Inside New Berlin

Happy Halloween!

 

That little pumpkin in the photo is my grandson Preston.

After getting no response from New Berlin Public Schools to my request submitted on September 28 for some information/records access, (See my Lady-in-waiting blog), I went up to two top NBPS administrators immediately after the October 22 School Board meeting and raised the issue. They assured me the information I'd requested would be provided to me by the end of that week. I’m pleased to report they kept their word. In fact, I got a call the very next day and arranged to pick up the documents on October 24.

I’ve been reviewing the information the District provided.  It’s quite interesting.

For example, There is a lighted, scrolling sign in front of Reagan Elementary displaying the school’s name.

My question--- What was the cost of the sign? 

The District’s response--- See attached response from VJS Construction Services.

The VJS Construction Services’ response is dated October 18, 2007. It states: 

Re: Ronald Reagan Elementary School

Monumental Sign Costs

Concrete foundation $1500

Masonry base $3040

Electrical $10,474

Poblocki sign $36,960

Total $51,974

 

$51,974!!!!!!  What extravagance!

I suppose it’s a question of priorities.

You may want to contact the so-called “fiscal conservative” New Berlin School Board and ask its members some questions, such as:

1. How do you justify that expense?
2. How does spending money on that costly, glitzy sign for that elementary school improve student performance and achievement?
3. Are there plans to install lighted, scrolling signs in front of the other schools in the District?

Trick or Treating in New Berlin is today!-- Sunday, Oct. 28, 4-7pm.

The weather forecast: Sunny, temperature in the 50's.

Here's some Trick or Treating safety tips (from different sources)-----

• Costumes should be flame retardant and not too long or baggy.
• Masks, wigs, and hoods should not obstruct the child’s vision. If it does, use face paint or makeup instead.
• Children (and adults) should avoid wearing masks when walking from house to house.
• Kids should carry only flexible swords, knives or props.
• Younger children should not go Trick or Treating alone--an adult or teenager should accompany them.
• Know what route that your older kids are taking.
• Caution them not to go inside the houses.
• Inspect all candy and goodies carefully before eating --discard unsealed candy.
• Go in a group--the kids will have friends to go with; the adults will have company.

By the way, there’s an interesting safety quiz on Spookathon.com. Check it out. The answers may surprise you.

 

Our city is in danger of losing its Paramedic service?

That is unacceptable.

From my experience as a registered nurse, I know how valuable it is to have highly trained and skilled personnel on the scene quickly in true medical emergencies.

Paramedics can and do save lives. Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Dobernig reports that since August 2006, the Fire Department Paramedic Program has documented 39 lives saved and treated 2193 people.

You can show your support for maintaining the Paramedic program by speaking at tonight's meeting at City Hall during Privilege of the Floor (POF).  The Committee of the Whole meeting is at 7 pm. POF (the public comment period) follows it. The Common Council meeting is held after POF.      

For additional information about the paramedic situation, see this morning's Journal Sentinel Community Watch article on New Berlin Now.  The article provides a link to an important, heart wrenching email message from Tom Dobernig.

I gave the New Berlin School District Office a written request for some information/ records access over three weeks ago, but have received no response.  

I guess I'll have to remind the School District about Wisconsin Statute 19.31: Declaration of policy. In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them. Further, providing persons with such information is declared to be an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of officers and employees whose responsibility it is to provide such information. To that end, ss.19.32 to 19.37 shall be construed in every instance with a presumption of complete public access, consistent with the conduct of governmental business. The denial of public access generally is contrary to the public interest, and only in an exceptional case may access be denied.

What was in my information/records request? 

• Referring to the NB West noise abatement project, I requested to see the complaint(s) about noise at the school and asked what the District has done to remedy the noise problem.
• Requested to inspect the reports from EMC (the firm hired to test for mold) & the District's correspondence with EMC re: mold at District facilities, including Eisenhower. I also asked what type of mold was detected at Eisenhower.
• Requested to be notified ASAP when I can inspect the requested records.
• Asked what the scrolling sign in front of Reagan Elementary cost.
• Inquired about the cost of rewiring of doors/ installation of key bobs project that was requested by administration at the Sept. 24 Board meeting.  
• Questioned which of the District's schools had air conditioning & whether it was turned on or off at those schools this summer, and for how long.  I noted that the School Board had discussed decreasing costs by reducing energy use at schools during summer. 

Hopefully, I won't have to wait much longer for the District to provide the requested information and documents.

I'll revisit these issues in a future blog(s).  

 

      

   

        

In his Privilege of the Floor (POF) speech at the September 25 City Council meeting,  NBCRG leader Ralph Heun argued that the Council should postpone/ table its decision re: the Deer Creek Inn & Conference Center until the next meeting because Alderman Dave Ament was absent.  Heun also suggested that the Council become as “enlightened” as the New Berlin School District/Board which has teleconferencing.

