 Welcome everyone. At this time I'd like to call to order the first meeting of the 2019-2019 Common Council. It's rather 2020 Common Council. Would the clerk please read the quote for the day. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Teamwork gives you the best opportunity to turn vision into reality. Thank you for those words of wisdom. Would the clerk please call the roll? There are 10 present. Next we'll start off with a presentation of the National Colors by the Sheboygan Police Department's Honor Guard. Please stand. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge 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. Please be seated. Next we have a musical performance by Vox. Thank you very much. Next I'd like to call up Pastor Bill T. Winkle from Hope Church for our invocation. Bill is a longtime attorney in town and he also served the state senator a few years ago. Bill welcome. Distinguished guests and members of the council, Hope Church is a proud resident of the city of Sheboygan since 1891. Appearances to the contrary, I have not been its only pastor. But I am thankful for the opportunity on behalf of the faith community of Sheboygan to offer this invocation. So if it is your pleasure I invite you to join me in prayer. God of this city, we come to you tonight mindful of the truth that you are God and we are not. We come to you tonight aware of the truth that you govern the universe and beyond from time immemorial to beyond time and yet in your grace you have given these people the task of governing this city for a time. So it is we seek your blessings. The blessing of servant hearts which understand the call to be servants of the people not their masters. The blessing of knowing that to govern will require decision making growing out of their knowledge and discernment of what is necessary and best, whether the necessary and best is popular or not. We seek for these leaders the blessing of knowing how to govern this city, your city, with the conviction of protecting individual rights, the understanding that to compromise over debatable differences is not a sin. When it achieves the greater good and the wisdom to know the difference. We pray that you will endow all these servant leaders then with wisdom, wisdom to know the important difference between prudence and penny pinching in matters of health, safety, roads and infrastructure. We pray tonight as well that the spirit of Sheboygan will be one which offers opportunities to all of the rainbow of races and variety of languages you have called these people to govern. May words like equality and justice be more than hollow slogans and instead serve as their guiding principles. We pray that the residents and guests of this city will enjoy the spirit of genuine hospitality as it is offered in our parks and lakes and festivals. Tonight then God of this city give these leaders servant hearts, wise minds and generous spirits as they serve and govern this city in this time. We pray this in the name of the one whom we worship and adore. Amen. Thank you very much. Next I'd like to call up recently reelected municipal judge Natasha Tory to swear in our city attorney and our city clerk. I have been elected to the office of city clerks where that I will support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Wisconsin and will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of said office to the best of my ability. So help me God. Congratulations. Charles Adams haven't been elected to the office of city attorney having been elected to the office of city attorney swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin and will faithfully and impartially and will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of said office discharge the duties of said office to the best of my ability the best of my ability so help me God so help me God thank you very much judge and next I'd like to call up the older persons representing odd number districts to please come forward for Meredith de Bruyne to administer your oath of office next is item 1.7 adopting the rules of the common council all the person will thank you mayor I make a motion to approve thank you for that motion in support is there any discussion on the motion to approve the rules of the common council see none all those well I have to call roll I'm sorry ten eyes motion passes next we'll go on to election of the president and vice president of the common council go ahead thank you mayor I moved to I moved that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by closed ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and the balloting to continue until one candidate receives the majority is there a second thank you very much nominations are then open all the person down here thank you for that motion and support Todd you accept yes are there any other nominations are there any other nominations are there any other nominations accept the motion is there a second we have a second all those in favor please signify by saying aye opposed motion passes congratulations Todd next we'll go on to election of the vice president of the city council all the person will thank you mayor I moved the not that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by closed ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and the balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority second is there a second nominations are open all the person sorenson I move that we nominate Mary Lynn Donahue for vice president of the common council second we have a lot of seconds thank you very much do you accept all the person down here I do are there any other nominations are there any other nominations are there any other nominations entertain a motion all the person will thank you mayor I moved to close nominations and direct the city clerk to cast in a unanimous ballot for Mary Lynn Donahue there a second we have a second all those in favor of that motion please signify by saying aye opposed motion passes congratulations next we'll move on to election of a representative on the city