OAP: Know The Oregon Town Board Candidates

Oregon Area Progressives asked the Town Board Supervisors to answer some questions about who they are and what their priorities are.

See the entire article on the OAP site: Know The Oregon Town Board Candidates

Here are my answers:

1. Why are you running for Town of Oregon Supervisor?

When I found myself saying, 'Somebody should do something about that!' again and again, I realized that I should try to be that somebody.

My motivation for running for Town Board Supervisor comes from several angles: dissatisfaction with some current and past Board actions, a desire to contribute to shaping the future of the Town, and a feeling that the voices of some Town residents are not fully represented on the Board and should be.

My background is in finance, banking, marketing, and technology. I worked for a combined twenty plus years at two of Madison’s biggest credit unions in management positions that involved staff, budget, and project responsibility. Exactly the kind of experience that would benefit our Town and the Town Board.

For Fairness. For the Future. For You. That’s more than our campaign slogan, it’s a guide to how I’ll serve the Town.

For Fairness. My intention is to bring a higher level of fairness into Town discussions and decisions. That means weighing how any decision might affect all Town residents, no matter where they live, and ignoring no one.

For the Future. There are huge changes coming to the Town and we can either let them happen to us or we can take charge of our tomorrows. It’s no exaggeration to say that the future of the Town as we know it is uncertain. Maintaining our rural character, adapting to annexation and development, managing expenses and budget constraints, and mitigating the effects of climate change — those and other challenges face us over the coming months, years, and decades. While the Board has undergone planning exercises in the past, the management and fulfillment of those plans have been underwhelming.

For You. I believe I can help create a better Town Board for you, your neighbors, my neighbors, everyone in Town. There’s one catch: I need your help — not just during the election, but beyond this year and into our future. Join with me and we’ll create a better Board and an even greater Town. Visit www.walserfortownboard.com for more details. And, of course, vote for me this spring! (It’s really a vote for you.) Mail ballots will go out starting in mid-March. Request one at MyVote.wi.gov.

2. How do you think growth within the Town should be managed? What growth would you encourage and limit?

Growth should be managed toward achieving a goal. The question is, what’s that goal or that set of goals? What is our shared vision of the Town’s future with respect to our ability to pay for that future?

The last time the Town did an extensive survey of residents was over twenty years ago (2001’s Vision for the Future). Nearly 600 households out of 1,000 Town households participated by sharing their opinions about the future. (The more-recent survey project did not have as large a response rate.) In 2001, the Town’s collective vision was:

To preserve the rural character of our town

To plan development wisely and control growth

To cooperate with the Village of Oregon

To provide an outdoor resource for our community

All are related to growth, either in quantity or quality. All offer valuable perspective. But are all still representative of our values and goals?

Over the course of the last twenty years, we’ve seen events that have had an impact on the vision. Growth of the Village and its annexation of Town land has continued to chip away at the Town boundaries. Law changes in the mid-2000s tied the Town’s tax levy limits to the rate of growth in new construction.

Growth rates in the Town have been low over the recent past, so property taxes have stayed low. The Town’s expenses continue to increase, however, as most expenses do. And there’s the dilemma: We have a budget problem. Or maybe it’s a vision problem. Or both. Without opening a vision discussion again, we don’t know what today’s residents want and want to fund. We need to start that discussion with all residents to determine what we as a community all want.

It’s probably safe to say that nobody in the Town wants the kind of housing or commercial growth and congestion that exist in, for example, parts of Fitchburg... or even in the Village. Nothing against either of those two municipalities! What about new housing in the Town? A new subdivision? I’m not against the ideas, if the new housing is carefully planned and fits with the character of the town... and of course, protects irreplaceable spaces. I think we should open the discussion and refresh our understanding of what residents want and what they want to pay for.

My wife Julie and I have lived in the Town of Oregon since 2002 in the Ravenoaks neighborhood. I’ve been in Dane County since 1991. Oregon has been a great place to raise kids, work, and live among people who care about the environment, their communities, strong schools, a high quality of life, human rights, and the common good. We love living in a small, quiet, rural town with natural areas that many people can only dream of. We also want the Town services, facilities, roads, and other infrastructure to be well maintained and to meet the needs of all residents.

Neighbors in Town:

What do you think about future new housing, services, roads, taxes, etc.? Please let me know. Email to carl@walserfortownboard.com or use the contact form at the bottom of this page: https://www.walserfortownboard.com/issues.

3. How Would You Make the Town Government processes more open to community involvement? What changes would you make to encourage more participation, communication, and information sharing with Town Residents?

