In a report released last week, village officials charged that recently retired police chief Doug Pettit violated village and police department policies and “betrayed” their trust in his dealings with the Union Sports Club.

The report called Pettit’s actions “reprehensible.”

The 1,900-word report is the result of an internal investigation conducted by attorney Warren Kraft, who specializes in municipal labor relations. The Village Board hired Kraft in April after officials learned that the Wisconsin Department of Justice was conducting its own investigation of Pettit, who was until this month the longest-tenured police chief in the state.

The investigation involved interviewing police department personnel, village officials and village residents, and “entailed reviewing thousands of documents and email communications,” the report says.

Kraft did not interview Pettit, however, who refused an offer to speak with the investigator. Pettit did not return the Observer’s phone calls after the report was released.

But in an Aug. 18 interview, Pettit dismissed the investigation as “one-sided” and speculative.

The Village Board’s report alleges that beginning sometime in 2006, Pettit and other Oregon police officers used village resources, including uniforms, squad cars and other equipment, while working off-duty at the Union Sports Club on Braun Road.

The report says Pettit accepted payments from the club in cash or personal check. He in turn paid officers in cash, the report says, without documentation.

The report indicates that some police officers decided not to return to the club after working there once or twice, while others continued to work off-duty.

Juan Serate, the club’s former manager, told the Observer in June that officers had worked off-duty at the club until December 2013. The board voted in June not to renew the club’s liquor license.

The report also claims that Pettit directed his staff to remove incident reports at the club from the police log to prevent village officials and the public from knowing the number of police calls. The reports were held for a month and later placed back in the police log after Observer reporters had checked them, according to the statement released last Thursday.

Village officials had been discussing Oregon Police Department personnel in closed sessions since late last year but didn’t hire their own investigator until they’d learned of the DOJ probe in April.

That investigation focuses on Pettit’s actions “that may rise to the level of misconduct in public office,” the board’s statement says.

“While the Department of Justice investigation focuses on Chief Pettit, the allegations raised collateral issues regarding conduct by individual employees in the Police Department that needed to be addressed by the Village Board,” the statement says. “As a result, the scope of the Village Board’s investigation was much broader and focused primarily on Chief Pettit’s alleged conduct and secondarily on collateral issues involving individual department employees.”  

Pettit began working for the Oregon Police Department in December 1975 and retired effective Monday, Sept. 1. Prior to retiring, Pettit was the longest tenured police chief in the state, having served almost 29 years.

The Village Board voted in April to increase Pettit’s annual salary to $96,000 after he complained about his income relative to other police chiefs in comparable communities.

He went on personal and medical leave in May, and his retirement package includes some health benefits that had been converted from unaccrued sick leave.

The village hired Dale Burke to serve as interim police chief in June.

‘Conflict of interest’

In an interview with the Observer last week, Village President Steve Staton said he and other officials became aware last year that officers were working off-duty at the Union Sports Club “wearing village uniforms and using village equipment, cars and so forth.”

“I knew our officers were working there, but I thought they were on-duty,” Staton said.

Looking into the matter “kind of got the ball rolling, and one thing led to another” in uncovering the extent of the former chief’s alleged misconduct, he said.

Staton said information contained in the village’s report is the result of Kraft’s investigation. The DOJ’s investigation is ongoing.

“What we have in this report is based on extensive investigation – interviews, review of electronic records – and they’re facts,” Staton said.

“This went wrong the way that it did because people like myself and Mike Gracz (village administrator) and the trustees – we trusted Doug Pettit,” Staton added. “We had confidence that he did things right, and he didn’t. He betrayed us. He violated our trust.”

Along with accepting cash payments for off-duty work while using village equipment and resources, Pettit is alleged to have conducted an alcohol compliance check at the Union Sports Club before directing a subordinate to sign a compliance-check document instead of signing himself.

“With regard to the cash payments and compliance checks, in my opinion, that was a clear conflict of interest of how Chief Pettit conducted himself,” Staton said. “The facts speak for themselves.”

The report also says Pettit directed two Village of Oregon police officers to travel out of the department’s jurisdiction and meet with a person who owed money for off-duty work performed by the chief and other officers.

Withheld information

Staton seemed particularly bothered about Pettit not providing information to the Village Board.

The report said Pettit also failed to inform village officials of the number of annual police calls to Union Sports Club or that the club had been “raided” by the  Department of Revenue in 2012.

“Things were happening at the sports club that he pulled out of the record to keep secret,” he charged.

In Staton’s tenure as Village President, he has led the Village Board in rewriting the village’s ordinance governing alcohol licenses and sales.

“Doug Pettit was heavily involved in helping us rewrite our liquor license ordinance and applications,” he noted. “He knew it was important to me and the board to stay on top of this.

“When we’d do (liquor) license renewals, I would always ask the chief if there are any businesses we should be concerned about. And he would say no, we checked them all and they’re fine. Well that was wrong, because the Union Sports Club had 344 incidents.”

Pettit defended himself in a June interview with the Observer.

He said there was “no defined procedure in terms of reviewing the liquor license – what we provided the Village Board every June when they’re reviewing liquor licenses for any facility.”

Pettit acknowledged that the liquor license policy requires a review of all license holders “to make the board aware of any concerns or problems that exist.” He said he didn’t mention the sports club’s history because the number of incidents reported to police didn’t seem excessive.

The club’s dances were often attended by 300 or 400 people.

“I’m just stating that I didn’t think that was excessive and others do,” he said. “This is based on my experience and what I’ve seen in other operations that hold large numbers of people.”

Pettit said it was “disappointing that someone would insinuate that I would intentionally not report something to the Village Board for any sort of personal gain.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said in the June interview. “I’ve been a police chief in this community for 29 years, and I’ve always put the community’s interest before mine or before the police department’s, for that matter, and that’s the way I’ve always policed this community.”

Pettit also said he didn’t know about the DOJ’s 2012 raid on the club.

Staton disputed the denial, saying the chief knew shortly after the raid occurred and should have informed village officials.

“We should have been told about what was happening at the Union Sports Club,” he said.

Staton pointed out that not every police officer agreed with the way that Pettit conducted police department oversight at the club.

“I can tell you that some officers stopped working there because they felt things were not running the way they should be with regard to what the police were doing, so they quit going,” he said. “They wouldn’t sign up.”

Adding oversight

Staton said that in light of what’s happened, the Village Board intends to have better oversight of the Police Department and its chief going forward.

“We’ll be getting monthly reports from Chief Burke on matters of significance and also having more conversations with him,” Staton explained.

However, he added, it still comes down to trust.

“No matter what you set up for reporting, it doesn’t work if the person in charge doesn’t tell you,” he said. “We can’t micromanage all village departments. There’s not enough time, so you have to have people you can trust that they’re going to do things right.”

Staton said the Village Board decided not to bring a case against Pettit before the Police Commission because he no longer works for the village, and “it would have been extremely costly.”

The Observer requested information on how much money the village spent on attorneys’ fees since beginning the investigation, but did not receive a response by press time.

