 It's my pleasure to call to order the first meeting of the 2014 2015 common counsel with the clerk Please read the quote for today. Thank you, mayor I hope our achievements in life shall be these that we will have fought for what was right and fair That we will have risked for what for that which mattered that we will have given help to those who are in need That we have that we will have left the earth a better place for what we've done and who we've been Thank you very much. I'd just like to note that the Pledge of Allegiance will follow the presentation of the colors and then we'll move on to the Musical presentation So I'd like to next ask the clerk to report the roll call The roll call this evening is 15 present and one absent Alderman Maddachek. Alderman Maddachek is not excused Next is the presentation of the national colors by the Sheboygan police departments honor guide Please 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 Next I'd like to call up the members of solstice for a musical presentation Anyway Thank you so much for that excellent presentation Next I'd like to call forward pastor Rick Olson Rick is the senior pastor at St. Luke's United Methodist Church for an invocation Thank You mayor Mike for this invitation to Offer the invocation at the beginning of this new common council year Let us pray God of all peoples We invoke your blessings upon this common council at the beginning of a new year May they represent the residents of our city as a body to govern well and to set wise policies of our city Grant these elected officials in abundance Your blessings with much wisdom knowledge and perseverance Grant us the ability to serve the common good as humble civil servants May we keep our focus on our work to work cooperatively with one another with the mayor and the city administration and Finally help us to ensure that All of our tax dollars are responsibly spent and that all residents will have access to the services and programs That make our neighborhood safe livable affordable and desirable Amen Pastor Olson. Thank you very much for those inspiring words to start our new council year out Next they have a proclamation to present to Jeanine Thompson a Proclamation reads whereas the Dewarden and felser Shoe plotter club was established in 1943 to preserve the Bavarian culture of the shoe plotter dance and Whereas the talented adult and children's group uphold a Bavarian culture through dance costume skits and language and whereas the Dewarden felser shoe plotter club represents Sheboygan at Ganalfa band and day Nord Makira National Organization at the Midwest group called Middle West Traction Vareen and the shoe plotters also perform at local Oktoberfest and German Fest in Milwaukee and whereas the membership in Dewarden felser shoe plotter club ranges from fifth generation dancers to immigrants and first-generation Americans keeping alive the dance and friendship in Sheboygan I now therefore Mike van der Steen by virtue of my office as mayor of the city of Sheboygan do hereby Proclaim that the city of Sheboygan Expresses its best wishes to the Dewarden felser shoe plotter club on the occasion of their 80th anniversary Which is being celebrated on April 26th of 2014 at st. Dominic's parents Parish activity center with a public dance from 6 to 10 p.m. Janine and if there's no objection, I'd like to present one of their proclamation This is being done so that sheboygan can continue to be the longest-running tree city, USA, Wisconsin for a total of 36 years The proclamation reads whereas in 19 Excuse me 1872 J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside For the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called arbor day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska and whereas arbor day is now observed throughout the nation in the world and Whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water cutting heating and cooling cost Moderating the temperatures cleaning the air and producing life-giving oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife and whereas trees are Renewable resource giving us paper wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other wood products And whereas trees in our city increase property values Enhance the economic vitality of business areas and beautify our community and whereas trees wherever they are planted are A source of joy and spiritual renewal. I now therefore Mike van der Steen is mayor the city of Sheboygan Do hereby proclaim April 25th of 2014 is arbor day in the city Of Sheboygan and urge all citizens to celebrate arbor day and support the efforts to protect our trees and woodlands David Bebal next I'd like to call all the alderpins persons elect up front for a swearing-in ceremony I'm going to swear you in Would you all please raise your right hand and repeat after me? I? Please state your name Swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States Swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin And will faithfully and impartially Discharge the duties discharge the duties of the office of alderperson Person to the best of my ability to the best of my ability to help me God Well, congratulations to everyone and best of luck in your new year on the council and your two-year term Next we'll move on to the adoption of rules for the Common Council Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mary move to adopt second They're moved and seconded to adopt the rules of the Common Council those rules are placed on all of your deaths for your reference Is there any discussion? See none all those in favor, please signify by saying aye Opposed those rules are adopted and the motion is passed Next is the election of president and vice president of the council Alderman Hammond. Thank you mr. Mayor first will take president First we'll take president first we would take president Yes, I move that nominations be received for the floor for the position of president voting to be done by closed ballot And if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list in the Balloting continuing into one candidate receives a majority. Is there a second? Thank you for that support All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye opposed motion passes Alderman Donahue. Thank you mayor. I would nominate Don Hammond as president of the Common Council Thank you for that motion and the second from Alderman Bellinger. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Alderman Herman I'm sorry that's out of order right now. We'll take that a little bit later. We're just working on the council president. Thank you There's no other nominations except a motion to close Thank you I move that nominations be closed and the city clerk be instructed to cast unanimous ballot for Alderman Hammond as president of the Common Council. Second Motions before us all in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed motion passes Congratulations. Thank you. Alderman Hammond. Thank you I move that nominations be received from the floor for the position of vice president voting to be done by closed ballot And if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and balloting to Continue until one candidate receives a majority. Second. Thank you for that motion and support Are there any nominations? Alderman Heidemann. I'd like to nominate Alderman Bellinger vice president We have an a motion and a second for Alderman Bellinger Alderman Bellinger. Do you accept? Yes Okay, is there any other nominations Alderman Hammond and nominate Alderman Carlson And thank you for that nomination and support Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Accept the motion to close nominations. So moved Moved and seconded to close nominations All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed Thank you very much. We will conduct an election Alderman, please print your name on the line rather than read it so we can read who it is Thank you Alderman Carlson. Congratulations Okay, next we'll go on to the election of a representative on the board of contractors examiners Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mayor I move that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by open ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated the Candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority Thank you for that motion any nominations Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mayor. I'd nominate all the person Lissard for the board of contractor examiners Okay, thank you for that motion and support. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Accept the motion to close nominations I move that nominations be closed in that and the city clerk be instructed to cast the unanimous ballot for all their Person Lissard is the representative on the board of contractors examiners. Thank you for that motion and support All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying aye aye opposed motion passes Congratulations Alderman Lissard Next we'll go on to the election of the representative from the city planning Commission Alderman Hammond Thank you again I move that nominations be received from the floor voting to voting to be done by open ballot and if more than two Candidates are nominated the candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority second Thank you for that motion and support Accepting nominations Alderman Heidemann I nominate Alderman Thiel for this position second Thank you for that nomination Alderman Herman did you have a nomination? No? Alderman Carlson. Thank you. I nominate all the person out Bellinger Thank you for that nomination. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Accept a motion to close nominations So moved second moved in seconded to close nominations all those in favor signify by saying aye Opposed motion passes. We'll go on to the election for the city planning Commission representative Next we'll go on to two representatives that will be elected to serve on the capital improvements Commission Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mayor. I move that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by open ballot And if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list balloting to continue until One candidate receives a majority Thank you for that motion and support Carlson Thank You mayor. I nominate all the person out Dassler. Thank you very much for that nomination second in that second and Alderman Herman All thank you for that motion and second on that nomination Any other nominations Alderman Hammond I Nominate all the person Carlson and all the person Thiel Thank you for that nomination Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Except a motion to close so moved second moved to seconded to close nominations All those in favor signify by saying aye Opposed motion passes. Let's conduct the election I'm gonna repeat who is who the two on each one. We're gonna get two ballots. So one will have All the person Dassler Then we have all the person Carlson Dassler and Bourne was one and Carlson and Thiel was the other Four of them Okay, congratulations to Alderman Thiel you've been elected to this position We have a tie vote We just drop one out and the other two go so the two that will be on this next ballot is Alderman Dassler and Alderman Bourne The second member of the capital improvements Commission is Alderman Bourne. Congratulations to both Alderman Bourne and Alderman Thiel. Alderman Hammond Thank you for that motion