By Bob Peryea
Correspondent
City officials are continuing the search for a permanent city manager.
During its meeting Tuesday night, the Whitewater Common Council agreed to include the public in the process, using methods similar to those used in the police chief search last year.
Interim City Manager Cameron Clapper excused himself from the meeting before the council proceeded to discuss ideas for vetting potential candidates.
Clapper took over the post right before former City Manager Kevin Brunner began his new job as Walworth County’s director of central services and the highway commission on June 22.
Council members decided to hold an informal reception giving the public an opportunity to meet the final candidates at 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21 in the atrium at the Innovation Center on the UW- Whitewater campus.
Following that event, at 6 pm., there will be a formal question and answer session held in the meeting room off of the atrium. This moderated event will give citizens an opportunity to ask formal questions of each candidate.
The following day, Saturday, Sept. 22, the council will interview each candidate and make its final decision based on public input and their interviews.
Black Sheep Restaurant gets liquor license
The Black Sheep Restaurant, located at 210 W. Whitewater St., is now able to serve a complete line of alcoholic beverages to complement its upscale meals.
The Whitewater Common Council voted unanimously Tuesday to grant the license to the restaurant and its owner, Tyler Sailsbery.
This came after officials modified the city ordinance governing the number of licenses that it could grant based on 2011’s population.
That action, precipitated by the Black Sheep and its supporters, led to the release of two additional licenses (for a total of 23 licenses), the first of which has been granted to the Black Sheep.
The council also voted on a request from Cameron Clapper to create an Ad Hoc Committee to review the city’s planning and building permit fees.
“In discussing our planning and building fees, some are too high and some are a little bit low,” Clapper said.
The council voted to have Clapper return with a list of potential members of the committee at a future meeting.
Council to address noise complaints
Councilmember Lynn Binnie presented a concern expressed by several of his constituents regarding noise early on weekend mornings.
Binnie, along with several of his neighbors, were apparently awakened by a commercial lawnmower around 7:15 a.m. on a recent Saturday.
According to the current ordinance, lawn care and snow removal are exempted from city noise ordinances.
There was not a great deal of support on the council for changing the ordinances out of concern with suppressing commercial lawn care and construction.
“Since this is the first time we’re hearing of this, hopefully, our ordinances and enforcement have been good enough,” Council President Patrick Singer said.
In the end, it was decided that the council would place the item on a future agenda to allow Binnie’s constituents to come before the council and voice their concerns directly.
