Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 35. Sunrise is 6:59 and sunset 4:24 for 9h 24m 35s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Evacuation Day on November 25 marks the day in 1783 when the British Army departed from New York City on Manhattan Island, after the end of the American Revolutionary War. In their wake, General George Washington triumphantly led the Continental Army from his headquarters north of the city across the Harlem River, and south through Manhattan to the Battery at its southern tip.
It’s Shop Small Saturday in Whitewater. Join your fellow residents at Cravath Lakefront Park, 341 S. Fremont Street, for a festive day in our small & beautiful city —
Usher in the holiday season by supporting all things local. This family-friendly FREE event will feature more than 40 local, small businesses that you can support on Small Business Saturday. Enjoy food trucks, sweet treats, live music, pictures with Santa and holiday shopping. November 25th from 10-2p!
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 30. Sunrise is 6:58 and sunset 4:24 for 9h 26m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 90.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1971, during a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (aka D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money. He has never been found.
Like most people, this libertarian blogger likes to listen to music. Much of my favorite music is jazz, and some of that jazz music is played on a piano. I, however, do not play the piano. (A cat walking across the keys would produce a more pleasing sound than any effort of mine.)
And yet, and yet, like so many others who don’t play the piano, I can tell the difference between competent playing and… something less.
Now, I’m not a ‘development’ person (and have never claimed to be one). Instead, any critique of Whitewater’s traditional development approach offered at FREE WHITEWATER has rested on simple, fundamental analyses of economics, evidence of performance, logical reasoning, and good government.
On this last point: Whitewater’s development policy is meant to be a community development policy, not one captured against the public interest by a few. Who owns Whitewater? The proper answer — the answer suitable for a beautiful, well-ordered American town — is everyone and no one.
The Whitewater Common Council Tuesday learned from City Manager John Weidl that Calli Berg has been hired as the city’s new economic development director.
According to her resume, Berg brings 25 years of experience in “all aspects of economic development, including business retention, attraction, and expansion,” along with other skill sets, including financial analysis and packaging, grant writing, administration, fund management, and tax increment and credit programs.
She is currently employed as the director of economic development, Milwaukee County, serving in that position since January of 2022. Prior to that, she worked as the director of economic development in the city of Franklin, between 2018 and 2022, and was the president and owner of BDM Services, a company, according to her resume, which provided consulting services to municipalities regarding economic development activities. The business began its operations in 2008.
Berg has additionally held such positions as business development manager with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and director of the Coloma-Watervliet Area Economic Development Corporation, in Berrien County, Mich.
She holds an undergraduate degree in business administration-marketing, and is certified by the International Economic Development Council as an economic developer. She is recognized by the National Development Council as an economic development finance professional and has been named by West Michigan Business Direct Weekly as a Business Leader Under 40, and has earned the President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Michigan Economic Developers Association, according to her resume.
Ms. Berg has an impressive background in development policy.
This libertarian blogger is a tragic optimist, but the fundamental outlook of tragic optimism is, happily, optimism.
While so very many in the city will be rooting for Calli Berg’s success, no one in Whitewater will be more hopeful than I’ll be.
One wishes the very best for Ms. Berg in applying her experience and her insight to advance Whitewater’s community development on behalf of all our community.
?? Tuesday, November 28th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of In the Heart of the Sea @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Biography/History/Drama/Adventure Rated PG-13 2 hours, 2 minutes (2015) A dramatization of the true events that inspired Herman Melville’s classic American novel “Moby Dick.” In 1820, the New…
Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 41. Sunrise is 6:55 and sunset 4:26 for 9h 31m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 63.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1959, American disc jockey Alan Freed, who had popularized the term “rock and roll” and music of that style, is fired from WABC radio over allegations he had participated in the payola scandal.
Linked above is the Whitewater Common Council agenda for the second council meeting of November. Embedded below is the full agenda packet for the session. (Although I have begun embedding the council or CDA agendas on the day of the respective meetings, this post offers both the full council packet and mention of items of notable interest to this libertarian blogger. Usually, I’ve not highlighted a meeting in advance, but the decline in quality representation from this council makes careful attention to the agenda and proceedings necessary.)
