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HomeMy WebLinkAboutweekly newsletter Date: September 7, 2012 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: DOWNTOWN FLOWER POT PROJECT 1.: With the record low amount of rainfall in the months of June and July this summer, it was definitely challenging for any landscaping or gardening projects. But even with Mother Nature uncooperative, the downtown Oshkosh flower pots are beautiful and thriving in part because of the great work that the Oshkosh Seniors Center volunteers have done. Back in May of 2012, the Oshkosh Seniors Center paired up with the Downtown Business Improvement District to care for the 105 flower pots that are located in downtown Oshkosh. The Oshkosh Seniors Center volunteers have done an excellent job in watering and maintaining the planters. We hope that this partnership continues for several years to come, and that the volunteers have taken pride in the nice work they have done. We would also like to thank MaryKaye Walter who provided the flowers this year, and for her hard work and dedication, as well as the Master Gardeners who have also played a role in maintaining the flower pots in the 500 block of North Main Street. It is because of these partnerships that we can all take pride in the appearance of downtown Oshkosh. PETITION FOR NO WAKE ZONE 2.: Council Members will recall that you received a petition th in the August 28 Council Agenda from a group of people, asking for a no wake zone for the entire length of the Fox River, from the Butte des Morts Bridge all the way to Lake Winnebago. Parks Director Ray Maurer and I discussed the petition and the appropriate method to deal with this issue. We did note that the petition was circulated by a local person, but the bulk of the signatures came from out-of-town people. I’m not sure if that necessarily disqualifies a petition asking for a policy change, however, this petition did not appear to have much widespread local support. Because this is a parks/recreation issue, this petition has been forwarded to the Parks Advisory Board. The Parks Advisory Board will be receiving and discussing this petition at their th meeting on Monday, September 10. I have received several calls from various people representing the boating community, boating businesses, as well as riverfront properties, expressing concern about this petition. I explained the background as described above and explained to them that staff was neither initiating nor supporting this petition. In case you were wondering where the petition was going, I wanted the Council to be aware of how staff was addressing this formal request. If you have any questions regarding this petition or how it will be going through the review process, please contact Parks Director Ray Maurer. Weekly Newsletter September 7, 2012 Page 2 FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS 3.: This week, I received a call from Marlin Greenfield, from Festival Foods, regarding the Fourth of July fireworks. As the Council is aware, Festival Foods has been a sponsor of the Fourth of July fireworks show as part of Sawdust Days for a number of years. Festival has provided one-half of the costs for the fireworks show, with the Sawdust Days Committee picking up the other half of these costs. Both Festival Foods and Sawdust Days in the past have reimbursed the city for these costs as the city officially purchases the fireworks and is the paying agent on behalf of Sawdust Days. Mr. Greenfield is aware of the issues surrounding Sawdust Days, and that the Sawdust Days Board is considering disbanding. Mr. Greenfield called to reassure the city that Festival Foods is more than happy to continue to be a sponsor of the Fourth of July fireworks as they have in the past. I thanked Mr. Greenfield for Festival’s continued support for this event. I indicated to him that regardless of what happens with Sawdust Days, we would work to make sure that a Fourth of July fireworks show continued in the city, and thanked him again for Festival’s continued participation. Meanwhile, some Council Members may have heard that Sawdust Days had not yet paid its one- half share of the fireworks. I spoke with Don Kujawa regarding this issue, and Mr. Kujawa assured me that this was not any type of statement given the Sawdust Days’ recent letter. Mr. Kujawa indicated that because of poor attendance due to hot weather, Sawdust Days experienced some cash flow problems and has been working to pay its bills for this year. As a result, they are behind in payments to several vendors, including the city for the fireworks show. He assured me that Sawdust Days was working towards paying this bill, and asked that I pass this along to Council so that there was not any misunderstanding over this issue. TH CVS & 7 AVENUE RELOCATION 4.: I spoke with Jack Berke, of Velmier Company, th developer for the CVS store on 9 Avenue, and he has reported to me that CVS is having difficulties in acquiring the right-of-way from the Red Robin Restaurant property that is necessary th to relocate 7 Avenue as approved by Council. While Red Robin Corporate (i.e., the tenant) had given a written approval for the relocation of the road, the actual owner of the property had only given a verbal approval. The owner has since reconsidered this verbal approval and recently told Velmier that he was not interested in selling the property and changing his second driveway access th to a relocated 7 Avenue. Velmier has asked for my assistance in talking to the owner. I explained that I would be willing to speak to the owner about the reasoning behind staff’s recommendation for relocating the road. I emphasized that this road relocation was the responsibility of the developer. I reviewed with Velmier the options that had been previously discussed for this property during the discussion of the CVS project. I advised Velmier that I th would not support any other previously discussed change to the road or 7 Avenue access. The th only change that I could envision supporting would be the removal of CVS’s access to 7 Avenue, th and keeping 7 Avenue open to the neighborhood. CVS is aware of my position and understands th that they are responsible for the ultimate relocation of 7 Avenue as approved by the Council. They