By: Mayor Claude Lois
Several years ago, I began my public service as an
alderman and later as your mayor. During my term of
service, I am proud to have participated in the
re-shaping of our community and the redevelopment of
our downtown, commercial, manufacturing and
residential neighborhoods.
Having served as your mayor during the past seven
years and as an alderman for six years prior, I look
forward to passing on the torch of leadership to a
new mayor in 2008 as this will be my last year in
office. During my final year in office, I look
forward to continuing my work with our local
veterans as they work to update their 40-year old
facility and provide a gathering place for the
community. I also look forward to continuing my work
on behalf of the economic development of our City,
and to continue to keep communication open with
Aurora and the Burlington Memorial Hospital as they
look to their future in Burlington.
Looking back, we have accomplished much, in a very
short period of time. We have greatly improved our
downtown transportation system by building a new
Bridge Street and railroad overpass, building the
State Street Bridge over the Fox River, improving
the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Bridge
Street, by Adrian's and Echo Park, reconstructing
North Pine Street, and by converting our one-way
streets back to a two-way traffic system.
Together, we have filled the Burlington Industrial
Park. We have brought growing local businesses into
the new manufacturing and office park and we have
worked with several major local industries to
improve and upgrade their facilities to make or keep
their operations within our community. We have
worked to create an environment where our local,
downtown properties have upgraded their looks and
filled vacant spaces with new business and job
opportunities. We have improved our riverfront by
installing new pedestrian walkways and encouraging
the development of new restaurants and businesses as
well as the development of over 160 residential
units along the Fox River.
In an era of State mandates, local governments are
required by the Legislature to provide new services
while dealing with reductions in State collected
local revenues, we have successfully provided local
government services while keeping property taxes
low. We have provided improved local services. We
have improved and upgraded local streets, sanitary
sewer services, eliminated lead service lines,
installed and replaced sidewalks throughout our
City, improved our local parks, upgraded the
riverfronts, improved the downtown traffic system,
and with the help of our State Legislators, Senator
Herb Kohl and Congressman Paul Ryan, obtained grants
to bring down the cost of these local improvements.
During the past seven years we have seen the City's
retail environment move into the 21st century. We
have helped our local retailers upgrade their
facilities, and we have brought new residential
housing opportunities to Burlington without any
significant increase to our local property taxes.
Thank you all, City Council members, staff members,
committee members and supporters for your dedicated
efforts to accomplish so much in so little time.
Together we have worked hard to achieve success.
Together, we have improved Burlington. Future
generations WILL continue to benefit by our efforts.
As your mayor, during this time of upgrading,
updating and improvement, I thank you all on behalf
of this City for your dedicated time, experience and
knowledge. I would like to take this opportunity to
extend my personal sincere thanks to all of you. For
the remainder of my term, I call for you to rise to
the challenges we face, to continue our endeavors,
our dreams, to make Burlington the best that we can
for our children, and all children in the future. I
ask that you all move forward and work as a part of
our team to pursue OUR strategic plan and make these
improvements to our community's future a reality.
Sincerely,
Mayor Claude Lois
By: Connie Wilson, Utility Manager
On May 1st, the City Council will
hold a public hearing to consider new laws to
protect our municipal water supply from
contamination. Because these new laws directly
affect residential, commercial, business and farm
properties, a public hearing notice was mailed to
approximately 1100 local property owners. Since
contamination principally comes from concentrations
of hazardous materials the real impact on private
property owners is probably minimal, so the impact
from these new laws will not noticeably affect most
property owners within the wellhead protection
zones.
Southeastern Wisconsin is
rapidly developing, and with that development comes
increasing demands for water supply. The issues
facing local communities are numerous. Declining
water levels and increasing water salinity in the
deep sandstone aquifer may reduce a once plentiful
resource to only a shadow of what it was.
In response to the emerging problems with the
sandstone aquifer, our community is in the process
of adopting a wellhead protection plan, which is a
means of protecting your drinking water supply.
