 Well, good evening and welcome. It's wonderful tonight to see such a great turnout. Thank you very much for being here And I have to remind everyone if you have a cell phone or beeper, would you please turn it off right now? That'd be terrific. We don't want that to be a part of tonight's event Tonight is divided into four sections Part one in part one each candidate will have two minutes to introduce himself to the audience in In part three, I will read predetermined questions Candidates at that time will have three minutes to answer each question This is not a debate. There will be no rebuttals and we will alternate turns Giving each candidate the same number of opportunities to be first to answer the question and to conclude The timer Margaret Hall who is seated in the front will use four signs during the three-minute answers Her first sign is green for go Then you'll see green again and that indicates that you have one minute remaining When yellow comes up, that's your warning you have three 15 seconds to wrap up and then red means stop In the interest of all I will strictly adhere to the time limits Part three is questions from the audience at approximately 7 30 I'll read questions that have been collected from you and in the interest of time Unfortunately, we won't be able to use all the questions, but we'll do our best and the same rules will apply Part four is conclusion and will end Approximately 8 p.m. And each candidate will be able to conclude with one minute of remarks Proper decorum will be followed and disruptions won't be tolerated tonight We're ready to begin part one introductions Mr. Bellinger you will begin with the letter B. So you will begin you have two minutes to introduce yourself Are you ready Margaret? Okay, first of all, I'd like to thank Dolce and Deb. Thank you. My name is John Bellinger and I'm 56 years old. I am a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-O'Clair with a major in history and political science I'm a senior account executive in the printing industry and I've been married for 29 years to my beautiful wife's tree trees who's here and is a lifelong resident of Sheboygan I've got three kids Matthew Charlie and Megan and I've been an alderman since 2012. I have the chairman of the Public Works Committee I'm the chairman of the Building Use Committee chairman of the Waterfront Safety Task Force. I'm on the finance committee I am on the member of the Transit Commission I'm also on public protection and safety and I'm on the Planning Commission as well and I've been active in politics my whole life I follow it rather religiously and it's a passion of mine and I've enjoyed my time on the council and I think Tonight that you'll see that there are going to be some stark differences between Mike and I and our philosophies and how we would like to lead the future of the city and hopefully Convince you to vote for me on Tuesday the 4th. So thank you very much Mr. Van der Steele. Thank you very much. I'm Mike Van der Steele I've lived in Sheboygan since 1973 I moved here to open up a tuxedo shop down the block called Du Bois firmware and managed that for 40 years during that time I Had a couple of different positions serving as an alderman County board supervisor County board chairman as well as some citizen committees before I came Ran for mayor four years ago and when moved down the street to City Hall where I'm working today My wife Julie is here. We've been married for 35 years and we raised two children here Rob and Katie and both of them have blessed us with a grandchild each so We're happy to be in that stage of life As mayor it's been a great privilege and honor to serve you. I appreciate the opportunity to do that. I also Want to thank our residents here and at home for selecting me to be your mayor over the last four years It's been a real honor and privilege Some of the goals that I've worked on during my term as mayor probably won't come up in the debate So I'd like to talk about some of them and one of them is to create more communication between the city and its residents We've done a couple of things one of them is the next door web-based program. It's like Facebook for neighborhoods It's a new way not only for the city to push things out to its residents But it's a way for the people that live in those neighborhoods to communicate with each other Which really buttresses our police department's neighborhood policing program The Sheboygan press offered me the opportunity About a year and a half ago to start writing a weekly article for the press and I just jumped at that chance because it was an opportunity to let the residents know about some good things that are going on in many city different departments and Get that information out to people The other thing that we did is we just recently started a city e-news letter And then we also have continued the city desk program, which is an hour-long show on W. S. C. S. Thank you Part two questions question number one What is your long-range plan for repairing and maintaining Sheboygan's road? Mr. van der steen you'll start Thank you very much Repairing our roads has been a real priority for all of us There's a big job to do and you can't do it unfortunately without money You can't repair those roads with good intentions as much as you'd like So over the last year the city council has approved several new sources of revenue that we can direct to our roads And and really make a stab at changing them The Department of Public Works also took a very proactive approach to changing the way that they operate So that we just we don't have to go out and hire a contractor every time we need to fix a road They've purchased now an asphalt paving machine and a new roller so that with our own crews now We can buy asphalt from Sheboygan County and they don't have a profit margin So we can get that that product cheaper last year the price of asphalt went down $10 a ton at the county's pricing level and Northeast asphalt price went up So that really helps us keep the cost down on these paving jobs we also are then to To use our own crew and much of that labor is paid for some of it will be additional labor as far as summer seasonal health But we can use our own labor then to repave those roads some of the projects are still going to be done commercially with contractors and We many of them are state projects because we want to max out all the state money that we can get as well We've got a very aggressive program set for this year and we are proposing to Repave 5.5 miles of roads now in the last ten years our average was only two miles of roads per year And so this is a huge jump from where we came We had a couple of years in the middle here where we hit three or three miles of roads But this is a step in the right direction and we have to continue this for several years Right now the city of Sheboygan uses a pacer rating system to evaluate our roads and we have $28 million of projects in the roads that are rated in the three worst categories number one two and three and On average this year We're going to put about four million dollars into our road repairs and when you look at that That that's not going to really crack that nut of those roads So it's going to be several years before we're going to work our way out of this problem and we continue Need to continue to bring those kind of financial resources to solve the problem for the city of Sheboygan Thank you Mr. Bellinger Thank you I take a different approach to this we've this past year Legislatively there's been some work that's been done for revenue streams for the roads We've got the extended garbage fee that's been extended indefinitely and that's one point one million dollars We have the wheel tax that was enacted a year ago and now it's got a full year of revenue collection That's eight hundred eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars of new revenue and then we have The our favorite thing is the county sales tax, which we all thank the county for imposing on us That's four hundred and twelve thousand dollars So we've got two point three million dollars worth of new revenue that we did not have previously for the roads The roads have been neglected in you know the previous couple decades You could go back and look at so we are paying for some of the sins of our forefathers But we have this we've gone to the taxpayers. We feed them and tax them enough We have enough source of revenue for the roads moving forward So what we need to do is we need to prior prioritize better Get our major roads that everybody travels on the collector streets the high-volume streets Get those fixed in an excellent to good condition and keep them that way and that way the visitors that come in And the perception of everybody else within the city will be much better than the current perception is and the second issue that that I have with with the roads is the The special assessments that are levied So if if you have a street that you live on and the city is going to now Pave it in the past. They have never ever Special assessed for work that the city crews did now because we've got this new paving machine And they see it as a source of revenue. They say okay We're gonna all the sudden start a special assessing We only in the past special assess for work that was contracted out by a third party But now we're looking at special assessing, you know all the work that we do And I'm