Government

The Village of Sauk City approved the final steps for what will become the George Culver Community Library at their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 29. The $800,000 renovation of the Straight Forward building should be completed by the end of next summer. The Craig Culver Family Foundation donated the building.

The Village of Mazomanie received its first significant FEMA funding Friday, November 1. Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Dane County Emergency Management Director Charles Stubbs stopped by the Village Office to deliver the check.

In two meetings in October, the Arena Village Board confirmed a disaster declaration due to flooding and took steps to move forward with new village employees. The declaration confirmed that flooding struck the village on October 2 and declared that emergency conditions exist, thus the village is restriction traffic on damaged or flooded roads.

Residents of the Village of Prairie du Sac will have the opportunity to vote on the village’s projected 2020 budget later in November, which includes a 1.91 percent increase in the tax levy from 2019. Taxes, however, will be going down.

The Village of Mazomanie will be sponsoring a fundraiser for Northwest Dane Senior Services (NWDSS) through the end of this year, in an attempt to raise $10,000 for the organization. NWDSS operates in part based on contributions from the villages it serves. It asks each village for an estimate contribution every year.

Replacement of the Mazomanie Historical Society’s roof is more involved than previously thought. Public Works Director Mark Geisler reported there are “more structural needs” and the proposed scope proved inadequate, at the Village of Mazomanie’s Oct. 2 meeting.

Vehicle purchases are proposed in each of the village’s three public safety departments’ 2020 budgets.

At Sauk City’s Oct. 8 Village Board meeting, resident Tracy Haselwander asked why there were no e-mails listed for Trustees on the website. “I feel bad hunting people down in the grocery store,” she said.

The question of whether to institute a wheel tax dominated discussion at the Sauk City Village Board meeting on October 8. Village president Jim Anderson put the topic on the agenda and opened his remarks with the following: “Every year that we do the budget, we’re short on money.”

The Village of Mazomanie, facing decreased revenue in 2020 because of last year’s flood damage, is reducing its police force from three to two officers. “Mazomanie will be cutting the dayshift position from the contract.