Public Hearing & Council Meeting

Minutes of the Public hearing and Council meeting held on Thursday, September 16th, 2010 pursuant to notice duly given.

Mayor Fulton opened the public hearing at 5:45 p.m. to solicit comments on the proposed floodplain (zoning ordinance and/or map) revisions that are required by state and federal law. These revisions will govern development in mapped floodplain areas. The proposed ordinance/map revisions are on file in the office of the Administrator for the City of Oconto. The proposed regulations are intended to protect life, health and property in floodplain areas and will govern uses permitted in mapped floodplains. Activities such as dredging, filling excavating and construction of buildings are generally allowed, but may be restricted according to which flood zone the property is in. A copy of the proposed ordinance will be on file and open for public inspection in the office of the Administrator for a period of two weeks prior to this public hearing.

All persons interested are invited to attend this hearing and will be heard. Written comments maybe submitted to the City of Oconto Plan Commission, Mayor Fulton Chairperson.

Mayor called for any comments or input; Alderperson Young questioned the Sportsman’s Club and Allied Court property;

Mayor called three times for any additional comments or input; hearing none the public hearing was closed at 5:55 p.m.

1. Mayor Fulton called to order the Council meeting at 5:55 p.m.

2. Roll call: Mayor Fulton, Ed Young, Roger Reed, John Wittkopf, Al Schreiber, Joe Stiloski, Marlene Zahn, Dick Doeren, Jack Maas and Atty. Calvert. Absent: Jim Stiloski. Also present Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary.

3. Invocation and pledge of allegiance by Alderperson Doeren.

4. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 8 ayes

5. Moved by Zahn seconded by Doeren to approve of the minutes as typed and place on file.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 8 ayes

6. Moved by Schreiber seconded by Maas to approve of the department reports as presented and place on file.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 8 ayes & 1 absent Jim Stiloski

7. Correspondence/public input: Alderperson Zahn brought for the record newspaper article on boater loosing two credit cards at harbor which were turned in and returned; Notification from Wis DOT on the Rustic Roads application for North Park Avenue Road beginning at Cty Hwy S and ending at Maple Grove School Road; Letter from Pier’s Edge regarding notice for razing & removal of 405 First Street; Mayor clarified we are not looking at tearing the structure down, but we need more affirmative action by the owners on securing the building; Maas stated there is still one area that is not sealed up; Mayor agreed, will bring them to next CEC meeting; Vicki Bostedt gave update on the Rustic Road project, read aloud her letter that went in with the application;

8. Moved by Maas seconded by Zahn to accept Mayor’s recommendation to appoint Terri Berth as Alderperson at Large to fill vacancy due to Peter Nelson resigning;
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 8 ayes & 1 absent Jim Stiloski

9. Mayor read aloud the following Consent Agenda: Approval of transfer as requested by the Airport Commission from the revenue generated from the sale of sand to 202-53510-231 to cover the budget deficit for the new gate; Approve of agreement for engineering services for the Smith/Brazeau conceptual plan between the City of Oconto and Robert E. Lee & Associates, Inc; Apply special charges to tax roll for 421 Erie Avenue of $200; Approve of listing of accts payables for $585,642.52; payroll for $212,326.27; and financial reports as presented; Approve of no parking zone along both sides of Broadway Avenue from Bridge Street to 132’ south of Frank Street on east side of tracks; Approve of closure of Pecor Street from Superior Avenue to Water Street on 9/25/2010 for Harvest Festival; Approve of sidewalk program for SE side to be completed in 2010; upon approval proceed with bidding and based on cost, the bids can be accepted or rejected. The new sidewalk on the east side of Scherer Avenue from Forth Street to Seventh Street is included in the Safe Routes to School grant application; Post for 30 days draft ordinance clarifying Wisconsin’s new smoke-free law; Approve of request from Keystone Development for extension on offer to purchase from 9/30/2010 to 1/31/2011; Approve of request from ATV Club to take over the care and maintenance of the three city logo signs; Approve of applications for an operators license and Temp Class B Temporary license; Approve of creating and assigning the position of webmaster to Kale Proksch; and Post for 30 days amendment to the salary ordinance.
Moved by Zahn seconded by Doeren to approve of the consent agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote.
8 ayes 1 no – Joe Stiloski and 1 absent Jim Stiloski

