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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: December 3, 2010 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: MAYOR'S GATEWAYS COMMITTEE REPORT 1.: During a recent Council discussion of undergrounding utilities, one of the issues that staff brought up was prioritizing where utilities may be most appropriate for undergrounding. It was discussed that staff would be identifying major gateways to the city that would be appropriate for undergrounding projects. As staff discussed this issue, Public Works Director Patek came across a report from February, 2001, entitled, "Mayor's Gateways Committee Report". This report makes multiple suggestions on things that can be done to improve gateways to the city, one of which included possible undergrounding of utilities. Staff feels that using this Gateways Report may be an appropriate way to identify gateways for undergrounding. As staff develops a policy on undergrounding utilities, we will likely rely heavily on this Gateways Report for potential locations. AVIATION INDUSTRIAL PARK 2.: Over the past several months, representatives of the city have been meeting with the Chamco subcommittee specifically designed to support the aviation industry. Meanwhile, the Winnebago County Airport Committee has been discussing the possibility of creating an industrial park that would enable them to serve general aviation clients. In my previous experience, I have found that general aviation represents a great economic development opportunity for municipalities. Because of the existence of Wittman Airport and the proximity of EAA, I believe that an airport industrial park would be an outstanding opportunity for our community. In the past, the city and the county did not collaborate on ways in which they could jointly achieve this effort. Recent efforts have enabled us to see the advantages of working together. At this week's County Airport Committee meeting, the Committee asked the County Executive to begin negotiations for the possible purchase of properties adjacent to the airport for possible expansion as an industrial park. The city's role in this process would be similar to what we have done for our industrial parks on the north and southwest sides, i.e., creation of a TIF District to fund public improvements such as utilities. The difference in this case would be that the county would be the entity purchasing the properties, as airport industrial parks require that the airport authority maintain ownership of the lands for any industrial park. The improvements in these industrial parks are still subject to taxation, and this would be the vehicle by which a possible TIF could be funded. Weekly Newsletter December 3, 2010 Page 2 I appreciate the leadership of Chamco and representatives of the airport to work with Community Development Director Davis in developing a conceptual plan for an airport industrial park. At this point, the proposal to purchase the land (with possible 95% grant funding) still needs to go through the County Personnel and Finance Committee. However, I wanted Council to be aware that these efforts were ongoing. Should the county agree to proceed with land acquisition, they will likely approach us about creating a TIF consistent with the goals that have been identified by the committee studying an aviation industrial park. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please refer to the accompanying memo from Mr. Davis, and please contact him for additional information. PUBLIC HEALTH MERGER UPDATE 3.: As directed by Council following the adoption of the rd resolution on November 23, I met with County Executive Harris, County Health Director Gieryn, and Health Advisory Board Chair Stan Kline to discuss the next steps in a possible consolidation of our Health Department into the County Health Department. At the same time, the county has solicited proposals for a study of a possible consolidation of all Public Health Departments within Winnebago County, including the cities of Oshkosh, Neenah and Menasha. Representatives of these agencies met this week to review the proposals. It is our hope that this study will begin after the first of the year. Even with this study very close to reality, the county and city representatives agreed that our discussion should continue in keeping with the direction provided by Council in your resolution. We will be working with the county to address the issues that were raised by the Board of Health during their discussions, specifically issues related to levels of service, personnel, and finances. Depending upon the progress of the county-wide consolidation study, we may utilize some of that information as we continue our discussions. I believe that these issues need to be reconciled before the Board of Health or the Council can make any informed decision on this matter. I will keep the Council updated as this issue progresses. 2010 TAX BILLS BEING MAILED TODAY 4.: I am pleased to report that the 2010 tax bills are going out in the mail today. After a bit of a delay in receiving the last few pieces of information from the state, we now have all of the information necessary to issue the tax bills. For your information, I am including a document that outlines the rates and includes a few examples of tax bills for Oshkosh taxpayers. As noted in this document, the net overall rate for 2010 is $23.946, an increase of approximately 4.8% over last year's rate of $22.853. As you can see in referring to each taxing jurisdiction's line, the piece of the levy attributed to the City of Oshkosh is just over one-third of the overall levy, and includes a 2.5% increase over last year's rate, going from $8.399 in 2009 to $8.608 in 2010. In addition, the lottery credit and first dollar credit came in favorably, both higher than last year's amounts. Please contact Finance Director Steeno or me if you have any questions or would like additional information on the rates or the