At last night’s meeting, Prairie du Chien Common Council signed the agreement with the Department of Transportation (DOT) for construction of the Highway 18 bypass from Main Street to LaPointe.

Total cost of the project is estimated at $18.2 million, most of which will be covered by state and federal funding, leaving the city with an estimated overall cost of $73,575, or less than 1/2 percent of the total cost, said Garth Frable, the city’s planning consultant. Much of this, he said, could be covered with TIF funds.

The DOT has agreed to include the city’s streetscape grant in the project, which, said Frable, reduces the city’s time and coordination expenses. The grant allows the city to extend the downtown streetscape along Main from Blackhawk to Wisconsin.

The 2.2 mile project, which will run along South Main Street and LaPointe Street to Marquette Road, will be constructed as a two lane urban highway with allowances for a future four-lane conversion. It will also include:

The city has also received Community Sensitive Design money to improve the landscape along the new bypass. This will include benches, lighting and landscaping.

In voting for approval, council member Frank Pintz said, "Main Street has always been an issue. This way we’ll get a long stretch of road done very cheap." Frable added that the city is now applying for a grant to fix the north end of Main Street. Main Street has already been redone from Washington to Blackhawk, and the bypass project will extend south to the end of Main Street. The city is now applying for a grant to fix the north end of Main Street.

Approval did not come so easily for a proposal to put a lift station in the Reed House on St. Feriole Island. This would allow for connection to a nearby sewer line and would provide bathroom facilities for visitors to the island. Council members did not object to the lift station itself, but disagreed over funding for it.

The proposal was to install a pump in the existing holding tank at a cost of approximately $3,500 to be financed with Harbor fees. Since there is currently not enough money in that account, it was suggested the cost be covered temporarily by the St. Feriole line item in the Parks budget.

Arnie Mueller, chairman of the Harbor Commission, addressed the issue with council, saying the Harbor Commission had not been consulted about it.

Council members agreed that there should be more communication with the Harbor Commission, and Pintz said he felt that two committees should be involved in planning for St. Feriole Island: the Parks Commission and the Water Commission.

Mueller said the Harbor Commission had been working on a long range plan and hoped to include the Parks Department.

Council member Kathleen Hein objected to the expenditure, saying she would like to have a list of priorities for the island. Council member Becky Hackett said she thinks the decision should wait until the funds are actually available.

The motion failed with a tie vote. Since Mayor Karl Steiner was not present, the tie could not be broken and the motion failed.

Following that, however, discussion of the issue continued. City Administrator Jim Gitz said the council should consider that the $3,500 bid for the project will not last indefinitely and it would be nice to have the restrooms operative for Rendezvous.

He also clarified a misconception over the Harbor funds. There are two sources of funds, he said, the boat launch fees and the ‘tipping’ fees,’ a percentage of barge traffic fees. The money would be taken from the tipping fees, not the boat launch fees.

Hein said if she had understood that she would have changed her vote. City Attorney Tom Peterson said the issue could be reconsidered at the next meeting.

In other business, council:

Council incumbents face opposition

As of noon on March 31, the following people were listed at City Hall as candidates:

In the 3rd District, Kyle Johnston was expected to register as a candidate against Kathleen Hein, but had not done so as of press time.

Three incumbents and one write-in vie for School Board

There are four candidates running for three seats on the Prairie du Chien Board of Education for the April 7 election. The top three vote-getters will each be elected to three-year terms.

Three of the candidates are incumbents who officially filed for candidacy. The fourth candidate did not file but is waging a write-in campaign. Her name will not appear on the ballot.

The three incumbents are Brian Edwards, Ron Quamme and Mark Forsythe. The write-in candidate is Maureen McCarty.

The Courier Press asked all four candidates the same question.

What do you feel are the most important issues facing the Prairie du Chien School District?

The following are the candidates’ responses.

Brian Edwards

What do you feel are the most important issues facing the Prairie du Chien School District?

One immediate monetary issue and two timeless educational issues stand out in my mind.

The most immediate issue is how to deal with decreasing revenue and deciding on adjustments we must make. We reduced staff the last few years, putting much thought into how to minimize the negative impact on students’ education. We continue to search and apply for grants and create cost saving plans, such as the parking lot lease with the hospital. We are currently collaborating with the city of Prairie du Chien and Wauzeka School District on possible cost saving measures. We have ongoing discussions on the ever-changing finances, maximizing the educational effectiveness of the money we receive.

The most important issue now and for the years to come is ensuring we keep providing the "4-R’s": Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and Respect in an engaging, inspirational, and effective fashion so as to ignite a passion for lifelong learning. Supportive parents, dedicated teachers, a safe school, and quality extra curricular activities are essential ingredients to make this happen.

The third issue is ensuring we continue to teach not only content of the subject matter itself, on which all students are tested, but also instill sound decision making and problem solving skills.

