Absolutely we should have a say. We are paying for it! Just because officials are elected doesn't mean they get blank checks. I trust them with the everyday smaller items. I want to trust them with the big projects but only if the big projects are a true necessity as determined by the people of this city. I disagree that referendums will get in the way of progress - if something is a good idea it will still be a good idea 3 months from now. In my opinion there is no large project that requires an overnight sense of urgency. It has to be thought out properly. Yes, we all want Oak Creek to be a great city that will at times create a need for large capital projects but we must be fiscally responsible as we grow.

I thought the reason Mr. Bolander was re-elected Mayor was to help save the taxes in Oak Creek and not tax us residents out of Oak Creek. So has anyone actually stepped in the halls of Oak Creek High School during the day???? These poor students have no room in the halls, but yet Mr. Bolanders first concern is for a new city hall, and library. What right do they have not to get voter's approval?????? How about getting better resources as in up-to-date books and movies instead of worrying about the outside of the building and "how it looks"!!!!!!!

Of course the public should have a say. Your mayor disagrees as does Toman. I support the Direct Legislation ordinance which was repealled. We should have a referendum on all major construction projects, as does the school system. The Direct Legislation cost OCCA $12,000 in legal fees in it's creation and the city $75,000 to oppose. Alll six aldermen voted against the people. In their defense allow me to remind you this happened before the City Administrator was fired. Also, district aldermen from one, two, three, and five were not on the council when the Direct Legislation was orginally passed. Only Michalski, Toman and Bolender knew the history and objected from the onset. Could it be that the administrator was fired for giving the new council members false financial information on the mitigation funding to be used to fund capital projects? I suspect so. If so, this matter needs to be brought before the council again for council members reconsideration in an attempt to salvage their integrity. They need to prove their worth and accountability to the residents of the city.

Is it easier to bribe or threaten six people, or 32,000 folks? Yes, the voters should vote on the spending of $2.5 million or more. To sell the proerty that is discussed above would be a crime. That property was given, free of charge, to the city if Oak Creek for Public use only. Do not sell that property to another strip mall, etc. Keep that property sacred as it should be. Respect the wishhes of the deceased. My house is 55 years old. Has 3 roofs, 3 heating units, remodled kitchen, and bath room, sided 3 times, and maintained. There are many old school houses still standing in oak creek, and being used to this day. IF the present city hall is in bad shape it is the 6 alderperson who should have made sure the building was maintained. If the council can not maintain a building, what makes any one think they can spend $2.5 million wisely? What better place than to have the Oak Creek city hall, than in the heart of Oak Creek? Thanks: Ralph

I've lived in Oak Creek for more than 40 years. I remember when the city was run by so called farmers. They looked out for the people of Oak Creek. Now we have a bunch of yuppies that want everything new. The disposable generation. Get rid of the old and get new. They have no reguard on who is going to pay for it. I feel that the city should have a referendum on any kind of spending. I also feel that the senior citizens of Oak Creek ( that maintained the city so Milwaukee did not anex it) are being pushed out . They no longer can afford to live here on Social Security.

Should the citizens of Oak Creek have a say in where "their" dollars are being spent, yes!! The public had a say in the building of the new Police Station, Fire Station #3, and also the Streets garage. Why should this be any different? We Energies money must be used for other large scale projects, not just municipal buildings that don't generate revenue, and are tax exempt. The Mayor and Council need to slow this process down and REALLY listen to what the people want.... has anyone ever asked us?

The mayor and the Common Council should take note of what just happened to health care in Washington when the democrats refused to listen to the people. You can easily be elected right out of office next time if you keep ignoring our wishes. You are elected by us with a responsibility to listen to our concerns! And by the way, Mr. Mayor, pounding on the table and yelling at Oak Creek citizens during a Common Council meeting it not a good sign of a leader who should be trusted with multi-million dollar projects. Average citizens don't come to meetings to watch that type of behavior.

