 I'd like to call the 16th meeting of the 2015 2016 Common Council the order With a clerk, please read the quote for the day Thank You mayor The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply Thank you very much for that thought and what the clerk, please call the roll 16 present Thank you next stand of joining the Pledge of Allegiance As allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Next we'll move on to the approval of the minutes from our 11 to meeting Alderman Hammond. Thank You mr. Mayor I move to approve second. Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on those minutes? Seeing none will the clerk, please or other just will do a simple voice vote all those in favor, please signify by saying aye opposed motion passes Next is resignations city attorney First one is from Alderperson Judy Vander wheel to the mayor in the Common Council informing you that she will be Resigning her seat as Alderperson in district 2 as of December 31st 2015 And the second is a resignation from Rebecca Clark from the Sheboygan sustainable task force Alderman Hammond, thank you mr. Mayor reluctantly. I move to accept and file second Thank you for that motion and support all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye opposed motion passes Next move on to mayor's appointments city attorney first is an appointment from The mayor submitting the following appointment for your consideration David cuckoo to be appointed to the sustainable Sheboygan task force to fill The unexpired term of Rebecca Clark whose term expires for 2516 and the other is From the mayor submitting the following appointment for your consideration Sammy Yang to be appointed to the senior activity center commission to fill the unexpired term of Mary Ryan Whose term expires for 2516? Those appointments will lie over Next is a program called dogs to dog tags and Alderman Carlson set this up for us and Darrell if you'd please introduce our guest Yes, tonight. We're gonna have a chance to learn about a great organization called dogs at dog tags It's a very fitting considering last week. We celebrated two things one was the the Marine Corps birthday We turned 240 years old on Tuesday and on Wednesday Celebrated Veterans Day and then also if we want to backtrack a little bit more September. We nationally we looked at September is suicide awareness Prevention month and everything this organization is doing and is going to do Well help reduce the number of veterans that commit suicide on a daily basis right now We're averaging about 22 veterans that do decided in their lives. So I'd like to introduce a Tory Willits Willitson and he will Talk a little bit more about his organization Please step up to the mic Thank you mayor, thank you city council Tory can you pull the mic up a little bit? My name is Tory Willitson. I am local I'm from Sheboygan Falls. I graduated from Sheboygan Falls high school In the last five years I've spent time with the Marine Corps and with the Army the 101st the 82nd the 10th and the 4th ID I was headhunted as a dog trainer to train military working dogs to sniff IEDs And I deployed with the Marine Corps the 7th Marines to Afghanistan It was an especially kinetic area I lost a a couple of guys a couple of dogs and One that I didn't lose we this is kind of what started the whole program that I'm going to tell you about a little bit I gave you guys some information about it Just so I didn't have to stand up here for the whole 15 minutes because you guys have a lot of stuff to do I decided to come home and work it from here Chris got blown up on June 13th And we were having a hard time getting his dog back to him at Balboa Took me over in a month and a lot of red tape to get him back And I knew the best thing for him to keep him motivated was the bond that him and his dog created With each other through the training. I spent all of 2012 with them and the deployment So between myself working up my side in Afghanistan and his father retiring from the Air Force and still in contact with the general That was in charge of flights going in out of Bastion We ended up getting his dog Harley to him at Balboa and It changed his life. She got to stay at Balboa with him She was there in his bed with him at times Dogs and veterans Have a bond and especially when they work with them You spend that much time with an animal and taking care of that animal going through the training Using them to keep your platoon or your squad or your fire team safe you create An enormous amount of respect for each other and what I noticed was When we come home the dogs get taken away from the guys and it's some of the hardest Things that they can deal with I helped a lot of my guys Get their dogs when they retired and they say it was the best thing that ever happened to them that it Meant more to them getting their dog that they were in battle with Then a lot of other things that happened in their lives at that time and the whole time I'm doing this. I'm putting this program together We have a high rate of Shelters that euthanized dogs. It's it's just a fact of life. It's how it is shelters get overwhelmed They have nowhere else to go with them and they end up getting put down so between My love for the canine and my respect for the gentleman that I went to Afghanistan with I Decided that I wanted to do something for the suicide rate I can't go into a lot of it, but I just received the latest