looking to eliminate that with the wheel tax the garbage fee and the sales tax and the bonding that we do Which is excessive as well. That's over 200 percent more than we've ever borrowed this year You know, so I would like to limit that as well But there is enough source of revenue to deal with our roads in a fiscally responsible manage manner and not borrow Ourself out of this problem and double our debt and put our bond rating in jeopardy to try to fix this Thank you on to question number two. It still has to do with roads and mr. Bellinger you'll answer first Do you favor eliminating property tax assessments to abutting properties when roads are paved? Please explain your position. Are you talking special assessments? Okay, okay. I think I covered that a little bit. I feel very passionate about this I happened to be in the district where Eisner Avenue was just recently done a couple years ago and The the assessments on the homeowners in that on that street were excessive that was a complete read redo of the street and So it was a little bit different But what happened on that street was you've got part of the street is town people that live on it and About a third of it in about two-thirds of it city Residents lived on it. So when it came time to assess the town said well We're not going to assess the people that live on Eisner Avenue We're just going to pay for it out of the general fund and what it did was it pit neighbor against neighbor And I got phone calls from a lot of angry neighbors, you know when this went on and it became a very contentious issue I had one woman who was an elderly woman who was a widow on a fixed income and she was You know, it was just the saddest saddest tale that you know that she was just barely making ends meet at the end of her life She barely drives at all anymore and she's supposed to come up with thousands and thousands of dollars to fix the roads And and I just think with our new revenue streams that we have I don't think it's an equitable or a Responsible or fair way to you know move forward with with us with special assessments I think it is something that we can easily get out of right now with this year with the new revenue streams that we have It hurts the the most vulnerable people that we have the low income and the fixed income And I just think that we need to do something about it And I'm going to be speaking about it in greater detail tomorrow at the committee of the whole the issue is going to be brought up If we look at Camelot Boulevard that's on the future. There's some heavy assessments on Camelot Boulevard There's going to be Assessments for five thousand, you know close to six thousand dollars for each for some of these larger parcels on Camelot Boulevard And I think it's onerous and I think we can easily get rid of it and still accomplish all the goals that we need to and Fixing our roads because we have enough revenue Thank you. Mr. Vandersteen. Thank you John earlier. You talked about revenue streams and Unfortunately the garbage fees and really a new revenue stream It's an existing one and it's not there into perpetuity. I believe it has a sunset on it of several years so When you when you do that you really need to deduct that one point two million dollars from the total you gave us of new revenues I Think Eisner Avenue was definitely a different situation because it was a first-time road It had never been assessed before and yes It is more expensive because of that factor, but most of the roads that we're doing Eisner I think came out to around six to seven thousand dollars per lot And most of the ones that we're doing on Camelot those were around a thousand to maybe a thousand seven hundred dollars per home Now there are some corners, but they have corner credits and other things available So we also financed that for five years for those individuals at 1% above what we pay for the bonding issue that we have These assessments have going on forever in Sheboygan and maybe that's not a reason to continue them but you have to factor in the The opportunity if you're going to have other people that have paid these assessments Over a long period of time who are going to say hey I want my money back and you have to factor that into it when you start to eliminate them It's it's not as easy as just pulling the plug and not doing it anymore The other thing is right now the assessments that we get in are using to pay off the debt that we took on to borrow To build those roads and that's right now about a three hundred thousand dollar hit to our Our debt payments, so we're going to have to make that up somehow as well Now the assessments that we're doing in these aggressive programs are not going to be at that three hundred thousand level They're going to be getting closer to five hundred and six hundred thousand dollars a year Because of the expanded programs, but the city needs to have the the taxpayers support of these programs As well as these new revenues that we have in order to really fix our roads If we don't have these and we start to pull things away We're not going to get that five point five miles of roads fix We're only we're going to lose about twenty to twenty five percent of that project if we get rid of assessments So I don't think this has been thought through real well It seems like a last-minute idea that John brought up and I think it's it's one that should be defeated by the council Thank you we'll give Margaret a minute to set up and Mr. Van der Steen you'll answer this next question first Number three. Sheboygan City Hall is in need of better access and function. What is your view of plans for renovating City Hall? Well once this project started I was really in favor of staying at City Hall and I still think that it could be a viable option, but we've been looking at other ways to try to Make sure that this is not too expensive for this all of our citizens in the future And there are some possibilities out there And I think those need to be fully investigated before we move ahead and see if that there are some options That will give us a building that we can use for the foreseeable future that has the proper amount of room and works well for City Hall operations if that's not available then I support the concept of Remodeling City Hall and staying there and putting enough money into it so that that building will last for another hundred years You know, we've been given a quote of eight million dollars But I remember talking to Joe Richardson after he remodeled and restored the IC Thomas drugstore building And he said Mike I finally figured out how to handle one of these historic renovations He said take the biggest quote you have and triple it and that's what it's going to cost you So we're going into this with a good estimate But there's things that you're going to discover as you start to deconstruct and change that building They're going to drive that cost up even more. So that scares me a little bit Thank you Ready mr. Bellinger Thank you I need to correct one thing that Mike previously said and that was on the garbage fee He is completely inaccurate the garbage fee was dumped in the previous years into the general fund and used indiscriminately It was not specifically targeted for roads So now when the council reestablished it in and extended it Exits its sole use is for roads So it is a new revenue in the 1.1 million would count for it now getting on to City Hall I am the chairman of the building use committee I've looked at the option of Wisconsin Bank and Trust. I've looked at the option of Wells Fargo. I've looked at all the other options in the city We're having a meeting on April 12th to further Come together and make a recommendation to counsel it is my opinion after looking at everything that has been brought forth that City Hall should be remained City Hall and the dollars should be spent to keep it as a City Hall And make it as functional and as useful as a modern-day City Hall can be made And there is a lot of inefficiencies right now within the current City Hall And the way it's laid out the Some of the walls and some of the configurations if we are to put some money into it and make it as efficient as possible We will have a one-stop shop where we can have the taxpayers or the residents of the city come in and do business at one counter whether it's a You know buying a license paying a ticket, you know, whatever it is They can get the point of entry in the first contact will be a counter that they can do their business with the other Offices and the council chamber will be up in the you know subsequent floors But I think it has historical significance and looking at the other options. They are either cost prohibitive or Do not meet our functional needs moving forward And therefore I think what what's going to be the recommendation. I believe Is going to be to look strongly at remodeling City Hall and using what we have in finding a way that we can Continue to do business in the year that it would take to to remodel City Hall Thank you We're going to move on to question number four. Mr. Bellinger. You'll be the first one to respond What is your plan to revitalize Sheboygan's downtown Indiana Avenue and Michigan Avenue? Well, I think business Revitalization that corridor the Indiana corridor is a an arts corridor or that's deemed an arts corridor So there is some significance that with that you've got everybody coming and going