A three hour meeting took care of a 839 page packet of information for the meeting . . . not too bad. Here’s the gory details . . . .
We kicked off the meeting with a minute of silence for the people killed in the med-flight crash. We suspended a bunch of rules like we do in the beginning of each meeting and then honored the Memorial High School forensics team – complete with a performance from one of the students. And then we passed a secret. We had some questions about a project on the northside in Cherokee Marsh which passed.
#11 – Amending the demolition ordinance to address demolition by fire.
Next, we did another “do over”. Should the fire department be able to burn houses to demolish them and provide training for firefighters? I think we all think yes, but how the public is notified and when they do it was of concern. Alder Gruber came back with a “compromise” that we voted on. I love it when we have a “compromise” that one side of an argument comes up with. The “compromise” was that the fire department would be the only ones to do demolition by fire and limit it to three times a year. And then they removed the restriction prohibited them from burning on days where the DNR had issued Air Quality Warning or Watch for particulate matter.
I moved to keep the language prohibiting burns on days when there were Air Quality Warnings or Watches. The fire chief was out of the room and couldn’t answer questions, so there was a motion to table. Believe it or not, we had to have a roll call vote on this.
Those those voting “NO” to table so we could ask the fire chief questions were: Schumacher, Brandon, Clausius, Compton, Plam and Rummel.
Those voting “AYE” were: Sanborn, Skidmore, Solomon, Verveer, Webber, Bruer, Clear, Cnare, Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Konkel, Pham-Remmele, Rhodes-Conway.
While we waited we moved on to:
Alder Pham-Remmele wanted to make a statement about our “secret” we passed earlier. Her point being that someone shouldn’t be honored for helping Southeast Asians if they only work with one population – the Hmong as there are 55 other groups included as Southeast Asians.
Then, we reconsidered item 162 – which is Alder Kerr’s appeal of the hotel on Monroe Street. We set the public hearing for the June 3rd council meeting.
Then we made the following staff appointments:
#18 – New Parks Department Superintendent – Kevin Briski and
#19 – New City Treasurer – Dave Gawenda.
Both passed with no problems. Kevin Briski made the rounds introducing himself to staff prior to the meeting. Alder Judge remarked that since he had no parks, they wouldn’t be working together much and others had their lists of things ready that needed attention. Kevin Briski will be starting on June 2 and Dave Gawenda remarked that he was looking forward to moving on to “bigger things ahead”. Interesting that City Treasurer is considered a move up from County Treasurer. Welcome to both of them!
#11 – Amending the demolition ordinance to address demolition by fire.
Then we went back to the demolition by fire issue and took it off the table. The fire chief was back in the room and we learned that last year there were 18 days that the DNR issued warnings or watches for particulate matter. However that was based on only 65 microns and the standard is now 35 microns and so they are expecting that will double the number of days that watches and warnings are issued. We also heard testimony that they would stop a burn exercise if there were conditions that put the firefighters at risk (high winds, etc.) even tho they said they couldn’t stop a burn exercise because of a watch or warning. I think that the health and safety of the public and the air they breathe is equally important to protecting the safety of the staff.
However, only Verveer, Webber, and Rummel voted “AYE” with me to keep the language that would prohibit them from adding particulates to the air on days when watches and warnings were issued.
Those voting against for staff training over clean air and public health were: Sanborn, Schumacher, Skidmore, Solomon, Brandon, Bruer, Clausius, Clear, Cnare, Compton, Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Palm, Pham-Remmele and Rhodes-Conway.
The final vote on the ordinance, that limits training to three days per year, which doesn’t address the concerns that I and others had was 14 – 6.
Those voting “NO” were: Sanborn, Compton, Judge, Konkel, Pham-Remmele and Rummel.
Those voting “AYE” were: Schumacher, Skidmore, Solomon, Verveer, Webber, Brandon, Bruer, Clausius, Clear, Cnare, Gruber, Kerr, Palm, Rhodes-Conway.
At some point during this discussion, Alder Pham-Remmele was talking and was cut off. Alder Brandon approached the Mayor and the Mayor announced that our “AV Club President” wanted to inform us that if we talk too loudly into the microphones they automatically shut off.
Also of interest, the fire chief took the moment to remind us that if they had a $6.5M state of the art training facility, they wouldn’t need to do the training exercises on buildings being demolished.
#44 – Noise outside the 7 am – 7 pm restrictions for construction on E. Washington Ave.
Bottom line here is that there will be no pile driving and the public is notified of the noise if they are within 300 feet of the street and they will be notified next spring when the work begins. This item passed unanimously on a voice vote.
