Wisconsin Rapids Mayor

Welcome everyone to Midday Magazine for this December 20th, 2023.

Have your host, James J. Mailoff here.

In part two, we're going to welcome in our friends

from the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.

We'll speak with Amy Shide and some friends

and have a good conversation looking forward to that.

Right now, in studio, we have Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Shane Blazer.

Shane, good to see you.

Good afternoon.

Good to see you, too.

Thanks for being here.

Appreciate that.

We send a big shout out to our friends at Wisconsin Rapids Community Media.

Thank you so much for being here.

Encourage you to go to YouTube, type into your search bar

at Wisconsin Rapids Community Media, subscribe to their page

and check out the amazing work that they are doing over there.

We appreciate you guys.

Shane, it's good to see you.

Thanks for being here.

How you been?

I appreciate it.

Yeah, I've been doing good.

Good.

Doing well.

Thanks for asking.

Appreciate it.

I want to get into a couple of things with you, sir.

Certainly the end of your run, if you will, here.

I want to talk about that.

I want to get into a little bit of looking

for city commissions and some things like that.

But first off, I actually, I hate to do this,

but I got to start in a little bit of an edge with you.

All right.

I've never been angry or jealous of you

or any of these things, but I was a little bit,

and Pam's with me on this, because you guys landed a get.

You've got at the Winter Aquatics Park Center

going on this Friday from 5 to 7, Santa and Mrs. Clause.

We've been trying to get them from Midday Magazine for a long time,

and I cannot land that interview, but you guys got them.

Yeah, you know, Donna at Park and Rec,

she's a phenomenal person over there

who is making great things happen,

and she landed that big account for us.

It's nice.

They're very busy this time of year,

so to be able to get them is very difficult.

That's going to be a lot of fun.

This is Santa and Mrs. Clause,

or heading back to Winter Park.

They're going to be down there, stop by,

say hi.

It's going to be really fun for the kids and families.

Yeah, I think it's going to be a great event,

and up to see how the weather does.

Yeah, yeah.

I was going to say this is taking place in the warming house over there.

I don't know if you're going to need the warming house.

I'm not sure, but it might not need it too much.

I might be able to do this a little bit,

have some a little fun outside with this one.

This time of year, these kind of things,

they're certainly fun and important,

but they're also, they speak to the vibrance of our city,

to the life in our city.

And this kind of, to me, when I saw this,

I smiled right away, and I thought,

oh, I got a great shoe, and right away

to start our interview, certainly.

But more so, I thought about actually a last conversation

we had about some of the projects that you're hoping to do,

and one of them being lighting up the bridges,

and having some lights on there.

And of course, this time of year,

we have those lights for Christmas and everything,

but you were speaking of something

that is year round, correct?

Correct.

Yep, so I've been meeting with staff,

and we've been talking and discussing,

kind of putting together a plan,

and getting some information,

and ultimately get together a bid,

and submit that bid,

and then take it to our Finance Committee Council

to see, ultimately, if they want to do the project.

Yeah, it'd be kind of on the side of the bridge,

below the railing area, there's kind of an area,

if you look kind of bridges downtown,

and that would be kind of,

and it'd be like, dome lights there,

and it would be, and they would be spaced

from however distance they need to be spaced,

and then they'd be LED,

and then you could hopefully have different color combinations,

and do something like that.

Okay, I see, that's what I was gonna ask,

is the details of your idea, okay, all right.

Yeah, there's ideas where you can get lights

that shine up or shine down,

and we just kind of felt that downtown,

and it'd be nice, if you're standing in a park,

or along the river bank,

that you could see the lit bridge down the side

versus having light shine up,

and maybe be a distraction.

It's something that's fun,

it adds to our town, and it adds to it again,

to the life and livelihood of our town and everything.

It's also one of those things, Shane, that you noticed too,

and I think a lot more people are picking up on this now.

This is one of those ways we attract people.

This is one of the ways we keep people in town,

and that's one of the biggest,

and you know, name of the game right now,

for almost any city, is keeping your population,

and bringing new people to it.

Yeah, when I was city clerk,

there was a gentleman that worked in the mayor's office,

Nick Flanagan, and he was part of a leadership group,

and that leadership group was the one

that came up with the idea of lighting the bridge,

and you know, they put together a lot of work,

and a lot of information,

and did some fundraising,

which there's money available,

to kind of pair in with the money that we have.

And, but they just couldn't get it across the finish line.

I was just kind of too much,

and then I believe another leadership group

had tried to push it across the finish line,

and so really I'm trying to pick up that torch

and finish what two leadership groups have attempted

to try to make happen in the community.