planning commission all the person will thank you mayor I moved to that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by open ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate for the lowest number with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and the balloting can to continue until one candidate receives a majority you have a motion and a second all those in favor please signify by saying aye opposed motion passes nominations are open all the person Mitchell second thank you for that motion in support all the person born do you accept thank you are there any other nominations are there any other nominations are there any other nominations all the person will thank you mayor I moved to close the nominations and direct the city clerk to cast a unanimous ballot for Jim born thank you for that motion in support all those in favor of the motion please signify by saying aye opposed motion passes congratulations all the person born next is selection of two representatives to serve on the capital improvements commission all the person will thank you mayor I moved that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by open ballot and if more than two candidates technically two candidates are nominated the candidates with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and balloting to continue until the one candidate receives a majority thank you for that motion and second nominations are all we have to vote on it all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion passes nominations are open all the person born thank you for that nomination all the person Sarnson do you accept I do thank you very much are there any other nominations all the person down here with the second position I nominate council president Todd will thank you very thank you very much for that motion in second all those in favor please signify by saying aye opposed are there any other nominations are there any other nominations are there any other nominations seeing none all the person wolf thank you mayor I moved to close nominations and direct the city clerk to cast the unanimous ballot for Ryan Sarnson Ryan Sarnson and Todd will second thank you for that motion in support all those in favor of the motion please signify by saying aye aye opposed motion passes congratulations everyone next we'll take a short recess to elect the chairman of the committee the whole thank you chair I move that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by open ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority thank you is there a second thank you nominations are received from the floor someone will be nominated Maryland I nominate Ryan Sarnson thank you are there any others are there any others are there any others I moved to close nominations thank you for that second and I moved to mr. chair to close nominations and direct the city clerk to cast a unanimous ballot for Ryan Sarnson all in favor I motion carries congratulations Ryan also meeting will reconvene next is a report by the council president the election of the committee the whole chair person Alderperson Wolf thank you Mary Ryan Alderperson Ryan so Ryan Sarnson is the elected committee of the whole chair person thank you very much congratulations Ryan next aid money agenda is the president of the council's message Alderperson Wolf thank you Mary all right I was up all night doing this I know you guys like really short speeches so I hope this won't take us too long so so anyway dear mayor city administrator city attorney fellow elders and our city managers and staff we have accomplished another positive and momentous year in advancing our cities 2017 through 2021 strategic plan our city has shown continued growth and prosperity that has been identified by several outside sources this is can has continued to show us that the direction that our city is progressing in a positive and meaningful to many in our city and outside sources we have changed the city's path of the past and listened this is in developing our new 150 acre industrial park south point enterprise campus so we have shelf already locations for business growth versus watching it pass pass us and go down the road we have invested in our city's infrastructure like our great city hall which is which will be a beacon where the old and the the and the new state of the art technology will coexist the city was was able to accomplish this with 5.5 million cash reserves in order to limit the amount of 6 million borrowed funds we continue to invest in roads although this past this path that is truly cobbled with frustration this will take many years and even to get a handle on the damage has been has gone on for too long to correct in a quick manner even our great straight states infrastructure is showing the troubles and where but in 2018 more than 7.2 miles of streets were reconstructed or received overlays in comparing this number of miles in the past decade this 7.2 miles is more mileage than the combined mileage of the first five years of our past decade the city has successfully worked with the SSEDC to meet the needs of the of our local businesses in attracting their employees a part of the solution is creating a market rate workforce multi-family developments several residential developments are under construction and will soon commence as we all know please note that Sheboygan was noted as one of the top 20 small cities for business Sheboygan County lands on the best places for millennials to move to list reasons we made it on the list abundance of jobs as we all know low low-cost housing and low crime rates another positive was the double digit growth in Sheboygan County's home median sale price even with the growth of the residential housing that we've all been involved with we have we have assisted in filling the needs that were identified the city had with the multi-departmental strategy is working hard to stabilize and improve neighborhoods that surround our downtown area this the strategy includes the partnership of the city and the neighborhood associations nine neighborhood