 of the 2013-2014 Common Council to order. First of all, I'd just like to ask the clerk to read the comments, the quote. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, don't settle. Thank you for that. Next I'd just like to make an announcement that our meeting tonight is going to be delayed on Charter Cable. There was some utility work down in their office area and the cables were cut. It will be live on the Internet and the city website and also on WSCS website and on AT&T Uverse. Next, please, the clerk would call the roll. 13 present. Next please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. I'd just like to call for a moment of silence remembering the Oklahoma City tornado victims and the tornado that just went through Oklahoma today and the emergency personnel that are trying to sort out that unfortunate situation. Thank you. Next we'll move on to the approval of the minutes. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to approve the minutes of the premiums council meeting. Second. Thank you for that motion and second. Are there any discussion on those minutes? Seeing none, clerk, please call the roll. Next we'll go on to item 1.4, council appointments that will lie over and following that would be 1.5, confirmation of council appointments. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If it pleases the council, I would like to make the motion for all unless there's any disagreement. Please go ahead. I would move to confirm all three committee assignments, committee appointments. Second. It's moved and seconded to approve those appointments. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor, press your 1 button or number 2 to say no. Clerk, call the roll. Next we're going to have a proclamation for national public works week. The office of the mayor, city of Sheboygan proclamation, whereas public work services provided in our community are an integral part of citizens' everyday lives and whereas the support and understanding in informed citizenry is vital to the efficient operation of the public work systems, programs such as water sewers, streets, highways, public buildings and solid waste collections. And whereas the health and safety and comfort of this community greatly depends on these facilities and services and whereas the quality and effectiveness of these services as well as their planning, design, construction are vitally dependent upon the efforts and skills of public works officials and whereas the efficiency of the qualified and dedicated personnel who staffed public works departments is material influenced by the people's attitude and understanding of the importance of the work that they perform. I therefore, Mike Van der Steen, mayor of the city of Sheboygan, to hereby proclaim the week of May 19th through the 25th of 2013 as national public works weeks. We have a few individuals from our public works team that are going to come forward and they're filling in for their boss who had a family emergency today. Ryan Sasma, Sharon Teeson, is the industrial waste chemist at the waste water plant. Mark Pazerat is the building superintendent I guess and Joel Colste is the street superintendent. Since 1960 the American Public Works Association has sponsored National Public Works Week across America, North America more than 28,000 APWA members use National Public Works Week to energize and educate the public on the importance public works is in their daily lives. The theme of this year's celebration for Public Works Week is because of public works. Imagine turning on your faucet and no water because there's no water treatment plant or no operator. Imagine the pile of garbage in your backyard because there's no garbage collection. Imagine unpaved streets with big ruts because there's no one available to maintain the streets. Imagine no parks for your children to play in because there's no one available to maintain the parks. Imagine no storm sewers to handle the rain, no sanitary sewers to handle the liquid waste because there's no one there to build and maintain the sewer pipes. Imagine no wastewater treatment plant to clean your wastewater before it enters a drinking water supply because there is no wastewater treatment plant and no one to operate and maintain the facility. Public Works Professional are the heart of each community as they design, build, reconstruct, manage, operate and maintain public works infrastructure such as streets, parks, storm sewers and sanitary sewers, drinking water plants and wastewater treatment plants. Citizens are able to have clean water, safe streets and neighborhoods, efficient traffic, safe and clean communities all because of public works. Thank you. We have one additional presentation or re-presentation I guess we should say and that's for our wastewater treatment facility. The City of Sheboygan's Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility in Donahue and Associates Inc. recently received a top honor in the American Council of Engineering Companies, the ACEC of Wisconsin's 2013 Engineering Excellence Competition. The 2013 Grand Award was presented at the American Club in Kohler on March 22, recognizing the collaborative effort between the City of Sheboygan and Donahue to improve the energy efficiency production and recovery at the wastewater treatment facility. With this project, Sheboygan's Wastewater Treatment Facility became the first in Wisconsin to regularly produce more electrical energy than it requires, exporting excess renewable electricity to the grid and becoming a net zero energy facility. On an annual basis, the facility can produce more than 85 percent of its required electrical energy and 90 percent of its required heat energy. Over the past decade, Facility Superintendent Dale Dorr and his crew