My answers to the Feruary 2024 forum questions

My answers to the Feruary 2024 candidate forum questions #1-9 

These are the answers I had prepared for the February 8 2024 Kronenwetter Village Trustee Candidate Forum. Due to time limits, I did not get to say say all of this at the forum, but gave more general summaries along the same lines. It works better in written form, so I have posted it here.

 

1. The Village has a comprehensive plan and a strategic plan that were developed with resident input, work of the staff, Planning Commission, and Village Board Review. They were formally approved by the Village Board. These are our guiding documents that are intended to provide a view of how the Village will grow in the future while maintaining and improving the established areas of our village.

What have you learned from reviewing the Village Comprehensive Plan and the Village Strategic Plan?

Answer: From dealing with the Comprehensive Plan (CP)over the past several years, I see that it has been subjectively presented to the Village Board as a guide, and at other times as a controlling document, depending on who you talk to, when they are saying it, and what their purpose is.

The status of these plans must have been a source of confusion statewide, because I understand that at the state level they have clarified CP's to be a non-binding guide only.

There are many ideas derived from the CP survey which in turn became part of the plan. Some ideas are very general, and often much easier said than done, some are unworkable, and some of them conflict with each other.

Unfortunately, aside from references to low tax rates, I don't see much in there about respecting citizen rights, due process, holding government accountable, or maintaining other aspects of a free and honest government.

What two specific objectives in the Comprehensive Plan would be your highest priority? Please present your opinion on how these two objectives can be implemented by the tools set forth in the Village Strategic Plan.

Answer: The goals of the Comprehensive plan are distilled down into priorities in the companion document, the Strategic Plan, which states 11 priorities:

1. Reduce Village Debt

2. Maximize development in all TIDs

3. Promote redevelopment in the Old Hwy 51 corridor

4. Seek to improve access to Interstate 39.

5. Insure an adequate water supply for residents.

6. Provide high quality water in that supply.

7. Address the impacts of high groundwater and storm water.

8. Facilitate public involvement with government.

9. Maintain low taxes.

10. Create awareness of the natural and recreational resources in the Village.

11. Improve internet and wired broadband service to the Village.

    Items #1 and #9 are my priorities, and have been so since 2019 when I suggested them to be included in the Strategic Plan. I took the lead on those items by driving the refinancing effort in 2020 which reduced village debt, and which in turn reduced taxes greatly. 

   We have a very low mil rate for taxes, and Village debt is steadily declining due to the low interest rate (1%) that we landed with the refinancing.

My priority now, according to your question, is to maintain the low debt and low tax rate.

    Regarding item #2, TID growth,  I believe that the the mismanagement and neglect of the past 10 or more years has been the Village's own worst enemy

However, Pete Wegner, our Community Development Director, is actively and very competently overcoming those issues of the past, and I believe we will soon see activity that will lead to development.

Item #3, the Old Hwy 51 area, has seen progress, but there is lots more room for development. With a more capable Community Development Director on board, and now a new business-savvy Village Administrator as well, I am confident we will see things progressing in that area as well.

Items #5 and #6, quality tap water, are finally being dealt with, and later this year the water treatment plant should be up and running.

Item #4 has had some setbacks, but the effort has not ended.

Item #7,  the storm water issue, is basically on hold, since with all the administrative effort put toward spending money on this issue, the actual problem was never really documented to be significant enough to justify large scale action. The one anomalous flooding event that we had, of heavy rain on frozen ground would have been helped only slightly if storm sewers were in place at the time.

#8 and #10 are ongoing, and #11, for good or bad, is being dealt with by private interests putting up cell towers, as well as the ongoing federally funded fiber optic connections.

2. The trustees are tasked with upholding all village ordinances. The agenda and associated packet information are provided in advance, but often one to three days prior to the meetings.

Please describe how you would prepare for a committee or board meeting, to ensure that you are fully prepared to enter into a discussion based upon the ordinances on the issues that the agenda and the packet identify as issues that will be coming before the committee or the board for discussion and action.

Answer: First off, while everyone has a place in following the ordinances, I do not see where the trustees are tasked with any real authority to uphold or enforce ordinances. By statute, the Village President has that obligation, and I have never seen that carried out by him in any significant way. (Statute 61.24 "The president shall maintain peace and good order, see that the ordinances are faithfully obeyed,...")

