Former school board member throws hat in ring for Oshkosh Common Council

[the following was submitted to us by Karen Bowen]

Hello, friends and family,

Everyone I talk to agrees that, in addition to the two incumbents running for the three open seats on the Oshkosh Common Council, a third good choice is needed. I didn’t feel that the three gentlemen running as write-ins offered that, so a group of us prevailed upon a friend and colleague to become a write-in candidate, too. Now, we do have a better choice!

That choice is Teresa Thiel, former school board member and long-time community volunteer. Her intelligent and moderate approach will be the ticket to success for the city. She is smart, logical, and analytical. She reads carefully and attacks problems with zeal. She has important experience serving on boards, and currently is serving on the school district budget committee as an invited participant. She understands budget issues, and is a really good money manager herself. Both her education and background provide the expertise needed to analyze and utilize data to make informed decisions.

She believes in a community that works together to get results, and is concerned about quality of life issues in Oshkosh. She will work towards building stronger partnerships between the city, businesses, the school district and the university. Teresa Thiel will bring a fresh perspective to the council, proving once again to be an asset to our community.

What can you do to help elect Teresa? First, commit to write-in her name on the April 2nd ballot! Then, contribute to her campaign so that we can purchase signs and ads to let people know that there is an excellent choice for the third council seat this spring.

She will be participating in the League of Women Voters forum on Thursday, March 14th; attend in person, or watch on OCAT Channel 10, to see why I feel so strongly that she is the best choice for this office, and a great choice for Oshkosh.

You can also help by sending this email on to at least ten of your own contacts, and ask them to send it on to ten more people.

Remember that she is not running against either of the incumbents, but made the choice to run only after it was clear that the announced write-in candidates will not help our community move ahead.

Please send your contributions to me at 703 E. Irving Avenue. Checks can be made out to “Friends of Teresa Thiel for Council”.

Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions.

-- Karen Bowen
Treasurer
Friends of Teresa Thiel for Council

Tax forms available at Oshkosh Public Library

March 4, 2013 – State of Wisconsin and federal tax forms are available at the Oshkosh Public Library, including the first delivery of instruction booklets for the federal 1040 tax forms, which had been delayed.

Public libraries are one of the few locations besides regional offices of the Internal Revenue Service where taxpayers can obtain printed copies of state and federal tax forms free of charge.

OPL has also set up a page of tax-related resources at www.oshkoshpubliclibrary.org, including a list of forms and instructions available at the library, information about community tax assistance and filing options, and links to additional resources.

The public is encouraged to check the library web site or call 236-5205 to determine if the forms and instructions they need are available before visiting the library.

Oshkosh Public Library closed Feb. 15 for staff training

Feb. 14, 2013 – Oshkosh Public Library will be closed on Friday, Feb. 15, for our annual Staff Development Day. The library will reopen at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 9 a.m.

Visit www.oshkoshpubliclibrary.org for information about library services and programs, to use online resources and to download eBooks and audio books.

Oshkosh school district to hold Child Development Days and Family Fair

The Oshkosh School District is providing a free educational screening the week of March 5th - March 8th during the hours of 8 am and 3 pm. The screening is held at the Oshkosh Recreation Department located at 425 Division St., Oshkosh. 

 

Child Development Days is a play-based screening for children residing in the Oshkosh School District who were born between Sept 2, 2009 and September 1, 2010. While the children play, trained screeners will assess learning, motor, and speech & language skills. Hearing screenings are also available. Parents are given immediate feedback on their child's development.

A family fair will be held in conjunction with the screening, offering information on community opportunities for young children. If you have not received information about the screening or would like more information, please call Karen at 424-1004 between 8 am and 12 pm to schedule an appointment.

OSHKOSH NORTH HIGH SCHOOL FIRE IN BOYS’ BATHROOM

At approximately 12:25 p.m. on Friday, February 8, 2013, there was a small fire reported in the

boys’ bathroom at Oshkosh North High School. The fire was contained to the bathroom and did

not spread to anywhere else in the building. All students and staff followed the OASD emergency response plan and exited the building to the proper meeting areas. No injuries were reported and students and staff were orderly and calm throughout the situation.

