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TODD KRAUSE SPEAKS

 What does the mayor of a small American town look and speak like?  Well, the people of Lake Geneva received a good dose of what a man standing for the job of mayor sounds like when he begins to speak about what’s going on in the community he’s running for a position to lead, and what might needs to be done that makes any kind of sense rather than what’s been happening before he came along to apply for the job?

The Lake Geneva Meeting of the Whole met last Monday night and the main subject discussed by members of the citizenry who came to have a say was all about Hillmoor.  The development of Hillmoor has been a hot topic ever since the city purchased the big tract of land located on the east end of town.  This tract of land has been controversial since the golf course that had been built and successfully run on the property went belly up and the owner left town.  Developers wanted to build apartments, commercial establishments, and other income-producing assets there, but the town resisted.

The people of Lake Geneva rose up and denied developers any ability to develop the land they’d purchased.  There were lawsuits and there were acrimonious arguments about all that, and many hearings.  The final decision was to have the city purchase the property and then decide what to do with it.  Nobody really considered that the future of the land might be so contentiously and heatedly discussed and argued about.  It was kind of assumed that the property would be turned into mostly a green space environment that everyone would be welcome to use.

Well, that didn’t happen.  Ad hoc committees were launched and things like another golf course, amphitheaters, the YMCA, Alliant Energy’s new nexus of electrical connections, and more, were all brought up and considered.  What has kicked off a real battle, which brings this article to its purpose, is the sale of some of the land to a single entity to do with what they might want. The current leadership of the city is not prepared to deal with this entire issue, instead kicking the can down the road time after time.  The elections are coming that might change the current leadership entirely, although the current crop is holding on by fingernails to keep on keeping on.

Todd Krause, a long-time successful businessman has come along to give something back to the community that helped make him. He spoke at the Meeting of the Whole on Monday night.  He spoke about the money.  About how much was borrowed to purchase Hillmoor (millions), about how much money the city is currently making (millions), and about how borrowing much more to build projects on and off the Hillmoor property (millions) might not be the way to go. He also spoke about transparency, indicating that, to the Hillmoor decisions (and lack of it), there’s been little of that.

Citizens not on these ad hoc committees are entitled to visit but not speak at the meetings.  That kind of behavior has got to go and will depart if Todd is elected mayor of the city in April.  Lake Geneva needs this kind of clear-headed business thinking.  The city generated and has maintained a huge surplus (millions) just as it has exceeded revenue from the year before (millions).  It’s high time that the accounting for all of this money is addressed and put out to the public.

It looks like Todd Krause is the only likely person who can and will do that come next April, “God willing the creek don’t rise” and the citizens of Lake Geneva come out to vote.