County

The Middleton-Cross Plains Area School Board on Monday unanimously approved a resolution awarding the sale of $59.86 million general obligation school building bonds.

American Transmission Co. has energized the completed 32-mile, 345-kilovolt Rockdale-West Middleton Transmission Line.

The project was first introduced to the public in 2004, kicking off with a comprehensive outreach effort which included 22 public meetings attended by 3,300 people over three years. More than 2,600 written comments were submitted by stakeholders and included in the company’s application to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.

In 2009, after nearly two years of regulatory review, the PSC ordered a portion of the line to be built along the Beltline Highway.

A recent study suggests there is little need for a downtown parking ramp, news that was met with chagrin by many local business owners who have been calling on the city to build the structure with Tax Increment Financing.

Talk of constructing a new parking ramp is still circling, and parking limitations in the downtown area and beyond have been the source of much frustration for some time now, according the group that has been applying pressure on city leaders. In response, the City of Middleton recently hired Walker Parking Consultants to conduct the downtown parking ramp study.

On February 26, Philip Baron of Walker Parking Consultants presented the results of the draft study to Middleton residents. Baron offered a summary of the study’s findings, discussing the parking counts that were conducted, noting the total amount of public and private parking spaces, and pinpointing the peak weekday and weekend parking demands.

Photocopied signatures of support will prevent David Dahmen’s name from appearing on the April 2 ballot, according to an order issued by the Government Accountability Board (GAB) Monday.

Dahmen had hoped to challenge Area 1 school board incumbent Jim Greer for his seat, and could still do so with a write-in campaign. 

However, this week’s GAB ruling asserts that Dahmen’s failure to turn in original signatures before the filing deadline constitutes a clear failure to follow Wisconsin’s election laws.

Public hearings on proposed revisions to Wisconsin’s endangered and threatened species list scheduled for March 5 at various locations around Wisconsin have been cancelled and a hearing has been rescheduled due to the potential for a severe winter storm. The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Advisories and Warnings for much of Wisconsin from Monday night through Tuesday.

As a result the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has cancelled public hearings on the proposed revisions to the state endangered and threatened species list that were scheduled by video conference at Milwaukee, Green Bay and Eau Claire and a public hearing scheduled for Madison.

The public hearings on the proposed list revisions will now be held:

The man in this surveillance picture is a suspect in several vehicle theft and forgery cases in the City of Middleton, according to Sgt. Troy Hellenbrand.

Anyone with information about his is asked to contact the Middleton Police Department at 608-824-7300 or leave a message on the department tipster line at 608-824-7304. 
 

State Supreme Court Justice Pat Roggensack and Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone earned the number one and two spots in a three-way primary last week, setting them up to face off in the April 2 general election. 

Eliminated from the contest was consumer attorney Vince Megna, who finished a distant third.

The Middleton Common Council last week unanimously approved a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Wisconsin Professional Police Association (WPPA) Local 427. The deal covers 2013 through 2015.


The agreement between the city and WPPA calls for increases in pay of 1 percent in 2013, 2 percent in 2014 and 3 percent in 2015. The new contract maintains continuous longevity pay increases, and in 2015 police officers will make between $55,247.98 and $66,273.48 annually in salary. (Officers will make anywhere from the mid-$60,000s to the low $90,000s in total annual compensation.)

While Act 10 stripped most public employee unions of many of their bargaining powers, the legislation did not do the same for police unions.

The Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District Board of Education on Monday night approved a new contract for fulltime teachers. The deal, which was hammered out amidst the fallout from Act 10 and a cloud of lingering uncertainty about the state of collective bargaining for public employees, covers the 2013-2014 year.

The Middleton Education Association (MEA) teachers’ union ratified the contract on Valentine’s Day. Following the school board’s vote, MEA president Chris Bauman said she was “proud” the two sides came to an agreement.

Under the new deal, salary increases will be determined at the school board’s discretion, after the district receives pertinent information about state aid levels.

Teachers who take part in a Health Risk Assessment will maintain their current 12 percent contribution toward their annual health insurance premiums. Those not completing the assessment will contribute 15 percent.

The Middleton Education Association (MEA) teachers’ union on Valentine’s Day ratified a new contract proposal for the 2013-2014 year. Despite the romantic date on which the vote occurred, emails obtained by the Times-Tribune show there was no love lost between the two parties while they hashed out the deal.

The contract will go before the Middleton-Cross Plains Area Board of Education for a vote on Monday night.

Under the new deal, salary increases would be determined at the school board’s discretion. Teachers who took part in a Health Risk Assessment would maintain their current 12 percent contribution toward health insurance. (Those not completing the assessment would contribute 15 percent toward the annual insurance premium.)