If the packet is late, and the subject matter needs more time, I do not hesitate to delay action on an item until the next meeting.

What will be your approach to reviewing the presented recommendations?

Answer: Normally, I will spend anywhere from 4-12 hours researching my own sources for information, verifying, and preparing questions for meetings. Sometimes it paid off, sometimes not so much, but I like to be prepared. At the very least, all the time spent over the years has made me knowledgeable about Village business and operations.

Overall, however, the work I put into preparation has been beneficial to the Village by saving hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in making more prudent choices on non-spending issues.

I ask questions for the purpose of making an informed decision, both for myself and the other Board members. Sometimes questions open other avenues of thought to solutions that otherwise might not have been considered in the meeting conversations, and that lead to conclusions that we may never have thought of prior to the meeting.

As for staff recommendations - I never liked the idea of them directing the Board. In my opinion the recommendations tend to prevent objectivity, and make it too easy for trustees to put minimal effort into their duties, by just approving whatever the staff suggests. In effect, this puts the staff in charge of the Village, not the elected officials.

  I look at the "recommended action" and quite often will agree with it, but if I do not agree with it, I have valid and significant reasons for my decisions to the contrary.

3. Recently the Rib Mountain Metropolitan Sewerage District indicated a 53% rate change in what it charges the Village’s Sewer Utility for treating Village sewerage.

Please explain why the Village was unprepared for long term maintenance expenses, and include a plan to ensure better preparation by the Village for future increases in utility costs.

Answer:  To answer your question - I believe the Village was unprepared because for years the former staff and Village Administrator neglected to inform or advise the Board in a competent manner regarding this issue. There is no reason in the world that the rates could not have increased 1-3% per year, like everything else has. In that case, there would not have been this sudden jump in costs. Even after this cost increase, a 2-3% annual increase should be normal

The price increase was not entirely due to the sewage treatment rate increase, but also raised to build a fund for inevitable infrastructure repair and replacement.

4. An issue in the Village is the desired direction that the Village wishes to move in. Historically, the Town of Kronenwetter and later, the Village of Kronenwetter’s decisions have often not been based upon the Comprehensive Plan or the Strategic Plan but rather upon the strongly felt wishes of a small number of people. Some residents believe that the Village is accountable to the tax payers: by following well-thought out plans, such as the Comprehensive Plan and the Strategic Plan; to best manage the land located in the Village to efficiently promote a steadily growing tax rate; maintain well-funded municipal police, fire and emergency Medical Services, and having productive, knowledgeable professional staffing dedicated to reaching these goals.

Please describe your thoughts as to whether we adhere to a ‘sleepy town’ mentality and discourage growth in the village, or if you believe the village needs to have more than residential, commercial and industrial taxes as our source of funds, and encourage income producing development in the area.

Answer: I do not particularly encourage or discourage any particular type of development, and am open to business, industry, and quality residential development. 

I believe that the most direct and  influential factor for commercial or industrial development, is how their initial inquiries are treated, and this is the responsibility of administrative staff.

As a trustee being outside of that loop of office operations, I have only heard about previous staff's negative conduct, from those with reliable information, but outside of the Village organization, and this is usually long after the businesses have moved on to more receptive municipalities.

For residential, we had (and still have) for example, a potential for a 30 lot development on the west side, likely looking at $350 to $700,000 per lot development. That concept plan has, in my opinion, been kept from moving forward by petty personal politics and local special interests.

I have done my part to keep taxes low and residential regulations to a minimum. This alone should create at least one incentive for potential buyers or builders.

And again, new staff and a new administrator means we have new skills and better attitudes working for us, and a new ball game, which makes me optimistic.

   Bottom line is that I am open to bringing in new business, industry, and quality residential development to the Village, but I really can't say that I know the techniques of how to go about doing this.

Please include whether you view the Comprehensive Plan and the Strategic Plan as critical to promote a growing tax base, or do you view these plans as suggested documents that can be ‘adjusted’ based upon a resident’s wishes.

