The start of October brings the first Whitewater Common Council meeting of the month. The meeting lasted approximately two hours, not including two closed sessions. Many community members were in attendance in-person and virtually, with the meeting being shared virtually via Zoom. 

Many items were on the agenda including review of ordinances, 2023 salary resolution, administrative considerations, and approval of minutes of the Community Development Authority, past Common Council meetings, and the Parks and Rec and Library boards. Also reviewed were the minutes from a special meeting of the City of Whitewater and the Whitewater Unified School District regarding the Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center. 

The legality and liability of limiting “discount stores” was discussed during the staff reports section of the meeting. 

“Any sort of ordinance that would limit these types of stores from being in Whitewater could make the city susceptible to lawsuits,” said City Attorney Jonathan McDonell. McDonell then suggested using zoning ordinances to prevent these stores from coming to Whitewater. It is unclear what is classified as a “discount store” as different examples were given such as Dollar General, paycheck cashers, and Rent-A-Center. However, these are all different businesses. 

“There are plenty of communities keeping these predatory stores out of their downtown, like Rent-A-Center and auto loans,” said council member James Allen.

“Delavan has a Dollar General that’s not in town at all,” Allen later added. While loan stores with high interest rates and fast cash establishments are of concern, what is the concern with low-cost stores such as Dollar General? No further clarification on the types of stores or reasoning behind limiting these retail locations was given. 

Citizen comments were also heard during the meeting. Ryan Oezer of Whitewater expressed his concerns of limiting development. 

“What’s the harm in development? Falling into the discount category are people like Target. I don’t think they’re very predatory,” said citizen Ryan Oezer of Whitewater. 

“We have gotten more development in the last 13 months than in the previous 13 years. What is wrong with that?”

“We can either be a university with a city in it or a city with a university in it,” Oezer said. A council member not on camera offered to further discuss the matter with Oezer after the meeting but no further comment was made.

Two closed sessions, one at the beginning and end of the meeting, were held. The first was to “Discuss Bargaining and Negotiation strategy related to the contract with the Police Union” according to the agenda. The second was to “Review and Discuss A1 Packaging development agreement” and “Review and discuss possible options for resolution of the Walton excessive real estate tax assessment claim” also according to the agenda. 

The meeting can be viewed via vimeo. The next common council meeting will be held on Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m. For more information and for meeting agendas please visit Whitewater government website.