Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will again be sunny with a high of 68. Sunrise is 7:14 and sunset is 6:04 for 10 hours 50 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 67.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Public Safety & Licensing Review Committee meets at 5 PM and the Common Council meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1973, during Watergate‘s Saturday Night Massacre, President Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Solicitor General Robert Bork.
Fall is beautiful for many reasons, not the least of which is because it is a productive season, addressing projects and plans for the year ahead. Where summer ponders, fall acts. The Whitewater Common Council’s agenda for tonight brings considerations that will shape the city next year:
- Presentation from Whitewater Unified School District regarding the November 3, 2026 referendum.
- Presentation of the City of Whitewater Community Survey results.
- Brief overview of the 2027 Draft Budget.
- First reading of proposed amendments to Whitewater’s Chapter 7.04 Code of Ethics.
It seems a small list, these four topics from a longer agenda, until one considers their importance. These items alone represent what the city has done, how it feels now, and what it will do. (That is simply with these four; there are other important matters on the 10.20.26 agenda, too.)
By my count, on ethics alone, this year there have been four meetings of the Ethics Board, and seven Whitewater Common Council sessions with agenda items about ethics (including tonight’s agenda). In many ways, however the city got here, it’s a positive outcome to be reviewing whether to update Whitewater’s approach.
Our city spends large amounts of time discussing money — important, of course. It’s right — and necessary — to establish plainly and firmly the ethical standards by which this community’s representatives (whether elected or appointed) are to conduct themselves.
Sound principles bring good results.
So, why is a Wisconsin frog blue? Aren’t frogs supposed to be green?