Department of Defense suicide rates through all forces It didn't get any better. In fact, it got worse. I can't go into it because It's actually the only reason I got it is because I still hold the security And he gave it to me to talk to you guys about that This problem is not gonna get better unless we do something about it Sheboygan County also has one of the highest suicide rates in the state of Wisconsin I was just at Jake's cafe for a suicide prevention meeting and The doctors that spoke We're so impressed with the fact that the city of Sheboygan showed up. It was standing room only And there's a lot of support around here. So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to take dogs that are in shelters I'm gonna train them and I'm gonna provide them to Soldiers and marines and airmen that need Some assistance. There's a comfort that comes from animals whether it's canine or equestrian that Provides something that they can't get somewhere else and The fact that I know this works because I've done it already and I've seen the changes in the guys that I provided animals for I decided I wanted to do that back here in my hometown and started off I think Darryl for letting me come here and speak to you guys about it. You do have some information I'm discussing what I can potentially do with some National representatives of major companies But I'm I just wanted to let everybody know that we're out there. We have a web page. We have a Facebook page. We'll be needing People that would like to be fosters of dogs and potentially come into and train with us So we can actually do evaluations on canines the VA is Doing as best they can and the gunny that was with me in Afghanistan is now in charge of naval veterans affairs He was he was one of the guys that was shot when I was in Afghanistan And one of my dog handlers actually had to get him to the truck So he's very passionate about that. He's now a master sergeant. He works out of the Pentagon. I Have the master sergeant that was in charge of all military working dogs for the Pentagon Who's on my board of directors who's behind us on this? And I also have the first sergeant that was in charge of my safety because when you go over there as a civilian You're not armed. I was not armed I was in trusting these young men with my life every time I traveled in my AO and I had five different forward operation bases That were in a very kinetic area that I traveled at So I know and I lived with and I got very close to these guys And I know what these dogs meant to them and I know what these dogs here can can do for people when it comes to suicide prevention So I just took the best of both worlds. I want to save some dogs And I want to save some lives because this has to be addressed I Thank you guys very much for your time if you have any questions you have my business card and You can get a hold of me at any time you want. Thank you Tori, thank you very much for that presentation and what you're trying to do for our veterans. We really appreciate it this last Wednesday was veterans day and I had a privilege of attending with six of the other alderman the ceremony that was put together by North High and And Mike Liebelt they had a great program And it was really neat because they brought several of the students forward to that had made a commitment to go into the Service and and highlighted their their direction in that area for their career There was also a veteran service out at sunny Ridge And it's great to see this community Doing what they do to support our vets during Memorial Day in Veterans Day Next I'd like to present a proclamation And I'd like to ask the Lori Kerwin and Dave Hoffman to come forward This proclamation Whereas the city of Sheboygan believes that small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the glue that holds our communities together According to the United States small business administration. There are currently 28 million small businesses in the United States They represent more than 99% of American companies Create two-thirds of new jobs and generate half of the private gross domestic products And whereas small businesses employ one half of the employees in the private sector and in the United States and Whereas 93% of the United States consumers believe it's important to smart to support Small local businesses that they value in their community 89% agree that locally owned independent businesses contribute positively through paying taxes and providing jobs And whereas the city of Sheboygan supports local businesses that create jobs Both boost our local economy and preserve our neighborhoods and whereas Advocacy groups and public and private organizations across the country have endorsed the Saturday after Thanksgiving as small business Saturday Now therefore I Mike van der Steen mayor of the city of Sheboygan do ordain and proclaim Saturday November 28th as Small Business Saturday in Sheboygan and I present this proclamation to them Okay, next we'll move on to the consent agenda No public forum, I'm sorry Thank you Public forum this evening. We have four people speaking first on the list would be ran Schmitz Ryan if you could come up to the mic, please Yeah, there you go And if you could state your name and home address, please Ray and Schmitz four six one four sell 15th Street Sheboygan Terrific, then you'll have five minutes. Thank you city clerk. Mr. Mayor city attorney