 All right, hello everyone. I'm Christine Smith. I'm the program chair for the Sheboygan chapter of the American Association of University Women, and I will be moderating today's panel. So welcome to the seventh annual candidate forum sponsored by the Sheboygan branch of the American Association of University Women. In October, our branch celebrated 100 years of empowering women and girls. We are a nonpartisan organization. We do not endorse candidates, but AAUW has been instrumental in legislation for improved opportunities for women and girls. Locally, we give scholarships to non-traditional women students. In November, we will sponsor our seventh annual STEM workshop for sixth and ninth grade girls, and we co-sponsor the Great Decision series at the ME library in the fall. We welcome new members to help us with our mission. Membership information is available on our website. So before we start, I would like to thank Scott Miliff, who is filming and will be airing this on WSCS until the April election. So let's get to our candidates. So we have four candidates, and I'll try to mix it up a little bit so we don't go in the same order all the time. So to each candidate, and we can start with John, you have one minute to introduce yourself. John. First of all, I'd like to thank the American Association of University Women for sponsoring this event. And Dolcey, thank you. I've done this before. It's always a pleasure to be able to have a forum like this and be able to speak. Again, my name is John Bellinger. I married my wife, Teresa, in the back. So thank you for coming. Yeah, I've got three children, Matthew, Charlie, and Megan, all raised here in Sheboygan. I've got two dogs, Barkley and Hugo. I've been a print industry executive for years. Currently, right now, I'm working for a Kohler company, and I've lived on the north side in the second district for 30 plus years. Roberta. Thank you. Thank you. There we go. I am Roberta Fulicki-Paneski, and thanks to the AUW for giving us this opportunity. I am the current Alderperson in District 2. I was appointed to fill an unexpired term in July of 2020. I was elected in April of 2021 and re-elected in April of 2022. I bring my experience in finance as well as my communication skills to my position as Alderperson. I retired after 20 years as a financial advisor with Robert Baird and Company. Prior to that, I owned community relations consulting, a PR and marketing firm here in town. I hold a master's degree from UW Green Bay. I'm standing for re-election because I see a bright future for our city, a robust and supportive business and manufacturing climate, a beautiful lakefront and riverfront, unique resources like Meade Library and Uptown Social. I pledge to continue that growth and I want to be part of it. Thank you. Jesse. I want to start by saying thank you to the AUW and all involved for giving the candidates the opportunity to speak tonight and let the voters know more about who we are. I am Jesse Rathal and I am running for Alderman in the 8th District of Sheboygan. I am proud to be born and raised in Sheboygan. I graduated from Sheboygan Lutheran High School. I have a business degree as well as a sport and entertainment management degree and a marketing minor from Concordia University of Wisconsin. I work as a quality control technician and have been for over 11 years now. I attend Crossroads Community Church. I support our troops and police and I want to do my part to help serve those in our community. Thank you. Thank you. Zachary. Thank you to the AUW for hosting this event. It does a lot to inform voters and everybody involved. I am an Eagle Scout and I was an Eagle Scout in 2012. I went through an apprenticeship with ABC and I was organized into the IBEW Local 494 about five years ago. I'm a proud Sheboygan homeowner. I've lived in my home on Nevada Court for the last five years and I've been committed to my neighborhood ever since. I'm married to my wife Mackenzie who teaches at Wilson Elementary School in my district and we currently have two rescue dogs and two rescue cats and we foster plenty of animals on top of that. I've lived in Sheboygan for about seven years now. My wife is from the area and I moved here for her but I would never consider Sheboygan not my home. This is where I belong. I'm also a member of First Congregational United Church of Christ and I've been a member of the City Council since 2022 as well as various committees. Thank you. All right, so our first question is why are you running for the Council and what is the one best contribution that you'll bring to the Council? So I'm doing some random digit number tables. So we will start with Roberta first. Thank you. As I said in my introduction, I'm running because I want to continue what I see happening here. Specifically for District Two, I want to continue to work with Advocate Aurora to ensure that the former Memorial Hospital site is as the contract says, quote, developed in a manner consistent with the surrounding neighborhood, unquote. As Chair of the Redevelopment Authority, I've been working hard to support the development of worker and senior housing and to encourage small business growth with more than 3 million in revolving loans that we oversee. I've worked hard as Vice Chair of the Finance and Personnel Committee to ensure that our tax dollars are spent wisely in the most efficient and effective manner possible. I also would choose to move our part-time communications person to a full-time position. A communication study was done several years ago. That was the primary recommendation. Since then, governance issues have become more complex and the number and variety of media has increased exponentially. Our city needs to disseminate clear information to its citizens and we need to make it easy for them to access that information. Thank you. Thank you. Jessie, why are you running for the council and what is the one best contribution you will bring to the council? I'm running for city council because I'm proud to be a Shabuigan resident and I have decided that now is the time to