At the last council meeting, some of the listed items tonight were presented, but not decided. A few items from tonight’s agenda seem notable to this libertarian blogger. (Other residents will have their own particulars; their mileage may vary.)
STAFF REPORTS
Item 10. Lakes Update – Park and Rec.
Item 11. Aquatic Center Update – Park and Rec
Item 12. Immigration Roundtable Update – Police
Item 13. Police Staffing 2024 – Police
Item 15. von Briesen & Roper Resumes for 3 Labor and Employment Specialty Attorneys – HR
RESOLUTIONS
Item 16. Resolution adopting 2024-2025 City of Whitewater Municipal Budget – Finance
Item 25. Discussion and possible action regarding Virtual Meeting Policy – Allen/HR
Item 27. Discussion and possible action regarding the formation of a council action plan to address Common Council self-governance- Common Council/HR
CLOSED SESSION
Item 35. Adjourn to closed session, to reconvene in open session, Chapter 19.85(1)(f) “Considering financial, medical, social or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific persons, preliminary consideration of specific personnel problems or the investigation of charges against specific persons except where par. (b) applies which, if discussed in public, would be likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data, or involved in such problems or investigations.” Item to be discussed: 1) Discussion regarding complaints received by the Human Resources Department
CONSIDERATIONS
Item 36. Discussion and possible action regarding matters addressed in closed session in response to a complaint received by the Human Resources Department. – HR/Employment Attorney
One key point: this council majority has lost any benefit of the doubt from its community. The solution is plain: if the council majority doesn’t want to be criticized as foolish and irresponsible, then it shouldn’t act foolishly and irresponsibly.
In all of this, Whitewater is a beautiful city, a delightful place to live, and a community far more capable than its council majority.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 56. Sunrise is 6:50 and sunset 4:29 for 9h 39m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Embedded above is a video recording of the Whitewater Common Council’s 11.7.23 session.
At that session on 11.7.23, the council in Items 28 considered “Discussion and possible action regarding the compensation survey – Gerber/HR.” The discussion, such as it was, begins at 1:28:41 on the video. The city’s HR Manager Sara Marquardt and Councilmember Jill Gerber are the principal interlocutors.
A few remarks:
Assignments. Many years ago, a conservative councilmember rebuked a colleague for expecting that individual members have the authority to assign work or projects to city staff. That conservative councilmember was right — it’s a collective body, and individual members aren’t empowered that way.
This Council Majority. In this case —on a council with a majority that has admitted on the record that it requires significant improvement — individual councilmembers would do best to avoid calling around. There is no public verification possible of questions or answers received on phone calls. To whom a councilmember spoke, the precise questions asked, how those questions might have been framed, the complete answers received: none of that is available for public review.
Unlike trained full-time employees of the administration, councilmembers are asking questions without that same training and background. As with Allen calling the League of Municipalities, the actual and important conversation is unknown to the public. See Scenes from a Council Meeting (Representations).
This small-town council’s majority acts as though it’s a Congressional committee, wanting its own lawyer, crusading from the dais, etc. Whitewater is a small town, not a large federal district.
Questioning. There’s a simple set of tactical rules for questioning someone in a public setting. When the person to be questioned has a hard manner, one may effectively question with a hard or soft manner. When the person to be questioned has a soft manner, one can only effectively question in a soft manner.
In this discussion, there is no circumstance in which one would sensibly approach this HR manager except in a relaxed, affable manner: no accusations, nothing on the spot, no critical implications, etc. Instead, a skillful questioner would approach in a matter-of-fact, indeed, conciliatory way. Almost playful, truly. Any other approach would redound to the questioner’s disadvantage (as it did here).
A Reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. No one should feel bad about Whitewater because of these few. We are a beautiful city, and our people can do much more than this majority.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 62. Sunrise is 6:48 and sunset 4:30 for 9h 41m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 11.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1990, Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It’s True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.
