Council Recap

Honoring resolutions, liquor licenses, committee appointments, Biolink TIF requirements removed and the City-County tax collection dispute with a goofy Pham-Remmele/Mayor exchange and  [BK comments].

Meeting finally called to order at 6:37. I’m watching from home cuz I’ve been sick for the last two days. This recap will be a little shorter/a little less thorough for that reason.

GETTING STARTED
Roll Call: Lauren Cnare, Brian Solomon and Tim Bruer absent

Mark Clear says editorial change to the agenda, technical issues with numbering. On page 26 item between 82 and 83, he says that is number 103. Then on the addendum, two items without number, will be 104 and 105.

Clear moves suspension of the rules.

HONORING RESOLUTIONS FOR PARKS, COMTROLLER, BARB CONSTANS AND SOUTH SIDE RAIDERS
Clear moves adoption of number 1. Parks and Recreation Month resolution. Passes, no one from Parks to pick it up.

Clear moves adoption of item 2, recognizing the Comptroller’s office for an award they received.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz reads they resolution.

Dean Brasser and two of his staff join them. Brasser holds up the report that got the award, 175 pages, on the website. Value of it is that it shows to municipal finance community that we are a well managed city. He thanks the accounting services people who have improved the report over time. Patty McDermott and Steve Plath?

Patty McDermott says that she was given a to do list 8 years ago and this was on the list. Not just proud of what this says, but proud boss knows she takes pride in her work. Thanks auditors at Baker Tilly and the accounting services staff. She credits him with many of the improvements. Passed the review the first time, that is a pretty good achievement in itself. Motion passes.

Clear moves adoption of item 3, recognizing Barb Constans after 31 years of service with the city.

Mayor reads the resolution. Motion passes. Standing ovation.

Constans thanks the alders and Mary Charnitz for writing the resolution. Fortunate to have worked for the city, she applied for a grant for Urban League and the job. Thanks George Austin and Hickory Hurie. Appreciates all the alders she worked with. Thanks the non-profits she worked with but without them, we couldn’t do the work we do and you would be short of a handful of wonderful projects and people who do work on behalf of the city often with little thanks. Invites them for cake on July 1st and thanks them for taking time to honor her.

Marsha Rummel asks to be added as a sponsor. Worked with Barb on CDBG for 3 years and before elected, on IZ committee she staffed. Unique, level headed calm demeanor and can explain difficult concepts like IZ. I always asked good questions and she had good answers, so thank you and have a good time.

Mike Verveer thanks Constans for all her work and for “putting up with us” alders all these years.

Satya Rhodes-Conway says didn’t work with Constans as long as Verveer, but worked on Brentwood and worked to take concept of resource teams and go deep in the neighborhood, in what we politely call an emerging neighborhood. Barb was a leader and kept us on track and you were organized and to the point and good things happened as a result. Sorry she won’t work with her more, come back and visit.

Compton says that there are many staff in the city, but none of them have I had conflict with them as much as Barb and I did. What she did and continues to do is tell me I was wrong and accept that I thought she was wrong and we were able to get development done. She had the facts, her heart was in what she was doing, she wanted to do what was best for the city, she did the city proud and helped me thorough some difficult processes.

Michael Schumacher says that the first door he knocked on when running for election was hers. Barb quizzed him and eventually signed his position. He says also learned a lot on the Habitat project on the North side, she guided me when I was unreasonable and shepherded the project.

Mayor gives her best wishes.

Julia Kerr moves adoption of item 4, commending the Southside Raider and Cheerleader program.

Mayor reads the proclamation.

Wayne Strong and Isadore Knox accept the award.

