Common Council
November 7, 2009
Call to Order: Mayor Nieuwenhuis
called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. in the Municipal Building Council
Chambers.
Roll Call: Mayor Nieuwenhuis, Aldermen Siedelmann, DeWitt, O’Connor, Johnson, Kilkenny and Finley. Also Present: City Administrator Salitros, Director of Public Works Wendorf, Police Chief O’Neill, Fire Chief Flood, Building/Zoning Administrator Walling, Utility Director Stebnitz, Utility Manager Piester, Golf Pro Piecha, and City Clerk Kitzman.
Consider projects, policies and ideas for the purpose of establishing goals for the Council and staff: Council members and staff were each asked to offer their goals for review.
Alderman Kilkenny - have a coordinator for the
communications of the city to coordinate the peg channel. Needs a coordinator that will solicit content. $60,000 to $70,000 has
been paid by cable users and they should get something back. Use park and rec director and rec assistant
who can run the peg channel. Park and rec has the most events. City should take
leadership and not send it to the school. It is a tool to communicate with the
public and can’t be run by a committee.
Alderman Johnson - get the fire station done. The fire station is going nowhere fast. The current building is a disgrace. The task
force has been together two years.
Mayor Nieuwenhuis - where does the council want to go in the
terms of growth and development, how proactive will we be as a council. From a planning standpoint, the council is
divided between wanting growth. Some are for TIF and some are anti-TIF. We
should try to agree on something to decide where we want to go. If they don’t
have clear direction, staff can’t have direction to tell developers.
Alderman DeWitt - debt reduction. We should borrow less than we pay off in principal each year. It could
be as small as $50,000. In general we should work on a 5-year plan and make
sure borrowing is less than we pay off each year. Possibly look at a 5-year
rolling basis where the average should be declining.
Alderman Siedelmann - internal savings on utility costs. Request energy audits from WE and Alliant on
potential energy savings; e.g. turn off half of street lights, put bathroom
lights on timers, etc.
Alderman Finley: Build two smaller fire stations, neither
costing $3 million and neither requiring a referendum. One could be mid-sized and another smaller. Mayor indicated the area
fire and rescue service by McGrath & Associates study should be completed
at the end of the month.
Alderman O’Connor: Roberts Rules of Order and have a session
on the proper way to conduct a meeting. Once
a quarter or every six month we should watch our recorded meetings to see how
we could improve the meeting. New
council members should be given some basic training.
Utility Manager Piester: Coordinate utility and public works
projects. Historically the utility has
been able to replace infrastructure in the city without borrowing. Watermain
projects are difficult to pay for if there are a lot of street projects and it
is an additional charge to the ratepayers if they must borrow. Street projects
are driving the water utility to spend more money than it can afford.
Utility Director Stebnitz: East side watermain looping. The
main on Highway 50 is the only pipe
that provides water to the east side commercial and resort area. The east side businesses would need to shut
down in the event of a watermain break. A water system loop is a priority on
the east side of the City. The airstrip
area is one of the locations. Another area is Hobbs Drive under I-43 that will
never have any other customers. Third
is down Faryl and under Borg Road which is the most expensive. The airport area
would supply the commercial areas in between.
Building/Zoning Administrator Walling - dental and vision
options for employees. We currently have
medical only. Vision and dental would be good.
Fire Chief Flood - build a new main fire station main. In studies in 1997, 2005, and now currently,
the location should be on Ann Street. The possibility of a satellite station is
not in the realm. We cannot work with a
mid-sized station because we have to house our equipment. Pricing is a low as
it has been in the past 10 years for materials as well as labor. Would like to
see it happen now. We have been told continuously
to wait for one more thing since 1983. Design professional will go through the
needs assessment and probable cost, that will take 4-5 months. If the Council were to unanimously decide
that a referendum is not required, then construction on the fire station could
commence in the summer of 2010. There was a consensus to place an item on the
agenda for November 10th not requiring a referendum to build a fire
station.
Director of Public Works Wendorf - storm water utility. Have a separate stormwater utility where
every property owner would pay a fee based upon the impervious surface
including tax exempt properties such as churches, etc. It is a separate funding
source that could be on your property tax or your utility bill. We already have
a comprehensive stormwater management plan.
Police Chief O’Neill - mobile data terminals in the squad
cars. A grant pays for a link to the state.
Golf Pro Piecha - leasing of new Delbrook equipment. The biggest challenge is how to attract and
obtain new golfers and the quality of course conditions is vitally important.