step up and serve those in our community. I want to fight to keep our community safe place to live where people can come and enjoy themselves. I know many people within our district and city and I can relate to the issues that affect all of us and I want every decision that I make to be based on integrity and common sense. I know that these decisions are going to impact all of us for years to come and I think just the biggest thing is I want to focus on the people and make sure that the people's voices are heard and that I can do what's best for the people and not what's best for myself. John, same question, would you like me to repeat the question? Thank you. Okay. So the reason I'm running is I believe the current second district alderman is unfit to serve and the reason I believe that is that she is named in a federal lawsuit for her vote to fire the previous city administrator without cause which I consider a ridiculous vote. She leaked confidential information from a common council meeting in closed session and when you go into closed session prior to going into closed session, there is a disclaimer everybody is aware of the rules of closed session yet she violated that and leaked information. She's been recorded using the N word. She has been censured by her peers and rebuked by the common council. She has supported the former HR director Adam Westbrook who is facing charges of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child. The city employees have experienced significant turnover and uncertainty and as the vice chair of the finance and personnel committee she supported toxic work environment for the city workers. The turnover amongst the city employees specifically in city hall is just been unprecedented and there's gotta be a change and we can't be losing the talent that we have been. The latest example of that is director Bebel from Public Works and Ryan Sassman, the city engineer. So we've gotta put a stop to that. What I will bring, I will bring integrity and ethics to the position, which I think is sorely lacking right now and I think we can turn things around. Thank you. Zach, it's a quick question. I have a passion for helping make change and I love helping those in the community in the city. For example, I helped create the Farnsworth Neighborhood Association and I'm dedicated to helping Sheboygan move forward. My experience in construction and the trades has given me different perspectives and new ideas for the council. This benefits me and my work, especially on DPW, Architectural Review Board and Board of License Examiners. I currently am the chair for the committee of the whole which I was elected by my peers on council. I'm the chair for Board of License Examiners, the vice chair for Public Works and I'm also the new chair for licensing hearings and public safety. I also serve on the mayor's international committee. I've been shown and proven that I've risen to the challenge and I wanna continue rising to that challenge for the city and for all it needs. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Second question, what are the three most important challenges facing the city council? And we'll start with Jesse. I think number one is public safety and making sure that we can get all the resources possible to our fire department and police department. And number two would be the housing shortages. I've walked throughout the district eight and have seen dozens of vacant houses. And I guess I wanna see what I can do to encourage the owners of these properties to fix them up and list them as rental units. And this will be a small step in the right direction. There are also a few apartment complexes in the works including the Garmin Farm redevelopment. And then number three would be making sure to always make responsible and common sense financial decisions as a member of the common council because bad decisions can drag us into more costly lawsuits. And if we spend wisely, we can do more to address things like our roads and infrastructure. Okay. Zach, same question. Our first issue is affordable housing and we currently have a 1% vacancy rate. A healthy margin for a city of our size is between five and 10% and less than 1% is not attainable for us as a city. The good news though with that is we have a few projects already underway, the Garmin Farm, which will be redeveloped, Kite Beach and the Gateway Apartment Development. There's still plain work to be done for adequate housing but this is just a good step. Roads and infrastructure is always top priority for any, all of our constituents. I know that being vice chair for DPW, we always have to make the tough decisions as far as which roads have to get done first. We avoided replacing roads for four years in the teens and we are now playing catch up. We have, I know that DPW works diligently to respond to road structure issues and make repairs as quickly as possible. And the third challenge is helping our local businesses continue to grow. This includes retaining and attracting new talent which of course connects to all of our housing and infrastructure needs. We lost the local business expansion. I'm not happy about it. Nobody on the council is happy about it. We do not want this to happen again. We want your boy gonna be a destination for businesses and manufacturers to thrive in. Okay, Roberta. Thank you. Thank you. I would like to point out to my opponent that a magistrate has dismissed the majority of claims in that lawsuit. And secondly, this former city administrator secretly recorded me in my own living room and disseminated that information. So what's important in city hall is to look forward. We should not be looking backward. And I see new opportunity with all of the new well qualified, well put together staff. We've got a cracker jack finance director. We've got a brand new development director and I've worked with the development department for years and we have a HR director who is new. Director Bebel decided to retire. I'm going to miss Mr. Sasma because he's been wonderful boots on the ground for my district. And I