In-person absentee voting starts Monday, July 20, 2020

Below is a preview of the ballot for the August 11, 2020 partisan primary. The winners in the primary will advance to the November 3, 2020 election.

Please note, you can only vote along party lines in this August 11, 2020 partisan primary.

Below is the second half of the ballot that will affect six voters in the City of West Bend.

A couple other bullet points to keep in mind:

– After filling in voter party at the top of the ballot (Democratic, Republican, or Constitution) then voters need to mark the candidate along party lines that they want to vote for in the individual races.

– Expected turnout in West Bend for the August 11, 2020 partisan primary is anticipated at 5,000 voters.

– In-person absentee voting begins in Washington County on Monday, July 20, 2020.

– On July 22, 2020 the Federal Court will rule on in-person absentee voting and whether it can start only two weeks before a primary. (Yes, the clerk understands the ruling will be issued after in-person absentee voting begins in West Bend/Washington County)

-Voters should bring their driver’s license or an official ID to the polls or City Hall if they are attempting to vote in-person absentee before the close of business Friday, August 7, 2020.

-The clerk’s office in West Bend will be from 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

-On Friday, August 7 hours will be extended until 5 p.m.

Executive Director of Miller Park District says Department of Revenue to request Miller Park Surplus be returned

On Friday, July 10 a story posted on WashingtonCountyInsider.com about how the “Wisconsin Department of Revenue overpaid the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District $4.3 million. The district executive director asked to return the money and the Department of Revenue told him not to.

Today, Sunday, July 12, 2020 the Executive Director of the Miller Park District, Mike Duckett, sent an email saying the situation has been resolved and money will be returned to the Department of Revenue and hopefully to taxpayers.

Mike Duckett <mduckett@millerparkdistrict.com>

Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2020 6:45 PM

To: Judy Steffes <judy@washingtoncountyinsider.com>

Subject: Miller Park District

Hi, Judy:

I noticed your recent article in the Washington County Insider regarding the Miller Park District and the “over payment” of $4.3 million to the District from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.

I received a telephone call from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue yesterday (Friday, July 9, 2020).  The Department has indicated that they “will be sending the District a letter asking that the District return the $4.3 million to the Department.”

The District will be pleased to comply with this request.  It sounds like the funds will subsequently be distributed to the five counties, as originally hoped and intended.

Thanks,    Michael R. Duckett, P.E.

Executive Director

Miller Park District

Miller Park

One Brewers Way

On Monday, July 13, 2020 we will check with the Department of Revenue and inquire about the surplus timeline and how it plans to distribute the money to the five counties, including Washington County, in the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District.

Calls have also been place to officials in Washington County as they were the ones who initially pushed to have the money returned.

See story below from July 10, 2020.

It was 1996 when taxpayers in Washington County joined Milwaukee County, Ozaukee, Waukesha, and Racine counties in paying 0.1% sales tax to the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District.

Miller Park statement

The sales tax would help pay for the construction of Miller Park. That five-county sales tax was promised to end in 2019 or 2020.

The Associated Press reported:

“After 23 years, the five-county sales tax that paid for construction of Miller Park in Milwaukee will end March 31, 2020. Members of the board that oversees the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District decided unanimously Tuesday to end the tax. Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill last November to end the tax by Aug. 31. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the tax has collected about $605 million.”

One note however, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the “Wisconsin Department of Revenue overpaid the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District $4.3 million. The district executive director asked to return the money and the Department of Revenue told him not to.

Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann issued the following statement:

Last fall, the legislature finally ensured the baseball district would end this tax in 2020. Act 28 was intended to ensure the Department of Revenue could properly sunset the tax.

Washington County taxpayers have waited too long for this tax to sunset and now Madison bureaucrats cannot figure out how to end the tax. Mike Duckett and the Park District Board are trying to do the right thing by returning the money to the taxpayers.

If the Department of Revenue cannot figure out how to properly return the money, first thing next session, legislators should introduce a bill which would require the overpayment returned to the taxpayers of the five counties in the most efficient way possible.

