Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Wednesday October 16th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here in part two today.
We're going to speak with our friends and Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre.
We have the silver foxes in.
We're going to talk with Chris Linda Tronda about let the spirit move you looking forward to that.
Right now I'm looking forward to it all week.
We have our good friend Mayor Matt Zacker of Wisconsin Rapids in with us right now.
Matt, that's good to see you.
Good to see you James. Thanks for having me again as always.
Appreciate you being here and appreciate our friends over at Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre.
Say thank you to them.
Do yourself a favor. Go to YouTube, type in your search bar,
Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre.
Like their page.
Keep up to date on the great work they are doing over there.
Matt, how you doing? How's things been?
Doing well.
We just spent still in the middle of the budget season.
So this is my first time around being, I don't know if I say on the inside, you know,
but really, really being a part of the nuts and bolts and understanding
better how it goes and how it all comes together.
And then you start to chip away at it, you know, to try to get it down to the,
where the numbers become more equalized of what's coming in and what's going out.
We've had a couple of big, big things happen that are coming down the pipeline
that I'm sure the folks would be interested in hearing about.
You know, we did give some, some hefty raises last year in terms of a step system
and trying to put people in the place and get them in line with,
with where the market rates are, but also gave them another bump with the aldermen.
We voted on giving them a, you know, if they've been there for a long time,
according to those years, another bonus that way.
That's all great and we want to take care of the employees and let them know that we appreciate
the work that they do, but at the same time, you got to pay for it still.
So you got to find that in the budget and so we had to work on that.
Another big thing is that the transportation utility
has been challenged in a different court system down in Piwaki,
similar to what we had.
So right now we're choosing to because it was, it was ruled as legal by the local
and then it was the appellate court or appeals court turned it over and said it wasn't legal
and then they sent it to the state and said that they weren't going to take it up.
So it went back to the appeals court and stayed in that realm for right now anyways.
So we did the safe thing right now and put it on hold so we're working on other ways too
because we don't want to go back to special assessments.
We worked really, really hard to take that burden off the people as the prices go up and up
and you're paying, you know, I have to price your house to get the roads done outside,
which just wasn't really fair anymore.
So we tried to spread that out quite a bit and so that's been another part of trying to get
the money to equalize and work our way through and then of course at the end of it all you got
to pay for the roads and make sure you got money for the new roads and the utilities underneath those
and then the mill and overlay where we're grinding it up and putting down new stuff right away
and also the chip and seal.
So it's all coming together though but it's definitely a stressful time for everybody involved.
A couple of questions we're going in the budget. We'll stay right there for a second first
just from your perspective going into this you mentioned that this is a little bit different
being on this side of things. What has been maybe the most surprising part of this for you?
That's hard to say. I think that it's just the biggest part is how big and broad it is.
Like even I was on the finance and property committee for two years as chair so I'm a part of
that conversation but really being on the inside of it and really over the last six months just
getting to understand how many moving parts there are how many people are involved.
I think I think that's you know and again it's small compared to a lot of things obviously
but in the sense of what I've been through and what the community has to offer in that sense
it's big and it's important. I do you know throw a lot of appreciation out to all the department
heads and all the workers that are in the government itself that are making this work and I know
we like to you know take our shots at them and again they're doing their job and for the most part
everyone takes a great pride in what they're doing and they should and we should appreciate that
keeping our city together and moving forward and progressing and my job in turn is to help everybody
see that you know a little more clearly and and get everybody more on the same page and keep
some of that cool down some people you can't you can't win over because it's kind of part of who
they are to complain about the government. I've been there to myself. Right as my my Papa used to
always say that one political party could have the cure for cancer and charge a dollar the other
one would say they're charging too much. Yeah there's some people you're never going to be able to
please everybody kind of thing and I'm glad you brought up these department heads and and how
important they are in all of this too because while most of everybody out there knows what it's
like to deal with a budget on this level is so different and you know we have to think about okay
not just today but tomorrow with for you and these department heads it's such on such a different
level that if you haven't done the job I don't know that you can really understand to your point
about you hadn't been at this position before and everything and to the listener out there having
some empathy for these positions and some understanding of what it takes to do these jobs. Yeah
that's a whole different ballgame to deal with when you got a it's not just right now you got to
