Editor’s note: The following press release was received on Tuesday evening, October 3 from City Manager John Weidl.
“I’m writing to share with the community that I have been selected as a finalist for the Village Administrator position in Salem Lakes, WI.
During my tenure in Whitewater, we’ve celebrated new developments like Starbucks and A-1 Packaging, introduced ALDI – the first new grocer since 2016, created and funded an affordable housing policy, reduced Fire and EMS response times, and revitalized our local government PEG channel, among other achievements. Staff speak clearly and openly of their shared commitment to productive, engaged and transparent government. Staff speak openly of their support for me as City Manager, and I am humbled by their words and grateful for their trust.
This opportunity is not due to a reduced commitment to the City of Whitewater, organizational goals, or its taxpayers. Whitewater is on the cusp of a bright new future, provided process and productivity, not politics, drive decision-making. This opportunity arises from my desire for stability for my new daughter and, for myself, a supervisory environment that emphasizes respect and professionalism.
Most importantly, should a transition occur, I want to assure my full support and participation in the continuity of Whitewater’s city operations.
Thank you in advance for your understanding and time.
Sincerely, John S. Weidl City Manager, City of Whitewater”
Editor’s note: According to the Salem Lakes website, “We officially became the Village of Salem Lakes on February 14, 2017. Salem Lakes is a rural community with a population of approximately 14,625. Our Village consists of five small “hamlets” which include Camp Lake, Salem, Silver Lake, Trevor and Wilmot.” According to a report, previous village administrator Michael Murdock had been placed on paid administrative leave for approximately six weeks during an investigation and left employment in August, 2023 under a separation agreement. The website indicates that the interim village administrator is Dave Bretl, who retired in 2020 as administrator and corporation counsel of Walworth County. The village does not appear to have publicly announced the finalists for the administrator position.
Common Council Authorizes Outside Counsel Regarding “Disciplinary and Personnel Matters”
By Lynn Binnie Whitewater Banner volunteer staff whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
During the Common Council meeting on October 3, Council President James Allen made a motion to authorize engaging an outside attorney to advise the Council on disciplinary and personnel matters. The motion, as amended to provide for up to $10,000 in expenses, was passed on a 4-3 vote, with Allen, Gerber, Hicks, and Stone voting in favor. This action would pertain specifically to the City Manager, since that position is the only one that reports to the Council. A similar motion had failed to pass in a late summer meeting.
Speaking against the motion, Brienne Brown indicated that she had been advised by officials in other communities that a new manager should be given at least two years to adapt to their position. Not allowing this timeframe, she was told, would make for difficulty in attracting a new manager. Lisa Dawsey Smith stated that she shared those concerns. Citizen Brian Schanen also spoke against the motion, indicating that he had noted recent progress in the city and felt that hiring a third attorney to advise the city would be a waste of resources. In addition to the City Attorney, a labor attorney is also on contract with the city, and Human Resources Manager Sara Marquardt indicated that the Council had not inquired as to whether this attorney might advise the Council.
In making the motion, James Allen stated that the Council had not had opportunity to meet in closed session to evaluate the City Manager. John Weidl stated that the Council had actually had two such sessions in the past sixty days.
Weidl served as interim city manager beginning in August, 2022 upon the resignation of previous manager Cameron Clapper. He was hired as city manager effective November 7, 2022.
Contacted after the adjournment of the Common Council meeting, Allen indicated that he had not yet received notification of Weidl’s announcement regarding the Village of Salem Lakes administrator search. (See separate Banner article.)
According to the Rock County Public Works website, the closure for paving and culvert replacement on County Highway N, which extends from the western end of Walworth Street, is now expected to continue through October 13. Originally this project was planned to be completed by August 31, with the completion date subsequently being delayed to September 29.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Transportation website projects that the Highway 12 reconstruction between Whitewater and Fort Atkinson is anticipated to be completed on November 3. Originally it was indicated that work might be continuing until sometime in December.
Editor’s note: The Banner appreciates having permission to use the image on the homepage by Esmoth from Pixabay.
Editor’s Note: The following was provided by Whitewater Unites Lives.
Patrick Taylor is a WUL Hometown Hero. He was nominated by 11-year-old Rafa Los for serving as City Judge and helping the community.
As Municipal Judge for the City of Whitewater, Patrick focuses on promoting community justice to reduce repeat offenders through education with an emphasis on re-directing youth and their families in positive ways. Patrick also serves as President of the Whitewater Kiwanis Breakfast Club whose mission is to help the children of the community and beyond. Additionally, he sits on both the City’s Urban Forestry and Ethics Commissions, and the Board of Zoning Appeals. Patrick chairs the Chapter Advisory Board for Phi Delta Theta’s fraternity at UW-Whitewater and is President of First United Methodist Church’s Board of Trustees.