But did you know?----
School Board member/Clerk Jennifer Eitel was absent from the School Board’s Regular Meeting on Sept. 24-- the night before the Council’s meeting. She did not attend by teleconference.   Did the School Board, which is led by Ralph’s son Keith, postpone voting on ANY of the meeting's agenda items because the entire board was not in attendance?  Heck no.

Both School Board President Keith Heun and Board Treasurer Joan Doberstein were absent from an August 15 School Board meeting and did not attend by teleconference. There were several items on that meeting agenda, including short -term borrowing up to $14,500,000, approval of new hires and new Orchard Lane principal. Did the School Board postpone/table voting on the agenda items because two of its Board members/officers were absent? Nope.

So, did Ralph Heun or other NBCRG member make a POF speech at those School Board meetings or via Heun's blog, arguing that the School Board should not make decisions on issues at meetings when less than the full board was there (in person or by teleconference)?   Nah.          
     
But getting back to the City Council----
At its October 9 meeting, the Council voted on budget-related issues and other agenda items. Alderman John Hopkins was absent. In the POF speech Heun gave at that meeting, did he argue that the Council should put off making decisions on an agenda item/ items until the next meeting because Ald. Hopkins was absent?  No.   

Seems that NBCRG President Ralph Heun has a double standard.
 
As for teleconferencing---  many community residents dislike the NB School Board’s use of teleconferencing at meetings. They prefer to have their SB officials be physically present at meetings so they can view visual presentations and handouts,  be accessible, and face their constituents when voting on issues.  Furthermore,  the attending meetings-by-telephone practice, while convenient for the SB members, can be abused. Who can forget elusive (former) Board Member/Treasurer Donna Rathsack’s rare personal appearances at School Board meetings or the weird spectacle of Board members Art Marquardt and Susan Manley being sworn in to public office by (former) Board Member/Clerk Tim Cramer's telephone voice?   

NBCRG prez Ralph Heun ’s August blog gushed, “NBCRG supports common sense development in New Berlin” and presented a “solution” for area traffic--- “open” all 6 of Moorland Road’s lanes to thru- traffic. (They argue “Moorland Rd is a 6-lane road, but only 4 lanes are utilized.”)

In other words, NBCRG ’s “simple and cost effective solution” is to eliminate Moorland Rd’s shoulder/turning lanes-- thereby making that busy road less safe for bicyclists and motorists traveling on it.

If NBCRG's "solution" was implemented, getting to or from the shopping plazas, numerous businesses, post office, residences and subdivisions located along or off of Moorland, would be more hazardous.

Where's their concern for people's safety?

Heun/ NBCRG, who can’t stomach widening Calhoun Road from 2 to 4 lanes, evidently wouldn’t mind turning Moorland Rd. into a 6-lane superhighway that lacks shoulders/turning lanes and sidewalks--- and dumping a bigger chunk of the City’s increasing traffic onto it.

Changing our Moorland Road into something resembling Highway 100, may be NBCRG’s idea of “common sense development”, but I doubt if many New Berlin residents would agree.

Heun is free to present whatever goofy ideas and irresponsible “solutions” he wants.
But remember he is not a city traffic expert.
Fortunately, the City of New Berlin employs skilled professionals---our City engineering staff-- to advise it. They look at the whole picture and consider safety aspects. And both New Berlin’s and Brookfield’s staffs recommended widening Calhoun Road.

According to Saturday's Journal Sentinel front page article:
“Like regular state employees, elected officials can tap their account of unused sick leave to pay for health care in retirement. But sick leave for elected officials is not monitored as closely as it is for rank-and-file employees, and they do not lose pay if they don’t show up for work.
A Journal Sentinel investigation found that lawmakers, judges, district attorneys and other officials rarely take sick leave, allowing them to build up bigger retirement perks.”

Ah, bigger retirement perks?!!!

The newspaper reports that state elected officials have racked up $2 million worth of sick leave retirement benefits since March, when the Assembly passed a bill that would end the perk starting in 2009. “The Senate is contemplating a bill that would end the benefit only for state lawmakers. If the two houses can’t agree on how to proceed, nothing will change.”

Hmmm. The perk might end---starting in 2009! And maybe not at all?!!!

Saturday's Journal Sentinel editorial was titled “Simply embarrassing" and states, “There’s been some progress but still no budget. Perhaps it’s time to consider real consequences--to legislators--in the event they can’t pass a budget.” The "real consequences" proposed include shutting down government if there is no budget, withholding legislators’ pay if there is no budget by deadline--or at least adopting Iowa’s practice. What's that? Apparently, in Iowa, if state legislators don’t meet a specific deadline to pass a budget, they lose their daily per diem expense stipends (that’s $88 per day for Wis. Legislators who live outside of Dane County). And those stipends are tax-free.

