LITTLE GEMS
The Town of Linn annual meeting comes off without a hitch.
The Town of Linn citizenry came out in force to make sure that a repeat of last year’s meeting would not be in the offing. And it wasn’t. Some of the ‘other faction’ opposition were angry that such an effective telephone campaign was mounted to get the actual resident taxpayers to attend this ‘free for all’ style of open democratic expression that did not go ‘south,’ so to speak. Small town annual meetings are allowed across all of Wisconsin by state law.
The residents of a geographic area can, as in the Town of Linn, once a year, gather and vote for whatever they might want to vote on, including paying for the city administration, police protection and fire department, and just about everything else. This kind of open democracy can be very charming but also a bit dangerous. One year ago, proposals were put forth to do all the things mentioned here. They were all voted down, eventually, after a long, expensive and truly time-consuming battle, however. Fortunately, the citizens and residents of the Town of Linn have figured this out and now show up at these meetings, which for years were poorly attended. This year 64 residents showed up, just in case.
Democracy requires participation to really work for the good of all.
Just what is going on with respect to the Wrigley Drive reconstruction?
This project, small as it is (Wrigley Drive is only about three hundred yards long) was set to be completed by Memorial Day (May 29th). That’s not too many days away. The expedited work, although nobody works on weekends, holidays or after hours, is progressing slowly. Oh, it’s not the usual one man working on a twenty-mile stretch of highway with one supervisor watching kind of a thing, but it sure seems like the progress of the project is nearly glacial, just from a spectator’s standpoint. The project is really only a road project for the most part, and once completed, if the city decides to build that parking lot just east of the library, then a good chunk of it will have to be torn up again.
Don’t ask. Tom Earle, the guy masterminding the reconstruction of Wrigley, is keeping his head down since Linda Frame, who he dramatically fired as the Harbor Master in Lake Geneva is now a sitting city council member.
Body cams will be coming to the City of Lake Geneva parking department.
The City of Lake Geneva has just implemented body cams for all police officers along with hiring a part time clerk to handle reviewing all the footage. Over the last two years the city’s police department had worked vigorously to secure grants to compensate for the cost of the cameras and software. It was suggested that the parking department piggyback off the unused funds from the grants to purchase body cams for the parking attendants. This came as a recommendation from the police and fire commission.
Is this necessary? Are there any incidents that justify the need for cameras? The clerk for the police department will also be expected to handle the footage from the parking department. Will they have enough time being part time to handle the extra workload? The current city staff doesn’t expect there to be a problem, but it seems like that could turn into a need for a full-time position in the future. This idea was passed at the last finance, licensing, and regulation committee so it will be up to the city council to make it a reality. The city council has approved the new body cams for the parking department so this summer could be very interesting in downtown Lake Geneva with the cameras and increased parking rates.
