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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: August 19, 2011 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: CITY & NEKIMI HOLD HEARING ON COOPERATIVE PLAN 1.: This week, the Town of Nekimi and the City of Oshkosh held a joint public hearing regarding their Cooperative Plan. Deputy Mayor Herman and Council Members Allison-Aasby, Cummings and Pech were in attendance at the hearing. The hearing is mandated by state statutes for cities and towns that are entering into cooperative agreements. S everal years ago, in anticipation of a cooperative border agreement, the city and town entered into an intergovernmental agreement that by state law is only binding for 10 years. The cooperative agreement extends these agreements for another 30 years, for a total of a 40 year agreement. The main feature of the cooperative agreement is border protection for the town, and for the city it offers some some certainty of where the city's growth area will be during this period. Planning Director Darryn Burich r epresented the city and identified the growth areas and the logic behind them. Based upon the comments at the meeting, there were no issues with the agreement as proposed. There were questions about what the current and future zoning of these areas mig ht be, but that issue did not yield very many comments. The most common issue that came up was opposition to the proposed west side arterial. Council Members may recall that the city had been working with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Wi nnebago County to possibly extend a west side arterial from Highway #21 down to Highway #26. As a result of our discussions with the Town of Nekimi, we did not extend the west side arterial in our plan past Highway #44. This revised extension is consistent with plans that are contained in regional transportation plans for the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. Once I became aware of that part of East Central's plan, I did not see a need to plan south of Highway #44 that would be 40 to 5 0 years down the road at best. The Town of Nekimi had been opposed to any extension into the Town of Nekimi at all, meaning that the west side arterial would only extend down to Highway #91. We insisted that the extension should reflect our long range p lanning for the Southwest Industrial Park. As a result, we reached a compromise on that issue. Now that we have met the statutorially required hearing, city staff and the town will continue to proceed toward finalizing this cooperative agreement and get its ultimate approval by both entities. Meanwhile, plans are in place for a similar type of public hearing with the Town of Black Wolf on rd October 3. If you have any questions on either the Nekimi or Black Wolf cooperative plans, please contact Planning Director Darryn Burich. Weekly Newsletter August 19, 2011 Page 2 SHORELINE RESTORATION PROJECT BACKGROUND/AMES POINT 2.: In 2008, the city contracted with Onterra, Ltd. to conduct an aquatic plant study and develop a management plan for Millers Bay. As part of the plan, Onterra suggested that the city consider a shoreline restoration project to provide additional environmental benefit to the waters of Millers Bay. The final document, Millers Bay Aquatic Plant Management Plan, was approved by the Cit y Council in August of 2010. In late 2009 and early 2010, the City of Oshkosh Sustainability Advisory Board and subcommittee, Water Workshop Group, approached the Parks Department in regard to developing a pilot project at Ames Point, along the north en d of Menominee Park, to create a 420 foot vegetative border between the water's edge and the walking path. The Sustainability Advisory Board worked with Landscape Operations Manager Bill Sturm to develop a project outline, and had several meetings pertaining to the project objectives and action plan. The city's Vision Plan also recommends native vegetative buffers be considered along waterways within the community and also references the Oshkosh Comprehensive Plan that states that the city should work wit h local units of government and agenices to protect local, natural and environmentally s ensitive resources such as our water and shoreland (Natural Resource Vision in Comprehensive Plan, Page 172). In early summer 2011, members of the SAB met with Park s staff to move forward on the action plan for the pilot project. Parks Department staff met with Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation technicians to work on project design and implementation options, and the city has been promised both financial and technical support through the county program. The project boundaries were established and preliminary plant and materials cost estimates were prepared for the pilot project. The Parks Department made some initial inquiries from potential donors and researched grant possibilities to support the project costs. Several donors have come forward to fund the pilot project, and requests have been made to assist funding the project through WI DNR grants. Marshland Aquatic Plant Nursery has estimated the project cost for materials at $6,760, with no consulting charges for design work