 It is 522 and I will call the third special Common Council meeting to order. Will the clerk please call the roll Will the clerk please call the roll? All the person athlete all the person Decker All the person Feldy all the person Felicky Panosky all the person Heidemann all the person Mitchell all the person Pirella All the person Raimi here all the person Rust here all the person Salazar There are 10 present. All right. Thank you for those in attendance. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance All right First we'll start with public forum. Oh the clerk, please Call the first person And then rust just please state your name and your address Okay My name is Russ Otten 2522 South 7th Street in Shevoi And you have five minutes. Thank you. It's our clock. I'm watching. No, I can give you a minute Okay, first of all, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight on June 22 of 2020 The Common Council voted 9-nothing to hire Todd Wolf City Administrator The Common Council members included Mary Lyndonahue, President Ryan Sorenson Dean Decker Betty Ackley and also Barbara Filthy on November 7 two years two months later Common Council voted 8-to-2 to put Todd Wolf on leave to begin an investigation with no goal parameters or timeline The Common Council members voting for this included Betty Ackley Dean Decker Barbara Filthy January 6 this past Friday The Common Council created a resolution to fire Todd Wolf without cause was authored by Roberta Felicki Paneski and Barbara Filthy Common Council members supporting it include Betty Ackley Dean Decker Barbara Felthy My key question is this Betty Dean Barbara What did Todd Wolf do that was so egregious to have you vote for his firing tonight? I know you don't have to answer that question But I want that to go on the record. What is it that he did? number two Betty Dean Barbara You ran an investigation that showed nothing that would warrant his firing yet You are firing without cause It can't be his management style Because you knew that when you hired him It can't be for physical or I'm sorry for fiscal Irresponsibility Because he has saved millions of dollars for this community It can't be for ethical lapses Because you knew his ethics from being on the Common Council with you And even elected him Common Council president one point So why do you want to fire him? Your resolution Betty Dean and Barbara states that firing without cause is quote unquote More effective more cost effective and would minimize the negative impact on both Wolf and other city employees I think this should be rephrased to read After our extensive two month investigation. We cannot fire Todd wolf for cause He has done nothing that rises even close to for cause However, we eight Common Council members still want to fire him Because we don't like the way he stood up to the demands of a far-left group That represents about 10 of all sheboygan residents Tonight right now I am asking each of you each of you all ten To think for just a few moments About how you're going to vote What statement will this make about our community? What is truly honorable? What is the right thing to do? Be driven by your love of our community not slaves to an agenda Be driven by your love for all people not of vindictiveness toward those with whom you disagree And I close with this christ taught us to love even those who oppose us I love each of you. I really do and I don't even know half of you But I love you and it doesn't matter what you stand for I still love you And I'm hoping that love tonight will be enough for you to change your minds. Thank you John doleson And john if you could please state your name and address Yes, sir john doleson 409 new york avenue In the city of sheboygan. Good evening Appreciate your opportunity or my opportunity to speak to you tonight When residents in the city vote for common councilmen and women to represent us in city government It is exactly that to represent us not personal interests or agendas You're our vote in making decisions and being transparent at the local level Obviously, we can't all be at the table with a vote in committee and council meetings One major decision you made recently that seemed to bode well with residents And after your apparently extensive interview process was to hire mr. Wolf as city administrator In addition to many job duties you hired him to fulfill One major item was to carry out the task of basically being the fiduciary of each of us collectively and to develop A fiscally responsible budget to wisely spend our taxes Budgeting with often limited resources, especially from the state and seemingly Never-ending needs as an arduous task working in county government are more than familiar with local government budgets Mr. Wolf most likely along with input from department heads developed a budget for city spending that Unfortunately had to leave many items out off the budget As so often is the cause Are the case spending our tax dollars on non tangible items such as studies May not be as important for all residents when resources are limited Sheboygan residents want to save community with supported police and fire departments decent streets clean and maintained park shelters sufficient garbage collection plowed streets in the winter etc Generally what a city should provide One item that did not make the annual budget seems to be this study and appears now to be the reason some in the council Would like to let mr. Wolf go the officially it's proposed to let him go for Quote without cause Unquote when anyone could easily surmise that there is in fact a cause If that's not the case why on earth would we all be here tonight? It begs one to question why someone on the council would be desiring this proposed resolution When the counseling just recently hired mr. Wolf does he not fulfilling what the council hired him to do? I would say he is Or did someone on the council not get their wish or agenda item included in the budget? Please enlighten us The process you're going through is not proper If there are underlying issues with mr. Wolf's job performance or other areas of city government Then similarly state that It is not your job. It is your job. I'm sorry. It is your job as councilmen and women to let us know It's the whole reason residents voted for you to represent us and to be transparent What's going on tonight is wrong with this proposed resolution? It is the exact opposite. Please do