In its report on a local investigation into police personnel and procedural issues, the Village Board mentioned a number of steps that village officials, and especially interim police chief Dale Burke, have taken.

The local investigation followed a separate state Department of Justice investigation and uncovered several troubling issues beyond what the state was looking into. The report charges that recently retired police chief Doug Pettit violated village and police department policies and deliberately withheld information from the Village Board and the press in order to cover up goings-on at a local nightclub.

The Observer spoke with Village President Steve Staton and Burke last week after the report was released to the public. They discussed why the village isn’t pressing further with disciplinary actions for Pettit but is still looking into consequences for officers, what the department will be doing to correct the situation and how it can be prevented in the future.

OO: In its report, the Village Board says Doug Pettit’s retirement “eliminated the need for the Board to proceed with formal charges before the Police Commission.” But if Pettit violated village ordinances and policies, should he not be held accountable by the village, regardless of whether he’s still employed?

Staton: The Village Board felt we needed to bring this to closure, and if we brought this to the Police Commission, those costs would have gone way up. It would have been extremely costly.

I think there’s accountability in what he did. He’s no longer working for the village, and he has to face the things that he did before the public as he sees people.

And the Department of Justice’s investigation is ongoing.

OO: The report says that some officers made errors in judgment and have accepted responsibility for their actions. What does that mean? How have they accepted responsibility?

Burke: One of the things that came out of the investigation is that there was no intent on the part of any of the officers involved to deceive anybody or to inappropriately profit from that activity.

Their feeling was because they were performing these duties within the village and in uniform and using village resources with the approval and under the direction of the police chief, that the activity was known and approved by the members of the village administration.

As it turns out, that was not the case. But that was their belief. That turned out to be in error.

OO: Assuming that they acknowledge there were errors in judgment and officers have accepted responsibility for their actions, in what ways have they accepted responsibility? Have there been any consequences?

Burke: We’re not entirely finished with that end of things. With regard to the individual officers, the Village Board kind of delegated their authority to me to deal with what they felt were minor issues surrounding this whole thing.

So I’m still in the process of meeting with each of the officers and then once that is completed, I will be letting the board know what, if any, consequences there would be to an individual officer.

OO: How many officers are we talking about?

Burke: I’m meeting individually with every officer that did any off-duty work using Village of Oregon resources, under the direction of the chief, within the village. That includes working high school events, Summer Fest, the Union Sports Club, and there was a period when a couple people worked at the ice arena.

To my knowledge, there are only two of our current officers that were never impacted in any way by one or more of those. There are 15 sworn officers right now. So essentially I’m meeting with 13 at least.

Once they realized that they may have been operating outside the scope of their employment, they have all realized this was a mistake. They assumed that because everything was being done out in the open and was under the direction of the chief, it wasn’t an issue. Once they realized it was an issue, they have been willing to do whatever they can to make this right.

So far I’ve met with four of the officers and I expect to meet with the other four next week, and then I’ll give my report to the board. So far they’ve all done exactly what we’ve asked of them to make this work.

OO: The report refers to a new system of oversight of the police department and chief by the Village Board. What is that new system? How does it work? How is it different?

Burke: What Mike Gracz and I have agreed to do is a thorough review of all our processes and protocols, just to make sure we’re both on the same page and that everything’s up to date and current and that things are as they should be.

I’ve made communication between myself and Mike and myself and the Village Board a high priority. I’m trying to provide them with information before they have the opportunity to even ask the question.
Although they may have asked the questions previously, they weren’t getting the answers that they needed or expected.

Since I’ve been here, I’m trying to do everything I can to make sure that they not only get the information that they want and need, but any information that I have.

My goal is to be as transparent as possible, and I think we have a better line of communication, which then yields a better oversight.
If they know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, then they feel much more comfortable that they know what’s going on and how it’s being done.

OO: As a result of the investigation, the board immediately addressed the system for considering sworn officers’ requests for off-duty and secondary employment, according to the report. How has that been addressed?

Staton: For one thing, we stopped all off-duty employment. We’ve changed how that was done for Summer Fest. Now officers are on-duty at Summer Fest.

The other thing that came up right at that same time was signing up to work at UW football games. Most municipalities have an agreement with the UW police department, and we now have that. The university pays by check, they do the withdrawals for W-2, and we were able to let our officers go ahead and work for them.

OO: The report says Chief Burke will establish protocols with the officers to make sure that these errors do not recur. What are they?

Burke: Just making sure that I know what people are doing, where they’re doing it and how they doing it. And making sure that things are being run through the village. If we’re working at Summer Fest or wherever, the payment goes to the village and has got to be what the officers’ pay and benefits would normally be.

So everything is run through the village now. There’s no handing of cash or checks to the individuals. It’s all run through the village, and that is the process going forward.

OO: The Observer reported that Pettit’s last performance evaluation was conducted by the village administrator. The chief received a glowing review and it appeared that he was almost a perfect employee. Obviously that was mistaken. Does the administrator bear some responsibility for his oversight of a village employee – i.e. the police chief?

Staton: I don’t think Mike Gracz bears responsibility because we were all fooled. How would Mike know? He did exit interviews with employees when they left, and nobody told him what was going on, and they could have.

Somebody could have come to me or another trustee and told us what was going on, but they didn’t. There’s nothing we would know unless somebody told us. We had no way of knowing. We were fooled, and our trust was violated.

Owners of the Braun Road sports complex hope to bring new life to the former Union Sports Club site.

A public hearing for a conditional use permit to have indoor sports and athletics at 155 Braun Road is set for 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 11.

Village administrator Mike Gracz said the request is to use the facility for indoor sports. The building had previously housed the Union Sports Club, which had ended its lease Aug. 31.

It’s basically going back to what the property was originally built for,” Gracz said.

Union Sports Club had leased the property for almost a decade until it’s liquor license was not renewed earlier this year. The village discovered liquor violations and other legal issues that prompted village officials to deny the renewal.

The building owner, Pleasant Sunset, LLC of Madison, is seeking the new use permit. Conditions of the agreement limit the use of the facility to indoor sports or fitness uses

The Oregon Village Board is expected to then consider the permit at its Sept. 22 meeting.

The village’s investigation into and reaction to irregularities within the police department continued to progress this week.

But it won’t include any official discipline of current officers.

On Monday, Dale Burke was sworn in as the village’s acting police chief, the Village Board briefly discussed plans to devise new policies and management of the department and trustees held a closed-session discussion of potential disciplinary action against certain officers.

Burke, who had been paid $1,846 per week as a consultant with the title of interim police chief during former chief Doug Pettit’s medical leave since June, will not be paid extra nor have any additional duties as a result of the title change, save for formal statutory authority that had previously been Pettit’s.

In fact, Burke will almost certainly be paid less than he was before, as his new agreement will provide a combination of salary and hourly pay that will be capped at the same amount. Burke is expected to work less than full time much of the time.

The switch, rather, was an acknowledgement of the change in situation with Pettit’s retirement, something that had been expected all along but was not effective until Sept. 1. The village’s police commission voted Aug. 26 to make Burke the acting police chief.

