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Thursday, December 27, 2018 • Vol. 137, No. 23 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
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Progress on phosphorus
Stories of the Year 2018
New program sees ‘significant reduction’ in area waterways SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Amber Levenhagen
The remaining building on the Riverfront Redevelopment Area, called the blacksmith shop, partially collapsed last month. The RDA is debating how to move forward.
Manufacturing development Riverfront project, change in city leadership among top stories City officials paid to clear crumbling buildings on the site and continued the debate over whether to save the blacksmith shop, the last of the six Highway Trailer buildings that had caused the city to delay work and then lose its master developer in 2017. As the year came to a close, the city was still working out many details – including transferring ownership of some buildings on the site – and trying to figure out whether a strong windstorm might have spelled the end of the blacksmith shop.
Turn to Phosphorus/Page 8
Stories of 2018
First-year committee aims to widen participation ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Budget includes $510K for roads, equipment The Town of Dunn adopted its 2019 budget Dec. 17 at its annual town meeting with little change from the preliminary figures presented when the levy was approved in November. That amount of money is set by the town’s Assembly – the group of
citizens who attend the annual budget hearing in November – but how the town uses that money is decided at the December meeting. The 2019 budget includes $510,000 in borrowing for road work and equipment, which would push the town’s debt to about $2 million at the end of the year. About $300,000 of the borrowing
Courier Hub
Project goal of pounds of phosphorus kept from watershed annually
18,859 Pounds of phosphorus kept from Yahara Watershed in 2017
540 Size of the Yahara Watershed in square miles
Citizens comb through budget
Town of Dunn
Unified Newspaper Group
96,000
Town of Rutland
1. Riverfront progresses slowly 2. Flooding causes problems for Lake Kegonsa, forces sandbagging 3. New mayor, more changes at city 4. Whitewater park planned, but grant denied 5. Bormett wins Vikings’ first state swimming title 6. Wrestling team wins team state 7. City, organizations address homelessness 8. Murder trial reversal 9. City take bank after debate 10. (tie) Kardasz retires from utilities after 40 years 10. (tie) Sto Trailers considers expansion, asks for $8M
Turn to 2018/Page 12
ALEXANDER CRAMER
In a time of record flooding around Dane County that caused tens of millions of dollars’ worth of damage, there’s some good news out about the area’s water. More than 40,000 pounds of phosphorus that helps fuel excessive weed and algae growth was kept our of area waterways in 2017 though work by the “Yahara Watershed Improvement Network and its partners,” according to a Yahara Watershed Improvement Network (WINS) news release. And as the “last” lake in the
By the numbers
would be used for road construction projects, and the rest would be used to improve the town’s vehicles by buying a new patrol truck for $190,000, adding salt-brining equipment to a second truck at a cost of $15,000. There’s also $35,000 to clear out the Meadowview drainage ditch.
Turn to Dunn/Page 3
Here’s an idea for a fun Thursday night: Head over to Town Hall and go lineby-line through the town’s budget to see if there’s anything to cut. Four Town of Rutland citizens did that this year, meeting twice for “a good two hours” each time to comb through the budget and make sure citizens’ voices were heard in a process that can be opaque and confusing. The budget committee comprised Bob Postel, Rob Hill, Jessica Hutson Polakowski and Peter Loughrin, along with the full Town Board, chair
Mark Porter, supervisors Nancy Nedveck, Dave G r u e n e b e rg a n d D e a na Zentner, clerk Dawn George and treasurer Kim Sime. The idea for the committee came from Laughrin, an accountant by profession, who believes the town’s citizens should be more involved in government. He told the Hub he thinks 1 percent of the population, or roughly 20 citizens, should be involved in making the big town decisions. “The citizen input was valuable, as without it, just four individuals would have created the budget,” Laughrin wrote in an email. “A group of citizens is required to make decisions, to learn, to discuss, to explore options and to develop a consistent plan
Turn to Rutland/Page 7
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The biggest stories in Stoughton in 2018 mostly came down to the same tale we’ve been hearing for years – looking for ways to promote economic development. This year, the twist was that there were fewer disagreements about how to do it – partly because different people were working on it. But many of the events continued to be setting the table for work to come. As the Hub staff debated our list, the No. 1 was again clear – the work done to and for the riverfront redevelopment near downtown.
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