not pass this resolution tonight. Thank you for your time Aaron Gunther Aaron Gunther And Aaron if you could state your name and address, please Aaron Gunther 2049 white pine lane Sheboygan thank you your honor Miss president members of the council I have no idea whether to make a statement in support of todd wolf or against him wisconsin statutes 1981 chapter one states it is declared to be the policy of this state That the public is entitled to the fullest and most complete information regarding the affairs of government And in chapter two all meetings of all state and local governmental bodies Shall be publicly held wisconsin 1985 see Provides a personnel matter as a reason to go into closed session It does not specifically provide confidential privilege here statutorily It is only implied Furthermore what is clear by case law if todd wolf has waived his confidentiality regarding defamation Then there is no privilege for a personnel matter and he has By making a statement publicly that he is a target of a political witch hunt He would also provide you a waiver today tonight to make this closed session notes public We demand to know what happened Did todd wolf steal money? Did he abuse a child? Was he accused of sexual assault at the office? Is he a target of a witch hunt? The council has said nothing except that there was an investigation and you want to remove him and not for cause As a result of this investigation That sounds to me like you are exposing this city my tax dollars me to a lawsuit that he will win First I demand that you hold your vote to remove todd wolf until the after the public Can give you their opinion on the matter Second I demand that you release the investigation with or without his consent To the public because we deserve to know Third I demand you lift any alleged privilege and let the council and the target speak about what has happened Tierney is born in the dark I fear oppressive government You are an embarrassment to this city You know it and I know it and you know better Now I have with me here Here is a legal request for what I just stated on the record Thank you Mike van der steen All right, Mike, you know the drill name and address Well, it's a little different being on this side of the desk But um, good evening everyone Appreciate everything. Uh, it's been said prior to me Mike van der steen 3816 high cliff court Over two months ago the council leadership came and asked you to suspend administrator wolf At this closed meeting I assume that they outlined some alleged transgressions that Convinced the majority of the council to that further investigation was necessary An attorney was then hired to conduct an investigation which included compelling staff to participate Because the document that is on the agenda tonight to dismiss administrator wolf without cause This leads me to understand and I'll think everybody else in the room That this did not find any problems with the city administrator's conduct I worked extensively with Todd wolf as a committee appointee and all the person council president and administrator During this tenured time frame. I found him to be very dedicated to serving the residents of sheboygan as Administrator he has worked Transparently and diligently to create synergy within our departments and improve services that would Provide efficiency and many cost savings during his tenure administrator wolf Administrator wolf has had many notable accomplishments including the implementation of the carlson debtman's compensation study the tallyer munis city software update and more staff training the city property appraisal plan the bonding plan to the fund capital projects and maintain Moody's double a2 bond rating for the city the uptown social building project Implementation of the cla recommendations in the finance and HR departments, and he completed the city's first five-year fiscal plan He's arranged for the purchase of new equipment including infrastructure like the fire pumper truck the south side sewer project 10 new buses enterprise free management program he's worked to update the employee handbook and Implement the my civic electronic community information and engagement program just to name a few To dismiss administrator wolf without cause will be an expensive payment for the taxpayers that will exceed $200,000 It won't be fair to tide who has been a dedicated employee And it sends a negative message to current employees that may And may make it more difficult to retain in higher staff in the future Our residents are also concerned about Why and and and really want to understand this why this dismissal was being proposed I believe and hope that you will reject this proposal proposed by council leadership To dismiss administrator wolf without cause and allow him to continue his role as administrator I know because of the emotions involved in this matter will not be an easy process But I believe if everyone really sets what's best for the city as their priority Would this allow everyone to overcome these differences when administrator role was approved by the council The practice was started to have weekly meetings between the mayor the council president and vice president And the administrator to discuss and see reports on the work plan That was going on in his office I understand that these meetings are continued on thursdays every week And the place where the administrator should be receiving Direction from the council leadership I've talked to Todd and know that he is committed to resuming his role as administrator if you give him the opportunity He would welcome the opportunity to regain the confidence of the city council And some people may be wondering why Todd isn't here tonight He's still under orders by this council not to set foot in any city building or talk to any city staff. Thank you very much Tracy brunette Tracy if you could say your name and address please. Thank you Sure, my name is Tracy brunette, and I live at 12 29 north fourth street in the city of shiboy again. Thank you Good evening I'd like to start by thanking the council for their tireless work on behalf of our beautiful city I was born and raised in shiboy again, and I care deeply about its future I wasn't going to come tonight because the social media and the news outlets portrayed this as a meeting as a showdown Which made me think that the focus would be on drama instead of the facts But then I thought about how there