prefer to look forward, to look at the positive things that are going on in the city and you only need to look around at the building and the roads that are eventually getting fixed. So thank you. Okay, and John. Thank you. I don't know, Roberta, if using that word in your own house makes that any better. I mean, that doesn't, I mean, I don't know, using that kind of language. I mean, I just think, I don't know, I don't even know why you would do that. But anyway, the three things that would be the greatest challenges for the city of Sheboygan, number one, for the second district is going to be the Aurora Memorial Hospital site. Your voice matters. We need to gain consensus on the future of the site. The Memorial neighborhood should have the final say on what is developed on that site. I will be a strong advocate for the neighbors. I don't believe that the city should have the final say. I don't believe that Aurora should have the final say either. I am a strong advocate for the neighborhood and the neighbors. And I think the neighbors should have a final say in how that is going to directly impact our neighborhood. The second one would be the South Point Industrial Park. Your tax dollars are being wasted, quite frankly. Payments are due on the infrastructure costs and there's no revenue coming into no development. I've heard that we're only making interest payments on this due to the lack of development. So there needs to be a laser focus on economic development to fill that up and be able to pay off that infrastructure cost. And third would be the Marina and Lakefront revitalization. Your lakefront will not generate economic impact without much needed repairs. There's been a gross lack of planning that has created a fiscal crisis and that needs to be addressed in a fiscally responsible manner. And it's gonna be a big undertaking with a heavy price tag. So financial challenges are real and significant. Right now there's no plan. There's no urgency. There's no desire to protect your tax dollars. And I would look to change that. Okay, thank you all. Question number three, what are the greatest assets of the city of Sheboygan and how would you build on them? And we'll start with Zach. I can always say Lake Michigan. That is always the easy answer, but I'm gonna go a little deeper. I'm gonna say it's our local businesses. It's our local manufacturers, our family-owned businesses. Our local economy is what makes us great. We wouldn't have had the great P1 offshore boat races if it weren't for all those great things this last year. These businesses support our residents' livelihood and without them, we wouldn't be able to have the great and beautiful city we currently have. On top of our lakefront businesses, we have great city parks. We expanded a lot of our dog parks. So if you have dogs, it's great. And watch for more pickleball courts coming soon. Okay, all right, John, same question. Thank you. I'm gonna go a little deeper too. The obvious answer is the lake, but I believe the location, the location that we have. We take for granted because we live here. We're an hour from Milwaukee and Green Bay. We're two hours from Chicago and Madison. We can make an easy day trip and enjoy what these cities have to offer and get back home. We have fantastic physical features such as Lake Michigan. We have beautiful parks. We have world-class golf courses. We've had some fantastic events like Gus Macker for 20 plus years that I volunteered at. And we've had PGA Championships, Ryder Cup, Mercury Boat Races. We've had outstanding restaurants now in town. That hasn't always been the case. We've got John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Bookworm Gardens, Charter Fishing. We have a five diamond resort right in our backyard. And we have a safe and well-protected community thanks to our police and Coast Guard. And people that visit Sheboygan love it. They're impressed with the natural beauty and the friendly and welcoming people that reside in Sheboygan. There's a welcoming and positive vibe when people come to Sheboygan. And I think the greatest asset is the people and the vibe that Sheboygan has. It's a beautiful place. You're right. Jesse, same question. I think our best assets is our residents and our workforce. And we must keep drugs and crime out of Sheboygan because the people deserve to feel safe and to be safe while they're here. We have a beautiful lakefront and our location and short distances from things like the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Those are all great things too. Then when you come back to our area, we're blessed with things like Road America and all of the great golf course destinations. We can build upon these great people and things by keeping public safety a top priority and making Sheboygan an even safer place for our community to enjoy and for them to enjoy all of our assets. And Roberta, thank you. I don't have to look any farther than my neighbors or out in the audience because I think the greatest asset Sheboygan has are its residents. They're very kind, they're very caring. They are very philanthropic and I include the businesses and industries that we have, a lot of family-owned businesses here. So I would say our greatest asset are its people. They make things known, what they wanna have, what they don't want to have. And we can't move forward very proudly with our people. They are talented and multifaceted. So that would be my first. And the second is always Lake Michigan and our waterway. We have a river too. So protecting that for all of the community is an important thing for me. Thank you. Next question, after 30 years, the City of Marina is still millions in debt. What is your operation plan for the Marina? Do you agree with the decision to hire a consultant to determine the best use for the Marina? And we'll start with John. Thank you. First of all, I'd like to learn a little bit more about what's going on. I just have learned that there was a $240,000 study that was been approved by the Public Works Department. I'd like to know what the timeframe is