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My project consists of converting the old paper formats into GIS so it is on a hardcopy digital format. I also am updating the E 911 services data bank, by going into the field and GPSing the new or updated address within Eau Claire County. I’m also working with a new intern to show him the ropes with the GPS and showing him how to locate them on the paper maps. All of this is going to take me the whole summer. Martin

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Kris Boppel and I work together in the Planning Development Department at Eau Claire County. Under the supervision of Todd Andrews (Senior Planner) we have completed individual and team projects. The first project was an individual staff report. The applicant wanted to change the zoning of his property from a C-3 commercial business district to an I-1 nonsewered industrial district in order to lease the property to a woodworking manufacturer. I recommended approval and the county planning board agreed with my recommendation.

The rest of our projects have been a team effort. We prepared a special event checklist that will be used with a conditional use permit in order to regulate events that happen in the county. We are currently attending Performance Budgeting meetings because we will be proposing a PR campaign for the administration to use. It will be targeted at staff and the public. We have also been working on presentations for the county’s Comprehensive Planning project. They just completed phase two of the project. The presentations will be used to show the towns and villages what they learned before moving on to the next step. Monahan

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In the middle part of this internship, I am pleasantly surprised. I am busy at work all of the time and the people that are there, are a huge help. This is helpful because if I did not have a friendly boss, I would be stuck in a rut with my project. What is better than the work, is the fact that the other students here are great. It is good to have people to talk to after work, because it lowers the stress level by a lot.

The only thing I have a few qualms about is the slowness that my project is goin. I want to keep pushing and pushing, but the process to get all of the pictures, surveys, etc is very time consuming. I hope that as I get into the bulk part of the project that I am able to move faster and I don’t have as many stopping points.

I am excited to see what the second half of the internship has to bring. Owens

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My project is going well so far. I am working on a special assessments program that allows the departments to make sure the citizens of the City of Chippewa Falls are paying for the projects done. The cards go back to the 1960’s and all the history needs to be inserted into the computer program. I am now into the 800 parcel numbers which will allow the engineering department to begin putting in borders such as front, side, and back to figure out which assessment went onto which street. The program has been working well although sometimes we do find a glitch here and there that we have to correct. Also some parcel numbers are not yet into the system and we are looking into if they exist anymore or not. I think if I continue to work at the same pace I have been working on I will be able to successfully get through most of the cards. Having the beginning master schedules into the system will help a lot of employees in the City such as the engineering department, the clerk’s office and the planning and zoning office. The staff continues to be great although Dan will be greatly missed. I wish him well in his new choice of careers!

Wendt

As part of the program, we take two extended weekend excursions, one in June and one in July.  Our June trip was to Winnipeg, Manitoba.   About a 9-hour drive from Eau Claire, we left early on Friday June 22nd, and returned late on Monday, June 25th.  While there we stayed at the HI-Winnipeg Ivey House Hostel.  This was conveniently located to downtown, and a redeveloped area called The Forks which has been a meeting place for over 11,000 years at the confluence of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers. 

The Red River flows northward from North Dakota all the way to Hudson Bay.   The Forks has lots of shops, restaurants, a skateboard park, an ampitheater, and is close to Union Station.  It was a very interesting place to hang out.   Some of us took a river boat tour and rode up to where the provincial legislative building sits on the banks of the Assiniboine.  The rivers were running so high from the spring rains and melt that the steps leading from the grounds of the legislative building down to the river were flooded.   In the picture, at the top of the building is a statue of “Golden Boy,” a gift from the French at roughly the same time they gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States.   The building was built extremely large because at the time (late 19th century), Winnipeg had the largest railyard in the world, and the thinking was that it would continue to be a major continental shipping city in North America.   However, when the Panama Canal was built, the importance of Winnipeg as a major transportation and shipping hub began to diminish significantly.  It still boasts one of the three largest railyards in the world, with only Chicago and Moscow being larger.

Running across the Red River is a very impressive foot bridge with a restaurant in the middle overlooking the river.   Our Sunday dinner was enjoyed there as we wound down our trip.

