April 13

COMMON COUNCIL – April 13, 2021 Page 1 CITY OF OCONTO FALLS COMMON COUNCIL Council Chambers – Municipal Building 500 N. Chestnut Avenue - Oconto Falls, WI 54154 TUESDAY – APRIL 13, 2021 - 7:00 PM MINUTES Meeting called to order at 7:00 PM by Mayor Brad Rice Pledge of Allegiance Roll Call Present: Mayor Brad Rice, Aldermen: Marty Coopman, Devin Wirtz, Jeff McDonald, Mathew McDermid, Kevin Rusch, and Tim Holman Also present: Administrator Vicki Roberts, City Attorney Larry Jeske, Deputy Clerk Nancy Brye, Police Chief Brad Olsen, Street Superintendent Terry Magnin, and Fire Chief Tim Magnin Others: Michelle Tester, Gail Yatso, Stephanie Holman, Bart Schindel, Patrick & Angie Ahlgrim, Joe Ruiz, Kevin Sutrick, Chique Tousey-Tabar, Gary Steffens, and Warren Bluhm-Times Herald Approval of Minutes – Common Council Meeting on March 9, 2021 MOTION: Rusch / Wirtz Motion to approve the minutes as presented for the Common Council Meeting on March 9, 2021. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED Treasurer’s Report – February MOTION: McDermid / Coopman Motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report as presented for February and place on file. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED Bills Payable – March MOTION: Rusch / McDermid Motion to approve the Bills Payable as presented for March. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED Reports: written reports submitted  Administrator Report  Police Department Report COMMON COUNCIL – April 13, 2021 Page 2  Municipal Court Report  Fire Department Report  Street Department Report  Building Inspector Report  Utility Commission Report/Minutes MOTION: Rusch / McDonald Motion to place monthly reports on file. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED OPPORTUNITY FOR CITIZENS TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL - no citizen input DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON ANY OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING: Old Business: A. Registered sex offender residency location at 811 S. Main Street. Last month a registered sex offender’s request to continue residency at 811 S. Main Street was denied due to the residency proximity to the elementary school and high school. Dennis Arendt was given two (2) months to relocate his residency as he was currently residing at this location. Arendt is having a difficult time in locating new residency and is asking for an extension. Police Chief Olsen did not see any issues with giving him a three week extension. MOTION: Rusch / Wirtz Motion to grant Dennis Arendt an extension until the end of May 2021 to relocate his residency from 811 S. Main Street. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED B. 2021 Flea Market at Memorial Field. Kevin Sutrick indicated he has obtained proof of insurance and will drop a copy off at city hall. There was discussion on having Sutrick sign a memo of understanding rather than the normal park rental form used for renting out the park facility. Council would like verbiage to include proof of insurance is required; a weekly fee schedule and payment; clean up procedures; and the city waiving any direct seller permit fee for vendors participating in the flea market. MOTION: Rusch / Wirtz Motion to have the City Attorney draft a Memo of Understanding for Kevin Sutrick to sign with regards to renting Memorial Field Park for weekly flea markets which would include but not limited to; waiving direct seller permit fee for vendors; provide proof of insurance; weekly fee schedule; and clean up procedures. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED COMMON COUNCIL – April 13, 2021 Page 3 C. City property located at 431 Union Avenue (old Nelson property). Alderman Rusch would like Council to consider encompassing the 431 Union Avenue property into Memorial Field Park property. He asked this item be tabled until we have time to solicit vendors for updated costs to complete this proposed project. A quote from April 2020 for additional fencing was in the meeting packet, but this quote is now outdated. ITEM TABLED New Business: A. Certified Survey Map (CSM) for lots 51 and 52 on McDougal Circle; property owned by Kevin and Christine Rusch. Planning Commission met prior to Council meeting and unanimously recommends the approval of the CSM to combine lots 51 and 52 on McDougal Circle. MOTION: McDermid / Holman Motion to accept the recommendation of the Planning Commission to approve the Certified Survey Map (CSM) for the property of Kevin and Christine Rusch as presented; combining lots 51 and 52 on McDougal Circle into one lot. Voice Vote: All present voting aye, except Rusch- abstaining - MOTION CARRIED B. Kayak / canoe dock at the East and West Side Beaches. Joe Ruiz would like to include a kayak-canoe launching area at the East and West Side Beaches. He explained, with the help from the Oconto Falls Chamber, they were able to purchase two 14 ft long, 4 ft wide kayak docks; one for each of the beaches. Each dock will hold 750 pounds. If approved, the company the docks were purchased from would ship and include a one-time installation. The company would show the Street Department how to install docks and take them down; as the city would have to do this at the beginning and end of the summer season. The dock purchases would be at no charge to the city. The city would only be responsible for seasonal installation and take down. MOTION: McDermid / Wirtz Motion to grant permission for the Oconto Falls Chamber to install 2 kayak-canoe launching docks; one at each of the East and West Side Beaches as presented. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED C. Fire Department cold storage options. Fire Chief Magnin presented quotes for cold storage container: PacVan – Green Bay: 20’ unit - $2,650 40’ unit - $3,900 Kispert – Oconto Falls: 20’ unit – approximately $2,000 + shipping STOCAR – Wisconsin Rapids: 40’ unit - $4,393 COMMON COUNCIL – April 13, 2021 Page 4 All 40’containers are high cube storage containers. It was agreed that a 40’ container would make more sense. There was discussion as to where the funds would come from to pay for this expense if approved as it was not budgeted for. Magnin felt he could find funds from within his current budget to cover the cost. MOTION: Wirtz / Rusch Motion to approve the purchase of a 40’ high cube cold storage container unit from PacVan; taking funds from the 2021 Fire Department building maintenance budget. Voice Vote: All present voting aye, except Holman voting no - MOTION CARRIED D. Status and future of the Ambulance Service. Patrick and Angie Ahlgrim gave a slide show presentation on the past and future of the Oconto Falls Ambulance Service. Due to the lack of volunteers, the service is considering going to a full- time critical care paramedic service in order to maintain 24/7 coverage. By doing this, they would be able to provide much greater care for patients. With this new service comes an additional cost for the member municipalities. Estimated increase is going to be about $20 per year per person. By becoming a critical care paramedic service, they will be able to do critical care transfers for local hospitals. These hospitals are willing to contribute a substantial amount of money every year and transfers will be approximately half of the business. The hospitals are also working with the service to secure grants and outside funding to make the impact on the municipalities as low as possible. The ambulance service is currently owned by the townships of Oconto Falls, Morgan, Stiles and Spruce, the City of Oconto Falls, and the Village of Lena. Ahlgrim indicated the service would be able to charge more for higher level calls and they anticipate the call numbers to double. Critical calls for our area are currently being handled by other services which are licensed to do so. The service is looking for the City’s support to allow them to start working with the State to get licenses in place and also get paramedics in place. They wanted to present these changes early in the year in order to give them time to make changes before the current ambulance contract ends in December 2021. Council would like the ambulance service to present a formal proposal with a more definite plan and figures by the end of June or early July prior to Finance Committee meeting for the next year’s budget. NO ACTION TAKEN at this time E. Officer Jamie Kuhn to exceed the contractual amount of comp time until the end of the year for the purpose of academics. Police Chief Olsen explained Officer Kuhn completed her continued education and has passed the California State Bar. Her next step is to do 300 hours of internship in the State of California. She plans to do the internship during the summer months so it will not affect her hours with the school district. The department has part-time help for coverage and allowing this would not affect the department’s budget. COMMON COUNCIL – April 13, 2021 Page 5 MOTION: Rusch / Wirtz Motion to allow Officer Jamie Kuhn to exceed the contractual amount of comp time until the end of the year for the purpose of academics. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED F. City expansion possibilities. Alderman Wirtz mentioned a few properties were discussed in closed session with regards to expanding the city. The city is land locked and he would like to see our community grow. He wanted everyone to keep this is mind for any future possibilities. A few properties mentioned were near Golden Corners Road, Meadowlands Assisted Living, Maple Avenue, and Eslien property. NO ACTION TAKEN at this time G. Council may go into closed session for the purpose of deliberating on sale of city owned real estate pursuant to 19.85 (1)(e) Wis. Stats.; sale of Industrial Park lands. MOTION: McDermid / Wirtz Motion to go into closed session at 8:26 pm for the purpose of deliberating on sale of city owned real estate pursuant to 19.85 (1)(e) Wis. Stats.; sale of Industrial Park lands. Roll Call Vote: McDermid-yes, Wirtz-yes, Coopman-yes, McDonald-yes, Rusch-yes, Holman-yes - MOTION CARRIED Those remaining in closed session: Mayor Rice, Coopman, McDermid, Wirtz, McDonald, Rusch, Holman, Roberts, Jeske, Olsen, Brye, and Gary Steffens. H. Council will return to open session and may take action on matters discussed in closed session. MOTION: Wirtz / Rusch Motion to return to open session 8:41 pm in which action may take place on matters discussed in closed session. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED NO ACTION TAKEN at this time I. Mask mandate. There was a discussion as to whether or not a mask mandate should remain in place during city meetings. Many opinions were given as to how each stood on the mask mandate.  We were still in the midst of the pandemic and masks should continue.  If wearing a mask puts others at ease, then some were willing to continue doing so for the hour or so during meetings as long as the topic could be revisited in a couple of months.  It should be each individual’s choice as to whether they want to wear a mask or not. COMMON COUNCIL – April 13, 2021 Page 6  Masks are worn for the respect of others.  Other areas have taken the mask mandate away and COVID numbers are going down. MOTION: Coopman / Rusch Motion to keep the mask mandate in place for the municipal building during meetings and to revisit the topic in July. Roll Call Vote: Coopman-yes, Rusch-yes, McDonald-no, Wirtz-no, McDermid-yes, Holman-no – TIE VOTE / Mayor breaks a tie: Mayor Rice-yes - MOTION CARRIED J. Adjournment. Mayor Rice asked if there was any further business before the meeting is adjourned. Having no further business, Mayor declared the meeting adjourned at 8:47 pm. ________________________________ City Administrator Vicki A. Roberts