FREE WHITEWATER

City, Local Government

Common Council Session of 12.18.12: A New Councilmember

by  • 

Whitewater had a Council vacancy to fill, and for that vacancy she received four initial applicants to an at-large seat. (For a prior post about those applicants, please see It’s Not Who, But What.) There are only two such seats, representing all the residents of the city.

At last night’s session, three applicants were able to attend, and of those three, Council chose Andrew Crone over Cort Hartmann in a 3-2 vote. (Five members voted; Council. Pres. Patrick Singer abstained as he will seek this seat in the spring.)

Each applicant submitted a written application, and spoke before the Council and city in support of his or her consideration. I thought this was a good process: speaking gave others the opportunity to learn more about the applicants.

It was reasonable that each of the applicants would speak before Council (and really, thereby, speak to the many city residents they sought to serve). This seems a basic expectation, not requiring any prior announcement. No one has today reminded me of the law of gravity, but I’m still aware that if I drop a pen from my hands, it will fall to the floor.

The questions were good, and the applicants’ answers sound and informative.

A quick, public thanks is due to all those who’ve written and asked if I might run for Council. I’ve answered those messages individually, and I’ll thank you again for your kind inquiries. It’s worth stating my views about this.

Who does the work of the city?

It’s each and every resident, in his or her own way, who does the good and valuable work of our community. People have different and particular roles, each (one hopes) suited to their preferences and talents. This is mine.

I don’t think it’s necessary to assume many roles. Each person may do a particular thing, leading to a general benefit. I do not hold this this view because it sounds sweet; I hold it because I believe it to be true.

Best wishes to Council’s newest representative, Mr. Crone, and to all the Council in year ahead.

Animals, Beautiful Whitewater, City, Good Ideas, Hip & Prosperous, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Local Government, New Whitewater

Common Council Session of 12.18.12: Backyard Chickens

by  • 

Here’s my fourth post on last night’s meeting.

Approved unanimously, and waived from a second reading, Whitewater now has a backyard chicken ordinance. Not just an ordinance, but a fine, model one of which we should be proud.

This is a good idea, that’s come to Whitewater through the hard work of a thoughtful resident. His work (and that of those on our Planning Commission and in city government), for month after month of planning and review, benefits everyone.

We will be a lovelier, more interesting, greener, and freer city for it. For an earlier post in support of backyard hens, see A Model Ordinance.

The urban chicken movement has grown considerably these last several years, yet still even a sound ordinance like this would not have been possible even a few years ago. I would not have expected one for years to come.

Yet here we are.

A super-smart friend sent me additional information on urban chickens before my last post on the subject, and from that kind message I learned more than I knew before. Although I am no one’s idea of a chickenologist, either amateur or professional, the sustainability of the movement has always impressed me. (Quickly, before someone writes: I don’t think ‘chickenologist’ is a real term – I just think it should be.)

Backyard hens aren’t the destination for a New Whitewater, but they’re a welcome marker on the journey.

Next: A New Councilmember.

City, Law, Local Government, Police

Common Council Session of 12.18.12: On the Police and Fire Commission

by  • 

Here’s my third post on the 12.18.12 session.

Seeing a need to harmonize Whitewater’s municipal code with state statutes, Council restored the title of Police and Fire Commission to a citizen’s commission previously known as the Police Commission.

Years ago, I remarked how odd it was that Whitewater’s PFC never addressed fire department matters, name notwithstanding. (I was aware then, as I am now, that Whitewater’s local ordinances preserved an exemption against PFC oversight of the fire department.)

In an unrelated action, others saw this, too, and Lynn Binnie moved (I recall) to amend the local ordinance to refer to that body simply as a Police Commission. Doing so at the time reconciled name and day-to-day function. That’s practical.

I regret, though, that I never wrote more on this subject, these years since. At the time, I had a hunch – that’s all, really – that the ordinance’s total carve-out for oversight of the fire department was questionable under Wisconsin law. A hunch, though, amounts to nothing compared to a proper assessment. That proper assessment I have never attempted, much to my embarrassment, so much time having passed.

