Com of the Whole Minutes

Minutes of the Committee of the Whole Meeting held on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at city hall pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order by Mayor Fulton at 6:03 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. Pete Nelson Absent. Also present Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary.
3. Moved by Jim Stiloski seconded by Zahn to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 9 ayes
4. Public appearances/correspondence: Minutes from previous month’s meetings; League bulletin, League Capital Buzz and July newsletter from The Murphy Insurance group.
5. Discussion/recommendation on:
a. Josh Bostedt representing the Oconto Fire Department requested permission for the department to again participate in the Muscular Dystrophy Fill the Boot Fund Raiser; Bostedt stated the firemen would like to be at the intersection of Main & Park on Friday, August 27 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and again on Saturday, August 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bostedt stated they will also be collecting donations at Wagner Shell and Thompson Food’s.
Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Jim Stiloski to grant the request from Josh Bostedt on behalf of the Oconto Fire Department.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 9 ayes

b. Mayor stated Cal Schultz from Keystone Development has submitted a preliminary site plan showing the residential development originally requested 1.5 acres now at 1.9 acres; Mayor stated city engineer has redrawn the proposed facility and it will work on that site…the developer stated they are moving forward; Schreiber questioned will we increase the price…and also concern that we have a reversionary clause with a price attached if he backs out; Maas stated this is not an offer to purchase; Mayor agreed, but agreed with Schreiber’s comments;

c. Discussion on recommendation from Finance on borrowing $1M. Maas stated everyone knows why we have the indebtness, we’ve heard it from our auditors, now have to do something to get us out of that situation; Mayor stated using the earned interest on those monies the overall impact on the mill rate is estimated to be no more than $.07 per thousand…Jeff Belongia is here to answer any questions; Zahn stated this borrowing will include money to cover the costs of the city hall roof; Wittkopf stated if we didn’t do the parking lot, we wouldn’t have to borrow; Jeff Belongia stated the city has an asset with the Bond Pickle site…getting the funds back into the general fund strengthens our credit ability; Jim Stiloski referenced the Standard & Poor’s credit report on the City of Oconto…particularly where we thought at year end 2009 we would not have a general fund deficit… need to maintain our good credit rating…interest only payments till fall of 2015 then principal starts as our other debt payments at that time drop off substantially due to paying them off;
Moved by Maas seconded by Jim Stiloski to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council to proceed with borrowing $1,000,000.00 which will include the expense for the city hall roof and the interest earned on these funds will be used towards the debt payments on this issue.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote.
8 ayes 1 no – Joe Stiloski and 1 absent Nelson

Jeff Belongia will prepare the documents for the borrowing for the October Council meeting.

d. Moved by Doeren seconded by Schreiber to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council to approve of Engineering Addendum No. H-4 to Foth for the Harbor Dock Wall Project in the amount of $18,500.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote.
8 ayes 1 no – Joe Stiloski and 1 absent Nelson

e. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council approval of the invoice from Crack Filling Service, Corp. for resealing the city streets per budget in the amount of $14,000.00.
Jim Stiloski questioned what streets were done? Mayor stated we will get that information for next week’s council meeting.
Zahn stated Bridge & Farnsworth were two streets done.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes

Maas asked that in the future information be provided as to where the work was done.

f. Mayor stated the Public Works found a truck on craigslist for $16,000 that Jeremy Wusterbarth and Jim Hanson our mechanic went and checked out; this truck is in better condition that one we originally going to purchase;
Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Doeren to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council to purchase a 2001 Bucket Truck for $16,000.00 which was budgeted for.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote.
8 ayes 1 no – Jim Stiloski and 1 absent Nelson

g. Mayor stated Finance will be meeting on 8/10 regarding the Tax Exempt properties.
Wittkopf stated we can charge for city services; Atty. Calvert agreed, a reasonable fee for services we provide can be charged to tax exempt properties; Discussion. Atty. Calvert will give an opinion to Finance on this; Mayor stated the finance committee has been working on this matter for sometime.

h. Finance will also be meeting on 8/10 regarding the 2011 budgets to take a look at what the request should be to our dept heads.

i. Moved by Doeren seconded by Maas to accept recommendation from Finance and recommend to Council approval of the listing of accounts payables in the amount of $418,478.96; payroll for $121,986.56 and financial reports as presented.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes

j. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to accept recommendation from Board of Public Works and recommend to Council to draft an ordinance to establish a 15 minute parking area on the south side of Main Street from Millidge Avenue to Park Avenue.
Maas stated a 15 minute parking limit is not the remedy…some cars are parked all day long; Wittkopf stated which why BPW is recommending the ordinance; Discussion. Maas stated this should go back to committee for more discussion; Jim Stiloski stated he would like to see a 15 minute parking limit in front of his place; Schreiber referenced the Public Works minutes…all of Main Street should be looked at; Maas stated how will the 15 minute parking limit be enforced? Zahn questioned where will the bowlers park?

Motioned denied upon electronically recorded vote.
1 aye – Wittkopf; 8 no: Young, Reed, Schreiber, Joe Stiloski, Zahn, Doeren, Jim Stiloski and Maas. 1 absent – Nelson

k. Moved by Schreiber seconded by Young to recommend to Council approval of applications for an operators license contingent upon completion of the required operators beverage training course for Allison Behnke and Rebecca Saari and David Winans and a Temp Class B License for the Oconto Sportsman’s Club for Breakwater Park for 8/15 and 9/12/2010.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes

l. Discussion on establishing mailboxes at city hall for the alderperson’s to pick up agenda’s and mail; will be a significant cost savings in postage;
Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to recommend to Council to establish mailboxes at city hall for the alderpersons.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes

6. Mayor stated we will have a Special Council meeting on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 5 p.m. in the multi-purpose room for presentations by engineering firms regarding conceptual ideas for Brazeau Avenue.

7. Moved by Zahn seconded by Schreiber to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 6:43 p.m.


Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia,
Administrator