 Thank you, Mr. Mayor what the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year Thank you very much. Would the clerk then please call the roll all the person born Here all the person Donahue here all the person Felde Here all the person athlete all the person athlete Okay, all the person Phillips all the person Decker All the person Sorenson all the person Savaglio all the person Flicky Pineski Here all the person Mitchell There are 10 present. Thank you very much. Next. Please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance Next item on the agenda is approval of the minutes from our 18th regular council meeting held on December 21st all the person Sorenson Thanks, mayor. I move to approve the minutes from our previous meeting Is there a second thank you for that motion in support those minutes are before you is there any discussion See none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye Opposed Motion passes The next item is public forum city clerk. There's no one this evening. Very good then we'll move on to Resignation turn it over city attorney Adams All the person Sorenson move to accept the resignation Thank you for that motion and support All those in favor of accepting the resignation, please signify by saying aye. Aye Opposed Motion passes and just let you know Laura gum is continuing on the friends organization, but she had moved out of the city Next item is confirmation of mayor appointments against city attorney Adams one point Submission by the mayor for your consideration of Andrew Jacobs to be considered for appointment to the senior activity Center Commission The fill of A can see with the term expiring on April 17 2023 All the person Sorenson I move to accept or move to approve Second, thank you for that motion and support and ask the city clerk to please call the roll for passage Ten eyes motion passes Congratulations Andrew. Thanks for coming tonight The next item is confirmation of mayoral appointments all the city attorney Adams 1.7 The mayor hereby submit the following appointments for your consideration to the harbour center business improvement district board Amy horse Eileen Simmons Jordan Saunders Jane Davis would Paul Rudnick and Chad Palisic All four appointments that would expire on December 31st 2022 Thank you very much all the person Sorenson. Thank you. May I move to confirm the appointments? Second, thank you for that motion in support Turn it over to the city clerk to call the roll All the person Felde I'm gonna mark her not present to vote nine eyes. I think she's having audio issues. Okay So nine eyes and barb couldn't vote Motion passes and those appointments to the harbour center business district board are approved Next item is a presentation by Amy Wilson the president of visit Sheboygan tourism with an update of their Operations at this time if they believe Amy's joining us remotely Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can Amy. Please go ahead. I believe that Chad forwarded. There it is a slide presentation that I'll walk you through to give you an update on What will be happening in 2021, but we'll look at what's been going on in 2020 first Next slide, please So as most of you know The big building on a street the new visitor center has opened We did a very soft opening. There was no grand opening per se because of COVID It was just easier to take a precaution We opened at the end of October, which was six months later than originally planned Some of that was a little bit of delay in construction But most of it was delay in COVID and our ability to get the center set up, especially the interior so the new center includes the visit Sheboygan offices the tourist information a Viewing area where we play promotion videos. A lot of those are also online with our bloggers We were going to be doing a shipwreck installation But we were able to do some models instead We also have opened a gift and souvenir shop The visitor center features on-site parking hopefully in the future It will feature a bike share program and also be a trolley stop to downtown Right now the visitor center is pretty much seeing levels more than tourists That's obviously to be expected for the time of year and the traveling situation Next slide, please So just to give you an idea on the gift shop Obviously Sheboygan branded and Lakeshore branded merchandise in there Without any really type of advertising at all or push on a grand opening. It's been doing pretty well people have been finding it The local shopping local Saturday shopping After Black Friday, we did about $1,200 in sales, which is a lot for $20 t-shirts So we were very happy about that but it's been averaging about $200 a day We're hoping it grows as a revenue center and pays for itself in the end. That's the goal next slide, please Also some of the through COVID especially We pretty much last winter shut down the marketing and we were able to take some of the actual obligations and push them out For later, especially since the hotels were unlocked down as well So we had to find a way to come back out of that into the spring and Not understanding the situation or trying to be incredibly careful with revenue and how we're spending Income we basically Didn't online split we have two bloggers on staff Rachel Stinkovich and Sam Kiesau they form two online Facebook blogs and blogs on YouTube called Rachel's route and Scenic Sam those are also tied into the visit Sheboygan all the social media for social space Instagram Twitter and Basically what they do is go around and highlight Sheboygan adventures. They blog about them They take video of them. They do pictures. They interview people and we've really really been pushing that It's an incredibly cost-effective way to reach a lot of people, especially when they're