from Blue Harbor that uses Indiana corridor There is some blight that would nice be nice to get cleaned up and to clean that up What I would do is I would continue to work with developers and work with in recruit new businesses, whether it's art-centric or Hospitality, you know anything like that. We just went through and we struggled mightily to get the founders club you know Up and going and help them with their funding and it shouldn't be that hard when you've got somebody with that unique of an idea and And you've got all these businesses that are looking to have a place where they can have seasonal or interns or temporary work and have them housed in a place that is Economically feasible for them. So we've got that off the ground. I would like to do more things like that one of the things that I would like to do is You know that would include, you know the downtown the Michigan corridor in the Indiana corridor is I would work closely I would put together a task force and work closely with the businesses and with the PGA and with Kohler on The Ryder Cup in 2020 if you saw what happened in Chanhassen and Chaska, Minnesota In how they routed traffic how they closed schools for a week how they all the businesses Thrived after that when they've had US opens there previously where things didn't go very well And all the merchants in the businesses stocked up and and they didn't see any of the Anticipated revenue coming in it really turned around this year. So I would put together a task force. I would have some significant Capital put forth to clean up the city in strategic areas that would highlight and really shine for Sheboygan for that because the world is going to be looking on at us in 2020 And we really need to have the focus and have you know the people that are visiting Come back through Sheboygan and use the amenities patronize the businesses and restaurants and bars and Bread and breakfasts and everything else that we have and just really make it just a wonderful experience because the future Economic development that could come from this could be tremendous Thank you, Mr. Van der Steen. Thank you very much First of all, we have worked very hard with our business improvement district the Sheboygan squared group And with them we put a master plan together for our downtown and South Pier And we've done so many of the different implementation steps. We have wave-finding directions We have a transit trolley that now runs a route to circulate the traffic from Blue Harbor and a marina and Everything downtown the other thing that we're doing that's really going to be the key to this area being successful is continue our housing Developments, we have two great projects one at South Pier one here in the old Boston store site That are are getting pretty close to both of them are 50% pre-leased And we have a new project on South A Street in the St. Cyril site that should break ground soon this This spring now those projects are going to be bringing people to live down here And that's really going to change the dynamics Hopefully it's going to be a big enough dynamic that we can actually get a grocery store downtown But we need to have more critical mass in this area before things like that are going to happen It'll also make this area much more attractive for business And it's it we have to have a real exciting and dynamic Central city area in order to really bring people into this community to stay here There's a lot of jobs in this area and so that works well with it as well now our Cooperation with the business improvement district has done a lot of beautification already We've taken the alleyways and try to make them more friendly. There's now lights that are strung above the alleys We also have flower pots and we have There's more flowers that we put on the light poles and that's only going to be enhanced further this coming year We've also tried to take the area around the Water feature and make that more friendly for people to just hang out in have lunch You know get some kind of a drink Coffee or whatever and enjoy that area so it's going to be those kind of synergies and You know the more housing the businesses and that's really going to make this area more attractive We're already seen a lot of investment in several of the commercial buildings We've had several new businesses move in. There's a new business on the upper floor of the old Dirksey building. We've got the new yarn shop that just opened up Oliveau is supposed to be expanding So there's a lot of neat projects that are already taking place and this area is just going to continue to grow The other thing that we did recently Was was put together a project with the john michael kohler art center for the leaven amp concert series And that's going to continue and only make this area more dynamic and better What is your position on fire department? Well, you know, I really think that we missed the boat as a city council when we didn't hire an Company to do an operational review of our fire department We really need to have some outside feedback that tells us what a good fire department should be doing with their staffing And many other aspects of the fire department right now We have a situation for the chief wants to do this the union doesn't want to see him do it the union's gone out for a study and and so I think the the council is really kind of In a quandary as to what to do and we need somebody to sort all this out for us I've seen many opportunities in the past where municipalities have spent good money On a company that comes in and evaluates their entire operation and gives them recommendations of things to implement And almost always that has made those organizations better And sometimes you need that person from the outside to point out the obvious And I think that may be the case here And so I really am looking forward The discussion tomorrow night at the committee of the whole and I hope the outcome of that is to hire that consultant So we can get some good advice and and come up with a plan that's going to last for many years in our fire department Thank you Six years ago when I was first on the council, I introduced this idea to have a study I spoke with then the fire chief herman. He was against it I told him what I wanted to do what I wanted to accomplish that I didn't have any preconceived Outcome of the study, but I thought that we should have a plan moving forward for the next five to ten years And you know, he didn't support it at the time, but he was very Fourth right with me and I was with him. I did the same thing again this year the study that mike is referencing is is my Resolution and I put together the rfp to come up with this I went to the chief mike romis this time and asked him if he would support it and if he would participate and Help put the rfp together in the scope of work that would be needed At the time he was enthusiastic about it. He said great more information the better It's just going to only reaffirm everything that we already know that we're the greatest fire department in the world and that Just the status quo is just the greatest thing ever. So um, you know, that's what he said then I met with the Chase long miller the head of the union. I told him what I wanted to do and he said He would support it on one condition and that would be that I didn't have a predetermined outcome And whatever the findings were that the council would do their best to follow those Recommendations and fund them, you know, however, you know necessary to move forward. I told him that Absolutely, I agreed with that. I don't have any preconceived idea of how the fire department should be run The unfortunate problem here is that nobody here is an expert on public protection and safety in the leadership of the of the council of The mayor's office of the city administrator It's an expertise that we don't have And anything coming out of the union or the fire chief is going to be biased in some certain way Or it's going to appear that way. So we really need to move forward with an independent study I've talked with pitch and associates who was the recommended Vendor to provide the study for us. I talked with them yesterday or on friday afternoon And he confirmed to me that the price was still good as long as the scope of work Did not change and so they can do concurrently they can complete the study phase one and phase two In six months and get us everything at the same cost that they previously quoted So i'm 100 in favor of moving forward because what we're getting out of the fire department right now Is bickering between the union and management and it's not moving the city forward in any meaningful way Question number six first and it is how do you plan to retain and service companies that want to expand? Well, I certainly you know if I were fortunate enough to be elected mayor, um, I would have a Strong relationship with the business leaders in the community and the ceo's the the cfo's The hr directors and I would have a pulse and know what's going on And I would be able to anticipate their needs and certainly I would have regular conversations with them and and see what their their future Goals are that I would have a clear understanding of their mission statement. Um, we've got an A company here in shabuagan that's headquartered here. That's you know relatively Flies under the radar and that's hsa bank They reside in, uh, you know