Years ago Mayor Dale Richards always believed that city government should "pay as you go". It worked. Funds were placed on a yearly basis for city hall, library and all fire stations. Over the years those funds have been used for other budget wishes. The Mayor and those that ran for public office in 1st, 3rd and 5th Districts stated they would listen to the public, hold meetings etc BEFORE making their decisions. That has not happened, why??? In less than 9 months, promises are being broken, why? The School District has Referendum's for public projects, should the city be any different? This is a huge project, requiring millions and millions of dollars to be spent, and to use 99% of those funds to build municipal buildings is wrong. The people have a right in this case to go to referendum - 4 large buildings, costs of lands etc. The Mayor and all council member's should be rethinking this over. To watch what went on at the Council meeting on Jan 19 was disgraceful. The public was belittled, yelled at by the Mayor, unacceptable.

I was at the council meeting the night this was voted on,I felt ashamed for the taxpayers of Oak Creek The Mayor throwing a fit and hollering at people who dare question him . We also have aldermen who talk down to people and think we are a bunch of rednecks because we want to stand up for are rights of taxpayers by being able to vote on captial projects that involve millions of taxpayer dollars.This W.E. energy money would be better spent paying off all of the loans that the city has out along with the schools.loans At one time this city was govern by people with intergity and common sense and payed as we went. WE now have a city run by a Mayor that has a ego problem and aldermen who think they are smarter then the taxpayer .We now have a case of the city getting rid of the city administrator if you read between the lines the Mayor wants to be appointment full time so he has complete control he already controls the aldermen. Maybe its time to start a recall as we did with the county board who thought they were above reproach.

The residents of the City of Oak Creek should always have a say in their government, and it is the responsibility of the Mayor and all members of the Common Council to listen, and then act appropriately . Where and when has there been an appropriate public venue to discuss this matter, PRIOR to the above being passed on 1/19/2010 ? None to my knowledge. I find it extremely interesting that this Council not only managed to pass a $40 million plus project, but needed to change language in the prior ordinance so dramatically, to get this accomplished. In past Council's this has never been needed or required. Why now? It seems fairly obvious. This is an extremely ambitious project, with very little input from the public up to this point. Now, with the dismissal of the City Administrator, I am concerned that there is absolutely NO leadership between the Elected and Appointed Officials! So to sum it up, YES, the public must always be given transparency and "unbiased" factual information, before moving ahead with any large scale projects. The School District is required to do this, and so should City government in Oak Creek.

I, for one, am tired of living in a community known for its Mayor who throws temper tantrums and a common council that is not for the people. Common sense should have prevailed ~ If you have to repeal and recreate a section of the Municipal Code AND you terminate the City Administrator ALL within a 7 day period ~ Does it not raise a red flag? Oak Creek Common Council Members ~ you are supposed to be voice of the residents of your district ~ Its time you start using it! As was promised during the past election, dont raise our taxes, provide the transparancy we were promised, AND place capital projects up for a referendum.

Let me first congratulate Alderman Ken Gehl. His lone vote was brave and I am so glad I voted for him. The Common Council giving themselves exclusive authority sounds a bit medieval. The elected "lords" shall rule over the peasants and change the rules as they see fit. I agree that our City buildings need to be addressed but it appears that the anointed ones...our elected officials...do not care what the people think. It is frightening that the Mayor and Common Council changed the rules so they could take FORTY MILLION dollars and spend as they like and feel that they need zero public input. Guess we don't deserve a Saturday morning coffee chat if our fearless leaders don't want to hear about it. Shame on you Mayor Bolender, and most of the Common Council.

Absolutely, any large expenditures should be okayed by the people who pay the bill!

All the people are asking for is to be given a chance to say publicly where they would lik to see some of the We Energies dollars going. Some could go for the debt of municipal buildings, but not all of it. Please rethink this, and take the action to reverse the decision that was made on Jan 19 . This was a 5-1 vote. Too bad that the few conservative voices are no longer on the council.

