Bukacek said the changes reflect "part of the national transition within BCI’s long-term Employee Stock Ownership Plan vision."

In their new roles, Cairns, a 26-year veteran with the company, and Thompson, a 10-year veteran, are responsible for day-to-day construction operations.
During his tenure with BCI, Cairns has supervised such projects as Ruud Lighting, Educator’s Credit Union, Johnson Worldwide, Danfoss and high-end residential properties.
Thompson has overseen BCI’s Hedberg Library at Carthage College, One Main Centre, The Historic Arcade Apartments, G. Leblanc Corp., Centrysis Centrifuge, the Kenosha County Courthouse, and the Kenosha Administration Building.
Bukacek said he would focus on growth opportunities for the company, including bringing complementary businesses under the BCI umbrella. He will continue to oversee all company operations, and direct BCI’s marketing, finances and real estate development.
The company is at 2429 Summit Ave. in Racine, and at www.bukacek.com on the Internet.

The following loan guarantees were approved by the US Small Business Administration during February:
AOK Investments, 3426 W. North Ave., Milwaukee 53208, $125,500, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Build All Corp., 5203 W. Clinton Ave., Milwaukee 53223, $200,000, Park Bank;
Butch’s Automotive, 919 Williams St., Lake Geneva 53137, $12,000, First Banking Center;
Church Home Inspection Service, 204 S. Elmridge Ave., Brookfield 53005, $25,000, US Bank;
C-S Recknagel Construction, 12003 W. Brown Deer Rd., Milwaukee 53224, $65,000, Wells Fargo Bank;
Design Build Fire Protection, 1921 S. West Ave., Waukesha 53189, $191,000, Illinois Small Business Growth Corp.;
Engineering Label Products, 2615 N. Wauwatosa Ave., Wauwatosa 53213, $59,000, Wells Fargo Bank;
EZ Car Wash, 9102 S. 20th St., Oak Creek 53154, $75,600, Community Bank & Trust;
Harborside Common Grounds, 5159 Sixth Ave., Kenosha 53140, $25,000, Bank One;
Insul-Rite Systems, 3601 S. 92nd St., Milwaukee 53228, $25,000, US Bank;
Izumi’s Restaurant, 2178 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee 53202, $481,529, Delafield State Bank;
LLG Enterprises of SE Wisconsin, 2750 S. 14th St., Milwaukee 53204, $94,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Mail Boxes Etc., 823 W. Moreland Blvd., Waukesha 53188, $150,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Market Square Restaurant, 1015 Hwy. NN, Mukwonago 53149, $219,000, Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp.;
Milwaukee Lithographing Co., 5070 N. 35th St., Milwaukee 53209, $50,000, Capital One Federal Savings Bank;
Minelli Juice N’ Produce, 17000 W. Bluemound Rd., Brookfield 53005, $115,000, St. Francis Capital Corp.;
Moe’s Southwest Grill, 858 Laureate Dr., Pewaukee 53072, $235,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Prairie Stone Garden Center, 8504 Hwy. 60, Cedarburg 53012, $259,000, Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp.;
Precision Metals and Hardware, 5625 N. 124th St., Milwaukee 53225, $175,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Sleep Inn, Motel Road, Sheboygan 53081, $1,149,000, Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp.;
Kurt Weber, W331 N9297 W. Shore Dr., Hartland 53029, $64,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Ziaja Machining Corp., 105 Clark St., Sheboygan Falls 53085, $80,000, Community Bank & Trust.
State grants
Southeastern Wisconsin companies will share in Wisconsin Development Fund awards made at the Wisconsin Development Finance Board meeting on March 5.
Absolute Custom Extrusions, Milwaukee, $31,616 Customized Labor Training (CLT) grant — Absolute Custom Extrusions is a thermal-plastics extrusion house that manufactures custom profiles, tubing and wire coatings. The company is seeking ISO 9001/2000 Certification. The CLT funds will be used to train 12 existing employees and three new employees and will leverage $31,616 in additional private investment.
Elwood Corp., Oak Creek and Racine, $ 37,039 CLT grant – Elwood Corp. provides electronics design and consulting services and manufactures hydraulic valves and electronic products used in remote data acquisition. To meet customer requirements, Elwood is seeking ISO 9001/2000 Certification. The CLT funds will be used to train 69 existing employees and will leverage $37,039 in additional private investment.
Great Lakes Friction Products, Brown Deer, $17,781 CLT grant – Great Lakes Friction Products supplies friction components of brake and clutch assemblies to original-equipment manufacturers. The company is seeking ISO 9001/2000 Certification. The CLT funds will be used to train 12 existing employees and will leverage $17,782 in additional private investment.
Gruber Tool & Die, West Bend, $56,247 CLT grant – Gruber Tool & Die designs and builds tools and produces metal stampings. To meet customer requirements, Gruber Tool & Die is seeking ISO 9000 Certification. The CLT funds will be used to train 65 existing employees and 15 new employees and will leverage $56,247 in additional private investment.
L.T. Hampel Corp., Germantown, $40,500 CLT grant – L.T. Hampel Corp. and its three divisions provide plastic molded shelters for the agricultural market, thermoformed parts to original equipment manufacturers, and plastic products for industry and distribution. L.T. Hampel Corp. is seeking ISO 9001/2000 Certification. The CLT funds will be used to train 94 existing employees and will leverage $40,552 in additional private investment.
MTE Corp., Menomonee Falls, $13,582 CLT grant – MTE produces custom ballasts, reactors, and various power quality devices used in conjunction with electronic equipment in the commercial and industrial markets. MTE is seeking ISO 9001/2000 Certification. The CLT funds will be used to train 62 existing employees and three new employees and will leverage $13,583 in additional private investment.
Prodesse, Waukesha, $250,000 Technology Development Loan (TDL) – Prodesse develops molecular diagnostic detection methods allowing for the simultaneous detection of multiple infectious disease agents. The TDL funds will be used by the company to commercialize its biotech product lines. The project will leverage $267,300 in additional private investment.
The Department of Commerce (COMMERCE) staffs the Wisconsin Development Fund. The independent Wisconsin Development Finance Board considers proposals and awards funds. For further information, contact Todd Kearney, Department of Commerce, 608-266-6675.
March 21, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Construction will begin this spring on a sprawling new residential development, valued at more than $40 million, near the new Northwestern Mutual Life office complex being built in Franklin.
The Franklin Oaks development will span more than 60 acres on the city’s east side, near the former site of the 41 Twin Drive-In movie theater.
The residential subdivision will include:
— 144 apartments, with various numbers of bedrooms, with a total value of $16 million.
— 45 duplex condominiums (90 units), ranging from 1,800 to 2,000 square feet, with a total value of $20.5 million.
–17 new single-family homes, with lot sales ranging from $55,000 to $75,000, and an estimated total value of $5.1 million.
Franklin Oaks was conceived by real estate development partners Jeff Klement, Gerry Klamrowski and Christopher Alessi.
The subdivision will be developed by Icon Development Corp., the Franklin company formed by Klement in 1998. The multifamily units, comprised of brick and stone materials, will be designed by The Shepherd Partnership of Wauwatosa. Icon Construction LLC, a division of Icon Development, will construct the multifamily units.
Construction is expected to begin in two months and will continue in phases over the next five years, Klement and Klamrowski said.
Franklin Oaks will be bordered by Drexel Avenue on the North, South 27th Street on the east, Plaza Drive on the south and South 35th Street on the west.
The subdivision’s single-family units will be located near existing single-family houses in Franklin. The new development will retain the wetlands and other vegetation on the land as buffer zones between the single-family and multifamily units.
The project also will include six retention ponds.
"There’s two reasons this development is special," Klamrowski said. "Along 35th and Plaza, we kept that all single-family, then we have a nice transition to a slightly higher density of duplex condos. The other transition is you have all the wetlands that separate the multifamily from the single-family units."
"The natural areas become buffers," Klement said. "It’s important. People like looking at those."
The developers have obtained all of the permits needed from the City of Franklin to proceed with the project, according to Mary Kay Buratto, who started as the city’s planning manager in December.
"Just by looking at it (the site plan), I would agree this project is well thought out," Buratto said.
Klement and Klamrowski both said they expect employees who will work at the nearby Northwestern Mutual complex will express interest in moving into the Franklin Oaks development.

The following commercial property leases have been reported:
Apex Commercial
— 762 square feet of office space at 2433 N. Mayfair Rd., Wauwatosa, by Alternative Psyc;
— 770 square feet of office space at 2100 N. Mayfair Rd., Wauwatosa, by Guidance Mortgage;
— 2,120 square feet of office space at 1011 N. Mayfair Rd., Wauwatosa, by Marinelli;
— 3,500 square feet of office space at 1011 N. Mayfair Rd., Wauwatosa, by Information Technology Partners;
Boerke Co.