think about you have to think about the next year the next month and all these other steps and
it's not just you it's your neighbors it's it's people you know other people in the community
new people in the community there's so many other layers to it. Yeah I appreciate that people are
you know we're really looking into now like taking it 10 10 15 20 years down the road and saying okay
these are the same streets we're landlocked by all the other communities we know we have
development development that we want to do and that we can do let's really try to organize what we
have and have a plan a really long term plan to on the capital improvements and what that takes
and then all the machinery that it's going to take because you do have to rotate the machinery
through but it's expensive and it's only going to get more expensive so it's you know it is a
it's all moving very fast but at the same time thinking ahead and I appreciate that everybody's
working with with each other to do that to the audio out audio audience out there we have the
last fly in rapids in this room right now he's just bugging the daylights out of your back
he's a lovely look he was messing with the earlier the morning show so recently meeting recently
we had meetings to discuss the city's downtown revitalization had some great meetings heard
some great food back from the community on this one a shout out to Kyle in the gang and everybody
that was a part of those the city asked for residents ideas and put an involvement as a part of
the downtown master plan updating the master plan how did that go were you able to attend any of those
yeah yeah I did make it in there and went through the the same talks that you know they're given
everybody else to understand better what what they have to offer how they come to their you know
their master plan I suppose and I think it's it's great you know in the end all the ideas are
there I think the big thing that is always the struggle with this is bringing all the people to
the table and getting them to let their guard down enough because a lot of their property downtown
is owned by you know either private entities or foundations in the city so in the end a lot of
the drop in the guard and building the bridges and trusting each other enough to say what's in
the best interest of everybody and how can we all get what a part of what we want in in that picture
in order to make progress because otherwise it just sits there and if it just sits there
everybody's gonna kind of lose hope that something's gonna happen eventually and that's not what
we want especially at this time when things are happening at the mill and things that are
possibly happening on the west side with the tracks and you know all these things are kind of in
play I think it's a great time and and this encompasses that whole downtown area to include you
know in my mind it's got to include the rafters in the aquatics park and and everything that that's
a part of that whole area you know it's it's all one community it's it's you don't get to see
this in politics very often but I think on a local level if you're paying attention you really do
what mayor zacker was doing with the water park and some of those ideas and and trying to bring in
I'm not zacker bro yeah so what he was doing was certainly ambitious in trying some different
things and trying to bring in a different economy and some of that we have Shane come in and Shane
an approach that's not only level headed but comes at it in a different angle and kind of gets
the books in balance and some of that and you come in and you have a good a good foot in both
of these worlds in many ways and an ability to kind of look at both things and everything and all
that work that was done before by other mayors and such really plays into what we're trying to do
right now in this moment and building on this momentum it's it's kind of cool to see how that
happens like it's not as if anybody like four mayors ago they were thinking necessarily about
this but at the same time this stuff all ties in together and has a domino effect so where we are
right now with I believe it kind of piggybacking on what you said there I think we have some real
momentum here in our city with some new businesses coming in along with some business established
businesses doing very well and everything keeping that momentum going and and looking at and
bringing in new businesses and and everything how is that going and and are you are you are you
not asking for necessarily details I know that that's a whole other thing but are you getting
some conversations are you having some meetings about that yeah I think again this was what my
whole platform was to just would to just be a part of as many conversations as possible and wherever
I can see a connection build bridges you know I've talked with the the the people at the PAC and
and all the great work they're doing there and how you can tie that into the hotel meet and all
the great work they're doing there the bring in tourism and the the CVB and Meredith and what
she's doing and that ties into the rafters and that ties into the downtown and the bars and
you know it's all a part of the conversation so you just getting people together and
and just going off of what you said like being a part of something that is just a continuous flow
like like with express recycling I was there from almost the beginning you know a couple months
into it I got involved so I kind of knew where it started and how it went when you get in the
government you're handed you hit oh yeah yeah here you go it's a hundred fifty years of like
you know decisions and and and and ultimately like good feelings and bad feelings like I'm dealing
a lot with old I say this with the utmost you know concern I guess but like or good good will but
there's a lot of hard feelings out there in the community with this person versus that or this
community versus that and I've had nothing to do with any of this stuff so it's my job now I take
it on as a personal mission to to try to make some of that go away and heal so that we can kind of