on that study and how quickly they're gonna get back to us with recommendations. Also, are there any federal funds that we'd be available, like the infrastructure bill or the American Rescue Plan? Would anything like that be applicable for a project like this? I'd want to have somebody look into that. I'd also want to know what the city has in the interim as a plan to manage the Marina and mitigate further financial loss. The pool's not gonna be open this year. The bar's not gonna be open. So the amenities that the boaters are used to having aren't gonna be there. I mean, we're probably gonna attract less boaters. There's gonna be less revenue coming in. The losses are gonna build. So I want to know what kind of timeframe we're looking at on this whole thing. And does anyone have an accurate state of the boating industry in marinas as far as what's going on with different marinas in different communities of our size? The boating industry. I talked to a long-term resident last night that has been at the Marina for 20 plus years. And he just told me that people aren't buying boats like they used to. He's seeing smaller boats, not as many boats. And it's young people certainly aren't buying boats. So he's very concerned about the future of that industry. So I would like to learn a little bit more and I'm not sure the city has a plan and how to address this. So... Roberta. Thank you. I think the reason we hired a consultant is to answer the questions that my opponent has asked. We hired a consultant from Michigan. I was very concerned that we were going to hire a consultant from San Diego or Miami. Lake Michigan is really different. They don't have ice in San Diego or Miami. So I was very pleased when that was the company that we hired. And they have pledged to check with all of the stakeholders. So the boat owners, folks who have a vested interest in that marina. The other thing that I'd like to point out is that marina is a public space. And if I had somebody raise their hands about how many times they had been to the restaurants that have been there or the bars that have been there, I would get very few hands raised. I don't think our community understands. It's a public facility. No, you can't go into the boat owners area, but the rest of that is a public facility. And we are very committed to making sure that the public gets use from that marina. Thank you, Zach. Unfortunately, the marina hasn't been profitable historically, but luckily we did not renew our contract with the past operator. That's a big good step because they were costing us more money and they were just not a good partner. They didn't take care of the building and they only made about $3,500 in total profit at the bar this last year. The future of the marina is probably a smaller marina. Like Mr. Bellinger said, people aren't buying boats like they used to. It's not, people don't have the income to spend money like they used to as well. And the marina has to represent that as well. The marina can be a huge asset for the city if reconfigured or utilized a little differently. We have to think outside the box. We have to collab with residents, boat owners, hopefully mercury boat racing for years to come. And we have to provide rental options for residents because like Alder-Fulikipineski said, people aren't going into that building. If we give them options to rent, maybe a pontoon boat or a kayak or kite surfing or any of those kinds of things for the day, that allows residents to see that it's not just the boat owner's spaces. It's the city of Sheboygan space. And Jesse. Could you repeat the question please? Sure. After 30 years, the city marina is still millions in debt. What is your operation plan for the marina? Do you agree with the decision to hire a consultant to determine the best use for the marina? So I do agree with hiring the consultant because the hope in that would be that spending a little bit of money on that. Now it will save us a lot of money going forward by aligning us appropriately. And then I think that we need to make sure to always get community input and have our citizens have a direct influence in how we move forward with the marina. And we have to make sure that this project makes sense financially and have it not be a money pit for Sheboygan. And ultimately this needs to end in a result that makes sense for the people who actually live in Sheboygan and not just our tourists. And we have to try to find more ways to have the marina generate more revenues and hopefully help pay for itself going forward. Thank you. Hey, the city is increasingly diverse ethnically, religiously and gender in many other ways. We see this reflected in our neighborhoods and school classrooms, but it's not yet reflected in government and civic leadership positions. How can we bring more diversity to city leadership? And we'll start with Roberta. Thank you. I am one of 10 older persons on the Common Council. Of the 10, six of them are women, four of them are men. Of the 10, we have people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. So we're part way there for diversity. And we also have two people of color. So we can go longer, we can go further, but I think it's a misnomer to say that we have no diversity on Common Council. Okay. Jesse. Could you repeat the question please? Sure. The city is increasingly diverse ethnically, religiously and gender and in many other ways. We see this reflected in our neighborhoods and school classrooms, but it's not yet reflected in government and civic leadership positions. How can we bring more diversity to city leadership? I think we just have to make everyone, no matter what color you are, who you are, just aware that the decisions being made here affect everyone. And I guess the hope would be that they would carry enough, no matter who you are, that they'd wanna step up and potentially help join the local government to do their part in helping all causes that are out there. John. Thank you. I think there's quite a, we've come a long way. Do we need to improve and get better and become more diverse? Yes, we