— 13,900 square feet of industrial space at 3485 N. 127th St., Brookfield, by Shaw Contract Flooring, from Siepmann Family Trust;
— 1,600 square feet of retail space in the Meadow Creek Shopping Center at 1405 W. Capitol Dr. in Pewaukee, to H&R Block, by Chestnut Ltd. Partnership for $15 per square foot;
— 1,718 square feet of retail space in the Mequon Pavilion at 10920 N. Port Washington Rd., Mequon, to H&R Block, by Heritage Property Investment Trust, for $14.28 per square foot;
— 3,360 square feet of space at 1234 N. Prospect Ave. in Milwaukee, to Jill Seebantz, d/b/a Body Awareness Center, by Matex for $10.54 per square foot;
— 4,633 square feet of office space at 175 N. Patrick Blvd. in the Brookfield Lakes Corporate Park VI in Brookfield, to Crawford & Co. from Great Lakes REIT, for $18.21 per square foot;
— 2,672 square feet of space in the Bank One Plaza at 111 E. Wisconsin Ave., to Mocais Café, from Bank One for $17 per square foot;
— A 20,000-square-foot industrial building at 6724 S. 13th St., Oak Creek, to Technical Transportation;
— 1,653 square feet of space at 789 N. Water St., Milwaukee, to SPR, from Heartland Advisors for $18.50 per square foot;
— 6,940 square feet of space at 420 S. 1st St., Milwaukee, to Doggy Day Care, from KAL;
— 1,200 square feet of retail space at 10855 W. Park Pl., Liberty Plaza, Milwaukee, to State Farm Insurance, by Liberty Property Development Corp., for $13.50 per square foot;
DeMattia Group
— 1,500 square feet of space at 223 N. Water St. in Milwaukee, to LaMacchia Group;
Dickman Co.
— 52,055 square feet of industrial space at 6001 S. Ace Industrial Dr., Cudahy, by Ace Airfreight Co., d/b/a Intercontinental Transportation Systems;
— 37,000 square feet of industrial space at 6101 N. 64th St., Milwaukee, by Industrial Risk Insurers;
— 1,604 square feet of office space at 2448 S. 102nd St., West Allis, by U.S. Medical Management Inc. (Visiting Physicians);
— 45,000 square feet of industrial space at 6101 N. 64th St., Milwaukee, by Lamplight Farms;
Gerald Nell
— 2,400 square feet of industrial space at 2325 Bluemound Rd., Unit C, Waukesha, by Garage Interiors of Wisconsin, LLC d/b/a GarageTek, from Sunset Investment Co.;
— 2,400 square feet of industrial space at 2325 Bluemound Rd., Unit D, Waukesha, by Mad House Marketing, from Sunset Investment Co.;
— 6,000 square feet of industrial space at W140 N5940 Lilly Rd., Menomonee Falls, by Packaging Sales, from Bronell Investment Co.;
— 8,700 square feet of industrial space at 3225 Gateway Rd., #300, Brookfield, by Fairway Golf Cars, from Sunset Investment Co.;
— 5,350 square feet of industrial space at W237 N2889 Woodgate Rd., #C, Pewaukee, by Advanced Business Technologies, from Charter Oak Investment;
— 1,310 square feet of office space at 2515 N. 124th St., #220, Brookfield, by Medical Staffing Network, from G&N Investment Co.
— 8,100 400 square feet of industrial space at N27 W23910 Paul Rd., Unit A, Pewaukee, by Innovative Control Systems, from Charter Oak Investment;
Inland
— 12,105 square feet of office space at the Airport Atrium Building at 5007 . Howell Ave., Milwaukee, by the General Services Administration;
— 1,200 square feet of office space at 13255 W. Bluemound Rd., Brookfield, by Eye Prosthetics;
— 4,900 square feet of industrial space at the Mill Run, Milwaukee, by Courtney Industrial Battery.
— 20,000 square feet of warehouse space at 7025 West Parkland Court in Milwaukee, leased by Roller Fabrics;
— 1,860 square feet of office space at Hillside Office Center in Delafield, leased by AEGIS Therapies;
— 4,083 square feet of office space at 250 Plaza located at 250 E. Wisconsin Ave. in Milwaukee, leased by Protiviti, Inc.;
— 1,488 square feet of office space at West Allis Center located at 1126 S. 70th St. in West Allis, leased by Fisher Unitech;
Judson & Associates
— 3,180 square feet of space at 1275 E. Wisconsin Ave. in Pewaukee to Piranha Promotions, by Sawyer Enterprises;
— 2,323 square feet of space at W191 S7733 Racine Ave. in Muskego to T.D.’s Caribbean Tan, by Lakewood Development;
— 2,575 square feet of space at W191 S7733 Racine Ave. in Muskego to Scheer Photography, by Lakewood Development;
— 1875 square feet of space at 16230 W. Lincoln Ave. in New Berlin to Hog Heaven, from Brick Buildings, LLC;
— 3,000 square feet of space at W223 N798 Saratoga Dr. in Pewaukee to Schmidt Custom Floors, by Cass Properties;
— 9,165 square feet of space at 1040 Cottonwood Ave. in Hartford to In-Line Cutting, by Cottonwood III;
— 3,400 square feet of space at W227 N880 Westmound Dr. in Pewaukee to Bay Therm Insulation, by John and Joe Gleason;
James T. Barry Co.
— The remaining 1,200 square feet of space in the Centrum Office Building at 120 N. Main St., West Bend, by Ryan J. Hetzel for his law practice, from Centrum Building;
— 50,000 square feet of industrial space in the Mitchell Distribution Center at 5150 S. International Dr. in Cudahy, to Illinois Industrial Tool for its distribution business, by Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.;
— 3,500 square feet of office/retail space at 7105 W. Greenfield Ave., West Allis, to Yocum Enterprises for a Fairgrounds Espresso Coffeehouse, by 6301 W. Douglas, LLC;
— 2,550 square feet of office space in the Cushing Park Plaza at 78 Enterprise Rd. in Delafield, to Hydrofinish for a new business to test and service cylinders, by Cushing Park;
— 4,250 square feet of office space at N19 W24400 Riverwood Dr. in the Riverwood Corporate Park in Pewaukee, a sublease to Mitel Networks, from MRA.
Polacheck Co.
— 2,400 square feet of space at 2325 Bluemound Rd., Waukesha, by Garage Interiors of Wisconsin from Gerald Nell;
— 24,514 square feet of space at W234 N2091 Ridgeview Parkway Ct. in Waukesha, to Southern Graphic Systems from RidgeView Business Center III;
— 9,600 square feet of space at N93 W14518-14670 Whittaker Way, Menomonee Falls, to Tech Master, from Da Milwaukee (Denholtz Associates);
–83,820 square feet of space at 4950 S. 6th St., Milwaukee, to MPS Services from TH Properties;
— 2,108 square feet of space at 735 N. Water St., Milwaukee, to Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges, from Compass Properties North Water Street;
— 1,460 square feet of space at 735 N. Water St. to Seyman Pikofsk, from Compass Properties North Water Street;
— 1,139 square feet of space at 141 E. Sunset Blvd., Waukesha, to Advantage Wireless from Green Realty Co.;
— 3,000, 2,600 and 1,000 square feet of space at the Midtown Center, 4135 N. 56th St., Milwaukee, to Urban Gear, d/b/a City Sports, from BV/CJUF Midtown Ventures;
— 6,054 square feet of space at 8271 W. Brown Deer Rd., Milwaukee, to Ashley Stewart, from EIG Northridge Plaza;
— 1,200 square feet of space at Deer Trace Plaza at the Highway 28 and I-43 junction in Kohler, to Great Clips, from KP3;
— 4,438 square feet of space at 1528 S. 108th St., West Allis, to Hollywood Entertainment Corp., from BV West Allis;
— 1,207 square feet of space at 2177 E. Silvernail Rd., Pewaukee, to Wireless Logic, from Zabest Commercial Group;
— 2,946 square feet of space at 6400 N. 76th St., Milwaukee, to Payless ShoeSource, from Metropolitan Mill Road Venture;
— 2,598 square feet of space at 1416 W. Forest Home Ave., Milwaukee, to MVP Pizza, from American Drug Stores;
— 5,200 square feet of space at 191 N. Broadway, Milwaukee to Broadway Paper Store, from Lofts on Broadway;
— 1,785 square feet of space on Silvernail Road in Waukesha, to B&H Supper Pizza, from Zabest Commercial Group;
— 4,000 square feet of space at 10029-11031 N. Port Washington Rd., Mequon, to Fitness Factory, from East Towne Shops.
Property sales
The following commercial real estate sales have been announced:
Boerke Co.
— A 11,848-square-foot industrial facility at 6565 N. 60th St. in Milwaukee, purchased by Kevin Schuele from Marconi for $1 million;
— A 26,000-square-foot industrial property at 4871 N. 119th St., Milwaukee, to Theodore F. Dragotta, by T.R. Products;
Dickman Co.
