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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.09newsletter DATE: October 9, 2020 TO: Honorable Mayor and Common Council FROM: Mark Rohloff, City Manager SUBJECT: Weekly Newsletter 1. COUNCIL MEETING GOES VIRTUAL: Beginning with the Oshkosh Common Council meeting on Tuesday, October 13th, all City of Oshkosh Common Council, Board and Commission meetings will be held in virtual format due to a recent rise in COVID-19 activity in Winnebago County. There will not be an in-person option available. Remote participation will continue to be in effect during the period of emergency as declared by the Common Council. Those wishing to make comments at meetings will have the option to participate via telephone or videoconference platforms. Citizens may also submit written comments that can be sent via U.S. Mail, via email to the City Manager’s office at citymgr@ci.oshkosh.wi.us, or may be placed in the secure City Hall drop box located in the front of the building at 215 Church Avenue. 2. CDBG CARES ACT FUNDS: The City has been notified it will receive approximately $800,000 in Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) CARES Act funds (CV-1 and CV-3) from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Community Development staff also recently learned that the Wisconsin Department of Administration, received CDBG CARES Act 2 funds (CV-2) that the State intends to make available to Community Development Block Grant entitlement communities, of which Oshkosh could be eligible to receive an additional $200,000. Staff is awaiting formal notification on the additional funds from the State and what regulations and procedures the City would need to follow. In initial discussions, the State indicated they will probably use the Federal guidelines. Staff is reviewing the HUD regulations to determine the types of eligible activities that can be carried out with these funds, such as small business loans/grants, public service activities, homelessness, and rent/mortgage assistance programs to name a few. All programs/activities and beneficiaries must have been directly impacted by the COVID pandemic. Community Development staff is proposing a virtual meeting within the next few weeks for agencies interested in applying for public service type funding to go over potential eligible activities, answer questions and release an application that will need to be submitted for funding consideration. Once City staff has preliminary funding options identified utilizing all pots of funding (CV-1, CV-2 and CV-3 funds), this information will be shared with Council, and provided to the public for comments as part of the required public participation process. Council will then be asked to approve of the plan amendments and proposed use of funds at a future meeting. Questions regarding the CDBG CARES Act funding can be directed to Grants Coordinator Darlene Brandt at dbrandt@ci.oshkosh.wi.us. 3. WATER UTILITY PILOTS NEW FLUSHING TECHNIQUE TO CLEAN WATER MAINS: Water Utility crews plan to begin a pilot program of Unidirectional Flushing (UDF) on Monday, October 12th. UDF creates higher flow velocities within the pipes and results in more material being removed from the pipes, yielding a cleaner pipe system with improved water quality. UDF also uses less water than traditional flushing. Residents within the UDF zones have been or will be notified by door hangers. Residents may notice temporary lower water pressure and the water may be discolored. Pressure will return to normal upon completion of the flushing. To minimize the amount of discolored water entering your home, we recommend you not use water during the flushing operation. If you notice discolored water in your home, upon completion of the flushing, please run water from all cold water sources in your home. The attached informational sheet was sent to all utility customers in last month’s bill. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact Assistant Director of Public Works/Utilities General Manager, Steve Gohde. 4. GO TRANSIT FREE STUDENT RIDERSHIP OFF TO AN UNEVEN START: As council is aware, effective Sept. 1 all Oshkosh k-12 students are able to ride GO Transit buses for free. We saw many students taking advantage of the program to start the school year prior to the return to virtual learning. Since then, a limited number of students continue to utilize the program for free transportation as needed. Here are the September student ridership numbers:  Oshkosh public school students grades 6-12 – 2,209  Oshkosh parochial school students grades 6-12 – 67  Oshkosh students grade K-5 – 152 If you have any questions about student ridership numbers, please contact Transportation Operations Manager, Steve Tomasik. 5. 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://onboard.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/. 6. UPCOMING MEETINGS: The meetings I have scheduled for the week of October 12 include the following: On Monday at 8:15 AM, I will be on WOSH Radio doing my monthly interview with Bob Burnell. At 9:30 AM I will be meeting with Mayor Palmeri to go over City Manager • Mark A. Rohloff City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5002 Tuesday’s agenda. At 11:00 AM on Tuesday I will be meeting with staff for a follow up regarding the Morgan Partners anticipated project. On Wednesday at 3:00 PM I will be participating in a virtual meeting with the JEK Foundation. At 5:00 PM I will be joining the Mayor for the virtual quarterly meeting of the Boards and Commissions Chairpersons. At 1:30 PM on Thursday I will be conducting the virtual quarterly employee meeting. If you have any questions regarding my schedule, please contact me.