Knox thanks them, and says what he likes about being part of the organization is that is has a long tradition and legacy of excellence. We hear about a lot of negative youth experiences, but the process of serving these kids gives them pride and they make us look good. You hear a lot of things said about South Madison but this is one of the positive things. He thanks the supporters, Town of Madison, South Madison Planning Council, Boys and Girls Club is the fiscal agent, Johnny Winston Jr Block Party is their fundraiser and Optimist, Rotary, Local 311, Madison Police Officers, 1st Unitarian Society, concession stand at Wal-Mart and coca-cola help them raise money. But the most is individual supporters. Encourage you to come see a game. Founder is Will Boyd Smith, he was 17 when he had the vision for youth football, a teenager on the south side had this vision. Join them July 10th, Penn Park for picnic celebration.

Wayne Strong thanks them on behalf of all the current and former players, for 15 years been a whirlwind experience, enjoy working with young men and women. We had huge successes and failures, this is more about blocking and tackling and cheering, it’s about development, to have kids move on to contribute to society in a positive way. He thanks Isadore, program has grown and lots of support from local businesses. Hopes it will continue to grow for the next 40 years.

Kerr says there are a lot of reasons to be proud of the 13th district, but representing Penn Park and the home of the Raiders is one I am most proud of, because of what they do for the community. Notes Isadore Knox and Lt Strong’s commitment, people like to say things about the south side, she says it is one of the stronger areas of the city because of the strong institutions that helps the neighborhoods deal with problems constructively and thanks people.

CONSENT AGENDA
Clear explains that they adopt most of items as printed in the agenda, with some exceptions and changes.

He says there are 2 items that are extra-majority on 69 and 83 and they will record a unanimous vote if there are no exceptions.

Item 5 motion is to refer to Board of Public Works, Solid Waste Advisory Committee and Commission on the Environment.

Item 19 (committee appointments) is separated for discussion.

Item 24 (city collection of taxes) is referred to 7/6 meeting.

Item 37 (BioLink) separated for discussion.

Item 43 has a substitute on their desk.

Item 73 has a substitute on their desk.

Item 104 (snoking) is referred to 7/6 council meeting.

Also, items 6 – 16 are the public hearing items.

Shiva Bidar-Sielaff asks to be recorded as a “no” on item 83 (funding for software for tax collection).

Satya Rhodes-Conway discloses that on item 96 she has been asked to be on an advisory committee for the grantee but because it doesn’t have a financial impact so she is not abstaining. [Hmm, I don’t think that is what the ordinance says.  I wonder if that is what the city attorney informed her to do.  Check the Isthmus tomorrow for my take on City ethics, or lack thereof.]

Rummel asks about item 83, its a companion to item 24 which is being referred so why not 83.

Clear says work needs to start, planned to be adopted at regular meeting two weeks ago, IT department needs the time to get started, if ordinance amendment not adopted, contract can be cancelled.

Rummel says she votes no on 83.

Thuy Pham-Remmele abstains on number 19, she doesn’t agree to how recommended with 2/3 vote required, until things change will abstain.

Pham-Remmele asks to have her name added on 38.

Pham-Remmele asks to vote no on 83, for her it is premature, if 24 referred, both should be referred, if have to be decided tonight vote no.

Mayor says that’s an issue, there are only 17 alders there and if three people ask to be recorded as voting no it fails because it is a 15 vote item.

Clear excludes 83 to be discussed

Joe Claussius asks to be added as a sponsor on items 73 and 90.

Kerr wanted to be recorded as no on 83 as well.

PUBLIC HEARINGS WITH VOTES ON GRID IRON AND LEE LIQUOR LICENSES

So far, the meeting has been quite long with honoring resolutions and the consent agenda discussion.  It’s already 40 minutes into the meeting at 7:11.

Clear moves number 6. and says the motion is to grant with editorial change on ratio of food and alcohol being 50/50.

Kerr says she votes no, won’t take up time, information is included in the packet and was discussed by ALRC, but her understanding is they are not inclined to cancel the license, but will re-review in July or August.  She wants to remind people this is the hotel at Regent and Monroe and she thinks they shouldn’t give licenses to places not complete, construction stopped last October.