— The 127,000-square-foot industrial facility at 4715 N. 27th St., Milwaukee, by Jonco Properties II, from Estate of Milwaukee Lead Works;
— The 16,658-square-foot industrial facility at N27 W23655 Paul Rd., Pewaukee, by MDS Holdings, from Productivity WI Real Estate;
— A 29,20-square-fot industrial property at N90 W14337 Commerce Dr., Menomonee Falls, to Summit Real Estate Exchange Services, from T.W. Real Estate;
Inland
— The 17,500-square-foot Vestcom facility at 7915 N. 81st St., Milwaukee, by J. Johnson Holdings, from James Horst and Frank Capozzi;
— 2.305 acres of land in Sussex, purchased by Sussex Corporate Center;
James T. Barry Co.
— 7.45 acres of land at the northeast corner of Bluemound Road and Jennifer Drive in Brookfield, by Poplar Creek Associates, which plans to develop a new office building on the property;
— The 17,500-square-foot Vestcom facility at 7915 N. 81st St., Milwaukee, by J. Johnson Holdings, from its business, Cornell Communications, from James Horst and Frank Capozzi;
— The 34,900-square-foot Waukesha Specialties facility at 2450 S. Commerce Dr., New Berlin, by ATM Corp., from JT Enterprises. ATM also bought the Waukesha Specialties business; both operations will occupy the building;
— The 25,600-square-foot multi-tenant industrial building at W188 N11770 Maple Rd., Germantown, by Super Sales USA, from Alpine Business Center. Super Sales purchased the building as an investment and traded it to another investor to complete an exchange;
–Two office buildings totaling 28,019 square feet of space, at 8555 and 8585 W. Forest Home Ave. in Greenfield, purchased by Steve’s Number 1, from 8555 Forest Home Co., a Gleischman Sumner Co.;
— A 40,120-square-foot industrial facility at 1416 Poplar Dr., Waukesha, sold to Michael and Terri Kelliher from Bielinski Commercial; the buyer intends to use approximately 12,000 square feet of the space for an expanded business operation and lease out the remaining space while the seller will move out of approximately 6,750 square feet of space and consolidate its operation at its new building at N16 W23377 Stone Ridge Dr., Waukesha;
— A 21,500-square-foot industrial building at N57 W13566 Carmen Ave., Menomonee Falls, sold to Weber Leasing and Holding from The Chapter 128 Receiver of the Wellington Equipment Co.; the property will be leased to Butler Building Supply;
Judson & Associates
— 2.77 acres at 3660 Kettle Court East in Delafield, by Raley, from George Kanavas;
— A 2,866-square-foot facility at 518 Poplar St. in West Bend, by Chard Fuhrecic from James and Jean Jones;
— A 28,084-square-foot facility at N70 W25156 Indian Grass Lane in Lisbon, by Don Tomasine from Mike Toebes;
— A 7,150-square-foot facility at 19500 W. Bluemound Rd. in Brookfield, by Hales Corners Full Service Car Wash, from Go Clean Car Wash;
— A 21,328-square-foot facility at 2887 Main St. in East Troy, by JT Interiors, from Dr. Armin Nyffelor;
MLG Commercial
— 1.5 acres of land at 63rd and State streets in Wauwatosa, purchased by Parkway Developments for $140,000, from B & G Realty, a division of the Marcus Corp.;
Ogden & Co.
— The Sanford Kane House at 1841 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, an historic Queen Anne architecture structure, by Bill and Margaret Huettner and Lorna Mueller, from Sam Rondone. The ornate mansion was built in 1880 and most recently was the home of the Lakeshore Montessori School. The property will become home to Prospect Management Co. and Prospect Realty;
Polacheck Co.
— A 3,171-square-foot facility at 6001 22nd Ave., Kenosha, to W&W Realty, from Discovered Services.
Jan. 10, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Terry Morris has joined the Southeastern Wisconsin Service Center of Clifton Gunderson in Milwaukee as an audit senior manager. Morris is a graduate of UW-Oshkosh. She has more than 13 years of public accounting experience.
Robert Elkin has joined Crispell-Snyder as manager of the Lake Geneva firm’s new Private Development Section. Elkin holds a master’s degree in business administration from Marquette University and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. He is a Wisconsin-licensed Professional Engineer with nearly 20 years of civil engineering experience.
Nguyen "Winn" Tran has joined the LePoidevin Rickinger Group in Brookfield as a graphic designer. Tran brings more than 11 years of experience to the firm. He holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from UW-Milwaukee. The LePoidevin Rickinger Group, Brookfield, has added Judson Luke as an account executive in its client services staff. Luke has more than six years of sales and marketing experience.
The Milwaukee accounting firm of Komisar Brady & Co. has added three new accountants to its staff. Jenny Buchert has joined the tax department at the staff level. She holds a degree in accounting from UW-Milwaukee and will be pursuing a master’s degree in taxation next September. Svetlana Goldstein has joined the tax department. She is pursuing her master’s degree in accounting at UW-Milwaukee and anticipates an August 2003 graduation. The firm also has announced several promotions. Yulia Vlasik was promoted from staff accountant to senior accountant. She holds a degree in accounting from UW-Milwaukee and has been with Komisar Brady & Co. since 2000. Rob Waite was promoted from junior staff accountant to staff accountant. He is a 2002 UW-Milwaukee accounting graduate and has been with the firm since January of 2001. He is pursuing an MBA at UW-Milwaukee. Brian D. Thiel was promoted from staff accountant to senior staff accountant. He is a December 1999 Marquette University graduate and has been with the firm since January 2000. Michael A. Burzynski has become a partner with the firm. He is a 1991 UW-Whitewater graduate and has been with Komisar Brady & Co. since 1994. Jenny Bremer was promoted from intern to junior staff accountant. She will graduate from UW-Milwaukee in June with a degree in accounting.
David Theune has joined the sales staff of Best Block Co. of Menomonee Falls. He has 29 years of experience in concrete masonry and the construction market.
Lori Wargolet has been named mortgage origination manager while Lorrie Wolters has been promoted to the position of mortgage servicing manager at Wauwatosa Savings Bank. Julie Wieczorek has been promoted to the new position of systems analysis manager at the bank.
Susie Thomson has joined DMC Advertising & Direct Marketing as director of client services. She has more than 10 years of experience in the advertising business, including work at TMP Worldwide. For the past three years, she served as vice president and general manager of TMP’s Milwaukee Directional Marketing Division.
Jeff Brand and David Drakulic have joined Harleys: The Store of Men in Shorewood as sales/fashion consultants. Brand has nearly 10 years of retail fashion experience while Drakulic has more than 20 years of sales experience, and had earlier worked at Harleys.
Tim Forseth has joined MC2, as retail manager. Forseth was a senior sales associate with AT&T wireless in Milwaukee. Kelly Vaile has joined MC2 as a retail associate. Vaile was a senior consultant with Infinity Wireless in the Fox Valley. Dan Kroenke has joined MC as service manager. Kroenke was an assistant manager for Landmark Luggage in Brookfield.
Steven Miazga has joined – National Survey & Engineering, a division of R.A. Smith & Associates, as coordinator of business development in its private development practice group. Miazga previously owned and managed his own consulting engineering business in Rhinelander, for 25 years. He was also active in local economic development. Prior to that experience he worked for a national multi-disciplinary consulting firm, serving the public and private sectors. Miazga has a bachelor of science degree in civil and environmental engineering with an emphasis on transportation and land development planning.
Ken Graber has been named senior public relations coordinator for the Drives, Motors and Machines business area of ABB Inc., Automation Technologies in New Berlin It is a newly created position. Graber will be responsible for all media relations and increasing awareness of ABB’s low-voltage and medium-voltage motor drive products across the key industrial and commercial markets that the company serves throughout the North American Region. Prior to joining ABB, Graber worked at Zigman Joseph Stephenson, beginning there in 1984 as a junior account executive, and rising to vice president. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master of arts degree from the University of Illinois. ABB Inc., Automation Technologies, Drives, Motors and Machines, is the world’s largest manufacturer of electric motors and drives.
Mollie Boutell has joined the forensic accounting firm Sequence, in Milwaukee, as the office manager. She was previously employed by Marquette University.
Kenneth Petershack has joined Wangard Partners in Wauwatosa as a commercial associate broker. Prior to joining Wangard Partners, Petershack spent more than 15 years with Ford Motor Co. He held numerous senior management positions throughout the United States, which included, sales, consulting and marketing. In his various positions Petershack worked directly with both national and international clients. Prior to his departure from Ford, Petershack was the strategic manager for the Web-based development of Ford’s North American allocation and scheduling system producing more than three million vehicles. Petershack also has helped entrepreneurs in their search for real estate, the coordination of their marketing plans, the analysis of their financial operations, and the development of their annual strategic business plans. Petershack is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor of science degree in communications arts, and a master of business administration in marketing. Matthew J. Quest has been named a vice president at Wangard Partners. Quest began as an intern at Wangard in 1999. After graduating from UW-Madison with a business degree in management that December, Quest worked as an industrial associate broker.
