I've been meaning to drop in a story about our newly elected Trustee, Tom Fehring.   He's trying to put me out of business.

Sort of.

He has his own blog!   Imagine that, a Village official, tinkering with internet outreach.   So far, Tom's been writing about topics from construction to rain barrels .. he's got a great page on Exploring WFB History .. and one explaining his take on how to Improve the Village .. I hope to see future blog entries on all the secret wheeling and dealing behind Trustee doors. 

Heck, I'd be happy to read about the public wheeling and dealing, as our media coverage is pretty thin.

Oh, and here's something else.  He has a public email address, TrusteeFehring@WFBVillage.org.  Imagine that. 

All the Trustees have private email addresses that some people are fortunate enough to have, but they're not technically public information.  If you want to reach the Trustees via email, the official way is to email the Village Manager (manager@WFBVillage.org) who will forward/print your email for Trustee consumption.  Hardly 2007 technology.

Of course, the reluctance has something to do with open records laws, whereby official communication should be archived.  Now that WFB has a new website, with GovOffice servers, the technology should be available.

I think email correspondence is vital to a more responsive government.  Let's face it, Whitefish Bay's demographics are dominated by busy people.  Families with soccer games to go to.  Dance recitals, kung-fu tournaments.  Not many have the time to go to Village meetings and voice their opinions, or just converse with their officials.  

Email is the great equalizer, as it lowers the bar, making it very easy to communicate with the people who represent you.  Of particular import, though, is that with more communication, vocal minorities can be equalized by the greater community. 

In Shorewood, you can contact your Trustees via email.

In Glendale, you can contact your Trustees via email.  They even have Trustee pages, on their (otherwise abysmal) website.

In Mequon, you can contact the Mayor via email.  Partial credit.

In Brown Deer, you can contact most of the Trustees via email.

In Cedarburg, you can contact your Trustees via email.

In Grafton, you can contact your Trustees via email.

In Port Washington, you can contact your Trustees via email.

Fox Point and Bayside have pretty nice websites, but no Trustee access.  

But extra credit goes to Bayside.  Somehow, their tiny town has got their internet act together, minus Trustee email address.  You want a list of New Ordinances?  How about Resolutions?  (Oh, and notice how a resolution was passed 5 days ago, and posted immediately?  Warp speed.) How about a WEEKLY newsletter on what Bayside officials are up to?  Great stuff.

WFB Trustee Fehring requested his Official email address.  Let's see Pritchard, Roemer, Schmidt, Cheng, Siegel, and Brennan do the same!

Make sure to read Homeowner Rights Suffer Blow.  and ARC-ARGH.

Don't want to keep checking for WFB news on this blog?  Have it delivered to your inbox, so you won't miss anything.  Free.  Click here.

First, I'd like to welcome the hundreds of new readers to this blog.  Blog traffic has been 10 times normal this week, and I hope I've provided a service to the public with this election series.  Stick around. 

When I first started writing about Whitefish Bay's election, I attempted to be an objective observer for the public.  I admitted I would make endorsements at the end of the race.  After interviewing all the candidates, it was easy to select who I wanted to vote for .. it was excruciating writing about it.  It's tough to pick one person over another and let the world know about it. 

First, the judicial race.  Christensen trounced Peterson by 26 points.  How did that happen?  Christensen ran a great campaign.  He was out shaking hands on the street, in front of schools.  Sent out a couple smartly targeted mailings.  At first, I didn't get it.   It is a municipal judge race.  Why work so hard?  The answer is: to win.  Lots of effort = lots of votes.

I was at Christensen's house for their election party .. I've never been to one before.  I admit, it was pretty exciting hearing the results read off. 

As for the Trustee race, Siegel was the top vote getter, with Fehring 3% behind.  Siegel won the same way the Judicial race was won, with effort.  She bought and planted a large number of lawn signs, brightly colored, with good placement, and that makes a huge difference. 

Fee losing was slightly surprising, as incumbents rarely lose.  But how many voters actually could name their Trustee?  Probably not many.  This was Fee's first contested election, and I think he struggled to find his stride.  I don't recall getting any literature from his campaign.   I had endorsed Fee, as I was impressed with his skills, and believe the board will miss his voice.