Village administrator Mike Gracz told the Observer on Monday afternoon that the village will work with the commission to determine a process for hiring a permanent chief. Burke, a former University of Wisconsin police administrator, has held several consultant roles since retiring in 2010 and made it clear to the Observer on Tuesday he is not looking for a permanent position.

“This is definitely short-term,” he said, while acknowledging that it likely will be several months before the position is filled permanently. “My job now is to fill the gap between Chief Pettit’s retirement and when the village sees fit to fill the position.”

‘Errors in judgment’

Burke’s first official act in that technically new role was presenting a plan for responding to the actions of officers involved in the Union Sports Club controversy, which sparked a state Department of Justice investigation and led to the village’s deeper probe of the police department. That plan includes “a mix of counseling, mentoring and training which will take place over the period of time that I am employed by the village,” Burke said in a statement he released after the board meeting.

Two weeks ago, the village released results of its internal investigation, which found that Pettit, among other things, hid incidents at the Union Sports Club, took cash payments for officers’ off-duty security work there and distributed the cash to them under the table. It concluded Pettit’s actions were “reprehensible” and officers should have known their undocumented moonlighting was not approved by the village.

But Burke, in his three months here so far, had found that violations were “unintentional errors in judgment” and that the officers have since “cooperated fully,” according to the statement.

Burke also told the Observer it is his belief there will be no state discipline of the officers involved, either. He said he has spoken with a person involved in that investigation and was able to confirm that the investigation does not involve any current members of the department.

Burke is otherwise “out of the loop,” he said, but he agreed that statement suggested only one person remains the subject of that investigation: Pettit.

Prior to his retirement, Pettit had been the longest-serving police chief in the state, at 29 years.

And with Burke acting as a buffer between the culture Pettit created in the department and whoever will follow him, the acting chief’s plan is to ensure that there are no outstanding issues or legacy problems for the new chief to deal with.

“I don’t want that individual to have to look in the rear-view mirror,” Burke said.

He said he expects the board will want to “put a little time and space” between the Pettit administration and whoever follows.

Changes ahead

In the meantime, Burke and the village are preparing to ensure such problems are avoided in the future with clearer oversight of the police department. Gracz informed the board that the public safety and protection committee plan to discuss new policies beginning Sept. 29.

“Just because the investigation is over with, we’re not done,” village administrator Mike Gracz told the Observer on Monday.

Currently, the police chief is hired and fired by the Police Commission, and officers face discipline through that commission only at the chief’s request. The Village Board oversees the chief, who in turn oversees his department.

One potential way of changing the management structure, for example, could give the administrator greater oversight of either the department or the chief. But that could be a complicated change, Gracz explained, so the committee might spend the bulk of its time early on discussing policy changes.

Already, the board made one policy clarification this spring, when it prohibited sworn officers from working off-duty while representing themselves as village officers (in uniform).

But Burke is looking for more substantive change in his time as acting chief. He said any problems within the department so far are “fixable and correctable” and that the best way to repair any broken connections with the community is through communication.

Already, he has begun planning meetings with community groups like the Rotary, the school district and the Chamber of Commerce. He wants his officers to reach out and “develop partnerships within the community,” as well.

“That’s one of my strengths,” Burke said. “I really encourage people if they have issues or concerns, talk to me, because I’ll listen.”

Though it will be a year’s wait, when it’s all said and done, the new-look Jaycee Park East Athletic fields will have a safer playing surface, while area parents might have a bit less mud to clean off jerseys.

Construction on the first phase ($500,000 cost) of a park renovation project began earlier this month, said Oregon School District business manager Andy Weiland. This initial work will upgrade the soccer and baseball playing surface, as about two-thirds of the field will be re-graded to improve drainage and provide a more level playing area. Drain tiles will be installed to help remove excess water, while in-ground sprinklers will reduce the work needed to water the fields. Water and sewer utilities will be installed for future restroom and concession capabilities.

Weiland said though the project is slated to be “substantially complete” by mid-October, the playing fields will be unavailable until the fall of 2015 to make sure the grass has taken root and is ready for use in competition.

Weiland said funds are still needed to complete many of the amenities for the complex in the next phase of project. The Oregon Soccer Club has donated $25,000 toward future work at the site. To learn more or donate, email Weiland at atw@oregonsd.net or Mike Carr at mcarr@oregonsd.net) or call 835-4335.​​

A former audio technician at People’s United Methodist Church was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for downloading hundreds of thousands of images of child pornography and taking suggestive photos of children during church events.

Brandon A. Finch, 23, of Fitchburg, was arrested Feb. 10 and charged with four felony counts of possession of child pornography following an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and Wisconsin Department of Justice. He was immediately fired when church officials learned of his arrest.

Finch will seek help for depression, autism spectrum disorder, obsessive behavior and social maladjustment, said his attorney Adam Welch, according to a story in Saturday’s Wisconsin State Journal. By court order, Finch will have an additional 10 years of extended supervision upon his release.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Elke said the fact that Finch took photos of the private areas of clothed children at the church contributed to his sentence, which was a year longer than the three years Welch asked for – the state’s minimum penalty for possession of child pornography, according to the Wisconsin State Journal story. Assistant District Attorney Corey Stephan had recommended a six-year sentence.

According to online court records, as part of the sentencing, upon his release, Finch will be prohibited from possessing or using a camera, computer or other devices that access the Internet or store data electronically. He is also prohibited from having any contact – “direct or indirect” – with any children under the age of 18 without prior written approval of an agent of the courts. He is also not allowed near People’s United Methodist Church.  

February arrest

According to the criminal complaint, a special agent from the Wisconsin Department of Justice visited Finch at his home on the morning of Feb. 10, where Finch admitted to having downloaded child pornography onto the hard drive of his personal computer. During a search of that computer, six images of children who attend the church were discovered.

People’s United Methodist Church pastor Jason Mahnke told the Observer that Finch took photographs of six clothed girls during church events, using his personal camera and downloading the photos to his home computer without sharing them with the church.

“What he did at the church was technically not illegal but was creepy,” Mahnke said. “It was against our sanctuary policy. He’s not ever going to be allowed back.”

Mahnke said Finch passed a background check and was hired by the church in January 2010 to run the sound booth during worship services and photograph church events for the church’s website. While he was known as a “socially awkward” person who had “special needs” in high school, Mahnke said there was nothing to suggest anything abnormal.  

“It came completely out of nowhere,” he said. “Brandon was a part of the church for I don’t know how far back, and they were trying to find him ways to grow as a person.”

At the behest of Homeland Security officials, Oregon School District superintendent Dr. Brian Busler emailed a letter to district parents on Feb. 11 to inform them of the situation, as one of the district’s 4K programs – “Little Angels Christian Preschool” – has been held at the church for the past four years. Busler said while Homeland Security officials told him they didn’t think there was “anything to worry about from a 4K standpoint,” they insisted he write the letter. Nothing else concerning Finch came up as a result of the letter.

A preliminary look at the village’s 2015 budget projections paints a picture less dire than what was typically seen in the past few years, and especially during the Great Recession.

