December 2025
Survey Results are In. What's Next?
In September, a survey was sent to all households in Sun Prairie to gather input on our community's priorities and what level of investment they're comfortable with as we come up against budget challenges in the years ahead. The results are in and resident feedback is guiding discussions and decisions moving forward.
Learn more about the results of the survey and next steps by listening to the interview below.
Interview with Aaron Oppenheimer, City Administrator
Chief Warych Featured on PIO Podcast
Click below to listen to his full interview.
Join Us for Our First Repair Cafe!
On Tuesday, December 9 our sustainability team will be hosting our first ever repair cafe in the Atrium of the Sun Prairie Public Library from 5-8pm.
Bring your broken small appliances, electronics, clothing, or bike - volunteer repairers will work with you to try and repair them for free! Learn more by listening to the interview below.
Interview with Hannah Best, Sustainability Program Coordinator
2025 Transportation Improvement Recap
2025 was a busy year for your City of Sun Prairie transportation team. From working towards Vision Zero to completing some major road construction and improvement projects, there's a lot to celebrate. Learn all about progress and improvements by listening to the interview below!
Interview with David Salmon, Transportation Coordinator
Sun Prairie Launches Community Orchard
Over the past several months, Sun Prairie Parks, Recreation and Forestry staff have worked with local high school students and the Girl Scouts to create and plant a Community Orchard just north of the Community Garden on Linnerud Drive. Learn all about this project in the interview below!
Interview with Cindy Burtley, Parks & Forestry Director
Administration - Sustainability
Join Us For Our First-Ever Repair Cafe!
Parks, Recreation and Forestry
PRF partners with Girl Scout to create Sun Prairie’s first Community Orchard!
Over the last several months, city staff worked with a local high school student to create a Community Orchard just north of the Community Garden on Linnerud Drive between the Family Aquatic Center and the Library!
In May 2025, Katie Edwards (Parks Maintenance Technician) secured a donation of 55 fruit trees from Adam Alves (Dane County Forester Specialist). A few days after staff received the trees, Cindy Burtley (Parks and Forestry Director) met with Abby Wells to talk about the potential of a Girl Scout Gold Award project in the City of Sun Prairie. City staff worked with Abby to create a Gold Award project that includes the planting and maintenance of a Community Orchard in the City of Sun Prairie.
City staff stored the donated fruit trees in the recently constructed gravel bed located at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Over the growing season, the young trees were able to grow a more fibrous root system in the gravel bed to better prepare them for a successful fall planting. Over the summer, Abby worked with city staff on planning the details of the orchard. This included designing the layout of the orchard, pollinator garden, and planning the planting day logistics. Once the plans were complete, Abby received unanimous approval from the Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Commission to implement the project.
On October 19, 2025, the orchard was planted by over 25 girl scouts and city staff volunteers on a beautiful fall day! In preparation for this volunteer event, city staff dug the holes for the trees, transported and stored them on the site prior to planting, created a worksheet that volunteers could take home on how to correctly plant a bareroot tree, and provided the tree stakes, straps, and protection tubes for the event. In addition, city staff prepared the planting bed for the pollinator garden, installed railroad ties for edging (also donated by a city resident), and supplied the native plant seed and cover crop for the pollinator garden located in the center of the orchard. Through Abby’s fundraising for the project, she was able to secure over 50 bags of mulch, pin flags to layout the orchard, paper bags to facilitate seeding of the pollinator garden, as well as a few bags of gravel for trail repairs. Abby also worked with volunteers to construct and install a trellis to welcome visitors to the orchard.
The project is not quite complete yet. Abby is currently working on a few more pieces of the project that includes designing and installing educational signs, tree identification tags, bird houses, as well as setting up a volunteer network to help support the long-term maintenance of the orchard. In addition, we don’t expect the orchard to produce fruit for a few growing seasons yet.
All in all, this has been an amazing partnership between city staff and an exceptional Girl Scout to provide a unique asset to the City of Sun Prairie and its residents! While it may take awhile for the trees to produce fruit, we are currently looking for volunteers to help us maintain the orchard. If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions, please reach out to Cindy at cburtley@cityofsunprairie.com.
Sun Prairie Utilities
Sun Prairie Utilities Recognized with National Customer Service Satisfaction Award, Third Year in a Row
Sun Prairie Utilities (SPU) has been recognized by the American Public Power Association (APPA) with a Public Power Customer Satisfaction Award for providing excellent service to the City of Sun Prairie.
The award is the result of receiving high marks from customers in the areas of:
- Customer service
- Field personnel
- Communication
- Reliability
- Value
- Outage response
- Innovation
- Overall satisfaction
“We are in the public power business to serve the people of Sun Prairie,” said SPU’s General Manager Jill Weiss. “To be recognized by this community for our dedication to excellence in this service is incredibly gratifying. We have a great team here at Sun Prairie Utilities.”
Winners of Public Power Customer Satisfaction Awards are chosen at gold, silver, and bronze levels based on responses to customer surveys. SPU received a Bronze-level award for an average rating greater than 80% across the eight categories listed above. SPU has participated in the survey for three years and has reached Bronze-level each time.
APPA is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power approximately 2,000 towns and cities nationwide. It represents public power before the federal government to protect the interests of the more than 54 million people that public power utilities serve, and the 96,000 people they employ. APPA advocates and advises on electricity policy, technology, trends, training, and operations. For more information, visit PublicPower.org.
City Services Guide
Have you ever wanted to learn more about the City's departments and the services they provide? Check out the new city services guide that will get you connected! Print copies will be made available in city buildings such as City Hall and the Westside Community Services Building. Click the graphic below to access the online version.
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