I am unabashedly pleased that Tom Fehring won a seat on the Board.  I met Tom through writing this blog, as he had a number of ideas to share about Silver Spring's renewal.  When I realized the Trustee race was going to be uncontested, I thought of Tom and encouraged him to run.  I'd like to believe I goaded him in to running, but I'll bet it was his wife who wanted him out of the house.  Fehring ran a smart campaign, and will be a fantastic addition to the Village Board.

Pritchard won handily by 35+ points over the withdrawn-Weas.  I wouldn't say that all 32% of Weas' votes were "protest" votes against Pritchard .. Maybe half of them.  The other half are people who probably couldn't name the current Village Board President.   Pritchard is a solid leader for our Village, and if you don't think so, you're not paying attention.

The school board race results are not available on-line.  One would guess Marie Greco and Jim Phillips won by large margins over the late write in candidate.

Looks like the election letters that didn't get published in the paper edition, got pushed to the "Voter Guide" where .. few will read.

Here's the one you might have missed:

TOM FEHRING:  Public Forum

Whitefish Bay is a great place to live. But it can be better. I've been listening to Village residents and their concerns. Based on this, and my own thoughts, here is a list of 10 measures that I believe would enhance our village:

1. We need to properly maintain the village infrastructure. Properly maintaining our streets, water mains, sewers, street lights and other areas of the village's infrastructure doesn't mean we need to spend more - it means that we need to efficiently maintain what we have, to anticipate needs before they develop, and to establish effective plans for improving the infrastructure we rely upon.

2. We need to do a better job overseeing village construction projects. To illustrate the point, consider last summer's construction project to replace the sanitary and storm sewers and water mains along East Courtland Place. Fugitive dust was not controlled, safety barricades were not uniformly employed, and the project didn't get completed on schedule.

3. We need to improve the decision-making process. We have been talking about renovating East Silver Spring since Bayshore Town Center was first proposed. Meanwhile, Bayshore Town Center is now complete while we are still talking to consultants about what to do about our shopping district.

4. We need fiscal restraint. The Whitefish Bay board has done a fairly good job of controlling the increase in property taxes devoted to village services. But by benchmarking our services to that of the best communities in the Midwest, we can increase the efficiency of operations and help hold down costs.

5. We must build a better sense of community. Active neighborhood associations can become a critical part of the social foundation of the village and can make neighborhoods more enjoyable places to live. They can also provide the eyes and ears of the community for the Village Board.

6. We should improve pedestrian safety. Crossing Silver Spring continues to be a hazardous experience for pedestrians, and crossing Marlborough at the library isn't much better. We need both better enforcement and effective crossing designs.

7. We must build a sense of history. I have been working with the Whitefish Bay Historic Preservation Commission to identify the historic and architecturally significant homes and other sites within the village. We are working on signage to identify these historic sites, and walking tours that will build on our sense of history.

8. We should improve village governance. Having served as corporate secretary for a major corporation for years, I have the skills to improve village governance. I will work to make our board meetings more responsive to the needs of citizens and improve communication regarding the board's actions.

9. We should improve communications. The village should do a better job of providing information to its residents. An overhaul of its Web site has been promised for many months - if done properly, it can provide a source of up-to-date information.

10. We need a village skating rink. In a year in which you could almost skate on any village street, we again have been unable to create a skating rink for residents. We need to find a way to make this happen.

Tom Fehring - Website: http://www.FehringForWFB.com/

Great letter. 

*** Make sure you read all the candidate profiles and endorsements HERE. ***

Summary: 

President:        PRITCHARD
Trustee:           FEE, FEHRING
Judge:             CHRISTENSEN
School Board: GRECO, PHILLIPS

As promised, I am writing a summary of my "candidate profiles" for the Village of Whitefish Bay’s April 1st election, with endorsements and rationale. 

Without decent media coverage, nor any sort of public forum or debate between the candidates, I have tried to use this blog to fill the void by interviewing each candidate, asking the same set of questions, and allowing each to review and suggest edits of their stories in an abundance of fairness.   

