Minutes of the Com of the Whole meeting

Minutes of the Committee of the Whole meeting held on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at city hall pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order by Mayor Nerenhausen at 6:00 p.m.
2. Roll call: Mayor Nerenhausen, Ed Young, Lloyd Heier, John Wittkopf, Al Schreiber, Joe Stiloski, Marlene Zahn, Dick Doeren, Tom Fulton, Jim Stiloski, Jack Maas and Atty. Mraz. Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary also present.

3. Moved by Doeren seconded by Joe Stiloski to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 10 ayes

4. Public Appearances and/or Correspondence: League bulletin, minutes from previous month’s meetings and a copy of the city flow chart showing
the chain of command on dealing with problems and issues.

5. Discussion/recommendation on:
a. Maas stated the Finance committee is looking into asking for a voluntary payment in lieu of tax from tax exempt properties for the
services they receive; no action needed at this time, Belongia is going to
bring a draft letter and the financial impact of such a tax to the next
finance meeting.

b. Mayor stated we have no recommendation from the BPW on renovating the public works bldg., more information has been requested;

c. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Heier to accept recommendation from
Finance and recommend the same to Council to approve of the final pay
request from DMK, Inc Oconto Falls, WI. for crushing recycled material in
the amount of $500.00.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

d. Moved by Maas seconded by Wittkopf to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council to advertise for sale two trucks and a
lawn mower.
Motion carried upon electronic voice vote. 10 ayes

e. Mayor stated we have no recommendation from BPW on replacing the gates, more information has been requested.

f. Moved by Doeren seconded by Young to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council to approve of the proposal from
Resource Management Associates from Tinley Park, IL for the audit of the
Police & Fire Departments for $11,600. Council previously approved of
$10,000 and the additional $1,600 will be allocated with ambulance fund
revenues.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

g. Discussion on recommendation from Finance on Property Tax Equivalent for the Water Utility; Maas stated this was discussed at length
at the finance meeting…stating this may increase the water rates, but will
be spread across a broader group paying the bill, such as when the fire
hydrant was taken off the tax bill and spread across the utility
users…using the tax equivalent as calculated by the auditors and
approved by the Public Service Commission has more people paying on
the tax equivalent; Belongia referenced email from the PSC received on
8/27/09…the Wis. Statutes allow for a tax equivalent to be charged
against a water utility, but there are no provisions for charging a sewer
utility or other utilities such as gas, electric, telephone and cable; Belongia
stated the water utility has been paying $16,000 per year as a tax
equivalent, but during the audit presentation last month the auditor pointed
out that the calculated tax equivalent that the city could be collecting from
the water utility is $138,374; Jim Stiloski questioned if people outside
the city will pay as well? Mayor stated outside the city those users only
receive sewer charges; Jim Stiloski stated doing this will increase the
taxes; Schreiber stated a letter should be going out explaining this…what
kind of rate increase do we have to have to maintain the 1.25% debt ratio;

Moved by Doeren seconded by Maas to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council to approve of collecting the property
tax equivalent beginning in 2009 as stated in the PSC report.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 6 ayes 5 no.
5 ayes: Young, Wittkopf, Doeren, Fulton and Maas. 5 no: Heier, Schreiber,
Joe Stiloski, Marlene Zahn and Jim Stiloski.
Mayor Nerenhausen voted verbally in favor to break the tie.

h. Moved by Maas seconded by Doeren to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council to approve of an additional cost of
$3,550.00 from the general fund for additional pile lengths for the
community sensitive signs that are being put up by the DOT in three
locations previously approved by the Council.
Motion carried upon electronic vote.
8 ayes 2 no: Joe Stiloski and Jim Stiloski

i. Moved by Zahn seconded by Fulton to accept recommendation from
Finance and recommend to Council approval of waiving ambulance charge of $150 due to patient meeting HUD low income guidelines.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

j. Moved by Maas seconded by Fulton to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council approval of the listing of accounts
payables in the amount of $345,199.94; payroll for $188,946.23 and
financial reports as presented.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

k. Mayor referred back to BPW for clarification collection of fees for parcel # 265-32-20062078, 710 Fifth Street.

l. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Heier to accept recommendation from BPW and recommend to Council approval of detour on Evergreen Street
while state contractor is paving S.T.H. 22.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 9 ayes 1 no: Jim Stiloski

m. Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Schreiber to accept
recommendation from BPW and recommend to Council approval of the
street closure for Harvest Fest 10/3/09 on Pecor Street from Superior
Avenue to Water Street and Water Street from Holt Avenue to Pecor
Street.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

n. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Heier to accept recommendation from BPW and recommend to Council to continue with having no dumpsters at
the recycling center.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

