WAUPUN — The Mayor of Waupun and three City Aldermen were sworn into office for their next term after being reelected to office without opposition.
Mayor of Waupun Rohn Bishop, Alderman Pete Kaczmarski, Alderman Mike Matoushek, and Alderwoman Bobbi Jo Kunz were reelected earlier this month at the spring election held April 2, and finally seated for the next two years at Tuesday’s Reorganizational Meeting.
Before the new Council could be officially seated, the Council voted on old business that needed to be wrapped up. These included a bid for the Food Truck Alley project, furnishings for the new Senior/Community Center, a lease agreement from the Waupun School District for the Community Garden, and license and permit applications for the month.
After a brief recess, City Clark Angie Hull performed the Oath of Office for the three aldermen, followed by Mayor Bishop. Mayor Bishop then invited Kevin Rhode, Waupun Youth Pastor of Edgewood Community Church, to give an invocation in recognition of the ceremony.
The first thing on the agenda was the appointment of the City Council President, with Pete Kaczmarski as the incumbent.
Mike Matoushek nominated Dan Siebers for the position, seconded by Bobbi Jo. Dan Siebers nominated Pete Kaczmarski for the position, seconded by Kambria Ledesma.
The final votes were Kaczmarski, Matoushek, and Kunz for Siebers, and Westphal, Ledesma, Siebers for Kaczmarski. Due to the tie, Mayor Bishop voted for Dan Siebers as a tiebreaker.
Mayor Bishop remarked following the meeting that it was the second time he had to cast a tie vote as Mayor, the first being when Dan Siebers was appointed to the City Council two years ago after Bishop had vacated the 5th District seat.
As part of the annual reorganizational meeting, the City also had to designate an official city newspaper, which would publish official records for the public.
Mayor Bishop pointed out that the law was outdated, and that the same information could be easily put on websites or include more modern methods of information sharing like digital news. He pointed to Waupun Pioneer News as an example of local digital news that covers Waupun area news more consistently than traditional media outlets.
The current law requires that the official city newspaper be a subscription-based print newspaper, and requires the newspaper to print city agendas and meeting minutes. Some municipalities have exceptions, such as Door County which has been without a newspaper for some time.
After a brief discussion, the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen—which is operated under Capital Newspapers in Madison—was selected as the newspaper of record.
While the City had reached out to the Fond du Lac Reporter if they had interest in becoming the city newspaper, they did not respond, leaving the Daily Citizen as the only viable option.
The Council also voted to accept a resolution for the depository of city funds, and the Mayor’s list of board and committee appointments.
The meeting was followed by a pizza hour with Mayor Bishop.