see that we are one big community and we do have to communicate with each other when we do have to
look for long term solutions to big problems such as you know EMS services and how we're going to
play that all out because everybody needs it the population is still growing in terms of all
those folks that need it and that the health system is struggling so it's there's some big
questions on the table and we need some big solutions we're speaking of the Wisconsin rabbits may
are Matt Zach or along with our friends and Wisconsin rabbits community media when it came to
the revitalization plan those meetings and everything not again looking for details or specifics but
did you have some good feedback from the community about ideas and just seeing a good turnout in
some of that yeah I think again people people have the properties and they got to come to the
table what the ideas that are out there are great and and I I've said this before to you like
I mixed emotions about master plans and all these these plans that come together because in
the end you pay a lot of money for a plan and if you don't execute anything in the plan then
it just kind of sits and collects dust and that's what people you know a lot of people are
frustrated about so this is my time to say okay well we have a plan so now we enact the plan
and we make it happen you know to the best of our ability and if we actually get some successes out
of the plan due to what the conversations were then it's a win and it was worth the money that we
spent and everybody will be excited about what's coming and really downtown when you think about
you know we we just delayed the Jackson Street project because we're going to work on that street
next year but we're delaying it for a year because of all the things that are happening with
the courthouse and around the courthouse so they have a plan and there's going to be some property
there that can be developed and it's only going to be more valuable after the this stuff comes
together so you know that's a big part of the conversation that dimension the bridge lighting is
going to be coming up I think it's you know it's going to take a while before that comes through I
think we're going to we'll be talking to you again about a grand opening you know a night to
lighten that up and and we'll be promoting that as much as we can just to take pride in it and
and again that's all able to happen because we made that a to district a long time ago and we're
able to capitalize on some of those withheld taxes to help out with some of those projects another
one will be the big wall that's between an inventions park there we're going to have to do some work
on that that's a big undertaking and now's the time to do it because that funding is there
specifically for these reasons otherwise it wouldn't be there and it would be all that you know so
yeah appreciate it and got to use it while it's there so as far as the next step after now that
these meetings have wrapped up and everything is that kind of the next step at the next stage of
this is to plan out is the what to do you know how we're going to do this and aware when we're
going to do it in that yeah yeah and again Kyle has most of those details and I let him take the
the front seat on that but yeah they're going to come together with the overall plan of like all
the ideas that they've come together with the stakeholders and then the community and kind of
put it all together so it'll be exciting to see and I look forward to doing that I look forward
more to building the bridges and trying to get these folks together and make stuff happen because
that's the fun part you mentioned the railroad and and some of the talk about the train system and
some of that that was going on between that some of our construction that's being done here in
town how are all these projects going everything seems to be going smoothly for my own yeah we ended
up getting all the all the letters of support that we could possibly get from Port Edward's
School of Port Edward's Seneca obviously rap is the county the highway department state DOT
CN Railroad which were two big ones we actually got Urco to Urco worldwide to give a letter of
support which is because they're they're part of that train system that goes out there and we
also got a come trade who is general chemical up on 12th Avenue that you know talking to them
about possibilities of moving that facility to the industrial park so that's big it would change
it would change that and it would change that whole corridor there and be able to open up that
for investment which would be really excellent it's almost surprising yeah it doesn't happen you
know it's better than I do it doesn't happen very often that people are kind of all come to the
table and and pretty much an agreement it seems like yeah don't get me wrong though there's still
a really long ago yeah absolutely excited that we got to this point and they they are at the table
for a planning grant so it's it's it's some money to get us all through the table and sit down
and say what's possible and how do we do this and then we still got to agree and we got to make
it all happen so it's a big F but I think it's definitely doable and I think I was the time to do
it because the money is there again from the federal government 30 years ago if not longer they
talked about putting a new jail in this town and there were people that thought that was sci-fi
that that wouldn't happen that that that is a far-fetched idea and everything and here we are
that this is happening this is how we get to that place you know we start having these conversations
now and it is very encouraging to hear that many people in those different organizations and
businesses you know wanting being willing to have the conversation we can't get to stage two before
stage one so that's a good that's good news that's good everybody's talking really well even
Wisconsin Rapids is you know done you know a lot of work to get the departments together and