In 2017 the Miller Park District put out a question-and-answer statement:

How much sales tax is collected each year? In 2016, the District received $30 million in sales tax revenues.

What does the Miller Park sales tax cost each resident of the five-county District each year? In 2016, it is estimated that each resident of the five counties, on average, contributed approximately $11.

Mary Gumm is now banking on retirement

Mary Gumm is a familiar face at First Citizens Bank, formerly Guaranty Bank, in West Bend.

Pleasant, helpful, and now after more than 45 years in the industry Gumm is retiring.

“It was 1974 and I was a senior in high school when I started at the bank,” said Gumm.

Sitting behind her desk in her corner office, drive-thru traffic passing by her window, Gumm recalled the day her counselor, Orv Sommers, walked into homeroom. “He said does anybody need a job and I raised my hand and said I do and he said, ‘Come with me.’”

“I sat in his office and he said, ‘You need to be at Guaranty Bank right after school for an interview for a teller. Go home, get dressed up and go to the bank.’”

“I walked into the branch on S. Main Street and talked to Dave Ponath. He asked me a couple questions including when could I start and he told me to come back tomorrow, I would work 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

“We only had savings accounts at that time; we didn’t have checking,” said Gumm.

“My friends were flipping burgers at McDonald’s and I had this job and I loved it. I was making, I think $4 an hour. Originally I wanted to be a teacher but I loved working with numbers.”

Nine months later Gumm’s dream job came to an end. “Mr. Ponath called me into his office and said he was going to have to let me go because we were closing on Mondays and Thursdays,” said Gumm.

“I was heartbroken and I went into the back in the kitchen area and I was just crying,” she said. “I remember Nanci Rauch came and asked me why I was sobbing and I said I was being let go because there wasn’t enough work for me. She grabbed my hand and said, ‘You’re not leaving.’”

The two marched into the manager’s office and Rauch laid it on the line. “She said she wasn’t going to tell anybody she was pregnant but she told Dave and said she wasn’t going to come back and then he called me in and said, ‘Never mind; forget what I told you. As soon as you’re out of school you’re going to be full time.”

“To this day if it wasn’t for her… I wouldn’t be here,” Gumm said.

Through the years Gumm has worn just about every hat from teller to accounting to almost a manager while she was still in her teens.

“I remember when they moved me to the Richfield branch which was next to the hardware store on the east side of Highway 175 in the strip mall,” she said. “There used to be a pharmacy in back and now the Piggly Wiggly is there.”

“They wanted to make me a manager but I was only 19 years old and you had to be 21; so, I was a head teller,” she said.

Soon Gumm was back in the West Bend office. “I did the mortgage processing. It involved legal descriptions and I did it all on an electric typewriter. It was an IBM Selectric with the little ball and a bottle of whiteout at my side.” Gumm laughs at the memories.

From there Gumm operated out of a branch at Northridge in Milwaukee where she worked in the personal loan department. In 1984, following the birth of her second daughter, Gumm returned to West Bend.

The biggest change Gumm has seen over the years has been the focus on sales in banking.

Asked if she would miss it, Gumm said she would miss the interaction with the people.

While there have been a lot of changes within the building, Gumm said the past four decades have also brought a lot of change to S. Main Street as well.

“Kohls food store use to be on the corner by Decorah and there was a pharmacy. I think the two stores were connected at one time…,” she said. “Ben Franklin was here, the JC Penny, the sewing store and Alston’s; it was a women’s clothing store. They were located here in the West Bend Plaza strip mall and in Cedarburg.”

Gumm remembers the Sentry grocery across the street along with Kuhn’s Liquor in the Decorah Shopping Center and when the Greyhound Bus pulled in for pickup at George Webbs. “People always used to sit along that side of the building,” said Gumm pointing to the south side of Webbs. “There was also Toy World which is where Main Street Café is.”

Gumm also remembers when the bank was built. “When this place was being built, the Domino’s building to the south was Burger Hut and we went in there temporarily,” she said. “This was 1973 and I started in 1974.”