But with other costs going up on the heels of years of tighter budgets, the village’s Finance committee will still have to be thrifty as it begins producing the budget next month.

State law limits the village’s ability to raise new revenue for operations, tying it to a growth figure called net new construction.

With $19 million in net new construction, the village can raise general fund revenue in next year’s budget by about $90,000 through the tax levy, administrator Mike Gracz estimated.

That’s a growth rate of 2.25 percent – the fourth highest of all Dane County’s cities and villages.

Most of that growth is in single-family homes built on the village’s west side last year – a total of 57 – as well as seven commercial buildings for overall growth of $24 million (including such things as personal property and increased land value).

“That’s what is generating the increase in the value,” Gracz told the Observer. “It’s a nice number. We’re never going to get back up to where we’re averaging more than 100 (single-family homes) a year.”

So far this year, construction was started on 34 single-family homes and three commercial properties.

Gracz said the village is still facing a deficit, in the department income, of about $50,000 for next year’s budget.

He said that number could change dramatically because it has some estimates figured in, including a projected 8 percent increase in health insurance costs.

Most of the village’s full-time employees, about 65, are on the health insurance plan.

“It’s a big impact on the village’s budget,” Gracz said.

He said the village’s ability to generate $90,000 in new revenue will also have a strong impact on the deficit.

“We’ll have to decide are we going to keep all that new growth in the general fund or put some in equipment or streets,” he explained. “It’s divvying up how much extra revenue.

“If we left all that money in here, and we get a good number on health insurance, it would probably eliminate that deficit.”

The Village Board will hold its first of three scheduled meetings on the budget at 6 p.m. Oct. 13 in Village Hall. The public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17.

The village has taken steps in the past two weeks to allow the first trains to run on the rail line here since 1997.

The Village Board last week approved hiring a firm to provide railroad-engineering services at the Braun Road entrance to Alpine Business Park. And on Monday, the board approved a temporary license agreement with Wisconsin & Southern Railroad so that the company can begin using the rail line this fall.

The village last week hired TerraTec Engineering to oversee the installation of gates and automatic flashing lights at the Braun Road crossing. The Commissioner of Railroads last year ordered the village to install the crossing devices so that Wisconsin & Southern can begin using the reactivated rail line to haul aggregate for Lycon Inc.’s ready mix concrete production plant in the business park.

The village will pay TerraTec a lump sum of $12,000 for the service, which includes drawing up bid documents, providing bidding assistance and overseeing the construction of the gates and flashing lights.

The construction is estimated to cost about $250,000, which will come from the village’s TIF 2 account. The business park is in the village’s Tax Increment Financing District 2.

Public works director Mark Below said Tuesday that the installation of the gates “probably won’t happen until July or August of next year.”

The village earlier this year raised the elevation of Braun Road at the rail crossing by one foot to meet the demands of Wisconsin & Southern, the company that will operate the rail line.

Wisconsin & Southern’s director of government relations, Ken Lucht, attended this week’s Village Board meeting and asked the village to approve a temporary licensing agreement with the railroad company so that it could begin running trains on the line.

He explained that Wisconsin & Southern has been working on the tracks this summer and is far enough along that trains can begin running, but the company’s application to use the line as a common carrier won’t be approved by the Surface Transportation Board until November – too late to meet Lycon’s needs this year.

“They need two or three trains running to give them enough material to operate for the rest of the year,” Lucht told the board.

He said for the foreseeable future, trains will run only from April to October, when Lycon is producing concrete in the business park.

Village attorney Matt Dregne recommended the board approve the temporary licensing agreement with Wisconsin & Southern contingent on proof of insurance policy limits and confirmation from Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Wisconsin Rail River Transit Commission.

Lucht said those contingencies would be met this week.

Village officials initially objected to the railroad commissioner’s order that the village install gates and flashing lights at the Braun Road crossing. Village administrator Mike Gracz and Below had said installing crossbucks and stop signs would be sufficient, given that Lycon plans to use only two or three trains per week for its production plant.

Also, trains running on the line will be restricted to traveling at 25 mph, and 20 mph when nearing Braun Road at the Alpine Business Park.

In denying the village’s objection, the railroad commissioner noted that the Braun Road crossing would have three sets of tracks because of a spur off the main line that will extend into the business park to Lycon’s production facility.

“The presence of multiple tracks is one of the key factors warranting the installation of automatic flashing lights with gates,” the commissioner’s office wrote in a letter to the village.

The rail line, which had been inactive since 1997, has been reactivated between McCoy Road in Fitchburg and Butts Corner Road, about one mile north of Evansville.

But in response to a question from Trustee Jerry Bollig, Lucht said trains would run only as far south as Netherwood Road.

Other business

In other business Monday, the Village Board:

• Approved a three-year lease agreement with the Oregon Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has used office space in Village Hall, rent free, since October 2011.

• Renewed a contact with the Town of Oregon for Village of Oregon police services. Village police officers work in the township for 20 hours per month. The village charges the town an annual fee of $17,740 for the service. The contract approved Monday is effective Jan. 1, 2015 – Dec. 31, 2015.

• Approved a proposal to name the bike trail that’s under construction north of the village “The Oregon Rotary Bike Trail.” The Rotary Club has pledged to contribute at least $10,000 toward the construction cost.

Longtime Village of Brooklyn President Nadine Walsten will not run for re-election in April.

Walsten announced her decision in the village’s September newsletter.

In her letter, she wrote she had accomplished most of her goals and felt it was time to “move on and let the next phase of development occur.”

Walsten expanded on her letter to the Observer Monday, saying she felt the village is now in a position to develop economically.

“When I got on the board and became village president, Brooklyn was not ready for economic development and now it is,” Walsten said in a phone call. “There’s still a whole bunch more that needs to be done, but I’m really pleased and I’d feel real comfortable having another person become village president and pick up and go do what they want to do.”

She did write in the letter that the village still faces “huge challenges,” including growing its commercial tax base and creating jobs for low-income residents.

“I would hope that whoever becomes the next village president would be committed to the objectives and the strategic plans that have been made and move forward with those,” she told the Observer.

Her accomplishments in her 10 years as village president included the creation of the Brooklyn Business Park last year. Thus far, no businesses have been publicly announced as tenants for the park, and Walsten declined to comment Monday.

“Things are progressing, that’s all I can say,” she said.

Walsten also has had repeated conflicts with village trustee Sue McCallum this year, continuing a pattern that began several years ago. The disagreements have led to contentious village board meetings at times and disputes over attorneys’ fees.

With the extra time, Walsten said she plans to travel, spend more time with her family and “a number of things I haven’t had a chance to do.”

“My bucket list has a lot of dust on it,” she said with a laugh.

Mason’s on Main, the fine-dining restaurant in downtown Oregon, closed suddenly on Tuesday.

A message on the business’s Facebook page said simply, “It was a hard decision to make, and it saddens us deeply to announce that Mason’s on Main will be closing it’s [sic] doors, effective immediately. We’d like to thank our customers and staff for their dedication.”

The restaurant opened in late May 2013 on South Main Street after owners Jerry and Bonnie Thiel renovated the former Masonic Temple (at 119 S. Main) and the building that formerly housed Senor Peppers Mexican Restaurant (113. S. Main St.).

