Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, February 20 2009 @ 03:16 PM CST

Three cheers for Dale and the rest of the aldermen who make the City of Pewaukee the greatest place on earth (according to Business Week).

I gotta tell ya Dale, its great to see this community in the news for something other than corrupt politicians, molester aldermen, rampant heroin problems, massive pot busts, flooding, drunk guys getting smoked by freight trains, indentured servitude at Asian restaurants, and touchy-feeley masseuses.

Thankfully Business Week didn't take into account the effectiveness of the community's police force, otherwise we would have been bringing up the rear in the standings.

Anyway, three cheers for Dale!

Duke LaCrosse, Editor-in-Chief, Business Week Magazine.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, February 20 2009 @ 08:47 PM CST

Great schools - yes, in the village.
Great place to go swimming - yes, beach in the village.
Great place to go ice skating - sorry, still in the village.
Housing affordability in every price range - ooops probably meant the village.
Maybe they did confuse the communities, maybe not. At least they didn't mention the great city library or the Historical Society museum or the observatory...or the fine college on Main Street, or all the festivals in the city.....oh no, now I am messing up which community is which...enjoy it fellow city residents, we have a moment of glory after many months of turmoil. Maybe the magazine will come out and paint the water tower by our city hall.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, February 21 2009 @ 09:46 AM CST

Dale,

I would agree with "Duke LaCrosse" in that it is nice to see something positive written about the City of Pewaukee. However, it would appear he didn't read the entire article. One of the items that the article attributed to the overall quality of the City was low crime.

"Thankfully Business Week didn't take into account the effectiveness of the community's police force, otherwise we would have been bringing up the rear in the standings.

Anyway, three cheers for Dale!

Duke LaCrosse, Editor-in-Chief, Business Week Magazine."

I have stated in the past and will continue to state that despite the police department's internal issues (past and present), the level and quality of service that we provide to this community has not been diminished. The men and women of the City of Pewaukee Police Department continue to render public safety services in a professional manner. This police department has many dedicated, caring people, who despite some personal differences, still work together as a team when it comes to responding to calls for service.

I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't give recognition to the members of the City of Pewaukee Police Department.

As to Mr. "LaCrosse", I would invite him (and any citizen of Pewaukee) to stop down and meet with me and the other members of the department so that he can see the real police department - not the one he has invented in his mind. Then maybe he can stop hiding behind all those catchy titles.

Daniel M. Meister
Captain (Acting Chief)
City of Pewaukee Police

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, February 21 2009 @ 07:09 PM CST

Many thanks to the City of Pewaukee PD... A vast majority of the PD do an admirable job under less-than-ideal conditions. For them to continue to do a great job while being "under the microscope" is commendable indeed. Many thanks...

Ah yes, Duke... You do indeed have the gift of gab. I applaud you, but how about using some of that creative genius and putting in some positivity. It's time to move on, which it seems you really wanted to do while the Chief Bach hearings were proceeding. Now that it's over, many seem unable to give it up! I mean c'mon, I hope that you are able to find purpose in this brave new world without the chief that brought you all together. Move on!! It's time for the water tower to take it's beatin'!

And for all in general, it was an excellent testament to the citizens and city government (in general) that they were selected as a "best" community. Embrace it, enjoy it...look at the bright side once in a while. For the commentator that seems to think life revolves around the village...meh, I disagree... Many of the things you mention have much to do with the cooperation of the city and village. Goes to show that it could be even better.

Last time I checked, both municipalities end with the word "Pewaukee." Seems that should be enough to be proud of.

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Authored by: dale on Saturday, February 21 2009 @ 09:55 PM CST

Very well said.

I think the professionals in the CPPD have been doing a fine job. I have to wonder if the people who feel that law enforcement is doing a poor job simply feel that way because they have the wrong point of view.

The Business Week article listed the criteria for their selection, low crime was indeed a portion of that criteria, but it is much more than any one item from their list that makes Pewaukee, the whole Pewaukee community, a desirable place to live. No one person should get the credit, we all should share in that because we all make Pewaukee what it is. A truly desirable place to live.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, February 21 2009 @ 11:04 PM CST

As a born, raised and retired Pewaukeean I love living here. I just can't grasp what makes us so desirable to the outside world.

If I lived somewhere else and had to re-locate to this area, the first thing I would do is Google "Pewaukee". Kind of scary, isn't it?

I agree, we have a decent school system. Those of us rich enough also have ULS and SJNWMA to send our kids to. Two of the finest private prep schools in the country.

