Council minutes

Minutes of the Regular Council meeting held on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at city hall pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order at 6:02 p.m. by Mayor Nerenhausen.
2. Roll call: Mayor Nerenhausen, Ed Young, Lloyd Heier, John Wittkopf, Al Schreiber, Joe Stiloski, Marlene Zahn, Dick Doeren, Tom Fulton, Jim Stiloski and Jack Maas. Excused: Atty. Mraz. Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary also present.
3. Invocation and pledge of allegiance given by Pastor Craig Alwin.
4. Moved by Schreiber seconded by Zahn to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes
5. Moved by Heier seconded by Doeren to accept and place on file as typed the minutes from the previous month’s meetings.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes
6. Moved by Schreiber seconded by Wittkopf to accept and place on file the department reports as presented.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes
7. Correspondence/Public Input: Upcoming listening session with Representative Nygren, 8/28/09 at 12 o’clock noon at city hall; and
Newsletter from Oconto Electric Cooperative.
8. Presentation of 2008 audit by Karen Kerber of Kerber, Rose & Associates,
S.C. Kerber stated the city should have a minimum of six months current year’s expenditures for a general fund balance; council needs to really
look at increasing the debt or tax levy; if an expenditure such as a piece of
equipment or a capitol project for road work is only going to last one year,
then that should be budgeted for; if this equipment or project will last 5, 10
or more years, then council should consider taking out debt so the
payments are spread out over a number of years for the tax payers who
are using it will pay through debt payments; water utility should also be
paying more of a fair share based on the city’s local mill rate; currently
they only pay $16,000; Kerber cited page W-7 of the annual PSC report
for the 2008 tax equivalent for water…this is what the tax should be; utility
has a 4.83% of return, can handle an increase in the tax they are paying
to the city; Kerber stated by year end 2009 the governmental accounting
standards board will be having some changes as to having separate funds
such as the city does for the campground, harbor and ambulance and
others; may need to see if these truly meet the definition of a fund,
otherwise they will have to come under the general fund; city has been
funding for many years the ambulance fund, through finance committee
and council, can transfer this fund to the general fund; the city in doing the
Kelly Pickle project spent over $700,000 to date on that site and with the
payout for the lawsuit of $130,000 these funds came directly from the
general fund; Kerber stated with budgets coming up, it will be a very
difficult year for the council…rebuilding that general fund is going to take
time and some careful planning; may have to look at cutting services…and
cutting services sometimes means cutting employees; Joe Stiloski stated
we had a developer who wanted to develop on some of the Kelly Pickle
property…council turned him down; Maas agreed and stated we need to
move forward, following auditors recommendations and turn this around; Jim Stiloski questioned how much of the budget is for wages and benefits;
Kerber stated they don’t have that information…looking at what is paid to
an employee is not part of their audit…if there was a substantial difference
in a wage from previous year audit work this would send up a red flag and
they would look into the situation; Belongia stated she has that information on how much of the budget is for wages & benefits;

9. Moved by Schreiber seconded by Zahn to accept and place on file the 2008 Management letter and Financial statements.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

10. Mayor read aloud following consent agenda: Approval of installing PVC in
three different locations on S.T.H. 22 for burying electrical lines
underground sometime in the future at an estimated cost for the PVC of
$300.00; Approve of Change Order # 1 for Peters Concrete in the amt of
$63,825 to redo the water and sewer mains on S.T.H. 22 with DOT cost
sharing only on the water main at this time; Approve of transferring the
responsibility and budgeting for the City Docks park area to the Park &
Recreation Committee; Approve of municipal court increase n surcharge
fees which were passed with the State of Wisconsin budget; Approve of
Park & Rec purchasing a utility vehicle as was budgeted for an amt not to
exceed $6,000.00; Approve of listing of accts payables for $209,638.16;
payroll for $120,406.80 and financial reports as presented; approve of
updated agreement for the museum operation at Copper Culture Park b
the Oconto County Historical Society; Approve of amended job description
for the Superintendent of Public Works; Approve of memorandum of
understanding between the County and City regarding the Spillman
System; Accept resignation of Lucinda Schersing from the Housing
Authority and approve of the appointment of Susan Exworthy to fulfill the
unexpired term which will end October 2014.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

11. Next Com of the Whole meeting, Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.

12. Moved Wittkopf seconded by Doeren to adjourn.
Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia,
Administrator