Tuesday 11/13/18
13 November 2018 News
Ripon Common Council Preview
The Ripon Common Council will hold a public hearing for the 2019 City Budget tonight. The $5.2 million budget includes a $2.2 million tax levy an increase of 4.9 percent. That will increase the City’s portion of the tax rate to $8.21 an increase of just over 3 percent from this past year. After the hearing the Council will adopt the 2019 City Budget and tax levy. The hearing will be held at 6:30 at the City Hall. During their regular 7 o’clock meeting the Council will discuss doing a benefit package study for use during the 2020 budget process. It will allow the Council to see how the City compares with what other municipalities, the county and state are offering their employees. The Council will also discuss whether the City should join Lakeside Municipal Court rather than having the County handle traffic tickets and municipal ordinance violations.
Public Hearing Scheduled On Kimberly Clark Incentive Bill
The state Senate Wednesday morning will hold a public hearing in Madison on a bill that would give tax credits to Kimberly Clark to keep a Neenah facility open. The hearing will be in room 412 East of the State Capitol Building. The bill could give the company tax credits that could keep 500 people from being laid off. The company has plans to close the plant, but agreed to hear what the state has to say about the incentive package. The Assembly previously passed an incentive bill. The hearing Wednesday is before the Joint Finance Committee. A vote isn’t expected until after Thanksgiving.
Credit Card Skimming Suspects Continue Their Way Through FDL County Court
A plea hearing is scheduled for January 18th for a 26-year-old Anaheim, California man, one of two Romanian immigrants, suspected of forging and cloning 137 credit cards in Fond du Lac this past June. Mihai-Alexandru Preda was in Fond du Lac County court for a hearing last Friday. Thirty-six-year-old Catalin-Adrian Capanu is the co-defendant. He is back in court for a scheduling conference on December 21st. This past June Fond du Lac Police found 137 credit cards and $7,500 cash in their vehicle at the Marine Credit Union after responding to a call about suspicious activity at the credit union’s ATM. According to the criminal complaint Preda told investigators he and Capanu had come to Fond du Lac in a rental car and found the cards in the car. Later the two said a woman was in charge of the operation.
FDL County Sales Tax
The second of four public meetings about Fond du Lac County’s half-percent sales tax will be held in Waupun at Waupun City Hall tomorrow night at 6 pm. The County wants the public to weigh-in on whether it should be extended beyond its December 2021 sunset date. County Highway Commissioner Tom Janke says it’s benefited his department providing about $3 million in funding each year they don’t have to borrow for road projects. He says one of those projects last year was in the Ripon area. “Highway KK out in the Ripon area that we did last year that was a large improvement very necessary to keep out with those types of things.” Another meeting about the sales tax is scheduled at the Ripon City Hall on Wednesday, December 5th also at 6 pm. Another meeting will be scheduled in Fond du Lac.
Social Distancing During The Flu Season
Warding off the flu or not spreading it may require distancing yourself from others. Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says they preached social distancing during the last flu season and due to a certain extent each flu season. “I remember last year the influenza season go so bad that we actually talked about social distancing.” She says if you’re sick don’t go to work, if your kids are sick keep them home from school. She says if you know someone is sick don’t hang out with them. Beyond that she recommends getting a flu shot and washing your hands frequently. This year’s flu shots provide protection from four different strains of the flu.
Ripon Area United Way Campaign
The president of the Ripon Area United Way Board of Directors says the funding they provide to agencies isn’t meant to fund their entire programs. Jeff Puhlmann-Becker says they provide the funding for specific programs. “At Diverse Options we are providing funding toward a program where individuals in their program they can choose to take experiences in the community.” He says Diverse Options for instance may take people to a Brewer’s game or a picnic. He says at the Thrift Store they fund part of a program where children in need are given Christmas gifts. All told the Ripon Area United Way provides funding to 21 agencies that provide services in the community. The goal for the fall campaign is to raise $90,000 or more.
Pet Adoption For The Holidays
The manager of the Green Lake Area Animal Shelter says if you’re going to get a pet for your kid for Christmas like a cat or dog you’re better off getting it through a shelter. Janine Rubeck says in the more than 22 years she’s been involved in animal shelters she can only think of one time a puppy was returned. She says shelters no longer prohibit adoptions of animals as gifts during the holidays. “We as an industry have kind of come around to the idea that if people are going to get a pet why not get it from us. As far as we’re concerned as a shelter we’re going to screen that adoption pretty much the same way we screen every adoption.”Rubeck says it is a good idea to actually have the child you are getting the pet for to come in and select it themselves. She says shelter animals will have had all their shots, are spayed or neutered, and are looking for a good home.
LIFE FDL Reveal
Details on measuring the community’s health will be revealed during a breakfast in Fond du Lac Wednesday morning. The collaborative project is known as L.I.F.E. Fond du Lac County. L.I.F.E. is an acronym for Leading Indicators For Excellence. The breakfast is from 7 to 8:30 am at St. Agnes Hospital’s Plaza Level Conference Center. Panelists for the event will include Greg Giles of the Fond du Lac YMCA, Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller, Scott Powell of Envision Fond du Lac, and North Fond du Lac School District Superintendent Aaron Sadoff.
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