focused on making the energy efficiency improvements with the ambitious goal of eventually becoming an energy self-sufficient facility. The award winning project was designed by Donahue and included anaerobic digestion improvements to increase the digestion capacity of the biogas production in 400 kilowatts of additional micro-turban capacity to convert the large quantity of biogas released. This monumental achievement, and one is one that demonstrates a commitment to sustainability and the use of innovative technologies. The City of Sheboygan owns and operates the 18 million gallon per day Sheboygan Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, serving seven area communities and 68,000 people across 60 square miles. As the City of Sheboygan's resolve to achieve an energy sufficient status, the Sheboygan Facility is now an important energy case study for municipal wastewater treatment facilities throughout the United States and around the globe. Dale, would you please come forward? And this is the excellence, the best state award presented to the City of Sheboygan wastewater treatment plan. And then we have the 2013 Engineering Excellence Grand Award for Donahue and Associates in the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Sheboygan, and there's a Achieve Net Zero Energy Usage. Gils, congratulations and appreciate all the hard work you've done. Thank you everyone. If you haven't had a chance to go down to the Wastewater Treatment Plant, we have a truly unique facility. There are days that we can produce more than 100% of our energy on site, and the meter turns backwards. The first time that occurred was May 5th, 2011. It's not a lot, but for the whole day, we had a net 124 kilowatts. But we save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on energy. There's a lot of things that we've done there. We've got a great staff. I invite everyone to come down there and take a look. And this was just icing on the cake, so thank you. Thank you, Dale. Next, we'll go on to a presentation. The Senior Activity Center Report, their annual report. Wendy? My name is Wendy Schmitz. I am the supervisor of the Senior Activity Center. Jim Barron and Jody and John have been to the center. I'm hoping after the slideshow today that the rest of the councilmen will come and visit us. Joe and Kevin are very familiar with this information, as they are active members of our commission. And I would like to thank them for their continued support. I wait to give my annual update in May, as this is the month when we celebrate older Americans. This year's theme is, Unleash the Power of Age. All across the country, communities are recognizing that aging Americans are productive, active, and influential members of society. This year, I have prepared a short slide presentation to highlight the accomplishments we have made as seniors in this community. In 2012, we finally had our bike rack installed. We offer Saturday bike rides in the spring and summer. We made significant building improvements last year. These are pictures of what the dining room looked like when the renovation first started a couple of years ago. Our dance classes squeezed into the end of the room. The lighting was poor. The staff, seniors, and their family members started painting. Energy-efficient lighting was installed throughout the building. Today, our Zumba classes have a well-lit, comfortable space. The classes, as you can see, are very popular. The updated space has led to increased participation. In 2012, we averaged 2,110 visits per month, an increase of 134 per month from 2011. The renovations were completed using funds raised by the friends group. No city funds were used. Over 600 of the seniors who used the center are members of the friends. This is what the entranceways used to look like a few years ago, and I apologize for the fuzziness of that particular picture. These are the changes that were made last year. Local high school volunteers working in one of our kitchens in 2012. This is a picture of one of a team of volunteers who donated their time every Friday last spring to work at a factory. The wages they received, they donated towards the kitchen renovation. And this is the kitchen cafe today. We worked with the Department of Health to train our volunteers as we do a lot of activities with food. The new space is used for lunches and workshops, cooking classes, and special events. Last year, work continued on improving the landscaping. Local high school volunteers help a couple of times every week. We utilize the expertise of others. The Kola Company IT Department, LTC students, and one of our high school volunteers taught iPad classes. They're actually available this summer also. However, one of our most important functions is to provide a daily source of socialization, a safe, comfortable place to meet friends. These gentlemen are there every day. We offered a variety of health and fitness opportunities. In 2012, the classes were filled to capacity. Water Exercise was offered at the Central Building twice daily. The mission of the Senior Activity Center is to encourage older adults to remain active and engaged in their community. We offered learning opportunities in the arts and crafts department, but over 30 of our programs are led by seniors sharing their talents. Printing, Mahjong classes, a digital camera class, Tai Chi, A Reader's Theater are just a few of the examples. In 2012, 4,863 hours were donated by our volunteers. Here, computer tutors are facilitating a webinar. 