Pizza Ranch is Open, and It's Good

It was about 5 years ago that I stumbled upon a Pizza Ranch while driving through Portage.  My kids didn't want to try it, they thought the name sounded weird, but as the dad I overrode their decision.  I didn't know anything about them, other than that they probably served pizza.  Within 5 minutes, the kids and I were loyal Pizza Ranch customers.  Now, when I am traveling somewhere that has a Pizza Ranch on the route, I'm often planning a stop there.

Two years ago, a local family started working on opening a Pizza Ranch in West Bend.  It took a lot of work, but this week they finally got it open.

Today I took the kids there for our first visit.  At 10 minutes after eleven, there was a line out the door.  The food was just as good as I would expect, the interior was more contemporary than most Pizza Ranches, and the staff was all great.  The community support was great too, every table was full and people were lined up out the door, waiting for tables to open up.

So glad we finally have a Pizza Ranch in our hometown.

Milwaukee's Trolley and Levy Limits

Let's talk about Milwaukee's Boondoggle Trolley, and why it is important to keep levy limits.

When I talk to neighbors of mine in Washington County about Milwaukee's trolley, I don't have any neighbors telling me that we should be helping Milwaukee to pay for this vital project (and I use the term vital project satirically).  Instead, the opinions I hear tend to fall along these lines

• If Milwaukee wants to be stupid with their money and build a useless trolley, that's their right, but we shouldn't pay for it.
• Building a trolley in 2018 is such a stupid idea, that it should be illegal.  Milwaukee residents shouldn't have to pay for it.

My opinion aligns with the second opinion.  Building Trolley's in 2018 is moronic.
I recall hearing Belling contrast all of the negatives of the trolley with all of the positives of Uber.  Interestingly, my own person experiences bear proof to that.  To draw the contrast in my own experiences:

Kenosha's Trolley. 

I was in Kenosha several years ago, on a cold winter day, visiting their museum with my kids. As we pulled up, I saw a trolley pulling away from a nearby trolley stop. I didn't know Kenosha had a trolley stop, but thought "That might be something fun for the kids." My kids were around 6-8 years old at the time. I decided that when we were done in the museum, we'd try to catch the trolley.

An hour or 2 later, we were leaving the museum, and I began looking for the trolley. It was nowhere in sight. I took the kids to the car, where we waiting for 5 minutes, freezing, while watching for the trolley. It was still nowhere to be seen. I took the kids back inside, and from the giftshop we watched out the window looking for it, but after another 10 minutes it was still nowhere in sight. I finally decided to take the kids back to the car and give it a couple more minutes. Then we gave up, and as we drove away.

My point is simple---the trolley was so inconvenient, we gave up and left despite wanting to ride it.

Uber. 

I was in Buffalo last fall with a few coworkers. We decided to go out for dinner, and picked a place a few miles away. The hotel shuttle wouldn't be back for 20 minutes thought. One of my coworkers was a frequent Uber user. She pulled up the app and said "There's someone 3 minutes away who can drive us there." We all decided to give this strange Uber thing a try. Stunningly, 3 minutes later, a guy walks into the hotel, sees my coworker, recognizes her from her picture in the app, and introduces himself as our driver. We walk out to the car, and reach our destination 4 miles away in almost no time.  I was stunned by how convenient it was.

Again my point is simple---Uber was more convenient than the hotel shuttle when we were in the hotel lobby.

In contrasting Uber (which started in 2009) to trolleys (which began as horse-drawn trolleys in 1820 and switched to electric trolleys in the 1890s), Uber is much more flexible, convenient, and adaptable.  It is moronic to be rebuilding trolley lines in the 21st century.

Levy Limits

Levy Limits exist to protect taxpayers from irresponsible government officials.  In Milwaukee, the Mayor complains about levy limits, and how he can't provide the basic services that are needed.  At the same time, while the 1st part of the trolley isn't even operating yet, he is already planning 3 expensive extensions to Milwaukee's trolley system.  If you don't believe me, read about it on the trolley's website: themilwaukeestreetcar.com.  He's not even waiting to see if people ride the trolley before working to expand it.

The planned expansions are:

1. The Forth Street Expansion, which would run from the Amtrack station up 4th street to the new Bucks Arena.
2. Walker's Point Expansion, which would extend the trolley south to Greenfield Avenue.
3. The Bronzeville Expansion, which would go from the bucks arena up to North Avenue.

If Washington County was released from levy limits, we would still be lowering our taxes.  If Milwaukee is released from levy limits, they'd go on a massive spending spree, building all of these trolley lines and ballooning tax bills.  Our state is one of the most heavily taxed states, and we need to bring that under control.