are also aware that if CVS needs to make any change, it would be subject to Council approval. I do not anticipate any request from CVS in the near future, as they will continue their dialogue with the Red Robin owner to try and reach a resolution to this issue. What this means for now is that I do not anticipate any progress on this project for quite some time. If CVS is unsuccessful in changing the property owner’s mind, they will have to review their options and advise us on what their plans or amended requests may be. If you have any questions regarding this topic, please contact Community Development Director Allen Davis, Planning Director Darryn Burich or me. Weekly Newsletter September 7, 2012 Page 3 LEAGUE OF WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES CONFERENCE 5.: Please find enclosed a letter from Lee Meyerhofer, Council President with the City of Kaukauna and current President of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. This letter is requesting attendance at the League of Wisconsin Municipalities annual conference on October 17 through October 19, 2012, in Wisconsin Dells. He also asks that I pass this invitation along to the Mayor and all members of the City Council. Mr. Meyerhofer believes that strong support by elected officials will help the League in their legislative agenda, which I have been part of forming as a member of the League Board of Directors. If you are interested in attending the conference, which is budgeted in the Council’s training account, please contact Jackie (236-5000) and she will make whatever arrangements you need to make for the conference. FYI…I will also be attending the conference and if you would like to work on sharing a ride with me, please let me know. th 4 FLOOR RENOVATIONS TO BEGIN NEXT WEEK 6.: As I had previously reported to Council, Facilities Maintenance staff has been doing office remodeling and relocation as part of our 2012 CIP. This project began with the relocation of the Assessor’s Office to the second floor as a result of the Public Health Division moving out. The Economic Development and Administrative sections of Community Development were relocated to the former Public Health area, and the Assessor’s Office assumed the area previously occupied by the Lab and Community nd Development conference room. We now have all of Community Development located on the 2 floor, with all of the public counters in close proximity to one another so that residents and businesses can easily access the services of Community Development. Now that the second floor th is done, work will begin on the 4 floor following Tuesday’s Council Meeting. You may have already noticed that the new “accordion door”, separating Rooms 404 and 406, has been replaced. th This will allow meetings to take place simultaneously in these rooms. The plan for the 4 floor is that Room 404 will be shortened to make a more “user friendly” conference meeting room. The “Mondopad” that has been in my office since the beginning of the year will be moved to Room 404 for presentation and video conferencing purposes (Room 404 will be a joint conference room to be used by all departments, boards and commissions, and Council for Workshops and Closed Sessions). This room will be able to accommodate the crowds necessary to handle most of the board and commission meetings that are held in that room. For larger meetings, the groups can th still extend into Room 406. As a result of these moves, my office will be relocated to the 4 floor, with Room 404 being used as my larger conference room as needed. Once my office is relocated, General Services, including Facilities Maintenance and Purchasing, will be relocated to my current st office on the 1 floor. This will enable the General Services Manager to be closer to all of his direct reports. The idea will be for Room 404 to be ready for regular use sometime after October stthst 1. I will likely move up to the 4 floor on or around November 1. If you have any questions regarding some of the office moves that are taking place, please contact General Services Manager Jon Urben. I also welcome you to visit the second floor to see what progress we have made so far. I appreciate all of the work that has been put in by our Facilities staff in making these changes possible. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 7.: Other items I’m enclosing with today’s Newsletter include the latest edition of the FOCUS newsletter, which features an article on federal th finances. Insofar as minutes are concerned, I’m enclosing the minutes of the August 8 Board of th Appeals meeting; and the minutes of the August 8 Landmarks Commission meeting. The last item I’m enclosing is the August, 2012 listing of highlights from the Oshkosh Public Library. Weekly Newsletter September 7, 2012 Page 4 th UPCOMING MEETINGS 8.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of September 10 include th the following: On Monday, September 10, at 7:30 a.m., I will be meeting with Mayor Tower to go over Tuesday’s Council Agenda. At 11:30 a.m. on Monday, I will be attending the United th Way Kick-Off Luncheon. On Tuesday, September 11, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending the th Community Sounding Board meeting. On Wednesday, September 12, at 7:30 a.m., I will be th attending the FVTC Advisory Committee meeting. On Thursday, September 13, in the morning, I will be meeting with representatives of Hoffmaster to discuss storm water management in this area. At 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, I will be attending a meeting of the Rolling Green neighborhood th to discuss storm water issues in their neighborhood. On Friday, September 14, at 9:00 a.m., I will be meeting with representatives of the YMCA on future plans for the organization and their facilities. At 11:30 a.m. on Friday, I will be meeting with the Prager group to get an update on the city’s Economic Development Study. For the balance of the week, I will be in and out of 2013 budget preparation meetings with Finance Director Steeno and department heads. My schedule will likely be fairly busy for the balance of the week. If you need to meet with me for any reason, please contact Jackie and see if she can fit you into my schedule. MAR/jdc Enclosures