Thursday, August 16, 2018 • Vol. 54, No. 13 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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Fitch-Rona EMS
Fitchburg considers EMS changes Study options include dissolution of district with Verona JIM FEROLIE Verona Press editor
Photo by Mark Nesbitt
Sam Bugni, a fourth-grader, Verona, opens his arms to create the proper window as he takes a handoff from coach Pat Klipstine Aug. 7 in football practice on the field by Saint Andrew Catholic Church in Verona. For the first time, Wildcat youth football is eliminating tackle football for fourth-graders this year. Fourth-grade players will play full-padded flag football due to concussion concerns and in an effort to boost participation.
Flag on the field
Verona youth football program raises age for tackling Assistant sports editor
The Verona Wildcat youth football program is beginning a restructuring that will raise the age that tackle football begins. Part of the reason is participation has declined by about 50 percent in Verona the past eight years,
explained Mark Mancilla, president of Verona youth football. Part of that, he told the Press, has been driven by safety concerns, as concussions have dominated the national dialogue at every level of football. “That is not uncommon for programs around the area,” he said. “We
Inside
Town of Verona
Get ready for the first Wildcat football game of the year with our preview
New 20-year comp plan goes to hearing
Page 9
Turn to Tackle/Page 11
New tourism coordinator gets ‘a better view’ Graber looks to find Verona’s ‘niche’ KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Verona resident JoEllen Graber is getting a “better view” of the city from her office at 120 W. Verona Ave. A s t h e Ve r o n a A r e a Chamber of Commerce’s new tourism coordinator, the actual view outside her
window is of downtown, bu t s h e ’s also gotten a d i ff e r e n t look at the city she and her family h av e l iv e d in for almost five years by Graber promoting it. “I think it gives you a better view of what there is to offer in the city,” she said. “Some of the things that might be your favorite The
Verona Press
Turn to EMS/Page 14
thing to do, tourists may not know about. So it’s a great way to push different things that are here.” Graber was hired as the Verona Area Chamber of Commerce’s first tourism coordinator at the end of June. The role will have her coming up with and recruiting new events to the city, working with other municipalities’ chambers, marketing events and encouraging people to visit
Verona. “We’re very excited,” Le Jordan, the chamber’s executive director, said. “It’s been a long time coming for Verona. We’re looking forward to all of the progress that it’s going to produce.” The tourism coordinator position was created by the chamber after city statutes were changed to establish a tourism commission, hiring
Turn to Tourism/Page 12
Town has held 60 meetings, spent two years on plan KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Next week, the Town of Verona’s Plan Commission will review a 20-year comprehensive plan Town Chair Mark Geller said he’s “proud of.” The plan, which will define land uses in the town for the next two decades, is a result of a two-and-a-half
Verona Area Performing Arts Series Atlantic City Boys: Saturday, November 10, 2018 | 7:30pm Four dynamic lead singers who are Singing ‘60s rockn-roll hits of The Drifters, The Beach Boys, and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Turn to Plan/Page 8
2018-2019 Season
The Young Irelanders: Saturday, February 23, 2019 | 7:30pm Each year the Irish Cultural Academy brings its finest exponents of Irish traditional music, song, and dance.
Purchase your season tickets at a discount prior to September 2nd, 2018.
year process that included over 60 public meetings and splitting the town into eight different sections to get public input from residents about what was going to be happening “in their own backyard,” Geller said. “Just the planning and the open public meetings that we’ve had, as we’ve molded this current plan, that’s what I’m the most proud of,” he said. “Frankly, it’s the work of our town planner, our residents and the volunteers that make up
The Canadian Brass: Friday, Yes Friday! April 5, 2019 | 7:30pm They have truly earned the distinction of the world’s most famous brass group. Their music ranges from Baroque to Dixieland, including patriotic music.
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MARK NESBITT
The City of Fitchburg could be considering a change in its joint medical service with Verona now that a $30,000 study has been brought back to its Common Council. Since 1977, Fitch-Rona EMS has been a combined district of the cities of Fitchburg and Verona and the Town of Verona. Each municipality has three voting members, and the commission has some autonomy, but budgetary and other major decisions need the approval of each municipality. Fitchburg, with the highest population and use
of the service by far, has expressed some concerns about the efficiency of its operation, much like the City of Verona did a decade ago about fire service. In that case, the city eventually withdrew from the joint fire district it had at one point shared with the towns of Verona and Springdale and created its own department, which it now contracts out to the Town of Verona. That’s one of the six options considered by the report, produced by GWB Professional Services and Elsass Executive Enterprises and dated August 2018. That option, listed as C, also appears to have the most potential benefits, according to a chart in the report, with “high” sustainability of staff and services, “high” improvement in incident and administrative