Bridget Maniaci also votes no.

Judy Compton asks an ALRC member if this was granted knowing the project not completed.

Verveer says yes.

Rummel votes no.

Items 7 – 15 – Clear moves grant with stipulations that are all included in the packet, but with one additional stipulation, at their place. Lee, as manager consents that license will be held in trust and same trustee shall manage the business and sell it subject to approval of mortgage holders. License is granted but within 30 days the license will transfer.

Mike Verveer says 12 and 14 were not granted, but the motion should be Clear.

Kerr clarifies, not grant or non-renewal on 12 and 14.

Mayor asks Attorney Roger Allen to explain rules of hearing. Allen says the Assistant City Attorney has agreed to withdraw non-renewal, this is not a fact finding hearing, there will be no evidence, no testimony, he says it is like a criminal case where the judge has accepted the plea, they can comment on sanctions or penalties and its appropriateness.

Kerr asks for a point of order, says they don’t have what you have, all they have is one piece of paper.

Clear says it’s in the packet.

Kerr asks if it includes what happened last night.

Several alders indicate there is nothing different.

Public Testimony – Rosemary Lee says outraged, addressing you even though my words won’t matter. The actions taken is a travesty, the message sent does not say that we will not tolerate criminal activity of the license holders. Punishment does not address the violations, they will both be imprisoned for their activities. Some say employees should not be let go and buildings let go dark. Young people with these jobs can find new jobs and developers would be interested in the properties. Ms. Lee’s English should not be an issue, she understands it well enough to conduct business. She explains the sanctions take place during spring break and the sanctions are not on the high volume businesses. To surrender the licenses is not a punitive sanctions. She thinks proper sanction would be to lose all licenses except Samba and Brickhouse Barbeque cuz they weren’t in business when the tax fraud took place.

There is confusion about the registration to answer questions of attorney David Geyer (?).

Discussion – Compton wants to verify they are approving 7,8 9 10 11 and 13 and rejection of 12 and 14.

Clear clarifies that stipulation is on page 85 to 89 electronically. “If you’re using paper, God help you.”

Kerr says she is voting no on all the items except 12 and 14, agrees with Ms. (Rosemary) Lee, appreciates ALRC deliberations on this, but had an anguished discussion with license holder in her district who said we follow the rules and this is dispiriting to them and they hold several licenses. She heard background scuttlebutt that some of what is driving this is having these locations go dark and lose jobs but liquor licenses are a regulation of licenses not economic development concern, they should make the decision on health safety and welfare of our citizens. She votes no on all but 12 & 14.

Maniaci also voting against all by 12 & 14, can’t support the licenses going forward given what has happened with licenses, this is not the first conviction for Mr. Lee, we’re rewarding not just bad, but criminally offensive behavior. She is sure the liquor needs of the downtown Isthmus can be met.

Rhodes-Conwy would like to hear from a colleague on ALRC about the nature of that discussion and have city attorney explain how we got there.

Bidar-Sielaff says that there are a few facts she wants to make sure are straight.  Mr. Lee is not involved in the licenses, the licenses were given to Ms. Lee who has the licenses, we have to separate that. Second factual comment is that Ms. Lee is charged with a misdemeanor not a felony. That makes a difference in how we handle this. She also says that the reason to take the license away has to be germane to the license itself. Tax evasion may not have been germane, The Vineyard had some underage sales. She says she wasn’t there for the vote because she had to go to a neighborhood meeting.

Schumacher, who missed the meeting, stays silent.

