Whitewater City Manager John Weidl and Whitewater Common Council President Lisa Dawsey Smith held a coffee meet and greet at the Whitewater Municipal Building second floor conference on April 5 at 1 to 3 p.m. The Whitewater Police Chief Daniel Meyer, Whitewater Police Officer Saul Valadez, Steve O’s Bar owner Steve Fairchild, and Community Development Authority Vice Chairman James Allen all came to get coffee to meet with the community to strengthen their bonds with the community. This is the second quarterly coffee meet and greet that they are doing, and they do these events to help the community understand each city official member more and why they want to make a difference in the community. 

The importance of each of these meet and greets are to meet with the Whitewater leaders, understand why they do, and how they get here to be who they are as city leaders in Whitewater. 

“This isn’t some hide behind the curtains like the Wizard of Oz, we are a bunch of hard working people working to make a difference in the community. This helps the community understand the city officials more to understand why they want to make a difference and the Whitewater community helped me get that chance to get accessibility to help make a difference better,” said Whitewater Common Council President Lisa Dawsey Smith.

There are reasons on what inspires each of these community leaders to go make a difference are what drives them to do great things for the community and pushes them to do better.

“Everyday there’s local government here helping the city with incidents, the dirty water in town, landmarks, taxes, and many other issues all worked in their offices by these government locals. That is what inspires me, which is all of their hard work with the differences they make everyday,” said Whitewater City Manager John Weidl. 

There were the origins of how each city leader became where they are today and how they got here. 

“I worked at a golf resort for a couple of years and I also attended the University of Whitewater when I was younger. I always liked this town, and the locals here. I liked making drinks and food. This place was the perfect place for me so here I am today,” said Steve O’s Bar owner Steve Fairchild. 

“I originally was going to become a math engineer in college until I saw how much of a difference being a police officer is and I went into the academy, and here I am today. There was a change of position over the years but it was the need to do good, to give service to the community, and influence positivity,” said Whitewater City Police Chief Daniel Meyer.

While they were at the event drinking coffee, and eating cookies they each talked to each other about the events in the community they are involved in, some of the things they enjoy about the community, and what they are hoping to see more in the future. Kellie Carper Executive Director of Discover Whitewater Tourism and Chamber of Commerce thinks it would be fun if there were fun unique restaurants from different cultures, says from experience being from Bloomington College where there were so many unique cuisines. Valadez says the food truck in Whitewater has the best cheese curds he’s ever had. And Steve Fairchild says that his biggest problem right now is advertising to get through people to come out to his events at his business. 

These coffee meet and greets are a place to help understand why city officials are who they are, understand what makes them do what they want to do by making a difference, and how they get here today. They want to continue more of these events to help strengthen their bonds with the community.