If Dr. Kidd and others now have questions about what is the right structure under law and policy, they’re easily as far ahead as anyone has been.

What to do? A few suggestions, the same I think as came out of the discussion following Dr. Kidd and Mr. Winship’s remarks:

1. Change the Title. Council took this step last night.

2. A Memorandum of the Law. What the law requires is the foundation for any discussion on this topic of PFC responsibilities. If Wisconsin law requires a change in responsibilities, then there’s no alternative but to change the practical PFC responsibilities to align them with state law. If there’s no requirement to change, then there’s still a policy question about what’s the best arrangement for the PFC.

To start, the city should prepare and post within a Council packet — sometime in 2013 when this matter is again addressed — a memorandum of law carefully stating the municipal administration’s legal assessment of what the PFC must do.

There should be enough time for all residents to view it.

3. Policy Discussions. Whether law requires a change to PFC responsibilities, or policy suggests it, still leaves Whitewater the opportunity for a new, negotiated framework with the fire department. Whitewater’s fire chief has declared his willingness to talk about the relationship between the PFC and department.

It’s far better to establish a new arrangement by consensus after the city has a memorandum of law from which to consider what must be done. This still leaves, apart from the law, what should be done.

There’s time for this, but it’s sensible than the city and department should complete this review and make any adjustments in 2013.

Next: Backyard Chickens.

City, Freedom of Speech, Local Government

Common Council Session of 12.18.12: Citizen Comments

by  • 

Here’s the second of my posts on Tuesday’s session.

Move to Amend. James Hartwick, a resident and leader of the Starin Park Neighborhood Association, introduced a petition (in support of the Move to Amend campaign) for our 4.2.2013 ballot calling to amend the U.S. Constitution, under this question:

Shall the City of Whitewater adopt the following resolution:

Resolved, that We the People of the City of Whitewater, Wisconsin, seek to reclaim democracy from the expansion of corporate personhood rights and the corrupting influence of unregulated political contributions and spending. We stand with the Move to Amend campaign and communities across the country to support passage of an amendment to the United States Constitution stating: 1. Only human beings – not corporations, limited liability companies, unions, nonprofit organizations or similar associations and corporate entities – are endowed with constitutional rights, and 2. Money is not speech, and therefore, regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech. Be it further resolved, that we hereby instruct our state and federal representatives to enact resolutions and legislation to advance this effort.

Although I am strongly opposed to the petition (libertarians generally think Citizens United was a sound, pro-speech decision), I am strongly supportive of placing it on our ballot. Residents should have a chance, following the collection of hundreds of other residents’ petition signatures, to vote on a resolution like this.

If anything, I wish we had more petition drives for more ballot resolutions.

I recall seeing Mr. Hartwick at a table across from the Old Armory, at the November election, collecting petition signatures for this resolution. Good for him. I briefly thought about stopping over and talking to him about it, but I quickly thought better of it. He was working, so to speak, and did not need the distraction of a pesky blogger.

I’ll write on this topic closer to the election, in opposition to the resolution, but not to those working toward it. I wish well anyone who works sincerely in a case like this, as his or her conscience sees fit.

My preferred outcome: the most successful unsuccessful ballot resolution in the history of our city.

Dr. Nosek’s Remarks. As is his annual custom, toward the end of each year, this year Dr. Nosek spoke on topics of concern to him. There just aren’t many people in any community who care enough to commit to annual remarks like this. There also aren’t many people who are – regardless of views – as interesting. I’d don’t think there’s ever been a time that Dr. Nosek hasn’t held my attention.

Next: On the Police and Fire Commission.

City, Local Government

Common Council Session of 12.18.12: Staff Reports

by  • 

Last night’s 12.18.12 Common Council meeting was a busy one, with staff reports, reading of ordinances, and appointment of a new alder to Council. This was the last meeting of 2012, and the session covered much ground in under three hours. All in all, a good night, I’d say, for the city.

