Community Update for the City of Richland Center Part 1

Our morning show on the first, uh, Monday of the month always focuses on the city of Richland center.

Thanks to Jason Glassbrenner for being along on the first part of the show.

Economic development director and director of public works as well.

Mayor Karen Teppley in the studio with us as well.

Good to have you in.

Good morning,

Karen.

Good morning, Phil.

Yes, I would also like to thank Jason.

It was really important to me when we discussed doing the show is to have the professionals, staff members, have the deeper dive for the people to understand projects.

I can give the overview of things I know, but they're in this 40 hours a week where I am not.

So I just wanted to have people come on in with me and to give more information to our residents.

He's a tough act to follow, though,

so I

better get my game up here.

But thank you, Jason.

Yeah, and I think it's important, Karen, to showcase people like Jason because in every small city, the number of hats that they wear and how busy they are, I don't think we sometimes realize that.

Exactly.

And like I said, they know this information much, much more and with more accuracy than I could ever give.

So that's really

But once again, thank them for agreeing to come in, taking a little time out of their day to inform our public.

Jason ended with a talk about the hotel development.

Is there anything that you'd like to add to that conversation?

Sure.

Yes, we are.

I can remember as far back as probably 2005, 2006, there was

The RDA had a plan drawn out for Orange Street and there was a hotel talked about, you know, plotted actually where the current kidney dialysis center and pharmacy is.

So that has been on the minds of Richland Center for a lot of years.

So right now we are in the what we call just the investor or the owners group.

You know building that that's and that's not as easy as just you know dialing for dollars, you know, it's it's it's a little It's intriguing.

It's it's a little tough, but I think it's gonna be so worth it when you have ownership of the of a project like a hotel In in the community, I mean there are hoteliers that can come in build it

They have their financiers all set up.

And that money goes back to Chicago, LA, or wherever.

We have the opportunity with this organization to have the local investment stay here.

And that creates a huge economic impact for our community.

The hotel is going to do what it does, but also having the opportunity for local ownership.

We all know that whether it's residential or commercial, local ownership,

just creates a better foothold for the project.

And so that's why we're spending extra time to try and build this group.

Is there anything in the works or anything on the dotted line?

I

can't say too much, but it's in the works.

Just got a message this morning.

So it's something we're working on.

always and

often.

Yeah, and you're right.

It does benefit other businesses.

I think about the Phoenix Center right across the street, a wedding venue where people can stay close proximity.

Exactly.

Whether it's, like I say, the Phoenix Center, the idea is to, as Jason mentioned, is to have the hotel situated so that people

not from our area, you know, have the opportunity then to, you know, walk a block and go into downtown.

So every business, you know, will be able to have, you know, people from outside of our area have, you know, their eyes on those businesses.

And part of when the EPA came

We got the EPA received a grant to help local businesses.

It was shortly after COVID and that type of thing.

So the EPA, which normally does environmental type things, they were given a grant to also take a look at just economic development and what could happen in these small communities.

after COVID.

So when they did their development plan, yes, they mentioned a hotel as the cornerstone project in the property that the city owns.

There's also room for, you know, possibly two more developments.

And then they had

the idea to close the one block of Jefferson Street between court and mill so that it becomes kind of like an urban park you know that's a great area for the farmers market to be in you know and once again that will lead into downtown so it's you know it has moving pieces we don't know if all of that will and like say as far as closing the street but um

you know, everything that the city has talked about, you know, they're there for that as well.

So it'd be nice to have a place to, you know, sit and have a cup of coffee and watch the world go by or food trucks, events, music.

You would like that,

right?

I would like that really well.

And Jason talked a bit about the WEDC business visit.

Were you in that conversation as well?

Yes, I was invited to go along and it was very interesting.

You know, like I said, I served on council for eight years, but

being invited to this level of meetings and conversations is really, you know, it's an eye-opener for me, of course, but it really, you know, kind of gets the wheels turning and other things we can do.

In fact, I'll just mention that we had a visitor from the WEDC program.

She is, excuse me, Erin Welty, and she is the senior director of our downtown development.

for Connect Communities.

Connect Communities is an organization that Birchland Center filled out an application.

It's been a couple months ago now, but it's a competitive grant.

It's also the stepping stone to a Main Street program, and you probably have heard about those.

In fact, Birchland Center was a Main Street program years ago.

We're hoping to get back to that.

What that organization will do is it's really all about community transformation, and they provide resources having to do with design, promotion, organization, and economic vitality.

So we were told by Erin Welty that

that Richland Center has come before them.

She's been in the position, she said, like 13 years, and Richland Center has come before them within the last 10 years several times, but we're the first group that has actually made it to this point.

So, you know, feather in our hat for, you know, getting, you know, the interest in community development.

Downtown

You know, we do have, we do have tourism, we have the chamber.

So this is an organization that will concentrate on downtown, but work with both tourism and the chamber, you know, any chance we can get.

You mentioned the Main Street program.

Is there a chance to get back in that organization?

Or is this, you know, something the same or just as good?

Yeah.

