Here at Care for Lake Geneva, we recognize the central role the “voice of the people” plays in protecting Geneva Lake communities from outside commercial interests. A huge thank you is in order for those who attended the February 7^th Finance Committee meeting and/or the February 13^th City Council meeting on short notice to oppose the Geneva Inn’s annexation into the City of Lake Geneva. Together, your collective voice helped prevent immediate approval and will continue to influence our elected officials to act responsibly as the city seeks outside council on the annexation request.

Despite first hearing about the Finance Committee Meeting the morning of February 7^th, several community members came to City Hall that night, eight of whom spoke out against the annexation. Thanks to your participation, the Finance Committee decided to send the request to the City Council without a recommendation. The following week, the City Council had its first discussion about the pre-annexation agreement. Three area residents stood up and spoke in opposition. During the meeting, City Administrator Blaine Oborn stated via memo that while he personally favors the annexation, he recommends an outside attorney be retained to assist the city with consideration of the pre-annexation agreement.

Oborn pointed out several concerns with the proposal. One notable concern is that this agreement does not address who pays the five years of local taxes due to the Town of Linn upon annexation (estimated at over $66,400). Oborn also discussed other conflicts of interest not raised by the Finance Committee that he concluded warrants the request of outside council.

The annexation request has been an ongoing discussion in closed-door meetings for a while, as the Geneva Inn has long sought a commercial re-zone that it cannot get in the Town of Linn. Here at Care for Lake Geneva, we find the private planning behind this annexation request unacceptable. Geneva Inn and the city should be collaborating with the community to implement plans that preserves lakeside properties. Instead, private planning and limited public notification illustrate that this proposed annexation is poorly conceived and ill advised.

Engagement and participation is critical over the coming weeks as we urge city officials to preserve our communities and honor the vision set forth by Lake Geneva’s founders. One action you can take immediately is to sign our petition urging city officials to turn down the annexation request.

 SIGN OUR PETITION TODAY

If the City Council reaches an agreement on the terms of annexation with the Geneva Inn, then the request goes to the City Planning Commission for public hearing and consideration. Final approval would be made by the Lake Geneva Common Council, which would ultimately request authorization for annexation from the Wisconsin Department of Administration. Let’s make sure the request is killed before it leaves the City Council! Sign the Petition today!

You can also keep up to date with upcoming City Council meetings on the Care for Lake Geneva calendar. These are opportunities to stand before our elected officials and vocalize our opposition.

Ways to Participate:

Contact the Lake Geneva City Council:

* Be sure to include C4LG on all emails; info@careforlakegeneva.com

1^st District Elizabeth Chappell – echappell@cityoflakegeneva.com / 262-903-8035

1^st District Chris Gelting – cgelting@cityoflakegeneva.com / 262-751-7109

2^nd District Doug Skates – dskates@cityoflakegeneva.com / 262-249-0091

2^nd District Ted Horne – tthorne@cityoflakegeneva.com / 262-425-4366

3^rd District Richard Hedlund – rhedlund@cityoflakegeneva.com / 262-203-5900

3^rd District Bob Kordus – bkordus@cityoflakegeneva.com / 414-916-9663

4^th District Ken Howell – khowell@cityoflakegeneva.com / 262-949-7564

4^th District Cindy Flower – cflower@cityoflakegeneva.com / 262-374-0678

Mayor Alan Kupsik – akupsik@cityoflakegeneva.com / 262-749-0842