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March 17, 2010 |
By Jen Schultz
The recommendation from the Ethics Board passed through the Prairie du Chien City Council on Tuesday March 16, but not without comments from council members. The recommendation is for the Mayor to be publicly reprimanded and be required to publicly apologize to Officer Maxwell Erickson in the local media and at the next council meeting to be held on Tuesday, April 6.
Alderman Karen Solomon stated that she wished the recommendation was stronger. The ‘joke’ as Mayor Karl Steiner refers to the Ethics dispute caused several hours of work for city officials as well as hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars of tax payers money to be wasted. Solomon believes that the money spent should be paid back by Mayor Steiner.
Alderman Mary Wayne was concerned that if they passed the recommendation (for the Mayor to be publicly reprimanded and be required to publicly apologize to Officer Maxwell Erickson) the Mayor would follow through with the required actions. Mayor Steiner replied that he had already apologized on the local radio station and has no problem doing it again.
In other matters regarding Mayor Karl Steiner, the council denied Mayor Steiner’s expense request for reimbursement of $26.18. The travel expenses are from Feb. 27 when the Mayor went to Ferryville’s Eagle Appreciation Day.
City Administrator Aaron Kramer mentioned that the report wasn’t completely filled out and that Mayor Steiner should have received permission from the Finance Committee before going to the event as per the rules in the City’s Travel Policy.
Alderman Judeen Ames questioned the purpose of the Mayor going to the Ferryville event when Prairie du Chien’s Chamber of Commerce had sponsored the same event on the same day. "It would have been nice if you went to the Prairie du Chien one instead," said Ames.
Alderman Frank Pintz Jr. argued that council members were "blowing smoke up someone’s skirt," in regards to this matter.
Wayne replied "we’re not blowing smoke up someone’s skirt, the Mayor should have obtained authority before going to the event."
Other items of interest included:
•The city council unanimously approved the honoring of Judy Lee for her 27 years of service to the city. Lee recently retired from the Assistant Deputy Clerk position at the City Hall.
•Council approved a motion by the Finance Committee to bid out the replacement of the Tourism Center and Library roofs. The council is hoping to save money by doing the two projects together. They are hoping to have the project done by mid-summer.
•The sale of the City’s one-ton truck was approved. The Property Committee had hoped to get $1,000 for the truck. The truck will go to the highest bidder, Blackhawk Auto Sales for $2,150.
•Alderman Becky Hackett had originally made a motion to rescind the City Hall Usage Policy that was approved on March 2. Hackett was not in attendance at the meeting, however, the motion was successfully rescinded. This comes after the public’s reaction to the new policy and security issues that were not included in the new policy.
•Jami Quick, President of Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter requested that the City Council consider her previous request for a fundraising event to be held at the City Hall on April 12. Because the Council has been unable to satisfactorily change the City Hall Usage Policy, it was agreed that the City Administrator, Aaron Kramer, would consider this as an exception to the current City Hall Usage Policy.
•Permission was granted for Linda Hansen to hold the Prairie du Chien Half Marathon on May 1.
•The request to expend funds to HSR Associates was tabled until a tentative date of April 1. HSR Associates has submitted a design fee proposal to continue their work involving the long-term future of Hoffman Hall. The proposal is for $5,000.
•The City Council agreed to accept a $225,000 grant from the Department of Commerce for Hoffman Hall. As part of the grant, the city would need to secure $1,047,000 by July 1 and the energy efficiency project must be completed by December 31. The City Council decided to table the securing of funds until the tentative meeting set for April 1.
•After meeting in closed session, the City Council unanimously agreed to sign the downtown hotel agreement for the Stratton Property owned by Scott and Jill Stratton for a hotel and convention center.
•The City Council also agreed, after coming out of closed session, to offer the Assistant Deputy Clerk position to Kathy Rickleff.
By Jen Schultz
After much planning and hard work, developer Mark Ihm may have the financial support needed to finish the restorations of the Fort Crawford Hotel and the old City Hall.
For the past three years, Prairie du Chien Downtown Revitalization, Inc. (PDRI) has been working with developer Mark Ihm to find funding for the restoration project. PDRI is interested in the restoration project not only because of its downtown location, but also as a way to create additional affordable housing in the downtown area.
Together Ihm and PDRI have been looking for ways to restore the historic buildings to their original glamour.
"Saving the historic buildings hasn’t been an easy task," PDRI’s Judy Wall points out. "In a normal economy finding these sources is tough enough for a project like this. In a bad economy it’s even tougher because part of the success of the project usually involves a financial institution as well as a public source of funding. Completing the restoration of both buildings may cost over two million dollars but in the end the buildings income production would place it at an end value of 1.2 million in our market when they’re complete. This makes it almost impossible to find conventional bank funding and interested developers to bear the risk. In the end, people living downtown create the spending multiplier we are striving for," explains Wall.
The Hope VI Main Street grant offered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) seems to be a perfect match for the Fort Crawford and City Hall renovations. The purpose of this grant is to provide assistance to Main Street communities by reconfiguring obsolete buildings into rent producing affordable housing. This grant helps Main Street area revitalization efforts rejuvenate older downtown business districts while retaining the area’s traditional and historic character.
