After a six-month endeavor to explore the idea of changing the city slogan, it is time to re-cap the experience! I would like to personally thank every person who participated in any way. It was brought up multiple times by citizens of Fennimore that our current city slogan was not fitting to our current situation. In an effort to listen to the different opinions of the community, the committee comprised of a variety of individuals, had then found out what steps needed to be taken to do such a thing. This involved discussions with the Fennimore Industrial Economic Development, the Fennimore Chamber of Commerce and the City of Fennimore.

This is when the official agenda was set and the information was distributed to the community. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, we were only able to utilize free resources such as the newspaper (letter to the editor), the donated website (compliments of WebWise Design) and including paper inserts into various community mailings to inform everyone of this “event”. For this reason, it is extremely difficult to reach everyone and make them aware of what was going on. We found there were a wide variety of opinions and to my dismay only 242 ballots were returned out of about 1,100 registered utility payees. To clear any misunderstanding, it was agreed that the most feasible way to regulate the number of votes any one person could have was to go by the registered utility payee. I would also like to clarify the misconception that if the city slogan changed, the city would incur costs affiliated with the change. It was decided that if the slogan would change, any items with the previous slogan would change as the items were replenished. The city or tax money does not fund any of the objectives that have been established by “Forming Fennimore’s Future”.

After counting the ballots, keeping the current city slogan, “City on the Move” won.

1. The City on the Move! - 98 votes
2. Fennimore. The Crossroads of Opportunity - 77 votes
3. Expect More, Do More, Be More. Fennimore - 21 votes
4. Imagine more in Fennimore! - 18 votes
5. Live More, Learn More, Play More. Fennimore - 15 votes
6. There is more in Fennimore! - 13 votes

So, six months later we are still “Fennimore, City on the Move.” I think that this experience has been a great example of how important awareness and community involvement is, or lack thereof. Again, thank you to everyone who participated in this exploration. I strongly encourage everyone to participate in one or more of the other “Forming Fennimore’s Future” committees to continue to be heard!

Sincerely,
Mindy Krantz

Last April 1 nearly 100 community residents attended the Forming Fennimore’s Future community meeting. During the meeting individuals divided into breakout sessions to strategize ideas to help Fennimore prosper in the future. There were several comments on a possible change of logo for Fennimore. One of the FFF subcommittees asked community members to submit slogan ideas. The public submitted 34 slogans; the committee then narrowed the slogans to 6.

Slogan choices include:

1. Keep current slogan: The City on the Move!
2. Fennimore. The Crossroads of Opportunity
3. Expect More, Do More, Be More. Fennimore
4. There is more in Fennimore!
5. Imagine more in Fennimore!
6. Live More, Learn More, Play More. Fennimore

An official ballot with these six slogan ideas will be included with the March 1 utility bill for Fennimore Utility customers. Each utility customer will receive one vote on the slogan they feel best represents the City. Ballots must be mailed or returned to the City Clerk’s office no later than March 19.

Thank you for your input!

The citizens of this community have mentioned multiple times that they feel our current city slogan may not be fitting at this time therefore we should consider a change. After consulting with the City Council and Fennimore Industrial Economic Development, we have decided to move forward with this idea!

The community is encouraged to participate in this event by suggesting new names and voting! We would like to remind everyone that the suggested names must be correlated with Fennimore. Suggestions must be turned in not later than Wednesday, January 20th to the city clerk or the committee chair at:
Serendipity C/O FFF Slogan
1220 Lincoln Ave #2
Fennimore WI 53809

The committee, F.I.E.D.C. and City Council will then select 5-10 of the top suggestions, at which point there will be one official ballot for each registered utility payee. The deadline for ballots will be Monday, March 15th. Again, ballots can be remitted to the city clerk or chairperson.
We are very excited to be conducting this on behalf of the citizens of Fennimore and look forward to your wonderful suggestions!

Sincerely,

Mindy Krantz
Chairperson

Meeting Agenda
October 20,2009

1. Welcome message
2. Entire Group – Review progress from other subcommittees
3. Move to Subcommittees
   • Community Awareness
   • Community Activities/Center
   • Residential Real Estate Plan
   • Improve Parks
   • Retain - Attract Businesses & Career Jobs
4. Subcommittee Activities
   • Choose a Recorder to take notes to leave with Linda. (Please write the subcommittee name at the top of your notes)
   • Choose a chairperson or co-chairperson
   • Discuss Progress of your committee
   • List activities to achieve goals- Complete the SMART GOAL SHEET.
   • List additional Key Community Members you will contact to help achieve the SMART goals.
   • Decide whether you will meet on your own or meet with the entire Forming Fennimore’s Future Group
   • Adjourn when your group has completed the task.

To FFF Attendees:

Thank you so much for your participation in the April 1st, Forming Fennimores Future community meeting! It was exhilerating to see a variety of different people in the community come together for sole purpose of making Fennimore an even better place to live!

Over the course of two and a half hours we were able to bring a thousand wonderful thoughts down to five main tasks. These five tasks are now being approached by the Core Committee. We strongly encourage you to continue to partipate in the journey of making these thoughts reality.

Once again, thank you for your ideas and suggestions. Together we WILL make Fennimore a better place to live!

Sincerely,

Mindy Krantz
2009 Chamber President

April 1st is generally viewed as a day of joking, kidding, and playing “fast ones” on others, but this April 1st marks a wonderful opportunity to share input, suggestions, and perspectives to improve the community of Fennimore. No fooling!

The Forming Fennimore’s Future campaign is based on the premise that the people who make up this community are the absolute best source of information, ideas, and perspectives.

Please join your community at the Memorial Building on Wednesday, April 1st at 6:30 to share your thoughts, ideas, and input on what makes Fennimore a great community and what can be done to make it even greater. Light refreshments and door prizes will be part of the opportunity as well!

Sincerely,
Karyl Nicholson

Welcome to the Forming Fennimore’s Future discussion area. In the days ahead, you will find commentary by members of your community about forming Fennimore’s Future. We encourage you to share your thoughts about what makes Fennimore special, and how we can improve what is not so special. We truly want to know what is important to you, your family, and the other people you care about.

This is an all-inclusive (Please read Pete Adam’s Open Invitation.) effort including kids, families, singles, seniors. We live together. We need to work together to make Fennimore the best it can be for all of us who choose to live here.

Please feel free to participate by commenting on this and the other commentary that will be posted in this discussion area.

Thanks for joining us here and at the community meetings.