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Sister Bay Road Closures Began Tuesday

• The 10 Door County representatives who visited the sister city of Jingdezhen, China, last month say it was a great learning experience and an important first step to growing a stronger relationship in the future.

“Our sister city was an amazingly gracious host,” said Bill Chaudoir, executive director of the Door County Economic Development Corporation. The visit included a formal reception with the city’s deputy mayor, attending a half-day at the city’s international ceramics fair, and visiting operating ceramic factories.

“We also discussed possible future ceramic artist exchanges and training opportunities,” Chaudoir said. “We met with a few government officials and private businesses to discuss our interest in initiating some trade between our respective businesses. We learned that we will need to find a distributor to help us market our local products in China. We will continue these discussions and hopefully identify some interested distributors that can help us.”

Other members of the delegation included Chaudoir’s wife, Cheryl, William and Sonja Schuster, Kent and Virginia Kruse, Diane McNeil, John Dietrich and Charlie Most.

• No one spoke at the public hearing that kicked off the Nov. 4 Door County Board of Supervisors meeting on the proposed 2014 budget, and the one budget item the supervisors had yet to decide on involved their own compensation. A proposal to raise compensation from $150 per month to $200 was questioned by Susan Kohout, who represents the Town of Sturgeon Bay and Ward 2 of the Town of Nasewaupee: “There are no good reasons to raise our pay and lots of good reasons not to raise our pay,” particularly, she said, when county employees are taking hits in pay with increased contributions to their health and pension plans.

After the $200 increase was voted down 11 to 10, the supervisors voted 17-4 to return to the $150 compensation the supervisors have received for the past 13 years. With that resolved, the board voted unanimously to pass the 2014 budget, which amounts to $72,343,815. With $47,900,604 in expected county revenue, the tax levy was set at $25,334,211, which means a 1.291 percent increase in the property tax rate. The county portion of the property tax bill, which homeowners will receive in December, will amount to about 3.66 cents for $1,000 of equalized value.

• Road closures in downtown Sister Bay began Tuesday, Nov. 5. The intersection of Scandia Road and Hwy. 42 is scheduled for construction on Nov. 12, with lane closures in effect. Water service for properties between 10814 N. Bay Shore Drive and 2279 Scandia Road is planned to shut off from 8 am to noon that day. Weekly updates to road closures can be found at sisterbay.com.