In the midst of the whole “budget repair” bill fiasco and Governor Walkers re-igniting of the progressive movement in America, the republicans in wisconsin and elsewhere, they have also been acting just as shamelessly close to home. Appointed village president Mike Mikalsen, has decided to actually face the voters and is running on a false platform of safety (despite the growth in population we are at 2005 police levels) and commerce(he ha been great for the Monona and Madison business communities) but more on this later. The shameful thing is that he is running on this:
♦ Mike provided the leadership necessary to adopt a nearly 15% property tax levy cut in the 2010 Village budget. That budget saved property taxpayers of Cottage Grove about $400,000.
What he is omitting from his campaign website is that he was able to lower the levy thanks to taking a gift bestowed upon the village for outdoor learning and education and used it for sewer and water.
There was a plan put together by the parks and rec committee that included:
The plan calls for: $115,000 to create a skate park; $20,000 for a 12-foot wide paved bike and pedestrian path; $15,000 for landscaping, bike racks, benches, picnic tables and large trees; a $25,000 donation to the Cottage Grove Kids Park and $125,000 to create a parks endowment fund for future park improvements.
The plan was no good at all for Mr. Mikalsen, as he said “For obvious reasons, you don’t put a skate park next to a kids park”(never expanding on those obvious reasons). Trustee/Lobbyist Paula Severson expressed her concern speaking for “all mothers of 3 year olds” that she would be nervous if bigger kids were playing at a skate park while she was at a kids park with her daughter. We also were contractually obligated to run sewer and water to this central park region and that led to trustee Micah Zielke to “just break the contract”. Appointed president Mikalsen then solved both of their problems by taking the money willed to us from Ms. Bakken and using it for sewer and water. Thus ensuring that no one will ever bequeath our Village money again.
A little more context: while there was outrage in the community, Mr Mikalen met with the parks committee and Cottage Grove Kids Park Committee(who are doing amazing work in filling the leadership void in improving Cottage Grove, when the Village Board has dropped the ball). He let them know clearly that there would be no negotiating(sound familiar) and that if the money did not go to sewer/water all projects would be put on hold. He let them know this is politics and he would not budge. Not everyone wants to play politics like that and so they gave in and allowed him to do it.
As I said you cant shame the shameless:
