Local

MIDDLETON–As daylight savings time begins on Nov. 1 the Middleton Fire District wants to remind residents to make another change that could save their lives–changing the batteries in their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

Communities nationwide witness tragic home fire deaths each year. Non-working smoke alarms rob residents of the protective benefits home fire safety devices were designed to provide. The most commonly cited cause of non-working smoke alarms: worn or missing batteries.

Changing smoke alarm batteries at least twice per year is one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce these tragic deaths and injuries. In fact, working smoke alarms nearly cut in half the risk of dying in a home fire. Additionally, the International Association of Fire Chiefs recommends replacing your smoke alarms every 10 years.

MIDDLETON–Abby Attoun, Director of Planning and Community Development for the City of Middleton is the 2020 recipient of the Jean B. Tyler Leader of the Future Award, presented by the Wisconsin Policy Forum. The award recognized a leader in city government under 40 years old.

City Administrator Mike Davis nominated Attoun for the award, which was announced last week. 

“He knows my work style and my workload better than anyone at the city, so being nominated by him makes this award even more gratifying,”said Attoun.

MIDDLETON–A mural declaring “Love Your Neighbor,” a take on Good Neighbor City, is currently being installed on the side of the Roman Candle Pizza at the southwest corner of Parmenter Street and University Avenue.

The mural is a joint project between the Middleton Arts Committee, Candle Holder LLC (the entity that owns the building), the Downtown Middleton Business Association and the Community Development Authority. The aim of the sign is to welcome visitors into town, while adding an element of art to the design.

The $5,000 project is being executed by OhYa! Studio Design and should be completed by the end of the week.

MIDDLETON–The City of Middleton has offered to hire an independent consultant to review aircraft noise at one location in the Town of Middleton and two locations in the city.

The offer came in an Oct. 14 response by City Administrator Mike Davis to the Aug. 20 joint meeting with the Common Council and the Towns of Middleton and Springfield in which the towns brought up airport and planning issues.

The town would get to choose the time and location of the noise monitoring in the town, and the city locations, Middleton Hills and downtown Middleton, would be monitored on the same day for a comparison, according to Davis’ letter.

On Friday, the city Planning Department asked residents to share their personal observations of aircraft 
“flight tracks” by Oct. 30 to help consultants Mead & Hunt develop aircraft noise contours to be included in an airport master plan being drafted.

MIDDLETON–Middleton Cross Plains Area School District (MCPASD) board members Bob Hesselbein and Minza Karim are at the center of a recall election petition based on their votes to keep the district in an all virtual learning model. The petition is being circulated by parents in the district calling themselves Parents for Change.

Hesselbein and Karim both said they stand by their decisions to vote for virtual classes. 

“I voted for virtual learning because I am seeing the science,” said Karim, whose husband is a physician at UW Hospital.

She said his number of shifts had increased as patients increase and reminded that the state just opened an Alternate Care Facility in West Allis to accommodate overflow. 

“It’s not the time to reopen,” she stated.

MIDDLETON–A group of Middleton Cross Plains Area School District (MCPASD) parents registered a committee to recall school board members Bob Hesselbein and Minza Karim on Oct. 8. Hesselbein and Karim are two of the five board members who voted to continue virtual learning at the board’s regular meeting on Sept. 28.

One of the group’s organizers, Angela Rachidi, said the committee has nearly 300 members, and 575 signatures as of the past weekend.

“We are distributing the recall petition signature sheets to this network and asking them to obtain signatures from qualified electors in their neighborhoods and networks. We also have a team of people in each school district area planning signature drives in public spaces. The response so far has been overwhelming,” she said.

She added that there are those involved with the committee that are willing to step up and run if the petition receives enough signatures.

MIDDLETON–Sen. Jon Erpenbach joined the Middleton Good Neighbor Hub virtual meeting on Oct. 2, and answered questions concerning the state’s COVID-19 response.

He told local community leaders that he understands the frustration Wisconsinites feel regarding response to the pandemic, particularly at the local and county level as county have been left to deal with the pandemic themselves due to lack of state guidance, or lawsuits rejecting safety measures put in place by Gov. Tony Evers.

The most recent suit was filed the same day as the Hub meeting, and stives to end the most recent statewide mask mandate put in place by Evers in September. Erpenbach said Republican legislators were successful in overturning the governor’s first order.

“It’s chaotic,” Erpenbach said of the legal actions.

MIDDLETON–This fall, nonprofit organizations are remembering the times “before COVID-19” with a bit of sadness. How they are able to serve and reach out to the community has changed dramatically since February, and while some are receiving the support they need from the community, others are struggling to make themselves known without large fundraisers and in-person events.

Sixty percent of nonprofits nationwide are expecting significant decreases in their ability to fundraise this year as a result of COVID-19, according to the Stanford Social Innovation Podcast recorded on July 15, entitled “The Current and Potential Impact of COVID-19 on Nonprofits.”

In the Times-Tribune reading area some nonprofits are struggling to scrape together the funds to keep running. Fundraising is critical to their efforts and requires community investment.

Middleton Outreach Ministry

MIDDLETON–Opponents of expanding Middleton Municipal Airport-Morey Field cautioned city planners not to use the updating of the Comprehensive Plan to facilitate changing the airport’s role as serving recreational pilots to encouraging commercial aviation.

The Airport Commission first reviewed the Transportation Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan at their September meeting. Last week, Abby Attoun, director of Planning and Community Development, sought feedback from the commission on the transportation chapter.

Protecting the airspace and approach corridors from future encroachment was mentioned by Commission Chair John Hallick and Airport Manager Richard Morey.

“We need a policy to protect airspace and approach corridors that goes beyond transmission lines,” said Hallick. “If we have powers that prevent penetration of our airspace we should use them.”

TOWN OF SPRINGFIELD–On Sept. 15, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi joined representatives from AQUA Innovations and GL Dairy Biogas LLC, along with three local dairy producers to cut the ribbon on cutting-edge technology that turns cow manure from area farms into drinkable water. This community nutrient concentration system (NCS) is believed to be the first in the United States and is part of Dane County’s ongoing effort to clean up area lakes and expand its renewable natural gas network among local farms.