Garbage pickup one day behind

Residents with Tuesday garbage pickup may have noticed their garbage is still by the curb. Veolia, the town's garbage contractor, notified the town today their fleet was frozen, and not operating properly due to the extreme cold weather. Garbage pickups will be one day behind for the rest of the week. They expect service to return to schedule next week.

Winter Wonderland of Homes weekend

Updates have been a little sparse this last week, as I've been finishing up my Dream Builders and Developer's entry in this year's Winter Wonderland of Homes. It's actually the same house that was in this past year's Gallery of Homes, at 2732 Independence Ct. in Grand Chute. The home was built as a "spec", which means it was not a contract home. It was purchased within three weeks of being on the market, however. The new homeowners elected to finish the walkout lower level, create a downstairs theater room and move the living room fireplace downstairs. So, once again, the finish came down to the wire with some late nights. The end result was worth it.

The Winter Wonderland of Homes continues the next four days. Thurs and Friday 5-8pm. Saturday and Sunday 11-5pm (now that the Packers are not in the Superbowl!) Tickets are available at any of the homes. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Each ticket will allow entry into all the homes.

Space, what space?

Appleton Alderman Jim Clemmons was quoted in the Monday, January 21st Post-Crescent article asking for a resolution to study how Grand Chute Police Department facilities could be used to alleviate the size of the Appleton Police Department's $12 million remodel job if the two departments merged.

"If the two police departments merge I believe it becomes one department," Clemons said. "I think Grand Chute has room in their town hall. If we can benefit through a merger using the Grand Chute space as a satellite building for us, maybe we don't have to build our station as big as we are planning to."

As a background, the Grand Chute police department is housed inside the town hall building. The town hall also contains community development, legislature, municipal courts and the highway, water and sanitary services departments.

After taking a one hour tour of the entire Town Hall facility yesterday, I would caution Appleton Alderpersons against downsizing their new department remodel. My tour consisted of every office, storage area, maintenance closet, every room in the Town Hall. IF the departments were to merge, there is not an abundant amount of space that is not currrently being used in the police department area. In fact, there is only one open office in the police department right now. This was previously used for a drug investigative office, which will be replaced. The rest of department space is being used to the fullest level that an operating police department requires, and I fail to see how the level of personnel needed would change, even if the location were designated as a satellite station.

The basement level contains a briefing room, evidence room, holding cells, Staff Sgt and detective offices, all which will still be needed. The upstairs consists of senior level management staff offices, interview rooms and space for four clerical staff positions.

There is only one other office in the town hall building (outside of the police department) that is not in use. This is a single cubicle in the administration office, and is used during election times and for citizens who want to look at open records or discuss taxes with the treasurer.

There are only two other open areas in the town hall. One is behind community development, and the other is in the basement under the board room. Neither is finished (only concrete walls and insulation ... not windows, heat lines, etc), and both are currently used for storage of files, maps, records, misc equipment, etc. It would not be in the best interest of Grand Chute residents for Appleton to use the town hall's unfinished space. The taxpayers funded the town hall building for future growth in mind. The town's projected population over the next 15-20 years is expected to increase to estimated 30,000 population. It is not fiscally responsible to give up these open areas to be utilized by a merged department. This space will be needed to accommodate future increases in inspectors, highway personnel and other town employees. Allowing additional space to be used for merged police department use would cause other departments to prematurely outgrow their areas in the town hall.

Therefore, I would advise Appleton against downsizing their department plans.

A week in my life as a Town Supervisor

I was out to dinner last Sunday and encountered a resident who was curious as to how many hours a week I work as a Town Supervisor. I had to guess a figure, as I had never really tracked the time before. It did get me to thinking of how some people's perceptions might be that little work is required as a Town Supervisor, and they are suspicious that we receive a paycheck. I do appreciate earning a salary for the position, however, I can understand a taxpayer's curiosity. You are paying my salary.

Anyway, I threw a number out there. I think it was 8 hours. Afterward, I started counting up in my head, and realized the number was quite low. So, I decided to track on paper every contact or town-related activity that I did for a week. Here are the results:

Thursday, January 10

• 1.5 hours. Networking breakfast with Buchanan Sup. Mani and Menasha Sup. McNamee
• 1 hour. Follow up phone conversations with excavators I had contacted earlier in the week to quote additional work recommended by Boldt for fire station.