According to Wall, the City Council has realized that the project has to be a public/private partnership. The city’s backing is needed for grants like the Hope VI.
On March 3, the application was submitted on behalf of the City of Prairie du Chien for the Hope VI Main Street grant. This is the second time that PDRI has applied for the grant on behalf of the City of Prairie du Chien. Last year, the grant was awarded to only two Main Street Communities. Prairie du Chien was a runner-up and encouraged to apply for the grant again this year. For 2010 there will be four grants awarded. If the grant is awarded for the Fort Crawford Hotel and the old City Hall, the city would be the grantee, not the developer. Wall says that they should know by the end of April if Prairie du Chien is awarded one of the four grants.
If Prairie du Chien gets the grant, it is hoped that construction will begin as soon as Nov. 1 of this year. Ihm is hoping to have the project completed within 18 months.
"If we’re denied the Hope VI grant, I have a back-up plan that would involve the redevelopment of the buildings. As long as I can get up in the morning and do carpenter work I will not give up on Fort Crawford," Ihm says.
Plans for the Fort Crawford Hotel and City Hall buildings have changed since the project began several years ago. In the original proposal, the first floor would be retail spaces and the second and third floors would be a hotel. The current plan is for two retail spaces in the city hall building and a third retail space in the Fort Crawford Hotel for a cafe/bar and kitchen. The second and third floors will be converted into 18 condominiums.
These condominiums will be available for sale to individuals who are within 80 percent of Crawford County’s median income. Wall explains that this would include a single person making $35,000 or less per year." Each of the one-bedroom condominiums will sell for approximately $60,000.
"We’re hoping that we can offer a rent-to-own situation to individuals. Creating housing in the downtown is an important part of making a strong downtown district for the long term," comments Wall.
"Every community seems to have one white elephant building in its downtown. People speculate about why nothing is being done with the building and for Prairie du Chien it has been these buildings. With the Hope VI Grant, I hope that we have finally found a solution," states Wall.
"I want to save those buildings. Fort Crawford is too important to the history of Prairie du Chien—in my mind that’s never wavered," acknowledges Ihm.
By Ted Pennekamp
A former McGregor resident who currently lives near Garnavillo caught the Iowa state record yellow perch on Sunday, March 7. Bob Ruff, 51, was fishing in shallow water in Pool 11 when he pulled a huge perch through the ice.
Tipping the scales at a whopping 2 pounds, 6 ounces, the lunker was certified by Scott Gritters, the Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist. It measured 15 inches in length and had a girth of 12 inches.
"We’d been catching good ones in that area," said Ruff who was fishing with his brother Don. "We had some that had broken our lines. "I just knew this was a good perch, and after I got it out, I knew it had to be close, (to the record) real close. It was shaped like a football."
Ruff’s perch bested by 3 ounces the former record established in 1994 by Daniel Burchardt of Mason City on Morse Lake in Union County. Burchardt’s record was tied by Steve Moore of Guttenberg on Bussey Lake, a Mississippi River backwater near Guttenberg in 2001. The record was tied again in 2005 by Jerry Kuchenbecker of McGregor in Pool 10.
Ruff said that the perch took a jig tipped with a minnow. He had hand-painted the jig head with his wife’s blood-red nail polish.
"The paint on the jig was getting old and chipped away," said Ruff. "Sometimes I touch them up with my wife’s nail polish. You get good, bright colors.
This time, the blood-red jig and minnow proved a deadly combination.
"I don’t know if it was the minnow or the jig," said Ruff. "But, it got the job done."
Ruff said that he caught the fish at about 10 a.m. and had it weighed at about 8 p.m. after being convinced by his wife Utopi. He said that he knew it was going to be close to the state record because he and his brothers had caught some in recent years that were only a few ounces shy, and this one looked like those.
Yellow perch have thrived in the Upper Mississippi River in recent years, said Ruff. In fact, on Monday, March 8, Ruff hauled in another lunker perch, this one weighing 2 pounds.
"Fishing with 2-pound test line, they really give you the run-around for awhile until you get them up to the hole," said Ruff. "They’re really spunky this time of year."
Ruff said that he doesn’t expect his state record to last very long.
"I think there’s bigger ones out there," he said. "There are a lot of nice perch in the river. I expect that the record will be broken in a year or two. There are good perch all up and down the river."
Ruff said that he enjoys ice fishing quite a bit, averaging about once or twice a week during the winter, with periods during which he fishes every day.
"He fishes for just about everything and he fishes constantly," said Utopi, who also talked her husband into getting his record perch mounted.
"Hopefully, the record will last a little while," he said.
March 15, 2010 |
By Ted Pennekamp
Traffic fatalities statewide were down in 2009 to the lowest level in 65 years, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Also, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, there were 587 deaths on Wisconsin roads in 2008 compared to 547 deaths in 2009.
Traffic fatalities in Crawford County were also lower in 2009 compared to 2008. Crawford County had nine fatalities in 2005, three in 2006, five in 2007, four in 2008, and three in 2009. So far in 2010, there have been no fatalities in Crawford County.