On Saturday we drove up to Winnipeg Beach on the shores of giant Lake Winnipeg.  Although the weather was’t perfect, we did enjoy swimming in and gazing at the huge body of water, and enjoying the local small town Canadian culture.

We arrived in Winnipeg during the annual Jazz Festival.  Headliners included the Josh Redman  Trio, Herbie Hancock, and the Dave Brubeck Quartet.  We were able to get discounted tickets for Josh Redman on Saturday night.

On June 16th we took a day trip to the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior.  Off the coast of Bayfield, WI is Madeline Island, reachable by Ferry.  The day was beautiful, and the islands were very interesting.

 Chippewa Falls City Council Meeting–June 5th

Eau Claire County Board Meeting–June 19th

6.19.2007
 After work/class today, our group attended the County Board of Supervisors meeting.  Beginning at 7 p.m., the hot item on the agenda for this meeting was to determine whether or not the county would adopt a resolution to build a new jail; this expenditure could cost them well upwards of $100,000,000.00.  With such an expenditure on the table (for a county with no large cities), it was assumed there would be much discussion.  There was.  What shocked me the most were the apparent inefficiencies surrounding this process.  The persons who likely knew the most about the issues were the County employees (i.e., County Administrator, Purchasing Agent, etc).  These people did not participate in the discussions, unless addressed to answer a question or clarify an issue – this was rare.  Instead, the Board members, addressed as “supervisors,” debated and argued well into the night. 

Their arguments were passionate in nature, but largely uninformed (or so it seemed).  These elected officials had clearly not done their homework, as some of them even needed clarification and explanations on things they had already passed!  This was likely a result of the typical nature of these Board members, as they were not full-time employees, but rather elected representatives, serving on a part-time basis.  Particularly bothersome to me was all the discussion pertaining to the county’s programs designed as alternatives to incarceration.  These people seemed to hold the belief that expanding these programs would eliminate the need to build a new jail.  The jail is already 50-70 persons over capacity and this number will only increase; ATI’s will do no such thing.  Even if the county were able to divert a large number of persons into a “mental health court,” there would still be a need to house these persons, as a number of them will still have committed offenses meriting jail time.  It took all of my strength to keep from running up, snatching a microphone, and breaking it down for these people.  I felt that compared to them, I was an expert on the topic – and I’ve only been here for a week!  The meeting left me with a feeling of unease, as it seemed like this method of representative democracy leads to a lot of procedural hang-ups, uninformed decision making, and overall bureaucratic red tape problems! –Posted by Clark Disney

June 14, 2007
Today we had a conference at the Wisconsin Dells. The first speaker was Patrick Ibarra and he was presenting succession planning. Succession planning is going to become very important as the baby boomers start to retire. He threw out statistics that around 45 million or more of baby boomers will retire and only 21 million will be ready to move into their spots. He also made it clear to the WCMA that young people job shop these days, so local governments need to start becoming active in the career fairs at Universities or otherwise they will be overlooked. I really thought Patrick was an inspirational and motivational speaker who presented the material well. He is from the ICMA which is a proud sponsor of our Local Government Management Internship Program. 

The second half of the conference dealt with Brownfield Redevelopment. It was really hard for me to stay focused on this session right after lunch. The speakers presented ways which local governments or municipalities can get grant money to help take care of contaminated or dilapidated buildings. They named several benefits in participating in Brownfield Redevelopment such as economic and community revitalization.

During dinner is when I really began to feel as if we are doing something good for the City of Chippewa Falls. We met Eugene Hackbarth who used to be the president of project Main Street, which is the downtown redevelopment project. He was very amused about the various projects we are working on. He was quite curious about Clark’s cable access ordinance and my telecommunication ordinance. He gave me tips on how to improve the ordinance and was just a delight to be around during dinner. The one tip that I kept in mind was to make sure the AT&T bill would not allow them to put cable boxes anywhere they please because they are unattractive for the city. Networking as interns was also another great experience.   Overall the conference was fun. With the three-hour break during the afternoon I enjoyed the resort’s water park. This is just one of the many water parks in Wisconsin.  The meals they served were an added bonus. Also, the awards program in the end resulted in Wittenberg really racking up the door prizes from the various sponsors!  –Posted by Tricia Wendt

