At its regular meeting on Monday evening, March 3, the Whitefish Village Board approved the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s request for a change in one aspect of its security requirement at the Karl Jewish Community Campus.
The campus houses several community agencies, including the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
The federation’s request, that it be allowed to monitor the campus off-site rather than with an onsite security guard during off-hours, was initially brought before the Whitefish Bay Plan Commission on Feb. 19.
The federation had anticipated that the request would require an amendment to the development agreement between the village and the federation that was signed Dec. 2, 2002.
At the Feb. 19 meeting, however, Whitefish Bay Police Chief, Robert Jacobs, proposed another way of handling the federation’s appeal.
He suggested the village suspend enforcement of the requirement that a security guard remain onsite during off-hours for a trial period during which time the federation would utilize an off-site monitoring system. After that time, the results would be evaluated.
His recommendation was passed by a vote of 6-1 at this week’s meeting. The motion stated that “the [village] staff be directed to suspend enforcement of the requirement for an on-premises security guard at the JCC campus during off-hours for a period of one year from March 3, 2008, subject to re-instatement by the police chief at his discretion.”
(Attending the meeting remotely via telephone, Trustee Jim Brennan, cast the single “nay” vote.)
“The federation is suggesting a trial run to see if the change is a problem and we don’t feel the village has lost or is giving up anything,” said Bruce T. Block, the lawyer representing the federation.
The relationship between the village and the federation “has to be a working, breathing relationship,” Block said, “and there was some anticipation of this in the agreement.”
In discussing the issue, Village President Kathleen Pritchard pointed to a paragraph in the agreement that says that the JCC and the village agreed to review the JCC’s security arrangements after a year and no changes will be made without the approval of both sides.
After determining that such an evaluation has not yet been carried out, the police chief was asked how many after-hours incidents at the JCC have required police attention since the agreement.
Jacobs estimated two or three calls per year between 7 and 11 p.m. for the last three years, fewer than the number at the public schools.
He added that there has been no indication of any threat or activity that would suggest the need for a security guard.
One member of the public spoke at the meeting. A resident living in the 6200 block of Bay Ridge Ave. objected to what she characterized as secret and underhanded actions by the board in considering non-enforcement as a way of handling a change in the agreement with the JCC.
At the March 3 meeting, village trustees discussed other issues related to the Karl Campus.
Though the security requirement was the only issue on the table, Trustees Rita Cheng and David Fee raised several complaints about the JCC. They said it is not monitoring the use of its athletic fields, and its basketball courts in particular, at night. This has resulted in their unauthorized use, Fee said and asked if the federation could secure that area in some way.
He noted that the board has yet to see a landscape plan for the playground area and stated that noise from snow plowing as early as 5 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays is annoying some neighbors.
Cheng added that a remote section of the campus near the railroad tracks is attracting kids.
Cheng also said that there has been or will be a filing by village residents requesting that any proposed changes to the development agreement require a vote by super majority.
She warned again at the end of the meeting that further requests for changes to the agreement will stir up strong feeling among the JCC’s neighbors, who feel “the development agreement is a compact,” she said.
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