Statistics over a 10-year period from 1999 to 2008 show that Crawford County had a "fatality rate" of 2.3 compared to the statewide average of 1.3 for the same period. The fatality rate represents the average number of traffic fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel over the 10-year period. The fatality rate does not represent the average number of fatalities in Crawford County per year for the 10-year period.
Crawford County had 52 fatalities over the 10-year period. Forty-eight percent of those were alcohol-related. There were 4,049 total crashes in the county during that 10-year period.
Crawford County Sheriff Jerry Moran said that traffic fatalities are an ongoing problem and efforts to keep the numbers low is a continual process.
"I would love it if we could say, ‘Zero in Crawford County’," said Moran, in reference to the recent "Zero in Wisconsin" campaign.
Moran said that there are various reasons, which help to keep traffic deaths in Crawford County down. Road and bridge improvement projects in recent years have improved safety on various roadways. Also, drivers have become better educated regarding safety. Emergency personnel and EMT crews continue to gain more and better training and equipment. Sheriff’s Department personnel also are better trained, and since late 2008, there have been two officers on duty at all times patrolling the county.
"Our response time is better with two officers on 24-7," said Moran. "We were able to do this with the same amount of men. It was just a matter of rescheduling and having 12-hour shifts."
Moran said that cell phones are a help, but can also be a hindrance to traffic safety. Most motorists have a cell phone nowadays, and they will often call law enforcement if they see an erratic driver, or an accident, which aids in response time.
On the other hand, people driving while talking on cell phones or texting are a definite hazard, said Moran. "Cell phones are a very serious safety concern for inattentive driving," he said. "If they have to use a cell phone, they should go to one that is hands free. Texting is a no-no period, end of story. I think you’ll see more restrictive laws coming."
Alcohol and speed continue to be major problems regarding traffic crashes and deaths. Of the three fatalities last year, one was alcohol-related, one was speed-related and one was of uncertain cause. All four deaths in 2008 were alcohol-related.
"The CARE Council continues to help with education programs regarding alcohol," said Moran. "It’s an ongoing problem and an ongoing process."
January 2010 had the lowest number of traffic deaths statewide, 21, of any month since 1937, when the state began compiling monthly figures, according to the DOT. The previous all-time lowest fatality month was January of 1943, which had 22 deaths.
As of Feb. 28, a total of 52 people have died in Wisconsin traffic crashes during 2010, including four pedestrians. Traffic deaths through February were 14 fewer than during the same period in 2009 and 33 fewer than the five-year average.
"So far this year, traffic fatalities are continuing to decline compared with 2009 when Wisconsin had the fewest deaths in 65 years," says Dennis Hughes, chief of safety programs for the WisDOT Bureau of Transportation Safety. "But in coming months, it will be a huge challenge to continue this decline in traffic deaths. In late winter and early spring, weather and road conditions are very unpredictable and can become hazardous without warning. And when warmer weather arrives and the snow finally melts, motorists typically drive faster, which can cause more violent and potentially deadly crashes. There also will soon be more pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists on the road. For their own safety and the safety of others, drivers will need to be just as vigilant and cautious in coming months as they have been all winter."
By Jen Schultz
For a little over 15 years the Mississippi Blackhawk Waterski Show team has been a popular attraction on the Mississippi River with weekly ski shows that are free to the public to enjoy. Unfortunately that might all come to an end if the group is unable to find sponsors for this years show season. The team lost their major sponsor, Agriprocessors of Postville, Iowa two years ago.
"The past few years have been rebuilding years for the Blackhawks and with the shift in the economy we have lost some major sponsors," states Wendy Kotte, the Blackhawks public relations and fundraising contact.
Besides needing motors for their ski boats, the bleachers are in need of repair and the dock needs work. Local businesses can help the team by providing equipment and or monetary donations. Insurance for the team and boats is another costly item.
A lack of sponsorships isn’t the only problem the ski team faces. President of the ski team Tim Irvine says the team is also facing a shortage of volunteers. Volunteers are needed to make the shows possible from collecting and untangeling ski ropes to driving boats and setting up the sound system. "The team needs lots of people—not just skiers. We really depend on family involvement," adds Irvine.
Currently the team consists of about 20 skiers and their families. In addition to jump and pyramid acts, the team also has members that do barefooting, strap doubles, ballet line, trick skiing, wakeboarding and swivel skiing.
The group started in 1989 when there was an interest in putting together a group of local water ski enthusiasts to display their talents. The group performed as a local ski show for six years. In 1995, the group grew to over 40 members and changed the name of the group from Lansing Ski Club to the Mississippi Blackhawks. In 1996 the team competed in their first state show ski tournament in Iowa. That same year they added a jump ramp. In 1997 they were able to complete their first four-tier pyramid. In 2001 the team was Division II National Champions. In the past the Blackhawks have had shows every Friday night June through August down at the Beach Front on St. Feriole Island. Shows were free and open to the public.
"Hopefully, we can keep this tradition going for Prairie du Chien," says Kotte.
To find out more information about becoming a member of the ski team, call Tim Irvine at 563-380-5695. For more information about sponsoring the ski team, contact Wendy Kotte at 326-1400.
