News & Events

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by the ADRC of Rock County.

By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

The Whitewater Fire Department, like volunteer fire departments all around the state, is struggling with recruiting and paying for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and a newly announced state plan might be available to help cover some of the costs.

EMTs, the well-trained medical people who respond with an ambulance to medical emergencies, are in short supply and small communities like Whitewater, which have traditionally relied on paid on-call volunteer EMTs, have been experiencing serious staffing problems.

WI Governor Tony Ever’s State of the State address this week featured a plan to use $27.4 million of federal money to help cover increasing community expenses to provide emergency medical services. This comes as the City of Whitewater and the Whitewater Fire Department Inc. (WFD) are negotiating an agreement to integrate fire and EMT services as a City of Whitewater Department.

According to a February 17 press release, the Whitewater Fire Department, Inc. (WFD) “is in discussions with the City of Whitewater to become a city department in hopes to better service the city and surrounding townships.” Staffing concerns, particularly for the Rescue Squad, prompted discussions beginning in late 2021 of the possibility of a merger. On January 6 the members of WFD authorized the board of directors to move forward with efforts to become a city operation. (See the Banner report dated January 7.) This week’s press release indicates that a Memorandum of Understanding is currently being developed, with the transfer of the Rescue Squad personnel and operations expected to be the first phase. The merger “..is for the citizens,” said WFD Board of Directors President and Fire Captain Christ Christon. “We need to provide the best service we can to our community and the surrounding townships.”

According to the WI EMS Association, “In Wisconsin, we rely on nearly 800 emergency medical service providers — more than half are either operated exclusively by volunteers or through a combination of volunteers and paid staff.” Whitewater’s volunteer fire department is one of those 800 providers and has been experiencing problems in recruiting and maintaining paid on-call volunteers or even paid on-premise EMTs.

Incorporating WFD operations as a City of Whitewater function is likely to create an additional financial obligation for City of Whitewater taxpayers. The current roughly $1 million WFD operation is funded by an annual city contribution averaging roughly $250,000 along with revenue from contracts with surrounding townships and WFD fundraising activities. Earlier this year the city’s proposed borrowing plan included $700,000 (to be combined with $350,000 allocated in 2021) to go toward the replacement of a fire truck.

The Governor’s plan includes pumping $8 million into a sparsely funded and lightly used state Emergency Medical Services Funding Assistance Program in the 2023 state budget along with $12 million in “EMS One Time Flexible Grants.” The state EMS Association reports that the source of the funding in reaction to the shortage of EMTs is the American Rescue Plan Act enacted in response to the COVID pandemic.

“We are thankful and appreciative that the Governor recognized the challenges that emergency medical services are facing in Wisconsin,” said the EMS Association’s Alan Young. “This funding will help ease some of the major challenges and will help EMS departments breathe a little easier as they support our local communities across Wisconsin.”

The nonpartisan WI Policy Forum (WPF), which labeled its recent analysis of the state’s EMS situation as “IN NEED OF RESUSCITATION,” recommends short term solutions like the one-time program announced by the Governor along with carefully thought-out EMS regional service plans and “… adjustments to financial constraints on local governments.”

The WPF analysis was critical of outdated spending limits under the state “Shared Revenue” program. The long-standing program of the state distribution of sales tax and other revenues to municipalities does not recognize increasing EMS and fire expenses due to changes in the ability of volunteer fire departments like Whitewater’s to maintain basic public safety services.

The WPF analysis indicates that the portion of municipal funding dedicated to EMS services is “trending down” while costs are trending upward rapidly.

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by Dr. Dan Sable.

The Walworth County Lakes Association has scheduled a business meeting for Saturday, February 19, 9:00 a.m. at the Starin Park Community Building, 504 W. Starin Road.

A program, titled “Drawdowns, Dredging and Dam Takedowns,” beginning at approximately 10 a.m., features Eric Boettcher, City of Whitewater Parks & Recreation Director, and Steve Roskowski, a member of the Walworth County and East Troy Lakes Associations. Boettcher will provide an update on Whitewater’s drawdown and dredging of Trippe and Cravath Lakes, with Roskowski speaking on East Troy’s experience with a drawdown of their lake in 2015.

