Oregon Observer The
Thursday, March 7, 2019 • Vol. 134, No. 36 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
A ‘bright future’
Oregon School District
OHS student is polar plunge judge, Special Olympics competitor EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Photos by Emilie Heidemann
Traffic congestion is an ongoing issue in the parking lots of Rome Corners Intermediate and Oregon Middle schools. Cars line up at RCI waiting to pick-up students. RCI Principal Jason Zurawik said there was an event at the school Friday, March 1, affecting how many cars were in the parking lot.
Examining parking issues SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
The harsh past six weeks of winter has caused problems on area roadways, but it’s also affected traffic in some school parking lots. And it has nothing to do with piles of snow.
Since the end of January, the Oregon Police Department has posted twice on its Facebook page about “traffic congestion and aggressive driving” around Oregon Middle School and Rome Corners Intermediate School, and warned about issuing tickets. With more parents dropping off kids who usually would be walking or biking to school in warmer weather, the increasingly crowded situation in the past few weeks has prompted
Oregon School District officials to consider its options. It’s looked into making more staff available to monitor the situation and it’s taken steps to consider re-engineering the RCI parking lot over the summer, including meeting with the village. On Jan. 23, the OPD posted on Facebook that driving behavior was “becoming a problem for crossing guards and children,” especially at
Turn to Parking/Page 12
Board offers $1M TIF to Thysse Deal may be finalized March 18 ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
As Thysse keeps growing and its plans keep getting bigger, the Village of Oregon continues to offer additional help. T h e Vi l l a g e B o a r d agreed in principle Monday, March 4, to up its grant to $1 million to help the fast-growing graphics communication firm build a new headquarters on the north side of the village. In previous discussions,
the board had agreed to $850,000 in tax-increment financing for a 76,000-square-foot, $8.5 million building that would more than double the size of its current headquarters, built in 2013. The new offer is for an 86,000-squarefoot, $11 million facility. The board directed staff to continue working on the TIF agreement and prepare for the borrowing at its March 18 meeting. The increased cost of the building, attorney Nathan Wautier explained to the board, came after Thysse decided to build and “ballp a r k ” fi g u r e s b e c a m e
clearer. TIF is a public funding mechanism that pools the increased taxes from development among all underlying jurisdictions, including the school district and county, and puts it in the municipality’s control. It’s generally considered the most potent economic development tool Wisconsin municipalities have. Under the new plan, the $1 million will be spread over six payments as construction proceeds, each timed with an infusion of cash from the project’s financier, Oregon Community Bank. The payments
wo u l d b e u n t i m e d bu t scheduled at certain construction benchmarks, with the last when the project is 63 percent complete. The structured deal is a compromise between a no-risk, pay-as-you-go deal, which pays back portions of property taxes, and a lump-sum payment up front, which is the riskiest version of a TIF deal. Village attorney Matt Dregne has said such a structure ensures the money will go actually to constructing a physical building that will generate value on the site.
Turn to Thysse/Page 10
Turn to Plunge/Page 9
Oregon Police Department
New policies aimed at accreditation Nearly 100 will be reviewed, possibly changed in coming months ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
The Oregon Police Department will present nearly 100 new policies to the Village Board in the com- Uhl ing months as part of its effort to pursue full
accreditation. The first dozen, as well as its emergency operations plan, passed the board unanimously Feb. 18, and another round was approved March 4. The b o a r d a p p r ove d a c t ive shooter, bias-based policing and acts of terrorism policies, among others. Chief Brian Uhl said the policies are tools for the department to use if the situations arise and, in many cases, simply codifying the practices members of the department already use. The policies also help protect officers if faced with a
Turn to Police/Page 9
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OSD, village to meet Friday to talk possible solutions
Seth Rehrauer sat in the cold, watching strangers dive into freezing water and judging how much style they had. “Did they go feet first, head first, do cannon ball o r f l i p s ? ” t h e O r eg o n High School sophomore explained to the Observer. He was serving as a judge at Madison’s Polar Plunge last month, one in a series of accomplishments during his involvement with the Special Olympics program, which benefited from
event’s proceeds. “I’ve never participated in a plunge myself,” Seth told the Observer. “I would rather be a judge.” He also got to judge each team’s choice of costume and how much spirit they possessed. Last summer, Rehrauer participated in the Special Olympics USA Games representing Team Wisconsin from July 1-6 in Seattle, Wash. Rehrauer became a gold medalist in a 100-meter freestyle and 50-meter backstroke event, a bronze-medalist in a 50-meter freestyle and his team won a silver medal in a 4x50 medley relay. Perhaps that’s why Alyse Peters, director of special events at Special Olympics Wisconsin, Inc. reached out to Rehrauer to judge