Yes the city is right to go ahead with this plan if you put every thing to a vote that cost money for a election and may fail the city hall is OLD and needs to be replaced Oak Creek has becomed a nice city needs a new city hall to show case the city.

Fifteen comments only one against the people and in support of the councils action to oppose the Direct Legislation. Verhalen surely is not going to allow this to happen. We don't need another expensive law suit were already being sued by a resident with a good case over violation of his property rights.The council needs to take reconsideration action. Who is Nicholas Stanik? A Wal Mart, meat cutter from Phoenix, Arizona; the lone voice in support of a Council that does not act in accordance with the voice of the people? We don't need more debt. We need an avenue to control the council. A council that fails to find ways to control rising annual spending costs. A council t hat historically finances city employee and departmental spending without demanding department heads cut costs. Give me the red strike spending pen. If we ran our households as they run our city we'd all be in foreclosure and bankruptcy. Rosemarie

I can not believe that the people of council and the mayor truly believe that they are above the people that elected them! Since when should the constituants of a community not have a say so in how there tax dollars are being spent. This shows blatent disregard for the citizens of Oak Creek. What happen to all of the promises of our candidates. The words were directly spoken that there was not going to be a new city hall, not now, it was not an affordable thing right now. Well so much for that. We have all been mislead and now they expect that we should trust them with millions of taxpayers dollars. The WE Engergies monies was suppose to help the community. May be, just may be , one of the council members would have thought this could have given the citizens a break on their property taxes. No, its all about how they can spend with no input from the community. The council and Mayor should be ashamed of their behavior. They are not above the citizens of Oak Creek and should consider listening to what the people have to say.

Reading the comments in the forum,I,am amazed at the attitude of the Mayor and aldermen when I attend the the debates the candidates were all for the voice of the people and open govenrment ,what happen ??Then we have the Mayor with his comments no new city hall we cannot afford it at the present time ,so much for that .Reading on the termination of the city administrator the Mayor was at the discussion on getting rid of him ,i,ll bet he had his hands all over this one from what i have heard there was a big conflict of interest, The mayor is a control freak,look what happen to the last administrator less the 3 months on the job ,had to buy out her contract to get rid of her. We have the same with the common council the mayor has them all under his thumb ,We as taxpayers should demand that we have a vote on the capital projects that involve millions of taxpayer dollars. CALL YOUR ALDERMEN AND DEMAND THAT THIS ORDINANCE BE REPEALED

I have lived in Oak Creek for many years, and each year I am more disgusted with the Common Council, and worse yet, the mayors behavior. We. as citizens of Oak Creek, have elected officials that are supposed to represent our values and our interests. Time and time again, these officials have chose to disregard the citizens wishes. This needs to stop. I DID NOT vote for the incumbants, and I wish that more Oak Creek voters would have taken the time to be better informed at election time. Unfortunately, anyone who did vote for the mayor and "his" council, now must pay the price. As the mayor stated in NOW, if you don't agree, show us at election time. I agree with Dimity, we need a recall of this broken, irresponsible government in Oak Creek. Sign me up.

I have lived in Oak Creek for many years, and time again I have been disgusted by the elected officials behavior. This last stunt is appaling. The common council continuely disregards the wishes of the citizens, and retracts their promises they had made at election time. The vote should go to the public regarding spending in the city. The Mayor stated several times at election time that the new city buildings were not urgent. Tax relief for the citizens is urgent. Why not ask us what want and need in this city. How about the declared Emergency Prepardness plan the city announced. Put some of the money towards housing relief for disasters, flooding, power outages. Why not support a food bank for Oak Creek taxpayers laid off and unemployed in these difficult times. The voters are not trying to "hinder" forwarding the city, we are concerned with "forwarding" the citys debt. I, for one, DID NOT vote for the incumbant mayor and "his" council. It's unfortunate that the voters of Oak Creek did not pay better attention at election time, and now turn towards Mark VerHalen to not "allow" this blantant disregard for the citizens to happen. The mayor has stated that if we don't like it, we can bring it up at election time. I agree with Dimity, move forward with a recall. Sign my up, I'm in!