Well, it's not my money,

so I'm not trying to throw it around,

doesn't feel like it's something that's going to,

our city is going to be in debt for decades from,

or something like that,

it's nothing that heavy,

but to me, when I look at these things,

I look at the floor and the ceiling,

and okay, the floor, not too bad, not a bad budget,

it doesn't have the effect we hope it does,

no harm, no foul almost,

the ceiling though,

the positives that can come from something like this,

far outweigh anything that could talk about

in the floor of it,

so I think the potential is not only there,

but man, I'd love to see something like this come about,

oh, go ahead.

Yeah, I was gonna see,

not to get overclimbicated on the radio,

but it's in a TIF district,

and the downtown TIF district,

what happens is all the tax dollars collected

within that TIF district,

whether it be county school district,

and the city are meant and kept in that district

to be able to be utilized for projects,

and there's a time frame,

and so they come up with a number of years ago,

they came up with a project plan,

and they list kind of different projects

that could be done within that TIF district,

and bridge lighting was one of them,

so because of that,

we have funds available in that TIF account

that can be used for that project,

and at the end of the life of the TIF,

if that money isn't being used for what it was designed for,

or being allocated,

that money then is re-distributed back

to the other jurisdictions,

so if we can keep that here in the community,

do a project that was outlined in that project plan

with that TIF dollars,

and that money set aside,

that's a worthwhile use.

Very interesting, thank you for that.

I don't think most of us know that.

That's interesting.

It's simple to buy as much as I could,

because it took a long time to kind of understand,

we have multiple TIF districts in town,

so, but yeah, this is a downtown TIF,

and those funds are available to be used in,

as our finance director says,

it's cash flowing, it's not a negative,

so if there's money there,

and it's being utilized by what the plan projects were,

then let's go for it.

Santa and Mrs. Claus are gonna be at Witter Park,

stopped by this Friday from five to seven

in the Warming House lobby area,

bringing unexpired non-parasable food donation item,

and get a picture with the big man himself,

big shout out to our Witter Park Aquatic Center,

and all the great workers over there.

This is gonna be a lot of fun for everybody.

Get going over there, check it out.

Get your picture with Santa.

As long as we're in that neck of the woods,

I'd like to kind of stay over there

at what we kind of finally, in this area in rapids,

called the Strip, if you will,

the bar section area down there.

Most of us have seen in recent months,

or recent years, really,

that area has kind of had this gone,

and this gone, there's been some work being done over there.

The projects that are going,

are they going to extend into the section that's already there?

Are we gonna be building even more?

Are we kind of using that area

where some of the other bars used to be

now gonna be something different going to go there?

Yeah, so what we refer to at the city is the Triangle,

so that's kind of right across from the courthouse

that had buildings in, that's cleared, you know what?

It's always been the hope that a developer

would be interested in developing that area.

Well, specifically, maybe Kurt Marshall on the lower

and residential on the upper,

but we just haven't had a lot of interest in that.

Now with the jail project going on,

trying to figure out kind of that space down there

and all that can be utilized for maybe events,

maybe because of the jail project,

you know, there's not a lot of places,

you know, you got Jennings and some other businesses downtown,

a couple of them to get a meal,

but you know, there's not a lot of options there.

So there's hopefully something can happen there,

and we also own the East Town Plaza,

which is kind of right down between a couple bars.

And so we've been trying to, you know,

get developers interested in that

and trying to utilize that space.

So they're trying.

Yeah, I'm just trying to get people on

and get on board and go for it.

Well, and I would think that it never to speak

for the city or anything, but I know I do a lot of talking

with a lot of community members.

I do a lot of serving with a lot of the community

and on both sides of town and different people

in different places that I don't always go.

So I'm getting different takes and different things,

and the overwhelmingly from this community,

that is something that is appreciated, attempts,

trying, thinking about these things.

I think that that goes a long way,

and it also gets people themselves,

community members thinking,

you guys could have ideas out there.

You guys might have the perfect idea right there

in that brand of yours and, you know,

just you need to share it.

That's important.

There are no bad ideas when it comes to something like this.

We can throw everything at the wall,

see what sticks.

Yeah, and we need that.

We know and we're not desperate,

but we'd really like to see that area developed,

and that's why I was kind of purchased

to throw out this,

throw out our last decade here,

and you know, the goal is that we'd have one complete parcel

that somebody could utilize.

And so it just takes that right developer

coming to the town and say, aha, that's it.

You know what I'm saying?

But that's a wait and see game.