really start talking and saying let's let's overlap here let's work together and save money but
also come up with good ideas I mean I have so many smart talented you know ingenutive people so
it's great to utilize those resources to the fullest one of the talk about some of the
proclamations that you recently had come out let's touch on these and let the audience know
about them yeah so these aren't quite out yet but I did want to get them out there because I don't
know if we touch on them okay next time around so I got community media day and I just wanted to
throw a shout out to Joe and Taylor and yeah Angelica who is our intern and she's doing very well
helping us out and we appreciate that and again they do so much and they're so talented just
in their ability to put together the TV station and all the videos that they do we're doing a lot
more to spend some money on revamping our studio and that's going to be great and we're doing more
setting up more of the ability to crossbreed between maybe a new where you're kind of facing
the camera or also just doing a podcast where you're talking to each other Kyle and I put one out
just to try to get some information out to the community recently and that worked out well
working out some glitches and just trying to figure some stuff out so it's good and I just want
them to know that we appreciate what they're doing and every other community media people that are
out there helping out their communities and then of course free speech week between 21st and 27th
obviously we all know that we need to cherish and protect free speech no matter what it is
and so I appreciate it and I appreciate everybody else being able to have the free speech that we
have and the rights that we have and we got to make sure we keep that safe. We're very thankful to
Natalie Wisconsin for having this community media and the decades of service and great work
that they have done over there and certainly our current team that we shout out and appreciate
all the time. That is important not only in our community but all communities these oftentimes
are not only our main sellers our main mascots for our communities but also informing people
that may not know of certain things otherwise and giving people insight on stuff that they may not
know otherwise there's so many angles to what they do over there and appreciate that great work
and it's nice to have these proclamations that give us it's an opportunity to highlight these
things that we don't always get a chance to yeah that part is great. There's also a white keen
proclamation that I put out which is also also a great one for the blind folks in our community and
just making sure that we support them you know as they're making their way through life and
facing challenges that we all face and overcoming hurdles that we all face you know so some bigger
than others so we appreciate that and just just just being aware being aware of each other and
taking care of each other when we can. Another great area that we don't always get a chance to highlight
and look out for or have some empathy for gives us that opportunity to do that as well and also
you recently had the domestic violence awareness month as a proclamation. I am appreciative of that
as I always mentioned to the audience I'm on the board at the family center this is a topic that
is very important to me there is no gray area on this topic for me there is being on the right
side of history and not when it comes to domestic violence I appreciate that we have a mayor that
we have a community that's on the right side of history when it comes to this topic and it's
very thankful appreciative to me that we can talk about these things in an open voice now and
hopefully do some good work when it comes to this topic. Yeah I think I appreciate that I appreciate
everything you guys do and everybody that's working hard to make that happen you know my thoughts
on that as I've been you know going through it this month is just you know really you know being
able to bring it into the open and get the conversation out in the open and making sure we protect
those who are who are being abused but also understanding that that cycle of abuse is also
something that we got to focus on and say like these you know adults most likely were abused
when they were younger or at least witnessed it and they just have it in their in their psyche as
when they're being brought up that this is this is how we treat people and especially behind closed
doors when nobody's watching that's when the worst things happen and we got to get it out in the
open and and an attack it from the most compassionate way possible but with a very strong standing to
say this is not okay yeah well we can't change the narrative if we don't talk about it yeah well
said always appreciate the time Matt thank you so much for joining us people follow questions one
of them more and they want to get in touch with you how can they do that I do have a cell phone 715
3 2 1 0 7 2 7 also I have a phone from work is 715 315 2 5 2 9 2 5 yes we never call every
day nice and done though nicely but I do like when people call and you know we set up times to go
out so it's the the the options always there to give me a call and even when people disagree with me
I'd rather have a face-to-face conversation and come to come to you know some common ground with
people so they understand where I'm coming from instead of just you don't hate me without
understanding right right always appreciate the time looking forward to hanging out again next
month next month no fly no fly no fly thanks for hanging out better appreciate
find out more w-i-rapids.org w-i-rapids.org and of course follow our friends over at what's
cost rapids community media on social media and on youtube go that throw that in your search bar
and keep up the date and all the good work that they are doing over there appreciate them appreciate
all of you sticking around well the more midday magazine coming up for you right here at 97 5 FM
13 20 AM WFHR locally grown radio