associations exist as of December 31st 2018 we are looking to see this number increase over the next years even our city's local surveys are showing positives in the many changes that have been happening locally another good example is city transit improving services over the years ridership in 2018 was 599,714 so close to getting that 600,000 which was a 13.2 increase over 2017 highest ridership since 2002 16 years and some questioned why buses are not full that's the one I enjoyed but I do disagree with with it because of the numbers ridership in the first quarter of 2019 is up 15.9% over the first quarter of 2018 average work week day trips is over 2,500 riders this Thursday five new state-of-the-art buses will be released to our city's routes for our ridership to enjoy shoreline metro ridership increased to its highest level in 16 years thanks in part to a new partnership with the Sheboygan area school district whereby local students can ride year round for free which is huge crime in the in Sheboygan continues to decrease and we've been very blessed by that these are some of the many positives that together we can we will continue to affect and help provide the voice of the cons of our constituents we know that there will always be topics that will be reviewed and questioned today and into the future sometimes these decisions are difficult and some are personal or issues that blur that blur the lines of logic and good stewardship our jobs are not always appreciated and understood and as as we will welcome our newer elders together we will continue to learn together lean on each other and support the changes that will continue to drive positive change for today tomorrow and the future please note that I want you to know that you you can count on me to assist our teams in continued transparency and communicate together together we can find the information and the proper city staff person or department to make your jobs easier when helping our mindful constituents thanks for electing me as your council president thank you all for taking these difficult positions and helping to make Sheboygan a great place to live work and play thank you thank you very much all the person wolf next item on the agenda is the committee of the whole chair persons message all the person sorenson all right thank you mr. Mayor Todd might have had that big stack of paper this is my speech all right thank you to all my colleagues for entrusting me to serve as another term as the committee the whole chairman I first off want to congratulate Barb Felde for the newest addition to the Common Council I know Barb you'll be a fine addition to this council I also want to thank the city staff that are here today in the city leadership you guys are doing an awesome job and I'm excited to see what Sheboygan has in future with your leadership over the past few years as all the person Todd Wolf has mentioned we have accomplished a lot however we still have a long way to go as we move forward to make Sheboygan a thriving 21st century city I challenge every single member of the Common Council to help move this city forward engage listen with your constituents research and see what other communities are doing across the country and let's bring those ideas to the Common Council and the committee the whole for that matter as a platform to bring innovative and bold ideas that will help move Sheboygan forward to a stronger community we still have many miles of roads that need to be repaired we need to increase their housing stock with the focus on affordable housing for the average working Sheboygan I we also need to embrace our diversity and make sure that our city is much more inclusive we must also focus on creating an environment of entrepreneurship to attract businesses in our community and help them grow along the way every member of the Common Council has different backgrounds and experiences some of us were born in Sheboygan some of us were born in other states some of us have mothers fathers daughters and sons some of us are blue collar workers some of us are white collar workers some of us are perennials and some of us are millennials but all of us all of us all of us have a shared love for our community we want to see it thrive from time to time we might disagree on specific topics and we might get in heated debates but that's okay because at the end of the day we love and respect each other and we all get along our politics today need needs a lot more civility and we can be that shining example I want to end with a quote that means a lot to me and I think that we should all take it to heart whenever we're talking or working with our constituents are debating an issue when we're in the council meetings so this is by President Franklin Roosevelt happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of a creative effort again thank you for entrusting me and leading you all in the committee the whole I know that this will be a great session now let's get to work thank you everybody thank you all the person sorenson next item on the agenda is public forum there is no one this evening okay thank you then we'll go on to mayor's message city council members sheboygan staff and residents 2019 promises to be an exciting year for the city of sheboygan I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the candidates that ran spirited campaigns for office and tonight we welcome two new members to our council Betty Ackley and Barbara Feldy my congratulations to the city officials Maris de Bruin city attorney Chuck Adams and all their persons Barbara Feldy from the first district Mary Lynn Donahue from the third district Marcus of Aglio from the fifth district Rose Phillips from the seventh district and Trey Mitchell from the ninth district we now have a year positive experience behind us with a reduced council of ten all their persons and I'm looking forward to working with all of you to make sheboygan someplace better tonight we're going to look forward to the future of our city a high priority on the list is to continue the resurfacing of