the tallest building in shabuagan. They've got several floors there. They're always looking to expand. They've exhausted Some work here they couldn't expand any further here due to several reasons and they've outsourced that to Milwaukee So I would work with people like that and see what we can do to have them expand And stay here and get those jobs here and get more people here get more people downtown more people eating lunch downtown buying goods So on and so forth We've got something going on with the you know possibly with the affordable care act nationally and Health savings accounts could be a very big solution to that problem And if that expands and explodes, uh, they're in a great position to expand and even you know You know do some greater things than they're already doing They've got some parking needs and some requirements that need to be met You know, we need to work with them to see what we can do as a city to accomplish what they what they need to move forward There's some other things that we need to do too when companies come to us like masters gallery. We need to be Proactive with them and understand what's going on and not miss out on an opportunity Where we've got a company that wants to spend put a three 30 million dollar facility up and bring 120 million jobs or 120 jobs here and They choose to go down the road to Usberg, but we've funded a project or a study for the south side business park And uh parcels that are south of that yet too to see what we can do to attract businesses in the future And help businesses expand But the businesses that we have here at home within the city limits We need to take care of nurture be on top of have great relationships with And have a pulse in knowing what they need in the future Anticipating them and then doing what we can to help them grow and move forward Thank you Thank you Our economic development is so important. Uh, and that's why we banded together with uh, not only, uh, other municipalities But uh with our business community and started the shabuigan economic development corporation When I came in as mayor, uh, mayor van Akron hadn't Uh become a member of that we were giving him a hundred thousand dollars a year as part of our contribution But he didn't take advantage of it. So I immediately changed that and both myself and the administrator at the time and currently Are our voting members of that group? We participate fully with them in our chamber to try to build those those partnerships and And they really keep tabs on many of these companies all the way around all around our county and help our planning department Work in tandem with them to not only look for the opportunities to bring new companies in but more importantly To help those companies that are in shabuigan grow here. So they'll stay here You know a beautiful example of that was the old wisconsin sausage The city went and bought some additional land on the other side of i-43 And old wisconsin had a company that they hired to to build the new plant for them They wanted to keep it under wraps for a while But that all worked out and we have a beautiful new facility there that old wisconsin and occupying And they're also expanding their their current facilities in shabuigan too. So they're not abandoning those other ones So we have to uh, I think that's the the first priority is to continue to work with our existing businesses to expand And and keep those jobs here in shabuigan The scdcdc has had some great strides and the things that they've done for shabuigan They've they've been involved in almost every economic project that we've done recently And it's a great partner for the city as we go forward Thank you On to question number seven. Mr. van der steen. You'll answer first What is your plan to attract and retain young talent to shabuigan? Well, we talked a little bit before about our downtown and central city area We really have to make that attractive uh place for them to stay here and want to be here We've got a lot on our lakefront that really lends itself to uh to bringing the youth in you know with our trails that we have And the many other opportunities Um, and then things like the the levy amp concert series that makes our area a little bit more dynamic dynamic over The course of a year now we're going to have that space. Uh, they just starting construction on that We call the we're going to call it the city green Uh and the next week or two and uh, we need to find other events like that to round out the use of that space So there's things happening there Many days of the week as we go through our summer season The other thing that I think we need to do is is reach out to some of the people that grew up in shabuigan And I don't know if we can do something through reunion groups But you know, it seems like the five to ten year reunion time kind of time frame Is a time where some of our youth that were born here and raised here and went out off some place to work Might want to think about coming home. They may be married by that time They may be thinking about raising a family They may have family back here that that needs some help and it'd be nice if they were in the area to do that and I think that You know when we talk about our workforce development issues If you can bring somebody in from minot north dakota to work a job here for a while It's likely that you know, when there's a job opening in minot, he's probably going to go back there He's not going to stay here forever But if you can find some of the people that grew up here in shabuigan And if you can bring them back home during that point in their life They're likely to stay here for the rest of their life because they know what shabuigan is when they grew up They know how valuable this community was and the the hominess and the things the attractions that we have here And now they can share those with their kids and they can have the same kind of upbringing that they did when they were here Thank you Thank you, mr. Bellinger Thank you Attracting and keeping young people it's it's always kind of a Challenge and it has been a challenge for us as a city in the past But I think one of the greatest success stories that we have I mentioned it before is the founders club Yeah, this is a dormitory style housing development that used to be a retirement home that has not been on the tax rolls for 47 years the schmitz brothers father built this building they've want to repurpose it and use it for seasonal and You know seasonal students You know that type of work Interns, you know somebody that's going to be here on a temporary basis for three to six months maybe a year And rent that rent those out. And so we're attracting young people that way We've we've got this building going on with the blossom store site with oak brook There's going to be a new a new development on on south a street that's going to be breaking ground soon, hopefully And we've got a port scape apartment So there's a lot of young people or a lot of density that's moving towards the downtown in moving here What I think we also need to do is we need to actively recruit A four-year university to be part of our downtown whether it's lakeland marquette cardinal stretch uwm You know university wisconsin and have them offer graduate level programs for The youth that we have that are here you've got people that come in here. They start their jobs They're working at kohler. They're working at At acuity, you know, and they want to be able to do something to further themselves And they need to have further education to be able to do that We're a city of 50 000 people who are come, you know, we've got 100 000 people in the county We should be able to have a site like that that's here within our city limits to be able to take advantage of it We could do something with uwm with the marine the lake shore or the sanctuary the marine sanctuary with They've got a fresh water institute down in milwaukee. Maybe they could have a satellite here in in shabuagan We've got tons of fresh water here in shabuagan. So I would do things like that. I would be very creative I would think outside the box. I would do some things that would attract young people and Not only keep them for a short period of time, but get them interested and say over a long period I want to stay here. I want to live here and in and having that educational opportunity. I think would be key to that Thank you. Mr. Ballinger. He'll answer question number eight first All voices should be heard in city government What is your plan to encourage and include women young adults and members of our various ethnic communities to serve on committees and participate in city government um That that's a that's a great question. Uh, I I addressed that when I was interviewed by my shabuagan What I would do is I would put together a um Not necessarily a task force or a committee that would have uh different ethnic backgrounds represented And uh, then you know, hopefully with that they could build awareness of what's going on with the in the city And uh, what's going on at the council level get them involved. Maybe get them to run for an office Appoint them to different committees that they would have an interest in and and see where that leads. So, um, I think You know, we've we've got Some some ways to go in that area and I've noticed it and You know, I I know that it needs to be addressed And I think that's a that's a great