05/05/2026
Great Village Board meeting tonight. Please see my prepared comments below that I shared this evening.
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President’s Report – May 04, 2026
Good evening, everyone!
I hope that you all had a wonderful and relaxing weekend.
And may the Fourth be with you as well today — a perfect day to bring a little Star Wars Jedi energy into Village Hall.
Lots going on in our Village and I’ll get right into what has been going on since my last President’s Report.
In the ‘News You Can Use’ section, there are several updates.
The Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce held their annual Community Awards on April 22.
Bub’s Irish Pub was recognized as the Business of the Year.
Sandy Dobrogowski was recognized as Citizen of the Year.
Lynn Grgich was recognized for a Leadership Germantown Award.
It was nice attending the event, sharing some closing comments and awarding Village Proclamations.
With our Finance Director’s last day being today to take advantage of another opportunity, staff are working through a transition period to ensure a smooth operational transition.
Interim finance management proposals are currently under review, with the intent of securing professional support to maintain continuity in core financial functions, oversee ongoing responsibilities, and provide technical guidance as needed during the transition period.
A similar transition is occurring within the Engineering function, as we prepare for our Village Engineer to depart on May 13 for another opportunity as well.
In anticipation of this change, staff will bring forward a contract for consulting engineering services for committee and Board consideration in May to ensure uninterrupted support for engineering-related activities, which are many.
Saying that, we are actively recruiting to backfill both positions.
After the recent abnormal rain event that impacted a multistate region to include our Village on April 13 and again on April 18, the Public Works staff is conducting ongoing investigative efforts related to the storm events, with attention to impacts on the sanitary sewer system.
Engineering staff are also continuing to assess and prioritize drainage and localized flooding concerns throughout the Village, with the goal of identifying both short-term mitigation measures and longer-term improvements.
The Flower Source demo project continues to move forward with D&H Demolition maintaining a projected start date of June 1.
Additional environmental review work has been completed following identification by the Wisconsin DNR of items not included in the initial inspection.
Abatement activities are expected to begin in advance of demolition and will be coordinated to maintain the overall project schedule.
The first Farmer’s Market of the season was held on May 2 at Village Hall, with some of the more than 30 vendors in total that have registered for the 2026 season.
The 4th of July task force continues to meet and plan for the fun events at Fireman’s Park right after the 11:00 AM parade that the Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce is putting on.
Plans include to have food, drinks, activities for all ages, live music and of course the fireworks at dusk.
Stay tuned for some opportunities that will be communicated soon on the many Sponsorship opportunities available, or to Donate.
And, if you would like to assist or to volunteer, please see our social media posts, or email us at [email protected].
Also coming up of significant interest include the Washington County Law Enforcement Memorial Service held at the Jackson Police Department on May 15, at noon.
Please join us as we honor Germantown Police Officer Robert D. Backes who on March 21, 1981 was struck and killed by a vehicle while on duty and remember other Washington County law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our communities.
Maifest, a traditional German celebration marking the arrival of spring, will be held in Fireman’s Park from May 15 through May 17.
I’ll be there volunteering for the Kiwanis.
So stop on by to partake in some great food and beverages and to listen to some awesome music.
After the April elections, we have three new trustees on the Village Board.
Welcome to Scott Hefle, Trustee for District 1, to Jim Stout, Trustee for District 2 and to Patrick Kaiser, Trustee for District 4.
Congratulations to Jolene Pieper, Trustee for District 3 on winning her re-election.
We as a board realize fully the challenges or what I like to say the opportunities we face together.
It will be our ongoing focus to be thoroughly transparent and communicate regulary.
We pledge to be good stewards of the taxpayers resources.
Finally, I am officially starting my second year of a three year term as your Village President.
I continue to be humbled and to welcome the opportunity to serve our community and to affect positive change that will move Germantown Forward and to make our community a better place to live, work and play.
Some focus areas that I would like to address include.
Board Governance.
Starting this evening, plans are to ensure more streamlined and effective Village Board meetings.
When discussing matters, we will be getting back to the ‘two bites of the Apple’ which is a simple, practical way to describe Robert’s Rules, compliant discussion structure that keeps meetings orderly, fair, and efficient.
In clear terms under Robert’s Rules of Order, every member has the right to speak twice on any debatable motion.
The first bite allows a trustee to speak once to share their position, ask questions, or offer insight.
And the second bite, and after everyone who wishes to speak has had their first turn, that trustee may speak a second time — usually to clarify, respond, or refine their point.
Board Goals.
In the near future, I plan on sharing draft goals for Village Board review, editing and consideration.
Included in the goals - amoung other objectives - would be to create a Vision and Mission statement for the Village, which we do not have today.
Once finalized, the board goals would be cascaded down to staff to ensure alignment, with the focus being Business Minded, Process Driven, Results Orientated and most importantly Customer Focused.
Moving on to this evening’s Village board. Our agenda iincludes some important matters.
The annual Appointments of Board, Committee and Commission Members.
One of my responsibilities as Village President is to recommend these appointments for board approval and I feel we have accomplished that and will have a great team in place that will move our Village Forward.
With the departure of three senior members of our staff, and with a recent market analysis indicating that we are significantly below what others are paying, we will be taking action to adopt the 2026 pay rate chart.
We will be also discussing the recently approved Fire department addition and remodel project along with the new Police station from a budget standpoint.
I welcome this conversation.
I also want to ensure and commit that we stay within approved budgets and that we have proper board oversight in place via the Building Construction Oversight Committee.
We will also be discussing the recent Moody Rating Report, which was updated after the recent board authorized sale of $17M in bonds.
The Village continues to have a High Investment grade rating of Aa3, a slight downgrade from the Aa2 rating that we previously had.
Finally, we will be going into closed session to review the next phase with the recruitment of the Village Administrator vacancy.
Again, lots are going on.
I’m looking forward to our meeting this evening as we all work together to move Germantown Forward and to make our community a better place to live, work and play.
Thank you.
