Stoughton
Thursday, October 4, 2018 • Vol. 137, No. 11 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
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Courier Hub The
City of Stoughton
Bank building could provide ‘breathing room’ City faces Oct. 15 deadline, considers soil testing results ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Musicians with gigs at the Stoughton Opera House often have a surprising – and invisible – audience during their soundchecks: city staff who are going about their business in City Hall during normal office hours. “People don’t seem to forget about the yodeler,” Opera House director Bill Brehm told the Hub with a chuckle. “At around 11:30 a.m., the finance department would be treated to a yodeling soundcheck,” he recalled. “They always knew when it was Maggie May time.” Such is the life working in City Hall, where the mayor’s office sits just below an office that holds two of the three Opera House staff and turns into
the box office whenever somebody needs to buy a ticket. But the cramped quarters and ensuing cross-pollination could be lessened in the near future, with the city engaged in the process of acquiring the McFarland State Bank building located just a couple blocks away. It’s far from a done deal, as some alders have balked at the potential liability of taking on a site that had long held a gas station and therefore is likely to have polluted soil. The deal the city agreed to gives the Common Council until Oct. 15 to back out, which could happen if an environmental study it commissioned comes back with bad news. Still, adding the 12,000-square-foot building would provide sought-after space for cramped departments that sometimes see staff sharing desks during the same
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Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Annie Balthazor, a member of the dance team, raises her pom-poms in the air during the homecoming parade on Friday, Sept. 28.
School spirit on parade The Stoughton High School homecoming parade was held on the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 28, prior to the start of the homecoming football game later that night. Numerous Stoughton athletics teams and extra-curriculars marched in the parade to show their school spirit.
Inside More photos from the SHS homecoming parade Page 2
RDA membership changes signal shift for redevelopment project BILL LIVICK Unified Newspaper Group
Two years ago, Regina Hirsch was only person on the nine-member Redevelopment Authority who was strongly advocating for the restoration of the Highway Trailer complex in the city’s riverfront redevelopment area. Now, the body has been scaled back to seven members, and Hirsch is the only remaining member on the RDA from the 2016-17 membership. She’s joined by members who are more interested in restoring the building known as Blacksmith Shop, the last remaining vestige of the Highway Trailer complex,
‘I didn’t want to create more drama than we already had. I felt it was in the best interests of the project to move forward and focus on the project and not the politics.’
‘The city could have had the riverfront project now if they (the Common Council) had followed through with everything that the previous committee – the long-term committee, I might add – had all set.’
– Tim Swadley, City of Stoughton mayor which was mostly demolished this summer. Last month, her only colleague from two years ago, Ron Christianson, resigned. Other key changes since 2016 were the removal of Brian Kahl and vice-chair Dan Kittleson in April 2017, former Alder Scott Truehl’s decision to resign in April, and Mayor Tim Swadley’s decision not to reappoint longtime member and former chair Peter Sveum after Swadley was
Courier Hub
– Ron Christianson, former RDA member
elected in April. Asked if those changes were political, Swadley noted it was the Common Council’s decision to replace Kahl and Kittleson with Springman and Dist. 1 Ald. Denise Duranczyk last year. He said his decision to remove Sveum and appoint Roger Springman as RDA chair was based on the belief he “didn’t have the votes” at council to keep Sveum on the body. He also felt it was “time for the change.”
“I didn’t want to create more drama than we already had,” Swadley said. “I felt it was in the best interests of the project to move forward and focus on the project and not the politics.” He added Sveum was “gracious” about not being reappointed and that he had “done a lot for the community and a lot to get the project to the point where it’s at, but to get to the next level, it was time for a change.” Christianson had been on the
RDA since its inception in 2007 and told the Hub he resigned for a few reasons. His personal life had gotten “extremely busy” and he’s also been frustrated by the lack of progress on the riverfront project. He said he was concerned there’s no new tax revenue in the redevelopment area, while the city has accumulated debt demolishing former industrial buildings at the
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Only Hirsch remains from 2016 group