Mayor’s Column June 3rd, 2023
Rohn Bishop, Mayor of Waupun
Hello Waupun!
You’ve probably noticed that the past two Sundays the Tornado Warning Sirens have sounded at Noon for three minutes. This is being caused by a glitch in the software that Fond du Lac County uses for emergency management. Fond du Lac County is working to fix the glitch.
Last week, I was able to ride along with Public Works Director Jeff Danne to rate streets. Rating the streets is mandated by state law, and it allows us to track the conditions of the streets. Each street is divided into sections, and each section gets a rating of 1 to 10. The lower the rating, the higher the street is on our street reconstruction priority list. I really enjoy tagging along and experiencing the work of our city employees first hand!
Also last week, the Waupun Fire Department had what may well be the busiest week in the long history of the department. Last Wednesday alone, the Fire Department was paged out for a traffic crash, a gas leak, and then a rather large apartment fire; that was all in just one day! This ever-increasing call volume is causing us challenges to have enough volunteers who are able to leave work to respond to emergencies. This, along with increasing ambulance calls, is why we’re looking at changing the staffing model for the department to include some more help. I’m worried if we don’t get them some help that we’re going to burn our firefighters out, so you’ll be hearing me talk about this issue a lot going forward.
Some good news! The state legislature has heard our budgetary concerns and is working on getting us some much-needed help. First, it looks like Waupun may be receiving a $350,000 boost in Shared Revenues, while at the same time, Senator Feyen, and Representative Schraa are pushing hard for an increase in MSP (Mutual Service Provider) payments. These are payments from the state to offset our cost of offering services to the state-owned properties. While I’m cautiously optimistic that this will pass, I do want to personally thank Dan Feyen and Michael Schraa for going to bat for Waupun! They really are trying to get us some much-needed relief.
Representative Schraa is also pushing very hard for pay increases for correctional officers, and again I’m grateful for his commitment to our hard-working corrections staff.
Some quick reminders: The Summer Parks program Kick Off party is coming up on June 8 at West End Park. The Waupun Police Department’s Bike Rodeo is on June 15. The Historical Society’s Summer Cemetery Walk is June 17, and their Downtown Memorial Walk is currently ongoing. Get downtown and check it out!
Last, but not least, this Sunday from 2-4 pm is a meat raffle fundraiser in support of The Recording Angel Rededication Ceremony. The meat raffle will be held at the Other Bar, and I hope to see you there.
Thank you and God Bless,
Mayor Rohn
