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HomeMy WebLinkAboutweekly newsletter Date: July 20, 2012 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: SPECIAL EVENTS POLICY REVIEW 1.: As all Council Members are aware, there have been concerns expressed by various members of the public and downtown business owners regarding the city’s approval of special events and their impact on businesses and/or private property. These concerns range from issues such as street closures and access to properties, to noise and nuisance issues, as well as concerns of timely notification about these events. At the same time, staff has expressed concerns about our capacity to meet all of the demands that are placed on various departments (especially public safety), and our ability to meet these demands for service. Perhaps in our quest to be accommodating to visitors as “Wisconsin’s Event City”, we may have overlooked the needs of the local neighbors as these events take place. These events have been touted as ways to bring people downtown. Perhaps that claim needs to be looked at more closely for these applications. At Tuesday’s Council Meeting, I want to share these concerns with the Council and propose a review of how the special events review process is administered. I would like to include various stakeholders that assist us in promoting the city as “Wisconsin’s Event City”, particularly the Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Business Improvement District. Staff believes that some of our problems rise from the fact that we have not fully observed the 45 day application requirement. This often results in hasty reviews of events so that we can insure that an event is approved, even when the event organizers have not been timely in applying for special events permits. The timeliness issue stretches into our ability to have sufficient resources to respond to these events, and our ability to coordinate these events with internal city staff and outside groups. We also believe that this lack of timeliness in applications has an impact on notifying property owners and the public of a special event and its accompanying impact. My goal would be to bring these stakeholders together and identify ways in which we can improve the special events policy and/or the administration of the policy so as to minimize an event’s impact on the public and efficiently utilize city resources. I would encourage Council Members to provide me with as much information as you have heard from members of the public so that we can identify all of the relevant issues for our discussion on Tuesday. FUNDING PLAN FOR OTTER EXHIBIT NEAR COMPLETION 2.: City staff has been working with the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation on an agreement for the construction of the river otter exhibit at the Menominee Park Zoo. Similar to the process that was followed when Pollock Community Water Park was constructed, the Foundation has established a fund for this project, and will contract with Neumann Pools to construct the exhibit and donate it to the city upon completion. The proposed exhibit donation is scheduled to be considered by the Advisory th Parks Board at their August 13 meeting. If recommended by the Parks Board, the Common th Council will consider the donation on August 28. If you have any questions regarding this project, feel free to contact Parks Director Ray Maurer. Weekly Newsletter July 20, 2012 Page 2 GUNDERSON PROPERTY 3.: As Council may be aware, city staff has been working with representatives from Gunderson Cleaners to environmentally clean up the former commercial dry cleaning site at 118 High Avenue. Our goal has been to ensure that environmental remediation costs have been identified and owner funds committed to clean up before the city would consider working with the owners for redevelopment of the property. Without these assurances, we would be compelled to seek a raze order through the courts, which would potentially result in a complicated and drawn out effort to clean up the property. Our Attorney for this matter, Art Harrington of Godfrey-Kahn, spoke with representatives for Gunderson. It appears that Gunderson will not be proceeding with an application for a state loan that may be available. However, we are still looking at an agreement with them to have them commit to completing the razing of the building in a timely manner in exchange for the city not seeking a raze order through the courts. It is still our hope to have the building razed early this fall. We expect a signed th agreement during the first week of August, with approval by the City Council at your August 14 Council Meeting. If you have any questions regarding this property, please contact City Attorney Lynn Lorenson. OSHKOSH FIRE DEPARTMENT FEATURED ON HOT WHEELS CAR 4.: Last year, the Oshkosh Fire Department was approached by Mattel Toys, asking permission to allow them to produce a Hot Wheels car with our Fire Department’s logo. With my permission, they collaborated on the design and were allowed the use of the official logo of the Oshkosh Fire Department. There will be three toy trucks with the Oshkosh logo. The first one, which has already been released, is a red roadster emblazoned with the Oshkosh Fire Department’s logo and Command 15 (C15) designation. This vehicle is part of the HW Main Street™ ’12, Amazoom™ series. The vehicles in this series pay homage to real cities of some of the largest Hot Wheels® collectors clubs throughout the world. The Oshkosh vehicle is 9 of 10 in the series. And no, we do not have a car anywhere this cool in our fleet. Chief Franz drives an old Ford Taurus! Please contact Chief Franz or John Holland at the Fire Department if you have any questions on this matter. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 5.: Other items I’m enclosing with today’s Newsletter include highlights from the Oshkosh Public Library during the month of June. Insofar th as minutes are concerned, I’m enclosing the minutes of the July 10 Traffic Review Advisory th Board meeting; the minutes of the June 25 Housing Authority meeting; and the meeting notice, th agenda and background material for the July 19 Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee. The last item I’m enclosing is the latest issue of the FOCUS newsletter, which discusses the state lottery’s impact on property taxes. rd UPCOMING MEETINGS 6.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of July 23 include the th following: On Wednesday, July 25, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending the OAEDC Board meeting. th At 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 26, I’ll be attending the Chamco Board meeting. At 7:00 a.m. on th Friday, July 27, I will be attending the Mayor’s Breakfast at the Leach Amphitheater. At 10:00 a.m. on Friday, I will be leaving to attend the Wisconsin Urban Alliance meeting in Racine. Also, thth please note that I will be on vacation from Saturday, July 28 through Tuesday, August 7. As a rd result, there will be no Newsletter on Friday, August 3. Jackie will provide you with updates through that time as appropriate. If you have any questions regarding my schedule for the next couple of weeks, please feel free to contact me. MAR/jdc