The problem with our elected officials is their arrogance, from Washington to Madison to Oak Creek. I was in City Hall not too long ago to pay my rather large property tax bill and realize this building may not be a "state of the art" facility but it is functional. Hopefully the voters in the 4th district will speak loudly and clearly for all of us. Our elected officials have no right to decide when and what to build in our city without the taxpayers input. And yes we may say no just like we do to ourselves and our children in these very tough times.

The Mayor is an idiot. I've been to the Common Council meetings and the Mayor is an embarrassment. Until people start paying attention to what is happening at these meetings, we get what we vote for, idiots.

The next question should be, "Should the residents have a say in the City's selling of city property?" That is what this is all about. Where are they planning to rebuild the city hall? Hopefully at the same corner. I wonder? What was the direct legislation that the "Oak Creek Citizen Action" group introduced all about? At their cost of $12,000. (If U R not a member of OCCA, join them NOW.) Please, Do NOT change the north east corner of Puetz & Howell into another strip mall. Thank You

This past sat. their was a listening session at city hall for people in aldermen Scaffide district. From what numerous people told me it was real interesting, the people got to say their piece about what they thought about the idea off not giving them a vote on high end city projects,as always the mayor who was not invited showed up and tried to control the meeting and not let anyone speak, this was not a council meeting and he got put in his place buy aldermen Scaffied. The Mayor then tried to place the blame on the fired city administer for the ordinance,passing the buck as always. Question why don,t the rest of the aldermen have a listening session they might learn something ,isn,t that there job???

Wrong decision. Where a referendum is overkill, I think more community input is required on expenses of this magnitude.

Somehow it doesn't seem right that Oak Creek alderman changed an ordinance for anything over 2.5 million to go to a referendum for voter's approval. We the citizens of Oak Creek put this in...the alderman should not have changed it so they can build a new City Hall. If they are so sure we all would want it, put it to a referendum. I for one will not vote for anyone who flipped this ordinance...it is not in the best interest of the citizens of Oak Creek.

RECALL THE MAYOR!!! Sign me up. Our mayor does not have the qualifications or know how to act in a public forum, yet alone be mayor. He doesn't care what the citizens of our city want - he is only interested in his own personal agenda. LETS RECALL OUR BELLIGERENT MAYOR before he can do anymore damage as he continues to destroy what we have left!

Ok, I'll step up to the plate. I will agree to organize a recall of the mayor "IF" Sixty Oak Creek Residents agree to work their part in obtaining the signatures required in the timeline provided. A recall effort will require only ten residents to sign up per district. . Residents circulating petitions are able to cross district lines through out the city. Boundary lines for circulation will be drawn and deviled. To participate contact: rannonson@wi.rr.com I would hope Dimity and OCCA will assist. Circulation target date may not begin until fifty days prior to Mayor Bolender's first year of new term of office. Approximately the second week of March. I fully agree Mayor Bolender is a threat to the city. Rosemarie

What planet are these board members from? Do they think no one is paying attention? I cannot believe what they are doing or the B.S. rationalization for their action. Do they really think they can get a "blank check" to forge ahead on these high dollar projects, even though we as a city are going broke? (Can you say: un-funded health care liability . . )

Yes, absolutely, the citizens of Oak Creek should have a say in this kind of spending. When we elect officials to office, we do not intend for them to become the almightly powerful, while we become the powerless. Mayor Dick Bolender should be ousted from his mayoral seat. Mayor Bolender is out of line. There would definitely be a better showing of citizens at these meetings, if he wasn't such a control freak and would allow the people to speak. I believe that we should all start showing up at these meetings and give our piece of mind. Mayor Bolender's behavior is inexcusable and disrespectful to the people of Oak Creek. Dick Bolender, your arrogance is not welcome here. RECALL MAYOR BOLANDER!!! I'LL HELP GET THE PETITIONS SIGNED!!!!!!!!!