There are two reasons for developing the plan, one
is to create a safeguard plan for the City of
Burlington's public drinking water supply and the
second is to meet the State of Wisconsin's DNR
requirement.
The steps in developing
the plan are:
Phase I, to define the area to be protected
and managed for wellhead protection. This is the
subsurface are surrounding a well that supplies a
public water system through which contaminants are
likely to move through and reach the well. The
boundaries are scientifically calculated.
Phase II is to create a contaminant source
inventory with the purpose to identify potential
sources of contamination which may impact the public
water supply well.
Phase III of the plan is through zoning and
land use management. The City will incorporate
essential elements of its wellhead protection plan
into its zoning ordinances and land use planning.
Residents and businesses within the wellhead
protection area will be notified by mail and
informed of the importance of preventing the release
of pollutants within the areas. A copy of the
Wellhead Protection Plan will be made available to
the public at City Hall and the Burlington Public
Library. A map locating the areas that will become
part of the Wellhead Protection Overlay District is
available on the City website at
www.burlington-wi.gov.
By: Connie Wilson, Utility Manager
 |
The Farmers
Market will be available again this year
at the Echo Park parking lot on
Saturdays from May 5th through November
24th. Hours for the Farmers Market are
set for 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. There
will be no Farmers Market on May 26th
(Memorial Day Weekend) due to the
Jaycees Club annual boat races. |
It is our
hope that many vendors will take advantage of the
opportunity to sell their homegrown goods and
products. Crafters are also encouraged to display
their talents. If you are interested in being a
vendor, please contact Bev Gill, City Clerk at City
Hall at 262-342-1161 to obtain permit information.
Please be sure to visit the
Farmers Market on Saturdays to support our local
producers!
|
VETERAN'S MEMORIAL DAY PARADE |
By: David Walsh, Chief of Police
As always, ChocolateFest is proud to join forces
with our local Veteran's in remembrance of our
military heroes past and present and will hold the
Veteran's Memorial Day Parade Monday, May 28, 2007.
The pre-parade will kick off at 8:30 a.m. and the
parade will start at 9:00 a.m. It will have a
starting point at Kane Street and Wainwright Avenue.
The parade will go north on Kane Street to Milwaukee
Avenue. Turn right on Milwaukee Avenue and continue
on Milwaukee Avenue to the Veterans Memorial in Echo
Park. Following the parade will be the annual
Memorial Day Service held in Echo Park at 10:30 a.m.
with all parade attendees encouraged to attend.
Please note that the parade route will not proceed
through the Loop, or down Pine Street.
Traffic will be detoured around the parade using
Highway W (Browns Lake Road). All detours will be
signed. Vehicles will still be allowed south of
Highway W on STH 36 for access to area business.
They will not be allowed south of Grove Street
during the parade. STH 11 east and west will be
detoured along city streets, please follow signage.
If you have any questions about the parade or
detours please call Lieutenant Scot Eisenhauer (262)
342-1103.
By: Gayle Falk, Library Director and
Ruhama Kordatzky Bahr, Youth Services Librarian
Adult Book Discussion Group
will meet on Monday, May 21st at 7:00 p.m. for a
discussion of the classic novel, LITTLE WOMEN, by
Louisa May Alcott. All ages are welcome. This novel
will be followed in June by MARCH, by Geraldine
Brooks, who based her civil war novel on the
experiences of Mr. March, father of the LITTLE
WOMEN.
The library has joined the social
network at myspace.com! Come check out our site at
http://www.myspace.com/burlingtonwipubliclibrary.
There you can view our calendar of events, see some
pictures (with the latest flash player installed)
and become one of our friends.
Family Evening Storytime
We're celebrating mothers this month. Come Thursday,
May 17 at 6:30 to hear some stories, do a craft and
step back in time to see what mothers have always
meant to us. Registration is not required. For all
ages.
"Isn't the library just wonderful?"
the first asked, her innocent eyes beaming up at me.
"You can learn absolutely anything here!" Kiki
Strike, pg 158.