start, you know to get Get people active in moving towards that direction um City government politics has a negative connotation. So if you can kind of You know remove some of that get people involved. Uh, there's a lot of great committees that they could be on And and get them started off. I think that that would move, you know forward And help out their ethnic community. So, uh, you know, I think it's would be a win-win for the city and a win-win for You know, the different ethnic communities as well Thank you. Thank you I guess, you know, I really think we we are reaching out to many of those groups the monk community You know, we uh, I go to all of the uh festivals that they have And not only the summer festival, but the the new year's festival I also go on vu yang's program on a bi-monthly basis to talk about city issues Uh, and you know, you go there and he asks you a question and then he translates the question plus your answer It's a long process, but you know, there's many people that have trouble with Translating, you know, the monk language. So it's the only way to communicate with some of those people and it's worth the time and effort I've appointed some monk some Hispanics Um, and many others uh to different city committees already And I will continue to do that Um, we early on uh in my term we we had some visits here by the hispanic Uh chamber of commerce they wanted to set up a group here and I attended those meetings We also worked something out with our workforce development and we reached out to the hispanic Uh chamber of commerce in Milwaukee That is still a work in progress. It hasn't produced the results that we wanted to yet But it's something that we're going to continue to work at and recently up at city hall last monday We had a huge pouring of of different ethnic backgrounds in relation to the uh resolution 200 And I talked to uh pastor abraham and um and the other gentleman from the la frontera group And uh, we've got a meeting set up in a week to sit down and talk about some of the issues that they have They'd like to see us do some things with some id cards And some other things to help all those Um people out so that they um they have some things that that that they can use to identify themselves And uh and not get into any trouble Uh some of those things are State solve problems the city can't issue id cards on its own But it's something that will work with our state legislature to try to put in place for us in Milwaukee county, they rather in the wakie county, they do it But you know the state has separate rules on how Milwaukee county operates versus all the other municipalities And unfortunately that's not something that we can do but it's been a high priority of mine to Recognize some of the leaders in those different communities and and give them appointments and try to get them involved in city government The best thing I could see is some of those people running for alderman and I continue to cultivate Different opportunities to bring people in and see them take those next steps question number nine Mr. Banderstein, you'll respond first the national great lakes marine sanctuary is Is proposed to preserve shipwrecks from door counting to port washington for historic recreational and educational purposes How do you see shabuigan's involvement in the national great lakes marine sanctuary? thank you Each community in in this process There's five different cities that are involved Are all going to have a little niche that they're going to play and what shabuigan is carving out for themselves Is sea to space we want to take advantage of spaceport And involve that in this program We've studied the national marine sanctuary the only other one in the great lakes in alpina michigan And and they've really uh have a lot of educational opportunities there We've already started to develop that in the fact that uh, They've raised money to buy what they call science on a sphere Now the science on a sphere exhibit is basically a white globe in the middle of the room And they have four projectors around the room so they can make that globe look like the planet They can show say for instance one of the data sets might be to show off a seismic event the resulting shock waves from that And then the tsunami that results afterwards so they can show that on a globe and really You know take the kids in that class and make them understand these these concepts real easily They can also make it look like Any planet and and they have over 500 data sets of information So that's one part of the education program the other one we'd like to tackle is rov competitions Robotic vehicles that will go down to the bottom of a pool and perform a mission And what this we hope will do will in live open our our students eyes to the fact that wow I can do this I can make this happen And this is a skill that we need people to understand for many of our businesses out there in the manufacturing world They they're not doing all this piece work that they used to the robots are doing that and we need people that can Manage and program those robots So not only will we preserve those cultural resources the shipwrecks that are there There will be a historical aspect to it But sheboygan out of all these communities is trying to to tackle the the technology part of it And that's what what our main emphasis is now that's going to bring tourism to the area It's going to bring a lot of school groups who want to come down to spaceport and experience the sea to space Exhibits down there. We hope to have a direct link to the nasa training lab That's under the the ocean bottom and all those things will be neat aspects for our kids to learn from Thank you I'm going to piggyback on on what mike has said about the education. I think that's that's the key aspect of this The marine sanctuary is once once it when it gets through and it meets all the federal legislation and it gets the designation You know set, you know Then I think what we need to do is look with the next step and Again, what i'll say is I think we need to have some Higher level education not just with the grade school level in that which I think is good Which might which might already talked about but I think we need to have you know some freshwater institute type Higher level education biology things like that, you know to go along with with the shipwrecks in the marine sanctuary We are in an ideal position being located right in the middle Geographically of the marine sanctuary. So shabuigan is the center of the whole thing. So I think from Whether it's the marine sanctuary having a headquarters partnering with seas You know, we've got the the yacht club the use sailing group. We've got a lot of water based activity We've got the the charter fishermen, you know and all that that we can use all of those resources And piggyback and and really You know make a lot out of this opportunity. So, you know, but again, I think what we need to do is On an economic development front. We need to really go after the universities or the Higher education and see what we can do to draw them here attract them And have them set up a permanent site here where they can move this thing forward to take it to the next level Okay, I would say that the majority of the neighbors neighborhoods are relatively safe. I don't know of any that have habitual Problems, I think what the chief has done with his neighborhood policing has been outstanding I I know we I've got a neighborhood police officer Matt Heimerall in my neighborhood. I've become to come to know him very well And hopefully other people in different neighborhoods would reach out to the police department and find out who their neighborhood police officer is The the the city has been divided up into geographic areas with a an officer or two Whether it's first or second shift that's responsible for each neighborhood that officer goes around In in does his rounds it spends a majority of his time in that geographic area He knows the trouble homes The the potential drug houses. He knows where people have stray dogs or or our nuisance dogs where You know, they know everything about the given geography So when something happens, they've got a pulse on the neighborhood. They know what's going on So I think that is the way to do Neighborhood policing and keep a pulse of of what's going on and and really be proactive and and try to prevent any kind of You know future bigger larger problems from from becoming evident. So I would continue to do that I would encourage people to go through the Citizens police academy and see what the police department is actually doing. I've gone through it I've done several work ride-alongs. It's eye opening What they encounter every day and and to see even in in the neighborhood that that you live in that you think is relatively safe And and if you see things that you weren't necessarily aware of that happen, you know, well, you may be sleeping And it's it's really really interesting and I give these officers a ton of credit for what they do In how they handle themselves and how professional they are how they treat everybody that they have an interaction with They are outstanding We are blessed to have a great police department and a great leader of our police department And I would do everything I could to continue to support his efforts because he's doing a great job Thank you. Well, john gave a real good synopsis of the