 Call to order welcome everybody. This is a notice of the first meeting of the 2011-2012 Common Council and our city clerk Sue Richards will read us the quote of the evening 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 that which mattered that we will have given help to those who were in need That we will have left the earth a better place for what we've done and who we've been Thank You sue roll call, please belt here Foreign here Carlson here Decker here Hammond here Hanna here Heidemann here Cotter Kittleson here Maddocheck here Rinflaich here Racler here Samson here Vanderweal here Wait a minute van Akron University here We have a quorum if we can all please rise for the presentation of the colors Allegiance 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 like to thank our police department color guard for presenting colors this evening Now we have the invocation. I have chosen Reverend Jerry link the leader of the the River of Life Ministry Who has been very instrumental in the Gateway neighborhood? Getting the Gateway neighborhood association off the ground Jerry is also the leader of the New Community Center in the Gateway neighborhood So this is why we have Jerry here. He's a an integral part of our community Reverend link everybody by your head, please Lord we come before you tonight According to your word your word says enter my gates with Thanksgiving in my courts with praise And the word says humbly we bow down, but yet boldly we enter in So Lord we come before you tonight Lord. We humble ourselves before you Lord for the task that you have set before us That this is nothing of our doing for your word says Lord that you raise up kingdoms and you tear down kingdoms So Lord, this is a kingdom that you have raised up for such a time as this So humbly we bow down before you Lord and we say thank you Lord We say thank you for this city. We say thank you for the residents We say thank you for the leadership Lord that you have allowed to be in place today Lord we thank you and praise you Lord God for all that you've done all you're doing and all you're yet to do in this awesome city that we call Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Lord even as the Spirit on the lake as the city name goes that Lord we just call in your Holy Spirit We call on the Holy Spirit on the lake to come forth To come forth to be a part of the business of the city And the little things and in the big things little decisions big decisions Lord, let us not forsake you in the business that we do and when we go forth here tonight Into this new year with this new council Lord I ask that you bless every council member Lord I ask that you bless the mayor and The city attorney and the clerk of courts that sit here before us right now I ask that you that you pour out your wisdom your word says the wisdom is crying out in the streets So we say wisdom come to us come to us. We need wisdom the godly wisdom to run this city So we say thank you Lord in faith that you will pour out your wisdom and you won't hold it back from us Lord I ask that you guide each and every member that Whatever it is the business that you want them to do whatever decision you want them to do Lord Let them come together your word says come let us reason together. So father as we do your business We come tonight before you for this year to reason together Lord don't forsake Sheboygan I call forth the prophetic call that you have placed on the city of Sheboygan To usher in the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit on the lake to come across to change lives To change lives to help those in need and to build up your name in this place Father, we thank you. We praise you. We give you all the glory and all the praise in Jesus name Amen, Pastor Jerry now. We will move into the swearing in of the City clerk elect So I guess she's not the city clerk here for a second in between Constitution of the United States And we'll faithfully and impartially Discharge the duties of the office of city clerk To the best of my ability And pain she ran Okay, now we have our swearing in of another elected official City attorney who also won by a landslide Where that I will support the Constitution of the United States where the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin And will faithfully and impartially and will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties Discharge the duties of the office of city attorney Okay, moving on we have the swearing in of the alder persons elect which should be After me I Where that I will support the Constitution of the United States And the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin And will faithfully Discharge the duties of the office of all the person I Wish it could be this much fun every night Moving on we have the adoption of the rules of the Common Council. Thank you mayor. I would Accept and adopt the rules of the Common Council second Have a motion and a second to accept the rules of the Common Council or adopt the rules of the Common Council Anybody like to discuss what those rules are? If there is no discussion all in favor of adopting state I opposed motion carries unanimous vote right off the bat. I like this Okay Moving on we have the election of the president and vice president of the Common Council President Kittleson, thank you mayor. Thank you. I move that We will begin with the election of president of the council And so with that I would move that nominations be received from the floor Voting to be done by closed ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate with the lowest number of Votes will be dropped from the list and balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority of the votes second We have a motion and a second. Okay. We will open the floor to nominations We have nominations Alderman Raceler. Thank you, mr. Ma'am For the office of president I'd like to nominate third district all the person Jean Kittleson We have a nomination for Alderperson Kittleson for president of the council. Is there a second second? We have a motion any second Are there any other nominations from the floor? Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mayor. I would like to nominate Eric Renfleshe's president of the council second We have a nomin we have a motion and a second for Eric Renfleshe to be nominated Alderman Renfleshe to president of the council Are there any other nominations? Thank you, mayor. I move then that the nominations be closed second Okay, we have a motion in the second to close nominations All in favor opposed okay nominations are closed we will now go to balloting Alderman when you get your ballot it says print last name because I can't read half of your writing So that would be really helpful Sorry, but I can't then you sign it and then you put my vote is for and you put the name on that line Fold it up and pass it back over this way This will be a closed ballot. So we'll be going in back to count those Finish your ballot if you can fold it in half and pass it back to your left Thank you We've got some free time anybody know any good jokes Don usually has a cop. Yeah, maybe not appropriate appropriate Jay Leno was going to his local home depot He had a project at home to pick up some flies and he saw two thoughts to Southwest airline pilots in their bike roofing supplies Oh And then he also said that Southwest Southwest Airlines has changed our marketing strategy now they're advertising all window seats Thank you folks Jim will be here for two more You some clean By naming rights for our Want to give that speech you gave last night Okay, we do have a majority ballot for our new 2010 2011 Common Council president Congratulations president run flesh and you have to understand that's the last standing ovation you'll ever Okay moving on to Election of the vice president election vice president mayor. Thank you I move that nominations be received from the floor Voting to be done by closed ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate again with the lowest number of votes will be dropped from the list and Validating to continue until one candidate receives a majority of the votes second Okay, we have a motion and a second to open nominations all in favor say aye Nominations are open are there any nominations from the floor? We'll be vice president of the council Alderman Boran Thank You mayor Ryan. I would like to nominate Alderman Scott Bursi of the first district for the office of vice president of the council We have a motion and a second for Alderman Bursi to be vice president of the council Are there any other nominations on the floor Alderman Hammond? Thank You mr. Mayor. I'd like to nominate Alderman Decker for vice president second We have a motion and a couple seconds for Alderman Decker for vice president of the council Are there any other nominations from the floor? There are no other nominations Thank You mayor. I move them that the nominations be closed second Motion in a second to close nominations all in favor say aye post nominations are closed Same validating procedure Great accounting from you get there Last term musty Going back to that do we cheat him and how yes Anymore It's jokes Okay, we have a majority vote for the vice president of the 2010-2011 Chevrolet in common council Congratulations vice president Decker by the way, it's a 2011-2012 Thanks Steve short-term that's why you're the attorney Okay moving on we have the Election of a representative on the city plan commission the election of the Representative on the board of contractor Examiners and two representatives on the capital improvements commission. We will begin with the city plan commission Thank You mayor as you said we'll have election first of the city plan commission 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 second Thank you. We have a motion in a second to open the floor for nominations Favor say aye. Hi opposed Floor is open for nominations. Do we have any nominations from the floor? Alderman Hammond Thank You mr. Mayor. I nominate Alderman Samson for city planning commission second We have a motion in a second for Alderman Samson to be the Alderman on city the city plan commission Are there any other nominations from the floor? There any other nominations from the floor? And for the third time are there any other nominations from the floor? Gene thank you mayor. I move that Nominations be closed and that the city clerk be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for Alderman Samson for city plan commission Second We have a motion in a second to unanimously elect Alderman Samson all in favor say aye opposed Motion carries. Let me know your secret Kevin. You had no opponent for Alderman no opponent for city planning Congratulations Alderman Samson. Thank you. Next. We will move on to the board of contractors examiners gene Thank You mayor again Nominations be reset 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 second you have a motion in a second to open the floor for nominations for the Representative on the board of contractors and examiners all in favor say aye opposed motion carries the Floor is now open for nominations Do we have any nominations? You know you can you know you don't have to have this set up You can just nominate somebody that you know if you don't like somebody That's one way to keep people busy as you put them on a whole bunch of stuff Alderman Raceler I'll nominate Eric Rainflesh second motion and a second for for President Rindflesh to be on the on the board of contractors examiners Do we have any other nominations from the floor? Second time any nominations from the floor? And third time any additional nominations from the floor gene. Thank You mayor I move that nominations be closed and that the city clerk be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for President Eric Rindflesh for a representative on the board of contract examiners second I Don't know if you can second yourself Plenty of seconds Okay, all in favor of President Rindflesh being on the contractors board of the board of contractors examiners Say aye opposed Congratulations All right Two standing ovations in one night Okay, moving on we have the two Representatives for the capital improvements commission Thank You mayor again. 