Business View Magazine | September 2020

333 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020 Rullman, an engineering, design, and fabrication firm; Fisher Barton, a maker of agricultural components and assemblies; Ad Tech Industries, which specializes in powder coating, and plating services; BASO Gas Products LLC; and MetalTek International, a metal casting manufacturer. Watertown’s major food companies include Johnsonville Sausages and Clasen Quality Chocolate. Emily McFarland is Watertown’s mayor. The first female to occupy the post and a member of the Millennial generation, McFarland says that her election represents a group of the city’s younger citizens and investors who have come together to promote the type of change and growth that was first envisioned in 2014, when McFarland’s predecessor, Mayor John David, and Watertown’s Common Council, of which she was then a member, accepted the recommendations of the Watertown Riverfront/Downtown Redevelopment Initiative. WATERTOWN, WI SCONS IN Some of the initiative’s objectives included: the creation of a physically and economically vital riverfront and downtown area by eliminating blight, ensuring appropriate land uses specifically, but not restricted to, the establishment of a comprehensive riverfront walking/biking pathway system with accompanying seawall and river edge improvements; redevelopment of the manufacturing and distribution properties into uses that are more conducive to revitalization of the downtown; improving both vehicular and pedestrian traffic; and enhancing the environmental attributes and historical character of the Riverfront and Downtown. Specific goals included: developing a centralized, multi-use public space in the form of a town square; and the development of riverbank amenities, including an amphitheater in conjunction with a library expansion and commercial development, which would add significantly to the vitality of the Downtown and Riverfront.