do. But I think what we need to do is clean up some of the things that are going on within city hall. I mean, there's a lot of negative publicity around city government. Reflects poorly on the entire community, regardless of what ethnic background you come from. The culture in the city hall needs to change. People wanna be proud of the community that they live in. So I think just kind of reaching out to the different communities. I've spoken to the Hmong community before. That would be one that we could look at. There's different neighborhood associations that we can be part of and draw different backgrounds out and see if we can recruit different people for different positions to volunteer on different committees and serve the city. I think overall, as someone that's a little bit older, I see the younger people, not regardless of what religious ethnic background they have, not as readily volunteering or stepping up to some of the things as we did when we were their age. And I'm not sure what the answer for that is, but engaging them and presenting some opportunities to them, I think would go a long way to get them to step forward and participate because we do need that. Thank you. Zach. I think that we can start with by reaching out and having a good relationship with our local organizations like the Hmong Mutual Association. I also think that City Hall, and that includes myself as well, we can go to schools and we can show young people, regardless of who they are, how they identify, any of that sort of nature, that they can have a voice. They can run for City Hall. They can run for Governor of Wisconsin. They can run for President of the United States. I think it starts at a really young age and showing young people that we all are the same and we all do have the same opportunity to become a city council person and really instilling that with people and showing them that from a council or a mayoral perspective. Thank you. Next question. How can the city generate revenue other than increasing property taxes? And we'll start with Jesse. I think that part of it could actually be to look at decreasing taxes in hopes that that puts more money in people's pockets that they can go out and spend more money and support the local businesses and I think that would have a positive impact. Okay, Zach. I think we need to expand our tax base. We need to help our local businesses, our local manufacturers, our warehouses continue to grow because they are the ones that are paying the lion's share of taxes. I know we all pay our share for property taxes but they are the ones that have the most land in the city. We have to, by expanding the tax base we have to provide infrastructure options. We have to show them that like South Point Business Park we are willing to invest and build a road so that trucks can get in there, semi-trucks can get in and out of there and we have to be ready and willing to help them with housing and improve developments of all natures. We need high-end low and in the middle apartments and starter homes and high-end homes. We need it all. Thank you. All right, Roberta. Thank you. Common Council just recently adopted four resolutions to put tax incremental financing districts in place and that's a complex sort of activity sanctioned by the state but it allows developers to come in and put money down right up front and the city helps by taking that incremental district and as the developers develop that property they get the incentive back for that development. The city doesn't build stuff, private developers do and those developers need to make a profit. So we have to let them make a profit and over time it's as if they are contributing to our tax base. So they put up a building, we get the taxes, so it's to our benefit to have them develop it. Once their increment goes back to them, once that percentage goes back to them, the rest goes into the rest of the development within those districts. We've got four brand new ones, we retired six of them just recently. So we haven't added, we've actually added too fewer than we used to have. So growing our tax base is significant and then providing housing for people to live within the city is also important, John. Thank you, the obvious answer would be, we've got an empty industrial park on the south side, South Point, if we filled that up, I mean that would go a long way in helping our financial situation, but I've got another more creative solution. I would work with my fellow Alderman to draft a request for a comprehensive audit of the half-send sales tax from the county. When the tax was implemented, it was estimated to generate $10.4 million annually. All the incremental income from the sales tax was to be spent on roads and transportation related projects within the county. The dollars would be distributed annually by the county to approximately 28 different municipalities within the county. The agreement that the county rammed down the city of Sheboygan's throat was we would receive $200,000 annually as a result of that. So they're taking in 10.4 million, they're giving us 200,000. I found this to be highly offensive since the city of Sheboygan makes up roughly 45% of the county's population and would generate a majority of the incremental income. So to be fair and equitable, the dollars should be a portion based on a percentage of the population that resides in each of the municipalities. The city of Sheboygan should receive $4.6 million for roads instead of the 200,000 that we're getting, but we had a very adversarial former county administrator at the time, he had leverage, he used it, and we got the short end of the stick, but I would like to work with the county and see if we can't look back at this and relook at it and see if we can redo it and come up with a more equitable solution. We have over 200 miles of roads in Sheboygan that would go a long way to help solve some of our capital issues as it comes to roads and it wouldn't cost the taxpayers anything more than they're already paying. Next question. Outside investors are buying properties and