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HomeMy WebLinkAboutweekly newsletter Date: May 4, 2012 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: STORM RESPONSE & RECOVERY UPDATE 1.: Thursday’s morning storm resulted in 4.32 inches of rain falling in Oshkosh between 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday, and 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, for a grand total of 5.27 inches by 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. It goes without saying that a storm event of this magnitude places a huge burden on the city’s infrastructure. However, I think that we still need to remind everyone of some of the root causes of why we are impacted by storm events of this severity. I have enclosed a memo, summarizing the causes of some of our storm- related problems, the status of our efforts to address long term storm water problems, and some of the roadblocks we face as a community to effectively deal with these issues. The issues and their solutions are very complex, but please be assured that staff remains committed to addressing these decades-long challenges in a methodical and professional manner. Public Works Director Patek and I will be available to discuss these items during our update at Tuesday’s meeting. Perhaps a follow up Workshop may be in order based upon Wednesday’s discussion. Please contact us if th you have any questions leading up to our May 9 meeting. PARKS/SENIOR CENTER REORGANIZATION 2.: As you know, the Health Department will th officially become part of the Winnebago County Public Health Department on Monday, May 7. I appreciate all of the work that all staff members have done to make this transition as smooth as possible. Mark Ziemer will reassume his regular duties as Manager of the Seniors Center on a full th time basis effective Monday, May 7. Council Members may recall that the Senior Services Division was actually part of the Department of Community Development prior to the temporary assignment in Public Health that Mr. Ziemer assumed in September, 2009. I felt that having Senior Services in Community Development was not a very natural association from an organizational standpoint. As a result of these changes, I have asked Parks Director Ray Maurer to assume the Seniors Center under the Parks Department, effective May 7, 2012. The inclusion of a Seniors Center in the Parks Department is not unusual, and I believe that Mr. Maurer’s previous experience having senior centers under his responsibility will help Mr. Ziemer in collaborative efforts that the Parks Department can work with him on in the future. Since this is a potential for collaboration, as well as a method of streamlining the number of departments directly reporting to me, I felt that this was advantageous for both the Parks Department and the Senior Services Division. I appreciate Mr. Ziemer’s cooperation throughout the past two and one-half years as manager of two separate operations, and I am confident that he and Mr. Maurer will work to successfully incorporate Senior Services into the Park Department. If you have any questions regarding this reorganization, please do not hesitate to contact me. Weekly Newsletter May 4, 2012 Page 2 UW-OSHKOSH COMPLETES CITIZEN SURVEY 3.: Under separate cover, I am providing the Council with the results of the 2012 Citizen Survey that was completed by Professor Karl Nollenberger’s Policy Analysis class. This is the fourth year that Professor Nollenberger’s class has completed this survey for us. The purpose of the survey has evolved over the years. Initially, it was intended to be a way for citizens to prioritize items for the Council’s budget considerations. While this purpose still remains true, we have also begun to use it to help measure quality of services for eventual incorporation into performance based management. As the survey indicates, the survey asks for information regarding the public’s perception of quality and importance of city services. As in past years, basic city services such as public safety, streets and storm water drainage are ranked highest in terms of importance. The survey results also indicate that Police, Emergency Medical Service, and Fire are still ranked high in terms of quality, with a new addition of recycling. I can only conclude that this addition is the result of citizen satisfaction with automated recycling. We can perhaps draw the conclusion that the public is ready for automated refuse collection. While comments on street and storm drainage remain areas that we need to improve on, the students also took a look at previous surveys and have identified improvements in these areas with lower negative numbers and slightly higher positive numbers. As we saw from yesterday’s storms, we still have a way to go before we can consider our efforts a success. However, the trend is going in the right direction. The survey verifies that we should continue targeting our resources toward services rated with high importance and low quality. Streets and storm drainage continue to register in these areas, and our Capital Improvements Program indicates our recognition of this fact. I will have this item under my reports on Tuesday’s Council Agenda so that Council may ask any questions of this survey at that time. HOTEL TIF UPDATE 4.: Under separate cover, I am providing the Council with a copy of the Tax Incremental Financing District Plan for renovations to the hotel. As I reported previously, the hotel is seeking an upfront TIF grant of $2,000,000, as well as a $1,000,000 PAYGO. Based upon staff’s analysis of the hotel’s pro forma, both levels of support are necessary to insure the financial viability of the hotel in the long run. I am providing this TIF report in advance of the Council’s nd consideration of this TIF District at your May 22 