Verveer says he was not planning to defend ALRC, but they met 7 – 0, they met four different times, or attempted to (they missed quorum), and 2 of the 4 times lengthy deliberations in closed sessions. ALRC rejected stipulations twice that had been agreed to by city attorney office and Ms. Lee. The ALRC strengthened the agreements.  The brief in the paper this morning only covers a small part of the stipulation, the most significant is fact that we have insulated Ms. Lee from the day to day operations of the business. You have the stipulation in front of you, she will have nothing to do with the daily operations. Mr. Lee serving 2 year prison sentence in Duluth, and he can’t come back on the property as part of his sentence. They are allowing limited role to Ms. Lee, she can appoint business managers, but insulated from decisions, she will serve a one year sentence. He doesn’t think this is a slap on the wrist. As soon as practicable a trustee will be appointed for Vineyard, they will have a new application for a license, you can reject the trustee if they are not fit, but that business will be for sale. Because of mortgages and loans, that was as close as they could come to non-renew the license. Legally we couldn’t because of obligation to the financial institution. ALRC did take it seriously, rejected first two stipulations and hopes they will trust their judgment. He says that it did enter into his mind that there are 200 employees here, it would be a big deal to shutter these venues, that ultimate death penalty would be a mistake. We have other options down the road. With the exception of when Mr. Lee ran the Vineyard, that was the only business that had issues with city agencies or police or UW. With the exception of the taxation fraud, their record was spotless. On the surface, it might not seem like a big deal, the punishment meets the crime.

Eagon says that the germaneness was the issue, many of these have had no negative interactions with the police department, especially the two that are largely food. He says if have interest in separation he would support this. He doesn’t think all or none are appropriate.

Mayor says that they have to vote on the stipulated agreement then record things people want to be recorded separately on.

Vote –The motion passes on a voice vote, there are several nos.

Rhodes-Conway says Kerr is out of the room but wishes to be recorded as indicated in her statement.

Maniaci has the same request.

Rummel, supports recommendation on 12 and 14, and supports 7 & 9.

Mayor tells Kerr they got her, she asks to be yes on 7 & 9.

Rham Remmele no on all but 12 and 14.

[Wow, the women are just being pesky today by not going with the flow!  But, the men have it all figured out, why don’t you just go along?]

Item 15 – Clear doesn’t know the recommendation, they explain it to them. Clear moves to grant with the stipulation in our packet.

Maniaci asks to have them read the stipulation for the record.

Verveer asks to be recorded as abstaining in this matter – but he says there are two stipulations, one in municipal court and one at ALRC, it is 4 pages.

Attorney Roger Allen, filling in for Michael May can’t summarize it because he hasn’t read it.

Apparently the alders don’t have it.

Maniaci asks for the copy since they clearly don’t want to read it.

Mayor opens the public hearing, there is one registration, but there are no questions for Attorney Herbert Taylor, the Mayor closes the  public hearing. Motion passes on a voice vote.
Item 16 – Board of Public Works sidewalk assessment, Clear moves approval, it is adopted on a voice vote with no discussion.

CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS – ITEM 19

The liquor licenses took a half hour, its now 7:41.

Bidar-Sielaff separated this because of the Early Childhood Care and Education Committee, the chair Joanne Brown has served 10 years, a mark that is often used by mayor not to reappoint, she felt strongly this is an important time for the committee and because of the new funding cycle, which they are entering right now it is so extremely disruptive to the committee and community services not to have her expertise, presence and history there.  She thanks her for her work, it was wonderful to have as chair of the committee.

Rummel asks if they referred it could they postpone and her her serve through the summer process?  Bidar-Sielaff has good points, we’re going to have a series of 16 intense meetings this summer and she asks the Mayor to consider that.

Mayor says there is a good replacement, she is well versed in the issues, has run childcare organization, works at the Literacy Network and volunteers in the community.  He says of the 7 positions up for renewal this evening, 6 of 7 who served 10 years didn’t get reappointed, except Mona Winston cuz she was just elected chair of Monona Terrace, but as a rule he likes to move people along so people interested in serving have an opportunity to do that, in rare cases he makes an exception.

Bidar-Sielaff says this has nothing to do with the new appointment, this is a critical time, timing is very bad.  She points out one other person being appointed for more than 10 years, Mike Lawton on the Police and Fire Commission.  She says that she, Joanne Brown and the committee have all made their plea to the Mayor, almost everyone is new, her history would be extremely helpful for the 2 year funding cycle.

