News

Editor’s note: Updated on 1/9 at 11:30 p.m. to add two WUSD notices.

City of Whitewater Spring Election Candidates/Ballot Draw – Monday @ 5:30 p.m.
Agenda: Ballot draw for at large Common Council seat
Whitewater Municipal Building , Community Room
312 West Whitewater St., Whitewater, WI 53190
*In Person and Virtual
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8140860175pwd=1jukmOSlmqORjlLSd0Dp2SWEiCbp0A.lTocz9sieOBVSfZ5
Passcode: 503011
Or Telephone +1 312 626 6799 US
Webinar ID: 814 0860 1750

City of Whitewater Plan & Architectural Review Commission – Monday @ 6:00 p.m.
Agenda includes Conditional Use Permit for sign package for Starbucks, Public Hearing Regarding Consideration of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to allow for zero lot line condominiums on Meadow View (off Indian Mounds Parkway), Possible Consideration and Approval of the Preliminary Plat and Possible Consideration and Approval of Final Plat for Meadow View project.
Whitewater Municipal Building Community Room,
312 West Whitewater St.
*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 my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://meet.goto.com/997301941
You can also dial in using your phone.
Access Code: 997-301-941
United States: +1 (224) 501-3412
Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:
https://meet.goto.com/install

City of Whitewater Ethics Committee – Tuesday @ 5:00 p.m.
Agenda includes executive session to Consider complaints against elected officials, possibly followed by open session.
Whitewater Municipal Building Community Room,
312 West Whitewater St., Whitewater, WI 53190
*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 click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83773150974?pwd=XQN0MAk3BjZ01oMA9ldLdLvXMFjn8g.zHzIaEt32XxXnX
Sl
Passcode: 195569
Or Telephone:
+1 312 626 6799 US
Webinar ID: 837 7315 0974
Passcode: 195569

WUSD Notices

Members of the Whitewater School Board will be attending the WUSD Unplugged session at Lincoln Elementary on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 beginning at 4:00 p.m. A quorum of the School Board may be present; however, the Board will not be conducting any business during the event.

Whitewater School Board members and other Whitewater Unified School District officials will be attending the Crossing Guard & Bus Driver Appreciation Breakfast at Whitewater High School on Thursday, January 11, 2024. A quorum of the School Board may be present; however, the Board will not be conducting any business during this event.

Editor’s note: The following press release was received from the Whitewater Arts Alliance.

Kim Adams has accepted the position as Gallery Director for the Whitewater Arts Alliance. As a lifelong learner and advocate for the arts, she believes that creativity resides in everyone.
She enjoys teaching, brainstorming, and collaborating with diverse individuals and teams. With 35 years in higher education, including 32 years at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, she retired as Assistant Director of the James R. Connor University Center in June 2021.

One of the standout achievements in Kim’s career has been her instrumental role in developing and supervising The Center Art Gallery and Roberta’s Art Gallery. Her
collaborative efforts with the UW-W Art Department, alongside engagement with student artists, local, regional, national, and international talents, have been pivotal in fostering a vibrant artistic community. Kim has also been actively involved with local organizations such as the Whitewater Arts Alliance, Studio 84, Fairhaven Senior Services, Optimist International, Association of College Unions International and the Whitewater Unified School District, among others.

Kim’s impact extends beyond gallery curation and collaboration. She played a crucial role in the development of the permanent art collection at the UC, orchestrating collaborative projects that bridged the gap between professional artists and students. Her commitment to education and outreach is further exemplified by her involvement in coordinating camps and research during the summer and serving as the Community Outreach Specialist for the
Chancellor’s Office in the fall.

As a charter member and three-time president of the UW-Whitewater/Community
Optimist Club, Kim chaired Optimist Trivia Night for seven years, raising nearly $90,000. She served as advisor for the UW-Whitewater Student Optimist Club, led service-learning trips, and taught leadership courses during a good portion of her service career. Kim, an eternal optimist, is a creative problem solver and collaborative leader. She resides in Whitewater with her life partner Angie Alesci and enjoys Wisconsin sports, boating, gardening, photography, crafting, singing in her church choir, and exploring the outdoors.

The Greater Whitewater Committee (GWC) is set to host Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment and Retention, Jackie Briggs, as guest speaker at its upcoming monthly meeting in January. Briggs will be discussing UW-Whitewater’s efforts in enrollment and retention. 