This post about pronunciation isn’t about pronunciation. This post about zoning isn’t about zoning.
It’s about generational independence.
Here’s the background. Some years ago, in 2016, the City of Whitewater adopted a new zoning designation, R-O. It was an overlay designation, and its effect wherever imposed was to reduce by one the number of unrelated adults who could live together in a single family residence. See City of Whitewater Municipal Code Section 19.25.030. (“In all nonfamily residential overlay districts, the nonfamily household limitation set forth in Whitewater Municipal Ordinance Section 19.15.010 is reduced from three to two. Therefore, in any nonfamily residential overlay district, a nonfamily household shall be limited to two unrelated persons.”)
The zoning changes of the mid-teens in Whitewater came with, as one can imagine, all sorts of particular preoccupations. City officials at the time made much (way too much) of reminding everyone how to pronounce the R-O district (‘overlay, overlay, overlay’). They said this as though repeating the ‘proper’ pronunciation of the designation R-O (as Ō , the fifteenth letter of the English alphabet) meant as much as the limitations on residency themselves.
How fortunate that better times have now arrived.
At the 11.7.23 session of the Whitewater Common Council, beginning at 6:12 on the recording of the meeting, there was a general informational update about the designation that alternated between use of R-O (oh) and R-0 (as zero). Whitewater’s Zoning and Code Enforcement Administrator shifted between the two pronunciations in response to a question, without breaking her stride.
Good for her. Smoothly and well done.
The brief presentation was useful twice over: it was both informative and free of any particular obsession on trivial particulars that once gripped too many in this government.
And now, and now, one arrives at the deeper meaning of this brief discussion. Residents have doubtless heard a few aged men insist that there is a certain ‘way we talk around here’ and a certain ‘way we do business around here.’
No, and no again.
It’s a city of 14,889, not a half-dozen. It’s a city of many, not a few.
No small number, enveloped in self-regard, decides for these many. New officials, new residents, a new generation: they’re free to call all of this what they want.
Tomato, tomahto, and all that.
This libertarian blogger, happily residing in the House of Dissenting Opinion, finds new variations from new leaders welcome. Sometimes (as in this case), it’s simply delightful. One looks away but for a moment only to see something new upon restoring one’s gaze.
My late father would sometimes remind: a house is not a museum. Neither is a city: this community is meant to change, to evolve, in spontaneous and dynamic ways.
Whitewater’s extends beyond a tired few. The city is much more than that, and those who think otherwise are risibly wrong.
We’re all — fortunately, blessedly, happily — ordinary people in a beautiful town of thousands. Variations, alterations, and improvisations from among those many are most welcome.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 57. Sunrise is 6:46 and sunset 4:32 for 9h 46m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.7% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5 PM.
Inflation eased in October and price increases showed encouraging signs of slowing under the surface, according to fresh data released on Tuesday. The report provides the Federal Reserve with evidence that its battle against rapid inflation is working.
The overall Consumer Price Index slowed to 3.2 percent last month on a year-over-year basis, lower than the 3.7 percent reading in September and the coolest since July. That deceleration owed partly to more moderate energy prices.
Even with volatile fuel and food prices stripped out, a closely watched “core” price measure climbed 4 percent in the year through October, slower than the previous reading and weaker than what economists had expected.
Inflation has come down meaningfully over the past year after peaking in the summer of 2022, and the fresh report showed evidence of continued progress. Fed officials are trying to wrestle price increases back to roughly the 2 percent pace that was normal before the pandemic by raising interest rates, which they hope will slow consumer and business demand.
These are national figures; local prices changes will vary from the national average.
A question, however, presents itself in every community, big or small: in which local officials will residents place their trust to seize the opportunities of improved conditions? Will Whitewater and other cities turn yet again to those who have produced press releases instead of genuine progress in residents’ individual and household incomes?
Will residents in these communities take the measure of the difference between past positioning and current professional performance?
Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 57. Sunrise is 6:43 and sunset 4:33 for 9h 48m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
That political event raises a question: what kind of local message works in Whitewater, and how does it work?
