 But our thoughts and prayer there with him and his life, hopefully everything works out well for her and he's back with us shortly. One thing I got on, if you heard the radio today, that Tabor Bill isn't dead yet. Obviously, they're still working on the Madison. And one thing on the radio was about high taxes in the state of Wisconsin and what's going on. I'm going to chop just professor's name up. But since no one knows how to or can see it, I guess I can pronounce it any way I want. But professor Andrew Raskalski. Raskalski? Close, Steve? Or so? Yeah. Close enough. I'm not even going to ask him anyway. We're at Marquette University giving a speech on taxes. And his reasoning is he suggests that to shift in a tax burden from business to individual tax payers may be the reason why Wisconsin citizens complain so much about their taxes being high. I know on this council it was said before that we have high tax for driving businesses out. But according to the professor, a study by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston showed that in 2000, Wisconsin ranked 50th among all the states and the District of Columbia in terms of business share of total local taxes being paid. He goes on, there are three pages, and I'll just touch some of them. When business taxes are compared to state and personal income tax, Wisconsin ranked 38th. And when business taxes are compared to profits, Wisconsin ranked 35th. Thus, by a variety of measures, business taxes are low in Wisconsin. These data suggest one reason Wisconsin residents may complain about high taxes is precisely because relative to business households in Wisconsin pay a larger share of the total state and local taxes. He also goes on to say that recent data just proves that the notion that Wisconsin over taxes business and the studies have shown that by themselves, they are not very important factor in the location of decision for businesses. A recent study showed that taxes aren't that important to them, he said, because taxes are only a small part of their cost. And business generally value their public services that are funded by their taxes, what they pay. When all revenue is considered, including fees, Wisconsin ranks 19th among states, he said, including fees. And Wisconsin is known to use a lot less user fees than other states. Most states use a high percentage of user fees. In 2000, the latest data available in 2000, this is Wisconsin ranked 18th in local spending relative to personal income. So if anybody wants a copy, it came out of the capital times. And taxes, I thought he shared that with you. OK, 7 o'clock. We will call the third regular meeting of the 2003-2004 Common Council order. Debbie, would you call the roll please? Serta, Graf, Manny, Montemayor, Perez, Peterson, Rindflash, Segali, Stefan, Van Akron, Vanderweal, Wongamon, Warner, OK. 15 present, forms present. Alderman, Graf. No, excuse me, Alderman Warner. I thank you, Your Honor, move the minutes of the last Common Council meeting of April 20th and April 26th be approved and that the same stand has entered on the record. Second. Let's move to the second half minutes of the previous Council meeting be approved. Under discussion. Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion cures. Pledge allegiance. Alderman Perez, you want to lead us this evening? I pledge allegiance to 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. Swearing in of all the person, elect William Stephan. Make him come up here. Make him come up here. Use your microphone, please. I, William Stephan. I, William Stephan. Swear that I will support. Swear that I will support. The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States. And the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin. The Constitution of the State of Wisconsin. And will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of our person, seventh district to the best of my ability to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Before we get into the public forum, we have two young gentlemen from the UW Center with us this evening. Who would like to give the announcement? Could we just have your name for the record? My name is Theo Bio, I'm the president of the Student Government Association at UW-Chabuagan. We'd like to invite the council and other members of city government to the university to participate in our spring picnic, which we hope that will generate student involvement in this community. Time? The time is going to be anywhere from 9.30 to 5 o'clock. We'll have activities all day. OK. Best time we should be there? I think in the afternoon it might be best. OK. Tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow. Sorry, May 4th. So any time in the afternoon, stop in at UW Center? Yes, exactly. Very good. Thank you. And the dean is looking forward to your visit, sir. Thank you. Public forum? Ronald Erlein. Ronald Erlein. Good evening. My name is Ronald Erlein. I'm chairman of the Quality of Life Task Force that this body of legislature created. I would just like to clear up a little ambiguity. At our last meeting, which was April 26, which unfortunately all the members did not attend, we had the Chabuagan Citizens Action Group. Subsequent