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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMintuesPROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL CITY OF OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN OIHKOIH ON THE WATER REGULAR MEETING held Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall. Mayor Esslinger presided. PRESENT: Council Members Burk Tower, Tony Palmeri, Steve Cummings, Jessica King, Steven Herman, Bob Poeschl and Mayor Paul Esslinger ALSO PRESENT: Mark Rohloff, City Manager; Pamela Ubrig, City Clerk; Lynn Lorenson, City Attorney; and Dave Patek, Director of Public Works Council Member Tower read the Invocation. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Logan Fassbinder and Connor Schroeder from Oshkosh West High School. CITIZEN STATEMENTS Dave Nesseler, 135 Church Street, wanted to know what accommodations would be made for business owners regarding garbage pickup, deliveries, and handicapped access during the reconstruction of Church Avenue. Mr. Patek explained Mr. Nesseler should contact Steve Gohde regarding special needs so the City could work with the contractor for the accommodations. Typically, the road would be closed to through traffic, allowing access to local traffic only. CONSENT AGENDA Approval of Bills presented by the Finance Director. Approval of Cash Report from December, 2010. Receipt and filing of Museum Board Minutes from December 2, 2010. Receipt and filing of Common Council Minutes from January 11, 2011. Receipt of claim filed with the City's Insurance Company / Terri Hacker, for alleged injuries as a result of stepping off an embankment while Grand Street was under construction. Receipt of claim filed with the City's Insurance Company / Garry Decker, for alleged damages as a result of water in basement. 1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL — JANUARY 25, 2011 Resolution 11 -16 Approve Amendment to Previously Approved Planned Development at the UW- Oshkosh Campus for Various Identification Signs / 635 Elmwood Avenue (Plan Commission Recommends Approval) Resolution 11 -17 Approval Agreement with Chamco Inc. for Development of Industrial Park Land Resolution 11 -18 Approve Agreement with Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corporation for Development of Business Park Land Resolution 11 -19 Approve Agreement for Safe Routes to School Grant Mayor Esslinger questioned if the part time job created for the resolution would be eliminated once the grant was exhausted. Transportation Director Chris Strong indicated the position would be eliminated once the grant was exhausted. Resolution 11 -20 Award Bid to Davies Water ($50,018.50) and HD Supply Waterworks for Water Utility materials ($25,356.50) Resolution 11 -21 Award Bid to Honda Motorwerks for 2011 Honda Civic Hybrid for Transportation Department ($21,740.00) Resolution 11 -22 Approval of Change Order No. 1 for Public Works Contract No. 09 -19 with Faith Technologies for Wastewater Treatment Plant Pumping and Meter Stations SCADA Upgrades ( +$45,179.80) Resolution 11 -23 Approval of changer Order No. 1 for Public Works Contract No. 10 -15 with J.F. Ahern Company for Wastewater Treatment Plant and Various Pump Station Improvement Projects — Extends Completion Date ( +$0) Resolution 11 -24 Approval of Change Order NoO. 1 for Public Works Contract No. 10 -25 with Vinton Construction Co., for Concrete Paving /Street Patching /Sidewalk/Utilities (- $73,223.90) Resolution 11 -25 Approval of Initial Resolution for Special Assessments / Paving, Sidewalk, Driveway and Utilities / First Local Street Concrete Paving Program — Central City Area Council Member Palmeri requested Mr. Rohloff to update the Council in a future newsletter regarding strategies to minimize the impact on businesses when their streets close for reconstruction. 01 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL — JANUARY 25, 2011 Resolution 11 -26 Approval of Initial resolution for Special Assessments / Sanitary Sewer, Water Main and Laterals, Grading, Graveling and Asphalt Paving (Koeller Street and Plainview Drive) Resolution 11 -27 Approve of Initial Resolution for Special Assessments / Sidewalk, Driveway and Laterals (9 Avenue) Resolution 11 -28 Approval of Special Class "B" Licenses Resolution 11 -29 Approval of Special Event — North American Ice Fishing Circuit Utilize Menominee Park for their fishing tournament / January 29 & 30, 2011 Resolution 11 -30 Approval of Special Event — Otter Street Fishing Club / Utilize Menominee Park