and members of the council Once again, I am ray and Schmitz. I'm a city employee and I've been working in the assessor's office as a residential appraiser since December 2000 which may end on December 31st 2015 according to a resolution item 5.1 on tonight's agenda I'm concerned about the future of the city assessor's office and the effects outsourcing of this department will have on the citizens property owners various city and county departments. I Hope this resolution will be discussed before a decision is made a well-informed decision Therefore, I want to share information about the assessor's office as to who we are and what we do The purpose of the assessor's department is to discover List and place a value in all taxable real and personal property in the city of Sheboygan in a uniform and equitable manner We are a service oriented department and have strived to educate the public on the assessment process Annually we maintain property data assessment values for over 17,000 parcels as For as real estate is concerned and over 1,500 personal property accounts We verify property data by reviewing the interiors and exteriors of properties process requests for assessment reviews Verify new construction based on building permits issued as well as discover work being done without permits We complete and file The required department reports for the Department of Revenue such as the assessor's final report statement of assessment Exempt computer reports and various statistical reports We validate and analyze all sales compare them to the current assessments We defend the assessment values at the local border review Our office has been compliant with the deport department of revenue since 1999 Our office has performed two city-wide evaluations as required by the Department of Revenue to remain compliant Our department is mandated by the state statutes and monitored by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue Each of the staff members of the assessor's office is required to be certified with the Department of Revenue and must maintain their certifications with continuing education workshops Currently, there are four members of the assessment staff, but that hasn't always been the situation 15 years ago. There were six staff members and today there are four After the previous assessor left in 2010 our department offered that we could do this with four members as a cost savings to the city As part of your discussion Please consider postponing the outsourcing of the department due to the assessment calendar work The assessment calendar for processing work is typically from June to May in a maintenance year and not January 1 to December 31 Our calendar begins once the border review adjourns, which is typically held in May or June of each year At this time our office is in the middle of our assessment work preparing for the 2016 border review Also consider reviewing the results from outsourcing that was done in past for the cleaning service engineering, HR, and IT Therefore, I ask and I hope you will give this resolution the proper discussion it deserves Thank you for your time Thank you Next on our list is Lona, Thelon Talon, I never get it right Lona, could you give us your full name and home address please? Sure. It's Lona, Talon, N11669 State Road 175 Brownsville, Wisconsin You can go ahead. Thank you Good evening mayor van der steen council members in the public I'm speaking on the resolution before the council tonight to outsource the assessor's office Again, my name is Lona, Talon, and I am one of your full-time property appraisers for the city of Sheboygan With over 18 years in your assessor's office. I was hired in August of 1997 as a part-time clerk position and received a promotion to a full-time technician in 1998 and another promotion in 2007 to a property appraiser. I have been involved in the last three citywide Revaluations for the city of Sheboygan. We were a six-member office in 1999 when we assisted an outside firm Then in 2006 the revaluation was conducted with the in-house six-member city staff and the third was for 2014 which was conducted by the four-member staff with some assistance from an outside firm During the 2006 and 2014 Revaluation years the staff was asked to refrain from taking their vacation time so that we had full staffing During the busy summer months to complete these evaluations in the appropriate time frame After performing a rough calculation the city of Sheboygan has invested over 66 years of time into the current employees and Likewise, these employees have invested a combination of over 66 years of experience into Sheboygan Your Sheboygan assessor's office is responsible for the fair and equitable portfolio of properties valued in excess of $2.1 billion. This portfolio includes over 17,000 assessment parcels and over 1,500 locally assessed personal property accounts. Would you want someone who doesn't even live in the community nor have any ties in the Community assess your property? We are constantly giving advice to commercial developers and prospective buyers Some of our fellow employees have come to our office for advice on real estate values in this community We strive to maintain fair and equitable assessments It is a common occurrence in our office for some or all of our staff to be discussing new construction taking place Or did you see the new siding roof for addition on a particular property or