are so many people Just like me who are not interested in the drama Perhaps the chaos and that cared deeply about our city too They know this is a tough decision But that is why we elected you to search for facts And then make the right decision for our city no matter how difficult or controversial it may be There is not a single person in this audience tonight that has the information and facts that each of you on the council has And because this is a serious personnel matter. It would not be right for you to share it Instead our expectation is that you do proper due diligence and legal investigation Which in this case is now completed to uncover the facts so that an informed decision can be made That time is now My message to you is that you separate the emotion here tonight from the facts you have discovered through your due diligence It is why we elected you We trust that you will make the best decision for our city And we are behind you Thank you for your time Thank you That concludes public forum for the evening Next is item number four resolution number 120 22 23 by alder sveldi and flicky panaski terminating Todd wolf is city administrator pursuant to paragraph 12 a of his employment agreement with the city and authorizing the payment of Severance pursuant to paragraph 13 of said employment's agreement alder feldy. I move to suspend the rules Second there's been a motion any objection to suspension Seeing none, please proceed with your motion. I move to adopt the resolution There's been a motion in second any discussion Alder heighten yeah, thank you, mayor um I've had a couple of uh motions that I'd like to make And I don't really know which one to make And will I have the opportunity to make both motions? That's going to be a city attorney question. Yeah, well, I'm I'm waiting for the answer Well, you can there is a motion on the floor so you could certainly make a motion to amend Thank you very much So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make a motion to amend this document and I'd like to amend the resolution to change the word from terminating to written warning Also to change all languages has to do with severance and anything with termination How an article in shaboykin press can achieve this results is mind blowing The the truth has to come out The investigation was far from conclusive Please take this opportunity to change your minds Surely we do not want to be wrong about this There's a motion in second. I'm city attorney So, uh, could you could you state the motion so that so that we know exactly what it's going to be being voted on Move to amend the resolution To remove all we're all wording that has to do with termination and put written warning I think you said also something else beyond that anything else It's I mean I read the resolution. It's got a lot of other documentation or language in there about how he gets his severance and everything else Basically what I'm asking is if we can just rewrite this resolution to include A written warning as opposed to termination Well, that's that's why you make the motion to rewrite that and so that's what I'm asking you to do Well, we'd have to yeah, we'd have to have it rewritten and voted on yes Right and the way you do that is by making a motion to amend you've you've made a motion that includes Replacing the word terminate with written warning And then you need to indicate what you want what you want to remove and you need to be specific So if you want to remove paragraphs if you want to remove lines you need to be Specific so that we know exactly how we'll read once you're done. Okay All right. Thank you trinny. Okay in a paragraph for what one Illumini terminate hod wolf To giving to giving him a written warning Okay, so we're changing specific language. So what you can't just sort of like say I want to change the meaning of this Um, you have to use particular language to do it. I would note that um The the chair meaning the mayor may want to wish may wish to rule on whether this is a germane motion Because you also when you make a an amendment to a motion The purpose of an amendment is to amend not to completely change the document Thank you, attorney. Okay You're making it more difficult for me to do something that I want to do And I think everybody on this council Understands what I want to do Okay, it sounds like do do me a do me a favor. Okay You know what has to be eliminated I'm not I'm not an attorney I'm a citizen of shabuigan. I represent the 10th district And I want something different in this Resolution other than terminating So what you would need to do in this case because you're completely changing this and the mayor has it ruled on whether It's germane or not But realistically the way you would do what you want to do Is to vote against this and then and then make another motion Okay, and I ask you if I had a motion where I wanted to file the document You can you could do that as well. Would that be a simpler way doing it? It would be you'd have to you'd have to vote down the motion That's before you because that takes precedence a motion that's been made takes precedence over a motion to file But then then once you voted it down you could then make a motion to file the document So, how do I how do I get this to a vote job? What what is it that you would like to get to a vote? Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna go back to the And and I understand I'm sorry. You're gonna have to speak up. Please. I can't hear you. Okay. I'm gonna reef I'm gonna make the motion to file this document You you already made a motion you'd have to withdraw your amendment I don't know which one's gonna work, mayor Okay, I I can't do on both So Process takes place one item at a time. That's that's how process works as you know as you've been in all them in a long time So you have a document in front of you you can vote it down or you can amend it Because it appears that what you're trying to do is not to amend it but to completely change it You can vote it down and then after that you would certainly have the ability to make a motion to file So that it goes away because merely defeating this isn't necessarily going to make it go away Because it it is it does require a super majority or you could make some other motion at that point like to to Give the administrator a written warning or something like that Okay, um Got me in a tough spot here What I'm going to do is I'm