our city streets last year we're able to see 7.2 miles of streets resurfaced this was the best mileage in over a decade and we in this year we have some expensive projects north avenue and Pennsylvania bridge so while our mileage mileage might drop slightly we're still committed to putting all of the city budget that we have available to to draw down some state money to dovetail this and and get as many of our roads paved as possible unfortunately the north avenue project for example came in 1.3 million dollars over budget this will cause some of our contracted projects to be delayed for another year and so that they remain eligible for future state funding for the last few years the streets crew has paved about 40% of all the mileage that we've done this department is looked being looked to to increase the mileage this year to try to make up some of that difference sheboygan was the 11th city to join the green tier communities of wisconsin the 2018 sheboygan sustainability annual report detailed a number of the impressive accomplishments that we have achieved to sustain this progress we will start a green team composed of city staff as suggested by Chad Pellecek we had a good discussion on the sustainable sheboygan task force and the council made it clear that they wanted to see sustainable resident committee and I've asked Chad Pellecek to look for a new model for the makeup of this committee and after council approval and the appropriate appointments will be forward for your consent sheboygan will continue to address the short fall in our housing stock this year we look forward to ribbon cuttings at several projects that are under construction the lux 42 units 7 pin 85 units these two projects are market rate apartments the badger state loss 118 units and these are workforce apartments which are partially subsidized and also the waters edge condos they're completing the first 15 condos planned in this development and there's another phase that will follow later on and also the Kingsbury site another 30 condos we also are working on the Oscar project which is proposed for the Vandervaart site and if approved could add another 240 subsidized apartments there have already been about 800 units built in sheboygan county in the last two years but sheboygan is still at a very low occupancy rate just a little bit above 1% a good community strives for a 3 or 4% occupancy so we have to keep on working on our housing stock in order to get close to those numbers for some time we've tried to meet the desire for a grocery store downtown and last year we commissioned a grocery store market study we have the expectation that some of these new rental projects will help improve our opportunity to create the environment that will attract a grocery store in our downtown area when you live in sheboygan you live in a great city in a great neighborhood we now have nine neighborhood associations which are managed by the mayor's neighborhood leadership cabinet and I want to thank the members of sheboygan neighborhood pride for the work to develop the new neighborhoods associations we further leveraged our neighborhood revitalization efforts by adding a second code enforcement officer and a new another beat cop they follow up on problem properties and keep our neighborhoods clean maintain clutter free and safe we have four target neighborhoods which will be concentrating our efforts on in 2019 those neighborhoods are south Calumet river bend river watch and south lake this year the finishing touches of lighting and walkways and signage and a new water tower will complete the south point enterprise campus development sheboygan's business park expansion in this first phase we developed 150 acres of streets water lines and sewers to accommodate the future business growth we have also contracted with a commercial realtor to market the business sites last year parts of a memorial mall were demolished to make way for the new Meyer store location Meyer will hold their grand opening next week Friday and there's more development opportunity for a 40,000 square foot small store and also the outlots on this site we look forward to these additional developments our police department continues to bring strong focus to community policing this strategy has produced significant decrease in part one crimes in 2018 the department has also added a second beat cop to strengthen our north side neighborhoods the conversion to county dispatch for all 911 and emergency calls has eliminated the transfer of cell 911 calls from one dispatch center to another and consolidated all dispatch operations in the county law enforcement center the city green will again be hosting entertainment just name a few the Levitt amp concerts on Thursday nights this summer along with several picnic on the green events and other new programming for the summer and it looks like it's going to be a great time downtown again our century old city hall is being restored and remodeled and in 48 days we're looking forward to moving back into our new offices at 828 center Avenue plans will soon be announced for a ribbon cutting and open house so that everyone in the city can come to see these remodeling efforts we also look forward to a new authentic German beer garden which will open on May 25th along the Sheboygan River on the south side of Kiwanis Park the city is contracted with a party to operate the concessions from May 25th through mid-October the German and craft beers will be served in liter and half liter glass mugs baked pretzels will be sold and other food items may be added to the menu later and patrons may bring their own food and a deposit will be charged on the mugs and we've also made it clear that dogs will be allowed in this area we also have a new bike trail that is going to begin construction on that along the lion energy transmission corridor and that project will commence this summer the city has also purchased additional land from the Union Pacific Railroad to extend the shoreland 400 bike trail south down to Union Avenue the Sheboygan County non motorized