Inside New Berlin

Ron Seidl is running for 3rd District Alderman against incumbent Paul Gallagher.
Information previously disclosed: A Jan. 16 NewBerlinNow news article reported that Seidl is 32, lives at 17631 W. Westward Dr., is a 2-year resident of New Berlin, works as a food manager for a retirement community and is concerned about an increase in the city part of his taxes.

Additional data: I interviewed Seidl. He said he has worked for Regency Senior Communities in New Berlin, claims to have "deep seated family values", is concerned about spending, opposes Police Department cuts, and wants to be more involved in the community. However, when I asked Seidl about the City budget, he admitted he had not seen it. He also conveyed that he has not been actively involved in any community organizations or activities-- despite living here 2 years.

Omissions: When I asked Seidl about his educational background, he declined to provide any. How odd.
No mention was made during the interview of any citations/ police record.

Subsequent Research: According to information on The Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA) web site Ronald S. Seidl of 17631 W. Westward Drive was charged in July of 2006 for speeding on the freeway (later amended to impeding traffic), fined $186, and for failure to wear a seat belt, fined $10. I obtained copies of those traffic citations from the Waukesha Courthouse and noted Seidl's birth date on them: 6/23/74.
The WCCA web site also indicates Ronald S. Seidl , birth date 6/23/74, was charged in February 2000 with operating a vehicle after suspension- 3rd! However, WCCA information indicates the charge was later amended to Operating Without A Valid License. The fine was $212.

Furthermore, the WCCA web site indicates Ronald S. Seidl, birth date 6/23/74, was charged in Milwaukee County in April, 1998 with Operating While Intoxicated (2nd offense), having a Blood Alcohol level above .10% (3rd offense) and Operating After Revocation (3rd offense). I have copies of the citations/deputy sheriff's complaint. They indicate results of breath test for alcohol was .14. The WCAA information indicates the BAC, and Operating After Revocation charges were later dismissed on prosecutors motion. But it also indicates that for the Operating While Intoxicated (2nd) offense, the court ordered the defendant's license be revoked for 18 months, he serve 60 days in the House of Correction and pay $1000.

Some thoughts and observations:
Aldermen serve as our representatives. We expect them to exercise good judgment, be concerned about public safety, respect and abide by laws. Their decisions affect the Police Dept. and us. Our aldermen vote to approve or deny bartenders licenses. At Common Council meetings, aldermen sometimes grill the license applicants about their past records/convictions, including Operating While Intoxicated (OWI ) and other offenses. Some applicants are denied licenses. Background checks are important.

Evidently, blogger/official Matt Thomas considers OWI significant. His Dec. 8, 2006 blog was about a WAUKESHA official getting an OWI ticket.

New Berlin Citizens for Responsible Government filed paperwork with the City Clerk on Feb. 12 officially signally their intent to disburse funds to help elect Ron Seidl and Don Counsell.

According to a Feb. 26, 2007 Community Watch/ New Berlin Now news article-- In January, an associate principal of Pewaukee High School was stopped for erratic driving, arrested by New Berlin police, and charged with drunk driving and operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration, both 2nd offenses. She faces up to 1 year in jail, if convicted. She was placed on administrative leave while that school district conducts an internal investigation.

A few days ago, I spoke with Alderman Paul Gallagher. He's 47. Gallagher was elected in 2001 (has served 2 terms). You can check his voting record by clicking on the Common Council meeting minutes displayed on the City web site. Gallagher, an engineer, is employed at Nisson Brake. He was forthright, not secretive about his education and past OWI. He informed me he had graduated from Case High School in Racine, and revealed he'd gotten an OWI ticket once- in 1982--25 years ago.

The NOW newspaper (Feb. 22 New Berlin/Muskego edition) reports: " U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold will hold a listening session at 7 a.m. Monday, Feb. 26, at New Berlin City Hall, 3805 S. Casper Drive.
The session will last up to one hour."

Joan Doberstein, one of the newcomer (non-incumbent) candidates running for New Berlin School Board was gracious, cooperative, and gave direct answers to my questions when I contacted her for an interview.

She spoke of commitment; conveyed that she's a long-time resident of New Berlin and has been employed at Landmark Credit Union 25 years, where she works as an investment advisor.

As to why Mrs. Doberstein is seeking to be a School Board member---
She explained that she has two children attending New Berlin Public Schools at the secondary school level and felt that this would be a good time to run for a school board seat. She emphasized that her property taxes have increased considerably over the years. She maintained the School District should be able to provide a good education to students without raising taxes.

Additionally, Mrs. Doberstein apparently has extensive experience serving on boards, including the Heart Association Board, investment advisor board for Girl Scouts, Landmark Board, and hbc services, inc. (hbc services is a home buying counseling service whose mission is to make home ownership a reality for households who demonstrate a strong desire to own their own home, especially those of low to modest means)

Mrs. Doberstein also mentioned serving on the Board of Trustees for Living Word Apostolic Church. Her picture/ prayer director title appear on the Church staff web page

Living Word Apostolic Church has a financial deal with NBPS. It signed a 4- month lease agreement with New Berlin Public Schools in December, 2006. The lease permits the Church to renew the term for 3 additional 2-month periods. The Church agrees to pay NBPS a monthly fee of $2,000 plus NBPS's anticipated monthly cost of all utility services,-- and janitorial, maintenance services.