I hope this report is used as a tool for voters, instead of turning these important elections into popularity contests, based on who knows who, or the numbers of signs on lawns.

I spoke to most candidates for around an hour, and some for two and three, discussing their vision for Whitefish Bay. -- In short, I did your homework for you.

WHITEFISH BAY VILLAGE BOARD PRESIDENT

For a short time in January, Whitefish Bay had a race for Village Board President. DOUG WEAS had thrown his hat in to challenge two term incumbent KATIE PRITCHARD.

I interviewed Weas in January, and was impressed with one talent he brought to the table, namely, that he was a Real Estate Developer by trade, and had his sights set on helping the Village renew Silver Spring. I've written about the need for aggressive action on Silver Spring, and Weas had necessary skills. However. I had a feeling he hadn't quite realized the many other demands of being the Board President. This proved to be true when he withdrew from the race, 3 days after I published my story on his candidacy.

Prior to that withdrawal, I interviewed Katie Pritchard for over an hour. Pritchard has been a solid leader for Whitefish Bay and a quality steward for the Village. Before Weas' withdrawal from the race, I'd thought that if there were 50 elements you needed for Board President, Pritchard would be better on most of them. 

That being said, I continue to take issue with Pritchard's reluctance to bombard WFB with communication about the Village's business. Pritchard herself has critically written that the Village has citizens who are uniformed about issues. Her stance is that the citizenry is responsible to seek out information on their own. This does not compute, especially with our pitiful media coverage. 

PRITCHARD is a good choice to lead the village. She remains one of the three on the Board who tend to vote for more aggressive measures on Silver Spring, and thoughtfully handles the Village's business.

WHITEFISH BAY VILLAGE TRUSTEE - Top 2 Vote Getters - 3 Candidates

DAVID FEE is running for his second 3-year term, and was unopposed in 2005. I interviewed Fee for two hours. He is a man of substance, precision, and intelligence. He is conscientious and thoughtful.

My one concern with Fee is that he is too "risk-averse" when it comes to Silver Spring redevelopment. Don't get me wrong, Fee has well-thought arguments for his ideas on redevelopment, and one would be hard pressed to find flaw. Generally speaking, he aligns himself with the school of thought that TIF dollars should go for public improvements, like street-scaping, not for assisting individual businesses. He did, however, explain that he is open-minded, that if a great plan came along for a property on Silver Spring that had solid partners, that he could foresee himself supporting Village involvement.

But great plans are hard to come by. Silver Spring is far behind in the game, and, in football terms, needs to give up the running game, and start passing. We're at a point that we need to take on some risk, some gambles, to see improvement.

Fee is a solid friend of home-owners' rights and has a common sense approach to architectural and historical preservation rules.

FEE remains a solid choice.  His thoughtfulness and analyitcal skills are needed.  He has the background and solid talent to remain, and I endorse him for Village Board Trustee.

THOMAS FEHRING is running for his first term on the Board. Tom is a 34 year resident of Whitefish Bay, and has his undergrad and Masters Degree in Engineering from Marquette. Fehring is well spoken, has vision and intelligence, and would lead Whitefish Bay in a positive direction with a unique skill set.

Fehring has a background in engineering and project management. He is passionate about Silver Spring's renewal, and sees it as an urgent issue. When I first met him, we spoke for nearly three hours about the history of the district, and the need for partnership with businesses, to create a vibrant street. His desire to create an environment of flexibility is important to the survival of Silver Spring.

His other pet issue, near and dear to many meat-and-potato voters is infrastructure. Fehring has observed the deteriorated state of our roads, sewers, etc., and wants to see marked improvement.

Fehring has quality experience with the WFB Historic Preservation Commission and was recognized as "distinguished volunteer" by the Board in 2007. He's also served as a director for Dominican High School.

I highly recommend THOMAS FEHRING for Village Board Trustee. (campaign website link)

Julie Siegel is also running for Trustee. When I interviewed Siegel, I was extraordinarily troubled by her lack of specificity for every issue I asked her about, and others picked up on that. I believe candidates should have familiarity and opinions about the most important issues, and a solid vision of where they want to lead, before a campaign begins.