going to remove the Retact the motion to take termination And make it written warning And then I'm just going to make a motion to file the document Okay, so you wait. So I'm I'm helping the clerk here. You've withdrawn your Motion to amend correct And you're asking to make a motion to file the document. Yes Is there a second Well, it's not it's not a motion that's that's in order because there's already been a motion made and seconded to Adopt it. So at this point his motion is not in order, but it may become in order at some point okay, so Elder heidelman you've withdrawn your amendments any other You still have the floor Okay, so again, so that means I can make the motion to file the document again So you've made a motion to file the document. I haven't heard the the mayor rule it out of order It is out of order, but the mayor has to make that decision not me based on counsel. It's out of order So now that you've heard that it's out of order there can be an objection to the to the to the chair's ruling From another aller Not hearing that then what will happen is then they'll continue discussion on the Motion that is currently in front of you and then if if you're successful in defeating that motion Then you can make another motion at that point so I'm out of order And the motion to File is not good. You're not going to go along with that even if I have a second The the motion to file is not germane at the moment because it does not take precedence Over the motion that's been made which is to to to pass to approve now you can Vote that down you have every right to vote that item down and if you vote it down Then you can make a motion to file, which is what you want to do Okay, well like again, I I've never was an attorney I am an older man And I know this resolution is wrong So in some way somehow somehow some way We've got to do a better job than this resolution It's our responsibility and again, I'm uh I don't have the uh technical jargon or how to go through this to get something done that I want to get done Other than the fact that Passing this tonight would be a big mistake And I thought by just Just seeing written warning Because I've heard that before you've all heard that before But that's not where the council went They went to dismiss so Again I guess I'm at a loss of how to make the motion if someone else could make that motion for me that That would be fine All right. Thank you. Older Heidemann older decker Thank you, mayor First of all, I want to make this statement that's It has been stated by many that this is political I can assure you it from my perspective My personal perspective, I don't know everybody else in the their feelings, but this is my perspective It is in no way shape or form political Okay, I'm sorry Please let the elder speak After concerns were brought forward. We had several meetings in closed session as you all know And at the beginning of November and jury the council decided to hire an independent investigator That investigation has concluded after this we held discussions On our options and a majority Of the council felt the resolution before us was the best option I personally after hearing the synopsis of that investigation after hearing that synopsis And weighing the options before us have come to the conclusion that this isn't the best interest of our employees I know this isn't popular And therefore the city itself To take care of our employees is important to us. I know this is one employee doesn't stand over all the rest of our employees To put our employees through something like this is not right. So that is why I support this. Thank you Thank you. Older decker older mitchell Thank you, mayor, I will keep my comments brief tonight because most of what I would like to cover I'm not able to discuss but I do think it's important to focus on or I guess reflect on the fact that there can be a difference between what is legally permissible and what is just from a moral perspective and I I have a hard time understanding how tonight's proposed action can satisfy the latter I will not be proposed. They're supporting the resolution due to this From my perspective administrator wolf has been a dedicated civil servant who truly cares about this city This has been evident to me in my interactions with him first during his time as council president and More recently through his tenure as city administrator up until now In that short period of time Todd's brought numerous ideas to the table that have greatly improved the city's capacity to serve its citizens The organization is better off having had him And as such termination without cause is something I simply cannot support right now And to try to help out and all their height of men's motion I believe a motion to postpone indefinitely would be subsidiary and to remain at the moment correct It would be Then I will make such a motion Is there a second Second to postpone indefinitely. There's been a motion in second to postpone indefinitely That does take priority and so it does go immediately to a vote. There is no discussion No discussion. All right. All those in favor to postpone. Definitely. Please state. I I any objection to postponing state nay Nay, all right. If any of the chairs nays have it We're back on We're back on the main motion any other discussion on the main motion Members of the audience don't get to dictate a roll call vote Back on the main motion Anyone wishing to speak? He's not queued in on the machine anyone else wishing to speak aldermitchell Can't queue in twice Mayor I would request that we take a verbal roll call vote on the main question. Thank you There's been a request to take a roll call vote On postponing indefinitely If you're in favor of postponing, please state. I will start with alder felli Nay Flicky paneski Salazar Acley Rami Decker Grasia Rust Mitchell All right, the nays have it. We're back on the main motion Anyone else wishing to speak Anyone else wishing to speak Seeing none This is a municode vote Municode vote please refer to your municodes And alder parella Alder parella this is a voting opportunity. So yes, thank you And that is a yay Aye Eight eyes to nose All right, that motion is approved Alder felli is their motion to adjourn Yes, I moved to adopt the resolution. Nope. We're motion to adjourn. Sorry. I make motion to adjourn All those in favor of adjourning, please state aye Aye Any objection, we're adjourned at 5.56 Thanks everybody