Rhodes-Conway moves separation, and referral to mayor’s office.

[Uh-oh, women are getting all uppity again . . . having opinions and all that. ]

Motion confirming all other appointments passes.

Clear motion on Brown’s replacement.

Rhodes-Conway moves a substitute to refer to the mayor’s office, it was seconded.

On a voice vote, it was sent back to his office.

Clear clarifies there was a sub on item 19.

BIOLINK TIF EXCEPTION
Greg Heyer (?) speaks in support. He is the Associate Director of UW Research Park and responsible for leasing of incubator spaces, he has been consulting with them, speaks in favor of releasing the 50% requirement. They tried this 20 years ago, now it is successful, their rental rates similar, has had successful companies come out of it and it has attracted capital. Their past success is not a guarantee, but does show it has significant potential to provide economic development to the community.

There are no questions for Frank Stanizewski from Madison Development Corporation.

Rummel says she pulled this off they agenda cuz she couldn’t go to Board of Estimates and she learned that there was new information released yesterday. She says that Matt Mikolajewski also had a memo to the council and somewhere in between is the reality. How are we protecting ourselves?  If this doesn’t follow the marginally positive route, what happens? How do we make up for the loss of a tenant and what kind of firewalls will there be?  She doesn’t know who to address the question to.

[Time to pause for a bit of explanation.  I haven’t talked to Rummel or Joe Gromacki since I’ve been out of town and sick, but Joe Gromacki, the TIF Coordinator is not at the meeting, and that is unusual.  I only mention it because after the Board of Estimates meeting on this same issue I happened to see Tim Cooley, the Economic Development Director and Joe Gromacki in a heated discussion, inches from each others faces in the hallway.  They clearly disagree about this matter.  And it seems that they have attempted to prevent Gromacki’s information from getting to council members and his absence from the meeting is unusual. NOTE: Gromacki was there. Now I’m intrigued about why no one asked him any questions. There’s a story in there somewhere.]

Tim Cooley says that the turnover is expected, we hope to lose them on a consistent basis to graduate them or kick them out, if they are performing they won’t need the space and if not performing they will be kicked out. They assumed a turnover rate, that is the purpose of an incubator. The question becomes if someone leaves will there be people in the pipeline to move in, based on experience they think so.

Rummel says she has 3 incubators in district 6 and understand them, where is our breakeven point?  What happens if we don’t make the breakeven point consistently?

Cooley says they were conservative in their numbers, there is a possibility that there will not be someone in the pipeline but it’s a unique space and they hope to have it filled.

Rummel asks them to talk about contacts made in last year, no one ready to sign, but what is your assessment of your scouting efforts?

Matt Mikolajewski says they have reached out to groups, Michael Gay met with a possible prospect this afternoon. No signed commitments, but since the announcement of the EDA grant, people are now contacting them again. They will continue to follow up and outreach.

Rummel asks how many contacts have you had and what types of businesses?

Mikolajewski says that there have been about a 12 businesses and more passive interaction with conventions and trade groups in talking about the facility. There are 4 or 5 or 6 that are perhaps solid.

Cooley says one of obstacle to pre-lease is that companies that will likely to want to be there aren’t created yet. They are start ups and they won’t be done building in a year and a half. These are not the types of companies that have 5 year leases and starting to negotiate.

Rummel says understands the dilemma, says Gromacki talks about the rescue strategy, maybe I’m the doom and gloom person, but this is a unsecured loan, they will lose the talented person to steer it through the crisis under that scenario. Are there other strategies besides letting the person go?

Cooley says that they have 3 years of operating expenses for that person, but they hope to get corporate sponsorships, the manager will have that in their agenda.

Mayor interrupts to thank visitors from the Ukraine.

Cooley says they have strategies to develop other cash flow.