police department's community policing program But we really need to take other steps Some of them that I've taken is to start the mayor's neighborhood leadership cabinet when I came into office We only had two neighborhood associations. We now have five and we've got several more in the pipeline right now We changed the way that shabuaga neighborhood pride worked. They used to try to associate with the the neighborhoods that had been identified as well as trying to get new ones in Now the mayor's neighborhood leadership cabinet is dealing all just with the ones That are our neighborhood associations and that leaves the shabuaga neighborhood pride More time to act as the recruitment And emphasis and and try to get these neighborhoods that are meeting maybe once a year twice a year to become full neighborhood associations We also put together a grant program for our neighborhood associations to help them put programs together in their groups And it's it's really paid some big dividends we Then the next thing that That we've been able to do is Is get these members together so that they can share best practices We'll put on a program at every one of those meetings So they're exposed to other things that go on in the city like last month We had jill kerlin come in talk about emerald ash borer and then the the the city's park and rec program And that was just good experience for them And those are programs that they can either if they want to just bring the information back Or they can ask that individual the city to come to their neighborhood And and talk about things the other thing that we did to help these programs out and more communication with our neighbors Is put next door dot com and if you're not on that program It's a great way to communicate with your neighbors And if you're in that neighborhood that only meets twice a year This is a way for you to communicate and push information out to all the people in your neighborhood on the things that are going on and communicate with your neighbors So those are some of the proactive things that we've been doing One of the other big projects has been with habitat for humanity on eerie avenue where we've taken a half block of city property and turn those over to habitat And they've put three houses up There'll be another house going up this year and once we clean out the east side of that half block area We'll be able to finish that project up and originally there was 14 Homes in that block They had the most police calls of any area in the city and we totally turned them around Well, there'll be seven homes on that block when we're finished And it's going to be a much better neighborhood because all the homes will be owned by the people that live there First What portion of the city budget should go to wages and benefits? We are currently at around 82 What in your opinion is the proper level? Well right now, you know, we've cut back in many of our departments and I don't see how we can Can thin things out much more than we have we've recently have to make some additions at our police department We had to make some additions at our fire department And we also did in our building inspection department and those were all good moves They make us a safer city It makes us a cleaner city because we have people to do code enforcement on a regular basis And it it makes those programs more effective And I just don't see where we're going to be able to cut back dramatically on the labor that we have right now And and we're going to probably stay around that 80 percent level You know things are Expenses for employees are not going down We have been proactive with our health plan by going to a high deductible plan And we're trying to squeeze a little bit out of that. So it doesn't it's not as expensive for the city It we're a part of the in health clinic with shabuigan county and the shabuigan area school district That's taken some of the costs out of it But it's still an expense that we have to offer a good health plan for our employees Thank you, um, I'm not sure if you can give a percentage You're saying it's 82 percent right now what it's at, you know, what the goal should be should it be 70 should it be 75 70 I mean, I don't think that would be responsible just to throw out a percentage what I what I think it should be I think there's opportunities to to reduce that in in what that number should be You know, I think there needs to be some further investigation into opportunities that we have that we can reduce some of our costs There's some things that we can do To get rid of some full-time equivalents What we did was with retirements in the assessor's office We outsourced that, you know, so we don't have that I think believe there was three or four people in that department And so we were able to get Those bodies off our payroll and in our benefit plan and have them be part of grota and and have still Great service in assessing capability within the city for them to to access but They're no longer city employees There may be other opportunities that we can look at too where we can outsource or take care or take advantage of early retirement There's act 10 that we can look at to gradually get The employees to You know be paying more and more for their healthcare benefits and getting more in line with the the private sector It's not something that we can do You know immediately and say okay boom right away. You're going to do it But over time we can inch them towards that and and be respectful and still give raises and do things that we need to do In the past I've looked at outsourcing or privatizing the the garbage service We have private companies that can do that and why we're still in the garbage service You know, I don't know I tried to get rid of it a number of years ago And and it would be slightly more expensive for The individuals to contract and do that but at the same time if you look at the overall Scope of things if at 500,000 a crack for a for a garbage truck and we have six of them that are running every day That becomes quite costly and that was not factored into the The equation at the time when that was looked at but there are other opportunities that we can can look at And I think we need to have an aggressive hr department and department heads looking at Other ideas of how we can do things differently how we can outsource things how we can use seasonal work You know and you know find out new ways to do things and and maybe there's some things that we don't need to be doing Some services that you know, it doesn't make sense to do in the future And that would help drive some of that cost down and get that percentage at a more acceptable level Thank you with cultivating small Could you avoid and hold a job fair for local people? Tell them what kinds of small businesses we need Offer them business advice and tax breaks to begin a business downtown Not in the freeway malls Could you read that the first part of that question again? Thank you Could you avoid and hold a job fair for local people? Tell them what kinds of small businesses we need Okay, um, we certainly could hold a job fair and The mayor mentioned earlier that he would like to see a grocery store in the downtown area um I think developers have been working with the all the local grocers in town to see if they want to expand there And apparently there isn't the density to support one at this point in time Hopefully that changes, but I don't think you can Hold a job fair and say we've got these 10 or 12 Businesses that we need in our downtown. We want you to fill this niche and this need You know what what we can do. I think is is hold a I would call it not necessarily a job fair an opportunity fair I would have our existing businesses participate in it and say, you know, here's some other opportunities or entrepreneurs that started Organically like a la vu, you know in places like that Legendaries who had this great recipe and is a local guy who you know turned that into a very successful business You know things like that and see if you can spur some ideas in and be Plant the seed in these young people to see if if there would be something that would Click with them and and be something that would be a benefit to the city But for the city to say here's what we need these eight or 10 or 12 You know different Businesses services or whatever and say we want you to fill that need You know, I don't think that's the way it works. I think it needs to be organic Um, I think the marketplace will drive whatever those needs are and you know, hopefully we can have we have a lot of creative People in the community, but I think you know having an opportunity type workshop and having a lot of other people that have been successful In different businesses doing it a different way I think that might be something that would be educational and spur some creativity And maybe plant some seeds and be of future benefit for us I think you're talking about two separate things as john mentioned There's a job fair to find jobs for people But the process of trying to find new businesses to come into our downtown and our city is a little different This last year the business improvement district hired some people to go out and knock on the doors of businesses In our region and find successful businesses that wanted to expand and maybe open up a sheboygan location Now that hasn't paid any dividends yet, but that's that's the kind of