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HomeMy WebLinkAboutnewsletter TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council FROM: Mark Rohloff, City Manager DATE: June 11, 2021 RE: Weekly Newsletter 1. PUBLIC INPUT MEETINGS: On May 20, 2021, the City received its first distribution of ARPA funds while the remaining funds are scheduled to be distributed in May 2022. The eligible spending period is March 3, 2021 – December 31, 2024. Eligible expenditures need to be designated by December 31, 2024 and must be depleted by December 31, 2026. As part of our effort to seek public input and allow funding requests to be submitted, staff has prepared the attached funding applications/input forms for citizens, non-profit organizations, community groups (including Boards and Commissions), and neighborhood associations. The forms are also available online by following the links below: Citizen Input: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/Citizen_ARPA_Form.aspx Non-Profit: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/assets/pdf/NonProfit_ARPA_Form.pdf Staff is also preparing a survey that will be available on POLCO for citizens to prioritize various funding options. Finally, City staff will be holding three public input sessions in room 406 at City Hall. These input sessions will be recorded and shown on Oshkosh Media at a later time. Meeting dates and times are below: Thursday June 17 at 10:00 AM Monday June 21 at 2:00 PM Wednesday June 23 at 6:00 PM 2. FESTIVAL FOODS FIREWORKS SHOW: What better way to celebrate Independence Day than a day in Menominee Park enjoying a variety of cuisines from food trucks culminating with the Festival Foods Fireworks Show! The Oshkosh Parks Department has scheduled a variety of food trucks to be scattered throughout Menominee Park from 3pm-10pm on July 4th. Plan to get out and enjoy all the wonderful areas and sites that the park has to offer, sample the food trucks, and get your favorite location to watch the fireworks show which will kick off at approximately 9:45pm. In case of inclement weather, the fireworks show will be rescheduled for July 5. As always, we ask that you take out what you bring in…please help keep our parks clean and beautiful. Attached is a flier with information. 3. WATER ALERTING SOFTWARE DOING ITS JOB: Aquahawk water alerting software is a free service for City of Oshkosh water customers that went live on June 1st. After a customer registers for this free service, they can view their water consumption and receive alerts if their usage goes over a certain threshold. Customers can receive these alerts by either E-mail, text or telephone. As of June 8th, there have been 130 customers that have registered for the Aquahawk service. An Aquahawk information insert will accompany the June water bills. To register for Aquahawk, go to https://oshkwi.aquahawk.us. 4. DRINKING WATER QUALITY REPORT: Each year, the Water Utility is required to provide a Drinking Water Quality Report to the entire city. This report provides information to our customers about the regulation of drinking water, regulatory standards, the source and treatment of the water supply, health information, sources of potential contaminants, and monitoring data summarizing water quality data. A notice stating the availability of the report will be included with all of the June utility bills. A paper copy may be requested by calling (920)232-5325. Please press zero (0) to speak with someone. Copies are also available at outside of Rooms 106 and 301 at City Hall and at the Oshkosh Public Library. A copy of the report can also be found at the link below: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/PublicWorks/Documents/CCR-2020.pdf The results for 2020 were within the expected ranges from all previously-collected data. Much of the data in the report has been part of the drinking water quality testing program for years and the water utility has had an excellent record of meeting and exceeding all regulatory drinking water requirements. If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact Public Works Utility Operations Manager Steve Brand or Assistant Director of Public Works / Utilities General Manager, Steve Gohde. 5. RAIN BARREL WORKSHOP: On May 22nd two Sustainability Advisory Board members, Pat Hallquist and Vic Oliver, organized a Rain Barrel workshop at the First Congregational Church in Oshkosh. SAB has been providing these rain barrel workshops over the past few years to help interested parties learn how they can utilize a rain barrel on their property. The barrels used at the workshops were privately donated. At this most recent workshop Ms. Oliver and Ms. Hallquist had seven participants and they were able to modify and send out all of the remaining rain barrels. Ms. Oliver also provided a 15 minute presentation on best placement, what the participant’s goals were, and what to do when one rain barrel is not enough. Ms. Oliver said there was a good amount of interest from the participants in SAB and they were happy to be part of this workshop. If you already have a rain barrel installed, you may already qualify for a Storm Water Utility Credit. Contact the Engineering Division at 920.236.5065 if you have any questions or follow the link below: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/StormWaterUtility/assets/pdf/Residential_Credit_Poli cy_and_Application_2010.pdf 6. SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY BOARD NEWS: The SAB had two presentations at its June 7th meeting: Lisa Marone, a member of the SAB, discussed how Oshkosh measured up to other Wisconsin cities in terms of permitting residential solar panels on roofs. Her research found that Oshkosh’s solar panels permitting process was significantly different than other Wisconsin cities. This is because currently in Oshkosh, solar panels are permitted conditionally and therefore require a conditional use permit (CUP). Ms. Marone’s research and presentation encouraged the City of Oshkosh to consider amending their ordinance so solar panels on residential roofs can be permitted by right. Ms. Marone will be presenting her research again at the Plan Commission meeting on June 15th, 2021. Jenn and Adam Sattler of 2614 Harrison St. inquired the Planning and Zoning office about what was needed to turn their property into an urban farm to subsequently grow and sell fruits, vegetables, and flowers from said property. Presently, the zoning code does not allow for any sales of goods to occur on a residential property and this was explained to the Sattler’s. The Sattler’s had some concerns with what the current code allows, or does not allow, and reached out to one of the SAB members asking that this ordinance be looked at during an SAB meeting. The Sattler’s then did some research and presented their findings to SAB. SAB will further investigate and researching urban farming and report back when finished. To view the presentation, follow the links below: Solar Panels: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=1063249&dbid=0&repo=L aserfiche&cr=1 Urban Agriculture: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=1063946&dbid=0&repo=L aserfiche 7. REPORTS ATTACHMENTS UPDATES AND LINKS: Attached is the weekly Museum Memo. 8. 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/. 9. COVID-19 RESOURCE LINKS AND INFORMATION: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/ Wisconsin Department of Health Services: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/ Winnebago County Public Health Department: https://www.co.winnebago.wi.us/health/divisions-program-areas/communicable- disease/covid-19-coronavirus/wchd-covid-19-situation 10. UPCOMING MEETINGS: On Monday at 10:00 AM I will be meeting with Human Resources Manager, Michelle Behnke to discuss recruitment for the Community Development Director. On Tuesday at 2:00 PM I will be meeting with staff to discuss the facilities condition assessment report as part of my goal to address facility needs. On Thursday at 7:30 AM I will be attending the GOEDC Executive Committee meeting. At 10:00 AM I will be hosting the first of three ARPA citizen input meetings. The week of June 14th will conclude the annual CIP process with department heads. Therefore during the remainder of the week I will be meeting with departmental staff regarding their proposed 2022-26 CIP projects. If you have any questions about my schedule, please contact me.