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 vote second We have a motion and a second to open the floor for nominations all in favor. Say aye opposed the floor is open Alderman Boran Thank You mayor Ryan. I'll try again. I'm gonna nominate Alderman Scott versi of the first district to the capital improvements Commission We have a motion and a second for Alderman versi We do have Yes, we do have two positions here. Do we have any other nominations from the floor Alderman Hammond? Thank You mr. Mayor and my love best with Alderman at Samson. I'll nominate him for capital improvements second Okay, let's try to get Kevin an opponent here Anybody We'll try this again. Are there any other nominations from the floor? And for a third time. Are there any other nominations from the floor? Thank You mayor. I move that nominations be closed and that the city clerk be instructed to cast a well a unanimous ballot for Alderman versi and Alderman Samson for for both of our rep as both our Representatives on the capital improvements commission Motion and a second. Thank You all the person Kittleson all in favor of Alderman versi and Alderman Samson being on the capital capital improvements Commission say aye opposed Congratulations Alderman Okay, now we will move into the election of the chairman of the committee of the whole I get a break right here because this committee of the whole is none of my business So Let me know when you're finished All right We'd ask for nominations to be received from the floor Voting 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 of the votes We'd ask for a nomination from the floor for Chairman of the committee of the whole I'd like to nominate Alderman Jim boran chairman Second We have a nomination for Alderman boran and a second Any any other nominations from the floor? Thank You chairman All right president. I'd like to nominate Alderman Hannah for Chairman of the whole there's a nomination for Alderman Hannah and a second for Alderman Hannah Okay, are there any other nominations from the floor any other nominations? Any other nominations from the floor? All right, I'd ask that nominations be closed and that we by secret ballot closed ballot that we choose our Elect our committee of the whole chairman All in favor say aye I Sorry about that. I figured you guys would have already announced this The whole chairman is Alderman Hannah for the anti-climactic announcement there And I'm glad to report that all three of us are in tax. Okay time for the Messages from our newly elected officials first the president of the 2011-2012 Common Council President Renflesh Good evening Good evening Madam City Clerk Richards City Attorney McLean Mayor Ryan My wife and child who you've been hearing all evening As Don said the apple did not fall too far from the tree with her Welcome all newly elected and Second year all the persons and good evening to all citizens of Sheboygan Welcome to the 2011-2012 council year may it be a good one First of all, I want to thank my fellow council members for their faith They have shown in me by electing me the president for this term. I Pledge to you to work with all of you in reaching our individual goals We do all have individual constituencies some of us have made campaign promises Some of us are driven in particular areas and I pledge to work with you in being becoming successful. I Also pledged to find common ground so that's not only as individuals but as a council and as a community We can move forward. We move forward together For the more I pledge to be a conduit information Not only amongst each other within this council But also to the public and most importantly between the council and the mayor's office We will not all agree on all issues, but together we will succeed this year This is my goal is to move City of Sheboygan forward We heard last night from yes from the mayor about last year's council success And I'm sure we will hear shortly about the goals for this year, so I don't want to intrude on on that And of course each one of us do here. I have individual goals as well So message not tonight is not necessarily to discuss where we've been or even to state where we're going to go And that's up to us as a body But rather to show how we're going to get there I am pleased in my giving service to my community to be associated with the common council a body that I feel most Direct represents what our constitutional framers designed when they form a constitution no parties Individuals elected to represent their constituents just as our framers designed a true representative democracy However Sometimes we expect By mean we I mean not only the public but ourselves as this body That upon swearing in that we have gained the knowledge to do what exactly is right And we have gained public virtue to know what what has been the best interest for the whole public However, as we stood up here earlier this evening those nine of us that took at the oath of office I looked up I did not see two rays of light coming down from the heavens above granting us the knowledge of what is right and of public virtue However, our constitutional framers Were geniuses in my mind they gave us an amazing gift the US Constitution And the best part about this gift is that we don't have to be perfect. We don't have to know everything We don't necessarily even have to have the public virtue in the best of mind They designed a former government that uses our personal interests our group interests To form ahead and move ahead in this government They designed a system of checks and balances. They designed separation of powers Which allows us to use our self-interest to create public virtue. It sounds boring. I do apologize I did say this for a whole year and it's something I'm shortening up a lecture into just a few minutes here But unfortunately the system checks and balances separation of powers also leads to slow complicated messy Governments, I'm sure we've all heard those two terms we've used those terms And if it forces compromise It forces incremental changes change is sometimes a whole lot slower in the wrong direction that we'd like individuals to go But our framers fear two things not only do they fear the maternity of the majority They also feared the tyranny of the minority minority to hold up. What's in the best interest? so There are things about our our system of government that are frustrating, but they are also necessary So as we sit here to and as we move forward together Keep in mind that what makes it frustrating is also designed into the system The framers did not use phrases like public opinion elected mandates majority rules Again and again, they use