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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.07.25 Newsletter : TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council FROM: John Fitzpatrick, Interim City Manager DATE: February 7, 2025 RE: Weekly Newsletter 1. SPRING PRIMARY ELECTION WILL BE HELD FEBRUARY 18, 2025: The Spring Primary Election will be held Tuesday, February 18, 2025. Please visit the MyVote website to find your voting location (polling place), district and ward, prior to the election – as they may have changed since the last election or since the last time you voted. In person absentee voting is available at 19 E Irving: DAY/DATE TIME Saturday, February 8 8:30 am to 12:30 pm Monday, February 10 8:30 am to 7:00 pm Tuesday, February 11 - Thursday, February 13 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Friday, February 14, 2025 8:30 am to 5:00 pm If you requested an absentee ballot by mail, you should be receiving it shortly. Please call the City Clerk’s Department at 920-236-5011 with questions. 2. HOMELESS OUTREACH PROJECT UPDATE: Throughout 2024, several City departments met with a community group of nonprofits, business members, and the philanthropic community who wanted to help with our homeless population. The overarching result of this meeting was that there needed to be street outreach in the City of Oshkosh. As the Oshkosh Police Department (OPD) was the only City department with the tools and history related to community outreach for some of our at-risk community members, OPD accepted the responsibility to develop an outreach program. During the 2025 budget process, Council approved partial funding for a Sergeant, an Officer and half of a Social Worker. The remainder of the funding is provided by the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation and Winnebago County. As an update, we have settled on a location for a substation near Opera House Square. We are working through the lease language at this time, along with updates of the facility that need to occur. The County has selected and provided a tentative hiring date for the new Social Worker. Sergeant Brendan Bonnett has been selected to head up this initiative, as well as supervise our Behavioral Health Team. We will not be selecting an Officer at the present time, as we are currently short on Patrol Officers due to retirements and unanticipated departures. This is still a work in progress and we are actively recruiting to fill positions. We will be starting the initial phase of our outreach with the assignment of this Sergeant and the Social Worker, with an anticipated start date of April 1, 2025. Please contact Chief Smith if you have any further questions. 3. ADVOCAP MEAL SITE CHANGE: For many years, ADVOCAP has utilized the Oshkosh Seniors Center as one of their congregate meal locations in Oshkosh. ADVOCAP recently announced that, due to a change in funding and a significant decline in onsite attendees, they are discontinuing the meal site at the Oshkosh Seniors Center as of Friday, February 7, 2025. To continue to serve seniors in need of meals that previously came to the Seniors Center, ADVOCAP is inviting them to dine at their other sites in Oshkosh, including at Marian Manor. If you have any questions, please contact Dan Braun, Seniors Center Manager, at 920-232- 5300. Seniors Center program details and registration information may be found on our webpage. 4. MEETING COVERAGE UPDATE: Oshkosh Media staff will provide live coverage of several City Council and committee meetings on Tuesday: • The meeting of the Transportation Committee has been moved to the Seniors Center North building. It will take place at 4 p.m. Oshkosh Media will provide live coverage of the meeting on the OM YouTube channel; • At 5 p.m. the Common Council Workshop on Housing will air live on Gov TV on Spectrum Cable channel 10, the OshkoshMedia.org Gov TV live stream, and on the OM OTT channels on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV; • The regular meeting of the Council will air as usual across all Gov TV platforms, including Spectrum Cable, OshkoshMedia.org, OTT channels, the OM YouTube channel, and on Oshkosh FM 101.9. For more information, contact Media Services Coordinator Jake Timm at 236-5261. 