The City of South Milwaukee is sending a citywide mailer on what we are doing locally to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
It may not arrive in mailboxes until early next week, but here is the final file. Please share and post liberally!
It is essentially a single-source recap of information we have shared, but hitting every address.
Its primary audience is the thousands of people who may not be online in South Milwaukee, those who may have limited local information on closures and other city service impacts and voting. The document also includes information on meals for kids and seniors, and an effort to help local businesses, as well as basic information from federal health officials.
Thanks to MJ Media for their work on this, as we do all we can as a city to keep residents informed on this rapidly changing situation.
Look for a citywide phone message from me tonight.
The city has posted updated information on the coming election, which you can see here.
It includes information on in-person absentee (early) voting, which is supposed to start on Monday at City Hall.
Long story short: We are strongly recommending that all registered voters request a mailed ballot online.
You can do so here. It’s very easy. You can also request one via email to elections@smwi.gov, or by mail to City of South Milwaukee – Clerk, 2424 15th Ave., South Milwaukee, WI 53172. You will need to include a scanned image or image from your phone of your ID.
More guidance on Election Day protocols to come, as we seek to balance protecting the vote with reducing risk for our people and voters.
Lost in the craziness of the past week or so are the efforts school districts across the state are undertaking to feed kids during their time away from school. It’s inspiring — great examples of the roles schools play in caring for a community, extending well beyond the classroom.
South Milwaukee is stepping up, too. Its meal service starts today (Wednesday, March 18) and continues through Friday, picking up against on March 30. More details in the Family Letter here.
First, we want to be sure to offer free meals to our students who depend on the schools for meals. Our School Nutrition Services Department will be providing “grab and go” lunches along with an additional breakfast offering that is shelf stable for the following morning for all of our students. This option is available for children in South Milwaukee only. Meals are not available for adults.
In order to be as safe as possible regarding food handling, there will be a limited menu each day. Meals may include items such as pre-wrapped ham/cheese sandwich or uncrustables sandwich (peanut butter/jelly), fruit, milk, and a pre-packaged breakfast with juice or similar items.
The meals will be free of charge and be provided Wednesday, March 18th through Friday, March 20th and again March 30th through April 10th, Monday-Friday, at the following sites at the following times:
Site, Time and Location
Blakewood, Door 8, 11:00-11:30 a.m. Playground, drive up or walk up.
Lakeview, Door 11, 11:30-noon, Staff Parking Lot, drive up or walk up.
High School, Door 29 noon-12:45 p.m., Door 29, drive up or walk up.
Our preferred method of delivery is drive up. Please follow the directions available to drive up to the table at the door indicated and take the number of lunches needed. Students may also walk to the locations. All visitors should leave the school property once the lunch is received.
Throughout this time, it is important to keep the social distancing of 6 feet that has been recommended by health professionals. Equally important is to continue to wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. In distributing these meals, we are looking for students to take the meals and go home to eat.Students will not be allowed to play on the playground.
Out of an abundance of caution and after consulting with our Health Department, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, effective at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18, all City of South Milwaukee buildings will be accessible to the public by appointment only, until further notice.
This will not apply to voters, although we strongly encourage residents to request a mailed absentee ballot.
The closure includes City Hall, the Police Department, Fire Department, Street Department, and Water and Wastewater facilities.
The Grobschmidt Senior Center is already closed, and the South Milwaukee Public Library building closed effective Tuesday, and we have now suspended the library’s curbside service that was being offered.
If you have city business that you believe requires you to physically appear at a city building, please call the city’s general number/switchboard line at 414-762-2222 to make an appointment.
You can also do a lot of city business online at our website.
Click here to see directions on how to make payments.
To obtain an absentee ballot, visit the state’s MyVote website. Again, we strongly suggest this. It is easy to use, and you can order a ballot in a few clicks. Please be prepared to take a photo of your ID and upload it into the system, when prompted.
We are keeping the Self-Deposit Station open, but employing practices to keep social distances, including temporarily suspending the $3 per-trip user fee.
We are also limiting non-essential in-home inspections and utility worker home visits.