Answer: As stated earlier, municipal comprehensive plans have more recently been designated as non-binding guidelines.The most important thing we need in my opinion, is open minded thinking, flexibility, and common sense applied to each opportunity that comes along. Citizen input should be considered along with everything else.

5. Areas including Wausau, Schofield, Weston, Mosinee and Rothschild are experiencing significant new construction in their municipalities. Kronenwetter few eating establishments, only one gas station, no grocery stores, no hardware store and very few other businesses in the area.

Please describe how you would promote residential, commercial and industrial business growth in the Village.

Answer: Success breeds success. Once these areas get started with one or two businesses, more will follow because the traffic count is then higher.

   If we can maintain low taxes and a no-hassle regulation approach to citizen rights and working with businesses, I think that is what we can do. Gas stations, grocery stores, etc look for certain populations, locations, traffic, etc, when they pick a spot to set up shop. 

Once the new flood plain map is finalized by ordinance, I believe we will see some building activity in these areas sooner than you might think.

If you don’t think that residential, commercial and/or commercial growth should be promoted, please explain where the revenue would come from to operate the Village and its sewer and water systems.

Answer: Sewer and water are meant to be self-sustaining enterprises funded by their customers. They should not have a need for tax money.

As far as funding Village operations - The flip-side of finding ways to raise more revenue is to find ways to use the current revenue wisely and with frugality.

Since the changeover from the 2023 spring election, I believe that village spending for the year has been a disaster. Over $500,000 was spent without authority and in excess of budget limits. That number may turn out to be more like $700,000.

Overall, the Village spent close to a million dollars more than it took in revenue for 2023. 

The 2024 budget has a $400,000-plus deficit already built into it from the start. I voted against that budget.

Just as in 2020,I saw that refinancing was a no-brainer, I now see with equal clarity that deficit spending like this will result in a crash-landing for village finances if it is not brought under control quickly. We need to take a hard line on cutting costs and staying within the realm of responsible management.

When capital projects come due, and the money is not there for them, it will become necessary to borrow for those projects. If you don't like the sewer rate increase, you certainly will not like the tax rate increase caused by new Village debt.

6. Even though we have a Comprehensive Plan and ordinances, sometimes they are insufficient to ensure the rights of all citizens. We are a new village, and we are learning as we progress, and sometimes ordinances need to be re-examined and rewritten for clarification.

Please tell us how you would handle a citizen complaint, where they believe the ordinances did not protect their rights and their property adequately.

Please present a protocol that should be followed when such a complaint arises, and include steps to be taken to remedy the situation and ensure that such everyone’s rights are protected.

Answer: I think it is a shame that this question even has to be asked, as it goes to the failure of those who were supposed to administer the local government fairly to begin with.

   If the Village has done something wrong, they should be prepared to go back and make it right.

Two years ago, I had heard a number of comments from people who made complaints, but then nothing happened with them; they apparently just disappeared.

So, as chairman of CLIPP at the time, I started a new monthly agenda item for the committee to review every complaint that came in, and to monitor the progress of how each complaint was handled. That practice still goes on today, as far as I know.

With most of the new administrative staff that we have now, I believe that a complaint will likely get a fair shake and a resolution.

When anyone who feels they were disrespected or unfairly treated has notified me, I have always looked into it, inquired with the responsible staff, and gotten answers and a resolution of some type. I am working on one such issue now.

With a new administrator now on duty, I would work with him to in turn deal with staff to get complaints resolved.

7. There are areas in the village that are blighted. They present an image of decay and neglect. This blight decreases surrounding property values. These places range from abandoned properties to others that are not adequately maintained. Our ordinances include violations such as junk accumulation, abandoned buildings, abandoned vehicles and noxious weeds. Filing a citizen complaint initiates a letter being sent. The letters appear to have little effect without additional follow-up.

Please present a plan to ensure that violations are timely corrected. Include a solution to address repeat offenders, and present a plan to ensure that these violations do not reappear. Include a plan to kindly remind citizens of their responsibilities with regard to maintain their property in the village.

Answer: I think that sometimes complaints about minor ordinance violations  can be highly subjective, and some of them used as a means to carry out personal animosity toward neighbors, and then others may be legitimate concerns.