for the Otter Street Fisheree / February 4 & 5, 2011 Resolution 11 -31 Approval of Special Event — Special Olympics / Utilize Menominee Park for the Polar Plunge / February 18 & 19, 2011 Resolution 11 -32 Approval of Special Event — UW- Oshkosh Student Recreation / Utilize City Streets for their Shamrock Shuffle 5K Run -Walk / March 12, 2011 MOTION: ADOPT CONSENT AGENDA EXCLUDING RESOLUTION 11 -17 AND RESOLUTION 11 -18 (Herman, second; Cummings) CARRIED: Ayes (7) Tower, Palmeri, Cummings, King, Herman, Poeschl, Mayor Esslinger Resolution 11 -17 Approval Agreement with Chamco Inc. for Development of Industrial Park Land MOTION: ADOPT (Herman, second; Poeschl) CARRIED: Ayes (7) Tower, Palmeri, Cummings, King, Herman, Poeschl, Mayor Esslinger Council Member Tower wanted to know how much money would be added to the tax base from the industrial sector in the next couple of years. Elizabeth Hartman of Chamco, Inc. stated Oshkosh's industrial parks have been very successful. With regard to the industrial tax base outside of the industrial parks, the City had very few large vacant buildings; most were filled and contributed to the tax base. Additionally, the unemployment rate for the City of Oshkosh was better than the State average and based on indicators she foresaw growth in the industrial sector for Oshkosh. Council Member Palmeri inquired if the payment from the City of $37,500 and the 16% commission on land sales were part of the previous agreement. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL — JANUARY 25, 2011 Ms. Hartman stated the previous agreement did not address the $37,500 contribution from the City. Since their partnership began, the City provided two sources of support to Chamco. One was the general purpose revenue contribution and the other was commission on industrial park land sales. There was never a specific formalization of the general purpose revenue allocation and City thought it was appropriate to do so. Since 2005 the City's general purpose revenue contribution had been $37,500. As to how long Chamco had received 16% commission on industrial park land sales, she could not be specific although it had been 16% for the past two agreements (six years). Council Member Palmeri questioned if there would be a merger between Chamco and the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corporation ( OAEDC). Dave Omachinski, Chairman of the Board at Chamco, stated that the OAEDC and Chamco had been communicating for the past twelve months regarding merging the two entities; however a conclusion had not been reached. Although he thought ideally the two should be combined there was more discussion to be had concerning how the govern ants would be structured and whether the new entity would be affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce. Chamco, as it existed represented the community as a whole. The Chamber of Commerce represented its business members which could create conflict. Council Member Palmeri stated he would like to see an external audit done regarding the City's relationship with both Chamco and the OAEDC to find out if the City in fact had a competitive advantage due to their relationships with the two entities. Council Member Herman questioned why the industrial park land in the City of Oshkosh was priced lower than land in industrial parks in surrounding cities such as Neenah. Ms. Hartman replied historically the City of Oshkosh had always put forward lower prices for industrial park land. The practice was done purposely to provide a competitive advantage for the City to attract businesses to build in Oshkosh. Mayor Esslinger questioned if 16% was a reasonable commission rate for selling industrial park land. Ms. Hartman stated that was a difficult question to answer since what was fair or reasonable as far as commission was something not discussed or known in the real estate community. There were laws preventing brokers from discussing with each other what fair commissions would be. She explained that the 16% commission received from the City compensated Chamco for a wide variety of services they provided far beyond the services of a typical broker. 