compromise to form what I feel is the best form of governance as enacted by the US Constitution and again and again they use compromise in the building of this nation After the Constitution was formed Now no one here wants to go backwards. I know that we all have different views of what forward means So unfortunately it is through compromise. It is the negotiations. It is through communication That we will ultimately define what forward is. I Don't know who the person was who first decided that our state motto should be that word forward But I think it's also a genius phrase as well Where if we stand still we're going backwards. We must continually strive to move forward but at times moving forward will be messy and complicated and frustrating But I pledge to you that I will work with you So that we can reach compromise and consensus and that we can communicate with each and everyone Not only within this body both in the community and that we will move forward together in this year So again, I thank you for your support I thank you for taking the chance and I look forward to working with all of you this year. Thank you now committee of the Whole chairman Alderman Hannah will speak a collective sigh of relief. I have no notes Beginning my sixth year on the council. I want to thank you all for your support Had an opportunity to serve twice as council president and I think Eric is going to do a marvelous job Always wanted to be the community the whole chairperson. I think this year is going to be a challenging one We've got the strategic fiscal planning committee going to be coming forward with the help of University of Wisconsin whitewater So I think we're going to have some very meaningful meetings and some very important discussions As many of you know This is going to be my last year on the council So I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to serve an important role As I end my council career. Thank you very much Thank you, Mark Moving on it says the mayor's message No longer known as the time of pontification Welcome everybody to the 2011-2012 Common Council. We have Four new Alderman on the Common Council and Which is one fourth of the council with the new Alderman on the council Just doing some math here. It took me a while to figure this out With the age difference of the Four Alderman that exited the council and the four coming on We have lost 125 years of wisdom Do the math 120 Fred you kind of throw off the curve a little bit But we've literally we've lost 125 years of wisdom we've lost some 25 years of Time on the council of knowledge of how the council works that has exited the council, but I think what we've gained With these four new Alderman is going to be a fresh new perspective I think it's going to be a new approach I think our chances of finding consensus on this council are much greater this year than we've Possibly had in the past a couple messages. I'd like to get across and I did last evening Kind of give the u-raw speech of everything that we accomplished last year, which is quite a bit I saw Alderman Carlson smiling at the u-raw comment never dies Well, I think we all have to remember that every individual Alderman here is Elected by their constituents Now every Aldermanic district consists of somewhere around 6,000 6100 residents So you have in every Aldermanic district every one of you have 6100 constituents That you are responsible for representing I think we all need to remember that because I think we have a tendency and when I was on the council I was guilty of this also of listening to a very vocal minority and Getting too bogged down in the minutia of what a couple or a few people want and and and missing the big picture So I think we need to you know when when you get a call and if you get a call from Three people opposed to something You still have over 6,000 out there that haven't voiced their opinion or if you have three people that really want something You still have 6,000 people in your district that haven't voiced their opinion. I think we need to remember that now We're here to represent the majority of the population It's majority vote majority rules We're here to to represent the majority of the population and not just the vocal minority in our population That's one thing I would really like to get across this year We have to remember this year and it's going to be a tough one The budget is not going to be a picnic this year as we all know It's going to be more challenging this year than last year As we know we have seven all of our labor contracts Are up to be renewed this year We also must remember that we have been given we have been empowered By the state by Governor Walker and his administration To probably have more negotiating power But what we must really remember in this city is that we're in the service business That's what we do We're here to service these citizens of our city We have to remember when we sit down And we negotiate with our friends and labor and when we come up with contracts That we're dealing with the employees of the city And that when these negotiations are finished We want A workforce That still wants to come to work We don't need to spout rhetoric And demoralize the employees of the city We have a lot of hard-working people We have to remember that they are there to serve the citizens of Sheboygan Now we also must remember that We are losing another 1.4 million dollars in our Shared revenue and other rates Not to mention the 1.2 million dollar structural deficit we're coming into this year So we have to balance the two and we have to come to some agreements But we need to do it in a conscientious manner And remember that We have employees and when we're done With the process we still want to be an employer of choice for people We want people our employees that want to come to work So we have to remember that through this whole process this year It will be a balancing act But when we're Speaking to the media when you're speaking to your friends Remember that when we're done we're going to have to balance the budget But we also want people that Enjoy what they do and that want to come to work One thing that we did Happened And it you know, it wasn't conscious. I don't think it just kind of evolved that way In the last half of this past council season Because