10. Discussion/action on:
a. Moved by Maas seconded by Doeren to suspend the rules regarding adoption of ordinances.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes & 1 absent Jim Stiloski

b. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to adopt under suspension of the rules the ordinance amending the proposed Floodplain Zoning Ordinance and/or map revisions as required by state and federal law. These revisions govern development in mapped floodplain areas.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote.
8 ayes 1 no – Joe Stiloski and 1 absent Jim Stiloski

c. Mayor stated he has discussed with the city engineer extending Evergreen Road to Business 41…based on what we are already involved with for this year, suggestion is to wait till next year to tie in with Brazeau/Smith Avenue project; Maas questioned funding for extending Evergreen, will it be carried over? Belongia stated this will have to be looked into as this extension wasn’t included when we bid out Cook Avenue; Maas stated this was a major error as everyone was aware we wanted to do this extension…this should have been included in bid…will need to carryover funds from 2010 for this work; Mayor stated the surveying and preliminary work has already been done; Wittkopf questioned, was funding allowed? Maas stated as this extension wasn’t included in bid…assuming then it wasn’t included; Wittkopf stated if we are doing Cook Avenue, should include a change order to start radius;
Moved by Maas seconded by Wittkopf to approve of a change order to the Cook Avenue project from Evergreen North to make revision on Cook Avenue to include radius and entrance on new road from Evergreen to Business 41.

Wittkopf stated it makes sense to put that corner in now;

Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote.
8 ayes 1 no – Joe Stiloski and 1 absent Jim Stiloski

d. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Schreiber to accept recommendation from Park & Rec to create an ordinance regarding use of the Copper Culture North (Van Hecke) trail and the Copper Culture South (Mill/Mott) trail.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes & 1 absent Jim Stiloski

e. Mayor stated we have found three additional concrete street lights; our public works crew sandblasted them but there is a substantial difference in the color of the concrete…asking council if we should paint all the concrete antique street lights black? Zahn questioned who owns those lights? Mayor stated the city does; Doeren stated he doesn’t think the difference in color is an issue…that’s the cheap way out…doesn’t like idea of painting those antique poles; Maas stated put one up and we’ll see what it looks like;
Moved by Schreiber seconded by Maas to put the concrete street lights up as they are.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes & 1 absent Jim Stiloski

f. Mayor stated we received correspondence from Bruce and Cathy Zima on behalf of Fran Bourassa appealing the assessment on the Mott Street project; they are having the property looked at by Robert Rosenberg; Mayor stated this is informational only at this time under they provide a determination on the property.

g. Moved by Wittkopf seconded by Reed to adopt ordinance which has been posted since 7/14/2010 amending our charter ordinance and creating the position of an appointed city attorney.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes & 1 absent Jim Stiloski

h. Moved by Maas seconded by Zahn to accept recommendation from Plan Commission and approve contingent upon two corrections by surveyor of the CSM for Joe and Stacy Brill as submitted by Jeff Lieuwen, Ron Kamps Land surveying.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes & 1 absent Jim Stiloski

i. No recommendation from Plan Commission on CSM for Thomas Fulton.

j. Moved by Maas seconded by Wittkopf to approve of officials attending the upcoming league conference 10/13-15/2010.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes & 1 absent Jim Stiloski

Addendum: Discussion/action on change order for razing of the Laundromat building on Brazeau
Avenue. During the razing process two large foundations were discovered underground.
Maas suggested we do nothing at this time, leave the foundations there, if someone wants to purchase, we will work with them at that time; Doeren suggested we get the area marked where the foundations are; Wittkopf questioned 24 x….is the foundation on the other side?
Moved by Maas seconded by Doeren to leave the foundations there until such time as later
determined and instruct city staff to have the area marked where the foundations.
Motion carried upon electronically recorded vote. 9 ayes

11. Mayor stated we will have a special council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 5th, 2010 followed by the Committee of the Whole.

12. Moved by Zahn seconded by Wittkopf to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m.


Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia,
Administrator