sharing information with our assessment technician about a Particular businesses location. We are in contact with other city or county departments with any questions concerns or comments This shows that we are aware of the happenings in the city of Sheboygan The assessor's office has provided excellent customer service over the years, which is Which is evident by the written. Thank you that I personally received from the property owners during the 2014 revaluation For the 2015 Board of Review, which met in June. There were no complaints. No objections I am sure that these statistics have already been provided to you by the chief financial officer The city assessor and or other city hall personnel Prior to 1998 the assessor's office had been closed over the lunch hour The staff made the decision to flex our lunches to be able to accommodate Keeping the office open and available on the lunch hour for better customer service giving back to the public Through our years the members of the assessor's office have made suggestions to our supervisors to reduce our hours to a 37.5 hour work week as well as taking furlough days as the state employees had been doing to help reduce the budget The city has tried outsourcing in the past for the cleaning and engineering departments, but the duties were eventually given back to the city employees Through the years of 2009 and 2010 the assessor's office was reduced to five members and eventually to the four members Where we currently are When it was announced that the city assessor was retiring were the various scenarios considered for the assessor's office such as Operating with the three staff members Outsourcing the assessor position only and other possibilities It is very disheartening how the assessor's office is held in such low regard by the municipality that we serve a Full-time on-site assessor's office is a valuable resource to your local government and to your local community Thank you for your time Thank You Darcy can you give us your full name and home address, please Darcy Beernick w 3 2 7 2 County Road G Cedar Grove And you will have five minutes Hello, my name is Darcy Beernick And I would like to speak on behalf of the resolution regarding outsourcing the city assessor's office I have been employed with the city assessor's office for over 17 years nine years as a police-and-fire dispatcher and the past eight years as an Assessment technician in the city assessor's office in those 17 years I've always felt and been proud to say that the city of Sheboygan is a business that provides services What is a service an action of doing work or helping someone? Eliminating people in this case an entire in-house city assessor's office is Eliminating a crucial city service the city assessor's office prides itself on the service We provide and the relationships that we have developed with citizens and business owners Over many many years that the city assessor's office has been in existence We have citizens who contact our office and asked for a certain person Why is that because all of us have been at the city assessor's office for several several years? We have been loyal employees for the city and also to the citizens of Sheboygan Relationships loyalty and trust have been built with the citizens. I understand that there is a budget to be met I also understand that this is not meant to be personal But what about the citizens and business owners the service? They have always known will no longer be so the service the city assessor's office has prided itself on taking It's being taken away from them. Why maybe to save money We value the citizens and their time helping them with questions concerns and taking the time to educate them about their assessments The city assessor's office has built a rapport with these individuals and we value that service and loyalty to these individuals Again a service taken away from the citizens to save money Not only does our office work with citizens and business owners, but with other offices When I began working in the city assessor's office over eight years ago I was told during my training that the city assessor's office is the hub to other city offices Again service comes to mind the city assessor's office assists other offices with reports and procedures For both in-house matters and also reports on the state level As you are aware the city assessor's office is currently working with two software systems Bridges have been made to bridge important information from the city assessor's office to other city departments To finalize important numbers and to balance reports years of orchestrating procedures between departments is over Services we have provided for years now not only is that service being taken away from the citizens business owners But also city offices Again, I do understand that a budget needs to be met But it's outsourcing a service the city assessor's office really the answer to take a service like the in-house city Assessor's office away from the citizens and other offices to me This seems like a rash decision and needs to be given more thought than merely for the financial aspect Please consider keeping the city assessor's office in-house rather than outsourcing if the city of true The city of Sheboygan truly prides itself on service, then please don't take the service away. Thank you Thank You Darcy And next on our list is Joseph lamb Joseph Joseph can you give us your