we got a lot of work done And we got that work done quietly It was it was you know, we we accomplished a lot And we we didn't do it in a manner that that was uh Oh, what am I looking for here? People weren't in conflict the whole time. It wasn't chaos Everybody wasn't looking over their shoulder wondering what's going on the whole time We got a lot done I've also noticed that in the last X amount of months Our partners in the media and they are partners Because the media drives a lot of what happens in this city Our partners in the media have been much more favorable to the decisions of the common council and the image That has been portrayed of Sheboygan In the media has been much more positive And I think we need to appreciate that and and hopefully keep that trend going You know, we want to be a city where people want to come to We'd like to be the city that people want to live in We don't want people that are saying uh, I want to sell my house and move out to the towns down to the township We want people living in our city. That's the only way we're going to survive We need people with means To live in the city to build homes To build apartments live in condos Build businesses create jobs our number one focus last year. I think that we Our heading toward is creating jobs in the city without jobs. We don't survive And I think we did a good job of laying the groundwork last year With jobs come people with people come construction with construction comes tax base Unfortunately, that's the way we're funded is through tax base So we need to keep that trend going We want to be a city of choice. We want to be a city that people Not only like to visit But people want to come to and stay And I think that is again should be our number one responsibility this year Is to keep moving forward I appreciate everybody on this council. I think uh, I think we're going to have a good working group here Of course, as president rindflash stated No, everybody's not going to going to get along on every issue But I think if we make our decisions on this council based upon The 50 000 residents of the city And the long-term Well-being of those residents I think we'll come to a lot more Uh, consensus on this council if we keep that one thing in mind This is a great city It's a wonderful city. That's why we live here And this is america we can live wherever we want Um, I've chosen to live here and so has everybody else in this room So I think we need to keep working Be honest with each other It's one thing I've always said people might not agree with me, but there's nobody in this room That will ever say I lied to him if I don't support something I'll tell you If I tell you I support it I support it if I tell you I don't I won't I think if we're all honest with each other in that manner You know, some people call it politics when you tell people one thing and you do another thing I've never considered it that I think if we all come together Look at each other and just say I'm going to be honest with the guy next to me And we try to get something done for the good of the city I think that when we're sitting right here again next year We're going to be that much farther ahead. Thank you Okay, moving on to the mayor's appointments First of all, uh, the alderman everybody has the packets on on the appointments we will, uh Not approve these until next week They will lie over until next week if anybody sees in your appointments. I put these out early for everybody to review If there's something in your appointments that you don't like Please let me know if there's something that doesn't work into your work schedule home schedule. Please let me know If there's something that you want to get together with another alderman And say I'd rather be on this if you'd be on that, of course I need to agree with it, but please let me know now. These appointments are my wishes You do not have to approve them if you do not want to But it's a uh, it's one of those issues where it's all or nothing. So Okay appointments Steve For the honorable members of the common council here by submit the following appointments for your confirmation finance committee alderman ham and chairman Eric rinfliesh vice chairman Warren matticek and van akron law and licensing committee Alderman hamman chairman, excuse me alderman hannah chairman All the person vandal wheel vice chairman rinfliesh kath and versi public protection and safety committee all the person kittleson chairman alderman decker vice chairman Samson carlson and van akron public works committee all the person borne chairman all the person heidemann vice chairman vandal wheel kath and belt salaries and grievances committee all the person raceler chairman all the person versi vice chairman kittleson decker and samson signed by the mayor and then Lies over until next monday's council meeting If I submit the following appointments for your consideration Marilyn montemire to be considered for appointment to the library board to fill the unexpired term of edward rickowski whose term expires 4 30 2012 And brian vendoski to be considered for appointments for organ transit commission to fill the unexpired term of richard hires whose term expires 4 30 2013 signed by the mayor Lies over also and then I believe all the alderman have on their desks A listing of the appointments to the various fords Commissions committees Authorities of the council numbering seven pages And these are all submitted By the mayor And those will also lie over until the next common council meeting Okay, we do have a couple of resolutions this evening This is what I need my glasses resolutions introduced three One dash one by alderperson kittleson requesting the mayor to reactivate various special committees for the 2011 2012 council year Alderperson kittleson Thank you mayor. I would ask that that the Resolution requesting the mayor to reactivate various special committees be put upon its passage second We have a motion and a second under discussion If there is no discussion all in favor state. Aye. Aye opposed motion carries One dash two will be referred to the committee of the whole And that's all for this evening. Thank you very much. Do we have a motion to adjourn move to adjourn We have a motion and a second all in favor. Say aye. Aye opposed motion carries. Thank you everybody