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HomeMy WebLinkAboutweekly newsletter Date: November 18, 2011 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EXPEDITER POSITION CREATED 1.: In last week's Newsletter, I reported that Building Inspector John Zarate had been promoted to Chief Building Official to fill the place of Kevin Ciabatti, who left the city in September. With the vacancy created by Mr. Zarate's promotion, Community Development Director Davis and I discussed various needs and priorities for his department, as well as the development process in general. As a result of this vacancy, we are reorganizing some responsibilities in the Department of Community Development to create the position of Economic Development Expediter. I am not aware of any community that has a position specifically titled such as this, but I believe that given our current needs, a position like this is appropriate to address development issues, both internal and external to our organization. The development and building community commonly has a position such as an expediter to assist the builder or contractor with facilitating whatever approvals are necessary from both public and private entities. The main function of an expediter is to help a project be completed on time and under budget. The purpose of our expediter position will be to help our applicants achieve similar objectives, while also help improve internal coordination and make staff more efficient in the building approval process. The Economic Development Expediter will report directly to the Director of Community Development, thereby elevating the position to management level responsibilities. The Expediter will work internally with all departments responsible for the development process (including Planning, Zoning, Building Inspection, Engineering, Transportation, Fire, and Police) to make sure that any issues that an applicant is facing is being addressed across all departments. This person will lead the site plan review process, assisted by the Zoning Administrator, who currently administers the Site Plan Review Committee. The Expediter will identify conflicts between departments and have the authority to resolve them promptly. For applicants, the Expediter will be the applicant's main contact with the city, and can be used to resolve issues and facilitate the approval process. I've spoken with members of the development community in recent years, and the concensus has been that a position like this will be beneficial to both the development community and the city. We have begun recruiting for this position and should be able to fill it within the next six weeks. If you have any questions regarding this reorganization and new position, please contact Community Development Director Davis or me. Weekly Newsletter November 18, 2011 Page 2 ALTRUSA DONATES ADDITIONAL LUCAS HEART COMPRESSION DEVICE 2.: The Altrusa Club has informed the Oshkosh Fire Department that they have raised enough funds to purchase an additional Lucas Device. The good news came to us yesterday, th November 17. This will bring the number of Lucas Devices available to three, and Altrusa is continuing in their very successful fundraising programs for this effort. This donation will get us even closer to Chief Franz's initial goal of having a unit in each front line ambulance and the Duty Chief's vehicle. It is fantastic to see the community respond to this need through the fundraising leadership provide by Altrusa to make this life saving equipment available to our Fire Department in serving the public. If you have any questions concerning this donation or about the Lucas Device itself, please feel free to contact Fire Chief Tim Franz. CVS WORKING GROUP UPDATE 3.: This past Monday, Community Development Director Davis, Planning Director Burich and I met with the Working Group I assembled to review the major concerns that neighboring residents had regarding the proposed CVS Pharmacy development. At previous meetings, I asked the group to help staff identify potential land uses for the area, narrowing that list to those land uses deemed to be economically feasible at the site, identifying negative impacts from these proposed possible land uses, and ways to mitigate these negative impacts. With that work complete, the group specifically focused on the CVS development. The group presented staff with a list of positions they had taken regarding potential negative impacts, which they entitled a "Neighborhood Protection Plan". This document is enclosed for Council's review. The group identified eight general areas of concern, along with six specific recommendations regarding the CVS development. Staff went through each of the six recommendations that the group had, and we provided them with information and insight into the recommendations and suggested ways in which we might modify them in a final staff recommendation to Council. th By far, the most contentious issue dealt with access of the CVS development to West 7 Avenue. With this information in hand, staff shared this information with representatives of the CVS development. The CVS representatives are reviewing this information and based upon their response, we may seek additional comment from the group; however, I do not believe that any additional meetings of the group will be necessary. Once we have shared comments back and forth with the various parties, staff will be prepared to make a report to th Council at the December 13 Council Meeting. At this time, staff does not have any specific recommendations, as we want to see how discussions go and what additional feedback we may be able to get from the neighbors. If you have any questions regarding any of this information I have shared with you, please do not hesitate to contact Community Development Director Davis, Planning Director Burch or me. CUP/JERICHO ROAD MINISTRIES & SOLUTIONS RECOVERY CENTER 4.: Council will recall that at the previous Council Meeting, Council directed staff to work with representatives for Solutions Recovery Center and Jericho Road Ministries, the potential purchaser of the 825 East Parkway Avenue site from Solutions Recovery Center. There were several questions raised by the audience and Council Members regarding the future use of the site, particularly the continued use of the site by Solutions Recovery Center after the proposed purchase of this site by Jericho Road Ministries for church. I am enclosing an e-mail that Planning Director Darryn Burich provided to me regarding a meeting that was held on th Thursday, November 17, between the neighbors and representatives of Solutions Recovery Center and Jericho Road Ministries. City staff was also in attendance. Weekly Newsletter November 18, 2011 Page 3 As the e-mail indicates, there are several items that have yet to be resolved, particularly a proposed school for the arts. Staff was unaware of this additional proposed use. As a result of this new information, as well as a request by representatives for Jericho Road Ministries to postpone action on this item, I