We have low taxes, at least in the city. The village has low property values, which means inexpensive housing and even though their rate @ thousand is through the roof, really low taxes compared to Milwaukee.

We do have a very low blue collar crime rate, but from what I understand our white collar crime is quite high. With as many financial institutes as we have that is understandable. It only takes one employee to cook the books.

Regardless, this is something to pin our hat on. A new letterhead and City motto should be in the works. If not now, then at the least, the merged communities would have some substance to build their new image on.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, February 23 2009 @ 06:51 AM CST

Ok, ok, ok...

Duke LaCrosse admits that this may not the time to poke fun at our police department.

We should instead be concentrating on our celebration. Dale, will you and the rest of the council be appointing a committe to head up the selection process of developing a committee to plan a celebration? If so, I would like to throw my name in the hat for either the Party Planning Committee or one of its 3 to 4 sub-committees.

Once again, congrats to everyone who helps makes Pewaukee not be West Allis!


Duke LaCrosse, Pewaukee Celebratory Event Planner

P.S.
Chiefcaptain Meister, if I come down to see the Police Department in action, can I do a ride-along? If I can do a ride-along, can I play with the sirens?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, February 23 2009 @ 08:59 AM CST

Mr. LaCrosse,

We do offer ride-alongs to citizens. If you are interested, you can contact Lt. Kopatich at 691-6013. There is some paperwork involved which includes the person's name, address, etc. A liability waiver must be signed as well.

As far as the sirens go, maybe the officer will let you turn them on in our parking lot.

Cpt. Meister

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, February 23 2009 @ 11:25 AM CST

Duke: In order to promote efficiency with our friends at the CPPD, so you don't disrupt their operations such as running radar in the weeds, experiencing the lights and weapons of choice, etc..., I would like to invite you over here to the Village where I have a number of sirens that you could experience at your convenience. You can partake of such functions as "YELP", "HI-LO", "STEADY", "WAIL" and the infamous "THE PHASER". You could make a day of it and also experience our beloved train horns and noise ( just feel the power [and the history] of them ).

Give me a call at 1-800-IAM-LOUD [ 1-800-426-5683 ] and we'll set up a time. This will be FUN!!! :-) We have to do Dutch on the refreshments...its a recession thing.

Andy Mueller, Pewaukee Village

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, February 24 2009 @ 05:34 PM CST

Duff book of records: Pewaukee Best Affordable Suburb 2009

...Take that Milwaukee.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 26 2009 @ 08:23 AM CST

Dale,

This may be off the subject, but I just wanted to drop you a line to say "Happy Birthday"!

Wow, what a great week for you Dale... First you're named Best Affordable Alderman by Business Week and then it's your birthday... It doesn't get much better than that!

Duke LaCrosse, Pewaukee Historian

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 26 2009 @ 10:30 AM CST

Happy Birthday Dale. Say... what does an alderman such as yourself do to celebrate? will we be seeing you at Billy Ho's pounding down your age in shots and Ho-Ho's? or are you more the drinking your age in shots at piano blu type?

Maxwell Powers, Birthday Town, USA

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Authored by: dale on Thursday, February 26 2009 @ 11:12 AM CST

Gee Whiz. I did not know you and Duke cared so much. Thank you for the birthday greeting.

I am not sure that I am a Billy Ho's or a Piano Blu kinda guy. I am also not one to pound my age in shots. I thought about trying out the new place where Eli's was. I have not tried the Spring City Restaurant over on Silvernail either. Then maybe I will take some time this evening and video games with the kids... or maybe without the kids. That is how an Alderman such as myself celebrates.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 26 2009 @ 11:48 AM CST

I've been at Spring City a number of times. Gets my thumbs up.

Happy Birthday

Andy Mueller, Pewaukee Village

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 26 2009 @ 04:00 PM CST

I've been to Daniel's (the old Eli's). It's just like Eli's (pretty much the same staff), but with a few more mexican dishes added to the menu, such as Cream of Taco soup.

I would recommend Spring City. Or you're welcome to swing my local restaurant, Pier 347 where your dessert will be on the house in honor of your big day.

Duke LaCrosse, Restaurantuer

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 26 2009 @ 05:37 PM CST

Happy Birthday Dale Dawg!

Eddie Winslow

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 26 2009 @ 05:40 PM CST

My computer didn't add my signature.....

Let's try this again...

Happy Birthday Dale Dawg!