To avoid any appearance of conflict of interest, when Mrs. Doberstein becomes a School Board member, she should refrain from voting on that lease agreement or other financial matters involving Living Word Apostolic Church.

John Kegel, the other non-incumbent running for School Board was uncooperative and rather evasive. I left voice mail messages. He didn't return my calls. When I eventually got in touch with him to request an interview, he replied it wasn't a good time for him to talk, he'd call me, and abruptly hung up without asking for my phone number. Then he later emailed my blog apologizing, asked for my phone number, stated he'd call if possible over the weekend or following week. So, I emailed him my phone number. He called on the next Saturday morning. It was a weird conversation that went in circles, wasting a half-hour of my time. He refused an interview. He claimed he didn't read or like the New Berlin Now blogs.

FLIP FLOP alert: New Berlin Citizens for Responsible Government was for Roger Hegeman before they were against him. When Hegeman ran for 5th District alderman in 2004, NBCRG endorsed him and helped get him elected.
Hegeman is running for re-election. NBCRG is supporting his opponent Don Counsell. Flip Flop

NBCRG claims Counsell will keep citizens informed about critical issues.
Informing citizens is important to NBCRG????
There were very significant issues with the Reagan School project, but neither NBCRG (or School Board officials endorsed by NBCRG) informed you citizens about them.
NBCRG President Ralph Heun's NOW blog hasn't even communicated the NBCRG's membership list.
Heun is using his blog as a campaign tool to promote aldermanic candidate Don Counsell and advertise NBCRG's endorsement.

On its web site, NBCRG states its membership dues are $20 annually. It doesn't say who its members are.
NBCRG ( a registered political committee) filed a campaign finance report with the City Clerk on 1/24/07.
It lists $20 contributions (the same amount as the annual membership dues) from:
Peg Ament (spouse of Alderman Dave Ament), Ralph Heun (NBCRG President), Dolores Karner (NBCRG Secretary/Treasurer),Herb Eggie (former NBCRG President), Brian Bell, Ron Koessler, Mark Musselman, Tom and Lee Sitron, Arlene Stock, Adam Horn, and Barbara Zacher
Also listed is a $50 contribution from Vern Bentley.

In its 2004 campaign flyer (on file with the City Clerk), NBCRG claimed it was endorsing Hegeman because he "demonstrated greater familiarity with the many issues confronting the City" ---and he "appreciates the need for conservation of our natural resources and a go slow approach to development".
The NBCRG flyer did not mention taxes, city services or communicating with constituents.
I bet Hegeman is more familiar with issues confronting the City now ---after serving 3 years as alderman---than he was in 2004.
If NBCRG really felt conservation/protecting natural resources, and taking a go slow approach to development were crucial, shouldn't it have raised/expressed those concerns with the Reagan School project?

Re: taxes--- The December 2006 City of New Berlin leaflet states New Berlin 's 2005 tax rate (city only) ranks 170th lowest among 190 Wisconsin cities (based on data published by Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance). 90% of cities in our state have a higher tax rate than New Berlin. And when comparing cities with populations above 30,000 (New Berlin's population is approx 38,920), New Berlin's equalized tax rate of $4.85 was ranked lowest.

The City Center and the proposed new hotel on the edge of the City serve to increase the tax base, generate revenue for the City. In contrast, taxes can't be collected on a large Calhoun Rd property because NBPS now own it and built the Reagan School there.

Attention New Berlin voters:

The District 2 polling site is the old New Berlin Library at 14750 W. Cleveland Avenue----NOT the new library.
I checked today. The City Clerk affirms that the District 2 polling site is the old library.

A news article in today's NOW newspaper (February 15) incorrectly lists the new library on Library Lane as the District 2 poll location.

Poll site information is posted on the City of New Berlin web site:
Polling Places
Open at 7:00 AM and Close at 8:00 PM
District 1
(Wards 1-2-3)
Hickory Grove Senior Center
2600 South Sunny Slope Road

District 2
(Wards 4-5-6-7)
Old New Berlin Library
14750 West Cleveland Avenue

District 3
(Wards 8-9-10-11)
World Harvest Church
1500 South West Lane

District 4
(Wards 12-13-14-15-27-28)
Peace Lutheran Church
17651 West Small Road

District 5
(Wards 16-17-18-19)
Eisenhower High School
4333 South Sunny Slope Road

District 6
(Wards 20-21-22)
Glen Park School
3500 South Glen Park Road

District 7
(Wards 23-24-25-26)
New Berlin City Hall
3805 South Casper Drive

*For more on the subject of poll sites click on my Jan. blog 2 Voter Poll Places Changed to Church Sites

Soon, it will be Election time in New Berlin. The Primary is February 20th and the Spring Election is April 3rd. I've interviewed all of the newcomer (non-incumbent) candidates running for the Aldermanic and School Board seats, except for John Kegel, who refused.
I've also read circulated fliers supporting candidates for 5th District Alderman.

