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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.14.20 Newsletter City Manager • Mark A. Rohloff City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5002 http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us DATE: February 14, 2020 TO: Honorable Mayor and Common Council FROM: Mark Rohloff, City Manager SUBJECT: Weekly Newsletter 1. FIRST ELECTION IN 2020: Clerk Ubrig would like to remind the voters in District 4 that their polling site has changed: If You Previously Voted At: You Now Vote At: Webster Stanley School Oshkosh Public Library (lower level) 106 Washington Avenue Tuesday, February 18, 2020 is Election Day, the polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. If voters have questions, please check the city website at www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us or My Vote Wisconsin at www.myvote.wi.gov. Voters may also call the City Clerk’s office at 236-5011. 2. STUDENT BUSSING: Following the Oshkosh Common Council meeting Tuesday night, there has been some misunderstanding about the action of Council related to student busing and its effective date. Council approved a resolution agreeing in principal to work with the School District to provide free city busing on GO Transit for Oshkosh Area School District students for two years, beginning with the 2020-2021 school year. The details of the program are still in discussion, and will be publicized when finalized and approved by both the Oshkosh Common Council and the Oshkosh School Board. Thank you for your patience as we work through the details of this program. If you have any questions, please contact Transportation Director, Jim Collins. 3. OSHKOSH AVENUE BRIDGE CLOSURE: As a reminder to all residents, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WDOT) will be closing the Oshkosh Avenue (STH 21) bridge over the Fox River on Thursday, February 20th. The bridge will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians until approximately June 18th. The bridge will be closed to boat traffic until approximately April 10th. More information regarding the project can be found on the WDOT’s construction project website: https://projects.511wi.gov/oshbridge/ 2/14/2020 Weekly Newsletter 2 4. FINANCE DEPARTMENT UPDATE:  All manual receipts (15,500) during the outage for tax and utility bills have been posted to accounts and account balance are current.  Automatic withdrawals scheduled for January 30th, February 6th, and February 13th were completed on February 13th.  Utility bills scheduled to be mailed on February 14th are being mailed as scheduled.  Vendor checks for accounts payable items will be mailed on February 14th. Check processing has returned to normal processing.  Information on parking tickets remains a work in progress. At this time, information is still being recovered and payments as well as adjustments are still being completed. If you have any questions please contact Finance Director Russ VanGompel. 5. SENIORS CENTER AWARDED GRANT: The Oshkosh Seniors Center has been awarded a $152,000.00 grant through the Helen Daniels Bader Fund to be used to address social isolation in older adults through the help of technology. Technology has the potential to play a transformative role in helping older adults decrease the effects of social isolation. The Oshkosh Seniors Center will be developing a Connecting through Tech program that includes classes designed specifically for older adults. Below is a sampling of the courses to be offered this summer:  FOMO? Fear of missing out? No worries, learn how to use the UBER app. UBER is great ride option to get you to your destination.  Smile you have pictures. Learn to print and share pictures electronically.  Let’s go to Paris! Bring your friends for a virtual reality tour of Paris and other destinations!  Learn about the entertainment options. You will learn to explore YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, HULU, and much more. No matter your level of expertise the Center will help you master technology tools designed to connect you to family, friends, and experiences. The Center will be working with Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods, Oshkosh Media, The Oshkosh Herald, Winnebago County Aging and Disability Resource Center, and area schools to reach and teach people on how to use technology as a strategy to prevent social isolation. The Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods will be a major collaborator and they will help drive community outreach at the neighborhood level. The Oshkosh Seniors Center is proud to partner with the Helen Daniels Bader Fund to reduce social isolation in older adults of the Oshkosh community. If you are interested in additional information please contact Anne Schaefer, Marketing and Fund Development Coordinator at 920-232-5306. 2/14/2020 Weekly Newsletter 3 6. NEIGHBORS PAST AND PRESENT: There are only two weeks remaining to see the exhibit, Neighbors Past and Present: The Wisconsin German Experience, at the Oshkosh Public Library. The exhibit, which opened in January, offers an in depth look at German culture in our state. Along with the exhibit there are displays of local German-related memorabilia, including items from a local breweriana collector and artifacts from the Oshkosh Public Museum. Online resources including videos, newspaper articles and photos that help to tell the story of the German immigrant experience in Oshkosh can be found at oshkoshpubliclibrary.org. Since the exhibit opened, 125 people have attended special programs, including an overview of the exhibit, a look at German ethnic groups in Oshkosh, a profile of a German immigrant turned movie mogul and a polka concert by the legendary Tuba Dan Band. See the exhibit on the library’s second floor and under the Dome through Friday, February 28. 7. WATER CITY RACKET FEST LISTEN & LEARN: The Library will once again host Water City Racket Fest Listen & Learn on Saturday, February 29, under the Dome. Live musical performances that appeal to all ages will run from 9:15 a.m. to noon. A diverse line-up of artists will play original songs, demonstrate their instruments, talk about what inspires their work and get the audience involved. The event is free and registration is not required. Don’t miss this opportunity to see professional musicians sharing their talents in a setting where their sound can soar! 8. TOP WEEKLY READS: Please find below links to news articles that may be relevant to us.  New roles for Wisconsin public libraries in the digital age 9. ATTACHED REPORTS & UPDATES: Weekly Museum Board Memo and January highlights from the Oshkosh Public Library. 10. MEETING MINUTES FOR BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS: All meeting minutes are uploaded to the website upon approval. Please follow the link below for the most updated information & meeting minutes: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/BoardsAndCommissions 11. UPCOMING MEETINGS: The meetings I have scheduled for the week of February 17 include the following: On Monday at 8:15 AM, I will be on WOSH Radio doing my monthly interview with Bob Burnell. At 11:00 AM on Tuesday I will be participating in a conference call regarding initial steps for hosting a strategic planning forum with other municipalities to create benchmarking partnerships. On Wednesday, February 19 at 8:30 AM I will be meeting with staff to review the final report from FGM of the Police Departments space needs assessment. At 5:00 PM I will be attending the Leadership Oshkosh Alumni gathering. On Thursday at 10:00 AM, I will be meeting with staff to discuss the 2020 Citizen Survey. On Friday at 10:00 AM I will be meeting with staff to continue planning for the 2020 State of The City Address. If you have any questions regarding my schedule, please contact me.