Well, we certainly can.

There are, I think it's right around 100 connect communities throughout the state.

And many of them just stay there.

The level that you have to go up to to be a Main Street program, you do have to have a full time person on staff.

And I will say that when you get to that point, and then to be able to take advantage of that level, you would need somebody full-time.

But there are many communities that stay at the Connect community level.

There's a lot of resources and a lot of things they already provide at that level, so it's not a disadvantage.

It's just that if it grows to that point, absolutely, we would love to go there.

Some great things have gone on since the last time you were here.

The month of June is always busy in the City of Richland Center, isn't it?

It sure is.

Between, you know, the dairy days and rodeo parades.

I hope everyone had a great time at those events.

And then the weather was great for that.

Then we got a little steamy weather.

So, but I still hope people had a chance to get out and enjoy Thunderfest.

the weekend prior to the fourth.

Um, it's kind of nice, you know, living in a small community, then we have the ability to go, you know, just a little bit down the road and then lone rock does a really nice parade and fireworks there as well.

So I hope everybody had a chance to, you know, and enjoy themselves and, and now hopefully we get a little break from all that hot and humid weather.

No kidding.

I heard good reviews about the fireworks.

Yes.

Yes.

Absolutely.

So it's nice that, um, like I said, we, we do ours the week before.

We got a little break on the package that we do so that we can provide a larger show.

So that's kind of the idea behind that.

But yeah, I hope it was great.

July, coming up, anything you'd like to talk about?

Well,

actually, as of today, we have a new employee at the city.

Aaron Anbihan has joined us as the zoning administrator.

You know, one thing I'll just mention, you know, back in, oh, probably September, October, when we were working on the budget and I was on council then, I've served on finance committee for quite a few years.

We actually had to budget without a zoning administrator, which

there was no one in that position.

And without a clerk, also the same situation, no one in that position.

But we had to do our budget for the first quarter without those two employees.

That's how tight the budget was.

So we're very fortunate.

Aaron, on behind probably is a name that many people recognize, serves as the school board president.

So we are happy to have him.

He has a pretty

a great background in supply chain management.

And so when you're doing zoning, you have to do things in a certain order.

And so him having that type of background is going to be great.

So good luck to Aaron.

Yes for

sure and then we do have our our meeting for city council on Tuesday at 6 30 We have a couple of items on there that We are going to be amending the ordinances for the park board.

I won't go into a whole detail on that but it's Our our ordinances and the and the state statutes for the park board are not in line so What the ad hoc committee tried to do was dissolve the park board?

The board board has a lot to do with this.

So whether we're to become a committee or like a friends of the park, we just knew that we needed to get things in line statutorily.

Actually, when the city council decided that we wanted an administrator type of government administrator,

City Council Mayor type of government.

This should have been handled at that point, but there was a lot going on as usually is.

So it's been a coming thing over the last several years.

So we will have that discussion.

And then I also received a question about another item.

on the agenda and that's to amend the council rules to add the mayor to the general government committee.

The general government committee is a new committee and that committee handles many things that affect the entire city.

Contracts and that type of thing.

And when we decided who would be on that committee, we felt that the chairs of the three largest standing committees would be appropriate.

But we didn't think as far as, you know, like say, having the mayor there.

I mean, the mayor's, you know, big part of that position is to, you know, to have a good handle on what the city's currently doing and future items for the future.

So the mayor will not be of, will not be a voting member, but certainly allowed to, you know, add any insight or, or comments without

asking for permission from the chair.

That's the key part.

Any council member can attend any meeting and that's where the work happens in committees, but like I said, you do have to have permission from the chair.

And while I've attended many meetings and from number had an issue, it's just helpful so that the mayor will always have the ability to add insight for that.

Good to know that kind of behind the scenes stuff as well.

And as far as the city council, you don't have a vote there either, do you?

No, no, I do not.

And that's surprising to a lot of people.

Yeah, it is.

I would only have a vote in the case of a tie.

And the mayor also has a veto opportunity if that were to come in my years.

That's never I've never had that had that happen.

But

It's part of what the mayor can do.

The city council is in place now for a couple of months.

Yes.

So we do have three new members on city council.

So that it's really important.

Part of the mayor's job and very important one is every April the third Tuesday of April We have our reorganization meeting where the mayor appoints people to committees and I took quite a bit of time and input from the council members where did their strengths where you know and you know obviously time availability of availability as well, but mostly you know wanted to

know where their skills would be best served.

So that was really important to put those folks in the right places.

I also have moved the public comment to the beginning of the meetings because in my thoughts, if someone has a comment or something to do with an item that's on the agenda, it's important that council members hear that before they vote.

People that like to come to the meetings just want to make it clear that, you know, your, your public comment happens earlier in the meeting and not at the end.

So I suppose you can make your piece known and then leave too.

If you want,

if you

want, if you wanted to,

we of course would like people to, you know, to stay around and so they, that they learn more.

And I mentioned before that, you know, much of the work happens in the committee.

So if you really have a passion about something, please show up at the committee.

you know, committee level.