full name and home address please? Name is Joseph lamb 4010 North 30th Street, Sheboygan, Wisconsin Go ahead. I'm here representing Midlake softball organization This was the second year that we ran the softball adult softball program for The city Donna Wildwood complex and part of our agreement is that we give 20 private percent of our Girls revenue back to the city of Sheboygan for park improvements We put about six thousand dollars into the park this year and safety issues new lighting Fertilizing the fields and all this other stuff Community Bank and Trust and now Wisconsin Bank and Trust provided another five thousand dollars cash to the city of Sheboygan And I am here to present another check for fourteen thousand dollars to the city of Sheboygan To be used towards park improvements at Wildwood softball complex. Thank you We had 89 I think 89 teams this year You're welcome. Thank you Okay, then we'll go on to the consent agenda Thank you, mr. Mayor I moved to accept and follow all reports of officers accept and adopt all reports of committees and put all resolutions and ordinances upon their passage Second, thank you for the motion and support and that'll include items to point through through 2.18 Is there any discussion on the consent agenda? Seeing none will the clerk please call the roll for passage 16 eyes Mulsion passes next we'll go on to communications. There's one communication that we refer to the public protection and safety committee then under reports of officers Items 4.1 through 4.8 will be referred to various committees under resolutions Item 5.1 will lie over 5.2 we refer to the finance committee And under reports of committees item 6.1 is an RC by the committee of the whole whom was referred resolution 93 of 15 6 16 by Alderman Carlson and Ballinger drafting necessary ordinance resolutions and regulations So as to eliminate the position of chief administrative officer Effective August 23rd of 2016 and shift the duties and responsibilities for the chief administrative officer to the mayor finance director Comptroller city treasure and recommends that the document be placed on file Alderman Carlson. Thank you, mr. Mayor I moved to accept and adopt the committee report second Thank you for that motion and support is there any discussion on the motion Seeing none will clerk please call the roll 13 eyes 3 nose Motion passes Item 6.2 is an RC by the committee of the whole to whom was referred general ordinance number 33 of 15 16 by Alderman Carlson and Ballinger Reestablishing the salary schedule for the office of Alder person commencing in the council year 27 to 2018 And recommends that the document be placed on file Alderman Carlson once again. Thank you, mr. Mayor I moved to accept and adopt the committee report second. Thank you for that motion and support Is there any discussion on 6.2? Seeing none will the clerk please call the roll 14 eyes 2 nose Motion passes Item 6.3 is an RC by law and licensing to whom was referred pursuant to our number 168 of 15 16 by the city clerk various license applications recommends that the beverage operator license Applications 0925 be denied based on his failure to accurate reveal all relevant convictions on his application his record of violations Related to the license activity his record as a repeat law Violator and his failure to cooperate with the committee Alderman Vander wheel Thank you move the RC be accepted and adopted Thank you for that motion and support under discussion is Joanne Bonner here He is not we had invited him twice to our meeting and he did not appear Thank you. Is there any other discussion? Seeing none will the clerk please call the roll for passage 16 eyes Motion passes Item 6.4 is an RC by law and licensing to whom was referred our own number 168 of 15 16 by the clerk submitting various licenses and recommends that beverage operator license application 0919 be denied based upon her failure accurate reveal all relevant convictions on her application Her record of violations related to the license activity Her record is a repeat law violator and her failure to cooperate with the committee Alderman Vander wheel. Thank you I move that the RC be accepted and adopted Thanks for that motion and support under discussion is Megan Smith here Same thing with her we invited her to on two separate occasions, and she did not appear Any other discussion seeing none will the clerk please call the roll 16 eyes motion passes Item 6.5 is an RC by finance to whom is referred resolution number 95 of 15 16 by Alderman Hammond authorizing a transfer of Appropriations in the 2015 budget to establish an appropriation for the East Street Bridge accident repairs and funding for engineering cylinder repairs establish revenue and appropriation for damaged fees and received and Establish revenue appropriation for eab urban forestry grant from the DNR and recommends that the Resolution be passed Alderman Hammond. Thank You mr. Mayor move to accept and adopt and put the resolution upon its passage second Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none will the clerk please call the roll 16 eyes Motion passes Item 6.6 is an RC by the Committee of the Whole to whom is referred charter ordinance number one of 15 16 by Alderman Carlson and Ballinger being subject to the home rule provisions of section 66.0 101 of the Wisconsin statutes to reduce the number of alder persons in the city of Sheboygan