October 8

COMMON COUNCIL – October 8, 2019 Page 1 CITY OF OCONTO FALLS COMMON COUNCIL Council Chambers – Municipal Building 500 N. Chestnut Avenue - Oconto Falls, WI 54154 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019 – 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: Devin Wirtz, Jeff McDonald, Marty Coopman, Mathew McDermid, and Tim Holman Also present: Administrator Vicki Roberts, City Attorney Larry Jeske, Deputy Treasurer Eve Wallace, Police Chief Brad Olsen, Fire Chief Tim Magnin, and Street Foreman Gerry Lemirande Excused: Alderman Kevin Rusch, Deputy Clerk Nancy Brye, and Street Superintendent Terry Magnin Others: Warren Bluhm-Times Herald, Librarian Joan Denis, Gerald Davis, Mark Krumrei, Sophie Ford, Jeff Peterson, Bart Schindel, and Samantha Doney Approval of Minutes – Common Council Meeting on September 10, 2019 MOTION: McDermid / Wirtz Motion to approve the Common Council Meeting minutes as presented for September 10, 2019. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED Treasurer’s Report – August MOTION: McDermid / Holman Motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report as presented for August and place on file. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED Bills Payable – September Coopman questioned the $5,500 rental bill from Fabick; commenting that Council did not approve any spending for the ball field improvements except for street department labor. City Administrator and Mayor approved this payment as half of the cost was for other work in the city. COMMON COUNCIL – October 8, 2019 Page 2 MOTION: Holman / McDermid Motion to approve the Bills Payable as presented for September. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED Reports: written reports submitted for review Administrator Report Police Report Municipal Court Report Fire Department Report – no written report Street Department Report – no written report Building Inspector Report Utility Commission Report/Minutes MOTION: Holman / Wirtz Motion to place reports on file. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED OPPORTUNITY FOR CITIZENS TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL Jeff Peterson asked the City Council to consider naming the renovated field at Memorial Field Park after his parents, Fred & Geraldine Peterson. The Petersons were prominent residents of the city and Fred was a baseball coach for 25 years. His proposed consideration for the new name was “Peterson Field of Memorial Park”. No action can be taken as this is not an agenda item. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON ANY OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING Old Business: A. Curb-side recycling containers. City Administrator checked further into pricing for recycling containers and ended up negotiating the cheapest price with GAD (Great American Disposal). In a previous proposal, GAD presented the price of $260 per month for one container per each household in the city. This price was negotiated down to $130 per month and after the 5 year contract is up, this charge would stop. MOTION: McDermid / Wirtz Motion to accept the 5 year service proposal from Great American Disposal (GAD) for weekly garbage and recycling service to include GAD providing the recycling containers as presented. Roll Call Vote: McDermid-yes, Wirtz-yes, McDonald-yes, Coopman-yes, Holman-yes - Rusch-absent, MOTION CARRIED COMMON COUNCIL – October 8, 2019 Page 3 New Business: A. Gerald Davis property located at 603 S. Main Street. A letter and pictures were presented to the City Council explaining and showing problems created after the new sidewalk installation along Main Street. In the late 1980’s, Davis had issues with water coming off the street and traveling into his garage. He rectified these issues with the installation of a special designed driveway apron. Along with the new sidewalk installation, his driveway apron was removed and replaced with a new one. He is now having the same issues as he had in the 1980’s with water, leaves, and sand rolling onto his driveway from the street. McDermid met with Davis last week to get a better understanding of his concerns. McDermid suggested the new apron be removed and a soft curb put in. Wirtz discussed the issues with sidewalk contractor, Steve Fischer and came up with similar solutions. MOTION: McDermid / Wirtz Motion to approve Fischer Concrete to redo the driveway apron for property located at 603 S. Main Street to include a soft curb to help alleviate the water issue. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED B. Joint Library Agreement. Head Librarian Joan Denis explained that in order to avoid taxation from Brown County for cross- over borrowing, which started in 2012; the Oconto Falls Library is trying to develop an agreement and form a Joint Library with towns and city in the Oconto Falls School District. Included in this would be: Towns of Oconto Falls, Stiles, Abrams, Brazeau, Morgan, Spruce, and the City of Oconto Falls. By doing this, each would pay an appropriation bringing the City’s appropriation down from $68,000 to $19,000. The county is backing a Joint Library Agreement. A committee needs to be established with a representative from each community to construct and develop an agreement. The agreement will not be binding until each town/city board, Oconto County, and the Department of Public Instruction gives their approval. When or if the final Joint Library Agreement is approved, the current municipal library will cease to exist and will become a new joint entity. It will then have a new board, new by-laws, etc. The building would still be owned by the city but the contents would be property of the joint library. The city would basically hand off its interest. There will be a clause in the agreement allowing communities to pull out of the agreement over time. In the event this would happen, it would revert back to a municipal library again. C. City representative appointment for the Joint Library Committee. In order to proceed with the development of a Joint Library Agreement, each town/city needs to appoint a representative to be on the committee. Nobody has been officially talked to regarding this appointment; however Larry Kindel seems to be the best fit for the City of Oconto Falls representation, as he is very involved with the library. MOTION: McDermid / Holman Motion to appoint Larry Kindel as the City’s representative on the Joint Library Committee, contingent upon his acceptance of the appointment. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED COMMON COUNCIL – October 8, 2019 Page 4 B. Revise 2019 Mayoral Appointments to add Main Street Committee. Due to the RLF (Revolving Loan Fund) Closing Program, the City Administrator would like to reenact the Main Street Committee. It is being planned to send an award application to the Department of Administration for the purpose of preparing a Main Street renovation plan. Having a Main Street Committee in place will be advantageous in receiving this award. The City Administrator spoke to the following individuals and all have agreed to be on the committee: Ashley Bahrke-OCEDE, Peter Bruesch-Coachlight Inn, Paul Ehrfurth-OCEDE, Stephanie Holman- Senn Hometown Insurance, Melanie Rice-The Flower Shoppe, Vicki A. Roberts-City Administrator, Barb Salscheider-Salscheider’s Antique Bar, and Gail Yatso-Oconto Falls Chamber of Commerce. MOTION: McDermid / Wirtz Motion to approve the 2019 Mayoral Appointments revision to bring back the Main Street Committee as presented. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED C. Declare turnout gear and fire hose as surplus. When it is time for turn out gear and hoses to be disposed of or sold, the Fire Chief would like permission to approach the Mayor or City Administrator to approve the disposal or sale. MOTION: Wirtz / Holman Motion to allow the Fire Chief to work with the Mayor and/or City Administrator to determine surplus for turn out gear and fire hoses. Voice Vote: All present voting aye - MOTION CARRIED D. Adjournment. Mayor Rice asked if there was any further business before the meeting is adjourned. Having no further business, he declared the meeting adjourned at 7:44 pm. ________________________________ City Administrator Vicki A. Roberts