or on-site volunteer management. The SAB is in the process of organizing individuals to assist in the installation of the seed, live plants and erosion control materials for an October 1, 2011, planting event. Winnebago Audubon and Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation Department have committed to assist in developing public educational materials for the project and additional grant funding opportunities. Fox Valley Chapter of Wild Ones, Oshkosh Southwest Rotary, and WI DNR have also assisted in project development. If you have any questions concerning this matter, please contact Landscape Operations Manager Bill Sturm. TRY TRANSIT 3.: The Oshkosh Transit System is pr oviding free bus rides all day on Saturday, August 27, 2011. The event, called "Try Transit", will feature volunteeers available on the buses and at the Transit Center in downtown Oshkosh to help new riders. All bus routes, including service to Neenah, are free. Upon boarding the bus, each rider will receive an incentive card with discounts and offers to local businesses. Riders will also have the chance to win prizes. "Try Transit" is a great time to visit local attractions, shop, or just simply take the bus for a ride. I am enclosing the flyer that advertises this event. If you have any questions about this free program, please contact Transportation Director Chris Strong. Weekly Newsletter August 19, 2011 Page 3 DEADLINE FOR CITIZENS ACADEMY EXTENDED 4.: As the Council is aware, one of the priority goals of our Strategic Plan is to improve the public's knowledge and understanding of city operations. One of the strategies to address this issue was to bring back a Citizens Academy that had been in place several years ago. The purpose of the Citizens Academy is to give citizens the opportunity to meet with city staff and learn various aspects of city departments. The new th program, as proposed, is intended to last 13 weeks, from September 12 into December, for two hours each Monday. Each week would be devoted to a single department. The initial deadline for th the Citizens Academy was today, August 19. When the Citizens Academy was last held, we had 15 to 20 participants per class. However, so far, only two applications have been received and a few more people have expressed an interest. In order to make this initiative worthwhile for both staff and participants, I believe there needs to be a minimum of 12 participants. Therefore, we th have extended the deadline for applications to August 26. If we do not meet the minimum number of students I feel is necessary for this class, we will postpone the class until next spring. I suspect that some of the reasons that we may not have a great deal of interest in this program at this time is 1) The 13 week program versus the 8 week program for the Police Citizens Academy; 2) This is a new program that people are not familiar with as of yet; and 3) We are recruiting for this program in the middle of summer with many activities to divert people's attention away. I still believe that a Citizens Academy is a valuable program, however, we want this to be a positive experience for everyone. If you know of anyone who may be interested in the program, please encourage them to pick up an application at my office or on our website and return it by next th Friday, August 26. PROJECT STATUS REPORT 5.: On Tuesday's Agenda, I have the current status of the outstanding issues report that Council had requested of me. Under separate cover in today's packet, I am providing Council with a draft of that report. I have been working with our IT staff on developing a format for this report to Council that will enable me to track other projects, as well as keep Council briefed on progress of many outstanding items, including items in our Strategic Plan. The report itself is very simple in nature, with an identification of the project; the original deadline for this project; an updated deadline; a date that identifies the most recent update on this activity; and any notes that contain an up date on this project in general. I welcome feedback on this draft report to make this a useful tool for Council. LEAGUE OF WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES ANNUAL CONFERENCE 6.: Please find enclosed a registration form for the League of Wisconsin Municipalities annual conference in th st Milwaukee, which takes place from October 19 through October 21. I encourage any and all Council Members to attend this conference. Council Member Allison-Aasby spoke with an acquaintance who is a local official in another community, and he highly recommended the conference for Council Members. If you are interested, please fill out this form and return it to Jackie. She will take care of all of the arrangements. As you can see, the early bird registration th deadline is September 20, so please get this form to Jackie before that date. SIXTH ANNUAL COMMUNITY BREAKFAST 7.: I am also enclosing an invitation to a Community Breakfast, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, which is scheduled for September 23, 2011, at 7:30 a.m. All Council Members are invited to learn about recent advancements and future initiatives at the University. A