Verona Press The
Wisconsin's PRIVATE PRACTICE OF THE YEAR RECIPIENT
Thursday, July 12, 2018 • Vol. 54, No. 8 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
NEW LOCATION! LOCATION! NEW
City of Verona
VASD: Road plan up to city KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Verona Area School District officials are asking the Common Council for help after a failed attempt to purchase land from a private business for a second access road to the new high school. The district presented three options to the council at the meeting. All three would require city approval. After discussing it for more than half an hour Monday night, the council passed the issue back to the city’s public works department, which will evaluate traffic studies that predate the city’s agreement with the district and will search for additional options. The first option presented by the district would require the city to condemn the property of a
private business through eminent domain – a move alders had voiced opposition to during previous discussions. Another would be to not build a second access point to the high school. That could wreak havoc on traffic patterns and would violate agreements between the district and both the developer and the city. With this option, the city could permit the district to use one access road as a short-term solution, or it could prevent the district from moving into the building until a second access road is built. The third would require the city and the district to petition the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for an exception to allow an access road at Paoli Street – less than one-tenth of a mile from a major U.S. highway exit. That option has prompted safety concerns from alders and city staff, who have said being that close to the highway risks creating backups for commuters getting on and off of the highway.
Verona Area School District
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Laine Ross, a third-grader at Glacier Edge, uses a mix of blue and green to paint in her aquarium that houses a couple of mermaids, fish and a garbage can.
Back in session
Summer school started for Verona Area School District students on Monday, July 9. The district offers a variety of courses, in subjects like art, physical education and Advanced Placement classes for high school students. Students in Lois Feiner’s “Art and more” class, held at Glacier Edge Elementary, used watercolor paints to decorate jars that they could illustrate with anything they wanted on Tuesday, July 10.
Inside More summer school photos Page 7
Turn to Road/Page 9
Alder application due next week
Epic purchases Madison restaurant relics
The city still had no applicants for the position of District 1 alder as of Monday. The deadline to apply for the open seat is noon July 19. Elizabeth Doyle relinquished her seat on the Common Council in June because she moved out of the city. The council decided again, as it did in AprilMay, to allow more than three weeks for applicants to decide whether to pursue the seat and prepare to face questioning by the alders. Alders plan to decide who will take the seat, which expires in April 2019, at the council’s Aug. 27 meeting. All applicants will need to have verifiable District 1 addresses. Those who are verified will get to introduce themselves at the
Company considering options for display
July 23 meeting. Those rules for the process were made at the council’s June 26 meeting. The five-week gap is because the first meeting in August was moved to a Thursday, city administrator Jeff Mikorski told the Press. A link to information on applying is on the front page of the city’s website, ci.verona.wi.us. It has nine questions about such things as reason for interest, qualifications, community service experience, group decision-making, city issues, conflicts of interest and availability, as well as a map of the district. In general, the district covers the southwest side of the city, mostly east of Main Street. — Jim Ferolie
KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
After standing on the side of East Washington Avenue for four decades, the carousel and other pieces of decor artwork at Ella’s Deli have found a new home in Verona. After Ella’s Deli closed in January of this year, Epic Systems purchased the carousel and other pieces of artwork from Deli owners Ken and Judy Balkin last month. Epic initiated talks of purchasing the pieces of artwork from the early June, Epic Systems spokesperson Meghan Roh told the Press in an email. Roh said in the email the company expects all of the items to be moved by late July. Epic staff began evaluating methods of safe transportation on June 19. The company is still “exploring
Photo by Alexander Cramer
The carousel purchased by Epic Systems last month has sat on the Ella’s Deli property along East Verona Avenue for more than four decades.
options,” Roh said, on how to show- for years. case the carousel and decorations In a statement, administrative staff at their campuses on the west side member Kara Rettenmund said the of Verona, with the goal of keeping decision to purchase the carousel and the relics accessible for visitors. The Turn to Epic/Page 3 company has collected pieces of art
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District tells alders it can’t get land for access to new school
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