Sorry, this should have been posted on Wednesday, but I ran out of time and then lost the first version of it.
The meeting was a little under two hours and uneventful – almost half was about the ordinance on second hand dealers (pawn shops etc) which there was consensus on, so I’m not sure why there was so much talking.
ROLL CALL
Everyone was there, of course, Maniaci was late as usual.
MOMENT OF SILENCE
The Mayor called on Mike Verveer to say a few words about Kent Palmer and they had a moment of silence.
HONORING RESOLUTIONS
They honored Fire Chief Debra Amesqua for her 16 years of service, she is retiring January 3rd. She was the 10th career chief for the city, the 1st woman, she was one of only 7 women police chiefs in the country when she started. She speaks and thanks lots of people and says that it was difficult at first and thanks her friends and family who stood by her. Former Alder Judy Olson spoke to thank her. Many alders and the mayor spoke thanking her for her leadership, dignity, integrity, courage, intelligence, perseverance, being a great role model, going above and beyond her job description, diversifying the fire department, etc. Mike Verveer reminded the council of just how tough it was when she first got here (rank and file sued because they didn’t like her, Jockos, a mayor “out to get you”) and what an amazing story she had that so many were singing her praises now. The also thank the PFC for having the vision to hire her. The real amazing thing is that after the resolution was passed and the council moved on, the command staff, one by one stood in line and waited to hug her and shared some words with her.
They next honored a LaFollette graduate who was one of two people to get a statewide honor. The parents of the student appeared and thanks the council and his teachers, they couldn’t persuade him to show up.
They next gave Alice Fike the Jeff Erlanger Civility award. They praised her quiet commitment and how she could accomplish much without creating a fuss. She didn’t even speak for herself, but Bruer spoke for her.
EARLY PUBLIC COMMENT
One person appeared in support of the day shelter for Porchlight. He spoke of the high rents and that even if you get the money, you can’t get a place because there is such competition. He says there is something wrong with having empty buildings and people sleeping outside.
CONSENT AGENDA
They pass everything on the agenda without comment as recommended except items
4 – 9 public hearings
58 – Water utility
60 – Secondhand dealers
They also included all the items that need a supermajority vote, with not objections.
Item 24 the item was recommended for approval.
18 was recommended for approval by Water Utility and Board of Estimates.
29 was recommmended for approval.
Resnick recused himself on item 78.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Items 4 – 6 which are Alcohol License Review Committee items all pass without comment.
Item 7 – Someone appeared and raised some concerns about this parking and speed bumps and asked for them to have 15 years to pay this off instead of 8 years. Staff explained it would be appropriate to pay this off in 15 years because of the amounts due and that they were addressing the parking and that there was a separate city process for speed bumps which could be added later. The council extended the payment period to 15 years.
Item 8 – Roger Charley spoke in support of the campus ped/bike connections to Regent Street. Was willing to pay the $13K for pedestrian lighting. Rhodes-Conway thanked him and this passed without further comments.
Item 9 – Verveer separated this to extend the payments to 15 years and that passed without further comments.
MONTHLY WATER UTILITY BILLS
Anita Weier originally asked for this to be separated because of concerns of her constituents about privacy and electromagnetic exposure. She said staff answered her questions and she is fine with it.
Satya Rhodes-Conway ask Tom Heikkenen to explain the benefits they anticipate for city, utility and citizens. Staff say that there are economic. operational and sustainability conservation benefits. This new system is essential for conservation plan by providing the customer with more frequent information on how much water they are using and so that they can monitor usage on line, via web and smart phone. They also have leak detection and awareness that will allow them to know about leaks which can add up on a 6 month schedule and they can alert people within a day or two. There is also and obsolescence problem, they need to move in a direction, this is the most progressive and common sense, its a large amount of money but spread out over a large customer base. This is the right time to do it. They got good bids back and are pleased with quality of vendor and price.
It passes on a unanimous voice vote.
SECOND HAND DEALER ORDINANCE
They spent 45 minutes agreeing with each other. The ordinance still needs some work and there will be more amendments but they pass a 5th substitute with amendments. Pawn America agrees to pay the difference between license fees and the costs of a new staff person and computer software if the licensing fees don’t cover it. There are apparently many second hand dealers/pawn shops that are currently not licensed. This issue will also be back in 18 months because it will sunset. Not much else interesting happened here, they just all kept congratulating each other and asking questions that didn’t really lead to any action by the council.
WRAPPING UP
Shiva Bidar-Sielaff introduced a resolution creating another sister city in Mexico.
They said happy birthday to Anita Weier.
Subeck brought them all truffles.
