The Oconomowoc delegation, as part of an exchange with Dietzenbach, Germany, leaves this weekend for a visit between Oconomowoc delegation members and their counterparts from Dietzenbach. Our delegation members include Kathy Kempf (past president of Kiwanis,) Maureen Stapleton (realtor) Gerry Noll (president of the Chamber of Commerce,) Pat Neudecker (superintendent of schools,) Joseph Moylan (high school principal,) Jim Oleary (teacher,) Bob Duffy (economic development director,) and myself. In addition, Dan Vrakas (county executive) is going. The length of the travel and exchange will be 6-7 days. By way of background, Wisconsin's Germany sister-state is Hessen, Waukesha County's sister-county is Offenbach and now Brookfield and Oconomowoc will each have a sister-city in that German state and county, corresponding with Wisconsin's and Waukesha County's "sister relationships."
The purpose of the trip is to establish closer ties between our communities (we call this relationship a "sister-city") and to initiate exploration of mutual interest in the areas of education, culture, tourism, and economic development. The City's initial areas of primary interest are education and economic development.
During the trip our delegation members will have a formal signing of the "sister-city" relationship with their city council, meet various businesses representatives and meet with school representatives. By the way, the trip costs are not funded by taxpayers---rather most costs are personally/privately funded.
The Oconomowoc delegation is enthusiastic about our up coming visit and will, from time to time, send reports back to Oconomowoc.