Falls Neighborhood Watch Elects New Leadership Team

The last week elected its new team of officers to lead the organization into the future.

A group of about 30 Neighborhood Watch members unanimously elected former secretary Bill Schmitz to take over for Dennis Farrell as president. Farrell served as president for two terms, and the organizations bylaws prevented him from running again.

Instead, Farrell was nominated to assume the post as secretary, and Lowell Carl was re-elected as treasurer. Crystal Weissenborn will remain in her post as vice president, and the member-at-large for the term is Don Greif.

President Schmitz, in announcing the goals for the organization during his term, emphasized the need to include renters and condominium association members in the organization. Because of the transient nature of especially renters, he acknowledges this will be a challenge, but one the group is willing to tackle.

The methods of achieving this will be formulated immediately with the help of the MFPD and Liaison Officer Jim Kirchberger. Persons interested in learning more about joining Neighborhood Watch should contact Kirchberger at 262-532-8723.

In addition to these plans, Schmitz and the organization along with the MFPD will encourage more members to sign up for Notify Me, the online communication vehicle, managed by the MFPD, to alert residents and businesses to developing circumstances affecting their safety and well-being.

Schmitz also plans to continue the , held the first Tuesday in August each year. The 2011 event was a success, and was supported by the Target Corporation and other local businesses.

Schmitz said with the expectations of the community set high, and with a need to revise the event to deal with the possibility of adverse weather, narrowly avoided this year, there will be a need to raise a substantial amount of funds. The Neighborhood Watch organization will be working hard to encourage more local businesses to support the event.