House regulation and the City Manager’s report were the key topics of the Whitewater Common Council meeting on April 15.
Washington County executive Josh Schoemann was the first speaker talking about next generation housing. Schoemann explained how housing is in dire need of more supply, stating that “We’re in a crisis that we’ve created.”
He explained that the ability to build many types of housing has been regulated away. In short, the request was made for deregulation, citing that because of regulations and the recession, some people were unable to purchase homes quick enough, resulting in their lives slowing down. The request is meant to prevent this from happening in the future.
Schoemann called owning a home “the single greatest generational wealth builder in America.”
The request for deregulation was accompanied by several graphics illustrating how the cost of building a home is increasing dramatically. Four increasing costs include land costs, interest rates, construction cost per square foot and building permit fees. Schoemann described that most times, the cause of these cost increases were because of local regulations and local fees.
City Manager John Weidl delivered the city manager’s report. Highlights from this report include the following:
The water department is working on meter change outs and diagnosing other problems.
Detective Kevin Gowan, who specializes in digital forensics, homicide and death investigations, narcotics investigations, evidence collection and ICAC investigations has accepted employment at the police department. It was noted that he will be a “tremendous asset” to the force.
Over 30 patrol officer applications were received, and written tests are currently being administered to those who applied. This comes after an increase of funding was approved in the recent election, in which human resources processed a total of 1,167 absentee ballots.
The Irving L Young Memorial Library received a $5,000 Library Improvement and Innovation from the Bridges Library System.
Make a Difference Day will include six volunteers going to the library in order to move various boxes of necessities.
Meetings have already taken place to discuss the demolition of buildings on 216 E. Main St., 108 Main St. and 126 Jefferson St. The buildings are all scheduled for demolition by the end of May.
House regulations seemed to be the most imperative topic of the night, with the request to deregulate housing before costs become unfathomably high.
