Politics & Government

Sturtevant President Delivers State of the Village Address

Sturtevant Village President Steve Jansen thinks trustees and village staff are working great together, moving the village forward for a more sustainable future.

Looking at the recent past positives and what he sees as a promising future, Sturtevant Village President Steve Jansen Tuesday delivered his traditional State of the Village Address.

Here's the full text of Jansen's address:

Honorable Trustee’s, Village staff, employees & Village residents:

As many thoughts race through my mind, the one thought I always come back to is, are we on the right track? While many can look at what we do with a cenacle view, many don’t really know, do they? We all have seen it week to week up here, haven’t we? Resident participation only comes when it affects those residents personally. We can look at that in two ways.

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Number one, they trust us in what we try to carry out from year to year, month to month, week to week and day to day. Number two, is that people don’t care, have apathy, feel as if their voice won’t be heard or maybe throw up their hands in a sense that you can’t “fight City hall.”

I feel our Village is on the right path. Over a period of years we’ve gotten our fiscal house in order, eliminated our general fund deficit, our efforts towards limiting property tax increases, made TID improvement that benefit the Village as a whole, helped in creating a friendly environment for businesses to locate & expand within our Village all in while maintaining the level of services that all expect. We’ve reach out & consolidated services when we felt that in the long run in was for our better interest. Examples of that are the sale of our water utility, creation of South Shore Fire & Rescue, Countywide dispatch, Central Racine County Heath department. These consolidations have been to the betterment of our Village & all of us that live here.

All of us should, with an open mind, look upon the horizon for any other potential consolidations that could benefit our Village. Just as with any other consolidation, the two most important goals in mind should be ultimate long term true cost savings & levels of service.

Let’s talk about the general state of the economy. Are things truly getting better?

We hear all around about the recovery of the economic meltdown that’s occurred. Yes, while I believe things have stabilized, don’t tell that to the person who just lost their job, or have lost their home, changed jobs, like myself, retired folks, and younger folks. Like all the rest of us were dealing with the ever hire cost of living whether it be food, gas, clothing, everywhere you
look, prices are increasing, but yet wages are stagnate or going down. Those now in the Public sector of employment are dealing with larger co-pay’s in health insurance & pension cost just like all of us in the private sector. Nobody has been spared from what we see happening among us.

Look at what’s happen to property values! We as a local faction of Government really on those values in order to fund the day to day operations of all the services that residents need & rely on. The double edge sword is that decreasing property values doesn’t lead towards lower property taxes as the mill rate needs to be increased to offset those reduced values in order to pay for the functions of Government. Until & only until the reverse and the increasing values of all property occur, we will see a true stabilization in the mill rate.

Not all is dire. In 2011 out of the 800 or so jobs that were created in Racine County, our Village was responsible for over 700 of those placements. It’s because of companies like Andis, Ruud, BRP & a host of others that was possible. I’m grateful for the confidence that they have shown in our Village to expand & locate here as this has given countless opportunities too many. Many of whom reside within our Village. In 2012 it looks as if Gateway will undertake a major expansion in its efforts to educate our next generation. Farm & Fleet, which has been a mainstay along Hwy 11, will be undergoing a major upgrade & small expansion. Thank you!

In closing, let’s look at the two questions I asked at the beginning.

Number one. I feel the residents do trust us in the dealing of Village business on a day to day basis. We need to continue that effort.

Number two. Efforts need to be made to let those who feel their voice isn’t heard is heard. We are no different than them. The only difference is we serve. It’s our job to make sure that all voices are heard, recognize and dealt with in a trusting and professional manner.

Thank you also to our staff! Village Administaror Janiuk. You are a pro! Thank you for the leadership you’ve provided this board & Village. It’s been a nice a run! I appreciate everything that you’ve done for our Village! I know you’re looking at other opportunities, I’m ok with that. Good luck in which way the winds blow for you!

Village Clerk Cole, You have grown! You do an outstanding job with the role as Village clerk! Thank you for all you do! I know your job isn’t easy, but you do it! I’m very grateful for the service you provide along with Gary & Char. They too deserve out thanks and gratitude.

Chief Marschke, thank you for doing much more with less! Hopefully the day will come we are able to hire another officer or two. In the meantime, you have the backing of this board to continue the law enforcement efforts within our Village. Like you always remind us, we had more officers when you started and our population was 3500, than we do today with a population of 6970.

DPW director Stachowski, Chuck. Thank you too for doing much more with less. We’ve given you the tools to help in the fact you have less manpower than years past. I too hope someday we’ll be able to find a way to increase the manpower within your department. The men you have today do a great job whether it’s plowing snow or taking care of the things that some people don’t see. Thank you! The Board also has your backing in the things you want to see
accomplished as director.

Trustees. Thank you for your service and dedication. I’m glad we're not Milwaukee, Chicago or even Racine for that matter. Politics is all local, as my Dad use to tell me. We have the capability of working together, if we choose, to do the rightful things to push our Village in a forward direction. The issues that we must deal with, shouldn’t diminish the reasons why we are here, to serve, listen, respond, legislate, with the understanding that “one size doesn’t fit all” and be flexible to those needs and wants for those we represent. It’s our duty to listen, engage, understand, help and most importantly, be good stewards of our community. With that, anything is possible!

Thank you and best wishes to all!

Respectfully Submitted,
Steven D. Jansen, Village President

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