Human Services Committee Vice-Chairman

Today I was nominated by Chairwoman Deiss to be the Vice Chairman for the Human Services Committee.  I accepted the nomination and was elected to this position.  I am excited for this opportunity, and for this endorsement of my efforts from my fellow County Board Supervisors.

Former County Board Supervisor Les Borman had been the vice-chairman for the committee for the last 2 years.  I look up to Les, and his professional approach to helping oversee the Human Services Committee.  I also have learned a lot from Les over the last 2 years.  With the changes that were made to the structure of the Standing Committees, and the new duties the Human Services Committee is taking on that statutorily must be performed by elected officials, Les was unfortunately no longer eligible to remain the Vice-Chairman for the Committee. 

Les will be remaining on the Human Services Board, which will now be a portion of the duties of the Human Services Committee, and I look forward to continuing to work with him and learn from him.  I also look forward to continuing to work with Sara Malchow of the United Way, and new-comer Jessie Kroening as Human Services Board Members.

New County Board Supervisors joining the Human Services Committee included Frank Carr (Buzz) and Richard Bertram.  Both of them brought a lot of great insight to today's meeting.

2016 Legislative Breakfast hosted by the Heroine Task Force.  Seated with me are current County Board Chairman Don Kriefall, Former West Bend Mayor Mike Miller, Current Assemblyman Rick Gundrum, and Current Human Services Committee Chairwoman Kristine Deiss.

Back From Space Camp (4H Youth Trip)

I am back from Space Camp.  I was honored to be an Adult Advisor for the 3rd year, for the annual Wisconsin 4H youth's trip to Space Camp in Huntsville Alabama.  I was one of 15 adults who helped 148 youth experience Space Camp.  All of the youth are 4H members in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, and this year they include 10 youth from Washington County.

Below are a few pictures from the experience.

Full Moon rising over the Space Shuttle

Full moon behind the Saturn IV Rocket

Space Shuttle on display

Space Camp's "Rocket Garden"

Saturn IV and Saturn V rockets

Saturn 5 Rocket









Space Shuttle simulator

Selfie inside the Space Shuttle Endeavor simulator

Effort to End the Dark Store Loophole Continues

At the June County Board Meeting, the County will consider a resolution to affirm its view in 2016 that the State Legislature needs to end the Dark Store loophole.  Two years ago the resolution was introduced by me, after learning about this issue from City Alderman Chris Jenkins.  This time around, it is being authored jointly by myself and the full Executive Board.

Remember, the dark store loophole allows national retailers to shirk their property tax obligations, pushing them instead onto small businesses and local homeowners.  Walgreens began the onslaught of National Retailers in West Bend using this loophole.  Meier had only been open a week or 2 when they initiated their effort to use this loophole.

A lot of our local legislators are in full support of ending this, including Assemblymen Rick Gundrum and Robert Brooks, as well as State Senator Duey Stroebel.  They worked hard during the last legislative session to try to put an end to this tax loophole, and I know they'll be working hard again on this issue after the fall elections.

White House Visit for County Board Supervisors

Every one on the Washington County Board received an invitation to go to the White House.  The opportunity includes a White House tour along with a conference with key White House officials.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend due to a schedule conflict, however Washington County will be well represented.

Levy Limits Resolution

Next week the Executive Board will be looking at a resolution related to levy limits.  the resolution asks the Wisconsin Counties Association to lobby of ending levy limits.  I have very mixed feelings about this resolution.


Concerns I have with levy limits:

• Washington County has the 5th lowest county property tax rate in the state, and has historically always been a frugal and responsible county.  As such, levy limits unfairly punish us.
• Washington County has the lowest property tax rate in 100 years.  our Mill rate now is lower than our mill rate was in 1917, even though our County Government is doing a lot more than it did 100 years ago.
• The federal government and state government frequently give our county ( and all counties) new mandates without funding them, putting us in a position where we have to cut other services to fund the newly-mandates services.
• Levy limits force us to cut more then we might want to cut.  I would prefer to voluntarily reduce the size of county government and reduce taxes at a moderate pace that seems responsible and ensures that we can provide essential services.  In contrast, right now we are forced to involuntarily make larger cuts to the size of County Government that may jeopardize essential services.
• Costs continue to increase every year.  Labor costs go up, equipment costs go up, materials costs go up.  If our income stays flat while our costs continue to go up, it forces us to continue cutting services.

