HomeMy WebLinkAboutweekly newsletter
Date: December 21, 2012
To: Mayor & City Council
From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Subject:
POSTPONED COUNCIL MEETING TO BE HELD JANUARY 2ND
1.: After polling all
Council Members, it seems that Wednesday, January 2nd, works for most of you, so we have
scheduled the Special Meeting for 5:30 p.m. that evening. I am enclosing a tentative Agenda for
this meeting so that we can keep focus on the issues for discussion. I welcome any thoughts or
ideas you have concerning this Agenda. Please contact me and we can amend this Agenda any
way you see fit.
OSHKOSH FOR EDUCATION KICK-OFF
2.: In case you have not seen it already, I am
enclosing a copy of the invitation to the Oshkosh For Education kick-off meeting on Tuesday,
January 8th. We have explained to Mary Olson that because of the Council Meeting later that
evening, we may not be able to stay for the entire duration of the kick-off meeting. However, we
do have our focus group meeting scheduled for 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29th. Our focus
group will be held in the lower level of the Oshkosh Public Library. If Council Members can
make it to the kick-off event prior to heading back to City Hall for the Council Meeting, it would
be most appreciated.
UW-O RIDERSHIP ON GO TRANSIT TOPS 100,000
3.: Transportation Director Chris Strong
informed me today that earlier this month, Go Transit recorded its 100,000th passenger for the
year from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Council may recall that Go Transit has an
agreement with UW-Oshkosh in which the University pays a contracted amount to Go Transit in
exchange for free ridership for students, faculty and staff. This is the first time in the history of
our transit system that ridership from this contract has exceeded 100,000 passengers. Mr. Strong
will have more information for the Council at a later time regarding final ridership figures for
2012, but I felt that this event should be brought to the attention of Council at this time. If you
have any questions regarding the ridership statistics, please contact Transportation Director Chris
Strong.
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
4.: I am enclosing an article from the New North B2B magazine
regarding LEAN methods making their way into local government operations. The City of
Oshkosh is featured in the article, which touts changes in our Inspection Services Division.
Assistant City Manager/Director of Administrative Services John Fitzpatrick did a nice job in
explaining our LEAN efforts. I thought this entire article would be of interest to you. If you have
any questions on any of the information included in this article, please contact Mr. Fitzpatrick.
Weekly Newsletter
December 21, 2012
Page 2
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES
5.: Other items I’m enclosing with today’s
Newsletter include the latest issue of the FOCUS newsletter, publised by the Wisconsin Taxapyers
Alliance, which features an article on the next state budget. Insofar as minutes are concerned, I’m
enclosing the minutes of the December 12th Parking Utility Commission meeting; and the minutes
of the November 5th Housing Authority meeting. The last item I’m enclosing is Museum Director
Brad Larson’s weekly memo to the Museum Board, updating them on the Museum’s latest news.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
6.: Because of the Christman holiday next week, it will be a short work
week, and therefore, there will be no Newsletter distributed next Friday, December 28th. At this
time, I only have one meeting of note. On Wednesday, December 26th, at 9:00 a.m., I will be in a
conference call with Joe Fontain from the Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB). The LAB is
conducting a survey of best practices used by municipalities for e-government. Information
Technology Director Tony Neumann has given me some examples of things that we have done
here that may be of note for the LAB’s study. Tony have given me several examples that we’ll be
sharing with them including our use of Laserfiche to access agendas and minutes; the Police
Department’s transcription system; access to permanent site plan review information on our
website; and our use of GIS, all while seeing our IT Division able to function at reduced costs
when compared to previous years. If you have any questions regarding my schedule for next
week, please do not hesitate to contact me.
MAR/jdc
Enclosures