The public is welcome to attend both sessions.

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by the League of Women Voters – Whitewater Area

The League of Women Voters – Whitewater Area is hosting a program on Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. Our speaker, State Senator Janis A. Ringhand, Assistant Minority Leader, Senate District 15, will provide an overview of the most recent activities in the Wisconsin State Legislature and an update on the redistricting case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. This program is free and open to the public.

This event will be virtual. To attend live, please join the webinar by using this link.
Or, join us by telephone: (312) 626-6799, Webinar ID: 856 9970 4462, Passcode: 878437

The event will be live-streamed on Facebook and a recording will be made available to the public afterwards.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Visit our website at https://my.lwv.org/wisconsin/whitewater-area and like us on Facebook!

By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

The demand for entry level housing is increasing, the supply of homes that the average homeowner can afford remains stagnant, and the price of a single-family home in Whitewater has increased by 17% in the past three years. That was one of the key findings of a City of Whitewater report reviewed by a joint meeting of the City’s Common Council, Community Development Authority (CDA) and Plan Commission on Wednesday, February 9th.

The report includes a list of 14 recommendations and 11 “Opportunities” that position Whitewater to better understand “the existing housing crisis” and recommended “best practices to help reverse the trend, increase housing units and provide opportunities for all residents to live in the community.”

The “Action Plan” recommended by Madison based planning firm Vandewalle and Associates documents a need for additional housing options in Whitewater and points out that currently, “The city is not on track to meet those needs, but steps can be taken to address the matter and the city’s housing challenges.”

Whitewater is definitely not alone in facing a shortage of workers and regular family households that can support a healthy inventory of local businesses. A National Association of Home Builders report issued just the day before the Whitewater report review session points out that housing availability has dropped to the “lowest level in a decade.”

The State of Wisconsin, working with a non-profit development trade organization and other interest groups, has passed several pieces of legislation in recent years that allow Wisconsin communities to incentivize “Affordable Workplace Housing.” This form of “Affordable Housing” incentives to communities is distinctly different from traditional “affordable housing” programs like public housing and rental assistance programs. It focuses on getting new people into the process of home ownership.

Whitewater’s housing situation is both similar to other communities but also unique due the community’s size and the presence of a relatively large university campus. City Manager Cameron Clapper, however, was quick to point out that this effort is not aimed at the student housing market.

Whitewater’s rate of “Owner Occupancy” (the percentage of homes owned by individuals or families that actually live in that home) is currently at only 30% and has declined from 35% as recently as 2010. In comparison the Vandewalle report points out that “… both Jefferson and Walworth County, and the state as-a-whole, have over 50% owner-occupied housing units.” The disparity is largely due to the presence of a university but that is just one of Whitewater’s housing challenges according to the report.

Whitewater is projected to need “between 200-340 new housing units to meet projected population demand by 2030” according to the report. Smaller lot sizes and more adjoined single family housing like the “twin homes” in the Prairie Village development on the city’s north side are cited as two of many potential strategies to meet that need. The plan’s 14 recommendations include documenting “…goals for the future that clearly define the number of housing units needed through an adopted policy by the City Council.”

The City of Whitewater has been proactive recently in addressing housing availability. The city took advantage of a change in state regulations that allowed for the dedication of some residual Tax Incremental District (TID) funds from a recently closed development area to be designated for “Affordable Housing.”

Neighboring communities, and others across the state, have been more aggressive according to Vandewalle’s Brian Unger and Ben Rohr. They cited our nearby neighboring community of Fort Atkinson that has purchased land and is working with developers to encourage home options that will be affordable to a wider range of households.

The 14 page Vandewalle report also includes another nine pages of appendices containing historical data and community comparisons. Several of the various officials and citizen participants in the review described the data being provided as “extremely helpful” to give citizens a better understanding of the situation and options that the city has. The final version is expected to be published soon with plans to make it available on the city’s website.