Joe Malett has joined HNI Risk Services in New Berlin as an account executive. In his new position, Malett is responsible for marketing and soliciting new business as well as servicing accounts for HNI’s Manufacturing and Construction Divisions. He comes to HNI after more than three years with Liberty Mutual Group. Malett received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and mass communications from UW-Milwaukee.
Craig Capano has joined CG Schmidt, Inc., in Milwaukee as the engineering and support services manager. He has a master of construction science and management degree from Clemson University. Capano also received a bachelor of science in construction management degree and an associate’s degree in engineering and architectural engineering technology from the Wentworth Institute of Technology. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering with a concentration in construction at Marquette University. Stefanie Meyers has joined CG Schmidt as the director of human resources. She received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in human resource management from UW-Whitewater. Todd Rakowski has joined CG Schmidt as the controller. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UW-Madison. Mary Ratayczak has joined CG Schmidt in Milwaukee as the office assistant. She received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in human resource management from UW-Whitewater.
Terry Sutter and Sandra Ethier-Roadt have been named senior vice presidents of commercial banking for First Federal Savings Bank of Wisconsin. Sutter joined the bank in March. He has more than 35 years of commercial banking experience and is responsible for the bank’s commercial banking unit. Ethier-Roadt, who joined the bank in May, has more than 15 years of banking experience and manages a portfolio of commercial banking customers for the Waukesha-based bank.
Integrated Risk Solutions, Delafield, has hired Michelle Bandlow as a customer service agent. Bandlow brings nearly 20 years of insurance experience to the firm. She will lead the company’s proactive renewal process.
SynergyHealth has appointed Sue Roemer as director of SynergyHealth Surgical Services. Roemer will oversee the surgical services departments at both the St. Joseph’s Community Hospital of West Bend and the West Bend Surgery Center at the West Bend Clinic. Roemer will also be responsible for compliance with accreditation and regulatory requirements for SynergyHealth Surgical Services.
Chuck Davis has retired after 21 years with the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau. Davis retired from his position as vice president of association sales Dec. 18 to spend more time with his family. Scott Chard, the bureau’s convention sales manager, will take over the client relationships Davis had established.
James Gischia has been promoted to assistant vice president of Johnson Commercial Leasing, Milwaukee. In his new role, Gischia will be responsible for expanding the company’s leasing opportunities in the Waukesha, Madison, Janesville and Hayward markets. He most recently was a commercial leasing officer at the firm.
Attorney Donald Schoenfeld has joined von Briesen & Roper’s banking, bankruptcy and business restructuring practice group as a new shareholder. Schoenfeld brings more than 28 years of legal experience to the Milwaukee law firm. The law firm has named attorney Monica C. Hocum as an associate in its health care practice group. Hocum earned a University of Wisconsin bachelor’s degree in 1989 and a master’s degree in 1990. She earned her law degree at Marquette University, cum laude, in 1997.
Marsh, Inc. has added David Wierkiewicz as a new client consultant to its Milwaukee team. Wierkiewicz will be consulting with clients and prospective clients on all health and welfare benefit programs and general human resource solutions. He previously worked as an account manager for United Healthcare.
Rula Al-Saghir, M.D., has joined the pulmonology staff at the Good Hope Road Center of Advanced Healthcare in Milwaukee. Al-Saghir received her medical degree from Aleppo University in Aleppo, Syria.
Carolyn Campbell has been named child daycare administrator at The Lutheran Home in Wauwatosa. Campbell will direct the center, which serves more than 85 children each week in an intergenerational program. Campbell has been an employee at The Lutheran Home for 14 years.
EPIC of Wisconsin, in West Bend, has hired Brian LeClaire as a designer and animator. LeClaire has a wide range of production and design experience in multimedia, print and animation. EPIC also has hired Janet Hayek as the firm’s new office coordinator. Hayek has 20 years of secretarial experience, most recently at a large health care organization.
Bill Hurwitz has been named general manager of the Milwaukee Radio Alliance (MRA). Hurwitz has held sales executive positions with the MRA since 1995. The MRA operates radio stations WLUM, WMCS and WJZI. Prior to working at MRA, Hurwitz worked at radio stations WISN, WLTQ, WOKY and WQFM.
Amy Dodge has been hired as the new executive director of the Golf Foundation of Wisconsin. Dodge had been the interim executive director of the organization for the past three months. Prior to joining the foundation, Dodge worked for Blue Horse and Shully’s Cuisine.
Vito Parente has been named an account manager at The Langer Group in Wauwatosa. Parente recently graduated from Marian College with a degree in finance.
Jean McDonald has been named administrator of The Gardens at Bayside, which are owned and operated by The Lutheran Home, of Wauwatosa. McDonald has served as chief operating officer of Lifecare Hospitals of Milwaukee, vice president of integrated services at Columbia-St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee and vice president of St. Anthony’s Medical Center in Milwaukee. A registered nurse, she received her master’s degree in administrative medicine from UW-Madison.
Linda Myszewski has joined the accounting firm if Sitzberger, Widmann & Co. in Brookfield as a senior accountant. She brings six years of experience to the firm, and holds a degree in accounting from UW-Milwaukee.
Curt Meilicke has joined St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee as director of IS operations. He brings more than 20 years of experience in information technology. Most recently, he was a member of The Revere Group, a national technology consulting firm with offices in Milwaukee. He holds a bachelor of science degree in computational mathematics from Marquette University.
Tim Forseth has joined MC2, as retail manager. Forseth was a senior sales associate with AT&T wireless in Milwaukee. Kelly Vaile has joined MC2 as a retail associate. Vaile was a senior consultant with Infinity Wireless in the Fox Valley. Dan Kroenke has joined MC as service manager. Kroenke was an assistant manager for Landmark Luggage in Brookfield.

Jan. 10, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Jump the Curve Consulting Group was recently founded by Nick Kroll for the purpose of assisting small to mid-size industrial manufacturers and distributors grow their businesses. With years of experience in industries such as steel, machine tool, irrigation, engine, power equipment, and hydraulics. Jump the Curve brings first-hand experience and focus to its industrial clients. Services include strategic planning facilitation, sales and marketing team/plan development, market research, and distribution channel management. The Waukesha firm is on the Internet at www.jumpthecurve.net.
Saz’s Barbecue Products has appointed two local food brokers to market Saz’s sauces, frozen snack items, pork, chicken and rib products to Wisconsin retailers. Acosta Sales and Marketing Company, Waukesha, will handle Saz’s sauces and frozen snack items, while Food Marketing Services, Pewaukee, will handle barbecue pork, chicken and rib products. According to Steve Sazama, owner of Saz’s, the new relationships will improve the company’s visibility and ability to reach consumers through a variety of grocery and retail outlets.
Acosta, a national broker that specializes in perishable items, was selected for its success with premium products. “We target premium brands that are leaders in their categories,” said Scott Swartz, business manager for Acosta. Food Marketing Services, specializing in meat and deli marketing, will serve as Saz’s marketing representative to grocers throughout Wisconsin, including Pick ‘n Save and Sentry.
Postal Solutions, a marketing production company in Menomonee Falls, has changed its name to Proven Direct. The name change reflects the firm’s formal launch of its newest services, including variable imaging and online marketing, according to Proven Direct president Mike Limbach. The company was founded in 1997 as a mailhouse providing services such as list acquisition, address hygiene, laser personalization, inkjet addressing and inserting.
Dash, Inc., the Sussex-based developer of innovative application-specific software, has launched its new “Digital-Asset Management” software, DASHddx. The new software is an imaging and document-management system that automatically faxes, e-mails and/or laser-prints forms and then archives those documents.
J.W. Winco, Inc., a New Berlin supplier of standard industrial machine components, now offers steel and stainless steel indexing mechanisms. The components are designed to replace and simplify indexing and safety mechanisms. The company offers secondary machining and assembly, in addition to special labeling and packaging.
Wauwatosa Savings has donated $100,000 to help build a multi-purpose performance stage in Wauwatosa’s expanded Hart Park, located on the banks of the Menomonee River. The Rotary Stage and Performance Amphitheater is a key component of the city’s plan to expand and improve Hart Park. Civic officials are attempting to raise $1 million to build the stage, which will be designed to be flood resistant.
St. Joseph’s Community Hospital of West Bend has received an “A-” rating on its $50 million in revenue bonds, which will help finance construction of its new $55 million hospital. The bond ratings were provided by Fitch Ratings, Inc. The bonds are expected to be sold in January through UBS PaineWebber and Ziegler Capital Markets. The new hospital is expected to open in May 2005 at the northwest corner of Highway 45 and Pleasant Valley Road in the Town of Polk. St. Joseph’s Community Hospital is a member of SynergyHealth.
