Port Mayor Readies For Coal Dock Development, Senior Center Transition in 2011

Editor's note: Editor Lyssa Beyer sat down with Port Washington Mayor Scott Huebner to discuss the city's successes of 2010 and the challenges that 2011 could bring.

Patch: What would you define as the city's biggest success during 2010?

Huebner:  Despite the economic times, Port Washington was able to lead the area in housing acquisitions. The city brought in $4 million in building permit fees throughout the year.

Patch: How do you think the city was able to draw so many people to build in this area?

Huebner: Port Washington has a lot going on. In talking to people that moved here, a lot of the reason people like the community is that it's close enough to the big city (Milwaukee), but yet it doesn't feel like a suburb. It feels like it's own community when you live here. With more people living here, there was a stronger workforce as well.

Patch: What was the biggest challenge the city faced in 2010?

Huebner: Trying to keep taxes level and retain manufacturing businesses in the area. With the economy, those businesses faced pressure to cut costs and labor, or close down all together. But they didn't. Port Washington lost none of the manufacturing businesses in 2010. In fact, Custom Wire Technologies was able to build a new building, allowing for expansion.

Patch: Looking to 2011, what do you see as the major issues facing the city?

Huebner: The transition of the and trying to provide the group with everything they need in the process. The senior center is moving to the old Franklin Energy location, also a former church.  This is a project that has been a couple years in the making. Then we will have to work on selling the building at the former location.

Patch: Any ideas what will come of the former location's building?

Huebner: People have approached the city over the past couple years expressing interest in buying the building if it were to ever go for sale. Some of those included businesses such as dentists, architects or small retail shops, as well as someone who was even interested in converting it into a residence. That would be expensive. The Port Washington Historical Society wants the city to give them the building to use a museum, but that poses some problems financially — in budgeting to move the senior center, we planned on money coming from the sale of the building.

Patch: What are some other accomplishments you hope to see for the city in 2011?

Huebner: We hope to get the coal dock project in full swing, really creating that area as a public space. We hope that it can add access to the south beach area, making just a gorgeous place to walk for Port's residents and visitors. We've been in contact with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who wants to turn area shorelines — with the abundance of shipwrecks from Two Rivers to just south of Port — into a sanctuary similar to the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Mich.Eventually, NOAA wants to have a museum to go along with the sanctuary, and we hope to make it evident how great of a location Port Washington would be for that. There are so many educational opportunities with that sort of museum here, and our location close to Milwaukee. 

Patch: I recall you mentioning that Port Washington should look into adding a Facebook page to help communicate with the community better. Are you moving forward with that?

Huebner: Yes, the technology committee is working on that and will be meeting to figure out where to take it. Hopefully, we can have a Facebook page up in a month or so.