They opened a wall separating the two buildings and built a casual bistro-style restaurant on the north side and an upscale dining room with white linen napkins and tablecloths in the south side.

The Thiels also own a building on the same block at the corner of South Main Street and Jefferson Street that houses DeBroux’s Diner and Academy of Sound.

They often talked about their respect for the historic buildings and reverence for the skilled craftsmen who built them.

They painstakingly restored the buildings over the course of a year, prior to the opening of Mason’s on Main. The north building was constructed in 1877; the former Masonic Temple went up in 1898.

The Thiels didn’t return the Observer’s phone calls before press time on Tuesday.

A major Dane County park acquisition in the Town of Oregon that began taking shape more than five years ago is starting to come together as volunteers work on the land.

While the overall project to bring the 380-acre park to its ultimate use, which could include an agriculture center and campsites, will be years-long, volunteers are working to put it together one aspect at a time. First, a walking trail.

“We’re looking to get more and more of the community out,” said Roe Parker, president of the Friends of Anderson Park group.

“Some of this, it looks like it could come out of a Harry Potter movie,” he added with a laugh.

Volunteers from the Friends group worked much of the summer and fall on a few projects, and their efforts are showing as a mile-long trail is now open for walking.

It’s not perfect – you’ll have to watch for some tree roots and be sure to put on some mosquito spray – but Parker said he’s seen some people using it already and expects that use to only grow as they continue their work and getting the word out.

Currently, volunteers are clearing buckthorn to eventually help clear more of the underbrush on the trails.

Earlier in the summer, volunteers also created a GPS inventory of the trees in the forest area, totaling 800 or 900 points, Parker said.

“It’ll help us for managing the forest,” he said. “Grants are really not gifts, they’re sort of like a contract of sorts. People are going to want to know where they are going to get the benefit for their money.”

Parker said one of the group’s focuses is using the land for educational purposes moving forward, and he’s currently having conversations with a class at Oregon High School as well as Verona Eagle Scouts.

The group is also working to become a 501(c)3 group so it can obtain grants for the park.

Winter uses are still up in the air, Parker said, as the group works with the county on potentially plowing the parking lot on Union Road at one entrance to the trail.

With the park jutting right against the Village of Oregon limits, including entrances at S. Main Street, where an information kiosk is planned for the future, and other neighborhood roads, Parker said he looks forward to more people finding out about the park as the group continues to expand its uses.

“When you think that something this sort of native and pristine is available and we’re less than half a mile from the village limits, I think that’s what’s unique about the park,” he said. “People are really tickled to learn that there’s such a great resource so close by.”

The Friends group will hold its next meeting Oct. 15 at the Town of Oregon hall. There will also be a Harvest Bonfire celebration Nov. 8 from 4-6 p.m.

For more information, visit andersonparkfriends.org.

Officials are looking for public input on a future expansion of U.S. Hwy. 14 between Oregon and Brooklyn.

The project – slated for construction as early as 2018 – would make the road a four-lane divided highway between Hwy. 138 and Hwy. 92. New intersections and limited access to the new road are part of the preliminary plans that will be presented next week.

The meeting is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9,  in the Oregon Middle School cafeteria, 601 Pleasant Oak Drive. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) will have staff on hand to answer questions.

“This will be an open house format meeting with a formal presentation at 5:30 p.m.,” the WisDOT said in a news release. “The public is encouraged to attend the meeting, provide input and ask questions concerning this project.”

Adding more lanes between Oregon and Brooklyn has long been part of the WisDOT plan for Hwy. 14. Right-of-way for the possible expansion and realignment was purchased in 1976. The proposed route would follow a more linear north-south path on land west of the current highway.

Potential improvements also include possible interchanges at the intersections of the new Hwy. 14 and Hwy. A, and at Hwy. 14 and state Hwy.  92. Intersection designs are still conceptual. Original documents called for an at-grade intersection at Hwy. A, but a more recent maps shows a grade separated intersection with on and off ramps. WisDOT officials plan to update the project’s environmental impact statement once a final design is selected.

Near Oregon, WisDOT documents show the old Hwy. 14 being truncated with a cul de sac and a new connection to Hwy. 138 east of town. A park and ride lot is also planned for that area, but no date for construction has been set.

Once the new Hwy. 14 is built, repairs and updates to the old Hwy. 14 would be made, sometime around 2024, WisDOT documents show.

Questions can be directed to WisDOT project manager Mike Rampetsreiter at 246-7917.  Written comments regarding the project can be mailed to Mike Rampetsreiter, WisDOT SW Region, 2101 Wright Street, Madison, WI 53704, or by email at michael.rampetsreiter@dot.wi.gov.

Town of Rutland board chairman Dale Beske is leaving the township after serving as an official, in one capacity or another, for the past 28 years.

Beske began serving as town chairman in June 2000, but he was a Town Board and Planning Commission member for 14 years before being elected to lead the town.

His last day will be Oct. 15.

Beske said he enjoyed all the years of public service because it helped him keep in touch with what was happening in the township.

“It was always interesting, and I really met a lot of people in the town that I may not have otherwise met,” he told the Observer last week. “I just had more knowledge of what was going on in the town, as well as the three surrounding municipalities.”

Beske grew up in Waupun and moved to Madison in the late 1960s to attend University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’d been working as a student employee when he graduated in 1970.

The department he was working for invited him to stay on as an IT specialist. He’s worked in administrative IT ever since – 43 years.

Beske retired from that work in 2012. His wife also had a career at the university, and now that both are retired, they decided to buy a larger home to allow more room for their hobbies and interests.

When he first joined the Rutland Planning Commission, Beske didn’t have any bigger plans for his involvement. Now, nearly three decades later, he’s ready to move on and see how the next chapter of his life unfolds.

It’s likely to involve moving lots of plants.

“I would say for the next year I’m going to be pretty busy with the moving and working on the houses (the one he’s selling and the one in the Town of Verona he’s already purchased),” Beske said. “My wife and I do a lot of gardening, so we have a lot of plants to move.” 

Accomplishments

Beske counts completing the township’s comprehensive plan in 2005 and reducing the speed limit on town roads to 45 mph as among the town’s most significant accomplishments during his tenure.

“I expected that we would get some complaints that it was too low, but actually we got multiple compliments and no complaints, which surprised me,” he said.

The Town Board also wrote a communications tower ordinance and sited three towers while he was chair.

“The first two were somewhat controversial,” he recalled. “The third one was located on town property and helps to generate a little revenue for the town.”

He credited a group of volunteers and town residents for donating money, time and labor to restoring the historic Rutland Church on Hwy. 14.

“It was all grants and donations and a lot of volunteer labor,” Beske said. “We appointed a committee that had some very energetic and hardworking people who really saw the whole thing through.”

He mentioned Mark Hanson, Myron Bacon, Jerry Neath and the Anthony family – among a host of others – for making significant contributions to the project.

Beske also worked with Village of Brooklyn officials and the state DOT to reinstall the drainage system along Hwy. 92.