6-20-07

Last night after class, we went down the hall to watch a county board meeting, where the hot-button issue was the potential endorsement by the board of a plan for a new jail, and possibly new courts, along with a general remodel of the current courthouse.  First, let me say that the
board ended up making the decision that I probably would have made in their position.  However, I was really surprised that the board did not discuss land use and neighborhood impact issues at all.  This should be a really big concern, frankly.  The jail would replace a number of fine private homes,
and the jail will be directly across the street from the Chippewa Valley hiker-biker trail and the beautiful Chippewa River.  Sure, giving prisoners a view of the river and the old downtown across it might help them with their rehabilitation, but what will the view of the jail do to riverfront
land values in the historic riverfront zone of Eau Claire?

I was also bothered by the plan to level the majority of a city block to create surface parking lots, including a row of historical storefronts adjoining the main pedestrian gateway to the old downtown.  This would destroy a number of highly viable and useful businesses, including an
organic food co-op and a cleaners.  What would replace this really nice-looking set of brick storefronts? Just a mere surface parking lot, with 50-some parking spaces.  This does not seem like a smart trade for me.

But the debate did not include any of these issues.  All that was considered was what was needed in terms of criminal justice, which I admit is the most important issue here.  The debate was usually quite eloquent, despite some really stupid and false statements scattered in between.  Supervisors Bates and Clark made the excellent point that alternatives (to incarceration) have not been fully developed.  Towards the end, I was really surprised at the number of supervisors who voted against the jail-only concept.  I felt that it had been demonstrated beyond a doubt that a jail was necessary, as unpleasant as that might be.  What was more obvious is that no clear reason was expressed in discussion for why so many people would vote against that alternative.  Not enough people expressed a negative opinion in debate on the jail-only option to explain such a close vote.  –Posted by Seth Morgan

6-20-07

Last Night’s County Board Meeting:  At first glance I was surprised at all of the items on the agenda since the board was scheduled to discuss which proposed option for the jail they would approve. Once the board had reached this topic in the agenda I found it interesting that the first motion to be made was one that would give citizens the right to advise the board on the decision via an election.  I felt that this would have been brought up at least a year earlier in the process. The election would ask for advice and not a decision so I thought that it was a moot point since the board was elected to make decisions that are in the best interest of their constituents. I found myself getting frustrated with members of the board because they would bring up points that should have been addressed earlier in the process (e.g., prevention programs) or budget issues that were to be addressed in the next item (relating to the jail) on the agenda. I did not agree with the final decision because I felt that the court house should have been included but I was glad that the board decided to proceed with the project. Since, I had the opportunity to tour the jail and speak with the Chief of the Jail I saw the need for a new facility and I was baffled by the number of board members who were opposed to the jail. Based on state mandate it is apparent that there is an immediate need for more space, and I would have thought that an overwhelming majority would have been in support. There were a number of repetitive points, but in the end I think that they have made a good decision for their community.  –Posted by Zoe Monahan

6/14
 The trip to the WCMA Conference at the Wisconsin Dells was an experience that I have never had before.  My first professional conference was pretty interesting.  I was especially interested in Brownfield redevelopment, something that the city government in Springfield, Ohio is dealing with currently.  After the afternoon lecture sessions we took a “Duck” boat ride.  Duck boats were used in World War II and can go on both land and water.  We returned to the conference for dinner and thanks to the urging of Dr. Baker we spent the early part of the evening “networking” with other people who came to the conference.  Overall, it was a very good experience and I learned a lot. –Posted by Kris Boppel

6/20
I attended my first county board meeting tonight, and it was intense. I was shocked at how many different opinions people actually had about a single topic. Some of the people shared half opinions while others were on the complete opposite page. When they brought up the building of the new jail, everything went haywire. It was so frustrating that I did not have the ability to state an opinion on what the members of the board thought. It was so irritating that elected members of the board could not see what the need of the county jail and court system actually is. When the jail was brought up one of the supervisors (an elected member) spoke about how a seven-year-old child was in the court and one of the inmates was bringing brought downstairs for a hearing and scared the little girl. So if they had a new jail they wouldn’t need to deal with those types of interactions. In my opinion, I believe they should have a new court but keep the old ones as well. They could make the old court rooms civil courts and make the new ones attached to the jail criminal court. But since they approved just the new jail and not the court house, the county will be spending money on the transportation on inmates to the courthouse. More money would be spent in the short term if they built the court houses, but now it seems more money in the long run will be spent transporting inmates.  –Posted by Katie Tallman

