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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes MINUTES Urban Wildlife Advisory Committee Meeting February 22, 2010 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLLCALL The Meeting was called to order at 4:45 P.M. Present: Michael Beeth, Grady Bullington, LorRae Crubaugh, Richard Hall, Nikki Hronis, Dennis McHugh, Cecil Streeter, Wendy Suzuki, Steve Voss Staff: Ray Maurer, Parks Director; Trish Wendorf, Recording Secretary APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Streeter for approval of the January 25, 2010 minutes, as submitted. Seconded by Beeth. Motion carried 8-0. BUSINESS 1)Committee Directory Update Mr. Maurer requested that the Board provide Ms. Wendorf their current phone numbers and email addresses to enable her to update the Board Directory and make it available to all Board members and the public. (Ms. Crubaugh arrived at this time (4:50 PM) making a 9-member Board) 2)Discuss allowing Citizen Comments on future agendas 3)Discussion of time limits for Citizen Comments, if allowed on future agendas Ms. Suzuki stated she believes it is important to allow citizens’ comments with a time limitation. Mr. Hall inquired if any inquiries had been made to the Parks Department staff about the public being able to speak at their meetings. Mr. Maurer stated he had no such inquiries. Ms. Hronis stated she had no problem with the public being able to speak as long as their meetings don’t turn into a bashing session. Mr. McHugh stated he is on several other committees/suggested allowing the public to speak for 5 minutes as 3 minutes doesn’t give them much time. We must allow the public to speak. Trying it for 5 minutes – we can always change the time limitations in the future. Mr. Beeth concurred and stated the Committee should allow the public opportunities to speak. Motion by Streeter to allow public comment with the same rules in alignment with City Council. Motion failed for lack of a second. Urban Wildlife Advisory Committee Minutes Page -2- February 22, 2010 Motion by Streeter to allow public comment with a 5-minute rule, but not in alignment with the City Council. Seconded by Suzuki. Motion carried 9-0. 4)Review monthly car accident reports from Police Department Mr. Maurer gave an oral report on the monthly car/deer crashes per an email received from the Chief of Police dated February 24, 2010 (said email on file at the City Parks Department and made a part of these minutes). He stated that staff will prepare a spreadsheet of car/deer crashes and submit them to the Committee on a monthly basis. 5)Review Committee’s purpose, duties and functions Mr. Beeth stated that functions of this committee should be defined otherwise people will bring forth issues with rats, mice, etc. Mr. McHugh instead of making rules/regulations we should wait to see how this committee moves forward. He does not feel that the committee is ready to make a ruling yet and would not support approving a mission statement at this early date. Mr. Maurer reiterated the material contained in City Ordinance Section 2-59.2 (said copy of Ordinance on file at the City Parks office and made a part of these minutes). Ms. Suzuki inquired if the City’s Health Department had problems with people being bitten by animals with rabies? Mr. Maurer said he did not know of any. He stated the Committee and staff may get more calls from the public about nuisance animals and noted that coyotes may become an issue. Ms. Crubaugh inquired as to what City staff has or are currently doing with the geese. She noted that she had read various articles from the Oshkosh Northwestern as to the geese issues. She is interested in knowing what staff is doing and what the public opinion is. Mr. Maurer stated he would put that issue on the next regularly scheduled agenda and have Mr. Sturm present a report. Mr. Voss suggested the same be done with respect to gulls and possibly cormorants (fish eating birds). Mr. Beeth suggested that #3 “Identify and evaluate specific options for wildlife management” is a big task. With respect to #4 “Identify areas within the City where urban wildlife presents specific problems” – the Police Department’s monthly car/deer crash reports is a help mapping those areas out for the Committee. More information can be obtained through aerial surveys and citizen reports. Mr. Maurer stated the Committee can continue to work on deer issues and then start to expand on geese issue – past practices and geese evaluation, i.e., what the City has done in the past and then the next issue could be with the gulls. In the meantime, the Committee and staff will hear from the public about deer in their neighborhood. He noted