Topics for this Post
- Election on Tuesday
- City Council work session
Election on Tuesday
We’re coming up on an important election in the state. You’ve probably seen plenty of ads about the Wisconsin Supreme Court and state superintendent, but don’t forget about our local elections.
City Council
I’ve linked the campaign pages if they exist. You can watch the candidate forum, or read candidate Q&A at Harold Times Reporter, and N.E.W. Conservatives.
- Andre Robitaille – website – Facebook – Ballotpedia
- Tim “Peach” Petri
- Jeff Dahlke
- Scott Stechmesser – Facebook
- Bill LeClair
Two Rivers School Board
I’ve linked the campaign pages if they exist. You can read candidate Q&A at Harold Times Reporter, and N.E.W. Conservatives.
- Lori Zimney
- Katherine Dahlke – Facebook
- Gary D Shavlik
- Jennifer Henrickson
- Tim Klinkner
Bullet Voting
You don’t have to vote for three candidates for city council.
It’s called “bullet voting,” and it’s a way to make your vote stronger for the candidate you like and not help candidates you aren’t sure of. Instead of using all three votes, you can just vote for the one or two candidates you really want to win.
Take a look at the two images below. In the first one, you’ll see voters spreading their three votes across both the challengers and incumbents, and it ends up electing the three incumbents again.
In the second image you see bullet voting in action, where the challengers win. It’s the same number of voters in both images. I had these images from a more personal version I made, but yesterday when I was knocking doors I was speaking to a friend of Tim Petri, and explained they could only vote for him and make their vote stronger.
Prioritizing City Leaders’ Work
Something I say often is: If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. It’s time for a sense of urgency.
We have a state-mandated Comprehensive Plan, updated every decade, that should be guiding our every move. City leaders should be using it as a litmus test:
- Aligned to the Comprehensive Plan? Let’s do it.
- Against the Comprehensive Plan? Don’t do it.
- Neither? Then why are we spending time on it?
There’s also a long list of Strategic Goals & Objectives reviewed annually. It’s an exhaustive list of things that often aren’t aligned with the Comprehensive Plan. We need to focus on what matters most.
As you read through this week’s city council agenda, ask yourself these questions:
- Does it bring in new businesses and jobs?
- Does it provide more housing options that people can afford?
- Is it a responsible use of taxpayer money?
- Does it improve the quality of life for residents?
- Is it maintaining or improving city services and infrastructure?
- Does it align with the city’s long-term goals?
City Council Work Session – Mar 31, 2025
Resolution designating “International Migratory Bird Day”
Another example of the Environmental Advisory Board getting distracted from actual environmental issues in the city.
- Comprehensive Plan? No.
- Strategic Goals? No.
Extension for Pop-Start Restaurant Group (pizza) improvement grant
I’ll leave aside the question of whether the city should be providing grants and loans to businesses that don’t provide full-time jobs to residents. That said, the property owners are actively working on renovating the property, and this is helping get a business into a vacant building on a main street in the city.
- Comprehensive Plan? Yes.
- Strategic Goals? No.
Removing city licensing requirement for massage businesses
My wild guess is that Awakened Lakeshore pushed for this. The original laws are clearly meant to prevent prostitution, so hopefully this amendment only removes the city licensing and not the other laws about massage therapists and businesses.
This clearly isn’t affecting our ability to attract new businesses or tourists. So why are we wasting time on this, other than there is an influential local asking for it?
- Comprehensive Plan? No.
- Strategic Goals? No.
Changes to “Trees and Shrubs” ordinance
I don’t know what this is, but I doubt it’s high priority, so hopefully it’s a very quick discussion.
- Comprehensive Plan? No.
- Strategic Goals? No.
Changes to Short-Term Rental ordinance
The council has been watering down regulations meant to protect residents’ quality of life. Stronger regulations could also help address the housing shortage.
- Comprehensive Plan? Yes.
- Strategic Goals? Yes.
Budget amendments (public works facility?)
This might be related to overdue maintenance. More information is needed, but it’s likely justified.
- Comprehensive Plan? Yes.
- Strategic Goals? Yes.
Parameters for redevelopment of former Eggers downtown site
This is probably related to the current status of West River Lofts, which back in November seemed that they were backing out.
- Comprehensive Plan? Yes.
- Strategic Goals? Yes.
Meeting Agenda Packet
You can read the full packet that council members get here:
https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/tworivrswi-pubu/MEET-Packet-35fcfa8002254b1199b874769acee010.pdf