Siegel may still win, as she has a deep network in Whitefish Bay, a politically successful family, and has run a visible campaign. I commend anyone who raises their hand to volunteer, but Fee and Fehring are better choices.

WHITEFISH BAY MUNICIPAL JUDGE

There is also a Municipal Judge race between BOB PETERSON and PAUL CHRISTENSEN. We are lucky to have two high quality candidates for this position. Both are highly educated at great schools, (Peterson at Marquette and SLU Law, Christensen at Notre Dame and MU Law.) Not having had the opportunity to need a lawyer, I can't attest to their skills.

However, one component of the WFB Judge position is dealing with juveniles and their brushes with the law. I can attest to Paul Christensen's ability to relate to youth. Paul previously lived two doors down from me, and if I listen closely any summer night, I can still hear the echoes of him playing with his kids in his back yard. Note, I didn’t say I could hear his kids. It was Paul making most of the noise. Paul was also one of the first to welcome me to Whitefish Bay, nearly a decade ago.

I've seen Christensen hustling around the Village's homes, doing campaign lit drops and putting up signs like crazy.

I endorse PAUL CHRISTENSEN. I'm sure he'll do a great job as Whitefish Bay's judge.

WHITEFISH BAY SCHOOL BOARD

I wasn't going to make an endorsement in this race, because originally, two incumbents were running for two spots. However, this week, a write-in candidate has been circulating her name for the job.

In the newspaper article about this write-in's candidacy, her quotes stood out. "I don't think there is a place (in Whitefish Bay Schools) for people who say they want to go to Waukesha Tech ..  the focus is too much on college ..  There is something wrong when a community focused on children can't get its children to graduate." she said.

While diversity of education is important, Whitefish Bay is a college-prep system that graduates a whopping 99.06% of its students, where 94% go on to college, that also has significant resources dedicated to both ends of academic ability. It is crucial for our district to maintain these high academic expectations.

MARIE GRECO and JAMES PHILLIPS have done a fine job, and deserve re-election.

Summary: 

President:        PRITCHARD
Trustee:           FEE, FEHRING
Judge:             CHRISTENSEN
School Board: GRECO, PHILLIPS

With news last week that a third candidate was running for Village Trustee, Whitefish Bay now has a race, three people for two spots on the Village Board.  Since incumbents have a great probability of re-election, David Fee will probably retain his job, which means this race is mostly between Julie Siegel and Thomas Fehring, who submitted campaign paperwork last week. 

Again, please note, I am not a journalist, I'll endeavor to be fair, however, I suppose I will write an endorsement later in the election process.  In general, I will ask each candidate the same questions.

THOMAS FEHRING:

I contacted Thomas Fehring, and spoke to him at length, asking a range of questions, from his educational background to specific issues that will be discussed in this election.

Thomas is a long time resident, living in Whitefish Bay for the last 34 years, which is probably why this interview took two hours.  He has a rich feeling for the Village and its direction. 

He has a Bachelors and Masters from Marquette in Mechanical Engineering, and was formerly a vice president and general manager at We Power (Wisconsin Energy Corp.) and is now consulting on energy matters out of his home office.  Tom is currently the secretary on the WFB Historic Preservation Commission, and was named "distinguished volunteer" by the board in 2007.  He's also served as a director for Dominican High School.

His engineering background may account for one of his platforms for running.  He explained that he has a great concern for the deterioration of Village infrastructure, from roads, to water mains, sewers and street lighting systems.  "At a time when residents are making an unprecedented investment in improving their own homes, through remodeling and additions, the municipal infrastructure is deteriorating, and our efforts to improve it aren't keeping up," he said.

His other reasons for running were due to his concern with the lack of action on the renovation of Silver Spring.  "There doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency.  The streetscape has deteriorated, businesses have left, and this reflects badly on the community. We can and should have a vibrant, pedestrian friendly, shopping district."  Fehring believes his background in engineering and project management and long history of service to the village will be an asset on the board.  He has worked with and has great respect for outgoing Trustee Ken Berg, and felt his leaving is a great loss.

And, his wife encouraged him to run to get him out of the house. Whose wouldn't?