Patrick and Rafa are pictured at Starin Park’s new “We-Go-Round,” which is a merry-go-round that allows access for wheeled-mobility devices so all children can enjoy the experience. Whitewater Kiwanis spearheaded this project.
WUL (Whitewater Unites Lives) is a locally focused civil and human rights group that works to connect the people in our community and to create opportunities for all people to learn and support each other in our common humanity.
Anyone who would like to nominate a local hero of any age should send their nomination, with a short description, to whitewaterunites@gmail.com
Editor’s note: This announcement and photo were provided by Sarah Hoots.
This summer, Abbie Rhodes, Erin Vosburgh, and Ruby Hoots from Whitewater Girl Scout Troop 7639 earned their Bronze Award for their volunteering at Mulberry Glen.
The Bronze award, one of the highest awards in Girl Scouting, represents over 20 hours of community service towards a chosen project. Abbie, Erin, and Ruby chose to dedicate their time on multiple occasions over the summer, serving meals, visiting with, and planning activities for the residents of Mulberry Glen. They also hope to continue as pen pals with a few special friends they made.
Editor’s Note: The following was submitted by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Dr. Jimmy Peltier wears a lot of hats at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. As a marketing professor, department chair, director of the sales institute, and AMA advisor, Peltier is a very busy man. Despite this, he continues to dedicate time to research and scholarly content creation, citing it as his second favorite pursuit after helping students excel.
Dr. Peltier began his publishing journey in 1989. Fast forward three decades, he now has earned over 10,000 citations on Google Scholar. Peltier writes on a wide array of topics that include digital marketing, healthcare, and marketing education. “Just spreading the knowledge to someone else who may be writing a paper so they know what is already out there” is what Peltier says is important about people citing his work.
“We are immensely proud of Dr. Peltier’s remarkable achievement,” said Dr. Paul Ambrose, Dean of the College of Business and Economics. “This milestone reflects the caliber of our faculty and their commitment to producing impactful research. It also highlights our school’s dedication to providing students with access to knowledgeable faculty who lead by example.”
The achievement of surpassing 10,000 citations on Google Scholar marked a significant milestone in Dr. Peltier’s illustrious career. He celebrated this accomplishment with enthusiasm, sharing the news with his wife, and with colleagues during a department meeting. But Peltier has no plans to stop publishing anytime soon.
Peltier said, “I get in excess of a thousand citations a year. So this number is only going to go up. And it is something I can still do after I retire so I will continue to explore, write, publish, and continue to share the knowledge.”
To access Dr. Peltier’s work on Google Scholar, please click here.
Congratulations to Professor Peltier on this outstanding achievement!
About Dr. Jimmy Peltier:
Dr. Peltier received his Ph.D. in Marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has over 35 years of business experience as a consultant, Research Director in an Advertising Agency, and as President of a marketing consulting firm. Dr. Peltier’s sales expertise lies in developing buyer-seller relationships, understanding students’ intent to pursue a sales career, database requirements for the sales force, and successful relationship marketing practices. Dr. Peltier directed the launch of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Institute for Sales Excellence in 2012, and has led it to national prominence as an institution and as a sales competition powerhouse. Dr. Peltier is a Past-President of both the University Sales Center Alliance and the American Marketing Association Collegiate Chapters Council (twice). He has received life-time Achievement Awards from the AMA, the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, and is the only person to have received UW-Whitewater’s top three Lifetime Awards, including the Roseman Teaching Excellence, University Research, and University Service Awards. Dr. Peltier has been faculty advisor for UW-Whitewater’s AMA chapter since 1986 and has directed the UWW Chapter to 19 International Chapter of the Year Awards, including 12 years in a row from 2011-2021. With a prolific research career spanning over three decades, Dr. Peltier’s work has earned him over 10,000 citations on Google Scholar. His research areas include digital marketing, healthcare, and marketing education, and he is known for his unwavering commitment to sharing knowledge and advancing the field.
About the College of Business and Economics:
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College of Business and Economics (CoBE) is Wisconsin’s largest business school. It is home to the #1 ranked online, single school Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program in the State and is the only college in Wisconsin that offers an AACSB-accredited Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) degree program. CoBE is in the top 2% of the world’s business schools having earned both AACSB and AACSB Accounting Accreditation. More information can be found here.