4,863 hours is equivalent to $88,500 of work time, an increase of over $20,000 from the year before. Our volunteers work in the community. This group helped prepare materials for the transit department, obviously the top slide. The lady wearing the scarf is an active volunteer. She just turned 93. Many volunteers helped to train Navi, the Sheboygan search and rescue dog. Volunteer tax preparers assisted 800 people this tax season. We continue to host a local cable TV show and work with resident artists from John Michael Kola Art Center. The people on the bottom slide are members of Xfabula, the storytellers. One of our seniors helped start a local group after this. In 2012, the gentleman brought home 15 medals from the senior Olympics and two lady swimmers brought home 10. Two of the boys, as they like to call themselves, head to nationals next month. In September and October, 23 of us travel to Cuba on a cultural exchange. Last year, Evelyn Prevenas challenged Mayor Van Akron to join our annual skydiving event. She just turned 86. We'll be jumping for the seventh time and, of course, is challenging Mayor van der Steen. The senior activity center is proud to celebrate the achievements and continued commitments of our Sheboygan seniors. My job is to help them unleash the power of age. Thank you. And the council has the annual report in front of you. Wendy, thank you very much for that report and your accomplishments during the last year, and thanks for that challenge. Next is the public forum. Do we have anyone registered for that? No, we do not. No? Okay, then we'll go on to the mayor's comments. First of all, I just want to remind you about the Memorial Day Observance on Monday the 27th. That's next Monday. We'll start out with a 9 a.m. parade, a 10 a.m. service at Fountain Park, and an 1130 service at Mung Memorial in DeLand Park. We are seeking all romantic candidates for the positions open in the first district and the sixth district, and currently we have five candidates that are applying for the first district position and four for the sixth district position. And we just wanted to let everyone know that those are all due in by this coming Friday. That's the deadline for people to apply. And then we also have one of our neighborhood associations in North Flats neighborhood. On June 1st, from 5 to 730, they're going to have a potluck at the game board on North A Street. It's called Bring a Chair and Dish to Share. Okay, then we'll go on to the item number two, hearing in connection with the changes and the text of the city zoning ordinance to change various sections as to provide for the regulation of donation drop-off boxes. Is there anyone that wishes to be heard? Is there anyone that wishes to be heard? Please come forward. Please just give us your name and address, and you can make your comments then. Hi, my name is Renee Bowerman. I'm here representing Goodwill. We have a store on the south side of town, but my office is in Milwaukee. And I wasn't sure if I would have an opportunity to speak tonight but I will make it brief. I know that there will be a public hearing scheduled, or I believe that's the next step. I want to thank you for considering regulating the donation drop boxes. We as an organization do not use the boxes, and there's a lot of confusion about who does operate the boxes. And it helps us to know that there's some kind of regulation. As we built our new store and we went through the city process and we had a lot of things that we don't mind going through to build our image and have an attractive store and take care of our donations. We like to be put on a level playing field with others that are also collecting in the community. So I want to thank you all for your support. I want to thank you for considering the regulations and look forward to talking through more details of them if anyone would be interested in doing that. And I don't know if tonight's the right time or if the next hearing is. City attorney. Just got a further comment. We're just accepting comments tonight. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. Is there anyone else that would wish to be heard? If not, I'd accept a motion to close the hearing. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to close the hearing. Second. I move that second to close the hearing. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye or press your one button. Clerk call the roll. 13 ayes. Thank you. Next we'll go on to the consent agenda. That would be item 3-1 through 3-2-5. Alderman Hammond. Thank you again. I move to accept and file all ROs, accept and adopt all reports of committee pass all resolutions, ordinances and substitute resolutions. Second. Thank you for that motion and second. Would the clerk please call the roll? Or is there any discussion? Seeing none. 13 ayes. Next we'll go on to reports of officers. Item 4-1 in RO by the assistant city attorney submitting a memo in support of findings of the law and licensing committee regarding Roxanna Ramirez, the holder of the city of Sheboygan's taxi cab license number 9748. Okay, that would be held. Next is item 4-2 in RO by assistant city attorney submitting a memo in support of findings of the law and licensing committee regarding the VIP taxi holder of city taxi cab business license number 2847. That would be accept and file. Okay, that's also a hold until 6-2. Next is items 4.3 through 4.8. Those will be referred and under resolutions. We'd refer 5.1 to the salary and grievances committee and under reports of committees. Item 6.1 in RC by law and licensing submitting facts and findings in the matter of a quasi-judicial hearing for the taxi cab driver's license 9748. Roxanna Ramirez, Alderman Vanderweel. Thank you, move the RC be accepted and adopted. Second. Okay, and also that I, to accept and file the RO 4.1. It's been moved and seconded on both of those documents. Any discussion on that motion? Go ahead. I got a question for the city clerk. I'll let you were recommending to hold 4-1 and 4-2 until 6-2. 