The state Department of Administration (DOA) is seeking additional information and revisions before it will approve a cooperative plan between the village and town of Jackson, agency officials stated in an April 18 letter to both communities.

“The Department finds that this Cooperative Plan meets one of the statutory standards but does not currently meet four of the statutory standards. However, the Department believes that with revisions and additional information, this Cooperative Plan could meet all of the statutory standards,” the agency stated in an executive summary of the its ruling.

Of the standards considered on whether to approve or deny the request, the DOA stated that the current plan met the “Compactness of Plan Territory” standard. The agency then stated that four other standards — “Content of Cooperative Plan Sufficiently Detailed,” “Cooperative Plan Consistent with State and Local Laws and Regulations,” “Adequate Provision for Municipal Services,” and “Planning Period is Consistent with Cooperative Plan” — are not met under the current plan.

The DOA gave both communities 90 days from April 18 to resubmit a revised cooperative plan to the department.

The DOA ruling is the latest action in a process with a history that goes back to a 1999 revenue sharing and cooperative boundary agreement between the two communities, which was amended in 2005 and 2008. According to the executive summary from the DOA, when the village adopted two ordinances in 2015 to transfer certain town areas into the village as part of past agreements, town residents in those area questioned the validity of past agreements and an organization called Jackson Town Residents Against Attachment (JTRAA) filed suit against the village and town. The JTRAA, town and village did reach a Memorandum of Understanding and the the lawsuit was stayed to allow a new cooperative plan agreement to be created to address past legal deficiencies of past agreements. Public hearings regarding the current plan were held on Oct. 16 and Feb. 26.

When reached for comment last week, Jackson Village Administrator John Walther said the village  “was not surprised” by the DOA decision to not approve the current cooperative plan.

“Understanding that the proposed Agreement may contain certain deficiencies, the parties had already submitted a letter to the DOA on March 8, 2018, suggesting additional information that might be added to the Agreement to satisfy the DOA’s statutory review criteria. The DOA has indicated that the revisions described in our March 8 letter will satisfy the remaining statutory criteria,” Walther stated.   “The parties will accordingly revise and promptly resubmit the Agreement to the DOA pursuant to s.66.0307(5)(d) of the Wisconsin Statutes.”

The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) is pleased to announce that Ryan Anderson, Director of Athletics & Activities at Menomonee Falls High School, has been recognized by this association as a Certified Master Athletic Administrator.

To earn this distinction, Anderson has demonstrated exemplary knowledge, contributions and on-going professional development in the field of interscholastic athletic administration. The voluntary certification process included a thorough evaluation of the candidate’s educational background, experience, NIAAA Leadership Courses and professional contributions. It is culminated with a practical written project.

Anderson is one of a very elite group of interscholastic athletic administrators nationwide to attain this level of professionalism.

The NIAAA is a national professional organization consisting of all 50 state athletic administrator associations and more than 10,000 individual members. It is dedicated to promoting the professional growth of high school athletic administrators and preserving the educational nature of interscholastic athletics and the place of these programs in the secondary school curriculum.

Menomonee Falls Athletic Director Ryan Anderson (right) is pictured with Menomonee Falls Police Officer Jim Kirchberger in February during halftime of a basketball game in which Kirchberger was honored for his service to the school district as a school resource officer. Anderson recently received national certification as an athletic director from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

The back parking lot area of the Menomonee Falls Police Department was closed off for more than two hours March 28 while police investigated a report of a suspicious package.

According to information from Menomonee Falls Police, at 2:07 p.m. a Menomonee Falls company received a package that was “concerning” due to its appearance, unusual labeling and lack of postage. The package was brought in to the Menomonee Falls Police Department. Police summoned the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit to investigate the package.

The back parking lot area of the Police Department was closed off for two-and-a-half hours during the investigation. The Village Hall, library and a nearby school — in which classes were ending for the day — were asked to limit activities away from the parking lot. An examination of the package “determined it to not be a danger” to the public, police stated.

“The MFPD (Menomonee Falls Police Department) encourages suspicious packages to be reported to the police, but it is best for packages to be left in place for police to investigate,” Falls police said in a statement. “The department would like to thank those who were inconvenienced by the precautions for their understanding and cooperation, as well as the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office and the Menomonee Falls Fire Department for their assistance. This matter remains under investigation.”

