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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: January 22, 2010 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: SNOW REMOVAL ENFORCEMENT TO BE RAMPED UP 1.: I met with Public Works staff this week to discuss the effectiveness of our snow and ice removal enforcement since the adoption of the new snow removal ordinance last year. While the code has clarified who is responsible for snow removal (i.e., property owners), we are still encountering problems in which property owners are moving snow into the right-of-way or onto other people's properties. We are also experiencing property owners who are not regularly removing snow and ice from their sidewalks. While we are encouraged by some overall improvement, we still believe that additional enforcement is needed to more effectively remove snow and ice from sidewalks. Based upon the complaints that we have received from other residents, as well as discussions with Public Works staff, the Police Department, and the City Attorney, I am directing staff to go to the next step in the enforcement of these codes by issuing citations. While I know that we will receive complaints from people who feel we are over zealous in our enforcement, I believe that the feedback we have received makes it appropriate to step up our enforcement to be fair to all. As a result, Public Works staff will identify properties that are pushing snow off of their properties. Those property owners will be issued citations immediately. As for sidewalk snow and ice removal, we will continue to primarily enforce on a complaint basis. After we are aware of a sidewalk complaint, we will remove the nuisance, charge the property owner, and issue a citation. Our belief is that we may see a one time increase in court cases, but as the community becomes more aware of our enforcement, we believe that people will begin to comply and the tickets will subside. Our goal throughout this is not to issue tickets; rather, our goal is to insure that property owners are following the law in clearing the sidewalks to make it a safer environment for everyone. If you have any questions regarding the enforcement of this code, please contact me. SUMMARY OF STORMWATER PROJECTS 2.: Deputy Mayor Palmeri recently asked Public Works Director Patek to provide a list of projects that have been undertaken by the city with respect to storm water. I believe that the purpose of this request is to demonstrate that the city is actively pursuing storm water improvement projects. Some recent project controversies have masked the fact that we have made some progress in storm water that the public may not be aware of. Please find enclosed a summary from Public Works Director Patek, which shows projects undertaken by the city since the inception of the Storm Water Utility in 2003. We have also included projects that are planned for 2010 and 2011. Weekly Newsletter January 22, 2010 Page 2 Another point I would like to raise is to clarify issues brought up recently about the lack of a storm water plan for the city. Storm water plans are not done on a municipal boundary basis; rather, storm water plans are based upon specific basins that are defined by their natural flows. The city continues to prepare storm water plans that will eventually address all of our storm water basins. The most recent storm water plans that the Council reviewed were those for Sawyer Creek and Campbell Creek. It is in rare cases that storm water plans overlap one basin or the other, therefore, a city-wide plan is not applicable. Nonetheless, we will continue to work on storm water projects within basins, and try to continue to educate the public that storm water needs to be viewed from the basin levels, rather than a city-wide basis. If the Council feels we need to provide any more clarification in a meeting, please contact me and I will make arrangements to do so. Meanwhile, staff will continue to educate so that the public is aware that storm water is managed on a basin basis, not a city-wide basis. MERGERS OF SERVICES CONSIDERED IN OTHER AREAS OF THE STATE 3.: Please find enclosed an article that I picked up from the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel regarding the sharing of services in Milwaukee County. The sharing of services appears to be a more measured solution toward addressing discussions about mergers of governmental agencies in the Milwaukee area. As the article indicates, communities in the North Shore suburbs have worked together for several years in combining specific services. The key example in this case is the North Shore Fire Department. However, other services have also been the subject of mergers, including health, water utilities, library, and dispatching. I think this points out the value of taking a look at individual services and determining if any merger of services is beneficial for all of the participating agencies. While I know there's a great deal of interest and concern regarding the possible merger of the city and county health departments, I believe it points out that we need to take a measured approach to this and be open-minded about possible mergers. At the same time, we need to recognize that not every merger proposal will necessarily make sense. This is the approach that I have explained to health staff as we look at a possible merger, and I will continue to do this with any possible discussion on any other merger discussions that might come up in the near future. If you have any thoughts or questions