6-1 and 6-2, each of them go sort of with one. Oh, with the 6-1 and 6-2, not until June 2nd. I thought it was June 2nd. No, no, no. Okay. Sorry. Hold until the end. Not until June. Okay. Okay, any other discussion on that motion? Seeing none, would the clerk please call the roll? 13 ayes. Next we'll go on to 6-2 in RC by law and licensing submitting facts and findings in the matter of the quasi-judicial hearing for taxi cab business license number 2847 for VIP taxi. Alderman Jody Vanderweel. Thank you. The RC be accepted and adopted and the RO be placed on file. Thank you for that motion. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, would the clerk please call the roll? 13 ayes. Then we'll go on to 6-3 in RC by finance recommending authorizing the transfer of appropriations in the 2013 budget established appropriations for purchase and demolition of 1014 and 1016 Erie Avenue and appropriations for the 2013 mini storm sewer projects. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to accept and adopt and put the resolution upon its passage. Second. Thank you for that motion and second. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, would the clerk please call the roll? 13 ayes. Next is item 6.4, an RC by salary and grievances recommending amending subsection three of subs, of subs, of subs, of general ordinance, number 40-11-12 relating to the Wisconsin retirement system contribution rates for the office of mayor. All the person, Mary Lynn Donahue. Thank you, Mayor. I would move that the report of committee be accepted and adopted and that the substitute ordinance be put upon its passage. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll? Mayor. Yes, Alderman Donahue. Yes, my button's not working. Just a little bit of information here. There were two pieces to this ordinance. One was to amend the ordinance to have the mayor's contribution to the Wisconsin retirement system be in line with state law. The second part of the resolution was to, in essence, decrease the percentage that the mayor is paying for his health insurance. Currently, non-rep employees pay 15% of the premium, as I understand it. In the previous council, the amount was fixed at 18%. So I am going to vote against the substitute amendment. I feel strongly that the mayor's contribution to his health insurance should be no more than the non-represented employees. Our mayor's position, from a financial point of view, has been a positive for the city. It's a reduction of $20,000, but I think that this disparity doesn't make sense, and we should try to keep this consistent, if at all possible. Thank you for that discussion. Anyone else? Alderman Boren. Thank you, Mayor. In the committee, the vote in the committee was a tie to leave it at 18% and to move it back to, I believe it's 12%, the health insurance is 12%, if the people are in the, whatever you call it, the lifestyle program, and 15 if they're not, it's 12%. One of the reasons I decided to vote against lowering this, I believe it was Alderman Carlson when we had the document last year, lowering the mayor's salary to $50,000, I think part of this document also was to raise the mayor's health insurance up to 18%. And as I mentioned at the committee, both of the mayoral candidates knew when they ran for the office what the new salary was going to be and what the expectation was going to be for their health insurance contribution. And also something that I want to just mention briefly we'll be discussing it at a committee of the whole meeting in early June. One of the reasons I didn't support lowering the mayor's contribution, and it's my understanding that this particular 18% does not affect this mayor because he gets his health insurance somewhere else, but that's beside the point. But one piece of information I received and as I said, I'll be discussing it more fully at the committee of the whole meeting is that there was a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article that showed what the private sector health insurance premiums were in the state of Wisconsin. And the family, the single plan I should say, for the state of Wisconsin average for the private sector is $8,844. The private sector single plan in Wisconsin is $5,014 for a difference of $3,430 additional per employee per year. For a family plan, the city of Sheboygan premium for 2012-2013 is $20,776.80. Private sector average in Wisconsin is $15,024. That's a 2011 statistic for a difference of $5,752.80 additional per employee per year. With that striking of a difference between the private sector and the city of Sheboygan, I think the trend for all of the employees as we go forward, and I know we're gonna be discussing this further as we go forward this year with salary and grievance, I can't support lowering that 18% because I think probably not an all one swoop, but gradually, especially when we get into 2015 with a tremendous budget deficit that we have, we may come to decisions of possibly having to increase the employee portion of their contribution to health insurance, or on the other hand, laying off people. We may have some very difficult decisions to make. So I can't support lowering that 18% because I think very likely in the next few years we may have to do that with some of our non-REP employees, and then the next time we negotiate contracts, we may even have to have that goal in mind that, and I don't like to do it or even talk about it, but facts are facts. I don't think we can continue to be that out of line with what the private sector is paying for their employees in Wisconsin when a family plan amounts to a difference of almost $5,800 a year per employee. Thank you. Thank you for that discussion. Any other discussion? Alderman Donahue? It's an Apple's oranges comparison, and while