5. OPD HAPPENINGS: On January 29, 2025, the Oshkosh Police Department (OPD) said goodbye to Officer Mark Lehman, who retired after proudly serving OPD and the City of Oshkosh for 28 years. During his tenure with the Department, he performed the duties of a Patrol Officer exceptionally, earning a Medal of Valor in 2004, a Distinguished Service Medal in 2007, a Lifesaving Award in 2017, a Department Commendation Award in 2022, Officer of the Quarter Award in 2022, along with several commendation letters as well as Supervisor’s Logs his commendable actions in the line of duty. Officer Lehman served as a member of the Motorcycle Unit since 2017, a former Field Training Officer, and as a former member of the Crash Team. We sincerely thank Officer Lehman for his many years of dedicated and exceptional service to the Oshkosh Police Department and to the City of Oshkosh. We wish him the very best for a happy, healthy retirement! During a Police and Fire Commission meeting on Tuesday, February 4th, OPD celebrated the promotions of Captain Brian Schuldes to the rank of Assistant Chief; Lieutenant Andrew Lecker to the rank of Captain; and Sergeant Brett Robertson to the rank of Lieutenant. • Assistant Chief Brian Schuldes has been with the Oshkosh Police Department for nearly 30 years, beginning in September of 1995. Assistant Chief Schuldes served in the United States Marine Corps as a Military Police Officer and Traffic Accident Investigator. During his tenure with the Department, he has performed the duties of Patrol Officer, Patrol Sergeant, Patrol and Criminal Investigation Lieutenant, Operations Bureau Captain and Captain of Administration. He previously served as a Background Investigator, Field Training Officer, a Firearms and Vehicle Contact Instructor, served as a former member of the Honor Guard, Crisis Negotiation Team, Mobile Field Force Team, Supervisor of the Recruitment Team, Coordinator of the Mentor Program, and Co-Coordinator of the Mental Health Resiliency Committee. Throughout his career, he earned the 2000 Winnebago County Top Award for teamwork, a Letter of Commendation in 2005, a Meritorious Service Medal in 2007, a Lifesaving Award in 2017, Noteworthy Performance of Duty Awards in 2019 and 2020, and two Service Awards in 2023 for dedicating 18 years on the Negotiator Team and 25 years on the Honor Guard Team, along with numerous letters and Supervisor's Logs recognizing him for his commendable actions in the line of duty. • Captain Andrew Lecker has been with the Oshkosh Police Department for nearly 23 years, beginning in April of 2002. During his tenure with the department, he has performed the duties of Patrol Officer, Patrol Sergeant, Patrol Lieutenant, Professional Standards Division Lieutenant, and Criminal Investigation Lieutenant. He previously served as a member of the Bike Patrol, Mobile Field Force and SWAT Teams, and served as a Field Training Officer, and DAAT/SPEAR/Scenario Instructor. Throughout his career, he earned a Letter of Commendation in 2004 and 2007, a Commendation Medal in 2014, and a Service Award in 2020 for recognition of 13 years dedicated to the SWAT Team, along with numerous letters of recognition and Supervisor's Logs recognizing him for his commendable actions in the line of duty. • Lieutenant Brett Robertson has been with the Oshkosh Police Department for over 22 years, beginning in August of 2002. During his tenure with the department, he has performed the duties of Patrol Officer, Detective, Patrol Sergeant, and Sergeant of the Vice and Narcotics Unit in the Criminal Investigation Division. Lieutenant Robertson is a former member of the Mobile Field Force and SWAT Teams, a former Background Investigator, and a former Drug Recognition Expert. He currently serves as a member of the Drone Team, Recruitment Team, Child Abduction Response Team, and is on the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Throughout his career, he earned a Letter of Commendation in 2003, a Distinguished Service Medal in 2005, numerous Noteworthy Performance of Duty Awards, a Commendation Medal in 2014, Officer of the Quarter Award in 2017, and a Department Commendation Award in 2019, along with several citizen commendation letters and Supervisor's Logs recognizing him for his commendable actions in the line of duty. 6. GET INVOLVED IN A BOARD OR COMMISSION: If you are interested in serving your community, please consider becoming a member of one of the City’s citizen advisory boards, commissions, or committees. There are current openings on the following boards and commissions: BID Board Board of Review Board of Zoning Appeals Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee Landmarks Commission Long Range Finance Committee Plan Commission Sustainability Advisory Board To learn more about the boards and commissions, or to complete an application to serve, visit our boards and commissions webpage. If you have questions about current openings, please contact the City Manager’s Executive Assistant, Kami Zuercher, by email or call 920- 236-5002. 7. AGENDAS AND MINUTES FOR BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS: Upcoming board and commission meeting agendas can be found on our Meeting Notices web page. All meeting minutes are uploaded to the City’s page for boards and commissions upon approval.