The Oshkosh Police and Fire departments immediately responded and put the fire out. The fire

department approved school administrators to allow the students and staff back into the field

house at approximately 12:50 p.m. Students and staff remained in the field house and received

updates on the situation.

The Oshkosh Fire Department cleared the building for students and staff to re-enter at 1:20 p.m.

Students then reported to lunch and then to hour 7 classes until the end of the day.

Oshkosh City Hall set for major construction project

(Oshkosh, WI) Oshkosh residents wishing to come to City Hall beginning in March should be made aware that parking space will be limited due to the construction of an underground storm water storage tank. In addition, the work will cause many public meetings to be moved to locations outside of City Hall for the duration of the project.

The storm water storage tank is being constructed as an alternative to a ground surface detention basin, and will help reduce street flooding in the Division Street watershed. This includes areas from the Fox River to north of New York Avenue, between Main Street and Jackson Street.
 

The city opened bids for the project on Friday, Feb. 1, with the apparent low bidder being Miron Construction from Neenah, WI for a price of approximately $3.9 million. The Oshkosh Common Council is scheduled to award this bid at their Feb. 12 meeting.
 

Once the storage tank has successfully been constructed, the City Hall/Police Department parking lot will be reconstructed. The upgrade was scheduled because of the major impacts the construction of a storm water management facility will have.
 

Parking spaces will be maintained for Police Department operations, and a limited number of stalls will remain accessible near the entrance to City Hall for visitors.
 

To stay up to date on meeting locations, the public is encouraged to visit the quick link “Meeting Notices” on the city’s website at www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us.

Construction is expected to be completed in November.

For more information, call the Oshkosh Public Works Department at (920) 236-5065.  

 

LWV to allow write-ins to participate in candidates' forum

I read with interest a recent letter to the editor from Kathleen Propp of the Winnebago County League of Women Voters, in which she stated that those people who have registered as write-in candidates for the spring Oshkosh Common council election WILL BE invited to participate in the League’s upcoming forum.  Simply put, this is just wrong, in my opinion.

The League’s stated reason for this unusual move is that with three open seats and only two candidates whose names will appear on the ballot, it is likely one of the two write-ins will be elected to the other seat and this will give voters the right to know something about them.

I understand what they’re saying but do we really want to see either of these candidates elected to the council? Personally, I don’t think either one of the two write-ins should get elected. After all they took out nominations papers and either didn’t get them returned on time (Don Binder) or turned them in with so many errors that several names were rejected, leaving that candidate (Brian Poeschl) without enough signatures to get on the ballot. Neither of those situations instills any confidence in me that they will act with any greater care or responsibility when it comes to performing their duties, if elected. Will they carefully read the material about matters on which they’ll be voting – more carefully than they did their instructions for the filing of nomination papers? Will they take the time to read it at all, in its entirety? Or will they perform in a slack-jaw, lazy manner with this, too? I would hope they would take their responsibility seriously and read all the material, understanding time is often of the essence in politics. But they’re certainly not starting out too well, nor establishing a good track record.

If I had to pick one of the two I’d go with Poeschl, since he at least tried. But the problem I have there is he’s served on the Common Council before and has also run in other elections after his original time of service. So he knows how to fill out the forms and should have checked over his paperwork more carefully before turning it in at the 11^th hour when he had no ample time to get the errors fixed.

I’ve stated in an earlier editorial that I see this move on the part of these two candidates as being very opportunistic and taking the lazy-man’s way out, especially since they know one of them is bound to get elected by default. My position is nothing personal with either of these two. I personally like Brian Poeschl, having been acquainted with him for many years; I don’t know Don Binder at all – wouldn’t even know him if I passed him on the street. My position is based solely on how they’ve approached this. I don’t think we should be rewarding write-in candidates with the same ability to participate in debates that the other candidates who followed the rules of the process get.

Finally, the League may be setting another bad precedent with this move. In the past they’ve allowed friends or family members of candidates to read prepared statements at the forums of the candidate themselves couldn’t be there; now they’re allowing write-in candidates to participate in the “debate.” Seems like just one more step down that slippery slope for the League.    

What do you think? Leave us a comment and/or vote in the poll to the right.