One of the memorable lessons Gumm learned in banking came from her dad. “He would take $100 from me each month and tuck it aside,” she said. “That is how I learned to save. He said, if you don’t have it you won’t spend it.”

Gumm will wrap up her career at the end of July. “It’s a good time because I have my health and I will be able to spend more time with my grandkids,” she said.

Update on Highway 60 construction from Jackson to 5 Corners in Cedarburg

It was April 20, 2020 when Highway 60 was closed from Eagle Drive (Piggly Wiggly) in Jackson to Highway 181 by 5 Corners in Cedarburg.

The extensive summer project included milling off the top two inches of roadway, and laying four new inches of pavement. The paved shoulder width will also be increased to six feet, and bypass lanes and right turn lanes at intersections will be added or extended as needed.

In addition to the resurfacing, the State will be reconstructing the intersection of STH 60 and CTH Y with a roundabout to address traffic safety concerns.

Kurt Flierl is the Construction Project Manager with the DOT.  He provided a brief update on the project.

Weather has had minimal impact on department contractor schedule.

Roundabout construction at the intersection of County Y is on schedule.

Contractor is nearing the halfway point of 90 calendar day requirement to reopen the intersection.

Intersection grading and curb and gutter construction at the remaining intersections will be complete by the end of July

Asphalt paving and pavement repairs began in June.  All lower layers of asphalt pavement with the exception of pavement at new roundabout construction, will be placed in July.   Asphalt pavement construction will then resume in mid-August as roundabout construction is completed.

Bridge deck replacement at WIS 60 over Cedar Creek is complete.  Department contractors will complete grading and guardrail installation at the bridge approaches in late July.

WIS 60 remains closed to through traffic, and the intersection of County Y will be closed through August.

The department appreciates the patience and assistance of local community in adhering to signed detour and local alternate routes as construction progress continues.

The entire stretch of road from Eagle Drive to Five Corners will be closed to through traffic during construction. A detour route is posted. Local and emergency access will be maintained throughout the project.

Questions should be directed to Kurt Flierl at WisDOT. His contact information can be found below. Kurt Flierl P.E., WisDOT Project Manager Phone: (414) 750-3085

Washington Co. Dist. 22 Supervisor resigns

There is an opening on the Washington County Board after Dist. 22 supervisor Rock Brandner resigned.

Brandner served on the Washington County Board since April 2016. He was reelected in April 2020 and represented the Germantown and Richfield areas.

Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis said, “I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked closely with Rock on the Public Safety Committee. His years of dedicated service to our community has made Washington County a better place for all.”

Washington County is now looking for applications from District 22 to fill the unexpired Board term ending April of 2022.  Interested candidates must reside in District 22, attend County Board meetings including regular meetings held on the second Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. and attend regular standing committee meetings.

The Washington County Board of Supervisors is vested with powers of local, legislative character to act upon matters of general government, public safety, transportation, health and human services, court services, land use, planning and the conservation of land resources as delegated to the counties of Wisconsin by State Legislature.

To apply:    Email applications to Don Kriefall, County Board Chairperson at don.kriefall@co.washington.wi.us Subject: District 22 Applicant – Last Name

Mail or drop off applications to P.O. Box 1986, 432 E. Washington Street, West Bend, WI 53095  Attn: Don Kriefall – District 22 Candidate

Applications may include a resume and statement of interest but at a minimum, must contain an address and brief biography.  The deadline for applications is Wednesday, July 22, 2020, at 4 p.m.

Water refill stations reopen at Kroger Pick ‘n Save stores in West Bend

If you haven’t stumbled upon this yet… the water refill stations are open again at the Kroger Pick ‘n Save stores in West Bend. The self-serve bottle refill machine was shut down in April/May because of Covid.

 

Memories of the old Fleet Farm in West Bend

The old Fleet Farm building, 1637 W. Washington Street, was constructed in 1961. The open-span warehouse was famous for its farm supplies, narrow aisles, and advertisement that read, “Not available in West Bend or Clintonville.”

