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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutesPROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL CITY OF OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN AUGUST 4, 2020 SPECIAL MEETING held Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall Mayor Palmeri presided. PRESENT: Council Members Matt Mugerauer, Lynnsey Erickson, Bob Poeschl (virtual), Michael Ford, Deb Allison-Aasby and Mayor Lori Palmeri EXCUSED: Deputy Mayor Jake Krause ALSO PRESENT: Mark Rohloff, City Manager; Pamela Ubrig, City Clerk; and Lynn Lorenson, City Attorney PUBLIC COMMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS Ms. Ubrig asked how Council would prefer registered speaker be called on the various topics. Mr. Rohloff recommended that all registered speakers to speak at the beginning of the meeting. The following individuals were registered to speak. Jenna Shubert, 29 Eveline Street, stated that she did not support the mask mandate. Jeffrey Christian, 1292 W. 18th Avenue, stated that he did not support exclusively going to a zoom meeting only for residents to speak. Mariel Owen, 2357 Vinland Street, expressed that she was opposed to public meetings only allowing public comment via the zoom feature. She suggested to add the virtual option as well as public comment in-person. Lydia Lyons, 935 Greenfield Trail, stated her concern for the virtual participants especially with technology issues and citizens who were not technology savvy. She expressed her concern with scheduling a meeting outside of the normal timeframe. Council Member Allison-Aasby explained that the reason the meeting was scheduled early in the day was due to work responsibilities. Josh Schrauth, 1119 Buchanan, stated that he did not agree with the meetings becoming virtual. He asked why the pledge was not said before the Council meeting. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL - AUGUST 4, 2020 2 Council Member Allison-Aasby stated the pledge might have been missed on the agenda. Mayor Palmeri asked staff if the pledge was not included due to the special meeting. Ms. Ubrig responded that history had shown the pledge was not included during special meetings. Jolene St. Marie, 2216 Hamilton Street, expressed her concerns for the virtual option and the elderly communities’ ability to navigate the technology. Eugene Zastera, 1882 Clairville Road, stated his preference was to participate via in-person meetings over zoom meetings. He expressed his opposition to the mask mandate. Katie Campbell, 614 Waugoo Avenue, stated that she did not agree with limiting participation by only allowing a virtual option and mentioned that she opposed the mask mandate. Terry Rusching, 249 W. 17th Avenue, stated he did not agree with participation via zoom only and suggested virtual participation as an option. He expressed his opposition regarding the mask mandate. Rebecca Longsine, 132 W. 25th Avenue, stated that she did not agree with holding virtual meetings only however she was in favor of in-person meetings with a virtual option. Matt Michelson, 906 Winnebago Avenue, stated that he did not agree with holding meetings virtually. Evelyn Christiensen, 1256 Willow Bend Lane, explained that she did not agree with the mask mandate. Mayor Palmeri read the following emails into the record: Patricia Dwyer-Hallquist, 2030 Hazel Street, stated her support to hold virtual meetings during the pandemic and expressed her support for a mask mandate. Carla Ennis Raupp, 2480 Security Drive, requested to participate remotely and agreed with the mask mandate. Risa Hill, 100 W. Fernau Avenue, stated that she agreed with virtual participation. R. Srubus, 1422 Wisconsin Street, requested remote participation and supported the City’s pursuit to create a mask mandate. Robert Knudsen, no address provided, expressed his support for remote participation. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL - AUGUST 4, 2020 3 Lindsey DeVries, 1235 Western Street, stated she supported the mask ordinance and supported citizens participate remotely going forward to be more inclusive. Daniel Shea, 3175 Atlas Avenue, expressed that he was not in favor of the virtual participation. Kathy Brewer, 2311 Shore Preserve Drive, stated she opposed only virtual participation. She explained that the virtual option could be disruptive however would prefer equal access to speak. Mariel Owen, no address provided, explained that she did not support the virtual only meetings. Jared Longsine, 132 W. 25th Avenue, expressed his support of the virtual participation and suggested a larger venue. Gretchen Schildedr, 544 Reighmoor Road, Omro, stated that she did not believe Council encouraged participation for citizens. Chad Owen, 2357 Vinland Street, expressed his opposition to all virtual participation and did not feel that the Council wanted to hear from the community. Jenny Smith, 1222 Bay Shore Drive, stated her opposition to only virtual participation and urged transparency. Stephanie Czech, 2480 Parkside Drive, expressed her opposition to only virtual participation. Tore Mitchell, no address provided, stated she did not support the virtual only option. Deborah Mitchell, no address provided, stated she did not support the mask mandate or virtual meetings. Jackie Steiner, 915 W. 5th Avenue, explained she did not believe the Council had read all the emails. This ended the emails read into the record. COUNCIL DISCUSSION, DIRECTION TO CITY MANAGER & FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Mayor Palmeri asked if Council would agree to reorder the agenda to allow the report from the City Attorney on the status of considering the mask ordinance due to the Governor’s recent emergency order. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL - AUGUST 4, 2020 4 Council agreed. Mayor Palmeri asked for information from staff. Ms. Lorenson stated staff had worked on a draft ordinance and would include Council’s direction. She mentioned the Governor’s order would supersede a local ordinances except if the ordinances were more restricted. She stated the two areas that the City was more restrictive were in relation to outdoor areas and in the Governor’s order, masks were encouraged; however, not required except for outdoor restaurants, taverns, and park shelters. She reminded Council at a previous meeting that Council had discussed masking while in line when entering indoor facilities and a potential amendment that dealt with larger outdoor special events. She expressed concerns that having two orders in place would cause confusion to the public and businesses as well as create difficulty with enforcement. She asked Council if staff should continue to draft an ordinance as a potential backup or did Council prefer staff to focus on the one or two areas that were more restrictive or should staff hold at the moment. Mr. Rohloff recommended staff draft an ordinance with Council’s direction and to hold off presenting the ordinance while the State mandates were monitored. He stated the ordinance would be prepared if the Governor’s order changed. He explained staff would continue to work on the ordinance and the item would be added to the outstanding issues list to keep Council informed. Mayor Palmeri agreed to remove the item from the agenda and monitor the situation. Council Member Ford supported the item be added to outstanding issues. Council Members agreed. Mayor Palmeri stated that there was information provided by the Department of Justice Advisory (DOJ), on the pros and cons. She asked Attorney Lorenson if it was permissible. Ms. Lorenson confirmed yes, as long as the meetings held, were reasonably accessible to the general public. She explained the DOJ advised that governmental bodies typically could meet by conducting meetings via telephone conference call or video conference call; and the public was provided an effective way to monitor those meetings. She stated if meeting in-person, Council would need to provide reasonable access for the public as well. Mayor Palmeri stated Council would have a virtual and/or telephone options. Council Member Poeschl expressed his support to hold Council meetings virtually through the emergency period. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL - AUGUST 4, 2020 5 Mayor Palmeri stated her concern for the amount of people who would participate at in-person Council meetings. She explained the limitations to hold in-person meetings safely. Council Member Erickson stated her support to provide a virtual option for flexibility. Council Member Ford stated he did not support holding Council meetings all virtual and expressed his support to provide a virtual option. Council Member Mugerauer asked the Council what changed from previous meetings to proceed with an all virtual option. He stated his opposition to have Council meetings virtually. He asked if the phone in was already provided to the community. Ms. Lorenson explained if the meeting was all virtual a method had to be provided. Council Member Mugerauer stated his concern for ability to hear/feel the emotion via email or phone. He expressed he did not support adding the virtual option for meetings. Council Member Allison-Aasby stated that she did not support completely virtual meeting participation and would support virtual as an option. Mayor Palmeri stated Council did not have the majority support to go all virtual. Council Member Poeschl expressed his concern was that the rules and guidelines Council had put in place were not being followed during the in-person public comment portion of the meetings. He expressed his support of the virtual/telephones options at public meetings. Mayor Palmeri asked if that included boards and commissions and for how long. Council Member Poeschl stated the hybrid model would be applied to all boards and commission meetings going forward. Council Member Allison-Aasby asked to hear a recommendation from staff regarding the virtual participation option. Tony Neumann, Information Technology Manager, explained the City had a limitations of 100 participants on the current subscription. He stated Web-ex offered a 200 participant subscription for a $1,600.00 annual increase. He mentioned if the City went above the 200 participant limitation staff would contact the provider directly to do a custom rate and agreement. Mayor Palmeri asked if there was the ability of a virtual waiting room that did not include the limited number. Mr. Neumann explained in the public meeting, participants stayed in the lobby/waiting room feature until permitted into the meeting. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL - AUGUST 4, 2020 6 Mayor Palmeri asked how participants would gain access. Mr. Neumann stated if the City would pursue the option, staff had discussed online registration for virtual participants and they would be emailed a link to participate. Council Member Allison-Aasby asked if there were any concerns with the virtual option. Ms. Lorenson explained the City would make reasonable accommodations and staff agreed the option would meet that requirement. Mr. Rohloff stated that staff had selected Web-Ex over Zoom for security reasons. Council Member Allison-Aasby asked if there was a way to validate addresses. Mr. Neumann stated there was no way to validate the information. Mayor Palmeri asked about requiring the address field for the register to speak online form. Mr. Neumann stated staff could add the field; however, there was no way to validate the address. Council Member Mugerauer asked why did the validation matter. Mayor Palmeri explained individuals had sent emails with no verifying information. Council Member Mugerauer stated his concerns with validating addresses. He asked if the limit of 200 would still limit the access and expressed his concern about the link not being public. He suggested all public comment be placed at the beginning of the meeting which did not allow for interaction during the time of Council discussion prior to voting. Council Member Ford asked if the drafted ordinance precluded citizens from participating in- person. Ms. Lorenson explained the draft would allow citizens to participate in-person or virtually. She stated the Council could give direction to change that information. Council Member Ford asked if all comments would occur at the beginning of the meeting. Mr. Rohloff explained the topic was discussed and staff recommended comments occur at the beginning of the meeting. Mayor Palmeri explained the option was to add access to the meetings. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL - AUGUST 4, 2020 7 Mr. Rohloff stated staff would bring the ordinance to Council to change the virtual participation option. Council Member Allison-Aasby asked if the mask ordinance was not on the agenda at the August 12, 2020 Council meeting would a venue change be needed. Mayor Palmeri stated she did not see a need for the larger venue and explained her concerns to make sure the public understood what to expect. Mr. Rohloff explained if staff felt a larger venue was necessary, the meeting would be moved and noticed correctly. Council Member Allison-Aasby suggested staff communicate to the public what to expect with the number of individuals that could be in the chambers, number of individuals on the floor, and if registration would hit a certain number then an alternative location would be needed. Mike Stanley, Fire Chief, explained that the fire code limited 25 individuals in the break room, 69 individuals in room 404/406 and those number would be lowered with social distancing. Mayor Palmeri asked if the 6 foot distance markings on the floor would be helpful. Mr. Rohloff stated the compliance had not been followed when those visuals were in place. Council Member Allison-Aasby suggested the information be posted with a disclaimer that citizens may need to wait to speak due to the fire code. Mayor Palmeri asked about signs on the door. Mr. Rohloff confirmed yes and explained staff would make recommendations if a larger venue was needed. Mayor Palmeri asked what staff recommended as far as a timeframe. Mr. Rohloff explained the virtual option could be used for Council as well as all boards and commissions. Ms. Lorenson stated the length of time would expire when the emergency was done and Council could amend the ordinance. Mr. Rohloff asked the boards/commissions to allow time for staff to implement the technology for each board and commission. Mayor Palmeri questioned if the option would be available for all boards and commission even PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL - AUGUST 4, 2020 8 if their meetings were not recorded. Mr. Rohloff stated links would be provided along with a phone number to listen to the meeting for all boards and commissions. He explained the meetings times may need to be changed due to the technology accommodations capabilities. Ms. Lorenson stated the telephone access was through Web-Ex. Mayor Palmeri explained the virtual/phone option allowed participation for individuals who did not feel comfortable participating in-person. Council Member Allison-Aasby shared her appreciation for both the in-person and virtual options to allow the public to participate. Mr. Rohloff asked if Council agreed to extend the virtual accommodations to all boards and commissions. Council agreed. Council Member Allison-Aasby asked if the ordinance would be presented at the August 12, 2020 Council meeting. Mr. Rohloff explained staff would provide an ordinance to ratify the discussion. Ms. Lorenson stated the draft ordinance would be presented to allow the public to participate virtually. MOTION: ADJOURN (Mugerauer, second Allison-Aasby) CARRIED: VOICE VOTE The meeting adjourned at 9:10 a.m. PAMELA R. UBRIG CITY CLERK