thing that I think You know, you have a chance to to capitalize on you talked about larry legends now He's out in sheboygan falls. He's in manor to walk. He has several locations So we want to find a business like that that wants to expand and grow Parker johns right now is opening up in the riverfront has a place in keel He opened one up in manor to walk and now he's opening one up in sheboygan So that's kind of like that idea and that's what we need to do is find those kind of entrepreneurs that have something that's working and have the The gumption and the money to open up a second or third location and hopefully we can attract them here The other thing that the city does do is help many of those businesses out We can give them business development loan that's based on job creation We can help them out with some sign grants And there's some small programs like that that we can use to help those businesses along Barber shop maverick sound on a street We help them out with a facade renovation because we wanted a more historic look for that building We gave the yarn shop a sign grant So there's many little things that we can do and if they do create more jobs like a street alehouse They they bought the building next door and they want to expand their brewery business Well as they create those new jobs, they'll qualify for additional funds from the redevelopment authority to help cover that We gave a loan to neil Gottlieb who runs the three twins ice cream shop in the old sir heidi space and Not only is he fixed that building up. It's producing Ice cream to serve his company for the midwest distribution in the east coast But now he's fixing up all the buildings and we're going to have a much more attractive spot on michigan avenue Those buildings had been just let go and they were looking very deplorable And now they're really shaping up and looking real sharp and they're employing quite a few people inside of that building Thank you You'll start with this question. It has to do with the fire department You want the study on this to avoid in fire department, but will you follow the findings? Why spend 60 thousand dollars Three firemen were approved to be hired yet. They were not I would like to know why Spending money that we don't intend to follow is not fiscally responsible Mr. Van der steam The the study that comes out will have recommendations and that will be up to The fire department and the city council to adopt and fund any recommendations that are in that study so it's really going to be dependent on on those two entities the police and fire commission is also going to be involved in something like that and You know, I hope they come up with several recommendations which can make our our city's fire department more efficient And perhaps operate a little bit less expensively But on the other hand they may make recommendations They're going to cost us more money And we're going to have to find a way to fund those if we want to really have a well run fire department So i'm open to see what they come up with and what that might cost and then make the decision As to which way we should go Thank you I too i'm curious to see what would come if we were able to spend the the $59 000 to do this study It would take six months. There would be two phases It would be a very very comprehensive study. It would look at the ambulance service Whether the viability of that it would look at the number of stations that we need to have as a city Where they should be geographically located It would be looking at the management how it should be staffed as well as the rank and file how it should be staffed as well We keep hearing about complaints on the south side that there's only two Firemen at that station and on the north side station. There's only two firemen there as well and there's When there's calls for service in those areas, there's a delay as a result And I think what we really need to do is get to the bottom of it and figure out what we need to do There's a battalion chief issue too with their not being on 24s They're on 40 hour work weeks and they don't work weekends or holidays and So those duties are led to the rank and file and and there's some issues with that as well So I think we need to finally get to the bottom of it and again as I mentioned all the way through six years ago This year recently when the study came up. I have no preconceived notion of what should come out of it I am not a public protection and safety expert All I want is a five to ten year plan moving forward that the city of shabuagan can have the most efficient economical and state of the art Fire service fire protection that we can and again if it means that we need to spend more money Then we need to find a way to fund it if it means we need to cut some things then we need to do that as well If it needs we need to reconfigure things we need to do that too You know, so I think it's you know for from someone to say, you know, there Here's what's going to come out of this nobody knows what's going to come out of it But you know, we need to move forward and do something the status quo isn't working the chief's 2020 plan Has some fiscal restraints. We've got spending limits spending caps that we have and that would bust the spending caps Therefore we would have to lay off other employees eliminate other services You know and I don't think the council has the appetite to to be able to or to want to do that So we need to move forward with this study and see what we can have come forth and then look at it and make some decisions Thank you Mr. Bellinger, you'll answer this question first. It has to do with sister cities Relationships between countries is an important topic throughout history Relationships between cities in different countries help build this unity How will you promote relations with other countries? I would follow through with you know with the sister cities that we have and and I would I would look forward to You know enhancing those relationships I know Mike has a plan to go to Germany with the sister city there and spend some time They were here recently. I know that there's exchange students that go back and forth. I think that's a cultural advantage both for you know, the people here in shabuagan as well as the people in the sister city, so I would move forward and continue with that and And you know build on it where there's opportunity to build on it. I think You know using the schools In having more exchange students going back and forth each way, you know, that might be expanding that program Might be an opportunity, but I would take what we have and In build on what we have and I don't know if I would necessarily Expand to other countries. I think you know, you don't want to spread yourself too thin with the resources that you have But certainly the ones that we've established relationships with I think we need to keep them strong And and build on them and see what new opportunities we can develop as you know mutual friends and sister cities Thank you Yeah, the estling is their sister city for coming up on 50 years now and it's been a great relationship over the years um people to people is the organization that Made this possible brought the project forward to the city and the city adopted You know, it's really interesting two years ago when The mayor of of estling germany was here One of the things that he did is participated in our memorial day parade and then he went down to the mung services that we had from memorial day and you know, this gentleman was facing the These all these refugees that were supposed to be coming into germany and other areas He knew that this was going to happen And he was able to see what happened here in the united states in shabuigan when the mung who came here some 30 years ago He can see now that this group of people has kind of kept their language kept their customs But yet they consider themselves shabuiganites americans And so that gave him I think a vision to help him through some of the decisions that he and his city council had to make as their area was inundated with With different refugee populations And one of the decisions that they made which I thought was really good Is that rather than try to take all the refugees and put them in one spot in the city They chose to disperse them throughout the city and find mentor families to to take them in and help them out Much like many of our churches did here in the united states as the mung populations and now even today Burmese populations are coming into shabuigan and making this their home So it was a great experience to have The the the exchanges of students has been also a real Interesting thing to observe, you know, it's just amazing how we get some of these kids to go over there for three weeks And make a friend while they're in middle school And then when their chance comes in high school, they want to go back and continue that relationship and grow it We've got some challenges is that uh in our shabuigan area school district We're not teaching too much german anymore and that's the classes We used to depend on in order to build a group of kids to participate in that exchange And now we're we're really pushing everything on to the middle school exchange where seven or eight kids will go back and forth And they'll have a a family exchange And and that group is really driving All of the student exchanges in high school and now the the