In 2007 and again the following year, stormwater flooded the highway and had reduced Hwy. 14 to one traffic lane during the worst period of flooding.

Beske said discussions about a solution began in 2008 and the actual work was conducted in 2012. 

A disappointment or two

Beske said he was disappointed that officials were not able to win the town’s approval to build a new Town Hall while he served as town chair.

“We purchased three acres for the erection of a new Town Hall and did contract with an architect for the design,” he explained. “But we have not been successful in getting the electorate’s approval for the construction of it, because of the cost.

“The new chair will have to figure out how to deal with that,” he added. “It was a little disappointing that we weren’t able to get it built.”

He’s also concerned about the shortage of firefighter/EMT volunteers. Beske said more volunteers would help the districts financially and would also mean better service for the communities.

Rutland is split between three fire/EMS districts – Brooklyn, Oregon and Stoughton – and supports all three financially.

“All three of the surrounding municipalities built new fire stations while I was Town Chair,” he noted. “Stoughton pretty much did their own design, and we worked out an agreement with them for payments of our share of that building.

“We were a little bit more heavily involved with the Oregon and Brooklyn decisions about what to build and how big to build it.” 

Dedication and value

In his typical humble fashion, Beske noted there are others working for Rutland who have been at it longer than his 28 years.

“Dawn George has been the clerk for I think 32 years, and Jan Walker was treasurer for 24,” he said. “She retired from that and since then has been on the Planning Commission or the board, so she has about 32 years in one capacity or another. There are a number of people who have been there for quite a while.”

Beske acknowledged that serving as town chairman has required a lot of time and dedication. He figured he’s attended 8-10 meetings a month.

“And then there’s preparation time and fielding whatever calls come in – whether it’s about snowplowing or mowing the ditches or pushing the brush back along the road,” Beske said.

He would often get questions, by phone or email, about the landfill or zoning issues. And the town chair is also responsible for following up on decisions of the Town Board.

“A lot of it is working with the clerk to implement whatever’s been decided at a board meetings, whether it’s a purchase or a letter to be written or whatever – you know, just following up on things after the meeting,” he said. “It does take a fair amount of time.”

In addition to his work for the township, Beske served on the Oregon Area Fire/EMS Commission and also participated in decisions related to the Oregon Area Senior Center.

Oregon village administrator Mike Gracz said Beske was invaluable for his knowledge, memory and attention to detail.

“Dale is one of the finest public servants I’ve ever worked with,” Gracz said. “He was on the working group that put together that really complicated agreement for the senior center, and he really helped us figure out the formula. I don’t think we could have done it without him.”

Town of Brooklyn residents have a couple important decisions coming in early November, and town officials are hoping to get as much information to them as possible ahead of time.

Town board Chairman Jim Scrivner and Clerk Dan Meixelsperger hope the Oct. 11 information session from 1-3 p.m. at the Brooklyn Fire/EMS building will be more heavily attended than a similar session in September.

The first decision town residents will make is on the Nov. 4 ballot as a referendum to change the town clerk position from elected to appointed. Meixelsperger said an audit of the town from an outside agency determined the position should be appointed.

The change would up the salary of the clerk and set his or her hours at just more than 25 per week, but would also allow for more qualified applicants, as the only requirement for an elected clerk is to be a resident of the town.

An appointee, with more professional qualifications, also “helps a good board change over and stay healthy,” Meixelsperger said.

Meixelsperger also hopes to dispel the notion that an appointed clerk would only work for the board, as he said regardless of appointment or election, a clerk is bound by the same statutes.

Two days later, town residents who attend the Nov. 6 board meeting will vote on allowing the board to surpass the town’s levy limit by $295,000 per year. That seems big for a town that has a $353,063 levy as is, but both Scrivner and Meixelsperger said it’s the best plan a committee made up of board members and town citizens could come up with to fix aging roads.

The money would be spent on that road construction, something Scrivner said has not gotten the attention it needs in recent years as funds meant for upkeep of the roads has been spent elsewhere as other costs have risen. In addition to not spending money needed for upkeep, construction costs are higher now, compounding the problem, Scrivner said.

That decision will not be on the Nov. 4 ballot, as the town has under 3,000 residents and the decision can therefore be made by an up-or-down vote of any electors present at a town board meeting.

The long-term outlook is a 40-year plan to fix 41 miles of road, though the vote this year will only be for the first five years before town residents have a chance to renew the levy increase.

“We’re not trying to do it in perpetuity,” Meixelsperger said.

The increase would cost the owner of a $250,000 home $500 in property taxes from the town.

Both Scrivner and Meixelsperger plan to step down from their posts in April, but believe both measures will help the long-term health of the town.

“Do they want a long-term strategy, or do they want to just live with what they have?” Meixelsperger said. “We don’t want to kick (the decision) down the road.”

Public works projects, safety improvements and human services continue to top the list of county budget priorities for this coming year. 

Dane County executive Joe Parisi released his 2015 executive budget last Wednesday, with an emphasis on communication systems, road projects, personnel costs and county lands and lakes.

His proposed budget will be reviewed by county committees and eventually the full County Board. The budget is usually adopted by Thanksgiving, with discussions slated for this month.

Locally, specific projects include additional money for road projects and recreation improvements.

The proposed budget includes:

• $110,000 for joint repairs with the Village of Oregon on County Hwy. MM

• $25,000 for a well at Anderson Farm County Park

Taxpayer impact

The proposed operating budget includes a $6 million levy increase to bring the total to around $530 million for 2015. Parisi said this increase falls within the state-imposed limits with a 4.07 percent increase. 

The county is working with a $509 million operating budget this year. Parisi said it would cost the county about $3.5 million to maintain the same level of service as this year. 

In preparing the budget, Parisi instructed department heads to only propose new spending if the funding came from new revenue, “through new partnerships or by reallocating existing dollars to reduce the need for taxpayer dollars,” Parisi said in a news release.

Parisi said the county’s portion of a homeowner’s property tax bill accounts for about 15 percent of the total. The projected tax rate – $3.118 – will rise by about 1 cent per $100,000 in assessed value compared with last year, but an increase in assessed values means taxpayers will pay slightly more. Actual tax rates vary by municipality due to different assessment calculations and special levies for libraries or public health initiatives. 

The county executive has proposed a smaller capital budget for 2015 – $39 million compared to last year’s $44.7 million.

DaneCom

Countywide changes include a $4 million capital investment in DaneCom, a communication system project several years in the making that aims to allow different agencies to work together on one radio system. 

More than a half-million dollars will also be used to cover operating costs of the new system, which is expected to fix some holes in coverage.

Parisi’s plan calls for no new local government contributions, a move that was praised by the Dane County Cities and Villages Association. The DCCVA and county were at odds several years ago, when local governments were asked to chip in a share of the operation and maintenance fees.

The money will be used to help pay for four additional transmission towers built by Harris Communications and will provide stronger coverage for radios. 

“It will also be far and away better than any coverage proposed as part of the original $30 million design that was widely supported by public safety associations across the county,” Parisi said in a letter to county board supervisors. 