Thursday total: 2.5 hours

Friday, January 11

• 30 minutes Phone conversation with Sup. Nooyen about communication committee report
• 1 hour. Phone conversation with resident about town concerns.
• 10 minutes. Phone conversation with April Aire resident.
• 15 minutes. Phone conversation with lawyer's office regarding eviction of April Aire residents
• 30 minutes. Phone conversation with corporate business about potentially building in Grand Chute
• 30 minutes. Town Hall visit with Admin Rohloff and Lt. Martin regarding eviction of April Aire residents
• 30 minutes. Fire station visit regarding proposal update for ambulance services
• 30 minutes.Travel time
• 10 minutes. Phone call with VHBA regarding how to make members aware of upcoming fire station electrical and HVAC bid packages.
• 30 minutes. Phone conversation with car dealership owner regarding special event at the old Springz location.

Friday total: 4.45 Hours

Saturday, January 12

• 3 hours. Review Friday report
• 3 hours. Attend fire fighter's holiday party

Saturday total: 6 Hours

Sunday, January 13

• 15 minutes. Town correspondence

Sunday total: .25 hours

Monday, January 14

• 1.5 hours. Office hours at town hall
• 45 minutes. Room Tax meeting at PAC with travel time
• 30 minutes. Town correspondence
• 10 minutes. Phone conversation with resident letting her know Hwy A overpass snow removal was on tomorrow's agenda.

Monday total: 2.85 hours

Tuesday, January 15

• 15 minutes. Conversation with April Aire resident regarding police patrol at the park.
  
• 1 hour. Attend Plan Commission meeting
• 1.25 hours. Town Board meeting
• 30 minutes. Talk with town residents directly after meeting.

Tuesday total: 3.0 hours

Wednesday, January 16

• 2 hours. April Aire task force meeting with travel time

Wednesday total: 2 hours

Total: 21.05 hours

Total hours are not counting the time spent maintaining my blog, responding to emails, replying on message boards, or talking with residents outside of board meetings. I run into people who know I am a town supervisor many times—whether I am out to eat with my wife, watching the Packers game at a sports bar, or picking up supplies at Menards. They are very interested in speaking with me about developments in the news lately.

I made a pledge to be the hardest working Supervisor, and am doing my best to follow through with that pledge.

No snow removal for Hwy A overpass

The town board voted 3-2 (Marsden, Nooyen, Schowalter against, Thyssen and Pluess for) against directing the public works department to clear snow on the Hwy A overpass sidewalk. This section of sidewalk, crossing Hwy 41, is classified as part of the Grand Chute trail system. Trails are not cleared of snow. Supervisors Nooyen and Schowalter cited additional town expense and setting bad precedence as reasons for voting against snow removal. Supervisors Thyssen and Pluess countered the public's safety was more important, as those traveling by bike or foot are forced into the road when the sidewalks are snow covered. Additionally, a crest in the raod impedes motorist's view to see pedestrians. Supervisor Thyssen also noted the CE trail underpass on Buchanan Road is cleared to allow pedestrian traffic, similar to the proposal for Cty Hwy A.

January 15th meeting agenda

The agenda for the January 15th town board meeting is available for download. The agendas for the Plan Commission and Sanitary Districts are also posted.

NIMS Training

The Town Board recently met to complete National Incident Management System Training. (NIMS). There are certain areas of training I have already completed, due to my career in law enforcement, but I also need to be compliant with training in emergency situations as a town official.

What is NIMS?
Developed by the Secretary of Homeland Security at the request of the President, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) integrates effective practices in emergency preparedness and response into a comprehensive national framework for incident management. The NIMS will enable responders at all levels to work together more effectively to manage domestic incidents no matter what the cause, size or complexity.

NIMS establishes standardized incident management processes, protocols, and procedures that all responders -- Federal, state, tribal, and local -- will use to coordinate and conduct response actions. With responders using the same standardized procedures, they will all share a common focus, and will be able to place full emphasis on incident management when a homeland security incident occurs -- whether terrorism or natural disaster. In addition, national preparedness and readiness in responding to and recovering from an incident is enhanced since all of the Nation's emergency teams and authorities are using a common language and set of procedures.