By Thomas J.McKillen, managing editor, published Feb. 2, 2018

A few weeks after one special election upset and a close local election, Gov. Scott Walker rallied local supporters to get out the vote in elections the rest of the year.
“The wake up call is that we cannot assume that our neighbors know about the positive things we’re doing here in Wisconsin — we can’t assume it,” Gov. Scott Walker said during the Washington County GOP Brunch and Caucus held in West Bend Jan. 28.
Walkers comments came less than two weeks after Republicans lost a Jan. 16 special election in northwest Wisconsin, as St. Croix County Medical Examiner Patty Schachtner upset Rep. Adam Jarchow to win a State Senate seat that had been held by Republican Sheila Harsdorf for 16 years before she resigned in November to become Walker’s agriculture secretary. That same evening, Rick Gundrum won a special election in Washington County, being elected to fill the remainder of the 58th Assembly District term. However, the race was competitive, as Gundrum defeated Democratic Party candidate Dennis Degenhardt by a 56.56 to 43.37, while Degenhardt won wards in the city of West Bend.
During his comments to local Republicans, Walker referenced his State of the State speech and noted it was twice as long as speeches he presented in past years.
“For years I’ve said the state of our state is strong. I didn’t say that this year: I said the state of our state is historically strong,” Walker said. “We have a larger workforce than ever before, we have a historically low unemployment rate, we made historic investments in the K-12 education, we had the largest economic development project in history of the state (the Foxconn development), one of the largest in the history of the nation. There are amazingly good things happening in this state.”
Walker cited data showing the state has the lowest unemployment in this history of the state (3.2 percent as of November 2017) while local school districts can now make employment and promotions decision based on merit. He further explained how targeted investments have been made in technical colleges and training programs. He also stated that the 25,000 people have been transitioned from receiving Food Stamps to being in the work force and also noted that under GOP leadership a tuition freeze has been in place at state universities for the past six years.
“These are the positive things we’re getting done for the people of Wisconsin,” Walker said.
When interviewed after his speech, Walker said the GOP can’t assume for this election that people know about the positive work that has been done over the past several years. Walker referenced the low voter turnout in the two Jan. 16 elections as to what the GOP should learn in response for the rest of the year.
“We can’t assume that people know about it. When you have 12 percent turnout, that means a lot of people assumed it was going to happen,” Walker said.
Walker added that “I tell people all the time I’m going to have a tough election, arguably the toughest election I’ve had, including the recall election. People go ‘oh no, it’s overhyped.’ I go, ‘no, the left — for reasons unrelated to Wisconsin, more related to Washington D.C. Whether it’s the frustation with the Senate or the president, whatever it might be — the left is angry and motivated. We’ve got to make sure if we’re going to win in November we’ve got to counter that with optimism and organization, getting our message out, telling people about the good and optimistic things happening in the state. If we do that, we can win. I think in the special elections of voters assumed it was in the bag and they didn’t need to worry about it.”
Walker added that the message included saying that “Wisconsin is not Washington” and laying out plans for the future.
“For me, my focal point has been and will be in this campaign in particular is to talk about things that matter. Talk about things that matter to everyday people. If you keep that in mind, then you don’t get drawn off into other things,” Walker said.

Angie Wildish was part of the UW-Whitewater women’s volleyball team that won an NCAA Division III title in 2002, and last fall she was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Wildish — now known by her married name, Angie Vogt — was one of several inductees into the UW-Whitewater Hall of Fame ceremony. She was raised in Menomonee Falls and graduated from Menomonee Falls High School before playing volleyball at UW-Whitewater for four years. She is currently a physical education teacher in the School District of Menomonee Falls. 

“Yes, this event brought up many fun and exciting memories of my college days.  It also brought up sad and heartbreaking memories.  It was great to be back to the place where so many life long memories were made,” she said of the ceremony.

Vogt was an outside hitter for the UW-Whitewater women’s volleyball

team from 1999-2002.  She was part of UW-Whitewater teams that won three regular season conference titles and qualified for the NCAA tournament for four years. She was of the team that won the Division III title in 2002 and and were national runners-up in 2000 and 2001.

