Council & Hearing Minutes 11/29/2010

Minutes of the Public Hearing and Special Council meeting held on Monday, November 29th, 2010 at city hall pursuant to notice duly given.

Mayor Fulton opened the public hearing on the proposed 2011 budget at 5:04 p.m. Present besides the Council and Atty. Calvert was Robert J. Mommaerts, Director of Public Services, Jack Mlnarik, Fire Chief and Dale Carper, Police Chief.
Mayor called three times for any input on the proposed 2011 budget, hearing none he closed the hearing at 5:05 p.m.

1. Mayor called to order the Special Council meeting at 5:05 p.m.
2. Roll Call: Mayor Fulton, Ed Young, Roger Reed, John Wittkopf, Al Schreiber, Joe Stiloski, Marlene Zahn, Dick Doeren, Jim Stiloski, Jack Maas and Atty. Calvert. Excused: Terri Berth. Also present: Robert J. Mommaerts, Jack Mlnarik, Dale Carper and Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary.
3. Invocation and pledge of allegiance given by Alderperson Reed.
4. Moved by Maas seconded by Doeren to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 9 ayes
5. No correspondence or public input
6. Moved by Maas seconded by Doeren to approve of the Resolution adopting the 2011 budget and levy.
Discussion. Zahn stated she was speaking on behalf of residents in the Nursing Home and OKAT manor who still own their own homes, how can they pay for the increase in the taxes? Mayor stated budgets have been reviewed, cuts were made; understands that the recently borrowed money and the union contracts attributed to where we are with the mill rate…realize this results in some hardships, but unless we reduce services…how else can we maintain what we offer our residents? Mayor referenced the police & fire departments, both expensive to fund, but we have voted as the people to maintain these departments;
Vote on motion.
Motion denied upon electronically recorded vote: 4 ayes: Reed, Wittkopf, Doeren and Maas.
5 ayes: Young, Schreiber, Joe Stiloski, Zahn and Jim Stiloski.

Jim Stiloski asked that the budget be referred back to finance to see where we can cut; Belongia stated we have a statutory deadline to get the information to county to process the tax bills; Belongia stated the council will need to stay in session and hopefully decide on a budget; Atty. Calvert stated to the members voting against the budget as proposed, where should it be cut?
Wittkopf questioned where TIF # 2 is and the debt payment ; Belongia explained where that TIF district is; Schreiber suggested cutting the tree & brush removal budget, could save that money, stated he didn’t attend the meetings and the budget document is so many pages, having a summary that’s now before us is easier to follow, but the detail isn’t there; Belongia stated that the public works accounts have the total amount of wages needed to cover the union wages for our public works employees; if the tree & brush budget is cut, then that amount would have to be applied to another account, as the union contracts state 2080 hours per employee at the wage as set by the contract language which was previously agreed to by the council; Zahn questioned contingency amount; Belongia explained the Municipal Tax Levy worksheet; this establishes the base the Department of Revenue (DOR) will allow for a municipality to establish the tax levy; the contingency of $77,000 puts us just under what the DOR allows, if we go over that amount we could lose that amount from our state shared revenue; Jim Stiloski stated that 75% of the towns across the state stayed the same or went down, with the new debt we just borrowed, this is a double whammy to the tax payer; Zahn questioned is there any way we can cut the budget? Joe Stiloski stated to the Mayor our debt, which includes the money we borrowed to do Main Street; Mayor again stated we put ourselves in this situation;

Maas called that we are out of order.

Mayor stated we’ve put ourselves in this situation, referenced the taking of funds from our reserve for purchasing and demolishing the Kelly Pickle property; Zahn stated the budget is giving non union increases the people she spoke with want to know when they get theirs? Jim Stiloski questioned why are we so late on the budget, having finance meetings during the day; some of us can’t make those meetings? Mayor stated the council has had this information in hand well before tonight’s hearing; Belongia stated the entire budget with all supporting documentation was provided to the council and was an item for discussion on the November Com of the Whole meeting; Mayor stated each of you had ample opportunity to come in and meet with me or the administrator or any department head if you had questions on the budgets; Young questioned why we are budgeting for large equipment purchases; this should be spread out over a number of years; Mayor agreed, stating this is what our auditors have recommended we do on large purchases that will have a life for more than the current year, but will this council allow for such a borrowing; we have other areas that we cut in the budget process, the harbor area, we could look at combining some of these items with a borrowing, but doesn’t seem like that’s what this council would allow; Wittkopf stated the money for the grader, lawn mower and squad car are already in this proposed budget, leave it there, don’t borrow for these items; Maas suggested cutting the 2% raise for the alderpersons that is part of the budget;

Moved by Zahn recommended we cut the tourism back to $10,000, and also the mayor & council’s 2% increase.

Mayor called three times for a second. Motion denied for lack of second.

Discussion.
Schreiber suggested cutting the budget by the 2% for the Mayor and Council member increases in wages…stating this budget needs to be reviewed and not allow for any line item transfers, live within the budgets; Atty. Calvert stated he has discussed this with Belongia, it is the committees job to review the budgets making sure no line items are over budget; Maas stated changing funds and line items needs to come before the finance and committee of the whole; Mayor stated everyone gets the various committee agenda’s; Schreiber referenced money in the budget for city attorney; Belongia stated this is the amount that was budgeted when the position was elected;

Moved by Schreiber seconded by Wittkopf to amend the proposed 2011 budgets by the 2% increase in salaries for the Mayor and Council members.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 7 ayes 2 no: Zahn and Jim Stiloski

Moved by Schreiber seconded by Doeren to adopt the 2011 budget as amended with the stipulation that line item transfers all come well in advance of the change to the council.

Discussion. Young stated we need to look at borrowing, get Jeff Belongia involved, can find innovative ways to refinance; Mayor referenced $137,000 for grant match that was previously approved by the council;

Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote.
6 ayes 3 no: Joe Stiloski, Marlene Zahn and Jim Stiloski
7. Mayor stated we will move to the multi-purpose room for an engineering update on Smith/Brazeau.
Dale and Mark with Robert E. Lee presented conceptual drawings for this area; Mayor stated several meetings were held defining possibilities for this area; Mark went over the drawings and a brief power point presentation.
Zahn concerned about costs to the business owners along this area; Jim Stiloski questioned loss of driveways by some of the property owners in this area…stated all property owners along this project should be notified…need to bring the information to the public;
Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Reed to authorize the Mayor to schedule a public information meeting on December 16th, 2010 at 5 p.m. on the Smith/Brazeau project. Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes
8. Next Committee of the Whole meeting, Tuesday, December 7th, 2010.
9. Moved by Zahn seconded by Jim Stiloski to adjourn. M/C Meeting adjourned at 7:13 p.m.
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