Advantages of NIMS:

NIMS incorporates incident management best practices developed and proven by thousands of responders and authorities across America. These practices, coupled with consistency and national standardization, will now be carried forward throughout all incident management processes: exercises, qualification and certification, communications interoperability, doctrinal changes, training, and publications, public affairs, equipping, evaluating, and incident management. All of these measures unify the response community as never before.

Visit nimsonline.com if you'd like more information on NIMS training.

The evolution of town communication

Today's editorial in the Post Crescent addressed the recently distributed communication report. It contained a nice overview of the committee's recommendations, and also offered an opinion on what was lacking.

The following is an exerpt:

"...But the complaints the board and town officials received also had a personal component that the committee's recommendations don't address. People simply didn't like how some board members and town officials dealt with the public.

The board and town can set up all the tools they want to try to improve communication, but if the officials using those tools don't change their personal approach to working with the public, nothing's going to change.

With these recommendations, the town may improve on getting its messages out to residents. It remains to be seen, though, if town officials got the message residents gave them."

While I don't expect individual acknowledgement in an editorial, these kinds of comments make me feel like I'm banging my head against the wall.

As the editorial points out, communication was a key issue in last spring's election. A big part of my campaign was holding town information sessions. I believed it was important for residents to express feedback regarding issues facing our town, and the vision I have for our future . Since being elected, I've been pretty vocal on how I interact with the public, and the opportunities available for residents to directly communicate with myself as their Supervisor. It was my intention from the beginning to establish a good relationship with my constituents and make them feel like they had a Supervisor that would listen.

Ways of establishing a good relationship and communication are very tangible. Since taking office I have:

1. Created a Web blog to keep residents updated
2. Distributed Town Talk, an issue based newsletter publication that is distributed to town residents
3. Established office hours every Monday 8—9:30
4. Regularly posted on The Post-Crescent's community conversation message boards.
5. Created an email group list to keep residents informed of important issues directly affecting them.
6. Try to provide answers to residents emails or phone calls within 24 hours. Most of the time, I will personally stop by their house.
   
7. Started Supervisor Neighborhood Stops. This is a neighborhood walking tour where I go door to door asking residents if they have any questions or concerns that need to be addressed. My first SNS this fall was very successful; residents were pretty surprised/happy to interact with a supervisor in this format.

I do believe there is another important change in town communication that can be measured, yet may not be obvious to the ordinary observer. Town board meetings are on average lasting much longer than meetings before Sup. Nooyan and I took office. This, I believe, can be attributed to a conscientious effort by myself (and other supervisors) to explain to the public details on agenda items that we as Supervisors receive in our Friday packets.

Does this mean the town board communication is perfect? Definately not. There still is a ways to go, and at times even I get frustrated.

But I am trying to do my part.

Post-Crescent editorial board members are invited to respond in the comments section.

December 18, 2007 meeting minutes

Minutes for the December 18, 2007 town board meeting are available for download.

Astronomical costs for fire station redesign

I originally posted the following on the community conversation Post Crescent message boards. I think this is relevant to post here as well:

I want to address the issue of a fire station redesign for those who were not able to attend this past board meeting. There was a discussion that went much more in depth than was reported in the Post Crescent. Based upon what was said, my conclusion was that redesign is not in the best interest of the taxpayers. That is why I voted against the study.

The fire station plans are at 90% completion by the architect. There are exact engineering standards for commercial buildings required by the state of Wisconsin. Changing the fire station design at this point would require scrapping all existing plans and starting over from scratch. An entire new plan set would have to be developed and submitted for review, holding the project up by an estimated 9 months. The architect, of course, would expect additional payment for a re-engineered design.

The line of questioning was in regards to changing the slab foundation to a basement foundation. Changing the structure to a basement foundation means adding features like elevators to meet ADA standards and additional sq. ft. for stairwells, additional concrete costs for the basement floor, and fire rated floors between the basement and main level. Strand and Associates estimated a basement foundation to run about $400,000-$500,000 extra.

Additionally, switching to a basement foundation does not negate the existing soil issue. Excavating (basement) or trenching (slab) must be done to get down to the virgin soil. Either way additional costs are going to be incurred. I've encountered the same soil issues in structures I've built in other parts of Grand Chute. The same precautionary measures were taken that are being discussed. This ensures the investment is going to to last the life of the structure. I also made a motion to put the work required for rebid to ensure the town gets the most competitive rate.