driving up housing costs and eliminating other buyers. How can the city keep this from happening? And we'll start with Zach. Can you repeat the question? Yeah, sure. No problem. Outside, is that working? Outside investors are buying properties and driving up housing costs and eliminating other buyers. How can the city prevent this from happening? So I assume this is relating to single family homes because apartment buildings, we can't really control that. But for single family homes, it's hard because I don't think as a city, we really have much control as far as telling people who they can and can't sell their homes to. We live in a free market. If I wanted to sell my home to a business and they wanted to pay me $200,000 more than what it's worth, they have that right to do that and I have the right to sell my house at that rate. What we can do is we can work with developments and developers to create smaller and change the ordinance to make smaller lot sizes so we can build houses that are a little smaller and that more reflect what the city as a whole looks like. And if we can change the ordinance for that and help developers build single family homes for those purposes, I know people will purchase those homes. Okay, John. I agree with Alderman Russ to the point where I don't know if there's much that the city can do to prevent that. Again, his statement that there's a free market and you're not gonna be able to impose on somebody who they can and cannot sell their property to, I agree with that. But one of the things we can do is we can be more collaborative with the Sheboygan Economic Development Corporation. Recently there was a grant, like a $7 million grant that they have for single family or for homes and they had an opportunity for 50 homes and they presented it to the city of Sheboygan and due to lack of urgency on the city's part, they didn't get back into them in a timely fashion. The developer went and put this, they're putting this development up in Sheboygan Falls. I've talked to people at the Sheboygan Economic Development Corporation and they would have preferred this to be in the city but the city was being difficult and working with them and so I think we need to be more collaborative and when we are presented with an opportunity such as that, seize upon it with some urgency instead of not getting back to somebody and letting something sit for three months and then have the opportunity go to a neighboring community. Okay, Jesse. I would say that it would just be important for us to build stronger relationships with the local builders and developers in hopes that maybe we can get more of a heads up that when things come for sale, that local people will choose to buy instead of these outside places but ultimately, again, yeah, there's really only so much that we can do and we can't force somebody to sell or not to sell to a specific person or group. Okay, Roberta. Thank you. What we can do is limit the number, we can't limit the placement but we can limit the number of bed and breakfasts or BNBs or VBROs in the city. There are over 250 houses that stand vacant for the majority of the year and the city is very much aware of that. We hired a firm to look for those homes because they are run as a business, they have to pay room tax. So not only do we have vacant homes, but we also have tax leak. So that's one thing we can do. All the rest is correct. We can do what we call infills in redevelopment. There are lot sizes that with current stats today, are not buildable, but we have control over the zoning. We have control over our ability to do that. Please check in, fire check in, we see that all the time on redevelopment. Can we actually do what's planned because you have the emergency vehicles that come and go? So there are several considerations to that but we do have a housing crisis and we don't just have to sit still about it. We can continue to do something about that. Okay, thank you. Next question. Should the city allow private companies to take over some services, such as maintaining our parks? Our parks. All right, let's start with John. Yes, I believe the city should look at whenever you can outsource something and do something in a more efficient way and the private sector provides that service, I think that should be looked at. When I was on the council previously, I looked at outsourcing garbage. Why does the city need to collect the garbage? There's private companies that do that. There's the vehicles, the vehicles are like 500 grand a piece or something, or even more than that probably now. And the wear and tear on them is unbelievable. They don't last very long because they are used so often and they're hard to maintain. So that's one area that I looked at. It didn't go very far with the council at the time, but I think that's an area that we could look at. I'm not sure if it makes sense to do it with parks or not. Just recently in the second district, they did outsource tree removal and invasive species removal on the third street. The bank, the bluff that is on third between North Avenue and Clifton on the bluff there. It looks fantastic now. For years, I would clear a lot of that myself for over 25 years I did that. And to have somebody come in and do that, they outsourced it. The people that did it were super efficient, very courteous, very nice, cleaned everything up. And so I think things like that can be done. Wholesale, turning over the parks, I'm not sure that that would work, but tree removal, stump removal, things like that. On a piecemeal basis, I think that should be looked at. And I think there should be other things that could be looked at too. We do an awful lot of outsourcing of the Chuck Adams office. So why do we need, we could outsource that too for the city attorney. I mean, there's different positions. We've outsourced the city assessor in the past. There have been some other things that we've done. And I think there's an opportunity we should look forward to it. Okay. Roberta. Thank you. Yes, we can. I have visions of my phone ringing off the hook if the garbage