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Persons who are responsible for any building or lot with a public sidewalk are required to remove all snow and ice from the sidewalk within 24 hours after a snow or ice event. If ice can’t be removed, it must be kept sprinkled with salt or sand. If these requirements are not met, the city may have the work performed at a minimum cost of $100. Please see below for the city ordinance.

12.20.020 Snow and Ice Removal Required.
The owner, occupant, and person in charge of any building or lot fronting upon or adjoining any sidewalk
shall remove all snow and ice from the sidewalk no later than twenty-four hours after a snow or ice event.
When any ice is so formed on any sidewalk that it cannot be removed, then the responsible party shall keep
the same sprinkled with salt or sand. If any such owner, occupant, or person in charge refuses or fails to
comply with the provisions of this section within the time aforesaid, the city manager or an appointed
representative may remove such snow or ice and the cost thereof shall be charged at a rate of one hundred
dollars per hour, with a minimum charge of one hundred dollars. Work lasting more than one hour will be
billed an additional twenty-five dollars. Any subsequent snow removal, which takes place within six months
of the prior removal, will be charged at a rate of one hundred fifty dollars per hour, with a minimum charge of
one hundred fifty dollars. Work lasting more than one hour will be billed an additional twenty-five dollars. If
the city contracts the service out for snow and ice removal, the city shall bill back to the property owner the
cost, for any labor, equipment, and material necessary to remove the snow and ice from the public sidewalk
the rate of the cost of the contracted service, plus a ten percent administrative cost fee, or, at the city’s
discretion, the street department’s going rate for time, materials and equipment. The cost of such removal
shall be reported to the city clerk in writing with a description of the premises, and such costs shall be and
become a special tax and lien against the premises, and if not previously paid shall be inserted by the city
clerk in the next ensuing tax roll as a special tax against such premises; and such costs may, in the
discretion of the common council, be collected by suit against the owner or occupant of the premises.
(Ord. 1474 §1, 2001: Ord. 1193 §1, 1990: Ord. 983 §54(part), 1982; Ord. 901 §1, 1978: Ord. 862 §1, 1976:
prior code §6.01(8)).
(Ord. No. 1846A, § 1, 11-8-2012; Ord. No. 1993A, § 1, 2-4-2020)

Editor’s note: The following press release was received from the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library.

The library is participating in “Hour of Code” on Monday, December 4 at 3:30-4:30 p.m. in celebration of Computer Science Education Week. This year, children in grades two through six (ages 7-12) are invited to learn how to program drones and a high-tech sleigh (virtually) with coding magic to capture presents and navigate down the mountain to return Christmas to Whoville in a Grinch-style educational game. Computers will be provided.  

Please register in advance as space is limited. Visit whitewaterlibrary.org and click on “Events – Registration Forms” or contact Sarah French at sfrench@whitewaterlibrary.org or 262-458-2782.  The Irvin L. Young Memorial Library is located at 431 W. Center Street in Whitewater.  

WHS Players would like to thank everyone who attended our recent production of “Mean Girls, High School Version.”  It was a fun show to produce and the cast and crew had a great time bringing it to life on stage.  

Please join us for our next production of the classic play, “Our Town,” by Thornton Wilder.  Performances will be given February 29-March 3, 2024.

We are currently looking for corporate and private partnerships to help sponsor this event.  Please contact Jim McCulloch at jmcculloch@wwusd.org for more information.

Editor’s note: Thanks to Tom Ganser for this great photo gallery.

Editor’s note: The following press release was received from Edgerton Hospital. Per a social media post by Al Hutchison, President of the UW-Whitewater Community Club, “there will be no Breakfast with Santa this year [at Esker Hall] as we have run short of help running the event. We are sorry to the Whitewater community but it takes great effort to pull this off and we just didn’t have it.” It appears that there may be a dinner with Santa at the middle school. Watch for confirmation.

(EDGERTON, WI) – Edgerton Hospital, 11101 N Sherman Rd, Edgerton, invites the community to its annual breakfast with Santa, sponsored by the Edgerton Hospital Sunshine Committee!

Saturday, December 2^nd, from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m., the entire family can enjoy a delicious breakfast, holiday activities, and a fun morning with Santa! Kids always have a great time shopping on their own in “Santa’s Secret Gift Shop!”

Edgerton Hospital welcomes you to bring your holiday cheer and enjoy:

·         A variety of breakfast items from the café – Donations accepted

·         Pictures with Santa – Donations accepted

·         Holiday Crafting Station & Cookie Decorating – $1.00 for each item

·         Santa’s Secret Gift Shop – Exclusively for children to buy gifts for their family members. All gifts are under $5 and include wrapping!

Pay the day of the event! No registration necessary! 

Please join us the morning of December 2^nd for this fun event! For more information, visit www.edgertonhospital.com.

Editor’s note: The Banner appreciates having permission to use the image on the homepage by Jo Justino from Pixabay.

On Saturday, November 25, twenty-six Junior and Cadette Girl Scouts from Whitewater and surrounding cities descended on Whitewater High School with one goal – to earn their robotics badges. Members of Ferradermis, Whitewater High School’s FIRST Robotics Competition Team, hosted the event, running workshops throughout the day so the girls at each level could meet the requirements for earning their badges for Designing Robots, Programming Robots, and Showcasing Robots.

