Why We Need To Raise the Special Assessment

It was discovered just today that the DNR published a public notice of their new operating orders on April 29th.

Did you see the notice? No? Well, that's because the DNR published the notice in the Wisconsin State Journal. The State Journal does not have much of a circulation among commununites surrounding the lake.

It begs the question, why would the DNR attempt to keep their public notification from the region where their actions have a direct impact? Why not publish the notice in the daily Janesville Gazette, and then, to insure that our region does not overlook the new water level orders, also publish in the weekly newspapers?

I suspect the answer why the DNR placed the public notice in a newspaper outside the circulation area of Lake Koshkonong is related to the 30-day window to file petitions to challenge the new orders.

That's right. The DNR issued their public notice on April 28th, and the RKLD, a local unit of government under state statutes, did not discover the 30-day clock had begun ticking until today, May 23rd.

If not for the lawyers, we would have faced a very real possibility that the 30-day window would have closed on the RKLD with no notice. The DNR would have prevailed with no opposition.