2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL — JANUARY 25, 2011 Resolution 11 -18 Approve Agreement with Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corporation for Development of Business Park Land MOTION: ADOPT (Herman, second; Cummings) CARRIED: Ayes (7) Tower, Palmeri, Cummings, King, Herman, Poeschl, Mayor Esslinger Council Member Tower wanted to know how much money would be added to the tax base from the commercial business sector in the next couple of years. Rob Kiernan, Executive Director of the OAEDC, explained typically his organization was not involved with TIFs, most of the City's commercial business development went directly to the tax base. However, the Universal Business Park was part of a TIF that would return $250,000,000 to the tax base when it ended in 2016. ACTION TAKEN ON ORDINANCES AND RESOLUT IONS Ordinance 11 -33 Approval of Traffic Regulations related to Traffic Signals on Highway 26 and Parking Regulations on Commerce Street FIRST READING; LAIDOVER UNDER THE RULES Resolution 11 -34 Award Bid to Bruce Municipal Equipment Inc., for Multi- Purpose Compact Tractor for Street Division ($117,980.00) MOTION: ADOPT (Cummings, second; Tower) CARRIED: Ayes (5) Tower, Cummings, King, Herman, Poeschl Noes (2) Palmeri, Mayor Esslinger Mayor Esslinger questioned if the tractor would be too big to use for snow removal on Main Street. Mr. Patek stated the new tractor would be used in addition to the current tractor being used for snow removal on Main Street. The new tractor would be used for heavy snow removal. Mayor Esslinger wanted to know if city staff that would be operating the new equipment was asked for their opinions prior to the purchase of new equipment. Mr. Patek stated the staff that would be operating new equipment definitely had input on the purchase. Council Member Palmeri questioned if the City had purchased equipment from Bruce Municipal Equipment in the past. Mr. Patek stated yes the City had purchased equipment from Bruce Municipal Equipment in the past and they were happy with their service. 5 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL — JANUARY 25, 2011 Council Member Palmeri did not support the resolution as there was a less expensive tractor available from a different vendor. The only difference in the two models was that the proposed tractor had an instant kill switch that stopped the motor when the operator left the seat. The less expensive tractor did not stop the motor when the operator left the seat, however the motor went to idle mode. He believed both measures were equal in safety. Council Member King felt the Council should support the resolution if the city staff that would be operating the new equipment supported the purchase. Council Member Tower felt if city staff recommended for safety reasons that the tractor had a kill switch rather than a motor that idled, the council should respect that recommendation. Mayor Esslinger did not support the resolution stating he felt the safety mechanisms were essentially the same in both tractors. In the future he would like to see bids put out with specs that were more up to date with technology. Resolution 11 -35 Approval of Waiver of Fees for Extraordinary Services for Special Event / Special Olympics / Polar Plunge / February 18 & 19, 2011 ($1,395.00) MOTION: ADOPT (Cummings, second; Herman) LOST: Noes (7) Tower, Palmeri, Cummings, King, Herman, Poeschl, Mayor Esslinger Council Member Palmeri believed due to the financial challenges the City faced, it should seek to recover the cost of services it provided for special events. Council Member Tower asked for clarification if the City would be providing any services for special events or were all services considered extraordinary services. Mr. Rohloff stated that while all special events were for worthy causes, unless there was an obvious hardship, organizations planning special events should pay for the cost of City services. Ms. Lorenson reminded the Council to consider when asked to waive fees was the organization requesting the waiver of fees generating revenue or not. Council Member King stated that while the Council supported the cause of organizations holding special events they must also be fiduciary stewards of the community. Council Member Herman interpreted extraordinary costs as being when a city employee was asked to work overtime to complete a task for a special event, for example placing barricades on a weekend. Ms. Lorenson explained the definition of extraordinary costs was broader than what Mr. Herman suggested. Extraordinary costs were considered any service that was specific or of benefit to a particular event. G PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL — JANUARY 25, 2011 Mr. Patek added that if during regular business hours a city employee was doing work for a special event it took away from his /her regular work duties which could be