Legal Documents for County Economic Development Corporations

Hi folks-

We are at the very early stages of considering forming a County Economic Development Corp but may have the opportunity to move the process along quickly if some funding comes through. If you have participated in the formation of an EDC and are willing to share your startup budget as well as any early incorporation documents I would greatly appreciate it! I've been asked to prepare a startup budget for a meeting on Wednesday so I have a short timeline. Thanks for your help.

Best- Laura Brown
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Laura Brown
Community & Economic Development Educator
Crawford County UW Cooperative Extension
225 N. Beaumont Road, Suite 240 Prairie du Chien, WI 53821 608-326-0224 Fax: 608-326-0226
laura.brown@ces.uwex.edu www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/crawford

Places and Signage Request from Jim Resick

Colleagues,

I am considering submitting a JCEP workshop proposal, tentatively entitled “A Lighter Look at Wisconsin Place Names & Signage”. Would you have some pictures of humorous (even semi-humorous) signage and maybe some take-off’s on your local place names to share with me? This project will not happen without your support. I will certainly list the names of contributors in the ‘credits’ slide.

In this time of human tragedy, global warming, tight budgets, high unemployment and other sorrows, I hope we can respond seriously to the world’s needs but still keep a sense of humor. Appropriate humor can help us keep a sense of balance in our lives, in my opinion.

Thanks, and have a good weekend.

Jim

James H. Resick
Community Development Educator
Outagamie County UW-Extension
3365 W. Brewster St.
Appleton, WI 54914
Phone: 920-832-5122Fax: 920-832-47

TDR request from Bill Rizzo

Colleagues:

A new Dane County group working on local food system issues is looking for educational materials for use in educating citizens and local government officials on the topic of transfer of development rights. I'd appreciate your forwarding to me examples of any such materials you may have or use, or pointing me toward same.

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Best regards and Happy Holidays!

Bill

Dave Berard request: local examples of comp planning newsletters, fact sheets, or websites

Colleagues,

Sorry for the broadcast e-mail, but I am looking for local examples of comp planning newsletters, fact sheets, or websites directed at responding to frequently asked questions. Examples might be:

Ø How is our comp planning related to our zoning ordinances?
Ø What does the consistency requirement mean?
Ø What if our town comp plan is different from our neighboring town or the county?
Ø How can the comp plan be changed after it is developed?
Ø Etc.

After attending the information sessions regarding Sawyer County’s comp plan this next month, I hope to compile the questions and put together an information piece. If you have an example would you please reply directly to me rather than the CNRED all list.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

David A. Berard
Sawyer County UWEX
10610 Main Street
Hayward, Wisconsin 54843
715-634-4830
715-638-3236 (direct line)
715-634-6820(fax)

County Fair Surveys

Greetings,

I'm seeking examples of face-to-face interview surveys of county fair attendees. If you are aware of any county fair surveys of county fair goers in your county, I would very much appreciate you sending me a copy of the survey.

Thanks,

Tim Kane, Community Development Educator
Bayfield County UW-Extension Office
Courthouse, PO Box 218
Washburn, WI 54891
(715) 373-6104 ext 254
timothy.kane@ces.uwex.edu

Community Area Networks/Broadband

As some of you aware, the federal government will be spending about $7.2 billion shortly to provide grants and loans to areas that are unserved or underserved by broadband. $3.75 billion in grants is currently available via the National Telecom & Information Agency. Many groups and individuals in Wisconsin are scurrying to meet the very short deadlines. One initiative titled "Go Gig" here in Wisconsin will be focusing on constructing the "middle mile" fiber in the first wave of funding. However, phase 2 grant proposals (later this year), and phase 3 (2010) will focus on the building of some pilot Community Area Networks (CAN). CAN's could best be described as coordinated regional communication infrastructure which promotes innovation, competition and economic viability. A community could be defined as a city, County, region, or some other geographic region.

I am interested in hearing from our County CNRED faculty and staff about your knowledge of local discussions regarding CAN's or simply the provision of broadband services. If you have been involved in these efforts, I would also like to learn more about how you have been involved. Some CAN discussions have already taken place in Platteville, Kenosha, Eau Claire, River Falls, Superior, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Wausau, Stevens Point, La Crosse, Madison, Janesville, Whitewater, and Milwaukee. Obviously, many of these communities would be viewed as being served by broadband, but one doesn't have to venture far outside of these cities to reach underserved areas. But, I am also interested in hearing about communities that are far more remote than these that have had serious discussion about how they might pool resources to create CAN's. These are the kind of communities that would be well positioned to be written in to these grants.

So here is your chance to inform me of your local initiatives. For more information on "Go Gig", see: http://wire.wiscnet.net/go-gig-broadband-stimulus-information/

Andy

Municipal Utility Service Rates (Karl Green)

Good Morning CNRED,

I received a request from a local City planner asking if there is any sort of data base that displays municipal utility services and payment amounts for activities such as stormwater, refuse & recycling, fire, transportation, streets, etc.

This community in particular will see a 14% decrease in shared revenue from the State, and is considering the idea of segregating some of its services as a utility/enterprise fund, as opposed to keeping it on the general ledger.

Any suggestions to illustrate what various municipalities have done would be most helpful. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Karl Green
Assistant Professor, Department of Community Resource Development
La Crosse County UW-Extension
400 4th Street North
La Crosse, WI 54601
Telephone: 608-785-9763
Fax: 608-789-4808