to that meeting that you have in your packet points that were suggestions that were compiled from members of the Citizens Action Group. These were points that were just considered for discussion. I've received numerous phone calls already concerned that these were outcomes of the group. I would just like to make that very, very clear to this body that these were points that were just brought in for discussion. They were dialogued. There was no consensus built. It was just a very meaningful exchange of information. And that's all that anybody can, in my opinion, attribute to it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else? I have his address. Ron, your address? Thank you. Alderman Peterson. Thank you, Mayor. I read the document last night very quickly. And I think we all appreciate suggestions from the public. But there were two of them that weren't researched very well. One was a seldom arena. We have a large state grant of $3.2 million. I don't think they want us to make it a private arena. Plus we've got some remaining debt. So I think that's just not a very feasible solution. The other one that struck me as odd is to abolish the bid. The bid has a budget of a little over $100,000. They receive from the city about $16,000 in room tax. Most of their budget comes from self-imposed tax by the merchants. And they can dissolve that bid anytime they want. But I think we try not to do it. Again, most of their budget is from the tax that they impose upon themselves. So those are two. There's some other things that I thought were a little unreasonable. Needs to be more research and more study. But I think it's helpful that people submit suggestions. They do a little bit of homework before they do that. Thank you. Thank you. First time I had a phone ring back there in a long time. I didn't even think it worked anymore. Or was that yours? No, no, no. I just got mine off. Yeah, Betty Moody's signed up this week. Oh, I'm sorry. OK, Ben, please. Thank you, Your Honor. Betty Moody, 1706 South 14th Street. Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. My final year on the council ended with a strange twist for me. I never did get a chance to attend my final council meeting as alderman and say my proper goodbyes and best wishes to the newly elected alderman and the re-elected alderman. And my thank yous to the voters of the sixth district that elected me for 14 years. Since I was in the hospital, on the next day, I had my gallbladder taken off. But I'm recovering very, very well. And I'm feeling probably better than ever. I want to congratulate Bonnie Serda. I think Bonnie is going to be a hard worker. She's replacing me. I compliment her and her opponent, Curtis Jackson, for each running a very clean and honest campaign with the focus on themselves rather than on picking apart their opponent. Unfortunately, some of the aldermanic races got pretty ugly towards last. And in the final moments, I challenge any of you who run for alderman or mayor next year to keep the focus on yourself and not your opponent. After all, why do you think voters get apathetic? Tell the voters who you are, what you plan to change, and how you plan to change it. After all, you represent the city of Sheboygan, not yourselves. In the last 14 years, I served on the council. I saw some tremendous changes in our community. Many things were accomplished with tight budgets. I have always been very pro-development. And our community has seen a tremendous facelift over those 14 years, such as the downtown, the marina, Northgate, Washington Square, the industrial park, Blue Harbor, and even Business Drive in our district finally being widened. I'm a lifelong resident of Sheboygan, and I would never, never want to live anyplace else. I'm proud of my hometown. Sheboygan, to me, is truly the best place to live. Back in 1990, when I was first elected to the council, the capital improvement budget was $5 million. Then in years to come, we lowered that to $3 million and finally down to $1.5 million. But we always seemed to get the major projects done, and that always amazed me that we could still manage as money got tighter and tighter, especially in my final council year. Ladies and gentlemen, you will have some serious money crunches ahead, and yet you will be expected to maintain a very high level of city services. This will certainly never, never be easy. My highest compliments to the city staff for coming up with a plan to fix the storm sewers at 17th and Ashland at a fraction of the original $5 million plan. I urge all of you to look to other municipalities, even far beyond Sheboygan County and the state of Wisconsin, to see how problems are being dealt with and being solved within tight budgets. And with that, I bid you farewell. Thank you. Thank you, Betty. Betty, a matter of fact, what you fought for so hard, Ashland, 17th and Ashland, some of the area, the water will be shut off for four hours tomorrow to start the project. So with your help, we got it started year early too. That's good. Alderman Groff. Thank you, Your Honor. I'd like to pull a document forward. Document 328. Document 328 is a resolution authorizing the borrowing of $1,910,000 providing for issuance