Superintendent Dase has made tremendous progress, but equipment breakdowns are
expensive and taking time to render repairs, therefore course maintenance is
not being completed. Lease to own the equipment is a problem when the equipment
gets really old. Bring in new equipment
that will have warranties and be rolled out in 5 years to be replaced with new
equipment. New equipment is more fuel efficient. The new equipment is easier to
use, more efficient and the employees can get the work done quicker.
Alderman Kilkenny - aggressive street program,
repair/rebuild program. Primary goal of
government should be to provide police, fire and road maintenance. Prior to
2000 the City spent about $300,000 in road maintenance per year, they delayed
putting in roads to save money but that costs more in the long run. It costs
$75 per square yard to completely redo, but $24 per square yard to do a mill
and overlay. In 2010 would like to be 6.8 and in 2011 would like to be at 7.0
on the paser rating.
Alderman Johnson - evaluate creating technology committee to
attract business. Whitewater has the
college, and Elkhorn partners with Gateway. Would like to partner with one of
them. Would like to create a committee to attract new technology based
business. Recently the City of Whitewater got a grant to partner with the
college.
Mayor Nieuwenhuis - regular communication with staff and
administrator by all council members. Improve intercommunication between
council and staff. Staff needs
direction from the council especially in the planning areas.
Alderman DeWitt - programs for the improvement and promotion
of downtown. I think we should have a
downtown commission. The Downtown Business Association, Delavan Historical
Foundation and Chamber all work independent from each other. If there is a city commission with some
authority and we could ask them all to join in then more things could get done.
I think the downtown is the core of the entire community.
Alderman Siedelmann - ways to increase revenues without
adversely impacting expenditures. If you
don’t increase revenues our taxes will go up. Believes the Delbrook Commission
should solicit a miniature golf course at the golf course or alternatively in a
park. It would generate a lot of revenue. It could be in Veterans Park where
the washroom is now. If you have an indoor facility, one senior citizen could
run it.
Alderman Finley - building another water tower by Borg Road.
A tower on Borg Road would be at a high point
in the City and provide a water supply for fire protection.
Alderman O’Connor: Senior programs within the park and
recreation programs. Evaluate what the
seniors want.
Building/Zoning Administrator Walling - readily available translator. With the high Hispanic population you sometimes need a
translator. Hire an employee who speaks fluent Spanish.
Fire Chief Flood - dwelling code enforcement. Concern about fires when people live in the basement without two exits.
Director of Public Works Wendorf - equipment
repair/replacement. Ongoing maintenance
and replacement for emergency snow removal equipment and other emergency
vehicles. We have an aging fleet.
Police Chief O’Neill - training area for police
department. Should be able to accommodate 50 officers with adequate parking as
well. A space could be provided in a new public safety building.
Golf Pro Piecha - continuation of paving projects at Delbrook for cart paths and parking lot. The parking lot is breaking up to a point where it will need total reconstruction if nothing is done.
Alderman Kilkenny - develop plan for closing TIF #4. This ties into our revenue situation and borrowing situation. There is probably $700,000 that doesn’t come to the general fund because it is in the TIF district. If we can close that out and get the revenue into the general fund, we can then pick up some of the goals that we would like. Plan out how we can end that so we can get some relief to the tax base.
Alderman Johnson - become more green and use more environmentally
safe technology and services. Evaluate green energy conservation. We should be more proactive as a city to
find ways to conserve energy and save money.
Mayor Nieuwenhuis - coordinate an economic summit with the County to attract businesses and jobs in Walworth County. Encourage being proactive to bring businesses to respective communities. I think it is vital when people are losing jobs to send the message that we want business to come. The City needs to be more proactive.
Alderman Dewitt - Community Center
Alderman Siedelmann - minority involvement in City Committees and events.
Alderman Finley - overhaul website to make it more user
friendly. Make it more user- friendly.
Link to business people interviews. Have a coordinator and without it, it will
not happen. Freshen up some things and make some of it actually talk.
Alderman O’Connor - renew the graduate assistant program in
parks and rec. It brings in new fresh
ideas from the colleges and is very cost effective.
Prioritized Consensus on Goals for the next 6-9 months:
Adjourn: There being no further business to come before the Common Council, the meeting adjourned at 11:52 p.m. The motion was made by Finley and seconded by Siedelmann to adjourn, carried unanimously.
Susan Kitzman
City Clerk