The Mayor Announces
So “Tis the Season” and all that sort of jazz. Holidays, family, bowl games, NBA basketball, new video games, and apparently local politics. We are thrilled to be a part of this sort of thing, and by no means are we taking sides (yet). But we have this release that we got from Mayor Tipple’s people (and by people we mean email) so I am just going to cut and paste it up here in all its glory:
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: 10 a.m., Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple announces re-election bid
Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple has announced that he will run for re-election to another four-year term in the 2008 Spring election.
Reflecting back on his first term, Tipple said it’s been a challenging experience to lead the city and he’s looking forward to continuing the positive momentum as Wausau grows and improves. Continuing to streamline city operations, controlling property taxes and expanding inter-governmental cooperation will remain the top priorities in a new term, the mayor said.
“We’ve frozen the debt levy and reduced the number of employees on the city payroll, while continuing to maintain a high level of service,” said Tipple. “I’m pleased that we were able to work with the Village of Weston to save hundreds of thousands of dollars for taxpayers by cooperating in the emergency services area. The economic development agreement between various communities in Marathon County was also a big step in the right direction,” he added. “We also partnered with the Wausau School District to improve safety and create a more attractive environment at Franklin School.”
Turning to economic growth, the mayor said Wausau stands out is a shining example for communities throughout the state of how to do things right in an environment of levy limits and property tax rate caps.
“Our city’s tax base continues to grow at a healthy pace,” said the mayor. “We were able to add $117 million in net new construction in 2007 and with what we already have underway, I’m confident that we will be able to turn in some significant numbers again next year,” said Tipple. “And that $117 million figure doesn’t even include the Dudley Building, the Eye Clinic of Wisconsin, the Palladian in the downtown or West side projects including Wausau Window & Wall, the Samuels Building and many other projects that will be showing up as new construction additions for the 2009 and the 2010 budgets,” he added.
“By continuing our aggressive and successful approach to economic development, we’re helping to provide more jobs and controlling property taxes without reducing services,” Tipple said. “We’re also doing it in a fiscally responsible way in which we are able to add greater value for the investment on the public side. By maintaining an attractive environment for investment in the city, many improvements occur without any public participation at all, while others take the form of public-private partnerships in which everyone wins.”
Looking ahead at development plans in the city, Tipple pointed to the master plan for the North Third Street area, where work is already underway along Bridge Street and a new “Near West Side” master plan scheduled to be unveiled next week, along with others. The county has been involved in an extensive planning process encompassing the area surrounding Marathon Park and the University of Wisconsin – Marathon County. The plan from Central Wausau Progress and the Main Street program will deal with the area from the Wisconsin River to Third Avenue and from Stewart Avenue to Elm Street.
Page 2 of 2 – Wausau Mayor Tipple Announces Re-Election Bid
Citing the county, Central Wausau Progress, Main Street, Wausau Area Events, MCDEVCO the Chamber and others, Tipple said the city appreciates the broad level of participation in improving the community because good ideas don’t just come from city hall. Mayor Tipple cited continued citizen-driven initiatives like Neighbor-to-Neighbor and the recently introduced sustainability effort as examples of improving the community in ways that are significant, but don’t involve large investments of property tax dollars.
“We’ve taken a balanced approach toward developing our assets in all parts of the city,” said Tipple. “At the same time, we recognize that we’re all in this together and we all benefit from improvements in any part of the community.
“The renovations, improvements and new construction are all very important to Wausau,” said the mayor. “But in the end, a city is really about people and I’m looking forward to working with the people of Wausau even more in the years ahead.”
Note to media: There will be a press conference on the steps of the Wausau City Hall, 407 Grant Street, beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, November 20.
This is obviously a pretty significant announcement, so what do you think?
Shawn Sullivan said:
Weird…I didn’t think we had a mayor. I thought we were all just ruled by Mort McBain, if I were to go with the news coverage.
Having never actually seen Mayor Tipple, I can only assume he’s not real at all, and just a figment of Dino’s imagination.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:47 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
There is a lot in my imagination.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:48 pm #
erik said:
Worry not, Shawn. The media has indeed covered Mr. Tipple. I was there when he made this same announcement at a press conference:
http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/11653046.html
We rarely talk to Mr. Tipple because he rarely has us. Believe me, we give his office calls often.
November 27th, 2007 at 2:36 pm #
mapletownshrub said:
Unlike our previous mayors I think mayor Tipple doesn’t thrive off being in the news. He does his job and lets his record speak for its self.
November 27th, 2007 at 2:48 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
This is going to come up again for me, Erik is a member of the traditional media from what I gather. The media goes to Mayor Tipple, and asks to have some time to discuss questions about our city government. Not to lynch him.
But it appears from Erik’s comment that Mayor Tipple does not have them in for answers.
Why is that? If he does not talk, how is the record speaking for itself? And I like the guy. I believe that local government needs to communicate better.
November 27th, 2007 at 2:56 pm #
mapletownshrub said:
Should he be like Linda Lawrence and be in the front row of everything? Should he demand credit for the Dudley building and the Paladian project. Mayor Tipple and Linda Lawrence are 2 different people and do things differently.
I respect a man much more who quietly does his job, shares credit with everyone involved, and works hard.
Think many people in Wausau respect his style of “mayoring” after how many years of how Linda did it. I don’t think he will have to work 2 hard to get re-elected.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:03 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
God knows I am not calling for a change back to those days. Though they were fun to watch, like a lot of things that are fun to watch.
I would like to see transparency in government.
I envision a time when Mayor X (not speaking of the current dude, just mayors in general) will sit down each week with the media, and just sort of run down what happened.
I go to City Council meetings, and thankfully I have someone there to translate for me. It is often in a very advance set of language, and it would be nice for the mayor to control that message and be proactive with communicating.
The Mayor of a city like Wausau, is a public figure. He is not a welder in a shop who can do his job and go home.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:23 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
And before anyone says anything about the last comment, I would like transparancy. I am not saying things are not transparent, or attempted to be…but I think Shawns comment is illustrative of what is going on.
I, personally, would like to know the visioin for the city for the next ten years. Clearly the Master Plan does not apply anymore.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:24 pm #
erik said:
I am indeed part of the traditional press as a photographer. As someone with a background in film, I’m not going to lie that I mostly concentrate on the visual aesthetics of the stuff I’m covering and less on the story proper, so many details are lost on me.
All the same, you can’t tell the story visually without knowing it, so my reportors and I have a good reputation and I can tell you that pretty much all over our newsroom the general consensus is that Tipple is a tough guy to get a hold of. I have done one other interview with him about a economic pact made between the Wausau communities. He was nice and answered all of our questions. But I know we’ve wanted him for other stories and were not able to secure an interview due to a variety of circumstances. There have also been times when we have him on the scene of a story along with other officials and he’ll often pass at the oppertunity to be interviewed about (the Kenyan Water Project and the ground breaking of the new Humane Society come to mind).
November 27th, 2007 at 6:50 pm #