brochures are a great tool. Ms. Hronis stated Elm Grove has a comprehensive plan that she will distribute to the Committee for the next meeting. She also has information on effective deer contraception that was approved months ago. Urban Wildlife Advisory Committee Minutes Page -3- February 22, 2010 6)Other areas of the City being affected by high urban deer population Mr. McHugh stated a gentleman informed him that he had counted 15 deer in the quarry. What is the issue? Mr. McHugh believes that the deer are landlocked in the quarry and that there are more there then he thought. The city needs to get into an agreement with the quarry about the deer. He stated there are raccoons in my neighbor’s yard along with possums, skunks, etc. The City needs to get a handle on what creatures affect our citizens the most. Ms. Hronis stated that the development of a prioritized list is more important. Mr. McHugh concurred and added that would be logical. Mr. Beeth would like to hear from some professional exterminators and determine what an ordinary citizen can and cannot do. Ms. Suzuki inquired if the owner of the quarry might consider attending a meeting. Mr. McHugh stated he didn’t think the quarry owners would want to expose themselves to the public – it’s too volatile an issue. Mr. Maurer stated he will check with the Police Chief to determine who the Chief has contacted. Mr. Hall stated he would like to make a special effort for the quarry owners to get involved. Mr. Maurer suggested to start with prioritizing deer first and then geese/gulls – have contacts made known to the public of how to deter/exterminate nuisance rats, mice, rabbits, etc. Mr. Maurer stated that Ms. Wendorf did a bullet point Urban Wildlife Project Time-Line and will be working with the City’s IT Department for getting that information on the City’s website in a more user friendly manner. Questions arose as to trappings and the Humane Society. Ms. Hronis stated that she works there as a non- paid employee. She stated that generally when the Society gets calls for wildlife issues, the Society calls the DNR. In the past they were trapped and released. The Society has a contract with the City for strays or to impound animals in illegal activities, but they don’t get involved in trappings. Mr. Streeter suggested developing a protocol for different animals and how to deal with them legally. Mr. McHugh stated his idea with the deer is to transport them, but wasn’t sure as to the CWD issue. Discussion ensued relative to the CWD zoned issues. 7)Discussion of future aerial survey Mr. Maurer stated with respect to an aerial survey, the OPD and someone from EAA did one last Friday. They were able to get up and Quarry/Armory area and had counted 9 deer late PM/early evening. He has discussed with the Fire Chief as to an infrared camera that goes 800-900 feet. He noted the Police Chief would be doing some more aerial surveys and had encouraged the Chief to focus on the quarry/Armory area. Urban Wildlife Advisory Committee Minutes Page -4- February 22, 2010 Mr. Hill stated the deer are least mobile now. Their biggest moves are in May and November and noted that November is in association with the rut. He suggested that sharpshooters could paint ball the deer with color coding. He stated the deer can easily be baited now because there is snow on the ground. Mr. Maurer stated that both Elm Grove and Brookfield have plans that they can share with us. Ms. Hronis stated she has a copy of Elm Grove’s wild life plan and will bring it to the next meeting. MS. SUKUZI LEFT AT THIS TIME (6:08 P.M.) LEAVING AN 8-MEMBER BOARD Mr. Streeter inquired if the City pays for the aerial surveys or does someone does them for gratis. Mr. Maurer stated he is of the opinion the aerials are being done now for gratis. 8)Review feeding ban ordinance Mr. Streeter suggested it be put on the record that the Committee agrees on the feeding ban. Mr. Hill stated he reviewed the feeding ban ordinance and noted that it is well-written. It is the consensus of the Committee that they support the feeding ban ordinance. 9)Topics for next meeting (March 22, 2010) Ms. Hronis stated she will get copies of the Elm Grove Management Plan and deer contraception as well as a list of deer repellants and home remedies that the public could implement. Quarry – DNR – trapping and transporting deer Geese history/update Discuss applying for Urban Wildlife Abatement Grant Village of Elm Grove Management Plan Deer contraception information ADJOURNMENT There being no other business, Motion by Beeth for adjournment; seconded by Streeter. Motion carried 8 – 0. The meeting adjourned at 6:20 PM. Respectfully submitted, Trish Wendorf Trish Wendorf Recording Secretary