News

Oregon police chief Doug Pettit received a glowing job performance evaluation in his 2011-12 review.

Village administrator Mike Gracz evaluated Pettit’s work in March. Based on Gracz’s written comments, Pettit would seem to be an ideal employee and police chief.

The only item that raised a question about Pettit came in a narrative from the chief’s last evaluation, when Gracz wrote, “As this evaluation illustrates, Doug is an excellent employee and department head. However, Doug and the Village Board need to discuss an ongoing issue regarding the Board’s perception of how Doug handles complaints and inquiries from the public regarding the Police Department.”

Gracz wrote that Pettit and the board “should discuss developing an effective communication system to communicate about this type of item, but also annual goals.”

The Village Board Monday heard a second reading and adopted a new ordinance curbing alcohol sales in the village.

The ordinance was changed slightly from a version the board considered in April. At a May 6 overview and public forum on the ordinance, businessman Ted Wallace questioned a provision that would have prohibited a Class A license being granted to businesses located within 1,056 feet of another business holding the same license. Class A licenses are reserved for businesses that sell alcohol to take out, such as Wallace’s Alpine Liquors on North Main Street.

Wallace told the board that provision would make his business “worthless” if he had to sell it.

“It doesn’t seem fair,” he said.

Trustee Jerry Bollig agreed and said he would like the rule amended. Other board members also agreed, and after some discussion changed the policy to essentially grandfather existing businesses holding a Class A liquor license.

Community service organizations will be allowed to place messages on signs that are not on the organizations’ own property after the Village Board last week unanimously approved an amendment to Chapter 17 of the village code.

Previously, organizations could not place signs “off-site,” explained Mark Below, director of Public Works.

Now, with a property owner’s permission, service groups will be able to place message signs elsewhere in the village.

The change was adopted after Oregon Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Brett Frazier brought the measure forward. The chamber is erecting new message signs at the north and south ends of the village and replacing old signs that welcomed visitors to the village and announced community service groups’ events.

The new signs will be placed on 4-inch by 4-inch poles and will be larger than the ones they’re replacing, Frazier explained.

Several nights a week, people form a long line outside Señor Peppers Mexican Restaurant waiting to get into the newly expanded business.

And with a new 100-seat restaurant set to open soon on South Main Street, downtown Oregon has suddenly emerged as a vibrant small-town business district.

But with the increased activity comes a need for more parking.

In an attempt to address the need, the Village Board last week authorized village administrator Mike Gracz to make an offer to purchase a property at 146 S. Main St. in hopes of building a new parking lot.

The property owners, Deb Bossingham and Steve Newton, have made a counter offer, and the two parties are negotiating on a purchase price for the historic home.

The Village of Brooklyn has been sued by the former longtime public works director it fired in December 2010.

In a lawsuit filed March 29 in Dane County Circuit Court, Robert M. Anderson alleges that village president Nadine Walsten and village clerk-treasurer Carol Strause sabotaged his attempt last fall to be hired as public works director in the city of Darlington. And the suit claims Walsten damaged Anderson’s reputation with false, negative public comments about his job performance.

Anderson worked 24 years for the village, including more than 20 as its public works director. He was verbally reprimanded by the village Board of Trustees in December 2009 for what Walsten at the time said were “disturbing behaviors” that undermined “the public trust” in local government.

Local businessman Jamie Bush hopes to open his new single-story restaurant/bar and volleyball facility – Headquarters Bar and Grill – on the village’s south side by mid-September, after the Village Board finally approved his building plan Monday.

Bush has been working to win the board’s approval for more than a year. He’s made numerous changes to his plan, including moving from the original proposed site to another lot nearby – and then moving back to the original site at the corner of Concord Drive and Wolfe Street.

Much of the difficulty has been with earning the village’s financial support, which it offered in March after he agreed to a deadline for adding a banquet hall to the facility.

The municipalities that fund the Oregon Area Senior Center met Monday to discuss a new contract arrangement that’s set to take effect Jan. 1, 2014.

Village of Oregon attorney Matt Dregne reviewed elements of the proposed arrangement and will draft a formal agreement for the towns of Rutland and Oregon and the villages of Oregon and Brooklyn to ratify in the next month or so.

A working group composed of representatives from the four municipalities has been meeting for months to work out the new arrangement.

The agreement includes a new cost allocation method that incorporates elements of the existing budgeting process along with new approaches. Costs for operating the senior center would be allocated in three different ways: fixed costs based on population, case management based on time spent on cases, and outreach and other programs and services based on usage tracked by a new software program, My Senior Center.

Oregon Police, Fire and EMS personnel responded to a fire alarm Friday night near Janesville Street and South Perry Parkway, according to eye witnesses.

Police and fire officials could not be reached for comment Saturday, but bystanders reported several fire trucks, an ambulance and police cars near the corner of Janesville Street and South Perry Parkway. Bystanders said fire alarms went off in an apartment complex and residents headed outside.

One person reported seeing a small fire in the basement, and another said he saw firefighters breaking down a wall inside to search for a fire.

Check the May 9 Observer for more details.

The Village Board Monday approved resolutions authorizing officials to apply for two grants to help fund the construction of a recreation trail that they plan to build northwest of the village.

The projected cost for the trail increased considerably when village officials were not able to acquire an easement allowing the path to cross land owned by the Alpine Dairy. That pushed back the timeline for the project. Officials had hoped to build the trial this year but now do not expect to break ground until sometime in 2014.

The trail is planned to extend west from Cusick Parkway in the Alpine Business Park to Fish Hatchery Road. The ultimate goal is to connect the path to the Badger State Trail about seven miles west of the village and allow cyclists and others to travel from the Village of Oregon to Madison without having to use county roads.

After a few years of discussing possible changes to the village’s ordinance on alcohol sales, the Village Board last week adopted resolutions that will likely have a minimal impact on businesses and consumers.

In fact, as several officials pointed out at last week’s meeting, the only change that will affect anyone immediately is the decision to prohibit the sale of single servings of fermented malt beverages, primarily beer, by businesses that also sell gasoline.

The board approved a first reading of the ordinance on a 6-1 vote, with trustee David Donovan casting the sole vote against it. He did not return calls seeking a comment.

Other changes in the ordinance include restricting businesses with a Class A license – which means those that can sell alcohol to go – from operating within .2 miles (1,056 feet) of a similar business and prohibiting a liquor license for businesses that sell prescription medications.