to recess to elect the committee of the whole chairman We'll recess for just two minutes We'll reconvene the city council meeting Put the council president, please give us the report on the election Thank you, mr. Mayor. I'm pleased to announce that Alderperson Donahue as our committee of a whole chair Thank you very much and congratulations Alderman Donahue Next we'll have the president of the council's message The same I'm just gonna stand here I'll keep mine brief but As many of you know, we've had a well documented and I believe a successful year This last council year. We've had some challenges and we've overcome them I believe with our partners the city or some of the county SCEDC and others That the next upcoming year will be even better We're gonna have some challenges, but we'll overcome them together We're gonna have some opportunities and again, we're gonna seize them together For those that have differences, I encourage you to set them aside We may not always agree, but I look forward to a healthy Constructive debate by those that are looking to move Sheboygan forward and again forward Sheboygan. Thank you Thank you for that message next we'll move on to the committee of the whole chairpersons message Alderman Donahue Thank you And thank you very much for your show of support. I appreciate it And I expect that our meetings as committee of the whole will be few but they will be very important It's really an opportunity for us to debate in the sort of free and a little less structured Man or those issues that are of citywide concern and and transcend any particular committees boundaries You know Just in our lull here. I was reading the quote that is right on our Rules and procedures and I I don't know who Pauline Schneider is But I think she is correct when she says local government is really hard That is where the rubber meets the road and it is much harder than the federal government so I'm not sure I necessarily Agree with the federal government piece, but I do know that this is a very hard and demanding job of all of us and I think Alderman Hammond's call for us to work together is is is an important one You know, we have competing priorities. We have the priorities of course to make sure that our taxpayers money is wisely and prudently spent, but we also have that challenge of what I call the vision thing or the you know, the the city on the hill kind of Trope that comes to mind which is we have in this room the ability to really Move this city forward to take a vision of what we think the city should look like and how it should function And how it should really truly be a wonderful place to live and that we here in this room have that ability to work toward that And so I think in everything that we do council meetings committee meetings talking with the mayor Committee of the whole meetings that we work forward to or work toward that But I particularly look forward to chairing the committee of the whole and thank you Thank you for those comments Next we'll move on to the public forum none this evening. Thank you next We have the mayor's appointments Now I just like to mention briefly that pursuant to section 22 7 of the municipal code Standing committee assignments are made by the mayor in April 15th and subject confirmation by the full council at the April 21st meeting The code further states that it's the mayor's Responsibility to make assignments that will best serve the interest of the city of Sheboygan and to assist in that process I've asked the council members to rank all their committee preferences. I've made every effort to take into consideration These preferences and making these standing committee appointments Under the municipal code each alder person shall be appointed to at least one committee, but not more than two standing committees In addition to the list of appointments for the standing committees I've shared the committee preferences set spreadsheet with the rankings of all the alder persons I'm happy to report that 13 of the 16 alder persons received their first choice in a committee assignment Three of the 16 have received a second choice in their first committee assignment With regard to the alder persons who have been appointed to a second committee eight have been appointed to their Second choice and only one received a third choice. I trust that use the common council members agree that these assignments and elections held tonight position city of Sheboygan for a successful 2014 2015 council year Thank you, your honor to the honorable members of the common council hereby submit the following appointments for your confirmation finance committee Don Hammond chairperson Ballinger vice chairperson Carlson Donahue and Codd Public Protection and Safety Committee Gerald Carlson chairperson Susan Lissard vice chairperson Herman bitters and Damro Public Works Committee Joe Heidemann chairperson John Ballinger vice chairperson Oren Theale and Van Akron The Sowering Grievances Committee Maryland Donahue chairperson Ty Dassler vice chairperson Oren Hammond and Vanda wheel and To the law and licensing committee Jody Vanda wheel chairperson Billy Theale vice chairperson Heidemann Lissard and Maddichek signed by the mayor Those appointments will lie over until our meeting on April 21st then There's also a a six-page Document I believe all the alderman have To the honorable members of the council hereby submit the following appointments for your confirmation And these are to the various boards commissions committees so forth, and I won't Won't read through them all in those Appointments will also lie over until our meeting on April 21st. Thank you Tonight I'd like to extend a warm welcome to the new common council members It's good to see alderman kath