Another effort, the Save the Pool Committee, is illustrative of the limits of some messaging in Whitewater.
(I’ve supported funding for the pool, and have argued that the dispute should have been resolved before the start of the school year. This post, however, isn’t about funding; it’s about messaging.)
At a council meeting about a month ago, a resident pointed out that the City of Whitewater’s success in moving toward a resolution of the funding dispute for the pool rested with Whitewater’s city manager, John Weidl. You know, although I’m not in the habit of touting the public sector, the resident’s observation is spot on.
There was a ‘Save the Pool Committee’ formed in the winter or late spring of this year, not long before the April spring elections. That committee held a few of its own meetings, and leading members of that group attended a few public meetings, but it contributed next to nothing to the work that moved pool negotiations along.
One knows this because the negotiations required a level of detail that the pool group’s mere ire did not involve. Whining at a joint meeting that district officials were selfish accomplished nothing. In fact, it showed how mono-dimensional and overly emotional a public relations man and a few others can be. (In the same futile way, Councilmember Jim Allen’s request to bring a few tables together at one public meeting did nothing to bring a resolution closer but did bring both city and district into a questionable change from an open Wisconsin meeting to a semi-private one.)
Over the months that followed, it was point by point, item by item negotiations that moved the dispute closer to resolution.
By Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129777403
In the summer, I attended the joint meeting of the Whitewater Common Council and the Whitewater School Board, in Whitewater’s council chambers. The scene was revealing.
In the back of the room sat two of the Save the Pool Committee leaders, with another supporter in the row in front of them. They listened to the discussion only intermittently, using the rest of the time to talk to each other while elected officials were speaking, to fidget with a pencil, or to praise a different meeting they had recently attended. (From my point of view, being so close was like a hike where a flock of birds settled nearby. Nature always yields insights.)
In that same meeting, sitting a few rows forward to my right was Whitewater’s superintendent, Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty. I could see her left side, and she was attentive to the discussion, with her expression changing as the discussion shifted, reflecting her responses to various points raised. Her right hand was also visible, and she occasionally gestured intensely with that hand, the way someone attending a competition might react to successes or failures of a team on a playing field. She occasionally looked down at notes on her lap during the meeting.
I thought to myself: The gap in focus and commitment between this superintendent and these pool committee leaders is Grand Canyon wide.
(I’ve no interest in a conflict with our superintendent, especially as I find myself busy elsewhere in the city. Indeed, the community surely knows that I’ve nothing but love in my bleeding libertarian heart for Dr. Pate-Hefty and all my fellow creatures.) Yet, if a dispute should one day arise between that superintendent and this libertarian blogger, I’d not underestimate her. One begins all challenges and campaigns from the perspective of a dark horse underdog.
Although I support funding to sustain the pool, it’s clear that the Save the Pool Committee advanced the pool only slightly. They overestimated their own skill in messaging, underestimated the work required to achieve a result, underestimated the district superintendent’s diligence, and have had success only through the efforts of Whitewater’s city manager.
Successful campaigns are hard. Self-promotion and self-congratulation devolve into self-delusion.
James Breen was wingfoiling at Mona Vale beach in Australia when a humpback whale soared out of the water and landed on top of him, dragging him about 20 to 30 feet below the surface. His GoPro captured the dramatic moment on camera. As he wrestled underwater, he said he could feel the smooth skin of the whale, leading him to believe it was a juvenile. After his leg rope snapped, he clawed his way back to the surface and made his way to the shore safely.
Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 54. Sunrise is 6:43 and sunset 4:34 for 9h 50m 25s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On Friday, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson and U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil found their way to Whitewater for a closed press conference. (A closed event like that is a sham event, and simply a glorified press release with a few local people sitting around as window dressing, non-playing characters, tailor’s dummies, etc.)
But Johnson and Steil, who’ve never carried the City of Whitewater and never will, had a message for a statewide audience. The few, selected, non-local reporters they carefully situated gave Johnson and Steil the headline they wanted:
People will not want to visit, shop, send their children to school, or live in a city that is identified, as this state story does, with a crime cartel.
