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Thursday, January 30, 2020 • Vol. 55, No. 37 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
Making a Difference, One Home at a Time!
(608) 492-2272 kschulz@KeithAndKinsey.com Keith & Kinsey Schulz www.KeithAndKinsey.com Real Estate Team
Board kicks off search for superintendent
Town of Verona
District to seek firm to search for candidates
Search firm timeline Jan. 28: Send out request for proposals to consultant firms Feb. 25: Proposals from search firms due March 10: Select firms to interview March 16: Interview consultant firms April 6: Approve selected consultant firm
KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
During a goodbye party on Friday, Jan. 24, Town of Verona administrator/planner Amanda Arnold talks with town residents. Arnold was hired by the town in May 2012 and is leaving at the end of the month for a senior land use planning job at JSD Professional Services.
‘What the town needed’ Administrator/planner Arnold leaves town with growth, planning accomplishments KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
When Amanda Arnold earned her bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture in 1990, she thought she’d work in the private sector with a
planning firm. Eight years later, she earned her graduate degree, then spent more than two decades working for various governments, including almost eight as the administrator and planner for the Town of Verona. Next month, she’ll start the job her college self dreamed of having. “It’s really hard – everybody here is so darn nice,” she said. “I’m excited for myself, but sad and guilty about the work that I’m leaving behind.”
Arnold won’t be going far in her new role, as a senior land use planner for JSD Professional Services, a civil engineering, land use and planning company with an office on Horizon Drive among its seven locations. She said she’ll be helping develop projects and guide them through the process of receiving municipal approval. Plan Commission chair Doug Maxwell said Arnold’s presence has
Less than three weeks after Verona Area School District superintendent Dean Gorrell announced his retirement, the school board has launched the process to find his replacement. At its Monday, Jan. 27, meeting, board members approved the wording of a document seeking a superintendent consulting firm. Proposals are due back to the board by late February, and the board plans to interview and select a consulting firm by early April. Gorrell’s retirement is effective June 30, 2021, with a new superintendent to start the next day. Much of this year will be dedicated to selecting a search firm and then working with the consultant to
collect community feedback before the job is posted, likely in October. The consulting firm will then find candidates that align with the goals identified by the district and community. The board plans to interview candidates in November and December and make their selection before the year is up.
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Inside Read why our website is going to a subscriber model Page 4
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Spring election
E-pollbooks promise quicker voting, but could come with risks Security experts say security and convenience should be weighed RENEE HICKMAN Unified Newspaper Group
The City of Verona will begin using electronic poll books during the spring primary election on Feb. 18 to make the voter checkin process run more smoothly.
Although the electronic poll books are designed to speed up operations on Election Day, cybersecurity experts say municipalities should still consider the possibility that they could introduce vulnerabilities to the system. The electronic poll books, also known in Wisconsin as Badger Books, will replace the traditional method of looking up voters on printed paper lists of registered voters at polling sites. The devices are not the same as the ballot
machines used to count votes. In 2017, the Wisconsin Elections Commission developed the Badger Books with feedback from municipal clerks and poll workers. The software will check in and register voters, process absentee ballots and upload election participation into the WisVote database. “The only difference is they’ll be looking up the voters electronically,” city deputy clerk Kayla Martin said, noting that the
electronic poll books are similar to point of sale terminals used at restaurants. City clerk Ellen Clark said the city chose to switch to the Badger Books to eliminate long lines and make the experience of voting faster and more convenient. Reid Magney, a public information officer at the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said the machines can also end up saving time and money for cities like Verona.
Recording voters individually in printed poll books is a time consuming process for city staff, Magney said. “It could take a month or more for clerical workers in the clerk’s office – and sometimes they have to hire temps to do this – to go through pages and pages and pages of these poll books to record all the participation,” he said. Badger Books connect to one
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