Eddie Winslow, Giving All His Homies The Props They Deserve

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, March 04 2009 @ 11:49 AM CST

Dale -

Anything go down at the Common Council meeting on Tuesday that you feel is important or quasi-important and you think we should know about? I wanted to make it, but it's tax season and I was busy cooking my books.

Duke LaCrosse, Government Oversight Czar

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Authored by: dale on Thursday, March 05 2009 @ 06:07 AM CST

Duke,

First, proper planning would have you cooking the books all year long, not rushing to do so just during tax season which could lead to costly mistakes ;-) Second, City Common Council meetings are on Monday nights. The Village Board meets on Tuesday.

To answer you question however, there were a couple of items that were discussed that probably are of interest. The first was the hour long discussion on awarding a contract to R.A. Smith on the development of construction documents for the infrastructure and grading on the sports complex. MJS has a brief on that.

I voted against the contract award for a few reasons.

1. I was not satisfied the the proper procedures were followed in the RFP advertisement and selection of the vendor. They were not the lowest cost, which should not be the determining factor. There was, however, no documentation presented that assured me we were getting the best value, which should be the goal. It was stated that this vendor brought more to the table than the others, but I was not convinced by the information presented.
2. I felt that the RFP was too limited in scope. I would have like the option to expand the contract beyond the design of just the infrastructure to include further build out. Once the infrastructure plan was in done, the CC could then approve further planning, still without placing (sorry to use the often overused term) a shovel into the ground.
3. I do not believe that now is the time to be building a park. I do understand that money for the creation of the construction docs is currently budgeted. The money, by the way, is not from the general levy, it is from tourism money.

The other issue that may be of interest is we did approve the advertising for the position of Police Chief. Don't expect anything to happen very quickly, this is likely to be a slow process.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, March 05 2009 @ 08:01 AM CST

Dale,

I would be happy to help investigate this Family Hire issue. Our neighbors to the south do it all the time. Chicago is known for its family contracts, hired for truck scandals. Once I see the minutes and know who voted "yes" we can start digging deeper.

Eddie Winslow, Private Investigator for Governmental Affairs.

PS...How much for that Chief position?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, March 05 2009 @ 04:24 PM CST

Dale,

What happen on the discussion regarding hiring a new chief of the PD?

I was not just trying to be funny in suggesting that hiring a new chief be postponed pending an inquiry into merging the two PD's. A major stumbling block to such a merger would be what to do with two chiefs and we have just seen how expensive it is to remove a chief. It makes sense to me to look at this now with that stumbling block out of the way. The current era of austerity should support looking into any possible savings of a combined department. And as i have said many times before, it just doesn't make any sense to have one department operating in a circle around the other department.

Rick Carr

By the way, what do you think Duke?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, March 05 2009 @ 04:37 PM CST

Good idea Rick. So good it troubles me that it doesn't seem to be
seriously considered by our representatives.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, March 06 2009 @ 07:24 AM CST

Rick,

I'm glad you axed my opinion. I wasn't going to comment on this until you mentioned me specifically. So this is what I think:

First of all, there isn't going to be a "new sheriff in town" for quite some time. I know its tough for everyone to remember where they live due to the fact that the lettering on the water tower is barely visible, but I'll remind everyone once again - this is PEWAUKEE. Nothing gets done quickly or efficiently around here. A new police chief won't be picked for a good 3-5 years, at best. So no need to start worrying about that. And besides, Chiefcaptain Meister is holding down the fort and keeping people in line with the ol' rubber hose.

Should a new chief be selected before that time, perhaps a clause could be put into his contract saying that he would have to reapply for his job if the municipalities merged. But that's kinda lame. I would instead put the 2 chiefs head-to-head in a police-off contest. This contest would consist of 12 events which will challenge both the braun and the brains of the respective chiefs. Events would consist of:
- Who can take a stun gun the longest without losing control of his bowels
- Who can clearly draw out the borders of the village
- Who can write out the most tickets to 13 year olds fishing without licenses
- Who can guess how many tape recorders I have hidden on my person right now.

If anyone has any other suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Dale, do you think this would be a viable solution to our impending problem? If I know Dale (and I'm pretty sure I do), he will get behind this and present it at the next common council meeting.


Duke LaCrosse, Strategic Solution Solvers, LLC

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, March 09 2009 @ 03:05 PM CDT

What is going on with the CPPD Sgt. that is still on paid suspension??? I just read it in the reporter last week.

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