Department Updates

Library

Here at the Library, there is some exciting news—having been closed since the pandemic began, we have now re-opened our Early Learning Center (ELC)!

The ELC is an hands-on experience area for infants and children where they are welcome to play, learn and grow through the imagination stations.

Children can shop or work in the store, cook in the kitchen, put on a show in the puppet theater or mow the indoor lawn. We look forward to the new and returning faces that are ready to explore all the fun things the ELC has to offer.

Planning & Development

The Planning & Development Department continues to work on the Village’s Commercial Zoning Update, which seeks to clarify desired business occupants and introduce form-based building requirements for new development along the commercial corridors. Public review of the draft code is expected in mid-fall, with adoption likely to be considered in early 2023.

In addition to their routine operations, the Building Inspectors are reviewing permit requests and preparing for inspections of the two new commercial developments that will be under construction at Capitol and Stowell and Oakland and Lake Bluff this fall. Enforcement staff will seek to wrap up outstanding building and site issues within the construction season.

Police Department

This summer the Shorewood Police Department welcomed two new officers to our ranks, Officer Gabrielle Mauch and Captain Mark Wroblewski.

Officer Mauch previously worked as an officer for the Milwaukee Police Department for five years and she is looking forward to using her experience to further the excellent work of the officers of the Shorewood PD.

Captain Wroblewski has over 30 years of law enforcement experience with the Milwaukee PD and Town of East Troy Police Department and is looking forward to his leadership role with the Village. Please join us in giving them a warm welcome to Shorewood!

Public Works

In August, the Public Works sadly said goodbye to our Assistant Director Joel Kolste. He is leaving behind some big shoes to fill, and we wish him the best in his new endeavor.

Vanguard Utility also left the village this summer, ending their work as the contractor in charge of installing the new AMI water meters. The remaining installations are being done by Utility staff, who completed 115 in the month of August alone along with all of their other normal duties.

After a few minor delays, work on the eleven alleys to be reconstructed is proceeding. The group A alleys are completely reopened while it is expected that groups B, C, and D will finish in the month of September. Construction on the group E alleyways should be completed in the fall.

Similarly, MMSD’s construction of the Edgewood Avenue Near Surface Collector is well underway. While the set up in River Park takes a great deal of space, the Horticulture department has done an excellent job of otherwise keeping the park open to residents using the baseball diamond and the soccer field.

Once again, we had an excellent crop of summer help to assist with these endeavors. A big ‘thank you’ to Allison, Isabella, Jonathan, Andrew, Nick and DJ!

Senior Resource Center

The Senior Resource Center add staff: The SRC will be welcoming Erica as our new Program Coordinator in September. She brings the skill and experience to help expand the SRC and we look forward to working with her.

In-Person programming: as we continue to ramp up coming out of the pandemic, the SRC is looking forward to offering more in-person programming. We are excited to see many more smiling faces at our popular exercise, tech tutoring, social and educational programs.

Finance

The Finance Department has been working with department heads over the past several weeks to help develop the proposed 2023 budget. Budgets are developed using the current revenue and expenditure trends within the various Village departments to help determine what will be needed in 2023 in order to continue to provide the current levels of services. Any proposed service enhancements or other new departmental needs are also reviewed by the department heads to consider for inclusion into the following year’s budget.

The initial 2023 proposed budget includes a 2.5% cost of living adjustment for most staff. While insurance costs are not yet known, history tells us that using an estimate of about a 5% per year increase is typical. However, in the past 2 years, the Village has had no cost increases so we are awaiting the release of the 2023 rates with keen interest.

The 2023 proposed budget overview was presented to the Village Board on Monday, September 19 at their regularly scheduled meeting. Individual department budgets and capital requests will be reviewed at the Monday, October 3 Board meeting. The Finance Committee will make their recommendation to the Village Board on Monday, October 10, with the final budget considered for approval after a public hearing held on Monday, November 21.

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