In addition to the DaneCom improvements, Parisi is asking to add five new staff members to the county’s 911 call center and $630,000 for a 911 training and back-up dispatch center.

Highway operations

In addition to the local road reconstruction projects, Parisi’s budget calls for improvements to snow plowing and the county vehicle fleet.

Parisi is asking for 46 miles of county roads to be plowed 24-hours a day when needed and for $140,000 to purchase software that will help crews maximize their plowing route efficiency. 

He’s also asking for seven new compressed natural gas snowplows to be added by next winter. The plows will run on gas created from the county landfill.

Human services

As in years past, human services accounts for the more than half of the county budget. 

The proposed budget also includes $1.5 million in funding to continue Joining Forces for Families offices and the continued cooperation with the United Way and its early childhood learning zones. 

Mental Health Crisis Stabilization teams will continue to be funded, along with $35.4 million of other programs aimed at helping people with mental illness.

Nearly $80 million will go toward programs that assist people with developmental disabilities.

Work continues on finding solutions for a daytime homeless shelter in Madison, Parisi said. About $750,000 is allocated to help homeless families move into affordable housing. 

Lands and lakes

Parisi also introduced a combination of budget initiatives that will help preserve natural resources while finding ways to help people enjoy them. 

Programs that help reduce the amount of phosphorus that goes into area lakes aim to improve the health of the lake ecosystems. The county looks to work with farmers and urban contributors to cut back on the amount of phosphorus and pollutants. 

A new “PARC and Ride” $750,000 Grant Program will be open to all communities and will provide grants to improve bicycle interconnectivity and infrastructure.  

The Madison and Dane County Public Health Department issued a statement Thursday alerting anyone who used the Oregon swimming pool between Oct. 1-8 that someone who swam in the pool those days later tested positive for cryptosporidium.

According to the department, if pool users swallowed any pool water during that time, an infection could occur. The most common symptom is “mild to profuse diarrhea, along with nausea, vomiting and cramping” and possibly a fever. People with these symptoms in the past two weeks are asked to not use the pools.

If people have further health questions, they can call the Dane County Public Health Nurse help line at 266-4821.

The Oregon School District, which operates the pool, issued a statement Friday stating the pool would be closed for the day to undergo a "super chlorination,” in accordance with Dane County requirements. District superintendent Brian Busler said the water will be tested, and if all goes as planned, the pool would re-open Saturday.  The district alerted all parents of district students on Friday of the situation.

Oregon’s high-visibility drunken-driving patrol this year was successful enough that the village is already making plans to continue with the program.

But rather than one overwhelming show of force, Oregon likely will have two smaller patrols next year.

On May 9, the village had more than a dozen police agencies from all over the county saturating its roads and warning drivers. The vast majority of the 101 traffic stops ended up as warnings, but it did yield two OWI arrests.

It was part of the Capital Area OWI Task Force, which started in 2012 and will begin its fourth run sometime next spring. The goal of the patrols isn’t to catch people driving drunk as much as it is to prevent it altogether.

“The reason why we issue citations is to correct the behavior,” said Oregon police Sgt. Matt Wagner, who coordinated the local patrol. “A lot of this is for educational purposes, too. We’re not doing this to catch people drunk driving.”

Oregon joined later than most, and its addition this year brought the number of participating agencies to 14. The patrols rotate among the 11 municipalities involved (the UW, Capitol Police and Wisconsin State Patrol assist but do not host), and the entire program is funded by a $30,000 federal grant doled out by the state.

DeForest started the program in 2009 and ran several similar operations with its own officers before beginning the cooperative effort. It found that drunken-driving efforts had decreased year-round, including a 38 percent drop in 2012.

“Drunk driving is a big thing in the state period,” Wagner told the Observer last week. “We’re taking this serious.”

Last year’s 11 patrols yielded 22 OWI arrests among 1,143 stops. The first year’s six patrols totaled one OWI arrest but many friendly interactions with drivers, as was the goal. That number grew to 13 OWI arrests in 2013.

The program had to build up some momentum, with some cities and villages taking a wait-and-see approach and the municipalities working out legal issues involved in making agreements that would allow officers to make arrests outside their normal jurisdictions and be commanded by other departments. But the paperwork is moving much more quickly this year, and late last month, Oregon signed up for the next round, which technically begins in October but will probably start patrols in early spring, Wagner speculated.

“We all signed the agreements now, so we can do out task force over a nine-month period instead of trying to cram it into a three-month period,” he said. 

Wagner, like other local supervisors coordinating the program, has found the shifts, which count as overtime pay, popular among the village’s officers. But he also found, like a few other communities, that 15 police officers on one night on Oregon’s few well-traveled roads was more than necessary. 

So this year, while larger participating cities like Sun Prairie and the City of Madison (along with the high-traffic Town of Madison) might go with a single night, most of the suburban communities are expected to have two each.

“What we found last year is in the smaller municipalities ... was just a lot of officers in a small area, so the traffic stops were more limited,” Wagner said. “We’re just trying to split that up so we can make the task force as effective.”

Transportation officials and residents along U.S. Hwy. 14 will have plenty to discuss about the relocation of the road during the next few years of planning.

One of the biggest issues will be how to connect existing neighborhoods and roadways to the realigned, divided highway.

The first public meeting in recent years about the corridor drew about 150 people to Oregon Middle School last week. Visitors looked at maps and asked questions after a short presentation about the relocation and expansion of the road between Oregon and Brooklyn. 

Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials say the expansion is needed because of increased traffic  volume, safety issues and aging road conditions. The plan is to realign Hwy. 14 to a straighter path that runs west of its current route, on land that was acquired in the 1960s.

Last Thursday’s meeting was one of several public meetings planned for the corridor. No dates have been set for future meetings, but WisDOT officials plan to have another public information meeting and public hearing prior to approving an environmental impact assessment in spring 2016.

WisDOT is seeking comments on the recent proposal by Oct. 24.

Hwy. A issues

One of the more vocal concerns at last Thursday’s meeting was about how to connect existing roads like County Hwy. A and State Hwy. 92 to the new Hwy. 14.

WisDOT project planners presented several options for that intersection, but the option of no intersection – having a bridge over Hwy. 14 with no access – drew applause from the crowd. 

This option would be the least expensive and have the smallest impact on the area immediately around the intersection, WisDOT documents show. However, officials cautioned that if no access is permitted there, the extra traffic will have to go somewhere. 

Traffic planners said that closing Hwy. A would push more traffic to the 14-138 interchange. And that, WisDOT documents show, could cause that 3-year-old double roundabout to fail in as few as five to 10 years.

“You have a redistribution of traffic and most people don’t like to backtrack,” explained DAAR Engineering project manager Dina Bertolini. “138 is a pretty busy intersection right now. … In the future, if we put a structure at A, 138 will likely have issues.”

Some people at last week’s meeting said local traffic near Hwy. A would likely use Hwy. MM or connect to Hwy. 138 along the existing Hwy. 14 road. Bertolini said those options could accommodate traffic now, but future growth might affect the level of service at those intersections. 

If there is an intersection at Hwy. A, there are multiple options.