germans have to package A german class for all these students because they haven't gotten the german class when they were here in the united states But it's been a great relationship The only other thing that's out there is we do have another sister city in subami japan And that relationship had been left go by some of the past administrations and i've been trying to Rejuvenate that but we still haven't really gotten that one to where it should be So that's the challenge that's out there during the next four years that i'd like to tackle Thank you. Mr. van der steen. You'll answer this question library and other city agencies deal with homeless people every day And we know that the shavuigan area school district has over 200 homeless students It's true that the county is in charge of providing services But is there anything that the city can do to address homelessness and the greater issue of poverty? It's a bigger problem than many of us appreciate I agree with you that it is a much bigger problem. I used to be on big brothers and big sister's board of directors and One of the things that tim kaker would do is Is take the board and put them in front of some of the social workers that go out there and go into all these homes in shavuigan And the stories that she they told you you just couldn't believe the way people are living In some some homes, uh, at least they have a roof over their heads But not much else and and also some of the the you know The situations that these kids come from and that's why they need a mentor in their life to kind of Raise them up and and show them that there's there's a better life out there but um The other project that was involved with there's a group of churches that banded together over at the salvation army They put together Program this year for february. So they got volunteers. They trained them They got the cots and the blankets and everything that was needed and for the month of february They housed whoever was homeless over there It, uh, they thought it was something that would be busting at the seams It really wasn't quite that but they did play a real role in the lives of some of those people and they also did some work to Some social work along the way to help those people out of the Poverty situation and the homelessness that they were experiencing And it was great to see different members of our community come together Volunteer to do this and I think that effort's just going to grow this next year. So when it's the coldest Time of the year we'll have a place for people to go and get them out of the cold Thank you. Um It's a terribly sad problem, you know to be dealt with and I think all too often it is um It's kind of swept under the rug and and people aren't aware of it and it doesn't receive the publicity or the attention that it really needs and I think there's things that the city can do to to help alleviate that working closer with Salvation army with the churches with the school district What I would do is I would like to you know have some meetings with the school district Whether it's the teachers the administrators or the principals of these different schools and and find out what the unique challenges and problems are with with the homeless kids that they do have obviously there's you know the uh You know where they're going to spend their evenings You know in there when the time when they're not in school and how they're going to be fed and clothed You know, but you know, what are the other you know? There's educational issues too that need to be addressed, you know to keep these kids Up to par and get them so they can get themselves out of the situation that they're in And so I think we can work with the school district and bring some more light to that and make People more aware of what's going on and so we see what challenges that are there. We can address them I would do the same thing with the churches. I would I would make the churches aware of Of the intent that the city would like to put a spotlight on this problem and have them Make us aware of some unique situations with families or with issues that they see in their community in their faith community And see if there's something that that we may be able to do to help them as well or help them shed some more light on it Um and do things with with the faith community too I just think that there's there's a lot more that that can be done and should be done and um, it's in unfortunately just a sad sad situation and It's it's all too prevalent in our in our city and I think it's ignored, you know to some great extent, but Um, again, I I think what we can do a great start would be shedding some more light on it and becoming aware of specific problems and addressing specific needs and Walmart has decided to down value the property or pace of wagon less Can we control walmart and promote local No, we cannot control walmart walmart is a huge animal and uh, you know, they're you know They're looking to you know, do what they can to reduce their costs, you know at it seems like any expense necessary There is some state legislation with Going through and they're trying to eliminate these big box stores from Devaluing their their taxes that are owed to their different municipalities where they're in And in limiting that so on a state level that is being addressed Locally, you know, what we can do is we can promote our individual You know our stores our businesses our entrepreneurs and say, you know and try to do as much as we can to support them Give them as much recognition As much publicity and and help that we can to have them succeed it's greater, you know, you feel um You you feel a greater sense when you actually go to one of these small businesses like an olive You know and spend money and and you're helping somebody that is from the area. It's a smaller Shop and you're feeling that you're really making a difference You know, you don't really feel that you're You know making a a big difference when you go to walmart and you spend your money there I mean that those families that own walmart are already pretty well off and You know, you don't feel like you're you know contributing to the greater good Like you would be you know, if you're doing it a smaller shop So again, I think what we need to do is put more publicity and emphasis As a community as as a city on local businesses and seeing what we can do to help them and raise um You know their profile in the community and make people aware of how many great opportunities we have with the companies That are housed here within our city Thank you Could you please repeat the question? Um The what they call a dark store philosophy of of assessment is rampant in our area right now It's hit us hard with uh wall greens and also with memorial mall We had to pay quite a bit of taxes back to both of those organizations the um league of municipalities is working hard to uh sell the idea to our legislature that they should implement some new Laws that are similar to what are going on right now in indiana They've tried it in michigan and those didn't quite work out but the indiana solution seems to be the best one and seems to be effective so that these big box companies Can't win these assessment cases in court so If we are able to pass that legislation Before a question would come up with another one We will be able to defeat wall mart and any other company that tries to do that So i'm working aggressively with the league of municipalities to support that and convince our local legislators that they should Sign on to that legislation Well, first of all, I'd like to thank the members of the auw for putting this event together You know, we had some other sponsors in the past and and that Fell apart and so thank you for picking up the moniker and and having a debate like this. It's very important for our community Um, you know, the last four years as mayor. I've tried to make some real positive changes roads have been a priority communication Trying to do better things for our our employees And and try to overcome some of the problems that came along with act 10 We still have a lot of employees that are really really not feeling too good about Their employment after the way they were treated after act 10 and we need to do some work to to change that But, you know, I've been trying to work to build a better shabuagan. I hope that together We can do that over the next four years and thank you very much for being here tonight Thank you. Uh depth. Thank you very much. You did a very good job. I appreciate the opportunity dulcy thank you for organizing this again an outstanding job and Everybody that came and people that are watching at home or we'll see it taped later. Thank you Hopefully we highlighted some of our differences here tonight You know, some of the things that I want to make very evident to the the electorate out there when it comes time on tuesday To vote is there's a great difference between how mike and I view things and how we would move things forward I oppose the sales tax Mike supported it. I'm fought for the the 200 increase in borrowing, you know, mike supported that I'm leading an effort to eliminate road assessments. Mike's in favor of it I oppose a five-year capital borrowing for 31 million doubling our debt and putting our AA2 bond rating in jeopardy You know, Mike supported that, you know, and i'm continually looking at cost savings in efficiencies