The girls started their day as a large group with an opening introduction to FIRST Robotics presented by Ferradermis Outreach Subteam Lead Maddison LaHaie. This was followed by a visit from a virtual guest speaker, Carissa Petzinger, an industrial engineer at Rondo Energy in California. Petzinger had served as head coach for Ferradermis for several years when she was employed as an engineer at Generac in Whitewater and shared information with the girls about the robots she has designed in her various workplaces. LaHaie and Meg Roselle followed the girls to their various sessions throughout the day, capturing photographs and constructing a slideshow that the girls could use to present their projects at the end of the day.

Throughout the day, groups of girls rotated through five other sessions. Programming Team Member Margaret Brown led the girls through an activity involving writing and debugging algorithms and then shared information about how robots are currently used and how they might be used in the future before having the girls draw a design for a robot that could solve a future problem.

Programming Team Subteam Lead Ace Hudec demonstrated two of the Ferradermis robots for the scouts and gave them each an opportunity to drive one of the robots. The girls were also able to get an up-close look at the electronics on the “big” robots. Hudec also spent some extra time with the Cadettes discussing the actual code for a Ferradermis robot and writing some pseudocode with them.

Emerson Dunham, Game Strategy Subteam Lead, walked the scouts through previous games for which the team has built a robot and allowed them to examine previous game pieces that the robots have needed to handle. Each girl or pair of girls then selected one of the old game pieces and sketched a design for a robot mechanism that could pick up the game piece. At that point, the girls headed into the shop under the supervision of Mark and Andrew Zimmermann to build a prototype for their mechanism. They also had the opportunity to learn about some of the equipment in the shop that the team uses to build their robots.

The scouts spent a large chunk of time in the computer lab learning about coding and circuits under the guidance of Programming Team Member Rae Breisath, team alum and MSOE Senior Gwynne Sahyun, and Team Advisor Laura Masbruch. Hudec and Brown were also able to support the girls in this endeavor in between their other sessions. The trio walked the girls through the basics of building and coding Arduino circuits using TinkerCAD Circuits. The girls were then challenged to modify starter code to turn on an LED when a button was pressed and to turn on an LED when a motion sensor detected movement. Next, the scouts tackled the challenge of coding Arduino shield bots to drive forward, and some were able to attach a motion sensor which would cause the bot to stop when it sensed movement in front of it. The Cadettes dove a little deeper and implemented their pseudocode for driving in certain patterns.

At the end of the day, all of the girls gathered together in a large group to celebrate their accomplishments by sharing what they learned. They were then awarded their badges, and the day ended with a door prize drawing for three small robot kits and an Arduino starter kit.

Ferradermis members had connected with Geometry Teacher Laurel Ruud who works with the local Girl Scout Service Unit when deciding to offer this opportunity. The team is grateful to Mrs. Ruud for her guidance throughout the planning process. The team would also like to thank Tori Breisath and Jane Masbruch for their support throughout the day as well as Rich Grosse for his beautiful photography.

Article Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor
lmasbruch@wwusd.org
Photos Courtesy of Rich Grosse and Tori Breisath

City of Whitewater Urban Forestry Commission – Monday @ 4:30 p.m.
Cravath Lakefront room, 2nd floor, 312 West Whitewater Str, Whitewater, WI, 53190
Agenda includes Discussion to add a fourth Purple Martin house, Future of Territorial Oak felled timber and possible projects relating to it, Milkweed protection discussion, protection of oaks from library expansion.
*In Person and Virtual
Citizens are welcome (and encouraged) to join our webinar via computer, smart phone, or telephone.
Citizen participation is welcome during topic discussion periods.
Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://meet.goto.com/638015093
You can also dial in using your phone.
Access Code: 638-015-093
United States: 1 (646) 749-3122
Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:
https://meet.goto.com/install

Whitewater Unified School District Policy Review Committee – Monday @ 6:00 p.m.
Whitewater High School Library, 534 South Elizabeth Street, Whitewater, Wisconsin
Agenda (click on “meetings” in upper right corner)

Whitewater Unified School District School Board – Monday @ 7:00 p.m.
Whitewater High School Library, 534 S. Elizabeth Street
Agenda (click on “meetings” in upper right corner) includes WUSD Strategic Planning & Scorecard Review, Whitewater Middle School (Informational); Update on the Whitewater Middle School Literacy Intervention – FTE Addition (Possible Action Item).
– URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89890457078?pwd=ak5waHBjRTN3ckFmQUQ1Umw1SkhNUT09
– Passcode: 737386
———————————————-
– Dial-in: 1-312-626-6799
– Webinar ID: 898 9045 7078
– Passcode: 737386

City of Whitewater Finance Committee – Tuesday @ 5:00 p.m.
Agenda includes salary resolution proposal and employee bonuses.
Whitewater Municipal Building Community Room,
312 West Whitewater St., Whitewater, WI 53190
*In Person and Virtual
Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://meet.goto.com/973175085
You can also dial in using your phone.
Access Code: 973-175-085
United States: +1 (224) 501-3412
Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:
https://meet.goto.com/install