Because once it gets to council, the committees have, you know, gone over, researched what they need, got, you know, questions answered and that type of thing.

So really a council, it's up to the council members to, you know, to vote.

So it's really hard to, you know, have a comment affect that when, you know, all that work has been done already.

I mean, it certainly can.

But, yeah.

All of the committees are on the website, so if you just pull up the Richland Center website and there's a button at the left-hand corner, Meetings and Agenda.

I'm sorry, Minutes and Agenda.

And that button will take you to all the meetings and the times and the places.

To make public comment, you don't have to be on an agenda,

correct?

No, you do

not.

That's very

true.

So just show up with your thoughts and be respectful.

Right.

Absolutely.

That is written in some of our code of conduct for both the council members as well as the public.

We are there to hold a meeting and, you know, that level of respect is required.

Yes.

Anything else you want to add today?

I have

a few things.

Speaking of, you know, some more meetings coming up.

It's really important, you know, communication, communication, communication and this line of work.

So I'm going to be meeting with

the leadership from the county and leadership of the city.

So we're going to just start meeting.

That hasn't happened before since I've been mayor.

So we're going to do that.

And then we also have Scott Gald, our city utilities manager, is setting up meetings with some of our larger employers.

And while that might be initially just a decision,

not just, but a discussion about utility load and that type of thing.

It's really important to hear, you know, obviously if they're increasing or decreasing what that says, you know, for housing, you know, other city amenities.

So I'm looking forward to meeting with the leadership of our largest corporations and then maybe have quarterly meetings after that so that the city, you know, builds those relationships.

I mean,

Not all decisions are made at meetings.

A lot of input from our community matters.

So I'm looking forward to that.

And then we also have some collaboration meetings coming up.

And that would involve, I think the public would remember some of the public forums that they've had and that involved the city, the county, Simons Foundation and the school board and any other main public forum.

entities and so we're going to have some collaboration meetings and if we feel that another public forum is in you know should be happening then we'll take care of that at that time.

Yeah I think those went over really well and they were effective.

Yes they were and I also would like to just mention the city staff

will continue to have what they're calling center conversations.

They had one in June and they're going to do those quarterly.

So just watch social media and also the website for an upcoming meeting.

And then I also want to let people know that my office, I have hours set aside for walk-ins for constituents.

And those hours are Monday.

from 11 30 to one.

And then again on Thursday from 4 30 until 6 p.m.

So if you have a question or concern, you know, certainly stop by.

The time is yours.

No appointment is needed.

No

appointment.

I'm in the office much more than that.

So if those times don't work, I'm in the office every day except for Wednesday.

So we can always set up an appointment as well.

Good.

And it sounds like a lot is happening.

And, you know, I think transparency is good.

Public input is good.

And you're working on all those things.

Where can you improve those?

Yes, for sure.

That's very important.

Like I said, serving on council for eight years, being on very, you know, various committees.

Economic development is very important.

Budgets are very important to me personally.

So those are kind of a couple of areas that I have my finger on the pulse or however you want to say it.

But yeah, it's important.

We do this.

for our community.

I mean, that's why we're here.

So input by the community and for the community is important.

Any issues as far as the weather was concerned?

Jason touched on that a little bit, but...

Yeah, as far as I know, no.

I did not receive any phone calls of putting emergency management into place or anything like that.

So I know it's been hot and sticky has been the word of the day.

or the week it was.

So hopefully a little cooler weather will come up and I hope everyone gets out and enjoys the Aquatic Center.

I saw Jody and I said, I'm sure, I'm sure your week has been pretty busy and she agreed wholeheartedly.

So it's great that, you know, the kids and families, you know, able to get out and cool off a bit.

Right.

We had to close it a few times with severe weather, but hopefully we, July looks a little better

here.

Yes.

Yes.

That's very true.

Um, obviously safety is important.

So we can't, um, have, you know, any lightning or, you know, like say bad storms and no one's going to, you know, really want to be in the pool when it's raining as hard as it had been.

Did you get to the circus the other night?

I

did not.

I did not.

But there again, I hope everybody enjoyed that.

Um, I know I saw.

a lot of posters up in the downtown and, and tickets available, um, you know, for kids and whatnot.

So I hope that was a great time.

And I remember going, um, lived, uh, like I said, grew up in Racine and they had a few circuses in Milwaukee that I went to as a young person.

So it always brought smiles and great joy.

So I hope they enjoyed it.

Good memories.

You bet.

Yeah.

All right.

Karen, thanks for coming in.

Well, thank you, Phil.

Thank you again for having me

and bad.

I have a good month and we'll see a first Monday in August.

Yes.

It goes fast.

It does.

Unfortunately, after you get by the 4th of July, it seems like it really does.

It

does.

It just goes real

fast.

Great.

Well, we'll see you soon.

Have

a great

time and enjoy it.

Thank you.

Mayor Karen Tepley from the City of Richland Center.

Earlier, we had Jason Glassburn around as well from the city, and we'll be back with more info for you tomorrow on The Morning Show.