With successful factory completion of a recent six-day test of three completely integrated ABB ACS 1000 medium-voltage drive systems, the equipment will be readied for transport and installation at the City of Detroit’s Haggerty Station Pumping Facility in March/April. “The testing was live, real-world and real-time alongside representatives from the city,” said Chuck Clark, senior vice president, ABB Inc., and director, Medium Voltage Drives, ABB Inc., Automation Technologies in New Berlin. ABB designed the system to optimize control of the 700-horsepower variable-speed water pump motor to be used at the station.
Jan. 10, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

The following loan guarantees have been approved by the Small Business Administration during November:
Advantage Wireless, 141 E. Sunset Blvd., Waukesha 53189, $70,000, Wells Fargo Bank
American Pride Service Center, 1521 N. 13th St., Sheboygan 53081, $167,000, Community Bank & Trust
AOK Investments, 3426 W. North Ave., Milwaukee 53208, $77,600, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Burlington Dairy Queen, 324 S. Pine St., Burlington 53105, $149,000, Racine County Business Development Corp.
Carpet Care Plus, 2200 Miller Park Way, Milwaukee 53219, $40,000 and $160,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Cold Stone Creamery, S74 W14933 Woods Rd., Muskego 53150, $278,000, Comerica Bank
Creative Communications Concepts, 20100 W. Greenfield Ave., Brookfield 53045, $350,000, State Financial Bank
Culver’s, 641 S. Taylor Dr., Sheboygan 53081, $480,000, Community Bank & Trust
Del’s Pump Service, 6204 S. Pacine Pl., New Berlin 53146, $69,700, Bank One
Die Concepts, N4 W22450 Bluemound Rd., Waukesha 53186, $805,606, Investors Bank
Graceffa’s Rooms for Less, 8601 Durand Ave., Sturtevant 53177, $150,000, Tri City National Bank
Great Lake Auto Service, 1700 Calumet Dr., Sheboygan 53081, $250,000, Community Bank & Trust
Hart Brothers, 26404 Oakridge Rd., Wind Lake 53185, $320,000 and $180,000 M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Hunt Trucking, 2126 Lakeshore Dr., Sheboygan 53081, $73,600, Community Bank & Trust
Kwik Kopy Printing, 601 Ryan St., Pewaukee 53072, $150,000, Wells Fargo Bank
Little Hands Child Care, 1517 Wisconsin Ave., Grafton 53024, $45,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Netropolis Cyber Café, 6703 Hillside Ln., Wauwatosa 53213, $5,000 and $60,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Pro Team Apparel, 20725 Watertown Rd., Waukesha 53186, $50,000, Capital One Federal Savings Bank
Pro Welding & Manufacturing, 11175 W. Heather Dr., Milwaukee 53224, $150,000, Ozaukee Bank
Quizno’s Classic Subs, 97 N. Moorland Rd., Brookfield 53005, $130,000, Community Bank & Trust
Rainbow Car Wash, 9102 S. 20th St., Oak Creek 53154, $168,400, Community Bank & Trust
SE10 Creative, 828 N. Broadway, Milwaukee 53202, $10,000, Bank One
Stepping Stones Children’s Center, 280 Lakeview Dr., Belgium 53004, $170,000, The Port Washington State Bank
Sterling Hardware, 7649 N. Teutonia Ave., Milwaukee 53209, $1,005,100, US Bank
Suave House Niteclub, 7420 W. Villard Ave., Milwaukee 53218, $112,000, Legacy Bank
Sensations Tanning Salon, 26481 Fries Ln. Wind Lake 53185, $31,000, First Banking Center
Sypien Metal Fabrication, W208 N16947 Center St., Jackson 53037, $10,000 and $35,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Travel Agents International, 6837 W. Brown Deer Rd., Milwaukee 53223, $25,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Ultimate Truck Accessories, 3515 S. 108th St., Greenfield 53228, $438,000, Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp.
Wisconsin Testing Laboratories, N59 W14176 Kaul Ave., Menomonee Falls 53051, $65,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Dec. 20, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Mark A. Brault, Chad J. Richter and John R. Schreiber have joined the law firm of O’Neil, Cannon & Hollman in Milwaukee. Brault is a 1994 cum laude graduate of Marquette University Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin. He will practice in the corporate and employment law areas. Richer, a 2002 cum laude graduate of Marquette’s law school with a bachelor’s degree from Marquette, will concentrate on corporate and business law. Schreiber will concentrate on corporate and civil litigation. He is also a 2002 cum laude graduate of Marquette’s law school, with a bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison.
Joseph R. Wagner has joined Inland Companies in Milwaukee as vice president.
Bob Sullivan has joined Integrated Mail Industries in Milwaukee as a senior sales account executive, responsible for accounts in Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Sullivan has spent 25 years in the direct mail, fulfillment, and digital printing and imaging industries. He started and built the Forms Division at Automatic Data Processing (ADP), which ultimately grew to $40 Million in revenue. At ADP, he was the director of sales and the national marketing manager for the US and Canada. Sullivan graduated from UW-Eau Claire in business and journalism.
Paul Lee has joined Ogden & Company as a property manager. Lee is a graduate of St. Norbert College and has 30 years experience in residential and commercial property management, and is a member of the Wisconsin Realtors Association. In the past, Lee established Jankowski, Lee & Associates, a leasing and property management firm located in Brookfield. Ann Crawley has joined Ogden & Company as human resource manager. Crawley is a graduate of UW-Madison and earned a master’s degree in human resources and labor relations at UW-Milwaukee. Crawley has worked at the Clement J. Zablocki V.A. Medical Center in the Employee and Labor Relations Department, and worked at The Enterprise, Ltd., as a product and account manager.
Julie Lemminger has joined Wisconsin Business Bank as an assistant vice president for commercial banking relationships. She has 25 years of banking experience with the last eight years being in commercial banking at U.S. Bancorp in Green Bay.
Julie Rossmiller, of Wauwatosa, has joined CG Schmidt, Inc., in Milwaukee as a Business development assistant. She received a bachelor’s degree in special education from Concordia University in Seward, Neb. Dave Giordano, of Kenosha, has joined CG Schmidt as the marketing manager. He received a bachelor’s degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga. Giordano also received a master’s degree from the American Intercontinental University in Atlanta.
John Hankerd has joined Associated Bank as vice president of commercial lending at the Kilbourn Avenue office in Milwaukee. Hankerd has more than 21 years of experience in banking. Prior to joining Associated, he was vice president of commercial lending at US Bank, where he had been for 12 years. Hankerd earned his bachelor’s of business administration in finance from Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind.
Evonne A. Fillinger, R.N., BSN, has been named director of nursing services at Mequon Healthcare. Fillinger has been involved in long-term care since 1974, most recently as a nurse consultant for HCR Manor Care. She received her bachelor of science degree in nursing from Carroll-Columbia College of Nursing.
Rakesh Waghray, M.D., has been named medical director of pulmonary medicine at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee. Waghray is board certified in internal medicine. He completed fellowship training in pulmonary medicine at Nassau County Medical Care Center, East Meadow, N.Y., and subsequently completed fellowship training in Critical Care Medicine at Montefiore Medical Care Center, Bronx, N.Y. He is also board certified in pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine. Waghray is in practice with Krishna Neni, M.D., Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, 3267 S. 16th St., Milwaukee.
Darrell J. Berry has joined Bloom Consultants as principal engineer at its Wauwatosa office. Berry has 30 years of experience, primarily in transportation-related engineering. Before joining Bloom, he served as a senior project manager with HNTB Corp. in Milwaukee. Berry received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UW-Madison and his master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Wisconsin, Indiana, Florida and Texas and a Registered Structural Engineer in Illinois. Lyle Sohns, a 28-year veteran of the power industry, has been named senior project manager at Bloom. Before joining Bloom, Sohns served in various senior management posts for Wisconsin Electric Power Co., Milwaukee. He was also employed by MWH, where he served as the project engineering manager for the Sugar Creek Generating Station constructed in Terra Haute, Ind. Sohns also worked for Graycor Industrial Constructors, a Chicago-based contractor, in business development. A UW-Milwaukee civil engineering graduate, he is a Registered Professional Engineer in Wisconsin and Michigan and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Lauren Gilles has joined the Wisconsin Bakers Association, based in Milwaukee, as its financial coordinator. She comes to the WBA with more than 19 years of experience in the financial services industry, most recently with eFunds Corp. in Glendale and the former Firstar Corp.
Kim Brunzelle has been promoted to the position of convention sales manager at the Greater Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau. Brunzelle joined the GMCVB in 2001 at convention services assistant, where she remained until her recent promotion.
Tanya J. Crivello has been named quality manager of Martech Assemblies in Grafton. Crivello has been with Martech since September 2001, leading the development of the quality system at the firm.
Bradley Birchbauer has joined Mitchell Bank as vice president for commercial lending. He will be based at the bank’s Business Banking Center in Wauwatosa. Birchbauer has more than 20 years of bank lending experience, and was previously a vice president/branch manager at Tri-City National Bank in Milwaukee.
