Effort abandoned after Town of Waterford incorporation bid fails
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
On the heels of a ruling last month from the state Department of Administration, talks of solidifying a long-term cooperative boundary agreement with a number of local municipalities has come to an end.
Attorney Timothy Pruitt with the Racine-based law firm of Pruitt, Ekes & Geary, S.C., had been working with Rochester and multiple adjacent townships — Dover, Norway and Waterford — on a potential long-range boundary plan.
The boundary talks dovetailed into the Town of Waterford’s effort to incorporate into the Village of Tichigan. Last month, a specially formed committee through the Department of Administration denied the Town of Waterford’s application, asserting multiple criteria had not been met.
In correspondence included in the Rochester Village Board’s Dec. 6 meeting packet, Pruitt indicated the Town of Waterford was no longer interested in forging ahead with a boundary agreement.
“Given the above, and the question of future extension of sewer service to a portion of the Town of Dover in the Highway 20 area, I know the Village of Rochester does not wish to spend further resources on this matter,” Pruitt wrote in his correspondence.
Reportedly, the Town of Norway also backed away from the boundary talks after the DOA ruling.
“I have also heard back from (Administrator-Treasurer) Tom Kramer who indicated that it does not make sense for the Town of Norway to pursue this any further,” Pruitt wrote.
Rochester officials had expressed concern earlier this year about being part of the boundary agreement effort, in part because of the potential annexations in the road ahead in neighboring Dover.
“They’re asking us to cement these boundaries forever,” Rochester Village Administrator-Treasurer Betty Novy said in May. “Do we really want to do that? What’s in it for us at this point?”
-
-
-
-
-