Editor’s note: The below press release was received from the UW-W College of Business and Economics.
A new collaboration between the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs Division of Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM) and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will bolster cybersecurity in the state.
A memorandum of understanding signed on Sept. 15 by WEM Administrator Greg Engle and UW-Whitewater Chief Research Administration Officer Carl Fox allows the UW-Whitewater and WEM to work together to strengthen the state’s Cyber Response Team (CRT) Training Program.
“It is vital to build partnerships and share best practices when it comes to the cyber domain,” said Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general and the governor’s chief cybersecurity advisor. “The state’s Cyber Response Team plays an integral role in assisting local communities to respond and recover from attacks on information systems and communications networks.”
The CRT, which is administered by WEM, is a voluntary group of general members and cyber incident responders. The agreement seeks to close the gaps between general members and incident responders.
“This new partnership is a step towards resiliency against growing cyber threats in our state,” said Engle. “Working together will not only invest in cybersecurity education, but it will also encourage the continued growth of the Cyber Response Team.”
The CRT and WEM will also be supporting the university’s cybersecurity program and cyber research projects. The projects look at current and future states of preparedness throughout Wisconsin. There will also be joint outreach efforts to inform and educate both the public and private sectors about cybersecurity threats and mitigation strategies.
“Cybercrime is a formidable threat to today’s businesses. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, organizations must create more impermeable systems and be ready to defend their business from cyberattacks,” said Dr. Balaji Sankaranarayanan, director of the Cybersecurity Center for Business at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College of Business and Economics. “Through this collaboration with WEM, we aim not only to educate today’s professionals in cybersecurity, but to arm tomorrow’s IT leaders to thrive in the face of adversity.”
Specific collaborative efforts between UW-Whitewater and WEM include:
· The university providing faculty and/or graduate students, facility space, and existing equipment for the CRT Quarterly Training Program.
· The CRT and WEM employees will assist the University with identifying and promoting public-sector placement opportunities in support of UW-Whitewater’s Cybersecurity Program. Public-sector placements will be co-facilitated by the WEM Cybersecurity Preparedness Coordinator and the University.
· Under the supervision of university faculty, the WEM Cybersecurity Preparedness Coordinator will assist in supporting UW-Whitewater’s cybersecurity program institutional review board-approved academic research efforts through program-aligned activities. Those will include data collection, analysis, writing, and other traditional peer-reviewed activities consistent with research or experimental design.
The Cybersecurity Center for Business (CCB)’s mission is to offer leading-edge and innovative cybersecurity education, research, outreach services and opportunities to organizations and learners in Wisconsin. More information about the UW-Whitewater’s CCB and cybersecurity programs is available at https://www.uww.edu/cobe/ccb.
Editor’s Note: The following was provided by the Whitewater Community Foundation.
Linda, a new community member from Nicaragua, benefited from the Community ESL program that helped her learn English. When applying for a job and her interpreter did not show up, thanks to the training she received in the Level 1 ESL course, she had learned enough English to respond to the first round of interview questions about basic personal information and preferences. Her newly learned English helped her get the job!
Linda’s story “is just one example of the positive impacts the Community ESL Program of Whitewater has on the community, impacts which would not be possible without the support of organizations such as the Whitewater Community Foundation,” said Terilyn Robles, Director of Teaching & Learning for the Whitewater Unified School District.
ESL Students
The grant to the Community ESL Program was $1,000 to purchase 25 curriculum texts and workbooks. This is just one of the community action grants provided. Each year, the Whitewater Community Foundation makes community action grants that tie in with the Foundation’s mission, including but not limited to education, arts, economic development, and improving the Whitewater Community.
“We are very pleased to support Linda and all of the English language learners here in our community,” said Whitewater Community Foundation Co-President Roni Telfer. “A recent influx of non-English speaking families has made it crucial to provide opportunities in our community to welcome and assist,” said Telfer.
One of the key areas of need identified at the 2023 Civic Summit in April was related to communication with diverse groups: Communicating to Whitewater’s diverse population in English and Spanish, making signage bilingual, coordinating communication to all groups, and providing opportunities for people of different backgrounds, age groups, etc. to integrate to help meet community needs.
Another Whitewater Community Foundation grant addressing Whitewater’s diverse population was a 2022 grant to the Whitewater Police Department for interpretation services.