While communication problems are common and difficult to solve completely, they’re not difficult to improve. They also tend to be at the center of other problems, like low participation. More communication is always better than less.

A major challenge is that there are so many messages competing for our attention each day that it’s hard to break through the noise with information about local government. Residents have varying levels of interest and available time, which means that Town officials might not ever get through to everyone every time. Multiple channels are available, though — email, website, online meetings, social networks, in-person, direct mail, etc. — and the Town should continue to explore how to take advantage of the strength of each one. One method won’t fit all.

Resident Feedback Loop.

Let’s keep engaged residents engaged and work to expand that group. Reaching out frequently and then responding to feedback lets the Town learn from the talent, education, and life experiences that residents possess. What about a future-looking group of resident visionaries representing farms, country home, and subdivisions? What about a committee charged with sending and receiving Town information to their neighbors? What about hiring a Town office staff member who is dedicated to public relations and communications?

Transparency.

The baseline expectation of sharing all public information with residents in an accessible way is a given. The Town could take extra steps to educate residents about the reasons, regulations, laws, ordinances, customs, reasoning, and whatever else is behind Town actions.

Meeting Management.

If residents are inspired to attend a Board meeting or other Town meeting, they should have the opportunity to comment on any topic during the Public Comment period of the meeting. Currently, the comments are restricted to topics that are not agenda items for the meeting, which is an unnecessarily tight convention. A Public Comment period could be controlled by time limits per speaker, but shouldn’t be limited to only off-agenda topics.

Outbound/Inbound Communication.

Besides determining the mechanics of sending and receiving information, the Town could record, analyze, and report on the substance of the communication, inbound communication especially. There’s value in feedback from residents that should be captured for discussion and action purposes.

Neighbors in Town:

How actively do you participate in Town functions? What way would you prefer to communicate about issues or topics that are important to you? Would learning about how local government functions be interesting to you? Please let me know at carl@walserfortownboard.com or via the contact form at https://www.walserfortownboard.com/issues. I told you that we’ll need your help!

4. What is your position on allowing ATV/UTVs on Town Roads?

ATVs are fun. UTVs are useful. Neither should be operating on Town roads, especially in subdivisions and on any road where ATV/UTV traffic would be unsafe for people using the road. I’m fairly certain that eliminates all Town roads. It’s clear that allowing ATVs/UTVs on our roads has no benefit to the vast majority of Town residents. That’s my personal opinion. Of course, I’m not the only resident in the Town, but I believe that a large majority of residents are against ATV/UTV road use.

If the small group of ATV enthusiasts that is pushing this issue continues its attempts, then we need to hear from all Town residents via a referendum: do we allow ATVs/UTVs on our roads or not? In 2021, a motion to hold a referendum was voted down by Supervisor Jason Marshall and two other supervisors. I assume they could guess the likely outcome. Only Chairperson Wayne Ace and Supervisor Kate Gladding voted in favor of holding a referendum.

But the bigger issue related to ATV/UTV access was that those same three Supervisors ignored the opinion of the Town’s attorney, the Town’s insurance underwriter, and the Town’s Plan Commission — all recommended against allowing access. Had an ordinance passed, the Town of Oregon could have faced serious financial and legal risks. And, of course, any financial penalties would eventually end up in my tax bill and yours. All for a small ATV/UTV club that wants to have their fun in somebody else’s backyard. That was bad judgment by three Board members.

You can watch my comments on August 5, 2021 to the Board about the failure of three supervisors to represent the interests of the entire Town here: https://youtu.be/Zhu019af0c0?t=234. If you don't watch, here’s the end of my statement:

I think that’s a concern for the Board— for you and for us— about who you are representing. Whether you’re representing a small group that has a particular interest or whether you’re representing the good of the entire Town. I think that’s a problem. I think there has to be a conversation and I don’t know if that conversation starts tonight, or sometime in the future, or if that gets pulled into election campaigns. But there’s something not quite right with the judgment and decisions that happened leading up to last month’s meeting.

Spoiler: They never had that conversation... And here we are talking about it in campaign season, as promised.

5. What do you consider the top three most important issues facing the Town and how would you address those issues as a supervisor?

I tried to fold my key issues into the answers above. My priorities are fairness, planning for the future of the Town, and representation of all residents.

For Fairness. For the Future. For You.

There’s a lot to tackle within those seven words. And I think the stakes are high. We live here because Town life fits us... farmer, subdivision neighbor, or country home owner. The mix of different people living different lives is exciting and challenging all at the same time. We have a lot in common, though. Let’s make the effort to build on what we share and create a better future together.