The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink Aboutnewsletter TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council FROM: Mark Rohloff, City Manager DATE: January 14, 2022 RE: Weekly Newsletter 1. PSC REVIEWS CLEARWELLS PROJECT: The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) has reviewed the City’s Clearwell Replacement Project public outreach efforts including the video recording of the Tuesday, January 11, 2022 Common Council workshop. Late Wednesday the PSC informed the City that the proposed public hearing in March has been cancelled. The public hearing was originally proposed by the PSC to ensure the public has an opportunity to comment on the project. Based on its evaluation of the City’s recent and planned future public outreach, the PSC finds the City is providing effective forums for public comments and questions. Public comments continue to be welcomed and City responses are available for public review on the City’s website at: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/PublicWorks/WaterUtility.aspx. Comments may be sent to DPW@ci.oshkosh.wi.us. As outlined during the January 11, 2022 Council workshop, the City intends to expand public engagement by creating an ad hoc committee to provide additional public input on project features and potential improvements to areas outside of the Water Filtration Plant’s campus. Additional information about the ad hoc committee will be presented during the February 8, 2022 Common Council meeting. 2. UTILITY BILLING CALENDAR UPDATED: Late last year, the finance staff received complaints regarding the Utility Billing cycles. As a reminder, the billing cycle usually includes a 30 day usage period; time for internal processing, a 20 day time frame to pay the bill, time to certify unpaid utility bills on the tax roll, and time to look at the activity and due dates for tax collections. With this billing cycle, there have been a few times during a calendar year when a district might have two due dates within one month. Usually a due date early in the month and again late in the month. After a reviewed of the Utility Billing calendar, staff has made some adjustments. The new schedule for 2022 for all three districts is attached. Due to current scheduling, tax collections, and staffing due to COVID, there is one cycle that will have multiple due dates within one month. During the month of March, District 1 will be affected, having two due dates within one month. The Utility Accounting staff along with Finance Director Van Gompel will continue to work to reduce or eliminate districts from having multiple due dates within one month in the future. Please contact Finance Director Van Gompel with any questions. 3. FREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE AT LIBRARY: The Winnebago Free Legal Assistance Clinic returns to Oshkosh Public Library starting Jan. 18. Volunteer attorneys and paralegals will be at the library on the third Tuesday of each month from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. to help with civic legal issues, including assistance with forms, procedures and resources. Clinics are also held at Neenah Public Library and Menasha Public Library on alternate Tuesdays. For more information please visit the library website at https://www.oshkoshpubliclibrary.org/. The Winnebago Free Legal Assistance Clinic is a partnership of the State Bar of Wisconsin, Winnebago County, Winnefox Library System and the Oshkosh, Neenah and Menasha public libraries. 4. HELP US REACH OUR READING GOAL: The Wild Winter Read Off is underway for all ages and this year we’ve issued a challenge to Oshkosh readers – help us reach a community reading goal of 300,000 minutes. If we reach the goal, we’ll have a Hip Pop Hooray for Reading celebration at the library on March 5. Track your reading on the Beanstack app or pick up a paper reading tracker at the library. You’re reading anyway – why not earn prizes and community bragging rights? The Wild Winter Read Off runs through Feb. 26 so there’s plenty of time to get on board. For more information about this service please visit the library website at https://www.oshkoshpubliclibrary.org/ 5. INSPECTION DIVISION 2021 REPORT: The City of Oshkosh posted a record year for permit value during 2021 with nearly $162 million in permits issued. That total eclipsed the previous high water mark of more than $137 million reported during 2017, followed by nearly $135 million through fiscal 2020. It was also the first year that permit fees collect by the city surpassed $1 million, with a total of $1,040,879 collected during 2021. A bit more than $892,000 was collected the previous year in 2020, while $903,092 in fees was collected during 2017. One of the leading highlights from the permits issued during the past calendar year was for the 84 new home starts (72 single family and 12 duplexes). Home starts had been much lower in Oshkosh during recent years. From 2015 to 2019, the city was typically seeing 20 to 35 new homes built each year. During 2020, housing starts climbed to 56 with 49 single- family homes and seven duplexes. Evergreen’s “pocket neighborhood” off West 9th Avenue accounted for 40 homes during the past year. There was also a notable increase in new building permits for multi-family residential complexes, with nearly $44 million in activity recorded during 2021, compared with just more than $10.4 million during all of 2020. Last year’s total included: $12.9 million for the 172-unit development by S.C. Swiderski on State Road 91; $10.1 million for The Wit 144-unit apartment and clubhouse complex off West Witzel Avenue; $9.4 million for Mackson Corners on the Fox River at Jackson Street Bridge, which will provide 74 units; $5.5 million for Cabrini Lofts to redevelop the former Cabrini School into 31 apartments for seniors; and $4 million for the redevelopment of the former Miles Kimball headquarters building on 9th and South Main Street into 28 apartments, among a handful of smaller apartment developments. If you have any questions, please contact Chief Building Official John Zarate. Year Total Value of Permits Total Permit Fees Collected 2021 $161,958,629 $1,040,879.20 2020 $134,882,335 $892,103.49 2019 $97,707,465 $720,354.43 2018 $128,386,247 $860,374.27 2017 $137,422,043 $903,092.56 6. ASSESSOR’S OFFICE – ACTIVITY DETAIL FOR DECEMBER 2021: The City of Oshkosh Assessor’s office continually strives to provide fair and equitable real estate assessed values. Please contact our office with any questions at 920-236-5070 or lalger@ci.oshkosh.wi.us. 5 Parcel Combinations 7 Classification Shifts 2 Parcel Splits 160 Residential Permit Reviews 132 Sale Reviews 2 Review upon Request 445 Permits Coded 3 Mobile Home Changes 15 Personal Property Contact 35 Personal Property Accounts Entered 139 Mailing Address Changes 249 Real Estate Transfers Processed 7. THE 23RD ANNUAL OFD FOOD AND TOY DRIVE: The 23rd Annual Oshkosh Fire Department Local 316 Food and Toy Drive has officially wrapped up and it was another amazingly successful year! It was great to be back out in the community and interacting with YOU, the citizens of Oshkosh, as you are the ones who make this drive so impactful year after year! All of the donations have been counted and we are happy to report that we had a RECORD year of donations! The donation totals per night are as follows: Thanks to the Oshkosh community, for helping this drive impact hundreds of families right here in the Oshkosh area. Your donations and support show the true generosity of the City of Oshkosh! Thank you!! We look forward to another amazing drive in 2022! 8. REPORTS ATTACHMENTS UPDATES AND LINKS: Attached is the weekly Museum Board memo and below is the link to OFD’s latest issue of Hot Topics: https://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/Fire/Resources/HotTopics/Hot_Topics_January_2022.pdf 9. 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/. 10. 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 11. LOOKING AHEAD: Among the meetings I have scheduled for the week of January 17 include the following: At 8:00 AM on Tuesday I will be attending the Chamber of Commerce State of the Community virtual event, in which I will be making a brief presentation. At 2:00 PM I will be meeting with Director of Economic Development Nieforth to discuss city development updates. On Wednesday at 7:30 AM I will be attending the GOEDC Board of Directors meeting. On Thursday at 10:30 AM I will be meeting with staff to discuss next steps of the facilities study. At 8:00 PM on Friday I will be attending the jersey retirement event for Tyrese Halliburton at Oshkosh North High School. If you have any questions about my schedule, please contact me.