tour of their new their academic building, Sage Hall, is also on the agenda. If you are interested in attending this event, please contact Jackie so that she can reserve a table if we have enough people interested. The RSVP for this event is th due September 16, so please contact Jackie before that date. Weekly Newsletter August 19, 2011 Page 4 CONTINUED PROGRESS ON STREETS AROUND UWO 8.: This week, Chancellor Wells and I had an opportunity to discuss the status of street projects in and around the University area in anticipation of the University opening for the fall semes ter, and the impact of street projects on traffic through the University area. The repaving of High Avenue is proceeding on schedule. We plan for High Avenue, from Wisconsin to Woodland, to be completed prior to Labor Day weekend. The area of High Avenue, from Woodland back to Congress Avenue, is expected to be rd open prior to the grand opening event for the new Sage Hall on September 23. Meanwhile, the installation of the new hybrid traffic signal in front of Sage Hall remains on schedule for th completion prior to the first day of school on September 6. On Elmwood Avenue, this project slightly fell behind because of the discovery of some previously undetected fiber optic cable on Osceola Street. This was University cable that was much larger than originally reported by the University. In the past, the University did not necessarily inform us about installation of utilities as the state has made interpretations in the past that they are not subject to local review of these types of installations. Ho wever, UW-O recognizes the value of cooperating with us on these issues, and has made efforts in recent years to improve this communication. As a result of this discovery, a stretch of storm sewer on Osceola, from High Avenue to Pearl, will be installed in spring, 2012, after the fiber optic is relocated. This held up the project progress for a few weeks. When school opens, there still will be closures on Elmwood Avenue, but we expect this to be minimized within the first few weeks after school reopens. We are working closely with the University housing office to make sure that move-in weekend goes as smoothly as possible. The only remaining issue at this time is the status of Rockwell Avenue. You will notice that Tuesday's Agenda contains an initial resolution to begin the process to pave and special assess Rockwell Avenue. Chancellor Wells and I discussed this issue, and with the continuing uncertainty of the University's growth in that area, particularly near the AxleTech property, I did not feel it made sense to do a paving project in this area that would exceed the minimum five years that a cold mix paving would do. Our goal will be to have this paving done prior to the Sage Hall rd opening on September 23. The first few weeks of the fall semester will have some conflicts out there, but the city and University are working closely to keep these problems to a minimum. If you have any questions regarding the progress of street projects in this area, please do not hesitate to contact Public Works Director David Patek. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 9.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include the latest report on the city's hotel/motel room tax. I am also enclosing a memorandum from Transportation Director Chris Strong to the Trans it Advisory Board, which updates the Board on some items of interest. I am also enclosing a press release from the Oshkosh Public Library, which updates the public on the Library's carpet installation and other projects that address necessary maintenance as well as enhance the library's environment. I'm also enclosing two FOCUS newsletters, published by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, which disc uss aspects of the state budget. The last item I'm enclosing is a draft of the Sustainability Plan. Weekly Newsletter August 19, 2011 Page 5 nd UPCOMING MEETINGS 10.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of August 22 include the rd following: At 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 23, Mayor Tower and I will be meeting to go over the Council Agenda for later that evening. At 12:00 noon on Tuesday, I am meeting with UW-O Athletics Director Darryl Simms to discuss traffic issues in and around the University's athletic th facilities. On Wednesday, August 24, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending a meeting of the Oshkosh Civility Project. At 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, I will be meeting with Mr. Harold Eichstadt regarding some issues of disputed right-of-way between Mr. Eichstadt and the city. At 4:15 p.m., I will be meeting with Council Member Jef Hall to discuss miscellaneo us issues. On Thursday, th August 25, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending a Chamco Executive Committee meeting. At 1:00 p.m. that same day, I will be attending a meeting with the City of Neenah and Winnebago County to go over the next phase of the Health De partment Study with Baker Tilly. If you have any questions regarding my attendance at any of these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me. MAR/jdc Enclosures