doesn't get picked up. That people are concerned. And I think that maintenance of the city, whether it's roads or garbage, is part of a city service. And I believe that the city does a pretty good job of servicing the city. Am I opposed to hiring out no? The redevelopment authority has hired out specifically to do redevelopment contracts with an attorney outside of the city, because that's the attorney who specializes in redevelopment contracts. So there are times that we can outsource services and we do. We will hear why are you spending so much money outside of the city when we have people working in the city who can do it? So there's always the balance. And typically we outsource when either the workload, if you recall, the northeast side was the part of the city that was horribly hit with that freak storm. And Third Street was a mess. I mean, there were trees all over. And there was no way we could keep up. I happened to be out of town, came back in town and rode around in a city vehicle and watched them remove 40 trees from houses. We can't do that ourselves. So we do outsource when it's appropriate. I do think it's important that the city maintain a modicum of services. We've got a lot. We've got an ambulance service. So I would be in favor of doing that. Zach? I think that as far as parks are concerned, no. I don't think we should outsource any of that. We, the city and DPW committee, I know, make sure we maintain a clean and a high standard for our parks. I know that we're building a new splash pad. And if as long when the city is able to control the parks, we're able to better give the residents what they want. We wouldn't be able to give them the new pickleball courts that we're giving, we're building the new, the new sidewalks for the Sheboygan A's. There are certain times where we do have to go into private, like Alderfolio Kipineski said, like the tree removal. Or when we have other people that are in the other department heads that are swamped and they're not able to maintain that. But as far as parks, no, I think the DPW and I know DPW committee definitely does a really good job at maintaining our parks. Jesse? I think in general, I would be against outsourcing any more than we absolutely have to. I think that there are exceptions where it might make sense. But I think for the most part, the more that our local government can kind of run and operate these things, I think we can keep prices down. We can keep local people working in those positions. And as soon as you start going too far and outsourcing too much, then depending on the agreements, you risk losing control or having say in what's going on. And I think as a result in a lot of times, the service might go down, the quality of service, but yet we might end up paying more for it in the long run. Thank you. The city has not been very successful in attracting businesses for the new business park on the South side. What would you do to bring in more businesses to Sheboygan? How can Sheboygan retain and service companies that want to expand? And we'll start with Roberta. Thank you. Part of, and Alderman Rust alluded to this a little bit earlier, part of the reason that the South Industrial Park, we have had inquiries, we have worked with several who have opted to not go there. Part of the rationale was there is not a road that is compatible with major trucks, that big trucks that connect the current industrial park with the South Industrial Park. And we negotiated with Aurora, who owns the intervening piece of property. We negotiated with them to be able to bring the road from the North Industrial Park into the South Industrial Park, which would give more access. When I was on the phone with their developers and we were talking about it, it was, they were willing to do that. And they were also willing to donate the property to us. Now, that was very nice, but in their mind, they now had two pieces of property fronting one roadway. So it was kind of a win-win for all of us. So I think that will improve the ability for us to fill that park. And it's not as if we have had nothing, no inquiries, because we have. It's just that the developers couldn't make the development work in that park. Jesse. Yeah, to start, I think we definitely have to give these businesses the infrastructure that they need to be successful here. And I would encourage continuing to work with the Chamber of Commerce. They play an important role in fostering success for local individuals and businesses. And I think another thing too, is the local unemployment rate right now is at around 2%. So that's definitely an issue that factors into where it's not too hard to go out and find any job if you want one, but to get these businesses to come here and build a big plant, knowing that they're gonna hire maybe 100 or 200 people with the unemployment rate where it's at. Like, you know, that raises some issues too. So that's another aspect of it. Okay, John. Thank you. I think we need to go back again to the Sheboygan Economic Development Corporation and work in conjunction with them. They have the pulse of Southeast Wisconsin and specifically Sheboygan County. And they know what's going on with each one of these companies. And they can present opportunities and help us along the way. We just have to be more cooperative with them than we have been in the past. There's a couple of examples of companies that wanted to be in Sheboygan, wanted to be in that industrial park. And the city screwed it up. Masters Gallery is in one. Viking Masik is a second one. Rick Leonard wanted to be in the city. And he couldn't get anything to work out with the city, went to Usberg, put the plant up in Usberg. Same thing with Masters Gallery. Masters Gallery got jacked around by the former city administrator and was given a ridiculous price for the land. He called the CEO of Old Wisconsin Sausage and said, what did the city, what did they charge you? It was two thirds the price of what he was being quoted for Masters Gallery. And that ticked him off so badly he wouldn't have any further conversations with