returning to the council after a year off and alderman bitters and Damro You may be rookies, but I hope that you will bring a fresh perspective to many of our discussions Thank you to all the alderman for pursuing elected office and your Interest of serving the city of Sheboygan citizens Starting this council year will be changing to a paperless meeting format alderman will be using their Computer laptops to access the council documents and vote on the items discussed This change will also bring the use of a new voting system that will allow the viewers at home to see the individual votes of each Alder person as this new system is integrated and Used by each city committee as that happens the city residents will be able to see the same supporting documents that the committee members Receive in their special package that accompanies their agenda for each meeting This will allow the city of Sheboygan government to give a greater transparency to the Sheboygan residents Last year Sheboygan was faced with many challenges One of the largest was a news that the Boston store was closing This could have been devastating for our Harbor Center business improvement district But by working preemptively with the business Improvement district we have now approved the Harbor Center master plan to guide us in recovering from this change and making us stronger for the future the master plan is the next stage of Sheboygan's ongoing commitment to revitalize downtown and waterfront and Recognizing that these assets set Sheboygan apart as a destination and in the plan there are three Three key strategies that have emerged for Harbor Center Based on a market analysis and input from key state stakeholders in the public These strategies will create a unique identity and focus our efforts Which will help generate additional activity and investment for Harbor Center The first is to leverage our arts culture and food offerings The second is to encourage market rate housing and urban development and the third is to enhance travel and connections and cross marketing within Harbor Center Successfully in implementing these three strategies will require the participation of several private sector partners to invest in Sheboygan's future With a strong partnership between the city and other private interests Harbor Center has the potential to make great strides in achieving the vision That's outlined in the plan In another related challenge spaceport announced that they'll be moving to south pier leaving the city with an unoccupied Armory building the decision was made to request RFPs from those interested in repurposing this key property in Sheboygan's lakefront To date approximately 50 parties have requested information and these proposals are due back to the city by October 31st After review and evaluation these will be forwarded to the Common Council for a decision This decision is yet another opportunity for the council to make Harbor Center a stronger destination a Recent challenge that we faced is the Tarshis Windsor that we've probably seen in about a decade This left us with water main breaks to repair More than our usual share of potholes to take care of an extensive damage to the marina docks that are 20 years old We've responded and have contracted for marina dock repairs The water mains have been repaired and the DPW staff has developed a new pavement management program That will address the current potholes and prioritize the street repavement opportunities While this work cannot all be done in one year The plan looks to take the best advantage of the DPW staff the equipment That's available in the con and contract for needed service as that can be best be provided by the private sector This last year our 20-year contract ran out with skipper buds to operate the Harbor Center marina Our challenge was that the marina has not achieved its occupancy goals that were expected when it was built 20 years ago By inviting bids and awarding the contract with occupancy incentives to Segal Gallagher We trust that there is an opportunity for better outcomes and to improve the future growth of our marina occupancy Sheboygan had developed a neighborhood association plan several years ago and partnered with Sheboygan neighborhood pride to develop neighborhood associations While many of the neighborhoods have had regular meetings only to Ellis and Gateway have asked the city for formal neighborhood status To meet this challenge of transitioning more neighborhoods to association status and strengthening our neighborhoods the mayor's neighborhood cabinet has been developed This new cabinet will work to encourage more neighborhoods to be formally recognized by the city and through direct connection with the mayor and city staff and offering of many some mini grants assist associations in providing To assist the associations and providing an awards program to recognize residential achievements We hope to again build that group of formal neighborhoods In addition to the current neighborhood programs We've received a suggestion from Paxton Rick Olson who gave us their invocation tonight Rick who also serves as a leader of a neighborhood group and also as a board member on Sheboygan neighborhood pride And he suggested that the city take a look at the next door program after investigation by city staff we Determined that next door would be another avenue to connect neighbors digitally and would dovetail nicely with the neighborhood Associations and allow us to reach new individuals who may join that effort In addition this program allows our city police department and department of public works to use the next door platform To inform just an individual neighborhood or all the next door neighborhoods in the city of an issue or