Week Ahead in Tosa: Your Tax Dollars at Work, and Chances to Chill

Here is a sampling of what's on the agenda this week for official business in Wauwatosa, plus a noteworthy community event – Chili'n on the Avenue.

First of all, in case you haven't heard, it's going to be hot, hot, hot all week. Those at risk should .

School's not really out

Summer usually signals a slow-down in school news, but things have seldom been busier than now for the and its governing board because of legislative action on the state budget and the recently adopted budget-repair bill.

When the School Board holds its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the Fisher Building, 12121 W. North Ave., it will consider a recommendation to spend $3,000 to retain the services of the law firm DeWitt, Ross, & Stevens, S.C., as legislative counsel to help sort out the effect of changes in state school funding.

Wauwatosa is not going it alone. The legal costs are to be shared among all members of the Southeastern Wisconsin School Alliance. The move is part of a larger effort to share information and take a unified approach to dealing with reduced state aid to districts and the structure of compensation for teachers in the absence of collective bargaining.

The School Board will also hear a presentation from Dan Chanen, director of human resources, on the district's model for teacher evaluation. That discussion has also taken on a new urgency as the state encourages districts to move away from the "single-salary" system it has long used under collective bargaining and toward a "performance pay" system.

Under performance pay, if adopted, teacher evaluations would likely be used not just to recognize excellence and identify areas for improvement – they would determine who gets raises and perhaps who will or will not keep their jobs.

State also influences Common Council action

When the Common Council meets at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, it will almost certainly adopt three resolutions changing city policy on pension and health care payments to bring union and non-union employees into alignment.

One resolution would increase retiree health insurance premiums for  certain active employees who had once retired to 5 percent, if they were hired after Sept. 1, 1991, and before Jan. 1, 2008.

Another would apply the same health insurance contributions to members of three city workers' unions as are paid by non-union employs, increasing from 3 percent to 10 percent.

The third eliminates all but one health care plan for all employees.

These are all changes that the city can now impose on all but police and fire union workers unilaterally, without bargaining, and all were recommended unanimously by the Employee Relations Committee.

The council will also vote on setting a public hearing date of Sept. 6 to consider an ordinance adding the draft Village plan as an amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Plan; a resolution approving a donation of land at 1245 N. 62 St. by Derse Associates, LLP, which includes a portion of the historic Schoonmaker Reef formation; and a resolution approving a developer’s agreement with Gatlin Development Co. Inc. for a Wal-Mart neighborhood market and accompanying retail uses at 3850 North 124th St.

Those are also expected to win easy approval.

Run, then chill on North Avenue

What's more fun than School Board and Common Common Council meetings? Well, a lot of things, but few better than a big Tosa street festival.

Friends and neighbors far and wide are invited to chill on North Avenue in East Tosa Saturday at Chili'n on the Avenue. Chili’n – East Tosa’s Summer Street Party – kicks off at 8 a.m. with the 3-mile Chili Charity Run to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southeast Wisconsin.

The marketplace and family area opens at 9 a.m. with live music starting at 11:30 a.m. by Semi-Twang, Greg Koch and Meaghan Owens.

Attendees can watch chefs prepare their best chili on-site, then sample chili and salsa from the cook-off for $1 per four-ounce cup, following early afternoon judging.

Take the plunge

An unscheduled event going on all week in Tosa is fiercely hot weather. If you have not yet checked out the new Tosa Pool at Hoyt Park, which opened May 28, you need no better excuse than the 95-but-feels-like-105 forecast that stands from Monday through Saturday.

Seriously, heat advisories are already in effect, and one recommended safety measure is to get to a pool if you can't stay in air-conditioning. Heat exhaustion is not to be taken lightly and has its most pronounced effects on the very young and very old, as well as those on certain medications.