People who live here now will not want that either. A more level-headed look at Whitewater would have required a thoughtful set of stories, not a television station’s clickbait.
For insightful local reporting, the kind that Johnson and Steil did not include in their political event, one should look instead to WhitewaterWise:
That brings residents to the question of policing challenges in Whitewater. At the 11.7.23 meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, one councilmember mentioned the need for at least three more officers for Whitewater’s department.
It’s an understatement to say that the way to build consensus in Whitewater for an expanded force will not come from what officials in county, state, or federal offices think. Some in Whitewater will, surely, support the Johnson-Steil approach. The challenge that Whitewater’s department and council face is that a significant number here find Johnson & Steil objectionable (so much so that neither has ever carried the city vote). It’s not simply that Johnson & Steil are unpopular among Latinos here; they’re unpopular generally.
An enduring consensus here will be the opposite of their approach: not turning up the dial to eleven, but turning it down to four, and then beginning the discussion. This approach will seem counter-intuitive, if not an invitation to trickery, to many who are addicted to the notion that raising the temperature is a sure-fire winner on this issue. (In some places, on some issues, it is; in Whitewater, on this issue, it won’t be.)
This libertarian blogger doesn’t, and never will, represent the government. Whitewater’s officials will have to sort out the local implications in Whitewater if they want incremental gains in both headcount and community relations for Whitewater. People choose freely, sometimes well, sometimes poorly.
Much will depend here on how insightful local officials will be about their own local politics and community culture.
Veterans Day in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 47. Sunrise is 6:42 and sunset 4:35 for 9h 52m 41s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 3.4% of its visible disk illuminated.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 43. Sunrise is 6:41 and sunset 4:36 for 9h 54m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 7.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Each day, all around us, thousands work in ways that sustain or advance this community. Some efforts are small, some large, yet each and all are useful to this city.
A new clinic, on the east side of town, offering family practice, psychiatry and behavioral health, and laboratory services for Whitewater, will meet a vital need.
Embedded above are photos from the Wednesday, 11.8.23 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Welcome to Whitewater, and best wishes for a thriving practice.
?? Tuesday, November 14th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Golda @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Biography/History/Drama Rated PG-13 1 hour, 40 minutes (2023) Set during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur war in 1973, Israeli prime Minister Golda Meir (a Milwaukee native) navigates overwhelming odds,…
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 51. Sunrise is 6:40 and sunset 4:37 for 9h 57m 19s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 14.7% of its visible disk illuminated.
Embedded above is a video recording of the Whitewater Common Council’s 11.7.23 session.
At the Whitewater Common Council session on 11.7.23. the council in Items 14 and 15 considered whether to reconsider hiring an outside law firm (Item 14) and an amended agreement for legal services with the current firm for outside work, von Briesen and Roper:
Item 14. Discussion and possible action regarding motion to reconsider RFP for legal services to retain an outside law firm to advise the Common Council on employee discipline and personnel matters not to exceed $10,000.
Item 15. Discussion and possible action regarding approval of the amended agreement for legal services from von Briesen and Roper SC.
Five councilmembers voted to hire an extra firm as their own counsel (counsel to the council, so to speak) in particular employment matters.
Here are those five: Jim Allen, Jill Gerber, Neil Hicks, Lukas Schreiber, and David Stone.
A few brief remarks.
1. The effort to hire an extra firm for the council, itself, began in bad faith and continues in bad faith. In the space of 6 minutes on 8.15.23 Councilmember Jim Allen offered 5 justifications for the proposal. SeeAllen’s Childish Pretexts.
2. No prior council in Whitewater’s modern history has needed its own firm in this way. All those other councilmembers in the past were able to manage on their own, with their own abilities, while in office. It’s only this claque that claims to need a crutch to walk a few steps that others were able to walk easily before.
(That’s by their claims — in fact, this is a shabby and transparent effort to exert pressure against the city administration.)
Those who have perpetuated this scheme in any fashion have reasoned and acted below the average of our city, state, and nation. In Whitewater, many thousands of people can reason, speak, and act more capably than this.