Rummel asks about corporate sponsors.

Cooley says yes, looking at LEED certification, have relationships with companies that will support inculabotr and have facilitates in bioag campus, that is the goal of the incubator to create a cluster of biag businesses.

Chris Schmidt asks about the EDA grant and its structure, he says that with grants you get the money and file reports and this puts restrictions on the land through the mortgages.

Mikolajewski says the Office of Business Resources staff, Assistant City Attorney and Madison Development Corporation have reviewed the requirements, auditing and reporting requirements, they have scheduled a half day work session in Chicago to run through all the requirements, they are going to have 1st mortgage on property for 20 years to make sure using facility for intended purpose in the grant. That is a routine requirement.  [Hmm, that non-profit thing isn’t so simple after all, eh?]

Clear asks about 50% pre-lease requirement. Asks Matt to summarize the memo.

Mikolajewski says that there were a series of preconditions the council put on the TIF funds, most met or addressed, the 50% pre-lease has not been addressed and in consultation on MDC feel like that could be detrimental to the project. Final engineering work will be funded in part by EDA and TIF funding, EDA requires equal local match to release their funds. In order to get to point to get land use approvals, and have tenants sign on, they need the TIF assistance to assist with that effort and that has to be done in 22 months. 11 months construction, 3 month architecture an engineering.

Rummel asks about the 25% occupancy in the memo, is that a minimum.

Mikolajewski says that in the first year 25% occupancy and the operating subsidy from EDA and commerce is a zero balance, in order to be in the black in year one need 25% occupancy, currently with the commitment of orbitec, they are at 17% so they need to lease 2500 sq feet

Rummel asks if they think recent conversations make them comfortable with it.

Matt says yes they and MDC are.

This passes on a voice vote, there are a few nos.

TAX COLLECTION SOFTWARE
Clear moves adoption.

Initally, there is no discussion and its clear it will fail from the previous discussion since it is a 15 vote item.

Clear, seeing there is no discussion says that the reason for this is to contract for the software, reason to not refer is for IT department to get started right away. Even if the council decides 4 installment plan not a good idea, contract could be cancelled. They would incur minimal costs to the city. He says the ordinance is not before them because he introduced an agreement of an intergovernmental agreement to return 90% of windfall, interest and penalties currently charged and collected by the county to the county.  This would have taken money flowing to county and give it to the city. If going to 4 tax payments, we should do that regardless of whether we get more money. By introducing the resolution, the proposal is revenue neutral to city and county.  [Revenue neutral, but not cost neutral!] He points out county treasurer was here. All 37 supervisors are in opposition, at Personnel and Finance, they postponed action when it became revenue neutral and withdrew their objections.  [I’m not sure that is what they did.  He may have a rosier opinion of what happened than the supervisors do.]

Rhodes-Conway, asks IT if they approve this tonight and you get started and when we next vote we vote not to move forward, how much money and staff time will we have lost?

Paul Kronberger, IT Director, says that if approval to go forward, it will be a standard city contract, process will be quick, it is possible to have the contractor start this month, it might only be a few thousand dollars.

Dave Gawenda, City Treasurer says that one of the pieces of the software upgrade will be necessary regardless, if the vote fails, there will be a different request for software to produce reports to compare to county system and their system has been unreliable lately and he would seek that anyways.

Schmidt says that we could amend the request later if the 4 installments doesn’t pass, we should fix the software if we can.

Rummel asks if Dave Worzala, County Treasurer is here to answer questions. Rummel asks if they oppose the variation tonight?

Worzala says that the County Executive, County Board Chair and Chair of Personnel and Finance appreciate the olive branch, Worzala appreciates taking the money out of it, this is still a bad idea, he would like to see a discussion about the pros and cons, but that is not about the 40K for software.

Rummel had pointed out it was Worzala’s birthday and the Mayor wishes him Happy Birthday.

Maniaci asks about inaccuracy of county’s information, why occurring?