The GWC’s upcoming monthly meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday, January 11th at 7 a.m. at 841 Brewhouse: 841 E Milwaukee St, Whitewater, WI 53190. The public is welcome to attend this meeting, so that they may get a chance to learn more about the future of the University. If interested in attending, RSVP is required. To reserve your spot, contact Jeff Knight at jpk@knightpublicaffairs.com or 920.728.0662 by Wednesday, January 10th. 

“We are excited to hear about the efforts in retention and enrollment at the University,” said GWC President, Jeff Knight, “UW-Whitewater’s success is one of GWC’s top priorities.” 

Assistant Vice Chancellor, Jackie Briggs, has been in this position since May, 2023. Previously, Briggs served as Director of Admissions since 2017 at UW-W, prior to that was the Assistant Director of Admissions at UW-La Crosse. She has more than 16 years of recruitment and retention experience in higher education. 

Additionally, Jackie received her Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Communication and Psychology from UW-Whitewater along with her Master’s Degree in College Student Counseling and Personnel Services from Bowling Green State University. 

About the GWC The GWC is an action-oriented group committed to working with citizens, elected officials, and policy makers to identify, craft, and implement a pro-business agenda. Its goals are to advance the economic, educational, and social policies required to energize and secure the Whitewater area’s economic future, as well as protect Whitewater’s quality of life.

Whitewater Unified School District will be closed on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 due to a Winter Storm Warning that is tracking heavy snow that will impact travel during school hours.  All before and after-school athletics and activities for Tuesday will also be canceled. Fort Atkinson schools are also closed.

Mark Dorn indicates that the movie at Seniors in the Park will be rescheduled.

Kay Robers indicates that the Community Space will be closed.

All city buildings will be closed, including the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library.

Any further weather closing announcements will be added to this page.

Update: Senior dining sites will be closed.

Kickoff for the 2024 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Season, “Crescendo,” took place on Saturday, January 6, with a worldwide release of the requirements for a new music-themed game. Twenty-one members of Whitewater High School’s FRC Team Ferradermis traveled to Mukwonago High School for a kickoff event hosted by Team 930, the Mukwonago Bears. They were joined by Team 8701 Graffiti from Greendale, Team 6421 WarriorBots from Muskego, Team 8002 The Knack from Hartland, Team 5148 New Berlin Blitz, and rookie team 9760 from Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Milwaukee.

Kickoff events started with a series of workshops where students could learn about team/task organization, programming, prototyping, FIRST Wisconsin leadership opportunities, CAD, and more. At 11:00 a.m., all participating teams gathered together to watch the worldwide broadcast that would reveal the much-teased game via a game animation. To watch the animation and learn about the game, visit https://youtu.be/9keeDyFxzY4. After a pizza break, teams worked to break down the 150-page rule book individually and then by teaming up with representatives from all of the other participating teams.

The single game piece this year is a 14” diameter orange foam ring, known as a “note” because of its likeness to a musical whole note. The robot must interact with a variety of field elements including the “speaker,” the “amp,” the “stage,” and the “source.” Robots will collect notes from the source and deliver them to the amp and the speaker. The amp has lights controlled by the human player that can signal point scoring in the speaker is amplified for a certain amount of time based on the number of notes in the amp. There are also opportunities for the two alliances playing against each other to use coopertition to reduce the total number of notes needed to earn ranking points. [Coopertition means that teams help and cooperate with each other, even as they compete.] Situations that incorporate coopertition and cooperation are named “melody” and “ensemble” to keep with the music theme. During the end game, the human player will have an opportunity to make a half-court ring-toss that will help increase point values for tasks in the end game.

Ferradermis members returned to the high school for the remainder of the afternoon on Saturday to discuss their approach to start the season and to start setting specific goals for what their robot will do. They will now begin meeting 20-30 hours per week after school and on weekends to design, manufacture, assemble, wire, program, and test their new robot. They will put their bot on the field for the first time in a scrimmage at Sussex-Hamilton High School on Sunday, February 18, and need to be fully ready for competition before the end of February.

Ferradermis is scheduled to compete in three regional events this year, with each event lasting four days and consisting of 50-60 high school teams. They will be at the Northern Lights Regional in Duluth from February 28 – March 3, at the Wisconsin Regional in Milwaukee from March 14-17, and at the Midwest Regional in Chicago over Spring Break from March 27-30. The team is particularly excited for the Chicago event as it will host teams from 6 countries (Panama, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Canada, the US, and Mexico) and 10 states including Hawaii, California, New York, and Florida. Four teams from each regional will advance to Championships in Houston, Texas in mid-April.