Concerns I have with ending levy limits:

• While Washington County has the 5th lowest County Property tax rates in the state, as a state we have one of the highest property tax rates in the country.  Ending levy limits allows counties like Milwaukee and Dane "free reign" to spend on more nonsense like the boondoggle trolley Mayor Barrett is building (because nobody uses Uber anymore, everyone is switching to using trolleys).  If I was a County Board Supervisor in Milwaukee or Dane County, I could have a field day finding government waste to discard.  I don't trust Counties like Milwaukee and Dane to make good decisions for the taxpayers, and their decisions have a huge impact on the business climate in Wisconsin.
• Any attempt to end levy limits for all Counties will not pass the legislature in Madison, so lobbying for such a change is a waste of time.  The legislators in Madison are looking at the overall situation, that we are a high tax state that needs tax reform.

I am considering how I want to approach this resolution.  I am giving strong consideration to proposing an amendment that would focus on setting some sort of floor for tax levy limits, and allowing counties who reach that floor to manage their own budgets again.  This would reward our historically frugal approach while forcing Milwaukee and Dane county to continue to cut government waste.

Update---The Executive Board shot this resolution down unanimously.  They clearly agree that we don't want to give Milwaukee free reign to spend as they chose. 

After voting it down, the Executive Committee decided to forward it to the full County Board for consideration.  While I would ultimately like to see a floor to levy limits for Counties with a demonstrated outcome of fiscal responsibility and conservatism, I cannot support a blanket revocation of levy limits.  I will most likely vote against the resolution as written.

Ending Wasteful Per Diem Meeting Pay for County Board Supervisors

As a reminder, I decided back in 2016 when I was first elected to refuse all per diem pay, a decision I still stand by and continue to follow.

In 2017, an ordinance change was proposed looking to end per diem pay for County Board Supervisors.  The resolution was amended by the Executive Board to also include a $600 per year reduction in County Board Supervisor salaries.  The effort failed by 2 votes.

During my re-election campaign, I promised to reintroduce that proposed ordinance.  After winning re-election, Chairman Kreifall and I discussed this.  We decided that our best chance for success was to move this forward as 2 separate ordinance changes, one ending per diem pay and the other reducing our own pay.  I will be keeping my promise, but just doing it in 2 stages instead of one.

Right now the meeting packet for the May Executive Committee meeting is being assembled, and unless there is a last minute change, there will be a proposed ordinance change.  That proposed ordinance would end per diem pay.  I am listed as an author on the proposed ordinance.  Assuming it again passes the Executive Committee, the entire board will vote on it at our June meeting. 

It will again require 2/3rds of all Supervisors to vote yes in order to pass.  This means it needs at least 18 yes votes.  Any combination of 9 no votes, abstentions, or Supervisors who are absent will defeat this proposed resolution.  Since it got 16 votes last time, I anticipate that it has a good chance of passing, but I expect a very close vote on this one.

With any luck, we will soon be done will per diems that incentivize government waste.  We don't want our pay system to encourage inefficiencies.  Since eligibility for per diem pay is based on the number of meetings attended, we don't want Supervisors holding unneeded meetings to increase their per diem pay.  Per diem pay increases if meetings go longer, so we want to prevent Supervisors from prolonging meetings to increase their per diem pay.  We want to keep government efficient, and eliminate unnecessary meetings that waste staff time.

Update:
The resolution did pass the executive committee, and will be moving to the full County Board at our June meeting.

The Washington County Daily News had and article about this in Saturday's (May 19) newspaper, but the seemed to have gotten confused on the issue.  Their headline was "Executive Committee votes to replace county supervisors’ per diem with monthly salary."  I don't know where they got the idea that we are adding to our salary in place of per diem pay, as we are certainly not.  The resolution that is being proposed, and has my name signed onto it, eliminates per diem pay and keeps Supervisor pay unchanged.  As I mentioned above, we plan to reduce Supervisor pay in a separate resolution that will be brought up later in the term.

Here is the language from the official minutes of the Executive Committee meeting:

Ordinance: Per Diem Compensation - County Board Compensation - (4.20) Moved by Mr. Bassill, seconded by Mr. McCune to approve an ordinance eliminating per diem compensation for County Board members, and forward to the County Board.  Motion carried with Ms. Deiss and Mr. Schleif voting no

You can read these minutes for yourself at 5/15/18 Executive Committee Minutes.  You can read the resolution for yourself at 5/15/18 Ordinance to eliminate per diem compensation

To be clear, there is absolutely no pay increase being proposed, and I would oppose any effort to increase our pay in place of per diem pay.