and sale of general obligations, refunding bonds from 1997. I would ask that that resolution be put upon its passage. Moving to the second resolution be put upon its passage, under discussion. Under discussion, Your Honor. Everybody received a copy of this that Carol handed out, and she's in the audience if you have any questions of her. But just to give you the highlights, the interest rate on these 1997 notes was at 4.217%. We are refinancing them at 2.05%. And we will realize the debt service savings of $38,886. Thank you. Anytime we save $39,000 is a good thing on refinancing. Thank you, Carol, for keeping an eye on that. Did you want to say anything? If I have to say thank you to the city and the administration and council because it's through your patience and trust in me in monitoring your debt. Many times refinancings are done what I would consider a little premature and you do trust the information I bring to you and that is why you are realizing that much savings on an issue sized at 1,009. There are many municipalities that are doing very large refinancings and not saving close to that amount. So it's because of your action and your trust and patience that you are saving this kind of money. And you can be sure that I will continue to monitor your debt. You should have some sizable potential through 2005 and 2006 as well. So I'll be sure to keep you informed of that. Thank you. Okay, Debbie, call the roll please. Berg. Hi. Bonet. Hi. Serta. Hi. Graf. Hi. Manny. Hi. Montemayor. Hi. Perez. Hi. Peterson. Hi. Rindflash. Hi. Segali. Hi. Stefan. Hi. Vanakren. Hi. Vanderweal. Hi. Warner. Hi. Bowman. 15. Motion carried. All in order. I thank you, Your Honor. I move that all ROs be accepted and placed on file. All ROCs be accepted and adopted. All resolutions. Substitute resolutions and ordinances be passed. Exactly. To move to second, all ROs be accepted and filed. ROCs be accepted and adopted. Resolutions and ordinances be put upon or passing death 31 through 315 excluding 310 has been withdrawn and 311 will go to the Revealtment Authority. Any discussion? Alderman Manny. Thank you, Your Honor. Sure. Just want to call 313 out, please. Okay. For comment from Captain Kirk. The chief Kirk, I should say. I don't know. I don't know. Oh, wait a minute. Maybe he refers to Captain. He'd get paid all day. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm feeling sorry. In the movies as opposed to working here. You don't know what you just said up for the staff meetings coming up. Chief, back there. I'm deep in my subconscious. But just like a couple of comments about the 30.7% increase in the accident rate, the quarter of 2004 versus 2003. Thank you. Chief. I think I probably blame Steve for getting this. He's trying to get even from this morning's meeting. I don't have the report with me. If you, no, I actually don't at this time. I don't have to talk to Tim Tarkowski or our traffic supervision to get some indication from them as to what would occur here and what, sure. Okay. Alderman Montemayor. Oh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted, you said that 310 is withdrawn. Correct. Okay, so that it says be placed on file, simply means it gets put away. Yes. Okay, thank you. Any other discussion? If not, would you call the roll please? Bonet, Gerda? Hi. Graf? Hi. Manny? Hi. Montemayor? Hi. Perez? Hi. Peterson? Hi. Rineflice? Hi. Sigali? Hi. Steppen? Hi. Vanakren? Hi. Vanderbiel? Forner? Hi. Bowman? Hi. And Burke? 15. Cool. Motion carried. Oh, man. We're gonna have some fun with that one, Chief. Yeah. Yeah. 316 to be referred. 317 through 327 to be referred. 328 we did. 329 by Alderman Bonet, Manny. Perez, Vanderbiel, Inserta, authorizing engaging special outside counsel relative to the matter of the hearing on the issue of suspension or revocation of the Tavern license of 12th parallel Inc. Alderman Bonet. Thank you, Mr. Brown. I'd like to ask that 329 resolution be put upon his passage. He needs suspension. I'd like to ask for a suspension list. Is there any objections for suspension? Hearing none, proceed. Yes. Again, I'd like to ask for 329 resolution be put upon passage, authorizing engagement of special outside counsel relative to the matter of a hearing on the issue of a suspension of revocation of the Tavern license in the 12th parallel Inc. Under discussion. Hearing none, would you call the roll please? Serta? Hi. Graf? Hi. Manny? Hi. Montemayor? Hi. Perez? Hi. Peterson? Hi. Rineflash? Sugali? Hi. Stefan? Hi. Ben Akron? Hi. Vanderweal? Hi. Warner? Hi. Bowman? Hi. Berg? Hi. And Bonet? Hi. 15. Motion carried. 330 through 333 to be referred. 