The League of Women Voters Whitewater Area has announced that it will be hosting its annual state of the city, school district and university addresses.

The program will be held Thursday, Sept. 21, between 6:30 and 8 p.m., at the Cravath Lakefront Community Center, 341 S. Fremont St., Whitewater.

According to information released by the league, presenters this year will include Whitewater City Manager John Weidl, who will deliver the State of the City Address; Whitewater Unified School District Superintendent Caroline Pate-Hefty, who will deliver the State of the School District Address, and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Corey A. King, who will deliver the State of the University Address.

The program will include an opportunity for audience members to ask questions, the release states.

In recent years, officials have used the platform to inform members of the public about their various organizations.

In 2022, a presentation included addresses given by several officials, including Weidl, serving at the time of the address as the city’s interim city manager, along with Assistant Fire Chief Ryan Dion, both of whom talked about the city’s proposal to transition  the community’s fire department, which was then using a paid-on-call model, to a full-time, in-house model. A referendum to fund the proposed changes to the fire department was approved by the city’s voters last November.

Additionally, the presentation included an address made by then-UW-Whitewater interim Chancellor John Chenoweth, who shared statistics about the university’s achievements, included a then-projected 2022-23 first-time, full-time, first-year enrollment of 1,885 students.

A third presentation was made by Pate-Hefty, who arrived at the podium accompanied by Whitewater Unified School District Board of Education member Larry Kachel. The officials shared information about the district’s achievements and a then-upcoming operational referendum, which was approved by the district’s voters last November.

A video of the full program delivered in 2022 is found below.   

In 2021, addresses by both then-City Manager Cameron Clapper and Pate-Hefty were delivered virtually.

A story about each official’s address as published on WhitewaterWise’s sister publication, Fort Atkinson Online, is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/whitewater-city-manager-shares-state-of-the-city-address/, and here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/whitewater-school-district-highlights-shared-during-state-of-the-district-address/.

About the league

According to its release, the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy. To learn more about the league, visit its website: https://my.lwv.org/wisconsin/whitewater-area.