But Kyle Burns, our community development director,

I know I was part of a developer's tour

that was put on by Synergy out of Wassa.

It was Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids one day

and the developers were in Marshfield

the next day they were here.

And, you know, we specifically took that group downtown

and showed them different locations

and discussed with them some downtown things.

So we're trying to get some interest in that.

We'll give you information at the end of the segment here

of how you can reach the staff, the mayor's staff,

and with ideas or any of these thoughts that you might have.

The city recently awarded its five year shared ride

taxi service to running ink.

One of the touch on that with you, sir.

First, for those that may not know

what is the shared ride program

and can tell what can you tell us about running ink?

Yeah, I think it's very important

that we discuss this since it is kind of a hot topic right now.

And so we apply every five years

for a mass transit grant through the state and federal government.

So we can provide low cost taxi options

or transit options.

We don't have any other buses or rail here.

So ours is utilized for taxi services.

And so what happens is we request bids from people.

We received two bids

and ultimately through a scoring process

running ink was awarded that bid.

And so there's been some up arms.

You know, like, hey, why don't we just approve

our previous provider and deny this one?

And the problem is once you go through that process,

it's a state process.

It's all very specifically outlined

the procedures by the state

is not something that we get to decide.

And so what it comes once that process happens

and contractor or a provider is chosen,

it comes down to,

A, you pick that provider

or you don't offer a service.

There's not any second option or,

you know, ah, we can just do this one instead.

It's this or nothing.

And so we get almost $900,000 to provide this.

So it's very much a reduced service,

cab fee service for the utilizers of that.

And it's very important in our community.

So once it comes like last night,

it had to be approved.

Otherwise, you can give you all that money

back to the state and federal government.

And we provide no taxicab service other than

any private service that wants to run a service

at whatever rate they charge.

And so it would have been a huge to service

to the community,

not having that service provided,

especially all the people I talk to

and the people that rely on that service

to get to work or grocery shopping and appointments

that can't drive.

And I know younger people that use the service,

but specifically our older population,

it takes a lot of use of that service.

We owe it to them.

We owe it to our community members to have this service.

And in your position, you and your staff,

this is what you're there for

to make these decisions to do these things.

We're thankful that the ball wasn't dropped.

To me, that's where my focus goes.

Who is awarded it in that?

That is a whole other category and stuff.

And to me, I feel like that's been answered

with the numbering system that you mentioned

there and everything.

So to me, just having this and knowing

that we do have it still,

that's the key takeaway to me.

Yeah, and yes, about running ink,

they have over 30 communities.

They represent or provide the service to.

And they employ over, I believe it's over 600 people

within their organization through the state of Wisconsin.

So they are definitely experienced

and they've been through transitions before.

I received phone calls, you know.

Apparently we're running short on phone numbers here.

So they're working through to try to get a phone number here.

They've hired over 20 people.

And most of them, I believe, are from the existing service.

So they should be recognizing some familiar faces.

And people ask about the fares

and currently the fares are going to remain the same.

So it's not like they're coming in

to increase the fares and do all those things.

Because really the city, I guess, controls those fares.

Interesting.

So it should be, you know, aside from just trying to get used

to a new company coming in,

they also are going to offer, like you can go online

and reserve cab times that way.

That's something new that the area hasn't seen before.

And so there's going to be some new options.

So a little more increase in technology

for the people that utilize technology.

You can reserve cabs and advance online.

And then also they're expanding the wheelchair van program.

So because before I know people had contacted me about,

you know, they had troubles or they couldn't get the cab.

So they're expanding the act to make sure

that they have more wheelchair van accessible

to take people bound by wheelchairs to their appointments

and not being denied.

So it will be seeing some changes coming up here.

But the transition in, you know,

December to January here, you know,

there might be a couple of bumps and bruises.

But I think right now it seems like talking to the owner

is that it's the phone, you know,

trying to get the phone number

and making sure people have it.

They might, they're looking at maybe a call forting option

or looking at a couple of different options

to get us to that point.

But they will be a phone number

and fares aren't going to remain the same.

I really appreciate that really important information.

Thank you for that, sir.

Thank you for the work you and your team are doing on this one.

We're looking forward to getting the no running ink

and that's great to have a company like that in town.

Everything I've read about them,

they are one of these places, they go into a town,

they put into that town.

They put their money where their mouth is and everything.

They also want to be involved in town,

whether it be through donations,

through other things they want to be a part of the community,

like they are in many other communities.

Yeah, I'm very excited to see more about them

and what develops from that.

So am I.

As a side note,

and this isn't so much a local one,

this is more me asking you as friends.