concern The next door users can also use the program to connect with their Neighborhood officer and last year the neighborhood policing programs of the police department Continued a very positive trend with the police department seen an 18% drop and in Sheboygan crime statistics City planning for some time has administered the HUD housing rehabilitation loan program These loans were granted to properties and individuals that needed improvement in our community The challenge was that they were widely dispersed throughout the city So city planning realized that they needed to do to concentrate this program into a smaller area To have a larger impact We reached out to habitat for humanity And they were approached to be a partner with the city on a project that would transform one city block That was located in the center of our gateway neighborhood on Erie Avenue Through this partnership the city and habitat Acquired many of the homes on this block and in the next two years We hope to transform these run-down apartment. It's a new single-family owner occupied homes Our habitat for humanity partners are now looking at their program in Sheboygan from home builders To block builders this transformation is amazing. I applaud everyone who has supported these efforts The sustainable task at Sheboygan task force had a challenge that they had Brought some sustainable projects to the council for consideration and that had been rejected This group of citizens became frustrated and was close to disbanding because of the poor communication with the common council this group had embraced the green-tier legacy program and This was fostered by the League of Municipalities and this program has opened up the communication And the city recently approved the green-tier legacy program and Sheboygan is now the 11th Municipality in the state of Wisconsin to join this effort the city is drafting their sustainability baseline report right now and The sustainable Sheboygan task force will work with the Strategic Fiscal Planning Committee to set some sustainable goals for the city in the future The task force will also then work with the city departments to help encourage Implementation of the programs and also budgeting for them so that we can accomplish these sustainable goals The green-tier legacy program also allows Sheboygan to claim some additional scoring points when applying for DNR grants at the city for city Operations and the city is also eligible for a 10% loan forgiveness from the DNR for city project loans the green-tier legacy program has restored the feeling of Relevance for the members of the Strategic Fiscal Planning Committee as they improve the communication with the council through the goal of setting This partnership with the should with the Strategic Fiscal Planning Committee Last year two LED lighting projects were recommended by strategic by the Sustainable Sheboygan task force and funded through the HUD budget this year The LED lights will be installed on North 14th Street from Erie Avenue North to Calumet Drive And the second project will see new lights installed in Fountain Park Since 1910 the city has been challenged with a higher than average state unemployment rate and a declining tax base 2014 is lining up to be a promising year with major expansions at acuity under construction today is a 641 car multi-story parking structure next is the expansion of the Galleria and Also the installation of a new flagpole and then further in 2015 is a second parking structure. That's anticipated to begin construction NEMAC has been making investments in their Sheboygan facilities with a new 30,000 square foot expansion to their gateway plant and Saco polymers and other local manufacturing company is underway with 40,000 square feet of expansion All of these projects will support new jobs for Sheboygan residents The city has recently purchased the first property on the west side of I-43 The opportunity to continue to expand our tax base and add new taxable land is putting Sheboygan in a positive position for well into the future There There are these challenges that I have mentioned and there are others That will need we would be facing in this coming term I believe that this common counsel is in our great team of department heads and all of their staff Will continue to meet these challenges with resolve to find solutions that look for new opportunities to improve the city of Sheboygan I've been reminded that leadership is not a position, but rather action you and I have been elected as leaders of this community Our responsibility is to form the vision in the future of Sheboygan We need to carefully consider all the available options and challenges that we face and realize that many times Without compromise nothing will change Change is difficult and sometimes pain take painstaking, but without change Nothing will ever change Thank you very much Next we have a resolution to consider item 2.1 is a resolution by Alderman Hammond requesting that the mayor reactivate various special committees for the 2014 2015 council year Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mayor I moved to put the resolution upon its passage second Thank you for that motion support. Is there any discussion? See none all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Hi opposed motion passes Alderman Hammond Thank you again, mr. Mayor before we adjourn again. I just want to thank everybody for their participation tonight And those that were nominated. Thank you again for your willingness to step up and take on additional responsibilities with that Move to adjourn second. Thank you for that motion in second all those in favor of adjourning signify by saying aye opposed We stand adjourned. Thank you very much