6/21/07
The Eau Claire County board meeting on June 19th was one for the ages. After finishing up a 10 ho ur day, the last thing any of us wanted to do was attend this meeting. When I first walked in, I was surprised by the order of it all. It seemed like it was very well organized and I was quite impressed.  After going through the usual opening with the pledge and so forth, the board jumped right into it. The first hour seemed to go by very quickly and they went through close to ¾ of the agenda in no time. There was hardly any discussion and I thought we were going to luck out. But, then came the
issue of the new jail. These two parts of the meeting took forever. All members felt it was their duty to speak the maximum amount of time either for or against it. After going to a vote, the proposed plan failed and that was it. Next, they decided to change it and vote again. This time, it narrowly passed. Although they finally got through all of their business, it seemed like it took forever. To make it worse, not all of the board members were particularly good at public speaking which made the arguments less convincing. This meeting was something I will always remember, but not necessarily in the best way. –Posted by Dylan Owens

6/20
 Tonight we attended the Eau Claire County Board meeting. The main focus of the Board meeting was the approval of the new jail that the county is going to build. This new jail has been under discussion for the past 3 to 4 years and is a very controversial subject. We knew that this was going to a very interesting meeting and we knew because the topic was so controversial, that it was going to be a very long meeting. When the meeting started the County Board Chairman proposed moving the new jail agenda to the very end of the meeting so the meeting could flow until discussion began on the jail. The beginning of the meeting went extremely smooth up until the point the new jail agenda began, this portion of the meeting took 2 hours finish. The reason this was such a controversial topic was there were several different initiatives for the proposed jail. One initiative dealt with not only building a new jail but also enough room to have the new County Courts there as well, and the majority of the Board members were against this. In the end they found that the last initiative, plan D, was to be approved for only building a new jail and no new courts. Following the approval of this part the Board then had to approve the budget, which actually did not take too long. The whole discussion over the jail was extremely interesting to me because it shed some light on how local governments deal with major budget projects. It really showed me how politics work and it was a great experience. –Posted by Chris Martin

On June 14th, we attended the Wisconsin City/County Manager’s Association Conference at the Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells.   We were greeted warmly by the other attendees, and were able to talk with them about local government, and our program.  The keynote speaker was Pat Ibarra of the Mejorando Group.  Mr. Ibarra is a former city manager now working as a consultant to local governments.  The topic of his presentation was Employee Recruitment, and he focused on strategies for addressing the wave of retirements that is hitting local governments at all levels of their organizations.  His dynamic, and humor-punctuated presentation was quite interesting, and certainly relevant to the goals of our program. 

In the afternoon, we heard a presentation from WAMCAM, the Wisconsin professional organization for management assistants, about Brownfield Redevelopment Opportunities.  

 A little free time in the late afternoon afforded some of us the chance to experience the resort’s water parks (http://www.chulavistaresort.com/waterparks/index.htm), while others took an amphibious-vehicle tour through the Dells (http://www.dellsducks.com/).  The day then ended with a social hour and dinner.   Many thanks to WCMA for hosting us at their 2007 conference.

Last Saturday, we headed to the Minneapolis area for an afternoon at the Mall of America and an evening major league baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Washington Nationals.  The Mall of America is a huge monument to American consumerism, and regardless of your point of view on our economic system, it makes an impression when you see it for the first time.  As we drove in from the Interstate, it appeared on the horizon as a huge behemoth.  Once inside, the enormity of its size was astounding.   Complete with an amusement park in the center, the mall is about the size of two professional sports stadiums combined.  

It was interesting to see the Mississippi River at its northern locale, and close to its origin.  Here its size pales in comparison to its legendary status as the “Mighty Mississippi” further south towards its terminous in the Gulf of Mexico.