Planners presented an interchange with loops to the south, a “quadrant” jug handle intersection with long acceleration/deceleration lanes or “something else” that hasn’t been explored yet. The larger-footprint interchanges could cost more.

Hwy. 92

Drivers south of Hwy. A also have some options for access at Hwy. 92.

The Hwy. 92 intersection could be an interchange, a jug handle or an at-grade “continuous green” intersection (in which some traffic would have signalized crossings depending on the direction of travel). 

WisDOT officials are open to “something else” options at that intersection, too. All options would have Oak Lane Road connecting to the existing Hwy. 14.

The interchange options have a high cost and large footprint and would have an impact on the local watershed, documents show. The advantages include better level of service for traffic and less impact on the environment. 

The continuous green option might be more confusing and would offer only an average level of service during morning peak traffic times. It would likely reduce angle crashes, but would remove access to Bigelow Road. 

Safety concerns

WisDOT officials said the current Hwy. 14 no longer meets the needs of drivers and has engineering designs that are unsafe for the amount and speed of traffic that travels along the road. 

Officials cited current level of service grades and future projections in their presentation to the community last week. The grades – A through F, just like a report card – show that several intersections are already failing and more are projected to if left unchanged. 

For example, Hwy. 92 at Hwy. 14 currently has the lowest possible rating during morning peak traffic. In the year 2021, both morning and evening peak levels would have failing ratings. 

The intersection at Hwy. A has a “C/D” rating for both the morning and evening peak times, roughly 7-9 a.m. and 3-6 p.m. Both morning and afternoon levels of services are projected to be “E/F” by the year 2021 if no changes are made. 

Officials also said the road is a major part of the national highway system and is an important regional road.

A slight increase in taxes and a bigger increase in road construction are among the notable items in the preliminary Oregon village budget.

The owner of an average-value home in Oregon would face an estimated $17.39 increase in the village portion of the property tax bill next year, similar to last year’s increase. That means the owner of a $220,000 home would pay $1,206.81 for the village portion of 2014 property taxes, vs. $1,189.42 in 2013.

On average, however, home values here increased 1.46 percent in the past year. A home that had been valued at $211,000 in 2013 is worth $220,000 this year.

Those were some of the key numbers revealed Monday, when village administrator Mike Gracz and the Village Board held their first of three scheduled 2015 budget meetings. Two more are planned for next week.

Gracz also discussed some of the major impacts in the proposed budget, including:

• Almost $650,000 in street improvements

• Almost $20,000 more for the Senior center

• Funding for a full-time police officer who was hired in August 

• A 5 percent wage increase for police officers (although their pension contributions will also increase)

• An across-the-board 2 percent wage increase for non-represented employees

• Extra funding for a full-time fire chief, beginning in April 2015

The board didn’t discuss all of the departments’ budget requests, rather focusing on Fire/EMS, the police department and cable TV.

Department heads generally stuck with Gracz’s request to keep budget requests as close to zero increases as possible. 

The big exception was public works director Mark Below’s request for almost $490,000 worth of new equipment, most of which was so the village could purchase a sewer jet vacuum. Gracz recommended $50,800 for the street equipment fund.

Although the board didn’t discuss that part of the budget Monday, Below told the Observer that a sewer jet vacuum is expensive – about $350,000 – but it’s something he’s asked for several times in the past because he thinks it would save the village money in the long run.

Typically, department heads will request spending for their departments, Gracz will make a recommendation as to how much he thinks the village can afford, and the Village Board makes the final spending decisions.

Road work

The big spending item next year is “a lot of street work,” Gracz told the board.

Plans include resurfacing Hillcrest Drive and Farwell Drive on the north side, and also part of Cherry Wood Drive near Rome Corners Intermediate School.

The village also plans to spend money on engineering for Elm Street, South Main Street and North Burr Oak, for work that will be done in 2016, as well as for North Perry Parkway, which the village anticipates extending in 2017.

“We hire an engineering firm, they come up with an estimate for doing the streets, and then we borrow the money,” Gracz explained.

Officials also expect to resurface West Netherwood Road next year, at an estimated cost of $118,000. Funding for the project will come from the village Tax Increment Finance District 2 in the Alpine Business Park.

Police and fire

Fire chief David Bloom has been working 20 hours per week for Oregon Fire/EMS District since he began in May 2005. He plans to leave the district in May 2015, and hiring a full-time fire chief would cost the village an additional estimated $8,334 next year. 

The increase would be a partial year and shared by several area municipalities that make up the district. The village’s contribution is 61.42 percent of the district’s budget.

The draft budget also includes $10,000 for possibly hiring a consultant to assist in finding a new police chief.

Along with a fully funded patrol officer position, other items in the police department’s budget include the purchase of a new Ford Explorer and another radar speed sign to be installed on Jefferson Street at the intersection with Ash Street.

Four hours per week have been added to a secretary position in the public safety building, at a cost of about $4,000 per year.

Chief Dale Burke also has a plan to replace aging portable radios over a three-year period. 

Burke noted the combined vehicle and equipment budget for next year has decreased 33 percent from 2014.

Senior center

Next week, the Village Board will discuss the Oregon Area Senior Center’s budget projections.

A new funding formula for the senior center goes fully into effect in 2015, and the village’s spending on the center will increase almost $20,000.

In the past, the center’s funding formula was population-based. The center is now using a software system that tracks users, and because Village of Oregon residents use the center at a higher percentage than other participating municipalities – the Village of Brooklyn and the towns of Rutland and Oregon – the village’s cost are increasing dramatically.

“The towns and Brooklyn were gracious enough to allow us to feather the impact in over the last couple of years,” Gracz said. “Now we’re going to be paying the full effect of that change in the funding formula.”

Village of Brooklyn voters will get a chance to weigh in Nov. 4 on the future of the village’s municipal court system.

A set of three advisory referendum questions offer citizens the opportunity to give their opinion on the choices facing village officials: to continue the court as-is, merge it with another municipality or discontinue it altogether or leave administration to area circuit courts.

The village has been considering its options after some problems came up over the past few years, including the resignation of the village’s elected municipal court judge, an inability to hire a permanent court clerk and the cost of upgrading the court record system, according to a fact sheet from the village clerk.

A municipal court holds the power to enforce local ordinances, traffic code and state law.

If the village discontinued the court altogether, such cases would instead go to the county circuit courts. While such a change would save the administrative costs to run a municipal court, local ordinances would only be enforced in Dane County if the village attorney were to prosecute them at an hourly rate, which could prove costly.

If the village decides to merge its court with the Village of Belleville, it would likely save money, but would require those appearing in court to travel about 10 miles away to Belleville.

It would also mean the court’s elected judge could be from either Belleville or Brooklyn. That would both widen the pool of potential candidates and possibly take away the local connection of a judge being from Brooklyn.

The village board has already been in discussions with Belleville over the past few months about such an arrangement. 

The Nov. 4 vote is not binding, but will be advisory to the village board in making its ultimate decision about the court. 

A fact sheet put together by the village listing pros and cons of each option is available at brooklynwi.gov.