After the old Fleet Farm closed Nov. 17, 2019 a contractor was brought in to liquidate the shelving, lighting, and fixtures. That’s when this walkthrough took place. Neighbors shared some of their memories.

Tammy Matter-Clyse Kinda heartbroken 💔

Remember picking out fishing poles n tackle to go fishing with my dad, dreaming over hunting schtuff, then got my first car….oooo! Had big, shiny dreams for that ’76 Cutlass! And when we got horses…..it was over with! Never, ever forget standing in the aisle and picking up the red n white lead rope for my first pony, Colonel ♥️♥️♥️

Thanks for being a trusted staple in the West Bend community. Thanks for the memories….there are many!

Rick Klamik Parking in the lot and seeing President Reagan’s motorcade go down the street. He had lunch at the Washington House and was coming from Hartford and a visit to the Broan factory

Yvonne Tackes Sitting in the lot outside for over an hour while they tried to find the cat food.

Brad Kuhn The “dated” bathroom 😝

Di M Man Sad! My dads 2nd home!

Kristin Altendorf They had the best malted milk balls. Strange I know but they were!

Dean Pok Loved the buckets catching water when it rained.

Sharon Brand Narrow aisles and the small-town feel

Cyndi Rieger-Peffer Best angel food, chocolate covered peanuts and licorice!

Julie Newhauser It will forever be the smell of the new rubber tires!

Jerry Bohmer Always liked the smell of the new tires lol

Lori Rieger The smell of tires.

Dan Kindler Not going to miss that store for a second

Jeff Watzig Crashing into other people’s carts in the narrow aisles!

Marge Breuer Kufahl A bigger store was needed but the new one’s location isn’t ideal and they don’t seem to have a lot of the expected items in stock.

Andrea Peterson Riding into town with Dad, stopping a Tri Par for gas and candy cigarettes then on to Fleet Farm and holding my breath in the stinky garden/lawn chemical aisles. Backing your cart all the way down an aisle or going 3 aisles over so you can get your cart near the checkout. Decades later shopping there for my kid’s Christmas present when the seasonal toy shop opened.

Laurie Wagner The smell when you first walked in!

Melissa Collett When I worked there a deer tried to run in the exit. 😳

Karen Wahlgren I worked with school supplies and we couldn’t get rid of yellow folders or tablets that year because the kids said you were different.

Dawn Bachman Bugalski Shannon Walsh Our second home growing up. The threat of having to go back to school shopping for clothes there still haunts me! 😂 😂 😂

Postponed 2019 Washington County property taxes due July 31, 2020 | By Jane Merten

The Washington County Treasurer would like to remind taxpayers that their postponed/second installment 2019 property taxes are due on or before July 31, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we strongly encourage you to mail your payment to the Washington County Treasurer.

If you are paying by check, please make sure that the numeric and written portions of the check are the same and that your check is signed otherwise the check will be returned, and this could result in interest and penalty charges, if postmarked after the due date. Postdated checks will not be held and will be returned to you. Checks should be made payable and mailed to the Washington County Treasurer, PO Box 1986, West Bend, Wisconsin, 53095. If you would like a receipt, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the County Treasurer strongly encourages you to mail your property tax payment. Please do not wait until the last week of July. Mailing your payment early helps make sure the USPS postmark is timely and provides greater opportunity to correct errors before the due date deadline. “The cost of missing the July 31 deadline is severe. Under state law, interest and penalty charges are 1.5% per month back to February 1, (10.5% in August 2020) and continue to accrue until the taxes are paid in full. It is imperative to pay property taxes on time to avoid delinquent charges.”

You can also pay your property taxes online using a credit card or electronic check through Point & Pay. Please be advised that Point & Pay will charge you a convenience fee of 2.39% of the amount that you put on your credit/debit card or $1.50 for an electronic check. Please visit our website at www.co.washington.wi.us, click on Departments, then County Treasurer, and Pay Real Estate Taxes Online. You will need your tax parcel number as well as the amount due.

I you have any questions, please contact the Washington County Treasurer’s office at 262.335.4324.