities have confidence in Waupun Utilities and that they have the opportunity to get involved with revenue bonds. He says Fox Valley Savings will gain two-point-four-three (2.43) percent on the $1-million dollars they are lending them. Posthuma says the final sale will take place August 1st.
Juneau Purchase Policy Updated
7/9/14 – City officials in Juneau can now make larger purchases without council approval. The Common Council last night approved changes in their procurement policy, raising the minimum expenditure needed to trigger council oversight. Under the old policy, capital purchases above $1000 required a vote of the council, even if the item was already approved in the capital budget; that number is now at $2500. Clerk-Treasurer Gladys McKay says stuff just costs more now that it did in 2005 when the policy was first adopted. The change also affects point-of-sale, pick-up or delivery purchases by city employees. A purchase order must be approved by department heads for spending in excess of $250; before now approval was needed for any such purchases above $100.
More Documents Released In John Doe Investigation
7/9/14 – We could soon learn a little bit more about the state’s John Doe investigation into the recall elections against Governor Scott Walker and G-O-P senators including Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau. Yesterday, federal appeals Judge Diane Wood ordered the release of about 14 pages of documents that the Wisconsin Club for Growth wanted to keep secret. It’s not known when the records will come out — or what they might disclose. They concern the group’s lawsuit which sought to strike down the John Doe probe for violating the group’s free-speech rights. Milwaukee District Judge Rudolph Randa said he agreed with the group, and he halted the probe twice this spring. State prosecutors continue to appeal the latest move. Over 250 pages of documents have already been released from the John Doe — including a prosecutor’s theory that Walker and two G-O-P operatives illegally coordinated with a dozen conservative groups to run the recall campaigns as a joint effort. Walker strongly denies it, and the prosecutor later clarified it was nothing more than conjecture.
Sheriff’s Department Gets New Rescue Vehicle
7/9/14 – The Dodge County Sheriff’s Department has a new emergency rescue vehicle. It’s called the Caiman 6×6 MRAP – which stands for “Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected” – and it’s an armored personnel carrier obtained through a federal government program. The program authorizes the federal government to provide law enforcement agencies with certain surplus military equipment at no cost. Dodge County officials say they saw a need to equip personnel with this protection to be better prepared to save the lives of the people in the community. The rescue vehicle will be used in natural disaster situations to access and rescue people in floods, blizzards and other severe weather. Officials say the rescue vehicle is not an offensive weapon but it is a truck with armor, designed to protect its occupants from gunfire. According to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department the rescue vehicle is worth roughly $730-thousand dollars. The Sheriff’s Office will be training deputies and local firefighters to learn operation and basic maintenance of the vehicle.
First Human Case Of West Nile Found In Wisconsin
7/9/14 – This year’s first probable human case of the West Nile virus has been recorded in Wisconsin. State health services officials are reporting that a Saint Croix County resident appears to have been infected with the mosquito-borne illness. The state also reports six other West Nile cases in birds — one each in Rusk, Waupaca, Portage, Sauk, Dane, and Dodge counties. Mosquitoes have become a nuisance for folks throughout Wisconsin, after they spread from northern Wisconsin to the south. U-W Madison entomologist Susan Paskewitz tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the vast majority of mosquitoes this summer are not the types of species that are known to carry West Nile. That’s a positive sign — but officials say most human cases don’t get reported in Wisconsin until August and September. Still, experts say it’s a good time to protect yourself outside by wearing things like long clothing and bug repellent. Wisconsin has had close to 240 human cases of West Nile since the virus first become known about a dozen years ago. The state had 16 human cases last year. Four Wisconsinites died from West Nile in 2012.
Sensenbrenner Targets A-T-F
7/9/14 – Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner is so fed up with the A-T-F, he’s drafting a bill to eliminate it. The Menomonee Falls Republican says the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives keeps searching for a mission, while it’s plagued by what he calls “high-profile blunders.” A new report by the General Accounting Office said the 46-year-old A-T-F keeps trying to re-define itself, as it struggles with high employee turnover and problems keeping track of its criminal investigations. The agency is not commenting for now. In Milwaukee, there’s been heavy criticism of the A-T-F in the wake of a botched undercover storefront operation that was supposed to get guns off the streets — but instead resulted in a burglary at the storefront, the loss of critical documents, and charges against the wrong targets. Sensenbrenner says other police operations in the Justice Department can pick up the A-T-F’s duties. His new effort to eliminate the A-T-F comes 21 years after a similar proposal failed to pass.
Final Evidence Of Snow Finally Disappears
7/9/14 – The final evidence of an extremely snowy winter has just now disappeared in northwest Wisconsin. The Superior-Douglas County Chamber of Commerce ran a contest in which folks were invited to guess when the final remnants of snow would melt away. They called it the “Snowpocalypse” contest. The judges ruled that the final snow disappeared Monday from the huge pile of snow that was removed from the city streets during the winter. Gerry Olson of Superior guessed the correct date. She won a basket of prizes.
Missing Ronald McDonald Statue Returned
7/9/14 – Mystery solved a missing Ronald McDonald statue taken from a McDonald’s Restaurant in Ripon has been returned. It turns out Ronald was camping at a campground in Green Lake County or at least that’s where he was found last weekend. A Ripon resident remembered the story about the missing statue when he saw some people with it in the campground and alerted Sheriff’s officials. The people who had him said they found him quite a while back. The 6-foot statue was reunited with the Ripon McDonald’s owners over the weekend.