I’ll post on sundry items throughout the day. In this post, I’ll write about some of the staff reports presented last night.

Dean Fischer’s Retirement. Council delivered a proclamation to retiring Public Works Director Dean Fischer, having been employed with the city for over forty-years.

A K-9 Service Animal. Whitewater’s Police Department is looking to add a service dog, through a fundraising program. Since Whitewater has a history of success with public safety fundraising, the odds are good that the department will raise the money. The dog proposed is a tracking, drug-interdiction dog. (Other dogs, those trained to use force against a suspect, are apprehension dogs).

Because Whitewater’s proposed program is part of an anti-narcotics effort, its role depends on political and cultural forces outside the city. Enforcement of this kind relies on Wisconsin’s view of the Drug War. For now, it’s safe to say that no changes nationally will affect Whitewater’s (or even Wisconsin’s) views on these policies.

(There’s a fine essay from a faculty member at Marquette, to which I will refer another time, that I think reasonably suggests that Wisconsin may be one of the last states in America to abandon the Drug War. If that’s true, then not only a tracking dog, but also those leaders advocating one, will likely be retired before any significant changes in Wisconsin’s narcotics laws.)

The Library’s Building Plan. A consultant has modified by reduction the expansion plan for the library. Meetings about the plan will continue through much of 2013.

Big Brick Park’s Ice Rink. The park needs some furnace repairs, in an amount under $2,000. Routine repairs of this kind can and should be undertaken under ordinary administrative authority, and that’s what happened in this case. Happy skating – think snow (or at least suitable cold).

Next: The Move to Amend Petition.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 12.19.12

by  • 

Good morning.

Wednesday’s forecast calls for cloudy skies and a high of thirty-five. We’ll have snow this week, but it’s not forecast to begin during daytime Wednesday. There will be 9h 2m of sunlight today, 10h 6m of daylight, and tomorrow will be one minute shorter.

On this day in 1776, America first saw one of her finest, and most inspirational, political essays:

These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

When these phrases appeared in the pages of the Pennsylvania Journal for the first time, General George Washington‘s troops were encamped at McKonkey’s Ferry on the Delaware River opposite Trenton, New Jersey. In August, they had suffered humiliating defeats and lost New York City to British troops. Between September and December, 11,000 American volunteers gave up the fight and returned to their families. General Washington could foresee the destiny of a rebellion without an army if the rest of his men returned home when their service contracts expired on December 31. He knew that without an upswing in morale and a significant victory, the American Revolution would come to a swift and humiliating end.

Thomas Paine was similarly astute. His Common Sense was the clarion call that began the revolution. As Washington’s troops retreated from New York through New Jersey, Paine again rose to the challenge of literary warfare. With American Crisis, he delivered the words that would salvage the revolution.

Washington commanded that the freshly printed pamphlet be read aloud to his dispirited men; the rousing prose had its intended effect. Reciting Paine’s impassioned words, the beleaguered troops mustered their remaining hopes for victory and crossed the icy Delaware River to defeat hung-over Hessians on Christmas night and on January 2, the British army’s best general, Earl Cornwallis, at the Battle of Princeton.

Also on this day, in 1813, Wisconsin governor Nelson Dewey was born:

1813 – Nelson Dewey Born
On this date Nelson Dewey, the first governor of the state of Wisconsin, was born in Lebanon, Connecticut. The son of Ebenezer Dewey and Lucy Webster, Nelson arrived in the Wisconsin Territory in 1836. He studied law, began a legal and business career in Lancaster, and made a considerable sum of money in land and lead mining investments. At the age of 35, he became the first state governor and served two terms, from June 7, 1848 to January 5, 1852.

