Middleton proclaims National Library and Telecommunicators Weeks; honors police accreditation and local sustainability award winners

At its April meeting the Middleton Common Council issued two proclamations and honored several local achievements. The council proclaimed April 19–25 as National Library Week and April 12–18 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week; both proclamations passed unanimously.

Captain Tyler Lazer of the Middleton Police Department described the Communications Center’s role as the community’s first point of contact in emergencies and said telecommunicators perform demanding, life-and-death work while supporting first responders. Later, Stan Stojkovich of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group presented Middleton Police with a three-year accreditation certificate and congratulated the department for meeting voluntary statewide standards.

The council also recognized eight recipients of the 2025 Sustainable Middleton Awards. Awarded projects and organizations included Adaptive Restoration (conservancy lands management), Marty Burkholder (leadership at the Middleton recycling center), Gilda's Club of Wisconsin (native-plant rain garden and renewable energy adoption), the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District (e‑waste policy and sustainability awards), Natural Clean (eco-friendly residential cleaning and a 34,000-mile reduction in employee/vehicle usage), the Purple Martineers (purple martin conservation with high hatching/fledging rates) and Willie Street Co‑op West (rooftop solar producing about 165 MWh annually and $20,000 in local grants for producers).

Recipients and council members gathered for photographs following the awards and proclamations.