Mayor’s Column April 22th, 2023
Rohn Bishop, Mayor of Waupun
Hello Waupun,
This past Wednesday was my one-year anniversary as mayor, and there are times this job can be stressful and lead to sleepless nights. There are several big issues we as a city are trying to tackle, including the housing shortage, day care shortage, budget restraints, a new staffing model for our Fire and Rescue Department, and of course doing a better job at code enforcement.
Every once in a while, an issue pops up out of nowhere, that has folks fired up, and one of those issues is the Community Garden.
As you know, the Community Garden was located on Grace Street behind the old school when the Historical Society was there. There were no issues that I know of, and that location proved popular, until that spot was chosen as the site for the new Senior/Community Center. So, the decision was made to move the garden out by the truck stop. Then that site was purchased for development of a new business and the garden was moved to Moorman Dr out in the Business Park for last summer.
Several issues arose; including that when we had heavy rains in May, the garden flooding and ruined some tomatoes (and I heard about it!), the soil wasn’t the best, and it was a located in an isolated and desolate area which raised safety concerns.
Over the winter, several members of the Community Garden were reaching out to me and asking for a new location for the garden. At just about every event I attended for a while, someone would ask me about the garden. I met with our city administrator about these requests and we put it on the agenda for the Board of Public Works’ March 14th meeting. The head of the garden group was present and a few locations were discussed, and the board selected an empty, city owned lot on Welch Street, and it appeared we were ready to have a community garden….Until Tuesday night.
At Tuesday night’s common council meeting, several residents of Welch Street attended the meeting and spoke out against having the community garden in their neighborhood. Their concerns included noise, traffic, parked cars, and pesticides. They recommend we move it to a city park and left a list of locations for us to consider. Because of this, the council will re-visit the community garden location on Tuesday night at 5:30.
If you have strong opinions one way or the other about a community garden, and where to put it, I encourage you to contact your alderman and to attend the meeting.
In other news: We appear to be on track with replacing the Main Street railroad crossing the week of June 13. The railroad has been asked to check some of the other crossings in the city, as many are in bad shape, but obviously the Main Street crossing is of the highest concerns. I am excited to announce that at the completion of the project, DPW Director Jeff Danne and myself will stand at the crossing holding yellow barricade tape as Trayton Greenfield drives the first car over the new crossing! If you’d like to be in the Cadillac with Trayton, just let him know.
Planning for the Recording Angel Centennial Rededication is going very well. We do need some donations to help cover our cost. We’re looking for a presenting sponsor for about $1,000, someone to sponsor the VFW/Legion Color Guard at about $400, and regular sponsorships to help pay for the brochure and other cost at around $150. I will be sponsoring the poem contest and the winner with a $200 donation. If you’re interested in donating, please contact either myself, Mayor Kyle Clark, or Sue Hafemeyer at radiowaupun@gmail.com.
Thank you and God Bless,
Mayor Rohn