I think intolerance of people's individuality creates division instead of building a community. If you tolerate their longer grass, then maybe they'll tolerate your strange lawn ornament or backyard parties, or whatever.

   There used to be a saying- "Live, and let live." People own their property, and the price of liberty for yourself is that you don't have to like everything everyone else does. 

  Unless someone creates a legitimate public nuisance, health hazard, or some other kind of safety issue, I think people should cut others  a little slack to live as they can.

In general, I have not seen where property is valued lower because there is an old building or other unsightliness to it. A developer can remove such things very quickly in their work to clear an area for new construction, if the land itself is what they want.

8. Our village reputation is being affected by negative reporting on some media platforms. Comments such as “LITTLE Kronenwetter”, “mass exodus of employees”, and “hostile work environment” present an image of incompetence and inability to function as a village. Further, articles in the Wausonian have referred to unspecified information from an anonymous “insider”. This makes it look like someone is leaking information to that publication.

Please explain your thoughts on how an individual village trustee can work to elevate the reputation of the village, including eliminating possible leaks coming from inside the Village Hall, that have not been authorized by the Village Board. Include what rules the village should adopt to prevent unauthorized release of information by “insiders” in the Village Hall.

Answer: As the target of unfounded attacks by these two publications, I guess I know better than most people how they work.

I mentioned tolerance earlier. If we live in a society of free speech, and journalism then we need to tolerate the scandalmongers as well.

I make it a point to answer a reporter's questions directly and truthfully. If they then decide to put a spin on it, or selectively quote me in order to lead the reader to an unfair, predetermined conclusion, I can't control that. Welcome to the world of politics.

As for the "insider" at the village, the only "unauthorized" information that I am particularly concerned about, is either officially confidential information, untruthful gossip or maliciousness. I'll agree that this village does have a problem with someone here feeding the reporter some of that kind of material. 

   I think it is a bad sign that this person is secretive about who they are or what they are saying. It appears that they are using their employment position to somehow further their personal political preferences, and they know that it is wrong, so they keep their identity secret. To me, it seems that there is an element of dishonesty to that.

   Otherwise, why not just tell everyone "I'm talking to a reporter about what goes on around here." That would not be so bad, as long as the information they provide is truthful and then reported without bias, which I know, seems to be a lot to expect.

I am an advocate of government transparency. I believe that the lack of such transparency has been the cause of many of the Village's problems by causing competency problems to go on for years, and which might have been mitigated and resolved with more transparency and public awareness.

I have always been willing to tell people the straight facts, as to the who, what, and why of local government activities, whether or not it is pleasant news for them to hear.

Given the culture here I doubt if rules will help, as I believe that the Village President has not maintained good order as it is his duty to do, and some trustees don't seem to respect closed session confidentiality. 

 Hopefully the new administrator will get it all under control.

9. There is a fraction of the public which feels that our government, including at the Village level, is creating laws and regulations that are unnecessary. They believe that laws and regulations are an overstep of the government, and that we should return to ‘self rule’ ideology. The recent update to the burning permit policy reducing the length of burning permits from one year to one month, has been labeled as overreach by some.

Please present your views on whether new laws or updated laws should be produced in response to get a desired result, such as compliance with the burning restrictions in the ordinances. If you feel that this is an ineffective means of gaining compliance from the citizens, please present your thoughts on different approaches to the issue of non-compliance.

Answer: I believe that the best government is that which governs the least. I don't think responsible American people need to be micro-managed.

Two years ago, a staff member arranged to adopt a new building code which was highly unpopular, intrusive, and overbearing. As chairman of CLIPP at the time, that new code came to the committee for recommendation to the Board.

After discussion, we recommended that the Board NOT approve it. The Board agreed, and tasked the committee with revamping the code as we saw fit.

We stuck with the common sense safety rules, lifted unnecessary requirements and removed the overbearing and onerous conditions, which in turn granted the residents much more freedom and options with respect to their building choices and responsibilities. This revised code passed the Board; I believe it was unanimous.

The popular support for this change told me that responsible adults of this Village do not appreciate being treated like children, which in my opinion,  is the ultimate form of disrespect. 

This issue reflects the conflict that we sometimes the face when the best interests and freedom of the people collide with imposed administrative rule.