# 87 – Moving $8,000 from the Far West Library to buy a copier.
We then moved on to our other “Do Over” of the evening, where there was a long, and I think unnecessarily drawn out. I have to admit, I think I tuned out as some folks were talking. After a particularly long comment by Alder Palm, the Mayor once again called on Alder Palm, er, I mean Alder Brandon – who used the opportunity to scold us yet again. This time it was his “Politician” speech, which I think the gist of it was that if we don’t show up to meetings where items are discussed we lose the right to have an opinion on those issues and are being bad elected officials if we don’t participate at the committee level. Alder Pham-Remmele responded with explaining that you can’t be in two places at once and she was at a meeting for a committee she sits on (CDBG) when this issue was discussed at the Library Board and that was why she wasn’t there to participate – a situation many of us are often faced with.
The staff person (sorry I didn’t catch his name) from the library gets extra brownie points for working “The Natural Step” into his comments on why we were buying this copier.
After all of that, this item passed unanimously on a voice vote.
#89 – Cherokee Marsh plat
Kumbaya. Lots of technical talk . . . but it passed unanimously on a voice vote.
#98 – Changing the Snow Emergency Rules
Hopefully we will never have to use this, but, now if there is more than 3 inches of snow (from policy) before November 15th or after March 15th – they can still call a snow emergency. And the whole city will have to alternate side park – except streets with one side of parking and a long list of other exceptions. It passed unanimously on a voice vote.
#101 – Will there be jobs for Allied Drive residents in the public works portion of the project?
I’m not sure which item contained this information, but, there will be 3 Construction Craft Laborer Apprentice jobs for people in the Allied Drive area in the public works bid that we approved. This item just moved the budget money around to allow it to happen and it passed unanimously on a voice vote.
#104 – Report on gender, race and people with disabilities appointments to City committees
This was referred as there were still errors in the numbers.
#105 – Report on gender, race and people with disabilities and hiring for top management positions
This report showed that women represent 47% of the labor market but are only 34% of the top managers across the City. We fall short in 5 of the 6 categories of top management positions as follows:
- Police – 33%
- Fire – 11%
- Management and Professionals – 37%
- Agency Heads – 21%
- Metro Management and Professionals – 24%
The study also showed that there is a 6% wage gap, which needs to be studied further.
The study confirms what I’ve been saying and will require follow up to work on the recommendations in the report, but things have started to change internally with the recruitment and certification process and it will take some budget and policy changes to continue to make progress. Thanks to the staff and committee that worked on this! The report was unanimously accepted/approved/received or whatever, on a voice vote.
#106 – CDA Workplan
We finally got the budget and workplan on the same agenda and got an update on the 2008 plan that was due before we did this year’s budget (last May or June) but we didn’t get it so last year in the budget we had to ask for it. We got it at the end of January/beginning of February but referred it to consider it with the budget. So, there were many changes and they have to get the 2009 plan ready in the next few months.
My major issue with the report is that it has a list of projects, but doesn’t really state our broader goals of what we are trying to accomplish.
Updates and questions include:
- Allied Drive got the tax credits and they are moving forward.
- The American Exhange Bank Redevelopment District has been removed from the plan.
- The CDA will consider the request by WARF to waive part of the $600,000 fee for the $180M bonding for Wisconsin Institute for Discovery/Morgridge Institute for Research, but they are likely to not waive the fee if I read the vibe correctly.
- Lakepoint. Lots of questions, not alot of firm answers. We’re stuck in a bad situation and they are trying their best to make sure we don’t lose more money. Clearly, they are not going to want to try to get any money out of the council! However, if I read the numbers correctly, with my back of the envelope calculation, its not looking good. I look forward to a fuller analysis.
- Our public housing reserves are building back up. They have $600,000 where they should have $1M.
- The Truax plan was adopted
- And, they didn’t offer much when it comes to the Truman Olson Army ROTC Facility. While it was clear to me that they want it to be economic development and not a facility to serve the homeless, no one would say it.
The plan passed unanimously on a voice vote.
#107 – CDA Budget Template
Yes, the CDA does not pay for Mark Olinger’s time. Or any staff time spent working on the Villager Mall. Allied Drive staff time is being charged to the TIF. It’s not clear where some of the other items are in the various line items, but we’re making progress. At least we have the outline of an operating budget for the CDA redevelopment activities. (We’ve always had one on the Housing Operations side of things.) This passed unanimously on a voice vote.
With that, we adjourned to the Great Dane. Those partaking were: Gruber, Webber, Rhodes-Conway, Rummel, Judge, Verveer, Clear, Bruer, Schumacher and eventually . . . Palm. Also joining us was an Amy Westra and, of course, the lovely Rosemary Lee. (Hey Mike – nice talking to you!) Next time, Alder Judge will finally be legal drinking age.
