359 Degrees

Santa gave me a ride in a snowplow! (Updated)

2008-12-25T04:51:00Z

I spent a couple hours the morning of December 24 on a ride along on a city snowplow. I learned a lot. First, here are a few photos of plow trucks. I rode in the one on the right. It's the same truck you see in the summer hauling dirt, picking up brush, etc. There are two plow blades, one on front to clear the street and one on the right to push everything to the side. All city trucks are orange, are staffed by full time city employees and are paid for with your city property taxes. County highway...(read more)

Budget, Books, D.A.R.E., Insurance and Grass seed

2008-11-21T23:52:00Z

So what happened at the Common Council meeting on November 18? A lot more than what you'll read in the Journal-Sentinel or even the Brookfield News. So, let's get started. Budget & Books The 2009 city budget was the topic of a public hearing and was ultimately adopted. By far the most controversial item was restoring $50,000 to the library materials budget and raising property taxes to cover it. That motion was made by 6th District Alderman Chris Blackburn who is also the aldermanic member...(read more)

Calhoun Road to open December 1

2008-11-21T14:23:06Z

Here's an update from Director of Public Works Tom Grisa. I don't think the Calhoun Road widening was anyone's favorite project, but it is a key part of relieving traffic congestion on Bluemound , Moorland, Greenfield, etc. PRESS RELEASE CITY OF BROOKFIELD NOVEMBER 20, 2008 4:30 P.M. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Grisa, Director of Public Works for the City of Brookfield: (262) 796-6644 Calhoun Road to Open for the Winter Calhoun Road from Greenfield Avenue to Bluemound Road has...(read more)

No pun like a bad pun!

2008-10-23T16:48:19Z

I'm relaxing after a tough couple of weeks dealing with the city budget and received an email with the following puns. I hope you enjoy them. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption...(read more)

2009 Budget Changes

2008-10-22T15:37:16Z

The Finance Committee held its fourth and final 2009 budget meeting on Monday, October 20. The mayor and department managers were on hand to answer questions as they arose. You may download the entire proposed budget by clicking on the following link. Page numbers in this entry refer to this document. 2009 City of Brookfield Proposed Budget (256 pages, 5.8M) Brookfield News, Oct 15, 2008 Aldermen looking for cuts in budget Brookfield News, Oct 21, 2008 Alderman continue to trim city budget For those...(read more)

District 5 Meeting - Wednesday at 7pm

2008-10-20T01:42:34Z

There will be a 5th District informational meeting this Wednesday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m. It will be held in the City Hall Council Chambers. Enter under the clock tower and it's the first door on the right. Ald. Mahkorn and I will be glad to discuss issues of current interest regarding the city, including the 2009 budget, city services and any questions you may have. You don't have to be a district resident to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!...(read more)

Budget Update - Oct 13

2008-10-14T01:02:00Z

Well, another night, another meeting. The Finance Committee met tonight to consider the 2009 budget. We started with presentations from the Municipal Judge and the Finance Department. You should watch Municipal Judge Warchol on the cable channel describing the changes he has made in courtroom operations. At last Wednesday's meeting it became clear there would be plenty of debate, as I related in my last post. Everyone was asked to send in a summary of their suggested budget changes so that staff...(read more)

City budget cuts coming?

2008-10-13T04:52:12Z

The City Council's Finance Committee will be meeting on Monday, October 13 at 4:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. We will wrap up the staff presentations for the 2009 budget and start our discussions of what to accept and what to modify. The committee's recommendation will go to the full Common Council in November and may be further modified there. The meeting is open to the public and is televised on the city's cable TV channel. You may read the complete proposed budget (yawn...(read more)

City 2009 Budget

2008-09-30T03:36:00Z

Well, it's that time of year again. The city council finance committee, which I chair, will be considering the budget for next year. If you want to see the exact proposal the finance committee members received on September 27 (plus a few extra reports), you may download it here. 2009 City of Brookfield Proposed Budget (256 pages, 5.8M) This year's budget cycle is: In May, the aldermen set some goals for the budget. That mostly means stating the maximum amount of money they will approve. There...(read more)

2035 Comprehensive Plan - Join in!

2008-09-12T03:47:00Z

Wednesday night I attended the first of four public information meetings on the City of Brookfield's 2035 Comprehensive Plan. There were 4 residents and 8 city officials, including me and some consultants. This is a very important undertaking and I want to encourage all of you to participate. To help with creating this plan, the city hired the consulting firm of Vandewalle & Associates . Consultants from that company will be available at the information meetings as well as the regular city...(read more)