meeting. By that time, we will also have the development agreement that approves the upfront TIF and PAYGO grants. I encourage Council Members to review this document and forward any questions to Community Development staff or nd me in advance of it being discussed on May 22. CITY/OASD COLLABORATION 5.: At the previous Council Meeting, Council Member Allison- Aasby indicated that she had had discussions with School Board Members about increased collaboration between the city and school district. One of the areas that was identified was including the school district in issues related to community planning, specifically a formal liaison with the Plan Commission. I have been informed this week that the school district has selected School Board Member Allison Garner to be the OASD liaison to the Plan Commission. This relationship means that we will provide Ms. Garner with an agenda in advance of the meeting and welcome her to attend the Plan Commission meetings and ask questions related to items on the agenda. The OASD representative will not have any voting rights or privileges. We are hoping that this level of collaboration will enable us to improve communications between the two governmental entities. Meanwhile, the school district has asked for city representation on the Design and Review Committee for the new Oaklawn School. Staff members have been assigned to this committee. This is the start of many potential collaborative efforts between our two entities. Please let me know if you have any other thoughts or ideas on future collaboration efforts, and we can schedule it for discussion at an upcoming Council Meeting. Weekly Newsletter May 4, 2012 Page 3 PURCHASING ORDINANCE 6.: As I have previously reported to Council, staff has been working on revisions to the purchasing ordinance to streamline the purchasing process and increase accountability of purchases made by the city. Finance Director Steeno has taken staff’s initial draft of the purchasing ordinance and provided it to the Long Range Finance Committee for their review and comment. I am enclosing a copy of the first draft of the purchasing ordinance for the Council’s review. The Long Range Finance Committee would like to review this during the month of May and make their comments and recommendations at their June meeting. As a result, th staff will place the purchasing ordinance on the June 10 Council Agenda. I would like Council Members to review this draft ordinance and provide any questions you may have to me so that I may forward them onto staff for review and get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for your advance review of this ordinance, which has been developed over many months. I appreciate the efforts of staff in this regard. INVOICE FOR PUB CRAWL SPECIAL EVENT 7.: As I have indicated previously, staff has invoiced Mr. Joe Kubiak for expenses associated with the April 14, 2012 Pub Crawl, as well as the remainingbalance from the October, 2011 Pub Crawl. To date, we have not received the final payment from Mr. Kubiak. We have also been informed that he has not even been in town since the bill was sent to him, so I doubt that we will receive final payment by the time that I report back th to Council at your May 9 meeting. If we do not receive payment or have reason to believe that we will not receive payment, we will have to consider our previous options to collect on these special event costs. We can discuss these options once I have an updated Council report next Wednesday. LAW ENFORCMENT MEMORIAL CEREMONY 8.: Please find enclosed the program for the annual Police Memorial Ceremony on Wednesday, May 16, at 2:30 p.m. The ceremony will take place in front of City Hall at the flagpole. We honor previous fallen Oshkosh Police Officers, as well as other fallen officers who have been added to the State Honor Roll within the past year. Police Chief Scott Greuel is inviting all Council Members to attend this event if possible. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 9.: Other items I’m enclosing with today’s Newsletter include the latest report on the 2012 Hotel/Motel Room Tax. Insofar as minutes are th concerned, I’m enclosing the following: The minutes of the March 29 Library Board meeting; thth the minutes of the April 5 Museum Board meeting; the minutes of the April 11 Board of thth Appeals meeting; the minutes of the April 11 and April 25 Landmarks Commission meetings; th the meeting notice, agenda, and background material for the May 8 Traffic Review Advisory nd Board meeting; the minutes of the April 2 Sustainability Advisory Board meeting; the minutes of thth the March 7 Long Range Finance Committee meeting; and the minutes of the April 25 Transit Advisory Board meeting. The last item I’m enclosing is the latest issue of the FOCUS newsletter, from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, which features an article on recall elections. th UPCOMING MEETINGS 10.: Some of the meetings I have scheduled for the week of May 7 th include the following: On Tuesday, May 8, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending the annual Tourism th Breakfast. Afterwards, I am meeting Mayor Tower to go over the May 9 Council Agenda. At 1:30 p.m., staff and I are meeting with our ambulance billing contractor to discuss transition issues from our previous billing provider. On Wednesday, at 9:00 a.m., I will be attending a meeting of the School District Visioning Steering Committee. Weekly Newsletter May 4, 2012 Page 4 On Friday at 8:00 a.m., I will be meeting with a consultant hired by the Chamber of Commerce to work on their strategic plan. At 12:00 noon on Friday, I will be attending a meeting regarding sustainability at UW-Oshkosh. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding my attendance at any of these meetings. MAR/jdc Enclosures