We spoke at great length about the re-development of Silver Spring.  Fehring is frustrated by the lack of urgency that has surrounded the process, noting that the Village has been talking about the issue for years and yet very little has been accomplished, while during the same time, Bayshore has been planned and constructed.    He believes that Silver Spring desperately needs new businesses, especially restaurants. 

We had a long discussion about how that could be accomplished, and Fehring tended away from monetary partnerships between the village, landlords and entrepreneurs, and instead wants to create regulatory environment through which businesses can prosper. 

"WFB probably took a step backward when Silver Spring properties were valued so highly.  This increases taxes and, of course, rents."  "Heinemann's was a great asset because it served as a community meeting place for decades.  Whitefish Bay needs to partner with businesses like that to accommodate their needs, make it work for them, for example, with outdoor seating space, alcoholic beverage sales, or increased hours of operation."

Fehring also said that it is important for existing Silver Spring merchants to be proactive in developing and enhancing their own businesses, and the Village officials should be willing to work with them to facilitate the improvements. 

He believes the Village should, on an informal basis, bring together strong community voices who can assist developers with their projects, and help communicate their ideas to the public. 

We spoke about eminent domain for a while, and generally speaking, Fehring is against the use of eminent domain except as a last resort, if a land owner was allowing a property to go unused for a protracted period of time, or when a single hold-out is preventing a desirable project from moving forward.  

As for the demolition of residences, or tear-downs, Fehring believes the historic preservation committee and architectural review boards have gotten the regulations "about right" although he noted that there remains opportunities to strengthen them.  While around 150 homes would qualify to be on the Village historic register, he believes that property owners should have rights to improve their buildings as they see fit, as long as it is not disproportionate to the neighborhood and has proper mass and scale and is sensitive to historic and architectural features.

As for my pet issue, night-time Trick or Treating, Fehring believes WFB should encourage the use of Neighborhood Associations, like Wauwatosa does.  Neighborhood Associations can do many communal events that bring the smaller areas together, including night-time Halloween celebrations.

Tom had a ton of things to say and I've tried my best to summarize our conversation.  I appreciate the time he took with me.  I will try to follow up with all the candidates later in the election cycle.

Well, it looks like I may have goaded at least one candidate into running for Whitefish Bay Village Trustee.

Thomas Fehring, 60, of N. Woodburn St., is the latest to file to run for the Whitefish Bay Village Board.

While I've never met Thomas per se, he's a faithful reader of this blog, and he's emailed me on a few topics I've written about. I will have an interview with him in the next week or so.

I'm very pleased we now have an actual race, three candidates for two spots on the Village Board.  Incumbent David Fee and newcomer Julie Siegel are also running.

At the moment, Katie Pritchard is expected to be the lone candidate for Board President.   

There is still time, however, for more candidates. 

While the filing date for nomination signatures is January 2nd, a candidate needs to file a form before asking for the 20 required signatures.  (Read this blog post for details.)  So let's say you've thought about it over Christmas, and decided to give of yourself to your fellow villagers.  Plenty of time.  If you make it to the Village Hall, file your candidacy papers this Friday .. get your 20-30 signatures over the long weekend, you're all set.   (And again, email me if you need signatures.   My wife and I will sign your form.  All you need is 18 more!)

I do want to take a moment and give some thoughts on the people who've served, or are thinking of serving.  Bless you.  Really, I mean it.  I've thought about running, and have spoken to others about having them run, too.  The #1 reason for not volunteering is not the hassle of a campaign, not the once monthly meetings.  It's the untold hours of your time that you would give up, the committee meetings, plus the certainty of villagers calling you at night, taking time away from your life, your hobbies, your work, your family.  All for $600/year?

It's amazing to think 25, 50 plus years ago, serious men (mostly) would strive to be leaders of their communities.  Now, our lifestyles are different.  Our children engage us in ways unthinkable decades ago, soccer, dance, hockey, etc.  We try to maximize our family time at all costs.   Stepping forward, volunteering to lead your community and its governmental needs falls far down the family priority list.

So I salute those who've held these positions, past, present, and future.   Thank you for your service.