And I really am curious about,

I think this is one of the bigger topics

going forward in the state of Wisconsin,

the idea of Amtrak up and down the state

and having that more accessible to people in towns like ours

and Wasson and areas like that.

I think it's, when we were kids,

it was, well, this would be really interesting.

That'd be kind of cool.

Now as an adult, it's just a matter of time.

I don't believe, you can go ahead and throw this back

in my face 20 years from now if it doesn't happen.

But I believe in the next 20 years or so,

this is going to happen.

It's just a matter of time.

Do you see the same thing?

Cause I feel like it's just, it's got to happen.

I agree.

And I think the more even piggybacking on the tax cap,

there's people out there that,

we just have a bus service that stopped here in town

that would run to Madison some places now.

I believe you have to go to Point,

because it's no longer,

looking into that, that was,

that was something outside the city's control.

But I think people for making those day trips

and those type of things would benefit

having a rail service available to do that

since they can't drive or don't want to drive

in a bigger city.

And yeah, I do believe it's going to be

kind of a thing that's growing.

My nephew lives outside of Chicago

and in his town, he can hop a train

and take it downtown Chicago for work.

And that's what he does, you know?

And they don't have to drive and deal with traffic and cars.

Yeah.

That's how cities are made.

Like as a city kid, I'll tell you,

when I was living in, I was living into Cal,

which is about an hour, two hours away from Chicago,

but I was working in Chicago

and I was never late for work.

I was always on time.

I always had, there was plenty,

it was nothing to do that.

To drive up to Geneva, take the Amtrak, take it down.

It was a fun trip and it made the city better.

Like you want cities like ours to thrive and to be stronger,

they don't usually, it isn't just locals

that are working at these businesses.

It's bringing people from out of town

and then being able to excessively get to that town.

Yeah, my nephew lives in Geneva and that's what he does.

Right up, right up.

Hopps the train and heads in, you know?

For a cool downtown.

It's a great service.

And I feel like it's only a matter of time

before it's up and down the state.

And it's only going to make this state stronger, I think.

Absolutely, at a time.

Yeah, I'll give people, you know, North and South

in these locations rather quickly.

You can avoid the highways and the traffic

and the interstates and all those type of things

and you can just sit back and relax.

We're speaking with Wisconsin's Rapids Mayor Shane Blazer

and have our friends with Wisconsin's Rapids Community Media

sitting in with us.

Shane, I wanted to talk about your call

for citizen appointees for the city commissions.

Yeah, you know, we're always looking.

Right now we have a couple of openings

on the board of zoning appeals and board of review.

You can contact our office if you want to get more information.

Board of review is more so regarding assessments.

And so, you know, realtors, bankers, attorneys,

those are all always good.

And they meet like once or twice a year.

So it's not a huge commitment.

Board of zoning appeals is where if you have a zoning issue,

you can appeal to this.

It's kind of a judicial, judicial group.

And they have the final say unless you appeal it

to Circuit Court.

Like if you want to, if you're set back from your property lines

to a fee and you want to go one fee,

this board will review that for you.

I know when my term comes to an end here

and I've already been, Emily and I are kind of doing a sheet

to get ready to pass on information to the next person

to hopefully make that transition a little easier

for that person that they're going to have some board

and some boards and commission appointments

that they need to make.

So we're kind of getting those ready.

So when that handoff happens, or as soon as that election

happens, we can get that information to them

to start getting going on that process.

It's hard to find people, you know, and, you know,

as mayors change, people on those boards and commissions

might change because of loyalties.

And, you know, I found the same thing

and it's just the way it is.

And so the next mayor might need some help

feeling some positions and hopefully those people

on there that are coming to the end of term

have enjoyed their service and want to continue,

which makes it even easier.

Yeah.

And getting board members, getting people

to join committees, these things.

It's one of the more important things

we're looking at going forward here

because this is something that is happening

in all kinds of communities across the country,

getting more and more people to be involved with these.

And we know that we got great citizens out there.

Just need you to step up, need you to be a part of these.

If people want to find out more, send them to the website

wirapids.org.

Correct.

It's all out there and then actually out there,

Emily had created an application form

so you can kind of fill it out, send it in.

And then we'll have that on file.

But yeah, it's like I said, you can get on a border commission

that meets a couple of times a year.

You can get on a border commission

that meets a couple of times a month.

So there's kind of everything in between.

And so it's just kind of, if you've got an interest

or maybe a skill set that could help out,

then it's a good way to get involved like you said.

Shane, I'm curious.