I reside in Aldermanic District #5. Roger Hegeman (incumbent), Don Counsell and Joe Poshepny are running for District #5 Alderman. The Primary Election will whittle that field to two candidates.

Alderman Hegeman seems a genuinely nice man. Many folks, including his two opponents, refer to him as a "nice guy". He is married and has four children. His flyer touts his active community involvement, commitment to New Berlin and our community's comparatively low tax rate. Alderman Hegeman tends to say little during the Common Council public meetings. That's too bad. His constituents would be better served if he took a more active part in discussion/debate of issues at the meetings. Often, he votes without expressing his views or explaining his reasoning.

Challengers Joe Poshepny and Don Counsell maintain that we deserve better representation and communication from our alderman.

Joe Poshepny pledges to be a good communicator and responsive to citizens.
He faults the incumbent for disregarding the wishes of over a thousand New Berlin residents/ petitioners. Mr. Poshepny would like to open up Wilbur Drive.
Mr. Poshepny touts his experience as a business leader. He started his own company and also has manufacturing, designing, supervisory skills/experience.
He points out that he is retired, married, his kids are adults. He argues he'd be more accessible and could devote more time and attention to aldermanic matters/ duties than his opponents, who'd have to juggle their official duties with the needs of their young families and job responsibilities.
He wants to give "seniors" a greater voice. He also favors having a viable city program for seniors.
Mr. Poshepny says he'd bring maturity, a level head, and experience to the table.

Don Counsell works for Accenture, a business consulting firm.
He says he'd like to apply his analytic and problem-solving skills to help solve problems facing New Berlin and control spending.
He argues that City government has been "lazy" and should be exploring better ways to accomplish things.
Mr. Counsell favors a city tax freeze, arguing that it's needed to get city taxes and spending under control.
He supports completion of the City Center, capitalizing on the city's investment.
He says he's lived here 21 years, reaping the benefits, and now wants to "give back" to the community.
Mr. Counsell is married and has 2 children.

Ralph Heun’s New Berlin Citizens for Responsible Government group has been making lots of noise about a proposed New Berlin hotel, which would be located on the edge of New Berlin at Greenfield Avenue and Moorland Road.

In contrast, those activists were remarkably quiet about the Reagan School project.
Yet on its web site New Berlin CRG declares its mission is to inform the public about significant issues and to hold government officials and employees accountable for their actions or lack of actions.

The reality is New Berlin Citizens for Responsible Government is a registered political organization. It recruits candidates for office. It endorsed nearly all of the current New Berlin School Board members, including Ralph Heun’s son, Keith.

A few points:
The giant, newly-built Reagan School ( the District’s largest elementary school) is situated in the heart of the city. The whopping $18.7 million cost figure provided by the District’s business manager for that new elementary school does not include the extra multi- millions in financing costs/interest.
New Berlin Public Schools paid nearly a million bucks for the parcel of agricultural land it bought adjacent to New Berlin Center School-- for the Reagan School.
Then they got the Common Council to rezone the land to “institutional”.
MMSD permission was obtained to extend the sewer boundaries--to accomodate the Reagan School.
The School District plans to demolish New Berlin Center School. Another district asset eliminated.
An athletic field is intended for that site. That field will require maintenance.
The merged Reagan School has twice the amount of pupils of New Berlin Center. Did I mention increased traffic and safety concerns at this centralcity location (Calhoun Rd and National Ave)?
The School Board chose to build the Reagan School on land that has environmental issues--wetlands, proximity to a navigable waterway, threatened/endangered species, etc. Developing that land, triggered DNR involvement.

Nary a peep from NB CRG about those things.

Oh, Ralph Heun did speak out at a DNR informational hearing in 2005---but not to express environmental concerns. In his speech, Heun attacked the citizens who requested the hearing and other citizens who had concerns about the Reagan School project.

City engineers complained of erosion control violations at the Reagan School site. DNR inspectors reported observing multiple violations at the school site. A Notice of Violations/Notice of Claim was served on NBPS. NBPS and its contractor were issued numerous citations for allegedly violating Wisconsin law, Ch.30 permits, DNR rules, regulations.

And NB CRG’s public reaction: silence.

Since NB CRG refrained from speaking up or informing the public on such significant issues--including the violations reported by the City and DNR-- and has not held NBPS officials and employees accountable--- perhaps they should rename their organization: New Berlin Citizens for Irresponsible Government

What an exciting start to this football weekend!

Brett Favre’s announcement that he’ll be back this 07 season is sure to delight Packer fans in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

My husband phoned our sons this afternoon to tell them the happy news.

And that's not all. The Super Bowl is this Sunday!
Bears vs. Colts.
Our family will be rooting for the Colts at this year’s Super Bowl party.
Whatever happens on the football field, it will be hard to top the excitement of the Super Bowl party that our niece gave last year.

At that event, she disclosed that her mom ( Patricia) was among the four principals to be chosen and honored as 2006 Principals of the Year by the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Patricia was later selected to be one of the finalists for 2007 National Principal of the Year. For more about the program click on these links:
AWSA and DPI