All non-essential city meetings have been cancelled until further notice. We are working on livestream and teleconference options to hold future meetings, within the law.
We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we continue to operate amid rapidly changing guidance, orders and information. We will always act in the best interest of our employees and the general public.
You can get regular updates on COVID-19 on the city’s website and on our Facebook page. We will also be using the SM Works platform to share information on our response to COVID-19 via email to interested individuals. To join the email list, please sign up for the service and/or app, and submit your email address.
This evening, the City of South Milwaukee is joining with other local communities in issuing an order aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, including strictly prohibiting dining-in at restaurants and bars, effective at 2:01 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17.
While we recognize this order is a hardship for small businesses and others, we are doing this out of an abundance of caution and continue to make public health our top priority. Guidance from federal, state and local health professionals and the experience from other communities, states and countries is clear: We need to take these kinds of measures to slow the spread of the illness and protect our community. That has to be our focus.
In consultation with the South Milwaukee and St. Francis Health Departments, and in an abundance of caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Milwaukee Library Board is announcing the closure of the library building to the public until further notice, effective Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
The library will offer curbside service for picking up certain library materials put on hold from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday.
We will offer curbside fax and copy services for job-related material only.
Reference Services are available by phone (414-768-8195) 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday.
All returned material should be put in the outside drop box to the left of the front door.
Allow 24 hours for material to be checked-in.
All materials checked out before 3/16/2020, will be due on 5/1/2020.
Book donations will not be accepted until further notice.
South Milwaukee Municipal Court has been cancelled for Tuesday, March 17. The new scheduled court date for those who were to appear is May 21, 2020, at 10:30 a.m. For any questions, please call 414-768-7480.
Please check my March 15 update on guidance related to city services and buildings. In short, most of our buildings are open. But if you do not have essential business at a city building, please consider doing your business over the phone or online. In the case of paying bills at City Hall, please use the drop box near the door.
School District of South Milwaukee Meal Program Launching Wednesday, March 18: “The School District of South Milwaukee wants to be sure to offer free meals to their students who depend on the schools for meals. The School Nutrition Services Department will be providing “grab and go” lunches along with an additional breakfast offering that is shelf stable for the following morning for all students. This option is only for children in South Milwaukee. For more information on the meal program, click here.
The Grant Park Golf Course and clubhouse are now closed.
Check the city website for regular updates, follow the city’s Facebook page, and sign up for our SM Works app. We will be using SM Works to share information on our response to COVID-19 via email to interested individuals. To join the email list, please sign up for the service and/or app, and submit your email address.
For my full update on city services and buildings, click here. From it …
I want to update the community on measures we are taking to address COVID-19 – and ask for your support in adapting to these changes, as we do our best to keep you and our people safe.
The Grobschmidt Senior Center is closed until further notice.
The South Milwaukee Public Library remains open, but they have cancelled programming and are taking other steps to keep patrons and staff safe. Learn more on their Facebook page. The library is also exploring ways to make their collection available to the public outside of entering the building.
Other city buildings are open, but we are encouraging residents to avoid them if they are showing signs of illness, or if trips are not necessary.
Consider doing your city business via phone, instead of a visit. Here is the directory.
You can also do a lot of city business via our website.
City Hall remains open, but we are encouraging people to use the drop box, located to the north of the front doors, for payments. You can also mail your payments.
To pay your water bill, drop it in the box. Or set up online bill payments through your personal financial institution. You can also pay water bills at Tri-City National Bank, using their drive-up service.
Here is a list of forms and permits on our website.
We are strongly encouraging our residents to vote absentee by mail. To request a ballot, visit MyVote.
The South Milwaukee Police Department lobby is also open, but in order to limit person-to-person contact, please consider using the drop box in the police lobby for payments and fines. You can also make payments online. For more information, go to the department website. Additionally, officers are avoiding unnecessary contact with citizens who may be ill; and requiring officers to take protective measures (wearing gloves and masks) when they do make contact.