from 16 to 10 by the 2017-2018 council year and recommends that the attached substitute charter ordinance be passed Alderman Carlson Thank You mr. Mayor. I move to accept and adopt and pass the substitute charter ordinance second Thank you for that motion and support under discussion Alderman Heidemann I'm not going to support this. I've had a little bit more time to think about this and As far as reducing the size of the council without any strategy without any Formation of what the committees are going to be like. I think it's really putting the cart before the horse. It's like Why do we need to pass this? It's going to be a year away? Why not take some take a look at it formulate it? I guess the committee structure and and what the responsibilities of those 10 people are going to be So I'm not going to support that rather in turn just hold this document until after something comes back from strategic planning Thank you for those comments Alderman Heidemann Alderman Carlson Thank You mr. Mayor. I'm kind of eluded to it there But a six point ten as an RC by the committee the whole as requested by Alder person boron Requesting that these strategic fiscal planning meet and come back with a report on the committee structure by March I think that does satisfy Any concerns that anyone may have in terms of the structure? I think voting on this tonight is a great idea and It kind of forces us to do the committee restructure. Otherwise, we'll probably just drag our feet like we have done in the past. Thank you Thank you for those comments. Any other discussion Alderman boron Thank You mayor just for clarification on the dot on the document here. It says I Can't read it 17 and 18 I think it is but the the Document that we pass a substitute is for we're going to be voting on 18 and 19 is correct correct. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? We'll declare please call the roll in 12 eyes for nose Motion passes Item 6.7 is an RC by finance to whom was referred resolution number 88 of 1516 by Alderman Hammond Carlson Donahue and Wolf ordering the 2016 budget appropriations for the city funds and recommends that the resolution be passed Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mayor I move to accept and adopt and put the resolution upon its passage second. Thank you for that motion and support Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none will the clerk, please call the roll 14 eyes to nose motion passes Item 6.8 is an RC by finance to whom was referred resolution number 89 of 1516 16 by Alderman Hammond Cough Carlson and Donahue and Wolf ordering the 2016 budget appropriations and the 2015 tax levy for use during the calendar year of 2016 recommends that the attached substitute resolution be passed Alderman Hammond. Thank you, mr. Mayor Once again, I move to accept and adopt and put the resolution upon its passage second Thank you for that motion and support is there any discussion on the motion the substitute resolution you're passing my apologies. That's okay Thanks, I still second it. Okay. Thanks. Okay got that squared away any other discussion Seeing none will the clerk, please call the roll 13 eyes three nose Motion passes item 6.9 will be will lie over Six point ten will be referred to the strategic fiscal planning committee or under ordinances Ordinances seven point one through seven point three will lie over and item seven point four will be referred to the city Planning Commission Next is matters laid over Item eight point one is our own number one seventy eight of fifteen six sixteen by the chief administrative officer submitting the listing of estimated unreserved fund balance at 12 13 15 and the outstanding debt as of 12 31 15 Alderman Hammond. Thank you, mr. Mayor. I move to accept and file second Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion? Will the clerk, please call the roll 15 eyes one no motion passes Items item eight point two is the resolution number 92 of 15 to 16 by Alderman Hammond Koth Donahue and Wolf authorizing transfer of appropriations in the 2015 budget to establish revenue and appropriation For the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Black Grant funding Alderman Hammond Thank you again, mr. Mayor. I move to put the resolution upon its passage second Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none will the clerk, please call the roll 16 eyes motion passes next we'll move on to other matters received after the council agenda was published City Attorney 9.1 is an arrow 9.1 is an arrow by the city clerk submitting various license applications for the period ending December 31st 2015 and June 30 2017 that'll go to the law and licensing committee 9.2 is an arrow from the city clerk submitting the Sheboygan County apportionment sheets for 2015 levying of taxes That'll be referred to the finance committee 9.3 is an arrow by the city clerk submitting a notice of injury or circumstances for Braden J. Shealy Brian J. Shealy and Fave C. Dan bro. We referred to the finance committee 9.4 is a resolution by elder person Bellinger Accepting 12 22 North 10th Street for $1 in rehabilitation and resale from the Jack Schumacher Trust That'll be referred to the city planning Commission Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mayor move to adjourn second. Thank you for that motion and support all those in favor signify by saying aye Opposed motion passes will stand adjourned