In later years, Dewey suffered misfortune. On Thanksgiving day, 1873, his mansion at Stonefield was gutted by fire, after which his wife and children moved to Europe for several years. In 1886 he began divorce proceedings against his wife on grounds of desertion but later dropped the suit. For more than 10 years Dewey lived alone. During the final 5 years of his life he had no contact with his family. He lost a fortune in a railroad deal and was ruined financially.

In February 1889, he suffered a stroke while arguing a court case in Lancaster. Nelson Dewey died on July 21, 1889, in Cassville, where he is buried. [Source: First Ladies of Wisconsin-The Governors’ Wives by Nancy G. Williams]

Google-a-Day offers up a combined sports and television question: “Who is the only NFL player married to a former million-dollar winner of “Survivor”?”

 

School District

A Handbook

by  • 

Among the agenda items discussed at last night’s school board meeting was the appointment of board members to a committee to prepare an employee handbook for the district (agenda item 13c). Two were appointed.

A handbook, of course, has a much greater significance in districts that will, overtime, be without public-employee collective bargaining. (Here I am assuming that ongoing litigation about Act 10 will end with the Wisconsin Supreme Court upholding that law.)

One should be clear about Act 10 as it was offered, not as it has been used: whatever one thinks of it, the professed justification for that bill was to help Wisconsin overcome a structural deficit. I’d say that could and should have been done in other ways, but no matter: such was the justification for Act 10.

In the absence of public-employee collective bargaining, where there are no longer union agreements in force, some districts and municipalities have crafted employee handbooks with significantly altered employee rights.

One cannot emphasize enough what a distraction and mistake those districts have made in their preoccupation with altering employee-employer obligations in this way.

Our school district‘s obligation is to advance substantive learning, athletics, and the arts, fairly to all, and within a reasonable budget. Lengthy debates about dress codes, or other employer-employee policies, only sap energy and distract from those key objectives.

Often the explanations in favor of these peripheral matters are embarrassingly weak. Only recently, Janesville’s superintendent offered a poorly-reasoned defense of a stricter teacher dress code.

I commented on it recently. (See, The Janesville Schools’ Cautionary Tale for Whitewater.) Janesville should not have wasted its time on a teacher dress code. Her school board should have spent those many hours crafting a better set of standards for a superintendent.

We have no reason to make Janesville’s mistake, on dress codes or a dozen other employer-employee matters.

Our emphasis should and must be on substantive student accomplishment. Our concern should be to deliver these accomplishments as economically as possible. Anything else is a sideshow.

I’m confident we’ll do well, and better than others.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 12.18.12

by  • 

Good morning.

It’s a snowy day ahead for Whitewater, with only a slight accumulation expected, at a high of thirty.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM, where they will consider both an appointee to that body and a proposed backyard chicken ordinance.

On this day in 1957, the first civilian nuclear power plant went online:

Electricity has been produced before from atomic reactors, but never before in such quantity from a strictly civilian plant.

The Commission asserted in its announcement that the Shippingport plant is “the world’s first full-scale atomic electric power plant devoted exclusively to peacetime uses.”

Since October, 1956, the British atomic-power plant at Calder Hall has been generating up to 100,000 kilowatts of electricity, but this plant was designed to produce plutonium for weapons as well as electricity.

The Soviet Union has announced ambitious plans for atomic power but has disclosed only the operation of a 5,000-kilowatt plant.

From Wisconsin history on this day in 1950, here’s what might have been:

1950 – Lake Geneva Vies for Air Force Academy
On this date the city of Lake Geneva put forth efforts to be the future site for the U.S. Air Force Academy. A federal selection committee arrived to inspect the 100-room Stone Manor on Geneva Lake’s south shore and considered it as a possible headquarters building. The Air Force’s college for officers was eventually located in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1958. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Google-a-Day asks about MVPs: “Besides being honored as their respective leagues’ 1963 MVPs, what did Sandy Koufax and Elston Howard have in common?”