The baseball game was played in the massive Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, an incredibly expansive, air-conditioned dome.  Watching the game in this environment seemed somewhat surreal.  The Twins lost 3-1, but they didn’t go down without an exciting 9th inning rally. Even though it was eventually squelched, it brought the fans to the edges of their seats hoping for a victorious outcome.

May 30th, 2007
 I was placed at Chippewa Falls City Hall for the initial four weeks of my internship. When we first arrived at City Hall, Dan Elsass, the City Administrator, gave us a tour of the building and introduced us to all the employees. I was surprised that there was such a small staff in charge of the town. After lunch I met with Cynthia, who is my supervisor for my project with the city. We spent most of our time getting to know one another, but we did look into the city code book and discussed what I already knew about ordinances and how a code book worked. Once we finished looking at some of the codes we talked about my project, which is re-writing the personnel policy handbook. This policy is put into the city code book for everyone’s use.  We have not gone into much detail about the laws and regulations, but we discussed that we are going to be writing our own policy instead of just updating the old file. Later, Dan had asked me to also go along to a hearing, at Chippewa Falls County Hall, involving the Police Department’s health insurance after retirement. The meeting was interesting for the most part, but confidential, so I am not allowed to discuss the details of the topic. Their collective bargaining meeting on the topic is tomorrow and is still a private matter, so Dan is going to discuss with the Police Chief how he would feel about me sitting in on the meeting. I believe that it would be an incredible experience that would help me in the future. –Posted by Katie Tallman

5/29 Day 1
 After settling into our dorm at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, we had a day of orientation from the staff of both Chippewa falls and Eau Claire County.  I was then told I would be working for the County in the Planning & Development Department with Zoe Monahan from the University of Oregon.  Our supervisor is Todd Andrews, the planning advisor.  We walked into the county building not knowing what to expect, but the County Administrator Tom MaCarty made us feel right at home, and we were taken to human resources and given ID badges to make us official.  Since there is a jail on the first floor I often joke that the ID badge is the only thing that separates us from the prisoners.  Zoe and I went to a GIS conference with Chris Martin and his supervisor Peter Strand.  It was a little over my head, but I learned a lot.  Todd also gave Zoe and me our first project.  We have to write a Staff Report for a rezoning in the neighboring towns.  Hopefully we can do a good job!  –Posted by Kris Boppel

Wednesday May 30, 2007
Today was my first official day to report to work at Eau Claire County. I was told that I would be working on the county’s comprehensive plan. Therefore, I went into work thinking that I would find out where the planning department is at in the comprehensive plan process. I was surprised when Todd Andrews (my supervisor) proceeded to describe an intensive address recovery project. The project entailed looking at each town and unincorporated entities, in the county; mylar and map to determine which addresses were recorded. For the parcels that there was not a listed address I was supposed to find out if an address had been assigned by the town. After asking a number of questions, to make sure that I understood what the task entailed, Todd decided that it may be too difficult to start off with. Instead he decided that I would work on a zoning staff report. I was thrilled to hear about this assignment because I have past experience with staff reports from a former internship. After a crash course in the county’s zoning specifications I attended a Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council Listening Session with Kris, Chris, and Peter (Eau Claire County’s GIS specialist). At the meeting we learned about a proposed council that would steer the compilation of all GIS information from around the state to make it available for everyone’s use. The intentions of the council, how it would be evaluated, and the structure of the council were all discussed. It was interesting to hear about the technology. I found it interesting that one of the challenges the state faces is that counties, cities, and tribes all have the information in their databases but they can not be connected because of different systems, data encoding and other differences. Tomorrow I will have the opportunity to start on my staff report.  –Posted by Zoe Monahan

Day 1- 5/29/07

 The day started at the usual 7 A.M. for me. After getting in the van at 8, we drove the half hour to Chippewa Falls City Hall. After going on an interesting tour of the old building, the time to start the
real work began. When I walked into the Parks and Recreation Building, I was struck with a sense of incompetence. After meeting my supervisor and going through what I was to do, I felt like this was going to be a looooong summer. I am working on updating the city’s recreation plans for the next five years. I first had to look through the plans from 1971-2007, which let me tell you was a lot. After getting adjusted to what I was looking for, I began to get into a rhythm looking to find the items that came across multiple times, seeing those were what needed to be worked on. I soon found myself enjoying the experience and was interested in what I was reading. I look forward to seeing what I come up with in terms of ideas for improving the recreational areas in the city. What helps this long process is the fact that everyone on the trip is great, so there is no added stress there. I think this is going to be a fun, productive summer.   — Posted by Dylan Owens