It's been a couple of, at least a couple of months

since your announcement that you would not be running

for a third term.

How is it going?

How are things been since?

The dust has settled a little bit.

The town knows, you know, people who didn't hear

and know by now, how has it been the feedback

and how have you been doing?

Yeah, it's been good.

You know, it's, you know, it's kind of surreal.

It's coming to an end.

It has come to an end by my choice.

But, you know, I'm not going anywhere.

And so I plan to be in the community

and hopefully stay involved.

And bail will be a part of the community.

You know, I have people trying to talk me out of it

and want me to run.

But I have officially filed my non-candidacy papers.

The other day, there's a candidate running

that I plan on supporting and where I have been supporting

and I'm going to continue going that path.

Then, yeah, but it has for myself, I hate to say it,

but I kind of feel useless.

Because, you know, we kind of quack at each other

and we kind of leave duck, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What are you going to do?

You're not going to start a big project

other than maybe this bridge lighting.

And if we get her done, we get it done.

But if not, I'll probably support the next mayor

that hopefully can get a cross to finish line.

But it's a project that I think is worthwhile.

And, but yeah, otherwise, I've just kind of showing up

and I still return my phone calls

and they answer my emails and meet with people.

And, you know, it's still working with staff.

We've got a budget that we're starting January 1.

That, you know, I have to keep that on task

until April 5th, 18th, my last day.

And so yeah, but it's kind of, it's a strange feeling

because I'm always used to working

and doing something all my life.

And now I'm just kind of got these four months

where I'm just kind of in limbo.

You've earned that though.

You've earned that.

You put so much work, I would say,

in the two terms that you've done,

you've done four terms worth of work

and you've had four terms worth of experiences

with a pandemic and some other stuff thrown in there.

And yeah, there's been some big things going on that.

But, oh, before I go too far into this topic,

I did hear from listeners a couple of times

because they love our interviews

and I really appreciate the listeners feedback

on these things.

I did hear from a couple of people,

I don't bring up the mill enough.

I don't bring it up, but there's no new news.

There's nothing to tell there, right?

Yeah, you know what, we work,

we've met with the president

of Billy Roots North America.

We've done Zoom calls with them.

They've been marketing it.

There was somebody interested,

but not maybe to run it as a mill.

And so, but we haven't heard anything more on that.

I have a lot of contacts over there

and I hear from people a message meaning like,

oh, they're putting together pallets

for auctions over there.

But I can never confirm any of that.

And unfortunately, you know, boy,

we'd like to see a lot happen

and we're doing what we can to push,

but ultimately it's up to the owner

of what they want to do with the property.

And it seems like unfortunately they're content

with leaving it as is at this point,

which doesn't make sense to me, but I.

They also don't want to talk to us.

I've tried a couple of times to reach out

and get them on the air with me.

Because I got questions and I think the city does,

but they don't want to take those.

And so the ball is in their court as it has been

for like a couple of years now, it's been this way.

So if I don't bring it up,

I've got a very limited amount of time with the mayor.

I don't want to waste our time.

I don't want to waste the listeners time.

If there's new news, we're going to be hidden out

of the course, but there just wasn't much there.

Oh, and I sometimes feel like they bought two mills

and they got the third one for free, and that's really

a sad part of how it seems to play out to me.

But yeah, just a lack of, I just, I don't understand.

I just don't understand.

I hear you.

It's how not to run a business.

It seems like that's just my opinion.

Yeah, I keep thinking when you're that big of a company,

worldwide, that as we were once referred at a sale

was we were the minor asset in Wisconsin Rapids,

even over the largest mill in Wisconsin.

And we consume the most timber and produce more paper.

And I don't know, it's such a big company that is.

I wonder how much they even know what's going on

on the other side of the building kind of thing.

Yeah, exactly.

And they're so focused on, they're redoing the mills

up in Escanaman.

Could as that can, they're converting one of them

in the process.

And so I think they seem to be focused on that.

And here we sit.

I'm looking forward to next month already.

I do want to wish you and yours,

and Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.

We're looking forward to talking more next year.

And I want to talk more about some of the candidates

and some of the things coming up.

So big thank you again, Shane.

Have a great holiday.

Yeah, I appreciate it.

And you also to your family and everybody around here

and to our friends at Community Media.

Yes, our friends at Community Media

have Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to all of you guys.

And thank you so much for the work you all do.

Appreciate you.

We easy on the eggnog.

Yes, yes.

And have a safe and Merry Christmas, everybody.

Shane, thanks again for the time.

Thank you.

We'll have more Midday Magazine coming up right here

on WFHR, locally grown radio.