bills. Weekly Newsletter December 3, 2010 Page 3 LEAN TRAINING 5.: Council may recall that the city cooperated with Fox Valley Technical College to pursue a grant that enabled FVTC to begin a training program for Lean Six Sigma Management Practices for clients in their jurisdiction, including both public and private entities. The city is fortunate to be one of the first agencies to work with FVTC on a Lean Training Program under this grant. The first initiative in this effort is to put all department heads through a "Lean Training for Leaders" Program. Department heads had their first training session just this week, and we identified opportunities where we may be able to pursue Lean initiatives throughout the organization. We will continue this training into next week, followed by a plan to implement a Lean training program for key personnel in other departments. As we progress with this Lean Training Program, I will be happy to provide Council with updates. USPS FACILITY CLOSURE UPDATE 6.: As the Council will recall, the city made a Freedom of Information Act request to the US Postal Service on November 2, 2010. You may also recall that we were informed by a USPS representative that we would receive this information on or about nd November 22, at which time a public input meeting was being held by the Postal Service. Despite this assurance from the USPS, we have yet to receive this information, even though the public comment period is scheduled to close on December 8, 2010. The latest information that Assistant City Attorney Praska received from the USPS is that they will likely mail this th information to us on December 6, and that the document should be available for us to review on December 9, 2010, the day after the public comment period closes. To say that I am disappointed in the USPS's response to this would be an understatement. I believe that it would be appropriate that the USPS extend the comment period for at least as long as it took them to respond to our request, i.e., an additional 30 days. If it took the USPS this long to locate the information, I feel that it is appropriate that we be given the same amount of time to absorb this information and be able to comment on it in any reasonable fashion. We continue to maintain contact with Representative Tom Petri's office so that they can keep us informed on anything they may discover at the federal level. I have no idea if the USPS will grant our request for an extension, however, I wanted Council to be aware that we are making this request given the delays that the USPS has taken in responding to our straightforward information request. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me. MAJOR DONATION TO MUSEUM 7.: As you may have read in the newspaper or heard from Museum Director Brad Larson, the city's Public Museum was the beneficiary of a major donation from the estate of Fred Durow. The estate donation is valued at approximately $2.9 million. The use of these funds is specifically identified in the bequest to the Museum from the Durow estate. While restricted, the donation represents a significant opportunity for the Museum to expand certain areas identified in the bequest. Please note that these funds may not be used for general operating costs. If you have any questions regarding this donation, I encourage you to contact Museum Director Larson. Weekly Newsletter December 3, 2010 Page 4 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 8.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include the latest report on the hotel/motel room tax for the city. I am also enclosing the latest issue of the FOCUS newsletter, published by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, which nd discusses the November 2 election. Insofar as minutes are concerned, I'm enclosing the th following: The minutes of the November 16 Plan Commission meeting; the minutes of the rdth November 3 Long Range Finance Committee meeting; the minutes of the November 10 th Landmarks Commission meeting; the minutes of the October 13 Board of Appeals meeting; the st minutes of the November 1 Sustainability Advisory Board meeting; the minutes of the November thth 4 Museum Board meeting; and the minutes of the October 19 Police & Fire Commission meeting. th UPCOMING MEETINGS 9.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of December 6 include the th following: On Tuesday, December 7, at 8:00 a.m., Transportation Director Strong and I will be meeting with Council Member Poeschl to discuss concerns about the possible loss in transit aid and what plans staff may be making in this regard. I would be happy to share this information with Council following this meeting. At 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, I will be at Oshkosh Corporation to attend a presentation on the roll-out of some new Oshkosh Defense Corporation vehicles. On Tuesday evening, I will be attending the Executive Session at which Council will conduct my annual review. On Wednesday, at 10:00 a.m., Community Development Director Davis and I will be attending a presentation of the Winnebago Homebuilders Association, at which an economist will discuss the benefits of residential construction on the local economy. My understanding is that several Council Members will attend this meeting. I will ask City Clerk Ubrig to notice this meeting in the event a quorum of Council Members is present, although no action will be taken at this meeting. On Wednesday, at 1:00 p.m., I will be meeting with site plan review staff to discuss city gateway improvements as part of the "Taking Root" program. Finally, on Wednesday, at 2:00 p.m., I will be meeting with Interim Health Director Mark Ziemer, Council Member Steve Herman, and Health Department Chair Stan Kline to discuss the status of potential consolidation of our Health Department with Winnebago County. If you have any questions regarding my attendance at any of these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me. MAR/jdc