The public is invited to learn more about the team at their Open House at Whitewater High School on Saturday, February 3, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor and Banner Volunteer
lmasbruch@wwusd.org

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

Community members are invited to a presentation by Carol McLernon celebrating the 130th anniversary of the World’s Fair in Chicago, which will be held at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library on Tuesday, January 9 at 5:30 p.m.  

Attendees will learn about Wisconsin’s building at the fair, new foods that were introduced and famous people who attended. Those from Wisconsin included Harry Houdini and Frank Lloyd Wright.  

Jennifer Motzko, Head of Archives at UW-Whitewater’s Andersen Library, will also have Exposition items from their collection on display. There is no cost or registration to attend this presentation. The library is located at 431 W. Center St. in Whitewater. 

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

At the December 19 Common Council meeting, Police Chief Daniel Meyer requested feedback regarding a letter he had drafted to be sent to President Biden regarding the need for more resources for the Police Department and other areas in order to continue effectively serving the entire population of the city. Those residents now include an estimated 800-1000 persons who have immigrated here from Central and South America in the past two years.

The council members endorsed the draft while also suggesting a few additional points they thought might be included in the letter. Ultimately City Manager John Weidl suggested that Meyer be allowed to send his letter with minimal changes, while committing that Weidl would be happy to draft an additional letter through which the council might communicate its own concerns. Council members, endorsing this proposal, requested that the chief’s letter also be sent to a number of federal and state officials. They also felt that in addition to the chief it should also be signed by the city manager and the council members. The letter, a copy of which is included at the end of this article, was sent on December 28. In addition to the president, it was also sent to Vice President Harris, DHS Secretary Mayorkas, Governor Evers, Lieutenant Governor Rodriguez, US Senator Baldwin, US Senator Johnson, US Representative Steil, US Representative Fitzgerald, WI Senator Nass, WI Representative Peterson, WI Representative Schutt, and WI Representative Vos.

State and national media picked up the story, and among the inaccurate comments being made in some outlets and on social media are references to busloads of people being “dumped” in Whitewater.

The Banner inquired whether the police chief and city manager would care to provide any comments in response to this concern. Their comments are below.

Police Chief Daniel Meyer: “I would like to make it absolutely clear that this is an apolitical issue for us. It’s unfortunate that certain media outlets have chosen to use the letter as political ammunition. The purpose of the letter is to obtain financial support for services that the Whitewater community is in critical need of. It is a simple fact that we are not currently providing the Whitewater community with the degree of service that our residents are accustomed to. Our proactive law enforcement statistics show that. That needs to change for the sake of both long-time residents, as well as individuals who have recently moved here from Central America. We are in no way working to divide this community. We want to make positive change so that we can all continue to move forward in a safe and welcoming city.”

City Manager John Weidl: “The City of Whitewater is experiencing population growth, necessitating a shift in the allocation of city resources to address the evolving needs of the community. This includes ensuring access to safe housing, education registration, library services, and other essential public amenities. Additionally, it is crucial to adapt our public safety strategies to effectively serve newcomers, enhancing communication between officers and residents, aiding in obtaining necessary identification, and providing support to integrate them as active, contributing members of the community.

It is important to emphasize that the intention of this letter is not to cast a negative light on any part of our community. Instead, it is a call for additional resources to enable the City to more effectively serve all community members.”

Editor’s note: We appreciate having permission to use the image on the homepage by Pexels from Pixabay.

Congratulations to A’lani Ross, Calli Grosinske, and Maddison LaHaie for being selected to represent Whitewater High School at Badger Girls State in 2024! 

Badger Girls State is a program designed to develop leadership skills in high school students and train future stateswomen in the science of government. The program will be held at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh from June 16-21. Participants are chosen for their interest in the American government and their outstanding qualities of leadership, character, cooperativeness, dependability, and participation in extracurricular activities.

Thank you to the Whitewater American Legion for sponsoring our awesome delegates again this year! Congratulations!

Article and Photo Submitted by Pamela Sonmor-Wintz
Whitewater High School Counselor
psonmorwintz@wwusd.org