about this article or about any aspect of our potential health department merger talks, please contact me. PROPOSED RECONSTRUCTION OF DAKOTA STREET 4.: As we've previously reported to Council, staff looked at different options for the construction of street and storm water thth improvements in the area of 5 and 6 Avenues. During that discussion, we identified the thth possibility of providing storm water improvements on Dakota Street, between 5 and 6 Avenues as part of this long range improvement. We held an informational meeting with th residents on Monday, January 18. Unfortunately, only one property owner attended. The resident indicated that her fellow residents had been discussing this issue, and there did not appear to be any strong feelings against the project. The indication was that they were certainly supportive of our efforts to address storm water issues in this area. As a result of this information, we will proceed with seeking Council approval to consider improvements in this area and the levying of special assessments. Staff will also begin working on the plans for this project to include this section of Dakota Street. If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact Public Works Director Patek. Weekly Newsletter January 22, 2010 Page 3 5.OSHKOSH CORPORATION TIF UPDATE : At Tuesday's meeting of the Joint Review Board (consisting of representatives from the City of Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Fox Valley Technical College, and the Oshkosh Area School District), the group viewed the project plan submitted by staff regarding the proposed TIF District in which Oshkosh Corporation would be seeking a $5 million Development Assistance Grant. The Board also completed administrative work to appoint a citizen member and schedule a meeting of the Joint Review Board after the Plan Commission and City Council review the project and hold the appropriate public hearing. Later that same day, the Plan Commission unanimously recommended approval of the Tax Incremental Financing District in accordance with state statutes. The Plan Commission's role is to review the TIF plan for conformity to the city's Comprehensive Plan. As this property is in an industrial zone, this was a fairly routine approval. The next step is for the City Council to review and approve this TIF. This action will be scheduled for the Council at your February rd 23 meeting. Assuming that the Tax Incremental Financing District is approved, staff will begin work on an agreement to accompany the Development Action Grant so that the city has assurances that all of the conditions of the TIF plan are completed as expected. Through the discussion of the TIF plan, there have been questions as to what assumptions Oshkosh Corporation made when they submitted their proposal to the federal government for consideration. Oshkosh Corporation provided us with a timeline they had prepared that outlines each of the meetings and discussions that took place throughout this process. As the timeline indicates, representatives of Oshkosh Corporation met with city representatives back th on April 9. There were subsequent meetings prior to Oshkosh Corporation submitting a final th bid on August 7. This demonstrates that the discussions we had with Oshkosh Corporation took place before the bid, and indicates that Oshkosh Corporation had factored in some level of support from both the city and the state when they prepared their bids. I believe that this is another indication that the "but for" clause has been met in this matter. If you have any questions after reviewing this timeline, please contact me or Planning Services Director Burich. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 6.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include a revised draft of the Special Events Ordinance from City Attorney Lynn Lorenson. If you have any questions concerning this document, please direct them to City th Attorney Lorenson. I'm also enclosing the minutes of the January 13 Parking Utility th Commission meeting, and the minutes of the January 12 Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting. The last item I'm enclosing is the Annual Report of Trust Funds, as prepared by Finance Director Peggy Steeno. th UPCOMING MEETINGS 7.: Meetings that I have scheduled for the week of January 25 th include the following: On Monday, January 25, I will be conducting interviews with finalists for the Community Development Director position. Based upon the outcomes of those interviews, we will conduct a background check on one or more of the final candidates before any formal offer of employment is made. This process may take two to three weeks before completion. We still believe that we'll be able to have a new Community Development stth Director on board by April 1. On Tuesday, January 26, at 10:30 a.m., I will be attending a meeting, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, regarding long term needs for the Highway #26 corridor, from Highway #41 to Highway #151. Weekly Newsletter January 22, 2010 Page 4 th On Wednesday, January 27, I will be attending a meeting of the Oshkosh Area Economic th Development Corporation Board. On Thursday, January 28, I will be attending a meeting of th the Chamco Board of Directors. On Friday morning, January 29, at 10:00 a.m., I will be attending the quarterly meeting of the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. If you have any questions regarding my attendance at these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me. MAR/jdc