Worzala would love to address it, but but he didn’t want to start. There was $110K that we didn’t accurately portray that caused him to go to controller to get money. There were 26 bounced checks, those people wrote a second check before it bounced, the systems are talking to each other. You stop and true up, your system had it as a underpayment. You had to write the $110,000 check, you still had their money, it was past the deadline, if you have their money you had to pay it. The whole idea of parcel by parcel data is important to us, come in and ask us when you paid on a parcel in the last 10 years, if you go to 4 installments hope we get the same data back. We don’t want to hear you collected 62%, we want to know parcel by parcel. Those 26 parcels we knew what was wrong in 24 hours, we fixed right away, not a problem.

Maniaci asks Gawenda how does that relate to your comments, why need to update the system?

Gawenda says he was in the County Treasurer shoes for 7.5 years, the way it was dealt with in the county office created the error, we need in our system to generate the report to compare to the county report in the past we just took what the county system said was the correct number, that was only one of several problems we had in Dec.,  Jan. and Feb. related to us not being able to provide that check against the county numbers.

Maniaic asks if they upgrade that will be enough?

Gawenda says that the changes we are talking about now are entirely independent of the county system, enhancing our system to produce reports that in the past we relied on the county for.

Bidar-Sielaff asks if they are killing two birds with one stone, this has nothing to do with 4 installments, you are asking us to do two things at once?

Gawenda says if go to 4 installment system, there are 4 segments of the projects, the one thing he is talking about as one of the projects, he would still pursue the reporting piece.

Bidar-Sielaff encourages him to do so if it fails.

Clear clarifies the one project, the one to do regardless, would you have them start with that project first, then if ordinance amendment fail, still use the work completed?

Gawenda says yes.  [I kind of doubt that answer since simply getting reports is going to be difficult if you don’t put the new information in there that you would need, I don’t think they can start there, that is likely to be the last piece or may end up costing more money as they make changes, the reports may have to change.]

Mayor wants to address it, asks Clear to chair the meeting.

Mayor says in an annoyed tone of voice “Look, this is pretty straight forward, we’re in a recession, taxpayers are having trouble paying their taxes . . . it gives taxpayers a little bit of relief, its not the answer to high taxes, but in 60 communities across Wisconsin this works well” He says his own mother says its a great idea, if Delores Cieslewicz thinks its a  good idea, you should too. Based on earlier near vote, we don’t have 15 votes, that is not the end of the world, there may be some other communities in Dane County that might want to do it, he can put it in his budget, we can have it in 2011, thinks its a simple proposal to give taxpayers a little relief and convenience.  Mayor returns to the chair.  [Normally, when the chair steps down to speak, they don’t return to the chair until the item is over.  Also, someone who has already spoken to the issue does not chair, but the next person in line.]

Pham-Remmele does her “I’m so confusedl, I’m new here” spiel.  She says she wanted to ask question but the Mayor is so quickly back in the chair.

Mayor says he’ll answer from the chair this one time.

Pham-Remmele says she don’t know your mother, but people like David Letterman use their moms to talk about pies and your mom doesn’t pay tax or live in Dane county right?

Mayor says his mom pays taxes.

Pham-Remmele says that she doesn’t live in Dane County right?

Mayor says no, she doesn’t.

Pham-Remmele says that you said this was simple and relief for property tax payer, to me this was a surprise and a new idea, nobody thought it was a relief, they would be very thrilled if Mayor of Madison said “read my lips, no new taxes”, that would be wonderful, but this just creates confusion, people are trained to pay it all at once if they have it, she doesn’t want to create confusion. District 20 pays a lot of taxes, not one person asked for this, so don’t buy that.  She says the second question is . . .

Mayor interrupts and says that didn’t sound like a question.

Pham-Remmele says that it doesn’t seem to be a relief, if the doctor says I fixed you, you should feel better, how come I don’t feel better?

Mayor says he doesn’t know how to begin to respond.

