One of my interests in the Village is the state of the Fall Creek Pond. One day, I’d like my kids to be able to play in the pond like they can at Coon Forks or Big Falls, perhaps even with a small beach. Call me a big dreamer.

I’ve done some investigating, and learned that the “scummy” pond water and substantial algae blooms are mostly caused by leakage of nitrates and other runoff compounds from local farmer’s fields into the watershed. These act as nutrients for the “scummy” algae and other plants that have taken over the pond.

I’d like us to do whatever we can to reduce this issue. I see many possible steps forward, including but not limited to:

• Potentially increasing the size of the “Riparian Zones” around the creeks and streams that feed into the pond.
• Promoting the artificial construction of wetlands within those same riparian zones to more effectively make use of the land itself, as opposed to the naturally produced ecology that exists now. Wetlands have been proven to be five times more effective at reducing nitrates compared to other land-based conservation efforts. I will seek out grants to support reshaping our riparian zones towards that goal.
• Promoting local farmers to not just allow their fields to lie fallow during the winter time, but rather planting cold weather crops after their main crops are harvested to prevent those nitrates from leaving their properties, also potentially giving the farmers increased financial incentives and production on their farms.
• Investigate the economic and ecologic viability of the creation of a “Permeable Reactive Barrier” towards the mouth of the pond to keep those nitrates further “upstream”.
• Finally, working with the UW Extension and local farmers to find optimum nitrate fertilizer recommendations. This will save farmers money on unnecessary “extra” nitrates that are being wasted and literally being “flushed away” into our local watershed.

Note, that I wish all of these ideas/suggestions/proposed changes should be based on the mutual consent un-coerced of the nearby landowners. The Village should partner with these farmers to create a local goodwill coalition to improve our local watershed. Perhaps a “Fall Creek Watershed Coalition”?

As many of you know, the Village Board is often times making changes to their ordinances. I’ve asked the board as well as Mr. McKee to provide either an out loud reading, or some notification accessible online so that the electorate has an easier and more convenient means to inspect these changes between the first and second readings, so as to give the public a chance to respond at the next meeting before the second reading is voted upon.

Thankfully, Mr. McKee has acquiesced to this request, at least in this instance, and provided the “first reading” copies of the modified titles on their website for the public to view, noting changes on the document in red. It should be noted that this release of information digitally is above and beyond the minimum requirements for the village, which by law must post this information in three public physical locations. (reference – https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/985/02/2/a)

You can find those documents and changes on their ordinances website, here, at the top of the page:

Let us hope that this becomes the new standard, giving the public a greater input into changes affecting them. Thank you Mr. McKee, and Ms. Roemhild, for making these more easily accessible to the public!

It’s just been brought to my attention that the fee schedule set by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue is not NEARLY sufficient to appropriately compensate the Village of Fall Creek for their time and effort in producing the digital packets that I was seeking to release periodically (such as the “May and June” roundup that I’ve already released).

This is disappointing. And apparently, I’m unable to, by law, compensate the Village more appropriately for those services, as those fees are set in stone with no room to help it match the ACTUAL time and labor necessary to produce that documentation.

As such, I will no longer be seeking that documentation. Anyone else that wishes to of course can, but I’ve learned that it’s nothing more than a burden on the Village to do such a thing, so perhaps it’s something that should be saved for “special cases”, rather than being a standard regular periodic exercise.