We’re very busy each week.  Our internship hours are pretty much full time, except for a half day on Fridays, and we have classes and other local government meetings in the evenings.  However, there is still time for enjoying some of the cultural and recreational activities that Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire have to offer.  Four of us have discovered a couple of golf courses in the area.  Lake Hallie golf course (in the picture) is in the village of Lake Hallie located between Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire.  It’s a tight, tree-lined course right on the small lake where we encountered several people fishing during our round. 

We also attended the “Taste of Eau Claire” celebration last Sunday afternoon at one of the local parks.  Many local restaurants opened booths at the event, and tickets (purchased for $1 each) could be exchanged for generous samples of various cuisine.  Afterwards, we attended the home opener of the local minor league baseball team, the Eau Claire Express.  We have additional weekend trips planned that we’ll post info about later.

5/30/2007
 Today marked the first day that I would report to the Chippewa Falls Municipal Building, located in downtown Chippewa Falls, WI.  I began the day with a heightened sense of anticipation as I would soon be finding out what my first project – a public access cable television agreement – would actually entail.  After a tour of the building led by City Administrator Dan Elsaas (who would also be my supervisor), I received a manila folder containing all documents pertaining to the project.  A quick scan over the various documents certainly elicited one thing, that the project was far from simple.  I learned that the City of Chippewa Falls had entered a one-year trial period where they received free public access coverage from Community Television of Eau Claire that was then carried to viewers through designated channels on Charter Communications cable television service.  The trial period had already expired, however having failed to put in a real bid or estimate for service, Community Television was continuing to provide the free coverage.  Researching costs would prove difficult however, as I soon learned that the Executive Director of Community Television, as well as the V.P. for Governmental Affairs at Charter, were both away fighting Wisconsin Assembly Bill 207.  This bill is purportedly aimed at creating cable television markets that will allow for fair competition (as opposed to the exclusive franchise system existing today).  The opposition to the bill exists due to an apparent negative externality, the elimination of funds depended on by most public access television companies in Wisconsin.  After a long day researching, I left the Municipal Building tremendously excited about the project.   –Posted by Clark Disney.

 Day 2 – Thursday May 31st

Today started with learning how to run the new HP map scanner that the County Planning and Development Department just got. It only took me a few minutes to figure out. Once I got the scanning down I then had to take all of the paper copy CAD blue line maps, which are of all of the townships in Eau Claire County and scan them into a digital file so I could later convert them into GIS. Locating all of the maps took some time because their coding system is quite complicated but I finally figured it out. After I scanned them into GIS ArchMap, I then had to take each individual township and make a 36inch by 41inch map so I could later take them into the field to update all of the addresses for the upcoming 2010 census. Each of the maps was of the entire county but they also included a zoomed in area of all the densely populated areas, so I could have a clear view of all of the neighbor hoods to know which address to change.  This portion took the longest because I had to change or move all of the CAD maps I scanned into a layout mode where I could see all the areas I needed to go. Once I made the maps for all of the townships I then had to take all of the data they had on false or incorrect address and plot them on the maps so when I go into the field I will know what addresses I need to change and where they are all located. I didn’t realize how many addresses change or are incorrect, because it took me a long time to accurately plot all of the addresses. I had to take my time on this portion because for each address that is incorrect when it comes time for the census, the county will lose $2,800 dollars for each incorrect address. So I couldn’t rush that part. It felt great to be doing something this important because it makes you feel like you’re really contributing.   –Posted by Chris Martin

6/3/06
I’ve been looking forward to this experience since my first semester at Wittenberg, when I first heard about the program.  And I have to say thus far the experience has exceeded my greatest hopes.  As I have said, I have done analysis work on transit systems before, but it was always basic legwork for a possible extension, like ridership counts.  Here I am being given the lead role in the preliminary stages of a transit expansion–an absolute pipe dream for someone who hasn’t even received his undergraduate degree yet.  Yes, it’s a small system without fixed routes, which is not what I’m used to, but at least it’s real and tangible, as opposed to something that I scribble on paper just for fun.