“Our need for interpretation services has drastically increased in Whitewater over the last two years, to a point that we quickly outgrew our operating budget to cover the costs ($2,500 budget). Our department also recently switched our interpreter services from using SWITS at a cost of $2.50 a minute, to using a worldwide company called Propio at a cost of 65 cents a minute. In the first nine months of this year, our department has used a total of 61.2 hours of Propio interpretation services. So between us switching our interpreting services and your generous grant donation, we are in a much better position financially to continue to provide these interpretation services,” said Adam Vander Steeg, Administrative Captain of the Whitewater Police Department.
These two grants exemplify one of the key challenges identified at the 2023 Civic Summit in Whitewater, communicating with our diverse community in Whitewater.
More than 30 community members, business leaders, educators, nonprofit organizers, and others met in April at the Civic Summit and determined key areas for improvement in Whitewater:
Communicating to Whitewater’s diverse population in English and Spanish, making signage bilingual, coordinating communication to all groups, and providing opportunities for people of different backgrounds, age groups, etc. to integrate to help meet community needs;
Housing assistance, affordability and accessibility for families and professionals seeking to purchase homes;
Marketing Whitewater by coordinating and cross-pollinating events, calendars and volunteer opportunities.
The Whitewater Community Foundation, tasked with holding a Civic Summit to determine community needs, plans to continue to draw on the results and the community experts who shared them. Discussions demonstrated Whitewater is a diverse community that provides many opportunities to work together: the 4th of July parade and events, the City Market, the Spirit Tours, and more. Our community needs its valuable but underutilized facilities like the Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center and the Young Auditorium to be supported to rebound from the pandemic. Our rich diversity offers many hopeful opportunities for people of all ages, races, religions, etc. to learn from each other and celebrate our common humanity.
Twice a year, the Whitewater Community Foundation offers Community Action Grants for projects that the community and board of directors believe are worthwhile and beneficial to various segments of the population, projects like the ESL classes and interpretation services. Grant proposals are due on April 30th and October 31st of each year.
“Our foundation is dedicated to making our community stronger through these action grants,” said Julie Caldwell, Secretary of the Whitewater Community Foundation.
Whitewater’s Fire and EMS department received a WCF action grant of $1,810 for a fire blanket involving electric vehicles. Kelly Freeman, Fire and EMS Chief, said that, while they have not used it yet, they are very pleased to have available the fire blanket, which will more quickly and safely extinguish car fires.
Example of a Fire Blanket
Freeman said, “On behalf of the Fire Department, I would like to express how thankful we are to have received this grant and to have the opportunity to purchase this equipment to aid in property conservation.” He said, “This grant aims to support local civic organizations and their remarkable projects, and we couldn’t be prouder to see our fire department is recognized for its outstanding efforts in keeping our community safe. Let’s celebrate this remarkable achievement together!”
The First United Methodist Church also received $1,000 for its free lunch program that feeds students and community members. The church has been providing a free Tuesday lunch for more than 25 years. They have served 105 meals in the last two Tuesdays, and indoor, sit-down eating encourages people to meet one another and build community. Comments from diners include:
Food was great with good serving sizes;
Very tasty warm food;
It was amazing, everything tasted great. The dessert was phenomenal.
In conversations with people eating Tuesday lunch, volunteers have also heard how challenging it can be for students and community people to stretch every dollar. One said, “There is just too much month at the end of the money. Thank you for this; it makes a difference.”
“This kind of caring is what Whitewater and the Whitewater Community Foundation are all about,” said Telfer.
Following are some additional projects recently receiving grants:
Wisconsin Makers, Inc. received $500 to fund free classes including robotics.
Whitewater Unified School District received $1,000 for its Robotics program.
St. Patrick’s Church and its Hands Up Program received $500 for emergency assistance.
Whitewater Urban Forestry received $500 for Starin Park Arboretum signage.
“We are pleased that the Civic Summit results tied in so beautifully with some of the community action grants that we funded recently. We look forward to this year’s distribution of Community Action grants,” said Whitewater Community Foundation Co-President Therese Kennedy.
The Foundation continues to provide and host scholarships for Whitewater High School students and also offers fiscal sponsorship to organizations that are seeking 501(c) (3) status or require temporary pass-through funds for worthy community projects.
The Whitewater Community Foundation’s mission is to “enhance quality of life in the Whitewater area via educational, cultural, charitable or benevolent expenditures.”
It’s time once again for #FlashbackFriday [Monday in this case due to the Banner being tardy] with the Whitewater Historical Society.
It’s football season and time for the annual vintage football photo. This photo is of the Whitewater (City) High School football squad from 1930. Someone’s grandfather or great-grandfather is, no doubt, in this image. Again, it is always amazing to see the little protection the vintage football players wore.
Join us next week for more from the Whitewater Historical Society.
