By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
Nearly 69,000 cubic yards of wet soil have been moved to a temporary site in the Whitewater Industrial Park off of Howard Road as crews wrap up the dredging portion of the project to revitalize Whitewater’s two downtown lakes. The 69,000 cubic yards is the equivalent of nine times the cubic capacity of the Goodyear Blimp according to the website “The Measure of Things.”
Whitewater Common Council members were given an update on the project at their March 1 meeting which also included the first official reference to the potential for a referendum on absorbing fire and emergency medical services (EMS) as a full-fledged city department. Plans include a reduced reliance on paid on-call volunteers due to a shortage of local volunteers with an increase in paid full-time employees.
Whitewater apparently will join neighboring communities like Fort Atkinson and Milton in asking citizens to vote on exceeding state imposed spending limits to absorb fire and/or EMS services in reaction to a statewide shortage of volunteer firefighters and highly trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). Fort’s citizens will vote on their referendum on April 5. Whitewater’s referendum issue is expected to be a subject of discussion at the upcoming March 15 Common Council meeting and could be placed on the ballot as early as this fall.
The dredging of Cravath Lake across from City Hall and Trippe Lake on the City’s near eastside has been a multiyear project that began with a two year long drawdown of the lakes, a controlled burn of invasive vegetation, and a massive effort at dredging which had hoped to be able to remove as much as 81,000 cubic yards of lake bed soils before warmer temperatures caused a halt in operations. Several owners of lakefront property are expected to still be able to do additional dredging from shore to contribute an estimated 4,000 more cubic yards of material.
Whitewater Parks and Recreation Director Eric Boettcher told Common Council members that the main channel on Trippe Lake had been lowered by as much as 5.5 feet and 3.5 feet on the Cravath Lake main channel. The overall maximum depth of both lakes is expected to be significantly greater when refilling of the lakes takes place in June with plans for a nearly complete refill by the 4th of July event at Cravath Lake. The project’s costs are expected not to exceed the $1.47 million budget.
In other action the Common Council approved a 2.25% wage increase for City Manager Cameron Clapper which is equivalent to increases granted to other city employees and got an update from representatives of the company that last August began stationing electric scooters at various places around town to provide a transportation option for citizens and students.
Bird Scooters Inc. representatives were asked to address citizen complaints about scooters blocking sidewalks and lying tipped over in residential yards. They agreed to step up oversight by their local contractor charged with that responsibility and could face termination of the program for non-compliance. The company reported over 11,000 trips purchased online in Whitewater between August of last year and the beginning of the snow season. They claimed to have over 300 “regular Whitewater commuters” last year.
The Council was also advised that residents with abandoned vehicles in their yards will be receiving “notice of enforcement” actions per a “Junk Vehicle Ordinance” passed in October. The ordinance includes fines ranging from $50 to up to $500 for non-compliance. Residents in the process of making repairs to a vehicle can obtain a permit forgoing the assessment of fines if the owner stipulates that the vehicle will be returned to an operable condition within a year.