Pham-Remmele says that it is extra work, if have people aredoing more work, 4 times, if this is no problem piece of cake, what happens to those staff members otherwise, are they just sitting around waiting for something to happen, that is what people ask her.

Mayor says treasurer can answer that.

Gawenda says they are processing payments for Dane County, they contract with us, we process about 45 – 50K payments, we’d be processing them for ourselves instead. The other responsibilities we have have seasonality to them, renewal of pet likenesses in Dec, Jan, Mar and April. They are able to juggle the tasks and smooth out the work cuz different responsibilities at different times of the year.

Pham-Remmele asks if we should try to get more revenue from licenses people don’t register for, why just delaying collecting tax, if you have time to enforce licenses?

Gawenda says his department is not responsible for some enforcement, but pet license is an example of one they are, same with personal property taxes, not sure if she is talking about a new tax or fee or permit.

Pham-Remmele says pet and bike licenses meant to enforce and they do not go after people, isn’t that your job?

Gawenda says they go after it.

Pham-Remmele says she hopes they work harder.

Compton asks if they are still talking about $40K for IT?

Mayor thanks her for getting them back on track.

Compton says she is interested in paperless system, so they do not spent money on billing and stamps, will this get us closer to that goal?

Gawenda says he has the same goal, there are 4 subprojects, one of them would be to move to more paperless form of contact, to get email addresses and phone numbers, last year they had a receipting process, they sent it to people who paid on line via email. So when can try to eliminate mailing or moving paper around they do, one component will get us closer to that.

Compton says that $40K and savings to not stuff and close and put stamps on envelopes is substantial, [she has heard of bulk mailing right?  No one is sitting around licking stamps and putting them on] we should not be wasting our resources, if don’t like taxing people 4 times a year, think about what it will do to preserve some of our natural resources, not usual alder spouting green things, but she is telling people to stop and think, more to this than just billing people 4 times a year, most of you are further into technical generation than I will ever be, think about saying no to the software, and then what she is saying just devolves into jokes and side comments . . .

Schumacher says that your budget for the Treasurer was lower than we approved.  [I wasn’t clear who that was a dig at.] This is in line with what we are doing with the water utility, trying to make it easier to make payments, but at Board of Estimates meeting the county jas not really made persuasive consistent argument, he doesn’t understand why we are giving money back to county, since they are not paying for streets we should keep the money, he won’t most likely support that attempt, this is a good project, 40K for software will be paid back in short time.

Skidmore supports amendment, he has had feedback, particularly the businesses, landlords and realtors, [THERE IT IS, I think that is the real reason for this, not the homeowner.] will help their cash flow and keep them in business. He has heard loud and clear this is a good idea. Hope not bring it to budget, do it now.

Kerr says the problem here, and she says this respectfully, when the Mayor commented on our software parts upgrade, you talked about 4 installments, but these issues have gotten merged. If the case is that we need software, then come back with a separate amendment, not prepared to vote on it cuz not convinced tied to 4 installments, the project scope has not been clearly communicated. On the 4 installments, she heard from one person, it was a big land developer, not in her district.  [Again, note who wants this . . . ] She asks for a briefing on this.

Clear says they did that, twice.

She says she must have missed it. [Yeah, cuz they gave short notice and did it on a Friday at noon and Monday at 8 am] She says people don’t understand undertaking this change, it is a big change, she wants to understand the logistics of if this is integral to the 4 installments.

There is a roll call vote.

AYE:  Clear, Compton, Eagan, King, Maniaci, Palm, Rhodes-Conway, Sanborn, Schumacher, Schmidt, Skidmore, Verveer, Clausius.  (13 of the 15 votes needed)

NO:  Kerr, Pham-Remmele, Rummel and Bidar-Sielaff

ABSENT:  Bruer, Cnare, Solomon

WRAPPING UP
Clear says there are not introductions from the floor.

Move to adjourn, 8:39