The South Milwaukee Fire Department is also open, but, to limit contact, please do not come to the fire station with medical emergencies, as personnel may not be wearing appropriate protective equipment. And if you have been exposed to COVID-19, please contact your health care provider or 911, in case of emergency. The department is also suspending non-essential activities like station tours, staff visits at events, and ride-alongs. We are limiting the number of personnel exposed to people showing symptoms, and we are wearing masks when working with symptomatic patients (and placing masks on patients as well).
Also …
South Milwaukee Common Council and committee meetings scheduled for Tuesday will be held as scheduled.Garbage and recycling pickup is continuing as scheduled.
The Self-Deposit Station remains open with reduced winter hours.
Our Water Utility has suspended in-home installation and checking of meters.
We expect to make a determination about Municipal Court, set for Tuesday, on Monday.
We appreciate your patience as we address this pandemic, and pledge to keep you informed with any further impacts to the delivery of city services.
On this historic couple of days in our country – one where life as we know it has in many ways been put on pause – I think of my stepfather.
At age 77, he is in poor health, but has stayed with us for many (still productive) years. As a lifelong diabetic, he has heart and kidney issues and is on in-home dialysis. He can’t see much anymore, and gets around in a wheelchair as an amputee. He lives a hard life, but he is still kicking it, and finds ways to enjoy life as his body breaks down. One passion: Cooking. He is a terrific baker, and makes tasty breads and soups almost daily so Grandma Barbara can run them over to our house for dinner.
We do this for him. We do this so he doesn’t get sick, and others like him — our most vulnerable, those who may die from COVID-19.
I try to remember him when we make emergency declarations, when schools close, when we decide to close the Grobschmidt Senior Center, when we suspend programming at the South Milwaukee Public Library, when we have our police and firefighters take extra precautions when going out on calls, when we have utility workers and other employees reduce the amount of their in-home visits, even when we take steps to clean our buildings more often.
This is not over yet. It’s likely many more people will get sick, and worse days are ahead. But I ask those reading this to rest assured we are doing all we can as a city to address the pandemic, that we have the right team in place working as hard as it can to get us through this. Will we do everything perfectly? No. But we will always act in the best interest of the city, making decisions smartly and decisively and with the promotion of public health at the foundation of our actions.
The world has changed in the last 48 hours, and as we confront that, I am prouder than ever to be the mayor of this city, leader of this team of employees, and husband to Sarah, father to my children, son of Pharis Brooks and Barbara Kendall, basketball coach of the sixth grade Rockets, member of Trinity Lutheran Church, and owner of Brooks Communications.
And I’m proud to be the stepson of Grandpa Dave. We do this for you. Stay healthy.
The City of South Milwaukee remains focused on taking necessary steps to address the COVID-19 pandemic, and I remain as confident as ever in the work of department leaders and their teams.
Here are some updates from the city and across the community …
First, to stay informed, we will share regular updates and information from federal, state and local health care authorities on the city’s website and Facebook page, and sign up for our SM Works platform, to join an email list. We will also post updates at our public buildings. I will post additional updates on my channels as much as possible.
You can see our March 13 general update on our efforts to combat COVID-19 on the front page of our city website.
This afternoon, I signed a declaration of a state of emergency in South Milwaukee, joining leaders at all levels of government in doing so. See it here, and in the image above. This is in many ways a procedural step — making it easier for us to receive funding from the state and federal governments.
South Milwaukee Schools announced to families this afternoon they will be closing for four weeks, effective Saturday, joining many other districts in doing so. Details here. The closure, through April 12, includes all school, recreation department events and athletics/activities. The South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center will be closed as well as the SM Fitness Center.
The city has decided to close the Grobschmidt Senior Center. Read my statement on that here.
The South Milwaukee Library has suspended programming, among other impacts. Details here.
The city is strongly encouraging our residents to vote absentee by mail. To request a ballot, visit MyVote.
Also, you can read my March 12 update on what we’re doing as city staff to address COVID-19 here. This includes efforts we’re taking to keep our employees — and visitors to our buildings — safe, urging against employee travel, and making plans for continuity of operations. (This was written before the Senior Center closure.)
The March 29 South Milwaukee Downtown Market Spring Market has been cancelled. Details on the market Facebook page.
The monthly Community Meal at First Congregational has been canceled for Thursday, March 19.
