Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: February 25, 2011 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: UPDATE ON AMERICAN TRANSMISSION CORPORATION (ATC) 1.: Since the discussion at Tuesday's Council Meeting regarding the relocation of ATC transmission lines near the River Mill Condominium development, Public Works and Legal staff have been researching the rules and regulations as they relate to the placement and/or relocation of transmission lines. We did confirm that the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) is the state agency that regulates ATC. For the Council's reference, I am enclosing an excerpt from the PSC regarding their role in regulating transmission lines. In fact, as the enclosure indicates, "The Commission makes all decisions on whether a transmission line will be built, how it is designed, and where it will be located, and has the authority to acquire additional environmental protections or mitigation measures". At the same time, however, ATC has information that confirms the PSC's authority, but indicates that the undergrounding of transmission lines is done on a limited basis. City Attorney Lorenson has checked with the PSC and the PSC representative has indicated that because of the scale of this project, it may not require PSC approval. The PSC representative will, however, contact ATC for clarification of the proposed project and the status of the project, and provide that information to the city. At this time, staff is also trying to contact the local representative for ATC to see if they will be willing to sit down with us and go over what the status of this project is at this time, and what they would be willing to do to work with the residents of River Mill in this regard. It is staff's belief that ATC is not required to go through this process. However, we will appeal to their better senses to do this in the interest of fostering good will with the property owners. Once we have assembled all of this information, I will provide the Council with an update as necessary. Until such time as this issue is resolved, I will place this on the Agenda on an ongoing basis so that Council has regular updates. In the meantime, if you have any questions about this issue, please do not hesitate to contact me. BUDGET REPAIR BILL UPDATE 2.: Under separate cover, I am providing Council with copies of the letters that were sent to all of our state legislators regarding Council's action Tuesday night on the Budget Repair Bill. I assume that the Council also wants a similar correspondence to go to Governor Walker, which I will provide as well. Although we did not discuss it at Tuesday's Council Meeting, staff did prepare an analysis of the budget repair bill and what it may mean to the City of Oshkosh should it be implemented in its form. It also indicates what options the city may have, as the Budget Repair Bill does not specifically mandate how we will achieve certain savings. This information has been placed on the city's website. Weekly Newsletter February 25, 2011 Page 2 Additionally, there are also other analyses of the Budget Repair Bill that have been circulated. Several of these items are also linked from the city's website. Specifically, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities (LWM) has also prepared a listing of "FAQ's" regarding the Budget Repair Bill. Fortunately, the conclusions reached by LWM are similar to the information we have in our own analysis. I encourage you to read this information as well. Council Member Palmeri also mentioned that there were eight points of collective bargaining reforms that the LWM Board is advocating. I am enclosing these proposed reforms for the Council's reference. As you can see, there are many reforms that we have discussed in the past that have never been acted upon by the Legislature. These reforms are certainly items that would improve the city's fiscal situation if they were adopted. Finally, both sides of the aisle continue to disagree over the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's own analysis concluding that transit aid is in jeopardy. Staff still believes that based upon our situation, our transit aid is at risk under our current operating situation. We are looking for options to work around this, including the "Memphis Plan" to privatize transit. This will require additional analysis. Meanwhile, we still await release of the Governor's 2011-13 biennial budget. When that happens, staff can begin to compare the expected state aid reductions and compare them with the estimated savings that are contained in staff's analysis. Please contact me if you have any questions after reviewing this information. CN UPDATE 3.: I would encourage Council to review the Plan Commission agenda packet for next st Tuesday, March 1. CN's plans to relocate its railroad bridge are on the Plan Commission agenda for consideration. The packet contains information detailing where the tracks will be relocated. Meanwhile, staff continues to work with CN Railroad on conditions of approval, specifically dealing with the relocation of utilities and safety features both within and outside of the project area. These are details and conditions that are normally beyond the scope of the Plan Commission's review. However, we recognize that the importance of these additional items will be significant considerations for the Council as you consider this request. We are working to th prepare a draft agreement that we can provide the Council in advance of the March 8 Workshop. Once we get a draft agreement that both sides have some reasonable agreement on, we will pass it along to the Council. TH 9 AVENUE BRIDGE CLOSES ON MONDAY 4.: Please find enclosed a letter from the th Wisconsin Department of Transportation regarding the demolition of the 9 Avenue bridge th beginning on Monday, February 28. As I mentioned to you in last week's Newsletter, the bridge will be closed to traffic between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. on three consecutive nights, likely beginning next Tuesday. If demolition cannot be completed in three nights, the fourth and final night of demolition will likely be the following Sunday or Monday night, weather pending. If you have any questions concerning this correspondence, or the impending demolition project, please contact Public Works Director David Patek. BOND REFINANCING VERY SUCCESSFUL 5.: I am pleased to report that the two borrowings the city executed earlier this week, as approved at the Council Meeting last Tuesday, were extremely favorable. As you know, the city executed the bond sales to refund (refinance) exsiting debt at lower interest rates. This was done solely for interest savings over the remaining life of the debt. The estimated savings, prior to the sales, was approximately $551,300 over the remaining life of the debt, which equates to approximately $46,000 per year. Weekly Newsletter February 25, 2011 Page 3 The actual results of the sales provide the city even more savings, netting approximately $770,000 in savings overall, which is approximately $64,000 per year. This is in addition to the $2,611,155 that the city realized in savings, over the next fouteen years, from the 2010 refinancings that were completed. Please contact Finance Director Steeno or me if you have any questions or would like additional information on these issues. SNOW REMOVAL UPDATE 6.: Street Superintendent Kevin Uhen has reported to me that our street crews finished hauling snow from Witzel, Ohio, South Main Street and Oregon Street last night. They are planning to haul Sunday night, but that will depend upon the predicted snow th storm this weekend. They were hoping to get South Park Avenue and 9 Avenue done last night th because of 9 getting shut down (mentioned earlier), and the fact that it's a garbage day on Monday/Tuesday. The street crews may have to head north first and come back to get them later in the week. This will also push back clearing out the cul-de-sacs. They are working on parking lots today with a limited crew, but will be pulling them off to get salters ready for Sunday night. As you can see, our operations are fluid and depend upon a variety of factors. If you have any questions regarding the snow removal process, please contact Street Superintendent Kevin Uhen. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 7.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's st Newsletter include the minutes of the February 1 Plan Commission meeting; the minutes of the thth February 8 Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting; the minutes of the February 9 Parking Utility Commission meeting; the meeting notice, agenda and background material for the March thth 8 Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting; and the minutes of the January 24 Housing Authority meeting. th UPCOMING MEETINGS 8.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of February 28 include the st following: On Tuesday, March 1, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending a Community Sounding Board meeting at UW-Oshkosh. On Wednesday, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending the FVTC Oshkosh Campus Advisory Committee meeting. For the remainder of the week, I will be attending the mid-winter conference of the Wisconsin City/County Management Association. As one might imagine, I fully expect that a great deal of discussion will center around the Budget Repair Bill, as well as what may be released next week regarding the 2011-13 biennial budget. The conference will also have sessions on dealing with citizens and the press; improving energy efficiency; recovery after natural disasters; urban gardens; performance measurement; and economic forecasting. As a result of my attendance at the conference, there will be no formal Newsletter next week. I will have Jackie forward Council information that you may find useful. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding my attendance at any of these meetings. MAR/jdc