Zahn questioned having dumpster enclosures; Mayor stated this was taken out of the ordinance sometime ago.

o. Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Heier to accept recommendation from Wage & Personnel and recommend to Council to advertise for the
position of a Director of Public Service with residency required in the City
of Oconto and salary depending upon qualifications.
Mayor stated he was directed to see what a firm would charge us for
providing engineering services and supervision of our utilities; Mayor
contacted R.E. Lee, they will review & send a cost; Mayor also contacted Ayres and they will take a tour of our facilities on Wed and provide a
proposal to the Mayor; Mayor also contacted OMNI and they stated they
don’t do this; Young suggested contacting Foth as they do this; Mayor
stated felt at this time maybe a conflict of interest as Mr. Mommaerts used to work for Foth; Young stated he also worked for Foth; Wittkopf
questioned if we still need to advertise? Mayor stated yes, this was additional information he was asked to look into; Maas agreed, should vote on motion as recommended.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 9 ayes 1 no – Wittkopf

p. Moved by Doeren seconded by Fulton to accept recommendation from
Harbor Commission and recommend to Council approval of draft
ordinance creating an ordinance for docking and transit docking.
Motion carried upon electronic voice vote. 10 ayes

q. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to recommend to Council
approval of draft ordinance amending the ordinance for licensing of dogs
and regulation of animals as amended by Mayor Nerenhausen and Chief
Carper per previous discussion held with the council members.
Wittkopf stated concern on where dogs will not be allowed…at public gatherings; Jim Stiloski stated he has working dogs; Zahn stated at the Harvest Fest which will be a public gathering they are having a dog
contest; Discussion.
Wittkopf and Schreiber withdrew their motion
Wittkopf stated draft ordinance should be amended deleting the sentence that no dogs allowed at public gatherings;
Moved by Maas seconded by Doeren to recommend to Council approval of draft ordinance amending the ordinance for licensing of dogs and
regulation of animals as amended by Mayor Nerenhausen and Chief
Carper.
Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Jim Stiloski to amend the motion to delete
the sentence stating no dogs allowed at public gatherings.
Motion carried upon electronic vote.
8 ayes 2 no: Doeren and Jim Stiloski

Moved by Maas seconded by Doeren to recommend to Council draft ordinance for licensing of dogs and regulation of animals as amended.
Motion carried upon electronic vote.
7 ayes 3 no: Joe Stiloski, Dick Doeren and Jim Stiloski

r. Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Wittkopf to recommend to Council approval of the request from the Oconto Cry Baby Club for the annual
fundraiser on 10/3/09.
Jim Stiloski stated they approval should come from the county as this is a
county road;
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

s. Mayor stated we need to start looking at how we want to design from Frank Street to S.T.H. 22 as this work will be done in 2010; Maas stated
we need approx costs for the walkway, boulevard; Mayor stated we can
design this area but why if we aren’t going to do it; Maas again stated we
need to see costs; Wittkopf referenced eng firm that did the typical cross
sections; Schreiber stated he is in favor of a bike lane but not
boulevards…these will be a problem to plow around; Discussion; Atty.
Mraz stated the Mayor is asking for approval on looking at options; Maas
stated as long as the costs come with it; Wittkopf stated we’ve seen
sketches on ideas; Young stated he heard there is damage to the
underground utilities…what will those costs be?
Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to authorize the Mayor to direct Robert Mommaerts to do sketches of ideas for this area and bring back to
next Com of the Whole with all costs included.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

Fulton referenced when he was Mayor he and Bob Mommaerts took some designs for this area and met with DOT on this.

t. Belongia stated Joel Schmidt stated that he has talked to the individual doing the grass cutting around his property at 1532 Main, trimming will
also be done and kept up with around the bldgs and property; Schmidt
also stated he will have a new roof put on where it has blown off, this
should have been done by the end of August.

u. Moved by Fulton seconded by Wittkopf to recommend to Council approval of attending the upcoming league conference 10/14-16/09.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

v. Moved by Heier seconded by Schreiber to recommend Council approval of the three applications received for an operator’s license contingent
upon completion of the required operator’s beverage training course.
Motion carried upon electronic vote. 10 ayes

6. Next Regular Council meeting, Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.

7. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 7:13 p.m.


Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia,
Administrator