Selected Presidents Letter
President's Letter December, 2010 YEAR END REPORT
Dec 10, 2010
PDF Version: 2010-Dec-10-President's Letter December, 2010 YEAR END REPORT.pdf

President's Letter
December, 2010
YEAR END REPORT
Nadine S.Walsten
With the benefit of Skype (a video call from the computer, allowing you to
see and speak to your caller), my Belgian granddaughters, Eva and Sara,
showed me their new Christmas dresses “from Gramma”. They will be
arriving 12/27 so Christmas will be late at our house but no less caloric! I
remember few presents from my childhood, but when I bring out the old
recipes, I remember the food, the smells; and hanging the Swedish straw
wreaths symbolizes our family heritage. Lefse, Swedish potato sausage,
Spritz Christmas cookies, sweet/sour red cabbage, and, of course, the sweet
potato, pineapple, marshmallow casserole, are required dishes. “Making a
memory” is what Christmas is really all about and it’s what makes this
Season rich instead of what money can buy.
If you’ve gotten your tax bill, you will see the Board (as well as other taxing
agencies listed), held their tax increases to a minimum and, for the Village,
cutting out everything that isn’t essential plus delaying expenditures we
can’t avoid, until next year (i.e. not saving for future large purchases, etc.)
was done. We froze wages and benefits for our employees, cut out
fireworks, bluegrass festival, some recreation programs and cancelled any
additional public works projects that would require additional loans. The
mill rate for the Village is $7.49/$1,000 of assessed value. One caveat: If
we have an opportunity to advance our economic development plans, i.e.
land for business expansion, for example, we cannot let this slip by;
however, most likely this would be in partnership with a developer or
purchased with phased-in conditions. The sewer rates continue to be a
hardship, but for now, we do not see any increases beyond the proposed
implemented last year. Hope the economy picks up so we have new
commercial or residential construction.
Here is a partial list of what has been accomplished in 2010 by the Board, its
committees and departments:
The Police Department, under Chief Harry Barger has almost tripled
service calls and department activities and has increased coordination with
law enforcement agencies over both counties. With the Safety Committee,
BPD has approved new policies and revised law enforcement ordinances.
Wade Engelhart was hired as a permanent part-time officer (24 hours/week)

Archive

• Dec 10, 2010 President's Letter December, 2010 YEAR END REPORT
• Nov 13, 2010 President's Letter
• Oct 12, 2010 President's Letter
• Sep 08, 2010 President's Letter
• Aug 11, 2010 President's Letter
• Jul 20, 2010 President's Letter
• Jun 14, 2010 President's Letter
• May 12, 2010 President's Letter
• Apr 07, 2010 President's Letter
• Mar 11, 2010 President's Letter
• Feb 10, 2010 President's Letter
• Jan 12, 2010 President's Letter

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