A K-12 school system is involved in a child’s education for only about 5 percent of their life. A school board’s role is to set up and maintain a framework making sure every child has an educational experience tailored to their individual needs and supporting them in becoming independent life-long learners and active members in their community. The school, home and community need to work together in order for this to happen.

We must constantly critique ourselves and revise our methods in order to improve. At the same time, we must appreciate what we have and what has been done in the past. Our school system has changed immensely in the last several decades, from the one-room schoolhouse in Bridgeport my brother attended (now the Bridgeport Town Hall) and the old PdC High School to the several more modern buildings we have now. We have a world-class school system with excellent and caring teachers. Our students and graduates have been and will continue to be successful graduating from our system and entering directly into the working world. Many have also excelled at some of the most prestigious universities in the world. We are proud of our students and graduates, and the school system that has supported them.

The issues we face may be difficult, but as we have in the past, I am confident we will come together as a community to solve them.

Ron Quamme

What do you feel are the most important issues facing the Prairie du Chien School District?

I believe the biggest overall issue facing the Prairie du Chien School District is to provide all of our students with the best possible education we can afford which prepares them to function and succeed in our contemporary world, while at the same time doing this as efficiently as possible.

This is best achieved by listening to teachers, staff, students, administrators, pa-rents, taxpayers, and others, trying to learn as much as possible about our needs and wants, as well as good ideas that may be used elsewhere.

Financial issues are ongoing but have become more significant at all levels of government as requirements, wants, and costs continue to increase, but revenue levels struggle to keep pace.

Since local taxpayers are already heavily burdened, the state of Wisconsin may need to consider revamping its school funding method and formula.

Unfunded mandates by both the federal and state government also pose funding challenges. Declining enrollments, which some schools have experienced to a much greater degree than Prairie du Chien, is also a significant issue which can affect our revenue from year to year.

I sincerely feel that we currently have a very competent and capable teaching staff, administration, and support staff in our district, and I hope that we can continue to work together to face the challenges ahead.

Mark Forsythe

What do you feel are the most important issues facing the Prairie du Chien School District?

There are two reasons that I ran for the Prairie du Chien School Board six years ago and that I am running for a third term in April.

The primary reason is to help in providing a quality education for the students in the Prairie du Chien School District. By providing the best education possible for the students in our district we are building for the future of the Prairie du Chien area and for the whole country.

The second area is to provide financial guidance for the district from my work experience. With the current economic conditions in the area and the state this is going to be more important. The state of Wisconsin is going to have a more difficult time in providing the two thirds funding to area schools as they have done in the past. This means that decisions will have to be made to cut expenses as the school district is under a levy limit unless the voters would pass a referendum to exceed the revenue limit. We need to make sure that any cuts do not impact the quality of education that students receive and that we keep and provide for the employees of the district.

I believe that we have excellent teachers, support staff and administration in the district.

Maureen McCarty

What do you feel are the most important issues facing the Prairie du Chien School District?

The poet William Butler Yeats once said, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

Our teachers spend more time with our children each day than parents and affect the intellectual and social development of each pupil. How very fortunate we are to have people who dedicate their energy and lives to stoking these fires. The fires should be lit at home but then parents need to feel they are welcome and have a stake in the schools.

Education is not something that just happens to people and at its best it is a collaborative effort between parents, teachers, administrators and the larger community.

I have heard from numerous parents that they would like to help their children succeed but have felt shut out of the process concerning their child’s education plan, curriculum, discipline and matters related to the emotional well-being of their children in the school setting. One example is the adoption of the Integrated Math program by the school. At this time there is mostly anecdotal evidence regarding the program but the head of the University of Minnesota Math department reports that students who have taken integrative math in high school do not know enough algebra to succeed in college courses and these students are "one to two years below grade level in their math skills." I am not suggesting that the School Board march in and change the curriculum but I do believe the schools need to be transparent and accountable to the taxpayers, parents and students about what and how the students are being taught.

It is as important to educate the parents, as it is the student. There is all kinds of evidence that a major indicator of student success is parental involvement.  One suggestion would be for the school to sponsor a Parents Night including the children and hold demonstrations and discussions on curriculum items. This has been very successful in other schools. This would of course be asking a lot of school teachers but ultimately could make their job easier in many ways.

Most people are aware that I take a very strong position on guidance counselors in the schools. Currently we have no counselor for the middle school or elementary school. No other school in our CESA area has this low ratio of student to pupil. The Department of Public Instruction recommends a minimum of one counselor to 400 students. We have one counselor for 1,200 students.  A counselor could also serve as an important link between the parents, community and the school.

If you elect me to the School Board, I will make myself available to teachers and parents to listen to concerns and suggestions and to help encourage a greater involvement in collaboration. I will carefully study the budget to assure that all of us in this community are getting the most for our money and most importantly that we are doing the best we can for all of our students.