Roundabout & North Avenue Widening

2008-08-18T11:45:00Z

Waukesha County owns and maintains certain main arterial roads in Brookfield, including North Avenue (county highway M) and Barker Road (county highway Y). The county is now proposing a major upgrade to the intersection of North and Barker. Their budget accommodates either a traditional traffic signal with turn lanes or a roundabout. No decision has been made yet on that choice. The Brookfield City Council has limited power over this decision. You are encouraged to contact the county's engineering...(read more)

Update on June 2008 Flood

2008-08-05T00:57:00Z

The exceptionally heavy rainfall of early June was devastating for the entire Midwest. I also know that the storms were a disaster for hundreds of Brookfield residents due to both flooding and sewer backups. I can assure you that all the aldermen want to know what more can be done. The key point to keep in mind is that fixing this will be new work, new construction and new regulation, all of which have a price tag. How much can the city raise your taxes and fees to lessen (no one will make a 100...(read more)

Brookfield July 4 Photos & Video

2008-07-14T20:09:00Z

The City of Brookfield celebrated July 4 with the traditional parade in the morning and a public celebration and fireworks at Mitchell Park. I see that BrookfieldNow has many photos of the parade , so I thought I'd show a few photos of mine from that evening. So, did you go to the parade, park or fireworks? Do you think it was worthwhile? Mitchell Park, facing north The fire department display with the Pierce Manufacturing, Inc. of Appleton aerial platform truck , and other gear. The Wilson Center...(read more)

Welcome Home, Guido! (With Video)

2008-07-11T16:02:00Z

Brookfield Library installs the restored Guido Brink sculpture along Calhoun Road...(read more)

Intewedm, Google and an Apology

2008-07-02T04:41:00Z

Yesterday there was a reply to my post on deer population control by frequent contributor Santa's Elf. He included a link to an online discussion regarding a rifle he believes was written by Brookfield's own intewedm. That got me wondering what else Mr. intewedm might have written. After a little googling around, I found over 1,500 entries by a person or persons using the name "intewedm". There was one rather curious entry. You can find the entry by going to Google and entering...(read more)

Deer Population Control

2008-06-22T16:04:00Z

One of the quality of life issues the city manages is controlling the deer population. With a plentiful food supply (your lawns), no natural predators (bobcats, anyone?) and plenty of natural cover (all that green space everyone wants more of), it's a perfect environment for a deer population explosion. It's a common problem in many suburban areas. There are several options to control the population as outlined on this page from the Wisconsin DNR , all with good and bad points. The city started...(read more)

Update on Historic Preservation Proposal

2008-06-11T04:15:00Z

On June 9 the Plan Commission considered my referral on a historic building preservation ordinance. It was about 10:15 pm and all but one resident had already left. I was late to the Plan Commission meeting because I was meeting with some District 5 homeowners who had suffered flooding. You can't really understand the challenges those residents face by just sitting in your family room with a laptop and a crate of Oreos! There were many good questions from the commissioners about past commission...(read more)

Historic Building Preservation - Monday June 9 Plan Commission

2008-06-08T19:52:00Z

A few weeks ago I made a request for the city to study creating an ordinance protecting historic properties. I wrote about it in my blog entry Historic Building Preservation . It comes up for discussion at the Plan Commission meeting on Monday, June 9. As with most things in city policy, the two biggest hurdles will be community support and money. My recommendation is to start with a study determining how many historic buildings exist in the city and finding out what can be done to preserve them...(read more)

New Policy on Traffic Calming

2008-05-19T02:32:00Z

One of the most common complaints an alderman gets is someone stating their neighborhood's traffic is too fast, too reckless, in too high a volume and that the situation is highly unsafe. The Board of Public Works (BPW) adopted a new policy for "traffic calming" at its May 13, 2008 meeting. The chief architect and champion of that new policy is 7th District Alderwoman Lisa Mellone, who placed it on the 2006-2008 City Strategic Plan and wrote about it on her blog . I serve on the BPW...(read more)

Historic Building Preservation

2008-05-08T04:08:00Z

At the Council meeting of May 6, I submitted the following legislative referral to study the preservation of historic structures in the City of Brookfield, possibly leading to a new protective ordinance. Brookfield has been my home for over 20 years and I understand just how fragile our link is to the city's roots. In response to this referral, the planning office has given me several documents concerning previous unsuccessful efforts for preservation. One was the historic building inventory...(read more)