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Home My WebLink Aboutweekly newsletter Date: December 2, 2011 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: STAFF & WPS DISCUSS UNDERGROUNDING OPTIONS 1.: This week, staff from the city and Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) met to discuss preliminary plans for the th reconstruction of 9 Avenue in 2015. The purpose of meeting at this time is to identify what options may be available for possible undergrounding of utilities associated with this project. th Because of the combination of a) narrow width on 9 Avenue right-of-way; and b) the major th electrical utilities on 9 Avenue, we need to identify all potential conflicts that may occur in a potential undergrounding project. After discussion, we agreed that we need to consider as many as three different options for possible undergrounding of utilities. These options would run the range from completely undergrounding all utilities to a limited amount of undergrounding. Staff will be conducting some preliminary work over the next few weeks to identify possible options. It would be my hope that we could hold a Council Workshop sometime in the first quarter of 2012 at which we can discuss these options. Based upon these options, staff would begin preliminary survey work to identify potential costs for the scope of work. Although staff does not have any specific recommendations at this time, we recognize that it will be important to identify the scope of this work so that we may plan the 2015 construction project, as well as identify how we want to address undergrounding projects for similar major corridors. This exercise will enable us to identify what, if any, assistance we may be able to get from various community groups, i.e., Community Foundation, etc. If you have any questions regarding this planned project, please do not hesitate to contact me. CITIES RECEIVE TAX CREDIT INFORMATION ON TAX BILLS…FINALLY! 2.: nd Council may recall that at the November 22 meeting at which the budget was approved, Finance Director Steeno reported that the information regarding upcoming tax bills remained incomplete, as the state was continuing to work on calculations for all of the appropriate state tax credits. Ms. Steeno reported that we finally received this information late Thursday afternoon. Ms. Steeno is reviewing this information for correctness, which should take a day or two. As a result, she will not be able to provide the complete tax bill information to our Information Technology Division until early next week. This means that our tax bills will still not be ready until late next week at the earliest. I know that Council Members sometimes receive calls from property owners, asking when the tax bills will be prepared. If you can request the taxpayers' indulgence so that we get the bills prepared correctly, staff would certainly appreciate it. If you have any questions regarding the preparation of the tax bills, please contact Finance Director Steeno. Weekly Newsletter December 2, 2011 Page 2 CENTRAL GARAGE UPDATE 3.: This week, Public Works staff and I met with representatives from Kueny Architects, the firm that is assisting us in preparing facility projections for a new Public Works Central Garage. I know that there were several questions raised at the Plan Commission meeting at which the Capital Improvements Program was discussed, specifically the concern that the location of the central garage has been predetermined on the existing Witzel site. Staff and Kueny Architects are currently going through a process by which we will analyze both the Witzel site and a north side site as two options for possible location of a central garage. We are including a variety of criteria to analyze these two very different sites. I expect that Kueny will have this analysis completed toward the end of the year, after which we will present this information to the Plan Commission, as is required for public building projects. At that time, I would encourage Council Members to attend the Plan Commission meeting so that you can see this information first hand as well. If you have any questions regarding the Central Garage Project, please contact Public Works Director David Patek. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 4.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include two publications from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. The first is the FOCUS newsletter, which discusses municipal spending. The second is The Wisconsin Taxpayer, which features an article on jobs in Wisconsin. Insofar as minutes are concerned, th I'm enclosing the following: The minutes of the November 15 Plan Commission meeting; the th minutes of the November 16 Transit Advisory Board meeting; the minutes of the November thst 7 Sustainability Advisory Board meeting; and the minutes of the November 21 Grand Opera House Advisory Board meeting. The last item I'm enclosing is a letter to a resident on Hazel Street, discussing the reorientation of Ball Diamond #8 in Menominee Park. th UPCOMING MEETINGS 5.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of December 5 include the following: On Monday, at 1:00 p.m., I will be meeting with Community Development staff regarding plans to develop the River Walk in the South Shore Redevelopment area, particularly in the vicinity of the former Jeld-Wen facility. On Tuesday, at 9:00 a.m., I am meeting with County Executive Harris and Neenah Mayor Scherck to discuss the status of the th Health Department consolidation. On Thursday, December 8, at 5:00 p.m., I will be attending the Chamber Business After Hours function at the Grand Opera House. On Friday, at 10:00 a.m., I will be meeting with representatives of C. R. Meyer regarding the rail access to properties adjacent to the Southwest Industrial Park, and the impact of this rail access on the planned expansion of the Southwest Industrial Park north of STH 91. If you have any questions regarding my attendance at any of these meetings, please do not hestiate to contact me. MAR/jdc Enclosures