So, our state Legislators (who live outside Dane Co.) get $88 daily per diem expense stipends--and they are tax-free?!!!

Sunday’s (Oct. 7) Journal Sentinel reports, “Wisconsin is now the only state whose Legislature has not passed a budget. And the budget is on track to be one of the latest in state history, behind only the 1971 budget.” The article’s subheading is “Signs of a deal replaced by more partisan sniping.”

Uh, oh. No budget but plenty of partisan sniping!!

Sunday’s Journal Sentinel also posted a 5-paragraph excerpt from an editorial posted by Madison's WISC-TV. Incuded was this statement, “ The Wisconsin State Legislature has become dysfunctional, ineffectual and counterproductive.” It laments that if only we could give the Legislature 90 days to pass a budget. If it fails, dissolve the Legislature and hold new elections.

What has Gov. Doyle said about the repercussions of the Legislature's failure to pass a budget? According to the the Sept. 29 Journal Sentinel: “Doyle said not having a budget would cause problems across state government. He said without a budget: Students at all University of Wisconsin campuses could face an $800 tuition surcharge next semester; the expansion of the secure facility for violent sex offenders may have to be delayed; road projects could be canceled; and people participating in the SeniorCare prescription drug program may have to start paying for drugs out of their own pockets.
'You simply cannot run a state without a budget,' Doyle said."

** A reminder that State Aid Shortfall is on Monday’s (Oct. 8) New Berlin School Board Meeting agenda. (under District Administrator’s Report)

We are already into October and yet our state Legislature has still not agreed on a budget. Being the only state with a fiscal year beginning on July 1 that does not have a new spending plan in place, is not something to be proud of.
The impasse is a failure of leadership.

It’s certainly caused headaches for officials of municipalities and school districts. Community governments can’t wait endlessly for the State Legislature to get its act together. The August 27 Journal-Sentinel reports that “Under state law, local budgets must be in place in November, since property tax bills go out in December.”
Because state budget negotiations dragged on and on, local governments were forced to develop their own budgets without key information-- relying instead on assumptions or guesses about state aid figures, property tax caps, etc.

During the September 10 New Berlin School Board meeting----
Business Director Anthony Goedheer emphasized that with state aid being the second largest revenue source of the NBPS District budget, it was "not a good thing" having an "unknown" state aid amount.
He acknowledged that the $2.8 million the District had taken from its fund balance (reserves) for construction projects has a negative effect on the state aid formula (funding), but claimed the most aid NBPS could lose would be 15% (because of a hold harmless clause)--and the District would be okay if the budget proposed by the Governor in July was passed. However, if the Legislature did not approve a budget and the School District would have to use last year's state aid figures, it would mean a District shortfall of $800,000 plus. (Goedheer said it would “crowd” $900,000)
Goedheer reported that DPI officials he'd consulted had indicated adjustments would be made in 08-09.

NBPS Superintendent Paul Kreutzer later remarked, “Obviously, politics are being played at the state level that may affect us at our level."

*STATE AID SHORTFALL IS LISTED ON THE AGENDA OF THE UPCOMING OCT. 8 N.B. SCHOOL BOARD MEETING-WORK SESSION. (UNDER THE HEADING OF DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT)

Adverse effects of the Legislature’s failure to pass a budget have been reported by the media, such as this Sept. 29 Journal-Sentinel article Here’s an excerpt from it:
“Why would property taxes go up without a budget in place now?
Because school districts would get aid at last year's level, they would need to increase how much they levy in property taxes to pay for increased salaries, utility costs and the like.

How much would property taxes go up?
There's a difference of about $79 million between last year's aid level and a level lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle have agreed is the amount school districts should get this year. On the median value Wisconsin home of about $170,000, that's a property tax increase of $27, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
What can be done to avert the increase?
Doyle said lawmakers could be within days of passing a budget and that if they complete one by next week, they may be able to extend the Oct. 15 deadline for notifying schools of their aid amounts, thus blunting a property tax increase.”

Senator Lazich began her blog post “Cost of public benefits far outpaces those in private sector” yesterday with this statement: “One of the key reasons why state and local spending is out of whack in Wisconsin is the high cost of benefits.”

The blog referred to state-local government employees.

OK, so what about state legislators?
Her blog has me wondering what salary, benefits and perks our legislators, such as Senator Lazich, have been getting.

If state spending is “out of whack” in Wisconsin, what are our state legislators doing to reduce the cost of their own benefits & salaries?
Have they taken pay cuts? Have they frozen their pay? Gotten raises?

Do our Wisconsin legislators receive automatic pay raises or do they cast votes on that item? How often?
Did the state Legislature close the loophole permitting officials to financially benefit from accumulated unused sick pay?

Maybe I’ll e-mail Senator Lazich and ask.