will be asking Council to refer this item back to staff for additional review and discussion with affected parties. I agree with Council Members' observations that there is still a great deal of information that is unknown about this project and needs additional review before the Council can take action. It is on Tuesday's Agenda th only because that was the official direction from Council at the November 8 meeting. If necessary, staff will be available to brief Council on the most up-to-date information that we have regarding this proposed use. However, given the information that continues to unfold, we feel it is appropriate that no action on this CUP be taken at this time. If you have any questions, please contact Planning Director Burich or Community Development Director Davis. USE OF GENERAL FUND RESERVES HURTS WISCONSIN CITY 5.: As a follow-up to the discussion at Wednesday's Budget Workshop, I wanted to provide you with an article from "The Bond Buyer" financial newsletter. The article indicates that Moody's Investor Service downgraded the City of Manitowoc's general obligation debt by two rating levels. Manitowoc's debt has been reduced from an Aa2 rating (the City of Oshkosh's current rate) down to an A1 debt rating. As the article indicates, the reason for this rating reduction is that the City of Manitowoc has inappropriately used the city's reserves to fund its general fund obligations, thereby creating a structural imbalance in the city's budget. As was mentioned on Wednesday, the 16% general fund reserve that the Council established at the recommendation of the Long Range Finance Committee is merely a minimum reserve amount. For us to be considered for any type of future bond rating upgrade, we would likely need our reserves to be in the neighborhood of 25%, which was the upper end recommended by the Long Range Finance Committee. As you can see, the fact that Manitowoc went in the opposite direction by using their reserves had significant implications for their general obligation debt. As a result of this action, the City of Manitowoc will be paying much higher interest rates for general obligation debt both now and in the future. If you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact Finance Director Peggy Steeno. CITY AWAITING FINAL PROPERTY VALUES BEFORE BUDGET ADOPTION 6.: I wanted to draw the Council's attention that in Tuesday's Agenda packet, the final 2011 tax rate that will be used for the 2012 budget has a figure that remains tentative at this time. Because of many of the changes that have been taking place at the state level, including staff turnover, the State Department of Revenue has not provided us with final property tax values for assessment purposes. We have been assured that we will get this information prior to the passage of our resolutions at Tuesday's Council Meeting. Although we have received some preliminary manufacturing numbers that should enable us to back into the final number, these are not official numbers, so we are hesitant to say with absolute certainty that we have the final assessed figures. Given the fact that the State of Wisconsin requires cities to have the final rate established so that we can begin preparing tax bills, I am confident that the state's motivation to get this information to us by Tuesday is high. Weekly Newsletter November 18, 2011 Page 4 Once we have this information (including state credits, etc.), and following Council's adoption of the 2012 budget and 2011 tax rate, we can establish the final combined property tax rate for all taxing jurisdictions (city, county, schools, FVTC). If you have any questions regarding the setting of the tax rate, please contact Finance Director Peggy Steno. STORM SEWER OUTFALL AT VACATED BLACKHAWK STREET 7.: During the rains on November 8 and 9, 2011, the Street Division was made aware of street flooding on Pearl Avenue at vacated Blackhawk Street (just west of the new Student Wellness Center on the UW-O campus). The Street Division responded by placing a pump in the manhole next to the WIOUWASH Recreation Trail and pumping the water from the storm sewer directly into the Fox River. After the immediate threat of flooding had passed, the Street Division, assisted by the Engineering Division, investigated why the runoff was not flowing through the storm sewer into the Fox River. It was determined that the existing Corrugated Metal Pipe (CMP) had failed and become plugged between the recreation trail and the Fox River. The CMP is commonly used for storm sewer culverts, but is not used as much for actual storm sewer pipe anymore, particularly in high volume areas. The Engineering Division developed a plan to replace the failed storm sewer outfall, and contacted multiple contractors to obtain proposals to implement the plan. After review of the proposals, the work has been awarded to PTS Contractors of Green Bay, and will be added to their existing contract with the City of Oshkosh as a change order at a future City Council Meeting. We are replacing the CMP with a larger concrete pipe, whose size we had already calculated through previous storm water modeling for this area. The Engineering Division is working with PTS Contractors and material suppliers to obtain the materials and perform the work as quickly as is reasonably possible. In the interim, the manhole adjacent to the recreational trail will be lowered to river level, and a ditch will be constructed to convey runoff from rain safely to the Fox River until the outfall is reconstructed. Please contact Storm Water Engineer James Rabe if you have any questions. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 8.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include the latest FOCUS newsletter, from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, which discusses property taxes for this year. I am also enclosing the minutes of the November th 8 Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting. The last item I'm enclosing is Museum Director Brad Larson's weekly letter to the Museum Board, which discusses the Museum's activities over the last week. UPCOMING MEETINGS/NO NEWSLETTER NEXT WEEK 9.: Meetings I have st scheduled for the week of November 21 include the following: On Monday, at 1:00 p.m., I will be meeting with OAEDC Director Rob Kleman regarding an upcoming economic development conference we will be attending. On Tuesday, at 7:30 a.m., I will be meeting with Mayor Tower to review the Agenda for the Council Meeting later on that evening. On Wednesday, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending the monthly OAEDC Board meeting. Both Jackie th and I are planning to take a vacation day on Friday, November 25, following the Thanksgiving holiday. As a result of our planned absences, and the short work week, I do not plan on doing a Newsletter next week. If there are any items I want to bring to the Council's attention, I will provide it to you under separate cover. If you have any questions regarding my schedule for next week, please do not hesitate to contact me. MAR/jdc