Brian P. McGraw has joined MSI General Corp. in Oconomowoc as project director in the design/build general contractor’s special projects division. He holds bachelor of science degrees in architectural engineering and in construction management, both from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. MSI also has promoted Victor L. Buell III to the position of project director in the special projects division. He holds a bachelor of science degree in architecture from UW-Milwaukee.
Brian Berner has joined the Milwaukee office of URS Corp. as an aquatic biologist, while Auggie Wong has joined the engineering, environmental, program and construction management company as the leader of the Milwaukee Urban Planning and Design Group.
Michelle Foeger has joined the Fitzgerald, Clayton, James & Kasten insurance agency as executive assistant, a newly created position. She has experience with Northwestern Mutual, Strong Capital, and Robert W. Baird & Co. Foeger holds a degree in business administration from Marion College.
Michael Zwaska has joined Zwaska Funeral Home in Brown Deer, representing a fifth generation in the family business. Zwaska graduated from St. Norbert’s College in De Pere in May 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He plans to continue training in his formal capacity as a funeral director. Zwaska’s great-grandfather John started the company as a coffin-making and funeral service business in Kewaskum in the 1870s.
Michele Thomson has been promoted by Johnson Financial Group to the position of vice president-manager of wealth management in the Racine market. Thomson joined the company in 1998, holding various positions. She graduated from Carthage College in Kenosha with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She holds an associate degree in banking and financial services from Gateway Technical College, and is working on a master’s degree from the College for Financial Planning.
Kimberly Rhoades has been named project/product manager of the Flexographic Division of NCL Graphic Specialties in Waukesha. Prior to joining NCL, Rhoades worked with Lanier WorldWide, Sears Contract Sales and, most recently, as publications coordinator at Wm. K. Walthers. She is a graduate of UW-Whitewater.
Terry Morris has joined the Southeastern Wisconsin Service Center of Clifton Gunderson in Milwaukee as an audit senior manager. Morris is a graduate of UW-Oshkosh. She has more than 13 years of public accounting experience.
Robert Elkin has joined Crispell-Snyder as manager of the Lake Geneva firm’s new Private Development Section. Elkin holds a master’s degree in business administration from Marquette University and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. He is a Wisconsin-licensed Professional Engineer with nearly 20 years of civil engineering experience.
Nguyen “Winn” Tran has joined the LePoidevin Rickinger Group in Brookfield as a graphic designer. Tran brings more than 11 years of experience to the firm. He holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from UW-Milwaukee.
David Theune has joined the sales staff of Best Block Co. of Menomonee Falls. He has 29 years of experience in concrete masonry and the construction market.
Lori Wargolet has been named mortgage origination manager while Lorrie Wolters has been promoted to the positioin of mortgage servicing manager at Wauwatosa Savings Bank. Julie Wieczorek has been promoted to the new position of systems analysis manager at the bank.
Susie Thomson has joined DMC Advertising & Direct Marketing as director of client services. She has more than 10 years of experience in the advertising business, including work at TMP Worldwide. For the past three years, she served as vice president and general manager of TMP’s Milwaukee Directional Marketing Division.
Jeff Brand and David Drakulic have joined Harleys: The Store of Men in Shorewood as sales/fashion consultants. Brand has nearly 10 years of retail fashion experience while Drakulic has more than 20 years of sales experience, and had earlier worked at Harleys.
Dec. 20, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

DNR: Best advice to avoid protected snake is to avoid wetlands
By Charles Rathmann, of SBT
It’s the time of year developers with Butler’s garter snakes look forward to. That’s because in the colder weather, their reptilian guests are likely hibernating, and the wide berth they have to leave between the snakes’ wetland homes and construction sites is smaller than in warmer months.
There are other tricks to living with these threatened, scaly denizens of would-be commercial, industrial and residential building sites.
According to Andy Galvin, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources endangered species specialist, said projects that could potentially affect the snake are identified in the permitting process associated with all development projects in the state.
“A development will occur that requires some other DNR permit,” Galvin said. “When the permit is required, a Natural Heritage Inventory Program survey will be done by a DNR staff member. If that person thinks there is a likelihood that the garter snake is there, he or she will require a snake survey.”
The project owner is responsible for commissioning the snake survey; Galvin said the presence of wetlands is the best arbiter of whether a particular site is a likely home to the snake.
“From what we know about the snake, it pretty much survives in wetland areas with upland habitat – and it requires both for the various lifestages it goes through,” Galvin said. “If the survey comes back and they do not find any Butler’s, that’s fine. If there are Butler’s there, we deal with ways the project can avoid all impacts. There is a provision in the law, which provides for incidental takings. This provides for taking of a species for an otherwise lawful purpose, but it requires authorization from the DNR.”
The DNR has three criteria that allow a project owner to qualify for the incidental taking clause, Galvin said.
“We have to prove that the taking of that particular species will not jeopardize the current status or recovery of the species across the state,” he said. “If we determine that the take will not jeopardize recovery, we try to minimize the extent of take as much as possible by doing certain things to minimize the impact. There has to be a public benefit to the project.”
Getting approval for incidental taking involves a 30-day public notice requirement and a couple of weeks to collect signatures and approvals from the DNR, Galvin said.
If they can’t qualify for the incidental-takings clause, the first hurdle developers can expect is that any property that contains wetlands will likely require the snake survey.
Because the DNR usually requires surveys be done between May and June – when the snakes or most active – the timeline can be affected immediately.
“Sometimes, because applicants are not willing to wait that long, we will sometimes allow them to do a habitat survey,” Galvin said.
If Butler’s garter snakes are found on your property, or if you allow the DNR to assume that they are so as to avoid an adverse impact on your timeline, the main DNR requirement is a 180-foot buffer to be left around wetlands.
“The snakes use a 180-foot distance around a wetland,” Galvin said. “We allow different things to occur at different times. The snakes go into their upland range during the breeding season. That means construction and other activity can occur in the upland area through the winter that might not be able to occur in the summer. We routinely require silt fencing, and that protects certain important areas. We usually require restoration of areas to restore habitat.”
Depending how a permit is written, Galvin said, a developer may have to either avoid or minimize impact on the snake population.
“There is a difference between avoiding and minimizing,” Galvin said. “We try as much as possible to avoid impacts. To avoid, we might try to change the design of a plan. If there is a subdivision where there is one particular lot that is adjacent to a wetland, we might allow an incidental take.”
Galvin said the best way to avoid the snake is to refrain from developing parcels with wetlands.
“In Waukesha County, a lot of the remaining areas are those wetland areas,” Galvin said. “The more we degrade the wetlands, the more we have ask if this species may be that indicator species that is telling us that we need to slow down. We are just running out of available habitat. Whether you look at it as habitat or developable space, we are running out of it.”
Being snaky. Study could show that snake holding up developments isn’t the protected one.  By Charles Rathmann, of SBT
Developers in Waukesha County have come to fear one wild animal more than any other: the Butler’s garter snake, a threatened species whose presence can spell delays and additional costs on projects.
The snake’s presence – or suspected presence – has delayed and changed the nature of an undetermined number of development projects in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) does not disclose the location of threatened species it identifies in the development permitting process, and developers have been reticent to identify specific projects impacted by the scaly critter.
“It is very complex,” said Bill Carity of Carity Land Development, Brookfield. “It may put my construction project off for a year. I wanted to build it next spring, but I think it will destroy that. From what I understand, we will have to wait at least until after the snake survey in the spring.”
However, this much is certain: telling the Butler’s garter snake from its more ordinary brethren is a challenge. Only a handful of Wisconsin herpetologists are qualified to identify the snake for regulatory purposes.
To further complicate matters, those herpetologists are finding that a hybrid between the Butler’s and more common snake species is common in western Waukesha County and adjacent portions of Walworth and Racine counties.
To address concerns that development projects may be unduly regulated due to the presence of the wrong reptile, researchers in Milwaukee and at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville are trying to fund genetic research that will determine once and for all which snake is which.
The research effort is being headed up by Gary Caspar, who, when he is not working for the Milwaukee Public Museum, does DNR-mandated snake surveys for his own firm, Caspar Consulting, and Gordon Burghardt, an experimental psychology professor with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
The duo has already collected genetic material from various snakes in southeastern Wisconsin using a small grant from Brookfield Zoo, according to Burghardt, who grew up catching the snakes in the Bay View neighborhood on Milwaukee’s south side.
Burghardt said about $25,000 is needed to complete the research,.
“The existence of a Thamnophis Butleri hybrid with a Thamnophis Radix – the plains garter snake – is one of the things we are exploring,” Burghardt said. “It looks like there is an area going from Racine and Walworth County into southwestern Milwaukee County that has animals that seem to be sort of hybrids. But we still have to confirm this through genetic analysis. We have done the initial work of doing the genetic markers.”
Caspar is confident he has identified snakes properly in the dozen or so snake surveys he has completed on development sites in 2002.
“I have examined more than 1,000 snakes from southeastern Wisconsin,” Caspar said. “I have identified from the morphology what I consider to be the hybrid zone.”