334 by law and licensing recommending granting various license. Alderman Bonet. Thank you, Mr. Brown. I'd like to make a motion to accept and adopt the report of committee. Moved to second to accept and adopt the report of committee. Under discussion. I'd also like to make a motion to amend the previous motion to re-refer beverage operations license 63-62 back to law and licensing committee. Moved to second to refer whatever number that was. 63-62. Back to law and licensing committee. Under discussion. This is due to the fact of details being brought forth that weren't privy to the committee at the time of the meeting. Is there any discussion? Alderman or any flash? Just to clarify, we're looking to pass the recommendation, but we're amending something on the recommendation. What are we recommending? What are we changing? One particular item or all of them? No, just to re-refer beverage operations license 63-62 back to the committee itself. You're going to vote on that one separately. Okay, very good. Thank you. Okay, we're going to vote on amendment first and then we'll vote on the other one. Then you have to make a new motion after the motion. Roll call, please. Graf? Aye. Manny? Aye. Montemire? Aye. Perez? Aye. Peterson? Aye. Rineflash? Aye. Segali? Aye. Stephan? Aye. Van Akron? Aye. Vanderweal? Aye. Warner? Aye. Bauman? Aye. Berg? Aye. Bonet? Aye. Serda? Okay, I'll move Bonet. Thank you, Ms. Draver. I'd like to make a motion to adopt the ERC as amended. Move it a second, accept and adopt the ERC as amended. Is there any discussion on it? Hearing none, would you call the roll, please? Manny? Aye. Montemire? Aye. Perez? Aye. Peterson? Aye. Rineflash? Aye. Segali? Aye. Stephan? Aye. Van Akron? Aye. Vanderweal? Aye. Warner? Aye. Bauman? Aye. Berg? Aye. Bonet? Aye. Serda? 335 and 36 will lie over. 337 to be referred. Oop, Alderman Montemire. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is simply information that I'm asking about and perhaps I was told previously perhaps we will amend the zoning of the property on Erie Avenue to commercial. What is the commercial thing that's being considered? Which one are you talking to about? 337? The zoning of property located at 1416-18 Erie Avenue. Okay, that's going to plan commission. Go ahead, Paula. Right now there's a proposal in for a car wash on the corner of, it would be Erie and 14th. And it would be a part of that development if rezoned. Thank you. Thank you, that's what I wanted. That's what I was wondering about the car wash. Paula, I believe that's the residence that was taken down that we got a rezoned. The other part was zoned properly, but the part where he took the house down has to be rezoned, correct? Yes. Matter of fact, got a lot of calls on that today for the next plan commission meeting. So whoever area that one is, Bowman, yeah, I would like to see you guys at plan commission that evening. The date for plan commission next Tuesday, plan commission next Tuesday, four o'clock. Okay. This letter that's coming up, talking about a car wash, a different address, but that's the same area. Okay. Yes. Thank you. 338 will go to strategic fiscal plan. 339 will go to finance. Steve, other matters? That will go to city plan commission. I urge the state legislature to maintain Wisconsin's traditional constitutional value provided for by all municipalities of Wisconsin to better take care of the needs of its residents, business, and other institutions including national institutions and educational institutions. That one will go to strategic fiscal plan. 342, communication by Alderman Perez, submitting communications to Carol Bushman, 928 Wisconsin Avenue, department 104 regarding the alley between Wisconsin Avenue and Niagara. That one will go to public protection and safety. Is that the alley we just did some work on or we're gonna do some work on? Is this the alley that DPW is going to be doing some work on also? It's bad? I think so. Okay. So it doesn't have to go to protection and safety too, just public. I think it's going to public protection and safety for a different reason. Oh, this is for speed through there? To put up signs or slowing traffic down. Okay. It's going for a different reason than what public works is gonna be doing there. Okay. Deputy city clerk submitting communication received by the mayor from Malau among an American veteran memorial regarding their application for a sign that could be placed the publication of the memorial. That will go to city plan and public works. 343, submitting communications from Lester and Mary Gross, 2102 and 25th Street regarding the full Walmart store and dogs and parks. That will go to city plan and public works. 345 is an oral by the district city clerk submitting communications from the public service commission being a host of curing and the matters of the public service corporation's application for a rating. That can be accepted and filed. All in favor of the motion? Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. 346 is a communication from the public service commission being a host of curing and the matters of the county car and light company's application for a rating. Accepted and filed? Don't move. Got it, Tim? Who'll get you a second? Alderman Warner. All in favor of the motion? Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. 347 is a resolution authorizing the purchasing agent entering to a new cellular phone contract. That will go to finance. 348 is a resolution authorizing entering into a contract for supplying precast concrete stormwater storage units and accessories. FOP their plant may fill Illinois and exclusive of the typical taxes for the actual Alderman in court control project December 22nd. That will go to public works. Moved in second to adjourn. Under discussion. Hearing none, all in favor?