South Milwaukee Little League also has an update, including suspension of all activities until at least April 6.
The Steven Wright show planned for next weekend at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center has been postponed to Oct. 2.
The South Milwaukee High School Theatre Company production of “Tuck, Everlasting” set for this weekend has been cancelled.
More information to come. I’ll be posting throughout the day.
We are taking steps to address the COVID-19 pandemic in South Milwaukee, and it starts with our people.
Senior leadership has gathered to discuss continuity of operations plans, to ensure we are prepared to deliver at least our most essential services, if the impacts of the illness deepen. Particular attention is being given to delivery of services that involve customer contact with potentially vulnerable individuals.
We are adding nursing staff to the Health Department, who are on the front lines of this, and meeting regularly to share updates.
Our public buildings remain open. However, we are taking steps to keep frequently visited buildings – the Grobschmidt Senior Center, South Milwaukee Library, South Milwaukee City Hall and South Milwaukee Police Department – safe. This includes enhanced cleaning and disinfecting processes.
Here are some other steps we are taking to keep our workers and the public safe.
At the Police Department, we are enhancing our disinfecting of equipment, squad cars and the department lobby; avoiding unnecessary contact with citizens who may be ill; and requiring officers to take protective measures (wearing gloves and masks) when they do make contact. As the situation develops, we may be taking additional protective measures to limit exposure.
The Fire Department has increased the use of ultraviolet disinfecting lights, and are more frequently disinfecting equipment and vehicles. We are limiting the number of personnel exposed to people showing symptoms, which starts with enhanced screening by 911 dispatchers, and we are wearing masks when working with symptomatic patients (and placing masks on the patients as well).
Our Water Utility has suspended in-home installation and checking of meters.
We have also urged against employee travel.
We will share regular updates on the city’s website and Facebook page, and sign up for our SM Works app, to join an email list. We will also post updates at our public buildings.
After an unprecedented day in America, I am inspired by all those working tirelessly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That starts with our public health professionals.
I remain as confident as ever in their work — from the CDC nationally to the state to the South Milwaukee/St. Francis Health Department. We must trust the experts, and act accordingly, to keep the public safe. And we are.
Earlier today, we met as department heads to discuss continuity of city operations, focused on ensuring we can deliver our most essential services should our employees fall ill or are otherwise impacted.
Of course, the focus is on ensuring public health officials and first responders are equipped to do their jobs first and foremost.
But we are also contingency planning around our city buildings where the public congregates, including the Grobschmidt Senior Center, South Milwaukee Library and City Hall. All our departments, all of our city services, could be impacted by this.
At the same time, we know how important communications are in this type of effort. It is critical that we are sharing clear, accurate and consistent information and messages with the public, through all of the platforms available to us. And we will.
There will obviously be much more to come on this. Unfortunately, the worst is probably ahead of us. But we have our best people working on this. I put faith in them, and am proud to lead them.
This was shared on the Health Department Facebook page today …
The Health Department continues to work closely with all of our City departments, schools, public libraries, SM Human Concerns, Grobschmidt Senior Center, and senior health communities to educate on the prevention of spreading infection and planning as this situation evolves.
From the South Milwaukee Fire Department: Due to the on-going peanut butter collection challenge in the School District of South Milwaukee this week, we have extended our collection deadline until this coming Friday, March 13th! Donations can be dropped off at our firehouse !!
The United States Postal Service is holding its first public meeting, to share details about its upcoming development at the corner of Pennsylvania and College Avenues in Oak Creek.
It is this Thursday, March 12, starting at 6 p.m. at Oak Creek City Hall.
I won’t rehash all the concerns I’ve had with their lack of transparency to date in this post. You can read some of them here.
I joined Oak Creek and USPS leaders at a meeting last month, where they committed to scheduling this. I thank them for following through on that, even if it’s a meeting that should have happened about six months ago, before earth movers showed up and clear cut the site — before Oak Creek even had plans for the project in hand.
It’s Da Crusher, of course! Shot the night of Crusherfest, as we unveiled this statue to the world. Do you have a photo you’d like to share on the blog? Send it along.
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