Also at Whitewater, Vogt was AVCA All-American, being selected as a first team selection in 2002. The same year she was selected as a WIAC Player of the Year and as a member of the NCAA Division III Championship All-Tournament Team. Vogt also earned first team All-WIAC and AVCA All-Region accolades two times, and was a three-time all-conference honoree overall, according to a biography from the school. 

She is on the school’s record list for career kills (second at 1,639), career digs (third at 2,365), career matches with double-figure digs (third with 102) and matches with 20-plus kills (third with nine). She was a team captain during the 2002 season.

During her speech at the Hall of Fame presentation in November, Vogt thanked her oldest son Nolan and her husband John and his family as well as neighbors for being there. She also thanked her parents, brothers and sisters for attending her UW-Whitewater matches and showing their support. 

“It was very exciting to have my entire family there with me.  My aunts and uncles, my son Nolan, my friends and many of teammates came out to celebrate,” she said later. Vogt also noted that she received thanks and congratulations from her co-workers at Ben Franklin Elementary School. At the beginning of her speech, she cited the support of her parents during her playing career.

“First, my parents are the biggest reason why I am up here today.  Their tireless efforts to make sure I got to and from practice and games, getting up at 4 a.m. to get to me to club volleyball tournaments out of state, paying for all the various expenses that go along with being a club sport athlete and most importantly – their ongoing support to make sure I was successful and could play and do something that I had a true love and passion for,” the text of her speech stated.  “I started playing volleyball when I was in fifth grade, while my mom was my coach. I owe her so much as she taught me the basics.  I quickly fell in love with all aspects of the game.  When I wasn’t playing organized volleyball, I have many memories of my older sister Kim and I playing pepper in the yard or passing and serving against the garage.”

In her speech at the Hall of Fame ceremony, she recalled playing in three national championships, two of which were on UW-Whitewater’s home court.

“In my college volleyball career, I played for three national championships, two of them at Whitewater. I am not quite sure how many people can say they played on their home court, where they sweat, laughed, cried and worked so hard to have their dream of winning a national championship come true. The night we won, we swept the number one team in the nation 3-0 and for the first time in school history won a national championship,” Vogt said her speech.  “My memories from college are endless, but being named a national champion was number one.   Because of this sport, I have met lifelong friends and exceptional people and role models.  I do think my experiences have truly been unique and I have you all of you sitting here to thank.”

 -By Thomas J. McKillen, Managing Editor

By Thomas J. McKillen

Germantown’s Isaac Riddle placed fourth in the Division I 132 weight class at the WIAA individual wrestling tournament at the UW-Madison Kohl Center Feb. 22-24.
Riddle lost his opening match to Daniel Stilling of Mukwonago, 8-0 on Feb. 22 but then began to advance in the consolation bracket after Lucas Benn of Mukwonago was unable to wrestle due to an injury in a previous match. Riddle then scored a 5-3 victory of Zach Weller of Burlington and followed that with a 5-3 sudden victory over Nate Ellis of Janesville Craig. He lost the third place match to Stilling, 11-0.
Germantown teammate Chase Celicowski lost both of his matches in the 126 weight class, falling to eventual champion Mason McMillen of Reedsburg 13-3 and then losting Grant Truesdale of Elkhorn, 12-4.
Menomonee Falls wrestlers Casey Reigstad, Alec Lind, Tyler Gill, Jon Thomas and Logan Fallon also were at the meet Reigstad lost to eventual 10-6 champion Hayden Halter of Burlington while Lind lost to eventual 120 champion Hunter Lewis of Stoughton. Both Falls wrestler then lost their next matches.
Gill upset Brandon Mickisch of Kaukauna in his opening match at 132, getting a pin on a wrestler was ranked third in last WI Wrestling poll before the posteason. Gill then was pinned in the quarterfinal by Thomas Severson of DC Everest. Gill scored an 8-3 decision over Jake Skattebo of South Milwaukee in the consolation bracket before finishing the tournament by being pinned by Reese Thompson of Oshkosh West.
Thomas lost his opening match to Ben Statz of Waunakee, 12-3. Fallon won his opening match against Austin Ertl 4-1 on a tiebreaker. He then was pinned in the quarterfinal by Tre Williams of Racine Park. Fallon finished the tournament by being pinned by Aodan Marshall of Stoughton.