The staff here has been so wonderful and welcoming.  I have to say, the picnic we had on orientation day really caught me off-guard, they went to so much effort to give us a fantastic meal, they were clearly very excited to have us with them.  I mean, considering that most of them have such a full list of duties as it is, the fact that they can find as much time for us as they have is really amazing.

Right now I am primarily working for the city of Chippewa Falls.  I was given very basic parameters for my project, so this first week I have been primarily feeling out what the question is, before I can really get my teeth into possible answers.  I was asked to “explore possibilities for the expansion of transit service into Lake Hallie.”  Well, this turned out more complicated than it sounds.  First of all, Chippewa Falls and Lake Hallie have a very combative history on a municipal level (the village of Lake Hallie was founded purely to resist annexation efforts by Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire, the entities that make up its northern and southern borders, respectively).  So there isn’t a lot of enthusiasm from some staff members who see Lake Hallie, I think in some respects rightly, as more competition than neighbor. –Posted by Seth Morgan

June 4, 2007
 The start of week two began with more projects and learning. The engineers thought it was important for me to gain experience with month-end payouts. I then got to work with Lori the Fiscal Clerk II. We first took a look at the payables we needed to file. We then entered the accounts into the government financial software and found the specific vendor numbers we needed to bill. The city presents the figures in front of the council to make sure departments aren’t spending funds that weren’t in the budget. After the process is complete we then present the figures to the board and then actually write the checks. Then we began the month-end payouts. We needed to prepare the different journal entries required to make sure things balanced with the bank. It is important to be balanced with the bank at the start of the month or figure out why you are not balanced and fix it. I was amazed that we had to use journal entries to show the different accounts the numbers belonged in. We also used journal entries to make corrections from accounts that accidentally were credited. I thought this was an accounting concept I would never see again! –Posted by Tricia Wendt

Part of the responsibilities of the host local governments is to provide housing.  So, the City of Chippewa Falls and County of Eau Claire have put us up at the Katharine Thomas residence hall on the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire campus.  The hall overlooks the Chippewa River, and a footbridge connects the campus with the old downtown and the county government center.  Kayakers and floaters occasionally drift by, and the fish jump in the morning and early evening providing a peaceful backdrop to our daily activities.

As part of the orientation and welcome ceremonies given to us by the County of Eau Claire and City of Chippewa Falls, we were treated to a picnic brunch complete with Wisconsin brats. Cooking the burgers and brats is Todd Andrews, Senior Planner for Eau Claire County. Next to him is Chippewa Falls City Administrator, Dan Elsass (’73) proudly wearing the Witt T-shirt and cap we gave him upon our arrival. The picnic was held in Eau Claire’s Carson Park next to Carson Stadium where a bronze bust of Henry Aaron sits in front of the entrance. It was here that Aaron made his minor league baseball debut prior to going on to break Babe Ruth’s all-time major league home run record; a record that is about to be broken by Barry Bonds. Of course, Bonds’ accomplishments are somewhat suspect in this age of steroid-infested professional sports. The picnic was a chance for the students to socialize with their new colleagues, and to hear about some of the local culture and history. A major part of the history of the northwoods relates to the logging industry. The Chippewa River flows right through Eau Claire, and was used by the logging companies to float lumber down to sawmills in Eau Claire and further south. In the late 19th century there was no concept of replanting the trees that were cut. So, eventually, when the trees were gone, the logging industry died down. At that time, the land was purchased in many cases by county governments, and through conservation, replanting, and careful management, these forests eventually became a key source of revenue for county governments in the northwestern part of Wisconsin. An important division of county government is the Forestry Division that is responsible for the management of the public forests, and the revenue that comes from the careful harvesting and replanting of the timber. One of the interns, Dylan Owens (’09) will be helping update the City of Chippewa Falls’ Forestry Management plan.