Thursday News 2/21/19
21 February 2019 News
New FDL County Highway Garage Will Serve Several Departments’ Needs
Fond du Lac County’s new Highway Department garage in Fond du Lac will serve several county departments. The main facility at Hickory and Highway 151 will be for storage of Highway Department vehicles and to house the department offices. But it will also have cold storage for the Sheriff’s Department. County Executive Al Buechel says the current Sheriff’s impound for vehicles isn’t secure enough. “And unfortunately it is not very secure. People crawl over the fence and steal equipment out of the cars. Also it degrades evidence in some of the criminal cases if a car was used. The really need it indoors or it could end up costing a guilty verdict in a case because of the degrading evidence.” It will also house Senior Service vehicles, have a shooting range for law enforcement officials from throughout the county, and have a salt shed for the Highway Department. Buechel feels the facility should be completed by Thanksgiving.
Hintz On Corrections Secretary Designee
State Assembly Democratic Leader Gordon Hintz is pleased with the way the state’s Department of Corrections Secretary designee is addressing staffing shortages at state prisons. During his confirmation hearing Wednesday Kevin Carr talked about the pay discrepancy between what Wisconsin pays corrections officers and what other states in the region pay. Carr said Governor Evers would be addressing the issue in the state budget he will introduce next week. Hintz says, “The fact is, if we want to recruit and retain corrections officers in Wisconsin, we need a pay progression policy.”
Budget Adjusted For Dodge County Sheriff’s Office Shortfall
The Dodge County Board approved a resolution this week that takes money from the county’s general fund to cover a half-a-million dollar short fall in the Sheriff’s Office budget for 2018. The board’s decision last year to close the old jail eliminated revenue from housing federal inmates. Supervisors cite an over-estimate of the revenue, workers compensation miscalculations, overtime expenses, and underfunded grant matches as other contributors to the shortfall.
Conagra Expanding Beaver Dam Facility
Beaver Dam’s Conagra plans to invest $78 million in modernizing its cold storage and vegetable packaging facility. That move is expected to create 140 full-time jobs over the next five years. The current 350,000-square-foot facility is located on Green Valley Road. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation announced the expansion, which will benefit from $750,000 in state income tax credits over the next five years. That amount could be vary depending on the number of jobs Conagra Brands creates and the amount of money it invests in the facility during that time.
Oshkosh Mayor’s Race Set
The Mayor’s race in Oshkosh was reduced to two candidates during Tuesday’s primary election. Incumbent Steve Cummings will face challenger Lori Palmeri in the April election. During Tuesday’s voting Cummings received 40 percent of the vote or 897 votes, Palmeri got 39 percent or 890 votes. Nate Stiefvater was eliminated from the race getting 21 percent of vote or 479 votes. The spring election is on April 2nd.
Shadowing The Wisconsin Herd
The Marketing/Digital Director for the Wisconsin Herd at the Menominee Nation Arena in Oshkosh says teens from the Boys and Girls Club of the Tri-County Area in Berlin will get a look at what their department does Friday. “We have invited the teens from the Teen Center of the Boys and Girls Club of the Tri-County Area to come on out and join us. They are going to be able to mentor and job shadow with some of our staff so we’re going to have about a dozen kids hopefully coming out.” Scott Jensen says they will be able watch the game and job shadow during the first half of the game and get a good taste of what it is looks like to run and be a part of the sports entertainment industry and see if it something they would like for a career. Jensen says they look forward to these types of partnerships and opportunities with the community.
Oshkosh School Make Up Days Announced
The Oshkosh Area School District will not be using March 13th and April 10th as early release days instead making them full days to make up for time lost to snow days this winter. The elementary and middle schools had time built in to absorb additional days, but beginning March 1st Oshkosh high schools will run 13 minutes longer each day until 3:46 in the afternoon. The school board approved the plan during a special meeting Monday.
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