interpreted that the special event was more important than maintaining the City. Mayor Esslinger questioned if the City provided barricades and cones to be placed on City streets or if those items were used for other activities as well. Mr. Patek stated the City provided barricades for parades and block parties. For other events there would be a charge for barricades and cones for traffic control on the streets. Ms. Lorenson added that the Special Olympics Polar Plunge wanted barricades on the ice and in the park but were looking at using tape or fencing to minimize the cost of barricades. She explained special event planners could go to outside sources for barricades and cones. Resolution 11 -36 Approval of Waiver of Fees for Extraordinary Services for Special Event / UW- Oshkosh Student Recreation / Shamrock Shuffle 5KRun -Walk March 12, 2011 ($210.00) MOTION: ADOPT (Palmeri, second; Cummings) LOST: Noes (7) Tower, Palmeri, Cummings, King, Herman, Poeschl, Mayor Esslinger COUNCIL DISCUSSION, DIRECTION TO CITY MANAGER & FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS On February 8, 2011, a joint workshop would be held with the Plan Commission and the Common Council to review the UWO Comprehensive Plan. On February 22, 2011, there would be a workshop on Standard Road Widths. Council Member Palmeri would like to have a future discussion regarding the Canadian National Railroad proposal to relocate the pre -1900 railroad swing bridge. Mayor Esslinger was approached by a citizen asking if amusement machines could be placed in the clubhouse at Lakeshore Golf Course. In his research he found that gambling machines were illegal however, dart boards and video games without payouts were acceptable. COUNCIL MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS & STATEMENTS Mayor Esslinger asked why all of the City's draw bridges were being fitted with traffic signals. Mr. Patek stated the position of the DOT was to have all bridges uniform so as not to confuse motorists. 7 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL — JANUARY 25, 2011 Mayor Esslinger was concerned that the traffic signals on the corner of South Main Street and Sixth Avenue were too close to the traffic signals at the beginning of the Main Street Bridge. He stated he was worried that citizens might mistake the green signal on the bridge for the actual traffic signal at the intersection. Mr. Patek stated he would bring the concern of Mayor Esslinger to the attention of the DOT. Council Member Poeschl asked if the Common Council Agenda could be posted on the City's website under "City News and Updates ". He felt it would be more assessable. CITIZEN STATEMENTS Patricia Diener, 1316 Broad Street, complimented those involved with the Special Olympics Polar Plunge, and thanked Mr. Patek for acknowledging her complaint regarding the plowing of her street. Kevin Karow, 681 W 5 th Avenue, wanted to know why the lights at the skateboard park were on during winter months when there was snow, it was cold, and no one was using the park. Mr. Rohloff stated he would investigate Mr. Karow's concern and would get back to him. Mr. Karow wanted to know if trucks being road tested for Oshkosh Corporation needed to have dealer plates on them. Mayor Esslinger stated he would get an answer for Mr. Karow. Mr. Karow also wanted to know if the fenced in area on Harrison Street used by Oshkosh Corporation was to be used only to store semi trailers. There were more items than just semi trailers being stored there. Mr. Rohloff stated he thought they could use it that way since they were in a manufacturing zone. Steve Barney, 1335 Summit Avenue, encouraged the Council to review the video archive of the September 11, 2007 Council Meeting in which the Council passed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. He also reported that the City of Madison reached its goal to reduce its emissions by 100,000 tons of Co2 by 2011. CITY MANAGER ANNOUNCEMENTS & STATEMENTS Mr. Rohloff stated the City awarded a contract to BayCom for the purchase of nine Toughbook Laptops. EV PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL — JANUARY 25, 2011 Fire Chief Franz and EMS Battalion Chief Austad gave details about a recent CPR Study which highlighted the Oshkosh Fire Department. They were chosen to be part of a prestigious medical study to test two new devices dealing with patients in cardiac arrest. MOTION: ADJOURN (Tower, second; Cummings) CARRIED: VOICE VOTE The meeting Adjourned at 8:03 p.m. PAMELA R. UBRIG CITY CLERK E