Mayor’s Column October 18, 2025
Rohn Bishop, Mayor of Waupun
Hello Waupun
This past Thursday, City Administrator Kathy Schlieve and I had a lunch meeting with Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy and the new Warden at Waupun Correctional Kenya Manson. It was a good discussion and a nice change to meet the new warden, to maintain our good open line of communication. We were given an update on the project to close Green Bay and invest into Waupun. We talked about partnering with the DOC to provide more housing for correctional staff, potential future growth of both the city and the DOC here, and just general conversation about current events. I think it’s important for city leaders and the DOC to have occasional meetings and for all of us to be on the same page.
This Tuesday will be the Dodge Correctional Disturbance/Control meeting, where we’ll have a tabletop disaster response simulation. These meetings bring together state, county, city representatives, first responders, and of course corrections security personnel, and we’ll have some sort of a scenario, where something goes wrong and how we would all respond. We do these simulations annually with both WCI and DCI and are an important tool in helping to keep us all trained in how to respond, just in case. In my four years as mayor, the simulations have included a train derailment, prison break, prison riot, prison fire, and a scheme to overtake an ambulance. All of these scenarios are very unlikely, and all are purposely set up to be worst case scenarios, but like I said, they provide very good training, and it’s good to be prepared, just in case something were to happen.
Today (Saturday) is the Downtown Waupun Fall Family Festival! Main Street will be closed with several food trucks, vendors, activities, and a pet costume contest. So, come on down for a spooktacular of a time, and if you get scared, who ya gonna call?
To help kick off the events, I’ll be live on AM1170/FM103.3 beginning at about 9:30. Please tune in or call in with a question.
Around Waupun, the new ice is in at the ice arena, and construction on new turf is taking place at a couple of the baseball fields. Improvements are coming to Medema Fields for softball, and our football team has had an amazingly fun season. One of the things I’m proud of as mayor was pushing for our city to invest in the youth. Youth sports, childcare, youth activities like our summer reading program, summer parks program, festivals, REACH, and for me personally I’ve always been proud to help Youth for Christ, Holiday Help, and Sleep in Heavenly Peace. There are so many good groups dedicated to helping the kids. I just believe a community without kiddos wouldn’t be a community worth living in.
Thank you, God Bless, and see you downtown today!
Mayor Rohn