The “hybrid zone” – the range of genetic make-up and characteristics that determine which snake is protected and which is not, according to Caspar, “has been the topic of 100 years of conflicting literature.”
So, could two different scientists have conflicting opinions as to whether the Butler’s garter snake is present on a property?
“Possibly,” Caspar said. “The scientists might interpret the hybrid zone differently.”
Another possibility Caspar and Burghardt will look into with their research is whether the population of the Butler’s garter snake that lives here is a unique subspecies. That would not have the effect some developers might hope for of preventing properties from being affected by threatened species regulation.
“We will also compare Butler’s in Milwaukee with those in a distant parts of its range in Michigan,” Burghardt said. “But it is the ones in the hybrid area that are of immediate concern. We have to see how distinctive the Wisconsin animals are from Butler’s garter snakes in other parts of the range.”
If there is in fact a genetic difference between the Butler’s garter snake in southeastern Wisconsin and snakes known as Butler’s elsewhere, some real estate developers are of the opinion that perhaps it should not be protected.
“We are looking into these things right now,” Jerry Deschane, director of governmental affairs for the Wisconsin Builders Association, said. “We are consulting with some experts and some legal experts about what is coming down.”
Until genetic research is completed, the snake gurus, including Caspar and Burghardt, use appearance and behavior to determine the identity of reptiles turned up during snake surveys.
Scale count, color, markings on the jaw and neck area and the number of ventral scale rows all play a role.
“We are also looking at behavior,” Burghardt said. “That is one thing we are interested in. These species eat different things than other garter snake species.”
Also, when captured, the Butler’s is more likely to simply thrash around than make any organized attempt to escape.
But how do scale counts and thrashing behavior stand up in court? Not as well as DNA evidence. And that is one reason Deschane indicated his organization might be interested in funding research by Burghardt and Caspar.
“That is one of the possibilities,” Deschane said.
According to Burghardt, DNR Cold-blooded Species Program manager Bob Hay had contacted the Greater Milwaukee Foundation (GMF) to determine whether that organization would have grant money available to research the snakes’ genetic makeup.
“They said they were more involved in habitat protection,” Burghardt said. “We tried to get across that the two were related.”
“We have several priorities,” Moore said. “One is promoting conservation, protecting wildlife and endangered species. In those areas, we would have to see what the proposal is and how it steps up to the competition. Whether or not we could encourage a full proposal depends on how competitive the application is.”
Dec. 6, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Mukwonago braces for development on 1,600 acres
By Charles Rathmann, of SBT
Village of Mukwonago planning commission members on Nov. 27 approved a Tax Incremental District (TID) plan for the first phase of what promises to be more than 1,600 acres of new development on the south side of the Waukesha County community.
TID #3 includes 239 acres currently located on the south end of the village, a parcel that according to Village Clerk/Treasurer Bernie Kahl will be augmented by about 400 acres being annexed from the Town of Vernon and an additional 1,200 acres across the Walworth County border in the Town of East Troy.
The combined parcels straddle State Highway 83 and Interstate-43, and will be zoned for commercial, corporate business and industrial land uses, according to Kahl.
The TID package, which will go to the village board in January, would allow the village to pay for a portion of the cost to provide municipal services including sanitary and storm sewer, water and road improvements to the first 239 acres, making it easier to market the properties to commercial and industrial buyers. Total projected cost to the village, according to the plan commissioned from village engineers Ruekert & Mielke, Pewaukee, will be $9.6 million over five years. The cost would be recovered through the increased tax base created by the new development.
The Town of Vernon received a copy of Mukwonago’s annexation petition in mid-November. Town of Vernon Clerk Marilyn Gauger said no efforts to oppose the annexation have been placed on the town board’s agenda to date, and board members have not asked her to make resistance to the move an agenda item.
Kahl said he was also unaware of any resistance to the annexation, adding that all property owners in the annex petitioned to come into the village.
That is in contrast to the situation in the Town of East Troy. On June 20, 2000, the Village of Mukwonago passed ordinances annexing four parcels of land in response to a petition from residents, including multifamily/assisted living developer Linden Properties, LLC, Mukwonago.
On Sept. 13, 2000, the town filed four separate actions against the village, challenging the annexation. The annexation has been tied up in court ever since.
However, in November, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) reached a determination that should the disputed land be developed, it could be better served with sanitary sewer by the village than the Town of East Troy Sanitary District #2, which would pipe waste from the area to a wastewater treatment plant in the Village of East Troy.
Less costly
According to SEWRPC’s conclusions, capital costs to build sanitary sewers from the disputed area to the village of East Troy would be $470,000, while capital costs to serve the area from Mukwonago would be $290,000. Annual costs to provide sewer service to the area from East Troy would be more than twice as high as piping waste to Mukwonago – $38,000 versus $19,300.
“We had been working with the Village of Mukwonago on this for several months,” SEWRPC executive director Philip C. Evenson said. “We are under contract to the DNR to work with communities in the region that operate sewage treatment plants to establish a sewer service area. Occasionally, we get into sticky-wicket situations where communities are growing together and both of them desire to serve a particular geography. We encourage communities to negotiate and agree upon a common boundary.”
While SEWRPC found that the entirety of the disputed area could be better served by the Village of Mukwonago, village attorney Shawn Ryan said the agency is expected to initially add only a portion of the land to the village’s sanitary service area.
“What they are approving at their meeting Dec. 4 is only a small portion of the land – a sliver between Highway ES and I-43,” Ryan said.
According to a Nov. 6 letter from Evanson to  James Wagner, Mukwonago village board president, SEWRPC would initially consider a 155-acre expansion of the village’s sewer service area, but ongoing work to update the sewer service plan “is expected to result in further expansion of the Mukwonago sewer service area.”
The fact that SEWRPC would not likely immediately add all 1,200 acres to Mukwonago’s sewer service area may be largely political.
Evenson stressed that SEWRPC works for both Waukesha and Walworth counties, as well as the other counties and communities in the region. It is better, he said, to allow entities to come to their own agreement when at all possible.
Wagner and Town of East Troy chairman Clay Montez are expected to meet before the month is out to hammer out a boundary agreement, ending the two-year-plus court fight, Ryan said.
Village officials are confident enough in their success with the annexations from the Town of Vernon and the Town of East Troy to already have considered zoning options for the property.
Mixed use
According to Kahl, the annexed area would have a mixture of zoning, including public, residential and manufacturing uses.
Kahl said infrastructure for the first phase of the development would be constructed starting in spring of 2003. Apart from roads and extension of utilities, State Highway 83 would need to be widened to provide adequate access to the site.
“We are creating the TID with a sunset at 15 years but plan to close it after 10 years,” Kahl said, implying that land zoned for retail is expected to sell quickly. “We have a number of people saying we need to get a Woodman’s (Madison-based grocery store) here. We are talking to Kohl’s, but they said they probably wouldn’t be ready for another two years. But there may not be land left by then. We are talking to Home Depot, and Waukesha Memorial Hospital is putting up an expansion here.”
Waukesha Memorial Hospital spokesperson Clare O’Sheel said the hospital and its parent company, ProHealthcare, Inc., are planning a 50,000-square-foot replacement for its existing primary care clinic on Bay View Road in the village, along with a 50,000-square-foot ambulatory care clinic.
“We are treating about 50,000 patients a year there, and we are running out of space,” O’Sheel said of the existing Mukwonago facility.
The ambulatory care facility will have hospital services run by Waukesha Memorial Hospital, including diagnostic imaging, lab services, cardiac diagnostics, medical oncology and a center for breast care and women’s health.
The hospital has purchased 19 acres in the TID, which has been augmented by an additional 14 acres donated to the Waukesha Memorial Hospital Foundation by local developer and landowner Dick Greenwald, according to O’Sheel.
The construction timeline will depend on the approval of the TID, but O’Sheel indicated that plans will be submitted for review by the village in January.
If all goes well, “we would hope to break ground this spring with opening the following spring,” O’Sheel said.
Dec. 6, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

(Dec. 6, 2002)
The Basics
Seven practices that are the foundation of sales success

By Marcia Gauger, For SBT
Question: My sales manager has asked me to concentrate on the basics as it relates to my sales growth. The trouble is, I’m not sure what "the basics" are. Can you fill me in?
Answer: While every sales position is unique in one way or another, "the basics" refers to those sales skills that are foundational to sales success. The skills required to succeed at one sales position over another may vary based on market, whom you are calling on, and your distribution network.
For instance, the sales skills required to sell to multi-level influencers within a complex account are slightly different than those required in retail sales or pull through distribution. For example, in retail selling you usually don’t conduct formal group presentations but make many spontaneous connections with customers and need to build rapport quickly. In more complex sales situations it may be just the opposite.
Because every sales position is potentially unique, it may first be best to ask your manager how he or she defines "the basics". After years of research, here are some of "the basics" that we have found common to top sales performers:
1. The ability to understand customer needs and apply solutions according to those needs – Over the last two decades most companies have adopted some sort of consultative sales model. Most embrace the belief that product information is best utilized in response to customer needs.
