'Mr. Racine' Mark Eickhorst in line to become city's public information officer

RAMAC President Roger Caron (left) and City Administrator Tom Friedel (right) speak in favor of Mark Eickhorst as the city's first public information officer.

Mr. Racine is ready to start selling Racine.

Mark Eickhorst, a radio host and former Racine alderman, is in line to become the city's new public information officer.

Eickhorst will work for the city through a $25,000 contract with Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce. The contract would run from Feb. 1 to Dec. 31.

As PIO for the city, Eickhorst will write press releases and market Racine to media within 100 miles of the city. Here's a list of job duties included in Eickhorst's contract:

▪ Coordinate, conduct and oversee all press conferences with all media sources.
▪ Develop, implement and maintain an effective public information program for the city organization and its departments.
▪ Prepare, review and edit letters, speeches, memoranda, proclamations and resolutions, calendars and press releases; develop and prepare city newsletters and articles for general public information.
▪ Provide Mayor with support/information on issues of interest to the media; assist departments and the Mayor’s office in responding to media inquiries and in promoting city programs, services, events and policies.
▪ Develop communication plans for various city campaigns, both internally and externally, including marketing.
▪ Work with information specialists on the development and maintenance of city web sites.
▪ Develop, implement and maintain city presence on cable television access channel.
▪ Work with departments on media and protocol training/advice.
▪ Draft public service announcements.
▪ Design, develop, organize and control the communication of the City’s vision, values and central themes and messages to internal and external audiences.
▪ Act as the primary contact person for all media inquiries and to respond to questions that arise from media releases.
▪ Plan, lead, organize and control print, web and TV media so as to enhance the City’s image and communicate City issues, actions and services.
▪ Perform other duties as designed or required.

(See the contract here by scrolling down the agenda to item No. 10.)

Eickhorst is a former Journal Times sports reporter, served on the City Council from 1997 to 1999, when he ran for mayor and lost to Jim Smith. Eickhorst hosts the "It's All About Racine" radio show on Saturday mornings on WRJN and works for RAMAC in a variety of roles. He's served in numerous charitable roles in the community, which helped earn him the nickname "Mr. Racine."

The $25,000 PIO contract was included in the mayor's 2010 budget and received little opposition from the City Council.

Alderman Jim Spangenberg, chairman of the Finance and Personnel Committee, said at Monday's meeting the position was long overdue.

City Administrator Tom Friedel and RAMAC President Roger Caron both spoke in favor of Eickhorst getting the job.

McKeown named Young Professional of the Year

At 16 years old, Jeff McKeown was a high school dropout in the small central Illinois town of Monmouth, located about an hour south of the Quad Cities. McKeown was the middle son of two alcoholic parents, spending most of his childhood on welfare. With no real parental guidance, he simply stopped going to high school for about a year.

That was then and this is now. Today, McKeown is the owner of Racine’s Express Personnel Services, a temporary employment agency with 10 full-time employees that puts more than 275 employees to work at 80 companies in Racine every day. For the past two years, his company has been among the top six fastest growing franchises amongst the more than 600 agencies nationwide.

On April 8, at RAMAC’s Annual Awards Dinner, McKeown’s transformation from high-school dropout to successful business owner takes another step forward as he will be named Racine’s Young Professional of the Year. The award is given out by Young Professionals of Racine.

“I have been active in the community and work to make Racine a better place to live and work,” he said. “I have been fortunate to be in positions that are visible and that get public attention.”

McKeown is a past president of YPR. He is also a graduate of Leadership Racine and Rapport Leadership International. McKeown is also a board member of the Racine Founders Rotary Club and Racine County Economic Development Corporation. He and his wife, Meredith, have two daughters, Reagan, 6, and Georgia, 2.

As a teenager, he returned to school after a one-year hiatus, largely because of one influential teacher named Brian Cirks. “He taught me many lessons, but the most important was that it does not matter where you come from or your circumstances. Everyone has the potential to be successful,” McKeown said. “I always strive to invest in others the way that he invested in me.”

McKeown recently hired a general manager for Express to handle the day-to-day business. He’s in the process of opening a second office in Kenosha and hopes to open additional locations.

YPR Program Director Dana Grueter said McKeown befriends everyone he meets and truly fits YPR’s motto of Connect, Grow, Succeed, Have Fun. McKeown credits much of his success to his wife, a teacher in the New Berlin school district.

“Many times it feels like work and volunteering take a more prominent role than they should,” he said. “I am very lucky because Meredith and I have similar goals and beliefs about what we are doing. She picks up slack and that allows me to focus time and energy on helping others.”

McKeown was selected as the winner from three finalists, including Melinda Wilke, managing director of Northwestern Mutual in Racine, and Chris Terry, a contract salesman with Carpetland USA Flooring Center.

