December 23, 2009

Merry Christmas!


Wishing all my Town Talk readers a wonderful holiday. I was able to get into the spirit of the season a few weeks ago at the Fox Valley Symphony Holiday Pops concert.

December 22, 2009

Grand Chute Police Chief job opening

The position of Grand Chute Police Chief is formally open and applications are now being accepted through 4:30 pm, January 15th at the Grand Chute town hall. The job posting can be found on the Grand Chute Web site, and a job description can be downloaded here.

December 18, 2009

Pawn America celebrates grand opening

Being a town supervisor isn't all meetings and emails. Sometimes, we get to do fun stuff too! Yesterday was one of those fun days. I attended the grand opening of Pawn America. Pawn America is located on Westhill Blvd, and occupies the area that used to house the Prime Quarter. This isn't a seedy looking pawn shop some may have perceived in their minds. Instead, this clean store is set up like many retail shops. It is split into different areas of jewelry, electronics, clothing and more. You can really find most anything, depending on the day. One of the most unique items I spotted was an accordian. It reminded me of my Aunt Marie. She's 90 and still cranks out a tune every now and then.

Pawn America also gives back to the community. They started the program Kids Feeding Kids. They fund and support the Boys and Girls by helping install kitchen facilities at the clubs. They also teach children about nutrition and being self-sufficient.

So, welcome Pawn American, ad thank you for helping create 16 jobs in Grand Chute.

December 14, 2009

Nature's Lane Trail

Part of Grand Chute's comprehensive plan is to enhance our parks and recreational trails. One of the planned trails connects Cedar Meadows subdivision to Arrowhead Park. Most of the trail will follow Nature's Lane. The majority of the trail will be stone with planking over wetland areas.

The trail is creating controversy amongst some Cedar Meadows residents who oppose the trial's proximity to their property and those that are looking forward to the Arrowhead Park access that the trail would provide. The final vote will take place at tomorrow evening's town board meeting.

One of the reason's I like town government is it allows participation by residents at a grass roots level. It's nice for me, as a supervisor to get public input. And there's been no shortage of public input by Cedar Meadows subdivision residents! I commend those on both sides of the issue for taking the time to phone, email and conduct petition drives.

While debate went on, the Town Board authorized solicitation of bids for trail construction from 11 companies. Nine responded under the town's guidelines, and the low bidder is Grade-Tech Pavers, Inc. of Ixonia, WI. Their bid was $73,728.50. Other factors affect the final trail cost and are noted below:

Trail Cost
$73,728
($10,000) paid by subdivision developer
($10,000) DNR matching grant

$53,728

Add about $20,000 for engineering, design and project management* figure is approximate
$73,728 total
(36,864) matching grant by DNR

$36,864 Approximate amount Nature's Lane trail will cost.

If approved, this will come out of the Capital Improvement fund, and is much lower than preliminary estimates of $90,000.

Sweat equity funds can also be matched by the DNR.

Construction of the trail is endorsed by the Grand Chute Parks Commission and Fox Cities Greenways.

Tomorrow evening's Town Board meeting starts at 7pm.

December 3, 2009

Behind the numbers — Police Department Meger Wrap-up Part 1

Some seemed surprised by Administrator Jim March's recommendation that negotiations between Grand Chute and Appleton for a police department merger be put to rest. On further examination, the numbers coming through at the end may give some insight behind the merger's demise.

Last week, I received a revised budget from the city of Appleton Finance department. They had combed through the previous budgetary figures and revised numbers to come up with a closer cost-case scenario. The new combined budget scenario was $386,404 more than the previous document. Adding in new officer wages under the 2010 union contract negotiations skyrocketed it up even further, an additional $511,597. A new, merged Appleton/Grand Chute Department now has a combined budget of $19,463,072. (See new budget numbers below)


Now that final figures were available, the eight-part formula the Police Merger Implementation Committee came up with to determine each municipality's annual cost could be used. The final percentage for Grand Chute was 20.54%.
cost sharing formula

It was reported in a memo to Town Board Supervisors from Interim Deputy Chief Peterson, that the merger would save Grand Chute $18,000. This savings would be wiped out by ancillary cost not yet determined by the City of Appleton. This is true if the 20.45% is applied to the merged budget savings number found on page 2 of the revised budget of $88,114.

HOWEVER, when the 20.54% is applied to the overall merged budget of $19,463,072, one can determine that Grand Chute's portion of the bill would be $4,023,429.

The 2010 Grand Chute Police Department Budget is $3,914,632.

A merged department would cost Grand Chute taxpayers $108,797 more than having the Grand Chute Police Department remain independent.

Part 2 next week