Duke Behnke

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Petitioners already have enough signatures to file for incorporation as Fox Crossing.

The newly formed village initially would encompass only the west side of the town.

The east side would be annexed or attached at a later date.

The Town of Menasha is the second-most populous town in Wisconsin.

TOWN OF MENASHA – Proponents of incorporation have begun circulating a petition to turn the west side of the town into the village of Fox Crossing.

Petitioners have six months to gather 50 signatures from landowners who live within the proposed incorporation area, but they reached that threshold within the first four days.

"We're well past that already," petitioner Joe Nemecek said Tuesday. "We've probably got close to 200 signatures."

Dick Jones, chairman of a seven-member study committee that recommended incorporation as a village, said townspeople have welcomed the effort to become a village.

"When I call on people, it's 100 percent (in support)," Jones said. "They all want to do this."

Although the signature requirement has been met, Jones said he wouldn't file the petition in Winnebago County Circuit Court until the benefits of incorporation are explained to townspeople at public meetings in April.

A petition is the first step in the incorporation process. The effort requires verification by the circuit court and the state Department of Administration before a referendum could be held for westside voters. Jones said the referendum wouldn't come before mid-2015.

"All of this stuff takes a long time to get done," he said. "That's why we are starting early."

According to a plan supported unanimously by the study committee, the west side of the town first would incorporate as a village and then annex or attach the east side of the town at a later date.

Incorporating the entire town in one action would be problematic because of a hodgepodge of noncontiguous properties on the east side.

Jones said the name Fox Crossing was suggested to him and symbolizes the intent to have the village encompass both the west and east sides of the town. The Fox River and Little Lake Butte des Morts physically divide the town. About 10,500 residents live on the west side, and about 8,000 residents live on the east side.

"We're on both sides of the river," Jones said. "We want everybody on the east side to realize they're part of this and they will eventually — when this process plays out — be right back together with the west side."

The Town of Menasha is the second-most populous town in Wisconsin, behind Grand Chute. It is larger than the city of Menasha and operates police and fire services, a municipal court, a street department, a parks and recreation department, and water and sanitary sewer services.

Incorporation as a village would protect against annexation and the loss of tax base, and provide greater control over planning and zoning. It also would brand the community and avoid confusion with the city of Menasha, whose reputation took a hit when it defaulted on more than $20 million in debt issued for a failed steam plant.

Jones said the town budgeted $85,000 for the incorporation process. He said about $5,000 has been spent.

— Duke Behnke: 920-993-7176, or dbehnke@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @DukeBehnke