McKeown joins Doug Nicholson (Ivanhoe Pub & Eatery), Anne Stillman (CNH), Jay Christie (Racine Zoological Society) and John Busey (Robert W. Baird) as previous winners of the Young Professional of the Year Award.

RAMAC endorses Handrow, Hargrove, Wiser for Unified

RAMAC has endorsed Pamala Handrow, Melvin Hargrove, and Dennis Wiser for the Racine Unified School Board. The election will be held along with Wisconsin's presidential primary, on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

The RAMAC members who interviewed the candidates included: Eric Peterson, VP of Landmark Title and co-owner of Henry and Wanda’s; Jeff McKeown, President of Express Personnel; Scott Kelly, President of Johnson Bank-Racine; Chip Brewer, Director of Worldwide Government Affairs, SC Johnson and Son; Denise Wilcox, VP of Human Resources, Twin Disc; and Carol Barkow, Director of Community Partnerships at RAMAC.

Robin Vos' KRM initiative ... gets icy reception

UPDATED, 01/11: The reaction to Vos' proposal was chilly enough to reverse global warming. "If you were trying to author a bill that would not succeed, that's maybe how you would draft it," said Karl Ostby, RTA chairman, as quoted in the Journal Times. Dave Eberle, RAMAC chairman, said, "Most people in the room were fairly disappointed."

Admit it: You thought this post would be blank!

"Many people think the answer to Racine's future is a train," State Rep. Robin Vos said today. "I have not said KRM would not be a good thing ... the only thing I've said is that the funding mechanism was wrong."

With that preamble, Vos, R-63rd Assembly District -- characterized by some as the Darth Vader who single-handedly killed the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee rail initiative -- announced his plan to fund KRM: a sales-tax-supported Regional Transit Authority. As opposed to the $13 car rental tax plan that was effectively pronounced truly and fully dead earlier this week.

Vos is meeting tomorrow with the boards of directors of the Racine County Economic Development Corporation (RCEDC), Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce (RAMAC) and Forward Racine to get their input -- and support? -- for his proposal, a bill still being drafted that he hopes to introduce in the Legislature next week.

The as-yet-untitled bill (Vos laughed when I suggested it be called the "Robin Vos Doesn't Really Hate Trains Act") would allow the establishment of Regional Transit Authorities anywhere in Wisconsin, if local voters supported the idea through a referendum. "This is not necessarily the easy way," he said, defining that "easy way" as "just allowing a politician to raise taxes."

Vos' RTA proposal "would allow communities to band together" in two ways. He outlined a two-tier system:

Tier 1 would allow two communities to put a sales tax in place to support a "mobile" transportation system -- i.e., buses running between two cities.

Tier 2 would allow "fixed mode" transportation systems -- i.e., rail on a fixed route -- to be supported. This larger, more capital-intensive plan would require a population threshhold of at least 375,000 with favorable votes in at least five communities, each with at least 10,000 citizens. (Because Milwaukee County already has a Regional Transit Authority, it would be counted as one entity of the necessary five, Vos said.)

Details still to be worked out include the wording of the referendum question, Vos said.

Vos took issue with those who say KRM would, single-handedly, lead to economic recovery. "To grow the economy, you need college-educated families with children." And when you ask those families what they want, he said, they respond: "a safe community and a good school system."

"KRM is a single part of an economic strategy," Vos said, disagreeing with "those who say it's all we need."

OIC honors Karen Bayer, David Maurer

Karen Bayer, executive director of Leadership Racine, and David Maurer, executive director of United Way of Racine County, will be honored next month.

They will receive the 2007 Leon H. Sullivan Community Award at the Opportunities Industrialization Center's 8th Annual Awards Banquet, on Friday, Nov. 16, at the Racine Marriott.

Claudius Adebayo, director of OIC, called Bayer and Maurer "two of the giant pillars of community service in the area."

Named after the Rev. Dr. Leon Howard Sullivan, who founded OIC in Philadelphia, 44 years ago, the community award honors those making permanent contributions to the community.

Both Bayer and Maurer have demonstrated their dedication to improving the quality of nonprofit management and services, their love of children, family and the organizations that serve them, Adebayo said.

For 85 years, United Way of Racine County has provided resources to improve the quality of life for people throughout the county, through nonprofit agencies and support of community leaders.
Leadership Racine, established in 1997 by RAMAC, the Racine Community Foundation and the United Way, prepares promising leaders for positions of public influence and decision-making.

OIC of Racine County was opened in 1988. It operates a number of programs helping low-income populations; its YouthBuild Racine Project, which trains young adults in construction trades and helps them to complete their GED, won an award for being the best in the nation in February.

The Leon H. Sullivan Awards Banquet is a fundraiser for OIC. The banquet will also feature a silent auction of donated items including African arts, Harley-Davidson jackets, solar-powered family tent, luggage, collectible coins and tools. Reservations are being accepted at (262) 636-3818 or e-mail on or before Nov. 2.