In Howard, incumbent Burt McIntyre, challenger J.D. Kopp to face off April 4 for village president's post
HOWARD - The race for Howard village president pits incumbent Burt R. McIntyre, who has held the office for three terms, against J.D. Kopp, who's making his first bid for local public office.
The winner will spend four years leading Brown County's most populous village, which has 20,229 residents, per 2021 U.S. Census estimates.
We asked both candidates three questions. Their answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
More:Here's your Green Bay-area voters guide to the Wisconsin spring election
J.D. Kopp
Age: 46
Occupation: Information technology director, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
Education: Bachelor of arts, computer science and organizational management, Gustavus Adolphus College. Master of Business Administration, Cardinal Stritch University
Relevant experience: Through my work in the information technology field, I have over 25 years’ experience managing people, budgets, vendors, and complex processes. I’ve been a member of NWTC’s Senior Leadership Team for the past 11 years, and our governance structure at the college resembles how the village is run. I have extensive leadership experience in various churches and nonprofit boards, and I have small business experience running my own financial-advising firm, Kopp Financial. I’m excited about the opportunity to draw on all these experiences as Howard village president.
Burt R. McIntyre
Age: 82
Occupation: Retired field service manager, both domestic and for Europe and Asia; operations manager; interim director of manufacturing
Education: High school plus four-year mechanical apprenticeship, years of business courses, corporate manager training
Relevant experience: Three years village trustee, 15 years as village president
We asked the candidates about three issues likely to affect the village in the future, and asked them to explain their positions.
Should voters support the public-safety referendum?
Kopp: Yes; we need to fund additional positions providing police, fire, and emergency medical services. Howard is experiencing rapid population growth; we need to make sure all our residents receive timely assistance in emergencies. As Howard adds residents, we can’t expect to keep public safety spending at the same level. Adequate staffing makes sure help arrive if you dial 911.
Some people in Howard believe that new development projects in the village should pay for it, that an expanding tax base should provide enough revenue. Actually, those additional tax revenues are needed to pay down debt associated with building infrastructure for new developments. See jdkopp.com, my campaign website, for more detail.
One last item: the proposed staffing plan. A portion relies on professionals cross-trained as firefighters and paramedics. While that's efficient, a practical concern I have is keeping those highly skilled positions filled in a competitive labor market. We may need to be flexible to stay fully staffed. With many more medical calls than fires, it may make sense to allow some teammates to focus on the medical side, especially if this helps with recruiting. In any case, the village needs funding to expand the public safety staff. We should vote "Yes" on the referendum.
McIntyre: Absolutely the referendum should be supported. Years ago, the village of Howard and other surrounding communities had the luxury of having the resource of volunteers to provide emergency services, specifically our fire department. The volunteers saved Howard a lot of money.
Today that resource is not as available as once was. It is getting more and more difficult to man fire and emergency trucks responding to emergency calls. As with police (Brown County sheriff) and EMS (Howard will take EMS under Fire) these services up to this point are contract services. The cost increases have to be absorbed within our budgets.
The question is not whether we expand those services, the question is; how do we pay for those expansions? Howard is a growing community; it would be unconscionable not to provide adequate protection to our citizens in an emergency situations. Protecting our citizens is the primary responsibility of government.
Should the village allow non-residents to pay to swim in the Duck Creek quarry?
Kopp: I think our recreational resources in the village should be open to all people and we should not have a residency requirement to use them. Current policy for the Duck Creek Quarry Beach limits access to Howard residents and their guests. This is inconsistent with many other recreational services provided by the village, and I would advocate for changes to the beach policy. We should welcome everyone to come to Howard and enjoy a round of golf at Village Green, join a softball league, visit our parks, ride bicycles on our trails, and several other activities. This is especially important for Howard’s business community. Our restaurants and stores need customers, and bringing visitors to Howard to enjoy recreational activities is good for business.
There are legitimate concerns about overcrowding at the Duck Creek Quarry Beach. I think we can find a way to address that issue without excluding anyone from the resource. One solution would be to issue wrist bands for specific weeks during the summer, and limit the number available on a first-come, first-served basis. This way the village can control the number of people visiting the beach at any one time without excluding visitors that do not reside in Howard.
McIntyre: An admission charge would help in the upkeep of the quarry and would be most appreciated but would not solve the logistical issue of use. Additionally, charging would add several costly administrative requirements.
The first year of operation of the quarry was a disaster. The beaches were totally overwhelmed, resulting in significant safety issues. There simply wasn’t enough beach to accommodate users, and the space issue created many user conflicts. The number of police calls became so severe that it required on-site police presence.
Obviously, the result of all of this impacted our operating costs significantly. The board was faced with a choice of shutting down the facility, or restricting its use until we could determine how to make it more usable. Since the citizens of Howard pay for the quarry facility and it is in place, the Village Board voted to limit its use to residents.
Staff is reviewing a few possible ways to make the facility more accessible to others. In the end, the Howard quarry is the property of its citizens, and they will always have preference. We hope to have something in place for next summer.
What’s the biggest challenge the village faces in the next year? How should that be addressed?
Kopp: Determining priorities for future growth and development. I’ll address three:
Transportation: Soon we must pay more attention to existing streets, balancing maintenance costs with spending on new roads. We should also work to connect with Green Bay Metro’s smaller vans and shuttles to help college students get to class (many live at home) and help seniors get to medical appointments.
Development: Rather than filling all available land with suburban sprawl, I would prefer to balance the new housing developments with projects to improve the quality of life for existing residents. For example, we could expand our park system and provide more opportunities for outdoor recreation. We could encourage projects that provide amenities. We should also prioritize affordable single-family homes over luxury units; we have plenty of high-end housing in Howard.
Energy: Electricity production must increase 26% between now and 2050 to meet forecast demand. Power companies will gladly sell more electricity, but let’s instead generate some of that power on our own and put money back in our pockets. I envision an ambitious rooftop solar program (see jdkopp.com/rooftop for details) to install projects for interested property owners. These are new and exciting ideas for Howard.
McIntyre: The biggest challenge is our development efforts village-wide, but mostly concerning the western part of Howard. We have a strategic plan that will lead us into the future.
The next challenge will be to work on property-tax relief. We are presently working with state legislators to see if state revenue sharing or some other revenue stream can relieve the tax pressure on our residents. As always, cost control will be our focus.
Email Doug Schneider at DSchneid@Gannett.com, call him at (920) 265-2070 and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Burt McIntyre, J.D. Kopp face off for Howard village president