projects have given us bike trail improvements to benefit the residents of Sheboygan also look for Sheboygan to set up a trek bike share program this year to start out we plan to purchase 20 bikes they will be positioned at three different locations on south pier the harbor center marina and our downtown and in 2018 Sheboygan was recognized as a bronze level bike friendly community we hope that these non motorized improvements will allow Sheboygan to be recognized as a silver level bike friendly community in the future the city remains committed to increasing its communication with our residents last year we launched a communications committee to make recommendation to approve both our internal and external communications we currently provide a monthly newsletter the Sheboygan insider and use various social media twitter next door nixle facebook and council meetings are streamed live in on video on demand and council videos are now being produced as separate videos for the public consumption and when we move back into city hall we'll also have the capability to transmit and record our committee meetings residents have asked the city to establish a dog park on the north side we will be working with the humane society to develop a north side dog park in conjunction with their facility expansion plans a committee will also be set to inventory our community and make recommendations for Sheboygan to be recognized as a pet pet friendly community other parks will also see improvements this summer the Valrath Park tennis courts will be resurfaced and three pickleball courts will be added to the Valrath Park along with some new fencing Optimist Park splash pad is was finished last fall will be open this summer and the Shaw family universal playground will be formally open in June the new park will be set to open on the east side of the park and the lights at the Mary T canal fields at wildwood baseball park will be turned on for the A season opener and they plan to open up a new party deck and concession stand which should be finished soon and we also are ready to open up our kayak launch which was installed along the Sheboygan River in Kiwanis Park. Our forestry department has been very busy as well and is implementing this year will be planting five hundred and fifteen new trees and eight hundred ash trees will be treated three hundred and seventy five ash trees and three hundred and fifty to five hundred other trees will be removed and the stumps will be ground out and two thousand five hundred trees will be trimmed Sheboygan will be celebrating Arbor Day on April twenty six at ten o'clock at J.C. Park the city will receiving Wisconsin's first forty one year tree city U.S.A. recognition that means that the first Wisconsin community to meet the guidelines set by the Arbor Day foundation and continually cared for the trees for forty one years as the city of Sheboygan. The public works department has also stepped up to reevaluate their operations this last year and council accepted the new winter snow emergency rules that they recommended and last night they approved the changes proposed to modernize our garbage collection system. Both of these changes will allow the apartment to be much more effective in the future. I would like to thank all of our city employees for the hard work that they do every day. I also am so appreciative of all the work that you do and for your service to the city without all of you we would not be the great city that we are today. Thank you also for the volunteers who serve on city committees or participate in our community in many different ways. It's those contributions that makes our city so great. It's my honor and privilege to serve the people of Sheboygan as your mayor and I'm very proud of our past accomplishments and look forward to a successful council year. May God bless each of you and may God bless the city of Sheboygan. Thank you. Next we have a resolution item two point one is resolution number one of nineteen twenty by Alderperson Wolf requesting that the mayor reactivate various special committees for the twenty nineteen twenty twenty council year. Alderperson Wolf. Thank you mayor. I make a motion to pass the resolution. Second. Thanks for that motion and support. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor please signify by obviously we have to take the roll. I'm sorry. Ten ayes. Motion passes. Would the city clerk please hand out the mayor's appointments pursuant to section two seventy two of municipal code the Standing Committee assignments are made by the mayor on Tuesday April 16th and subject to confirmation by the full council next Monday on April 22nd. The code further states that it's the mayor's responsibility to make assignments that best serve the interests of the city of Sheboygan. To assist me in that process I've asked all the council members to rank their committee preferences and made every effort to take these preferences into consideration in the Standing Committee appointments that I have made prepared for tonight and present for your consideration and approval. Under the municipal code each alder person shall be appointed to at least one and not more than two Standing Committees. In addition to the list of appointments for the Standing Committees I've shared the council's committee preferences spreadsheet with the rankings of all the alder persons and I'm pleased to report that eight of the alder persons received their first choice and two received their second choice and their first committee appointment. I trust that you as common council members will agree that these committee assignments and leadership selections along with the elections to help tonight will position the city of Sheboygan for a successful 2019-2020 council year. Those appointments will lie over till next Monday. Next item on the agenda is adjournment alder person wolf. Thank you mayor I make a motion to adjourn. Second. Thank you for that motion in support. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed. Motion passes. We stand adjourned. Thank you very much.