Council minutes

Minutes of the Regular Council meeting held on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. Roll call: Mayor Nerenhausen, Ed Young, Ken Exferd, 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. Invocation and pledge of allegiance by Pastor Mary Zupansic, First American Lutheran Church.
4. Moved by Zahn seconded by Wittkopf to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 10 ayes
5. Moved by Doeren seconded by Schreiber to accept and place on file as presented the minutes.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 9 ayes 1 abstaining - Young
6. Moved by Schreiber seconded by Fulton to accept and place on file as presented the department reports.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 10 ayes
7. Correspondence/public input: Ron Hayes addressed the council on his efforts to get a free trolley service for the City of Oconto; working with Jay Wadd and Senator Hansen and Congressman Kagen has an application for grant funds that has a 2/8 deadline; the grant would allow for the purchase of the trolleys’; helping to cover the expenses for the drivers of the trolley could be from donations received from the users of the trolley and selling advertising on the sides of the trolley’s; Hayes stated his vision is the trolley’s would make various stops throughout the city, anywhere from the campground, to the banks, pharmacies, Bond Center, meal site, to the Breakwater; even on election day, helping to get people to the polls; city would have to provide insurance under it’s umbrella policy; maintenance on the trolley’s would be handled through the Board of Public Works; this would be a city trolley service; Hayes stated the trolley would run 7 days/wk, would have to have one to three trolley’s; Maas stated this would be a great asset for our community; one by one the ten alderperson verbally supported and encouraged Hayes to continue to pursue getting the trolley’s;
8. Mayor read aloud the following Consent Agenda: Award of contract to United Construction, Abrams, WI for repairs to the public works bldg and addition of two new bays to the existing plow storage garage; approve of final pay request to Peters Concrete Company in the amount of $1,238.35 for Contract OC-09-A for the Michigan Avenue reconstruction; Approve of final pay request for $25,500 and supporting documentation and no to the contract change order for Champion Services for the former Kelly Pickle property; Approve of listing of accts payables for $231,871.84; payroll for $110,810.36 and financial reports as presented; Approve of resolution adopting the 2009 Oconto County Multi-Hazards Mitigation Plan; Accept the renaming of the multi-modal trail to Copper Culture Trail; Approve of appointment of Lynn Exferd as an election inspector for a two year term; Mayor pulled item “h” to Proceed with procedure for the levying of special assessments for improvements on the property owned by Randy Cain, 710 5th Street;
Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Wittkopf to approve of the Consent Agenda except for item “h”.

Wittkopf questioned why was “h” pulled? Mayor stated to allow for Alderperson Young to vote on the Consent Agenda. Jim Stiloski questioned what is the next step regarding the assessments for 710 5th Street? Atty. Mraz stated item 9 c on tonight’s agenda.

Motion carried upon verbal vote. 10 ayes

h. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Maas to proceed with procedure for the
levying of special assessments for improvements on the property owned by Randy Cain, 710 5th Street.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes 1 abstaining – Young

9 a. Mayor stated Finance Committee tabled action on request for a deferment on the special assessment for parcel # 265-32-200112023, physical address 1015 Collins Ave.

9 b. Maas stated the fireworks display last year was received very favorably, feels this is something we can do that is enjoyed by many; Jim Stiloski agreed stating this brings people to downtown Oconto; Wittkopf questioned where will the money come from? Belongia stated as done last year, the funds came from within the budget.
Moved by Maas seconded by Fulton to approve of invoice from Five Star Fireworks, Mountain, WI for $5,000 for the July 4th, 2010 fireworks display.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

7. Mayor announced we would go back to item 7 and asked Bill Cook to come forward to receive a plaque recognizing his retirement as a City of Oconto employee; Plaque presented by Ron Hayes, Chairperson of the Board of Public Works.

9 c. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Maas to approve of the Preliminary Resolution for parcel # 265-32-200662078, physical address 710 Fifth Street, Oconto, WI.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes 1 abstaining – Young

9 d. Moved by Maas seconded by Jim Stiloski to accept recommendation from Plan Commission and change name of Johnson Street to Logtown Road.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

9 e., f. & g. Mayor stated these three agenda items all go together; Mayor stated the
recommendation needs to be slightly amended to read: establish and approve of
an ATV trail from the West city limits to the existing R/R ROW (going to
Stiles) through the underpass at the trailhead on Van Hecke Ave, then south along
Van Hecke to the R/R ROW (going to Cook Avenue) then along the R/R ROW to
Cook Avenue, then along Cook Avenue to C.T.H. Y. Mayor stated the entire route is on city property;
Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Maas to approve establishing the ATV trail as amended by the Mayor; and approve of a Snowmobile/ATV trail route for the City of Oconto.
Wittkopf stated when the ATV issue came to last weeks Park board meeting they were told this would come back to the board;
Gene Berth stated they attended three meetings last week, the last one being on Friday with the Mayor, city officials and Ron Hayes representing the Board of Public Works and the Lena snowmobile club; felt it was better to include ATV’s with the snowmobile trail…will allow for grants to be applied for…funding will help get the signage and route can be worked on hoping to get ATV route established over summer; a lot of clubs north of us have joint ATV/Snowmobile trails; Wittkopf stated he is in favor of this, but questioned who approved of this? Belongia stated the Plan Commission met and made a recommendation which is on this agenda; Park & Rec also met on the ATV portion and then the meeting on Friday morning is a result; agreed it never went to the Bd of Public Works for approval, but the signs are up…was mentioned at Friday’s meeting the request’s should have come to the city before the signage went up on Van Hecke;

Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

9 h. Belongia stated the Mission Statement, core priorities and department goals for
2010 is on the agenda, not as a recommendation from the Park & Rec, but as
information only…commending the Park & Rec director and committee for this information. Jim Stiloski commended Kale Proksch on good job he is doing.
Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Schreiber to accept this information and place
on file.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

9 i. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Exferd to accept recommendation from Park & Rec for a 9-hole miniature golf course not to exceed $10,000, which was budgeted for in the 2010 budget.

Jim Stiloski stated coming from a golf background…such mini golf equipment will not hold up; should get a carpenter and mason and make a mini golf course; Mayor stated we have restrictions for building in a floodway area; Zahn questioned if the new mini golf course would be put in the same location as the previous? Mayor stated yes.

Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

9 j. Moved by Maas seconded by Wittkopf to approve of the Mayor’s appointments to
a Promotion Committee, which was authorized by Council at the December
meeting to be: Beth Larsen, Tammy Salzieder, Ron Hayes, Peter Stark, Linda
Belongia, Suzie Cain, Dale Mohr, Krista Proksch, Charles Nick and Ken
Thompson.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

10. Mayor stated the Council may vote to convene into Closed Session pursuant to notice duly given and as allowed by Wis. Stats. 19.85[1], [e] & [g] for discussion on recommendation from the Industrial Development Commission on RLF # 05-02.

Moved by Zahn seconded by Wittkopf to convene into Closed Session at 6:36 p.m.
Motion carried upon verbal roll call vote. 10 ayes

Closed Session

11. Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Schreiber to reconvene into Open Session at 6:45 p.m.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 10 ayes

12. Moved by Doeren seconded by Maas to accept recommendation from IDC and grant a six-month interest only deferment on RLF #05-02.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 10 ayes

13. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Exferd to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 6:46 p.m.

Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia,
Administrator