City, Local Government

The New City Managers

by  • 

Whitewater chose a new city manager earlier this year, and now Fort Atkinson has picked a new manager. Evelyn Johnson, the city administrator of Prairie City, Iowa, will replace John Wilmet. Wilmet has been city manager of nearby Fort since ’98.

Johnson and Whitewater’s new city manager, Cameron Clapper, have at least two things in common: they’re both relatively young, and each holds a Master of Public Administration (the conventional, terminal degree for those seeking a managerial career in municipal government).

(Two longtime readers from Fort, both shrewd watchers of that city, told me they thought that Johnson – aged twenty-seven — is likely to do well. They each told me she seemed smart and hardworking, and that the politics of that city would suit her.)

Johnson and Clapper likely have some common perspectives from age and education, but the nearby cities in which they’ll be working are far apart in political culture.

We are in a transition here, from one culture to another, but Fort Atkinson is experiencing no similar metamorphosis. Our neighboring city has evolved more conventionally, these last twenty years’ time, and the next ten will be — for Fort — less profound. Johnson will be swimming in mostly placid waters.

There’s a benefit to being young, without the ossifying influence of tenure (‘in my twenty-five years of municipal experience,’ ‘in thirty-three years, we’ve always done it this way,’ etc.) The long-tenured often flatter themselves with the notion that their years of uncreative, low-quality work are something other than years of uncreative, low-quality work.

Better not to have these empty conceits to blind oneself to reality.

Of Public Administration as an academic field, though, I have mixed feelings. Advanced learning is a general good, and should be encouraged. Accomplishments of this kind are real, offer valuable knowledge, and demonstrate hard work.

Although it’s an advantage to be well-schooled, from an MPA program there can be so much emphasis on managing public matters that one would think there were no private ones. At least, one would think there were no private projects that didn’t somehow depend on public interference, and use of private residents’ money, as though a limitless public resource.

It’s not merely that I’d prefer less spent, overall. It’s even more so that I am opposed to spending on already cash-flush businesses and special interests – interests that often get preferred access to MPA-holding officials who are taught to identify stakeholders, people of influence, and leading actors.

Who lives in a city? Residents, all equal.

Public policy should be – and is, when crafted properly – more than crony capitalism and grant-chasing.

One naturally hopes for the best for these leaders, of and for both cities.

Federal Government, Government Spending

Public Elves? Oh, Brother

by  • 

The days of a quiet, humble ‘job well done’ are over.  One knows this, after seeing a public service video in which government workers praise themselves, and liken their own work to that of eleves.  Say what one might about the productivity of the government, at least it’s working overtime on the self-promoting-video front.

Published also at Daily Adams.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 12.17.12

by  • 

Good morning.

Our week begins with cloudy skies and a high of thirty five. We’ll have 9h 2m of sunlight and 10h 6m of daylight, with tomorrow being one minute shorter.

On this day in 1903, the first success of one of the greatest inventions of all history, reported later with marked understatement in the New York Times:

The inventors of the airship which is said to have made several successful flights in North Carolina, near Kitty Hawk, are anxious to sell the use of their device to the Government. They claim that they have solved the problem of aerial navigation, and have never made a failure of any attempt to fly.

Their machine is an adaptation of the box kite idea, with a propeller working on a perpendicular shaft to raise or lower the craft, and another working on a horizontal shaft to send it forward. The machine, it is said, can be raised or lowered with perfect control, and can carry a strong gasoline engine capable of making a speed of ten miles an hour.

The test made in North Carolina will be fully reported to the Ordnance Board of the War Department, and if the machine commends itself sufficiently, further tests will be made in the vicinity of Washington, and an effort made to arrange a sale of the device to the Government. The use to which the Government would put it would be in scouting and signal work, and possibly torpedo warfare.

From Google-a-Day, a question about American literature, and history: “What state holds a real life contest and celebration commemorating Mark Twain’s short story about the out-of-towner and the compulsive gambler?”

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 12.9 to 12.15

by  •