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Thursday, April 25, 2019 • Vol. 137, No. 40 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
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City of Stoughton
One year in, Swadley touts ‘good start’ Points to increasing collaboration, efficiency in gov’t ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Amber Levenhagen
Arnold Chevalier picks out items from the Yahara River Grocery Cooperative’s cooler. Chevalier said he has been shopping at the cooperative since it opened in 2008.
‘It’s been going on for years’ Financial struggles, unpaid debt put an end to grocery co-op AMBER LEVENHAGEN Unified Newspaper Group
Close to 50 people filled the front of the Yahara River Grocery Cooperative, some sitting on chairs and grocery crates, standing around the checkout lines and crowding the doorway during its April 16 annual member meeting. The meeting had been called in a letter announcing the closing that was shared to members and on social media earlier this month. Members
were told it would explain in more detail why the store would be closing. The group erupted into applause when Steve Lawrence, a member of the YRGC board of directors, credited manager Cindy Cwik for the longevity of the store being open. “The cooperative is completely reliant on one person, and that’s Cindy, and she’s done a phenomenal job,” he had said. The three board members, Lawrence, Cynthia Hurtenbach and
president Nancy Hubing, shared details about the financial struggles that have plagued the cooperative since it opened. Lawrence explained that last year, during the last member meeting, there was a motion to close the store “within a few months” if sales did not increase and some payroll checks were not cashed, which did not happen. “The trend continued downward,” he said. “It’s been negative for a long
Turn to Yahara/Page 8
Before he became mayor a year ago, Tim Swadley was on the road a lot, heading to job sites most Monday mornings and returning home Thursdays. He was working for the industrial-supplies company Fastenal, and it was his job to visit firms, learn how they operate and then Swadley design and implement improved organizational systems. He’d overhaul processes such as storage of spare parts or how orders were filled, all with an eye to improving efficiency. Since leaving that job to take over Stoughton’s government full time, Swadley has been trying to make the same improvements here.
He campaigned on goals of establishing a collaborative, communicative government and increasing transparency. Though he’s had to wait on some of his priorities – a city-wide survey, a social media policy and an updated employee compensation package, Swadley has changed how the city creates its budget, has reintroduced preventive maintenance funds, revisited longstanding agreements with community organizations and believes he has increased collaboration among departments. He summed up his first year in an interview with the Hub by saying, “we’re off to a good start.” With more than 100 fulltime city employees, Swadley said, there’s no way he can know everything going on in the city. His strategy is to “try to be somewhat knowledgeable with what they’re trying to do and provide them the support they need” to help city staff get the job done. The first thing he did,
Turn to Swadley/Page 13
Former Stoughton teacher Romblom releases second book AMBER LEVENHAGEN Unified Newspaper Group
Linda Romblom was telling a bedtime story to her granddaughter, Isabella, a few months before Saint Patrick’s Day in 2017. Romblom had the idea to write out a few paragraphs and have her granddaughter, then 7, draw illustrations to the story, which tells the tale of a princess and her adventures with a leprechaun. The project continued, resulting in the release of Romblom’s first children’s book “Adventures of Princess Isabella
– The Leprechaun” that was picked up by Author House and released within a month, in time for Saint Patrick’s Day. Almost two years later, Romblom, a retired Stoughton High School family and consumer science teacher, is celebrating the release of her second book, “Missing Pots Mystery,” a continuation of her first book. “Missing Pots Mystery” is a chapter book with fewer pictures, because in the two years between books, Isabella advanced as a reader and wanted “more words and less pictures,”
If You Go What: Linda Romblom author event Where: Next Generation, 161 E. Main St. When: 1-3 p.m. Saturday, May 4 Info: lindaromblom.com Romblom explained. All of the illustrations in both books are by Isabella, now 9, with a little help from Romblom. “The first book ends with
‘to be continued?’ so she kind of had it in mind that she wanted to continue the story,” Romblom said. “Missing Pots Mystery” features Isabella and her grandmother and cousins, who are introduced to the leprechaun, Patrick Dennis Michael O’Shaun. As trust develops between them, he asks for their help to solve the mystery of his missing pots used to place gold at the end of rainbows. Romblon is a She had written before releasing her first book, mostly songs and
Photo submitted
Stoughton High School teacher Linda Romblom has Turn to Romblom/Page 2 Retired released her second book, “Missing Pots Mystery.”
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