Basic tip: Always demonstrate the value of your product in terms of what it will do for each individual customer, and only after you understand what that is.
2. The ability to adjust to each customer’s individual logic, behavioral and communication style – This is not as much an art as it is a science. Most salespeople assume that you either connect with a customer or not. In fact, if you rely strictly on product knowledge without regard for the other person’s behavioral and communication style, you have a 1-in-64 chance of connecting.  Adjust to your customer’s behavioral style by preparing sales calls that appeal to different customer types such as direct, outgoing, steady and analytical. Then, adjust to their mental map by appealing to their communication style such as visual, auditory and kinesthetic.
Basic tip: Prior to sales calls, ask your customers how they would prefer the information and adjust accordingly.
3. The ability to build relationships and connect with the customer – Initial comfort and rapport is best built by perception. The more customers perceive you to be like them, the more rapport you will have. To build initial rapport, match the customer’s tone and pace of voice and body stance. To build long-term relationships, match the customer’s goals.
Basic tip: Do everything you can to help your customer achieve their goals. In turn, you will achieve yours.
4. The ability to overcome stalls and objections – Stalls are excuses that customers give for not moving ahead. Stalls are dangerous because they often sound harmless but are rarely the true intent of the customer.
Basic tip: Clarify stalls by asking open-ended questions such as, "What do you see changing in a month?" Or, "What specifically would you like to see in the information?"
5. Persistence in pursuing new potential business – Most of us know that so-so salespeople give up after the first or second sales attempt. Very good salespeople hang in there, often getting the sale after the fourth or fifth attempt. Top performers identify who will do business with them in advance and never give up on the prospect. The key is identifying the right type of business and then positioning for that business.
Basic tip: Schedule time for business development weekly. Treat potential customers like they’re already doing business with you.
6. The understanding that customer satisfaction is a minimum level of performance – Assume that the customer has agreed to make the purchase and is satisfied with the terms of the sale. The average salesperson would make sure that nothing changes negatively. The top performer however attempts to improve the transaction to the point that they delight the customer and exceed their expectations. As one top performer put it, "I want them so delighted with my total package that they will never question who they will come to for their next purchase."
Basic tip: Realize that customer satisfaction is a minimum requirement. Underpromise and overdeliver whenever possible.
7. The ability to gain commitments –  Closing the sale is simply a formality and different than gaining commitments. In the "old school" closing meant using a "closing technique to persuade the customer. The ability to gain commitments happens throughout the sales process by initiating customer commitments and affirming their decisions.
Basic tip: Gain small commitments throughout the sales process by affirming that you have met customer needs appropriately.
Marcia Gauger is the president of Impact Sales, a performance improvement and training company with offices in Wisconsin, Florida and Arkansas.  You can contact her at 262-642-9610 or marciag@makinganimpact.com. Her column appears in every other issue of SBT.
Dec. 6, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

See the SBT Archives for previous stories.

Sydney Hih or Syndey Low?
By Charles Rathmann, of SBT
With a stretch of the adjacent Park East Freeway spur being torn down behind it and the Bradley Center considering expansion ahead of it, the Sydney Hih building’s days may be numbered.
Alan Eisenberg, owner of the building, contends Milwaukee Ald. Paul Henningsen has been telling constituents the Sidney Hih is scheduled for demolition.
Henningsen denies Eisenberg’s allegation.
For now, the 28,719-square-foot building, which was constructed in 1876 and redeveloped in the 1970s, continues as a magnet for artists, musicians and bohemian-types of all stripes.
Eisenberg, a Milwaukee attorney and radio talk show host whose Knapp Street Realty owns the building at 300 W. Juneau Ave., said the first floor and basement, which have housed restaurants and nightclubs in the past, are now vacant.
“Henningsen has been antagonistic to users who called his office about permits at the property,” Eisenberg said. “I had two major restaurateurs interested in leasing. When they called his office, they were told by his secretary that the building was scheduled to be demolished.”
Eisenberg and Knapp Realty broker Steve Cohen also claim potential tenants have been stonewalled by Henningsen’s office when they try to get on Utility and Licensing Committee agendas for liquor license requests.
Cohen said the firm hired a private investigator who inquired about a liquor license for a business in the Sydney Hih building. The investigator was told the building was scheduled for demolition, according to Cohen.
“It has been going on for the last couple years,” Cohen said. “Every time I recommend people to call down there to see if they can get a license, they have been told, ‘We are not issuing any liquor licenses for downtown any longer.’ But there are restaurants that open all the time and get liquor licenses.
“They have been told that the Park East project is going on and that building will be torn down. As far as a liquor license goes, people have asked if they can be put on the list to go in front of the board, and the secretary tells them that Mr. Henningsen is in charge of that, and he won’t put anyone on the agenda,” Cohen said.
At least one other alderman said he also had heard Henningsen say publicly that the building would be torn down. That alderman did not want to named in this report, but said Henningsen made the statement at a committee meeting about a year ago.
Henningsen told Small Business Times he had never told people calling his office for information that the structure was scheduled for demolition.
West Bend restaurateur Gregg DesRosier, a partner in the Cajun eatery Muddy’s on Main, called Henningsen’s office Nov. 25 to inquire about the Sydney Hih building.
“He just tried to steer me away from it,” Des Rosier said of Henningsen. “He never said it was going to be torn down. He did say it was for sale.”
Henningsen’s comments to Des Rosier also focused on the amount of money it would take to build the first floor of the building out for a restaurant, Des Rosier said.
“He immediately went into, ‘There are better places to go,'” Des Rosier said. “He said that with the redevelopment, it might not be your best option.”
Henningsen told Small Business Times he believes the Sidney Hih, in its current use, is a “cancer on the neighborhood.”
Henningsen said at least one developer had contacted him to inquire about an adaptive reuse of the Sidney Hih.
“I have been talking to a fellow who has a serious interest,” Henningsen said. “A lot of the challenges come from the fact that it is four different buildings, and rehabbing it would be very hard. I’d like to see the plans to redevelop it. It has to be a plus. It can’t be the negative it has been for so many years.
“Upstairs, we have had problems with illegal rooming houses. We had rooms that were rented for band practices, which were really illegal living quarters,” Henningsen said.
Henningsen predicted that rather than redevelop the building, Eisenberg would “sit” on the property until it affected redevelopment plans for surrounding land enough for someone to offer him the $1 million asking price.
“Right now, he wants $1 million for it, and that is absolutely absurd,” Henningsen said. “The place across the street, which used to be a Car-X, sold for $600,000, and that was twice the space. So, ostensibly, his land is worth $300,000. And the building isn’t worth a penny.”
As the Park East falls, new development is built and the Bradley Center ponders expansion, the value of the land at the Sydney Hih site will increase.
Even before the first section of the freeway spur fell, that land doubled in value, rising from an assessed value of $71,000 in 2001 to $142,000 in 2002.
Meanwhile, the assessed value of the building dropped to $580,000 from $597,000.
Does Henningsen think the building ultimately will be torn down?
“Not necessarily,” Henningsen said. “He (Eisenberg) has it for sale. I think whoever the new buyer is will make that determination. If it is completely fixed up, it is fine by the city.
“But it is probably going to be $2 million to fix up, at least. I am not sure that someone wouldn’t buy it just for the land value,” Henningsen said. “In about five or so years, the land value might catch up to his asking price. But in that time, it might fall down on its own.”
Eisenberg stressed that the building is sound, however.
“There are several developers who have looked at it to see if it could be converted into a residential condo building,” Eisenberg said. “It has been looked at and studied by a substantial number of restoration architects.”
The building was named one of Milwaukee’s “10 most endangered” buildings in 2000 by preservationists at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture.
Various parts of the building are not separately served with plumbing, heating, ventilation or air conditioning, and the uneven floors that result from the union of four different buildings into a single unit would have to be eliminated.
Peter Sadowski, a graduate student in the UWM Architecture and Urban Planning Department, has been studying reuse options for the building since September. According to Sadowski, a mixed-use approach looks like the best possibility for success for the site.
“I am still going through the numbers right now. Economically, that is always a question. Socially, a mixed-use project would be considered a very good use of the property, given that the building does have significance to the downtown area,” Sadowski said.
“Residential condo use might be the highest and best use for the property, but not for the building,” Eisenberg said. “If we decide to demolish the building and build Bradley Center Condos, we’d be sold out in six months. However, this can’t happen until the freeway goes down. There is enough space to build a 500-unit condo.”
Eisenberg also said his firm had been courting Harley-Davidson Motor Co., about using the site and adjacent property to build its $30 million motorcycle museum.
road.
“Harley (people) have indicated they want to stay in the corridor,” Eisenberg said. “But they said immediately that I only have 30,000 square feet, and they want more than 100,000 square feet. I opened the discussion with them again, stressing that the land mass for the 100,000 square feet would be immediately available when the Park East Freeway spur comes down.”
Dec. 6, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee