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MAYOR JIM CONNORS STANDS UP FOR LAKE GENEVA 

Jim Connors, Mayor of the City of Lake Geneva, made the motion before the Lake Geneva Planning Commission on Monday night and torpedo’d the make believe Ford Victory Ship attempting to steam full ahead around the fictional Hillmoor Lake. Alderman Kupsic, not generally known for his compassionate care of the community, loaded the high explosive torpedo, tapped the tube, and than launched the death package. The rest of the commission lined up on deck to watch the feckless Hillmoor vessel go down in flames.

The Geneva Shore Report has followed Mayor Connors over the last few years, and disagreed with much of what he did and seemed to stand for, right up to the of point of calling the mayor Gumby. The Geneva Shore Report is this day retracting that nickname. Out of the ashes may rise a mayor like the Phoenix, and the GSR could be forced to give him a new nickname, like Lancelot, but time is a wonderful and terrible thing when it comes to such decisions. If this new mayor, making the correct decision and no doubt influencing the decisions of those around him, is going to be the mayor the people have been craving (without knowing what it was they were craving), then a lot of people who’ve made up their minds about Mayor Connors will have to do some deep thinking and reevaluating.

Hillmoor was a big one. With the door closed on that project, a new one of grand proportions is about to open. Hillmoor is the gateway from the east for most visitors coming to Lake Geneva. It is hoped that people will no longer be introduced to this great little city and tainted in their judgment by only being exposed to Walgreens and Wal-Mart as they drive west on Highway 50. Mayor Connors, and the rest of the city leadership, no doubt influenced by city administrator Utah Blaine, have made a move away from schlock and toward quality. Attracting visitors while taking care of local residents, is the mission but assuring that the kind of visitors attracted, and that the residents taken care of, are of great quality means that the attractants have to be designed with quality in mind.

Jim Connors has not taken out his papers to file for the mayoral position that will be up for vote next year. Will he run? The inimitable and irascible Sarah hill is running already. Will this new mayor step in to go for a fourth tour against her bid? Was his performance on Monday a nod toward the citizenry with that endeavor in mind? Those questions remain unanswered at this time. Maybe it’s the Christmas spirit. Maybe Mayor Jim Connors has already been visited by the Ghost of Christmas past. Maybe the mayor and the staff of the Geneva Shore Report may actually be on speaking terms one day. Whom would have thought? But indeed, Mr. Connors and the Hillmoor decision are a Christmas present of substantive value, that present will not be forgotten by the Geneva Shore Report, or the residents and visitors who so love the lake and the communities that surround it.

A final comment on this momentous decision must be made. The voice of one single expert quietly reigned as a powerful technically competent force behind the curtain. Mike Slavney, City Planner, deserves all of Lake Geneva’s thanks and plaudits.