It takes a village

Oconomowoc Focus, Feb. 16, 2006

Jonna Clark, staff writer

Town of Summit - The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child, and the same might be said for building an Aurora hospital as a replacement for Oconomowoc's aging Wilkinson Clinic.

The Town of Summit got a no vote last year from the Waukesha County Board when the town tried to amend its master plan to allow Aurora Health Care to build, leaving it with only lawsuits as options for determining the land use in question.

A village or city, though, does not need the stamp of approval from the county on its land use or zoning amendments.

Hence the town's quest for village status, though the road ahead will not be easy, and not without a hefty cost.

Town Planner Henry Elling said the application fee to the state for consideration of the request will cost $20,000, and he estimated the entire process would cost $150,000.

Legal expenses, engineering, and research and data collection are included in that cost, Elling added.

Elling spelled out the steps the town will have to take in what might be an 18-month process.

The town must first circulate a petition signed by townspeople requesting village status. A certain number of signatures is required based on voting population, Elling said.

Then the petition and application are filed with the circuit court and reviewed.

After that, the state administration board makes a recommendation based on whether the town has shown it meets certain requirements for village status.

Requirements include proof of a developed community center with such features as retail stores, churches, a post office, telecommunications exchange and similar centers of community activity.

Also to be weighed are population density, and the service-level requirements of the residents as compared to the level of services offered by the proposed village or surrounding municipalities.

Elling said that if the town does not meet the state's requirements and its petition is rejected, the town could start the process over or follow in the footsteps of the Town of Caledonia, now a village.

Caledonia, near Racine, failed the state's requirements for village status, but managed to secure its village status by short-circuiting the state administration's procedure.

Caledonia, Elling explained, went straight to the state Legislature and had its village incorporation rolled into a bill that passed, and then went to referendum.

"The final vote does come from the residents of the community," Elling said.

According to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities Web site, cities and villages in the state are expected to provide street maintenance and snowplowing, sewer, water and electricity, police and fire protection, garbage collection, libraries, parks and recreation, zoning and planning, and public transportation.

There are 190 cities and 396 villages in Wisconsin, and they encompass about 70 percent of the state's population. There are 1,264 towns in Wisconsin governing the areas of Wisconsin not included within the corporate boundaries of cities and villages.

According to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, in the state, cities and villages have long been considered "full" or "true" municipal corporations, different from counties and towns.

Cities and villages in Wisconsin are different from other units of local government such as towns and counties, because they have more power to govern themselves in local matters without state interference.
 

Cities and villages are granted broad authority under the Wisconsin constitution and statutes granting cities and villages with what is commonly known as "home rule."

Also, cities and villages, unlike towns and counties, can expand their boundaries through the annexation of unincorporated territory.

Cities and villages can also create tax incremental financing districts while towns lack such authority.

Residents in cities and villages can initiate ordinances and resolutions through the direct-legislation process, while citizens in towns lack that power.

Unlike cities and villages, a town has only those powers that are conferred by statute, or might be necessarily implied from the statute.

According to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, earlier in the state's history, built-up or urban territory was almost exclusively city and village, and towns were almost exclusively in rural territory.

Cities and villages often had higher populations than towns.

Today things have changed, with urban territory often a mixture of incorporated and unincorporated areas, and some towns in this state are more populated and more urban in character than many cities and villages.

The Town of Summit continues to face a number of issues concerning determining service agreements, border control, development and handling its own destiny.

Though the hospital proposal has jump-started the town's quest to become a village, residents will soon have to weigh more than whether there will be another hospital in the village.