3. Modifications to the proposal do not remove its objectionable elements. These modifications — using an existing firm for these purposes — do not obscure the waste and bad faith of the majority’s action.
4. Any firm, and any attorney, working for this majority has clients that have fomented excuses, errors, and strife in this city of 14,889. I’ve initial sympathy for any attorney who represents so few who are so addled. Good luck, God bless. Nonetheless, anyone representing this band will require from normal and competent residents diligent scrutiny.
5. A reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. No one should feel bad about Whitewater because of these few. We are a beautiful city, and our people can do much more than this fumbling and stumbling band.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:38 and sunset 4:38 for 9h 59m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 21.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1972, American pay television network Home Box Office (HBO) launches.
Yesterday, I linked to the agenda of the Whitewater Common Council session for 11.7.23. In that Tuesday post, this libertarian blogger listed several agenda items that drew my particular interest. In today’s post, I will consider one of those items, No. 42 (and the closed session Item 41 that led to Item 42). In the days ahead, daily posts here will go through other portions of the 11.7.23 council session.
Here were Items 41 and 42, as they appeared in full on the Tuesday agenda:
CLOSED SESSION
41. Adjourn to closed session, to reconvene in open session, Chapter 19.85(1)(f) “Considering financial, medical, social or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific persons, preliminary consideration of specific personnel problems or the investigation of charges against specific persons except where par. (b) applies which, if discussed in public, would be likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data, or involved in such problems or investigations.” Item to be discussed: 1) Discussion regarding complaints received by the Human Resources Department and pursuant to Chapter 19.85(1)(e) “Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session.” Item to be discussed: 2) Negotiation of Aquatic and Fitness Center Agreement with School District.
CONSIDERATIONS
42. Discussion and possible action regarding matters addressed in closed session involving complaints received by the Human Resources Department. – HR/Employment Attorney
When the Whitewater Common Council returned to open session, here was the statement on behalf of the council concerning Items 41(1) and 42:
At this time, the Council wishes to make the following statement:
The Council is respectful that each individual councilmember has distinct, competing, and divergent viewpoints designed to promote the best interests of the city and representation of the community.
The Council intends to work on a plan to enhance the effectiveness of the Council as a body and as that body works with the employees of the city. The Council is committed to Robert’s Rules as a guideline and the city’s Transparency Ordinance.
The Council will explore and conduct training as to governance, conduct of meetings, and open meeting compliance, and encourage appointed office holders to participate in such opportunities.
The Council will explore standards of decorum and civility for its meetings.
The Council will work with the City Manager for the development of an onboarding process for newly elected and appointed office holders. The Council will set expectations for self-accountability, individual commitment to one another.
The Council will consider whether the use of outside resources is of benefit to this process including resources from CVMIC, and the executive branch of the city, facilitators, or other resources.
The Council’s commitment to this plan is ongoing, which the Council will address at subsequent meetings.
(Transcription mine.)
A few brief remarks.
1. In more than sixteen years of observing Whitewater’s local government at FREE WHITEWATER, this writer has never before seen a need for any previous council to go into closed session — with an attorney’s guidance — and issue afterward a public statement like this. I’ve never seen it in those many years because no one has. Deficiencies so serious have not presented themselves during that time.
2. Proper conduct is not a matter of mere ideology, of right, center, or left. Since April, with its current president, this council’s majority has performed below the standard of any previous council during those sixteen years, and below the standard of Whitewater’s residents (of whatever ideology).
3. Ordinarily and normally, the leader of an institution takes responsibility for deficiencies in the group. Last night, however, it was not this council president, but another councilmember who read the statement on behalf of the institution.
4. It was Reagan who cleverly popularized the Russian proverb ‘trust but verify’ (doveryai, no proveryai) in America. So it is here: one will trust there will be necessary, significant improvement only through observed verification.
Whitewater deserves no less than worthy conduct from her officeholders. Officials’ tenure in office requires from them consistent, demonstrated conduct in reasoning and manner befitting our community.
