Experience serving the City

Since early 2007, I have been routinely attending meetings of the Plan Commission, Common Council, Finance Committee and Public Safety & Welfare Committee. These are among the most important bodies that directly affect City of Verona residents, and I am keenly familiar with how they operate.

Comprehensive Plan Committee

My first official volunteer service to the City of Verona was on the Comprehensive Plan Committee. The Mayor appointed me, and the Common Council unanimously confirmed me as a member of the committee. Between December, 2007 and August, 2009, I reviewed and fully understood every chapter of the plan, including numerous comments from the public, and participated in making a number of adjustments prior to the plan’s adoption in September. I went above and beyond the call of committee membership by volunteering to help City staff tabulate results from one of the surveys and by helping our Planning Director perform copy editing on a few of the chapters before final adoption. I felt that these functions were important and worthy of some extra time and effort. My service on this committee officially ended on September 14, 2009 when the Common Council adopted the plan that we had assembled.

Zoning Board of Appeals

On May 12, 2008, I was appointed by the Mayor to serve on the Zoning Board of Appeals, and was unanimously confirmed by the Common Council. Our duty is to examine requests for zoning variances, which are exceptions to the zoning rules. These can be requested when situations arise that put an unintentional hardship on the property owner, through no fault of their own. We must consider each variance request to determine whether the intent of the law is still followed even if the letter of the law is unreasonable in the given case. I continue to serve on this body.

Plan Commission

I joined the Plan Commission on September 22, 2008, again by Mayoral appointment and unanimous confirmation of the Common Council. I feel that this is one of the most important roles for an appointed citizen to serve because it directly guides Verona’s growth and redevelopment activities. I look forward to the arrival of the materials for each meeting and I spend much of the weekend studying, researching related issues and touring the properties that we will be discussing. For example, my children and I spent most of New Year's Day 2009 driving to three other Dane County communities to view existing examples of a development that was being proposed for Verona. I don't view this as giving up personal free time - rather, I view it as using my personal free time to do things that are important to my community and me.

I continue to serve on the Plan Commission until a suitable replacement steps forward to take my place.

Alderman for District 4

I was sworn in to elected office on April 20, 2010 after prevailing in the Spring election. My highest priority is public safety because we have nothing if we do not feel safe in our own community. A close second is making sure we get our money's worth out of the tax dollars that we pay to the City. I currently serve on the Public Safety & Welfare Committee and the Ethics Board.