I appreciate those figures, of course, what's behind those figures, which is not at all relevant in my opinion to our current, the matter before us right now, is that the insurance that private employees have is not very good insurance. They pay a tremendous amount for plans that just aren't very good. So to strive to go to the bottom rather than to head up is not a personal goal of mine in any event. That is neither here nor there with respect to what we're talking about here, which is just basic equity. So we do have elected officials. The mayor is one of them. There's no real reason for the mayor's percentage to be higher. Now it may come about, as Alderman Born stated, that in the future we're going to be asking our employees to pay far more. Well then, at least the mayor's salary will be at an equitable level, and we aren't going to be having to make those adjustments. This is just a question of fairness. And so I think whether or not Mayor Van der Stien is affected by it or not, we should make this consistent. It just, it makes sense to me, and I would urge you to vote against this particular substitute ordinance. Thank you for those comments. Alderman Born. Thank you, Mayor. With all due respect, Alderman Donahue, there's plenty, plenty of public, I mean private sector insurance plans. We have some right in this area with Kohler Company, Valrath Company. Yes, if you talk to some of the very, very small businesses where some of those people are paying $10,000 a year in premiums for a $10,000 deductible. But I would say that the major corporations in Sheboygan and around the state that fall into that $15,000 a year annual premium are certainly very, very good health plans. In fact, some of those are negotiated by private sector unions. So I don't know where you're getting your idea that private sector health insurance is substandard. It may be compared to what we offer our employees, but we're here to, we were elected by the people that are paying the freight for these premiums, and those are our constituents. Thank you. Thank you for those comments, Alderman Born. At the salary and grievances committee, there was one more item that I think we should bring up. This city attorney would please comment on the wages for the mayor that have to be set prior to an election versus the benefits. The statutes talk about not raising the salary of elected official during the term, but that has been interpreted not to apply to benefits. So you can change the benefits during the term. For instance, raised the WRS contribution, raised the health insurance premiums. You've done that for the other elected officials as well over the years. So that can be done raised or lowered as far as the benefits go during the term. Thank you for that point of information. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Attorney McLean, there's one other point on this whole thing with respect to Wisconsin Retirement System. If you could just comment because I'm concerned as we need to deal with that issue as well as part of this. And I'm just wondering if it might make sense to split the question in this one and deal with the Wisconsin Retirement System issue and then the health insurance issue. Your comment. Okay, well the document that's before you is the substitute ordinance and that deals with the Wisconsin Retirement, just with the Wisconsin Retirement. If you vote in favor of that, basically you would be voting in favor of that substitute as opposed to the ordinance that was introduced that was referred to salary and grievance that contained both the change in the WRS contribution rate and the health insurance contribution rate. If you are in favor of changing both the WRS contribution level and the health insurance level, then you would want to vote no on the substitute and pass the original ordinance that was introduced. Is that what you're looking for? Thank you, I wanted to clarify that because what we're voting on right now is just the change to the Wisconsin Retirement System to bring us in line with state law. The conversation that we're having regarding the health insurance is actually part of a, if this substitute of the substitute of the substitute three times removed gets shot down, then it's the next one, if I understand you, then we can bring that one. It's the original. So right now what we're voting on is just the Wisconsin Retirement System. Right, but if you vote in favor of this, then the general ordinance that was originally introduced that dealt with the two topics would be filed. Okay, is there any other discussion? Seeing none, would the clerk please call the roll? Nine ayes, four noes. Motion passes. Item 7.1 will be referred to the city planning commission. Under matters laid over, city attorney. Okay, general ordinance 5-13-14 by Alderman Lewandowski and Thiel annexing territory to the city of Sheboygan. Alderman Scott Lewandowski. I move that the ordinance be put upon its passage. Motion, we've received a motion and a second on that. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll? 12 ayes, one may. One is seen, I'm sorry. Next we'll go on to other matters, city attorney. Thank you, your honor. 9.1 is an arrow by the city clerk submitting various license applications for the period ending June 30, 2014, and June 30, 2015. That would be referred to law and licensing. And 9.2 is an arrow by the city clerk submitting various license applications for the period ending June 30, 2014, and June 30, 2015. That would be referred to law and licensing. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I move to adjourn. Second. I move the second to adjourn. All those in favor, please press your number one button, or number two, and clerk call the roll. 13 ayes. We stand adjourned, thank you very much.