the city. They tried to undo the mess that they created. They couldn't and they moved to Usberg. And so we need to be more careful in our deliberations and how we treat these companies. And they're bringing a lot to the city when they put in a development like that. And to be so cavalier and to treat them as poorly as they did and to lose those opportunities, it's really sad and that whole mindset needs to change. And Zach. I agree with Alderfolio Kipinaski. We need to continue building that road and develop that rora site as needed. The good news is we have new city administrator who is very dedicated to building new development, whether it be housing, new business. I know he's working with a lot of developers right now and trying to fill that park. We go back to housing. We need to make sure, like Jesse said, that we have a 2% unemployment rate. We need to make sure that we have the housing capacity and to fill these plants, to fill these places because if we aren't able to fill them, why would you want to build in Sheboygan? Why would you want to have the chance that you need 200 jobs and you're only going to get 50 of them? We just need to continue to build the infrastructure. The manufacturers are the backbone of our tax base. And when you work with the Chamber of Commerce, the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation because they do have the best pulse for our area. And the better we work with them and have a better dialogue with them, the better the city will be at filling those spots. Okay, thank you. Final question. How can Sheboygan attract and retain young talent? And we'll start with Jesse. We must find ways to get them to realize all of the great things and assets that Sheboygan does have to offer. Not only can they live a great life here, they can grow and raise a family while enjoying the Sheboygan area. Our relatively low cost of living compared to many other cities is something that we need to make people more aware of too. Addressing the housing issues, and Sheboygan will also help with attracting and retaining these young workers and their families. Zach. I'd like to thank the AAUW again for hosting this. It's been great. What we need to do is we need to keep expanding on our housing. I know I'm being a dead horse here, but it's true we really do need to keep building affordable apartments, but also affordable starter homes. We really need to change that ordinance so that we can make our new developments more representative of what the city as a whole actually is. We already attract people with our lake, our solid manufacturing base, and overall our really low cost of living. We cannot get people to commit to Sheboygan or staying here long term if they cannot afford to live and raise a family here in a safe and affordable home. This is a vital piece of infrastructure that we have to keep going on, and I really look forward to the future and developing those. Roberta. Thank you. I second everything he said. However, the other thing is once you get a certain density, as in X number of people in a certain area, what follows and flows are the restaurants and the retail shops. So, and it's kind of chicken and egg. You know, why would anybody want to be around here if we don't have, we do have good restaurants, but why would anybody want to be around if we don't have enough retail? So it's chicken and egg, but we need the density. And I've heard, are we building yet another apartment building? Yes, we are because that has the density that we need for development. So again, it's like beating a dead horse. Animal lovers, I would never do that. But we do need, we need to continue. We need to look forward. I am very enthusiastic. I've been on the redevelopment authority through five mayors. I've seen a huge change. And I've seen developers come through. I know what they look for. I know what they need. The city doesn't build those things, developers do. So it's my job as part of the city council to make those things advantageous for those developers because it's all a big circle and we're all in it together, John. Thank you. First of all, there needs to be a kind of a turnaround in the culture within the city hall because I think it permeates throughout the community. So there's a lot of negative publicity surrounding local government. It reflects poorly on the entire community. So people want to be proud of the community they live in. So this would help employers attract and maintain talent. We also need to have city leadership to have open communication with employers and HR directors in all of South, Eastburn, Wisconsin. We need to cast a wider net. One of the tremendous opportunities that we have, just in our own backyard for the second district, is the memorial site for Aurora Memorial Hospital site. What's gonna transpire there? That would be a great place to attract young families, young talent. It's a fantastic neighborhood. It's an established neighborhood. It's a safe neighborhood. So that would be a fantastic thing for that neighborhood. So young professionals also need to have networking opportunities, continuing education. And the Schrodinger School District needs to play a role in this as well. I mean, they've been struggling lately as far as test scores and the results that they've been getting. People, when they look to come to a community, want to come to a community, the first thing they look at if you're a young family or if you're intending to have a family is how are the schools? Where am I gonna live? Where am I gonna send my kids to school if you choose to use a public school system? Right now, the private schools in the community are thriving and the public schools are struggling. So that needs to turn around. And that is beyond our control, but that needs to be part of the solution. Thank you to all the candidates for attending. Everyone give them a round of applause. And thanks to all of you for attending as well. Have a good evening. John, you're running for the wrong office. We should run for county board. Really, if you think that we're not getting a fair shape.