This city has gotten too big for it's britches. The people pay taxes to live in the city, so they do have a right to vote for the better of the city. The city wants to buy taxpayers homes because they don't meet the CITY'S beautiful look to drum in more business for their revenue, but in this economic time, not everyone can buy a new home or keep one up to their expectations. Gentrification should not be allowed in this day and age of hard times.

Where do I get information on a recall? First Bolender bullies the common council and now he breaks a tie vote for a tatoo parlor in the old Dinner by Design. HAS BOLENDER LOST HIS MIND?!?!? Nothing says class like a tatoo parlor on "Main Street". Lord help us if he is left in charge for much longer.

There are so many things brought up here that I agree with. First, I was so mad when I didn't make it to try to vote out Toman last week. I will be voting in April. He and Bolander have slapped the citizens of Oak Creek in the face by taking away our say in where that money goes. Has anybody looked at the Lake front lately?! We are sitting on a gold mine and those farmers won't change anything. We need to put some money there, get rid of those old factory buildings. Has anybody been to Blue Harbor yet? Take a drive up there, walk along the lake, go in and see the beautiful resort with water park hotel, ande conference rooms. If we could get something like that here with the rail station and shops around it, it would be a gold mine. I am with Rosemarie, let's get rid of Bolander. He just wines about what Franklin has and goes off on Oak Creek citizens that want a voice in what happens to our city!

we ( the Voters and tax payers ) ARE THE GOVERNMENT! The politicians who voted in favor of having the option to act on their own and shove down our throats projects that we pay for out of our hard earned money need to be voted out and replaced with people who remember that THEY work for the people not for themselves. Oak Creek government is going the wrong direction with closed door meetings and this new ordinance that could easily lead to unchecked spending and in turn higher tax bills..... either we take action at the polls or we cant complain when our tax bills go up.....

I respectively would like the next forum question to be, Does Oak creek need a new library?

The wife and I visit the library at least 2 times a month and have been there at different times of the day and evening and also on the week end if their are 15 people in the library it,s a crowed. The problem with the heating unit,s would of been caught if they had done maintaince on the building but as all city building the money that is put aside for it is soon used to fund new toys for the city workers.

Cal, I think your question is too limited. It's not only does OC need a new Library, but why does OC need a new Library and what can the Library Board do to contribute their fair share to funding of a new Library. Remember, the library board, not the city owns the Library and all assets When Cudahy built their new Library the city and library board agreed that the Library would contribute to building costs. Cudahy only has one librarian. The O.C. Library budget for fiscal year 2010 is $814,000. $627,390 is employee cost. Were top heavy in the employment of master degree librarians and the fancy secretarial position created about six years ago that should not have been created If the Library Board were cost conscious they would cut all librarian positions except that of the head librarian and could save roughly 300,000 per year. Do the math Cal. Self Proclaimed, Conservative Alderman, Mike Toman has sat on the Library Board for seven years. There he sat and nothing more. He states we need a new library, if you don't like it vote us out. Considering today's economy even if we desire a new Library the cost and indebtedness should force one to consider need rather than want. We could abolish the meeting room and turn it into a computer area giving more space to the general adult library section. We could remove a few of the large tables that I've never seen in full use in fact it's rare to see them in use at all. In short, we can create a bit more useful space in the current building that has to hold us over for the next five to seven years until we pull out of the depression were currently experiencing.

My question, do we need a new library, is a simple question designed hopefully to get an answer from the people of Oak Creek as to what thier wishes are, it's a simple yes or no answer.

I agree with Sue...Get rid of Bolander...Stop taking away citizens' voice.....

I believe the people should have a choice and that they should be given the pros and cons for the construction and not just the cost. Too many may just vote bases on how it affects their taxes.