Topics for this post:
- City Council election & a threatening letter
- Plan Commission meeting tonight – Taco Bell
- Advisory Rec Board recap – paid parking at Neshotah
- City Council meeting – room tax refund, Unimart property, new apartments, and a new industrial business
Intro
We’ve stirred things up lately, so I’m breaking protocol a bit in this recap to talk about my campaign for city council. The reaction from a few people in town has been telling, and I think it’s worth sharing with all of you.
Otherwise, this will be a lighter update. There wasn’t much happening in city council last week, and this upcoming week is shaping up to be quiet too. If you’re not interested in the campaign updates, feel free to skip to the end.
Campaign Updates
Ballot Order
Friday was the ballot order drawing for the April 1st election. I was there with Mr. Stechmesser to watch city officials pull the names, and here’s how it played out:
- Andre Robitaille
- Tim Peach Petri
- Jeff Dahlke
- Scott Stechmesser
- Bill LeClair
Threatening Letter
This week, I received my first threatening letter. It’s mostly nonsense – uninformed and wrong. I have a pretty good idea who wrote it, and I’ve got the website logs with their IP address in case they keep pushing this. Here’s the backstory:
Since I started mapping out how people are connected, the “in-crowd” has been watching my posts in the Two Rivers Matters group closely. I’d already heard from a few sources about the backroom phone calls about me, and this letter pretty much confirms they don’t want you all to know what’s going on.
It’s pathetic behavior, honestly. I’ve never seen anything like this, even in the small up-north towns I grew up in. I’ve attached the letter at the bottom if you want to see it for yourself.
The letter is full of lies and irrelevant ramblings, but here’s what they got right:
- Susan Snow (Facebook account) is my wife. We’ve never hidden that.
- We are suing the former owner of our home for something illegal they did during the sale.
- There are two Airbnbs and a vacation home on our block.
That’s it. The rest is garbage.
But it didn’t stop there. The letter kicked off a few Facebook posts and even a new Facebook group aimed at attacking my campaign. It’s the same lies and bullying, and while the group only has 13 members, those members include some local business owners:
- Mark Gordon, a realtor at Weichert Realtors
- Removed – business owner redacted their support of the abusive group
- Nathan Klein, owner of Hardware Hank
Why the Letter Matters
For me personally, it doesn’t. But this kind of behavior is designed to intimidate and silence anyone who wants to run for office, sit on a board, or even speak up at city council meetings. It’s bullying, plain and simple.
I have a vision for Two Rivers, a city where residents and the community are the top priority. But I can’t do this alone. If we’re going to take this city back from the people who just want us to shut up, you’re going to have to do a small part to help.
This kind of behavior won’t stop until residents call it out. If you’re as disgusted by this as I am, let these business owners know. Call them, text them, and tell them this kind of trashy behavior has no place in our community. Don’t wait for someone else to make that call.
Plan Commission Meeting – Jan 13 @5:30
Taco Bell
Pacific Bells LLC is applying to tear down the old Family Video building and replace it with a Taco Bell. The plans show a drive-thru entrance on 18th Street and an exit onto Washington Street.
Adam Wachowski is the city council member on that commission if you wanted to voice your comments about it. The meeting is Monday, January 13th at 5:30 pm. There is no public comment at those meetings, but like with any city meeting you can sit and observe.
Recap – Advisory Recreation Board (ARB) – Jan 8
The ARB discussed the possibility of paid parking at Neshotah Park/Beach for tourists. Details are limited in the presentation, starting on page 12 but it’s worth glancing at. There will be a presentation from a company that could assist in the solution probably in March.
The presentation deck also outlines the department’s goals for the year, starting on page 5. I’ve said many times before, while I think the Parks department might be a bit too large, Mr. Mathis runs it really well. You can get a feel for that by seeing what the goals are. I’m not sure why the front desk needs to collect race/ethnicity data, but I’d like to know. Grant money maybe.
Advisory Recreation Board Meeting Minutes January 8 2025
Recap – City Council Meeting – Jan 6
It was another city council meeting plagued by the usual administrative headaches:
- Microphone Issues: Some council members still can’t manage to speak into their microphones, making the video stream nearly useless. You’d think they’d have figured this out by now.
- Struggling with Motions: Only Mr. Bittner and Mr. Wachowski seem to know how to make a proper motion. For everyone else, Mr. Stechmesser had to step in, either suggesting the motion he expected or guiding them until they could finally say, “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”
City Manager Report
Looks like they’ve started to put all the City Manager reports in an easy to find place:
https://www.two-rivers.org/manager/page/2025-city-managers-reports
Interesting points:
- Page 2, goal is to fill the city manager position by July.
- Page 9, Sandy Bay Highlands phase 3 water and sewer is installed. Gravel road is drivable.
- Page 10, photos and info about the apartments and Rush Logistics described below.
Apartments at 3000 Forest Ave.
Wrote about this in I covered this in the post about the January 6th Council Meeting. No one spoke during the public comment period.
The site plans were approved unanimously, though the TIF grant wasn’t ready for this meeting. Expect it to come up in a future meeting.
Rush Logistics
The same-day delivery carrier, Rush Logistics, has purchased property in the Woodland Industrial Park to build a facility, moving away from leased space in Manitowoc.
Contract Amendment Update for 2023 Washington St (UniMart)
I covered this in detail in the January 6th Council Meeting post.
At the meeting, Mr. Wachowski questioned whether we should refund $750 to Wine Not LLC for developing their proposal, arguing that the expense occurred before they entered an agreement with the city. He also noted that we aren’t refunding the other developer’s proposal costs. Mr. Brandt disagreed, insisting we should refund the full amount since it represents Wine Not LLC’s total loss in their attempt to develop the property.
There were also some good points made by Mr. Petri about why taking the property back wouldn’t be a good idea (similar to what I’ve written previously), and others noted the need for more detailed invoices from Wine Not LLC, including dates.
In the end, the item was approved unanimously, with a few conditions based on the discussion.
Room Tax Refund for Baeten Lakeshore Properties
I covered this in more detail in the December 23rd Council Meeting post. After what felt like an endless discussion, the city council voted unanimously to refund the $31,000 overpayment to Baeten Lakeshore Properties. Honestly, the discussion isn’t worth rehashing here.
What’s worth noting is that, because the overpayment occurred over multiple years, the city can legally refund the amount entirely from the room tax fund. This is good news since it avoids impacting the general fund or pushing the city budget over.
Packet and Video from January 6th
Agenda Packet:
https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/tworivrswi-pubu/MEET-Packet-6cd062b0cb8a4008acd1bd7fdd10d9fa.pdf
Video of the meeting can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58aRPHLU_x8