at home bored online Next slide, please One of the other things we've been doing with the marketing going into 2020 which kind of stalls that we're picking it back up in this winter is Basically getting away from some of the traditional marketing where we get lost or people just don't pay attention to and doing Some different type of niche marketing one of those things is we worked with a local trucking company in Campbell fort They send 40 trucks out every day all over the Midwest and the south and towards the east and So we're reaching a lot more people through many more states rather than stationary billboards. So we're wrapping these trucks One of the the other items we wanted to try to negotiate On some of the major interstates with wrapping silos with our budget constraints through COVID That is in the future. We don't even have that plan yet for 2021 We just need to see how things go there. Next slide, please One of the other things that we do is stay Pretty much out of the typical travel magazines where we can't compete We get lost in the noise of competing against Milwaukee and Green Bay and the Del and we go into niche magazines So there's just a couple examples of ads that have been in foodie magazines We also do some art magazines. We do a lot of outdoor magazines that Focus on surf and stand up paddleboarding and kayaking and outdoor on the water activities And then the lower banding of the Malibu the Midwest that's part of a campaign We run on a website called state trunk tours We look at a lot of other travel websites that a lot of our competitors aren't on and by ads on those next slide please one of the Projects that we started when we planned the visitor center was called visit ship organ steam and steam standing for science technology engineering arts and mathematics one of the things we found out through research is that and through COVID has actually blown up a little bit is that outdoor experiences and environmental and ecological experiences of Areas are becoming a real trend with especially with the next generation so What it means is people are interested in not just Not just doing the tourist trap typical things They want to be immersed in your town and in your culture learn about your environment your ecology and especially being on the world One fifth of the world fresh water bodies of fresh water. We are actually working with Different partners including the Maritime Museum Port Explorium with Noah in the future on the National Marine Sanctuary and some of the Fresh water ecology and environmental Aspects of the area so the new center will include on the top left you'll see what we call science in the sky and It's a platform that is built out over the water. It's Operating completely off the grid demonstrating hydroponics aquaponics Plants and plant life of the area and how that affects the water water runoff And then in the future we have planned around that area on the grounds of the visitor center Eco and environmental gardens that are indigenous to the lake shore and also Inside the visitor center. There is a classroom that we're working on but putting the infrastructure bill out in there now and That classroom will host programs for tourists. They can sign up for they can sign up for lab They can do eco tours all of that. It's kind of on hold right now But we'll be hopefully getting that up and running again in the future One of the items that is in the visitor center currently and is up and running is the science on a sphere And that's a six-foot suspended globe Giant six-foot ball that basically can become a globe But it runs lifetime programs on it Through an online system with NOAA that can see just like lifetime earthquakes around the world lifetime volcanoes weather patterns How many flights are in the sky? We can see how many people are online on the planet at one time It turns into the moon the sun every planet in the solar system and the death star So we're hoping to basically be running some steam programs through there in the future as well all of those programs are not Completely worked out yet. Like I said that program solved through COVID it's been seated with part of our room tax budget but seated so that we're using the seated funds to kick off grants and Sponsor funding for it next slide, please so the Visit Sheboygan structure and I just want to review for everyone in case you're not aware Visit Sheboygan is a 501 C6 Non-profit tourism entity is defined by the state of Wisconsin. It was created under the Wisconsin room tax statute And it's overseen by a board of directors Of course, it manages tourism promotion and development for the Sheboygan area tourism zone The Sheboygan area tourism zone includes the city of Sheboygan the town of Sheboygan and the town of Wilson So it's not we're not county-wide our main focus and where our funding comes from is room tax within that zone The room tax that comes to us is managed by the Sheboygan area tourism room tax commission Next slide, please So this is just the room tax cycle. I just wanted everyone to understand how it works Obviously visitors come into the area those that spend a night in a lodging property whether it's a hotel Airbnb Motel they pay an 8% room tax That 8% room tax is then collected by the hotel Which is then collected by each municipality in the zone each municipality by a state law is Welcome to keep 30% of that and that can go to their general fund or however They want to spend it 70% goes to the room tax commission and the room tax commission forwards it back to us that uses it for tourism promotion and development under the state statute and of course That's to bring more people back into the zone to spend the night to keep perpetuating the income So that's just the cycle of the room tax Next slide, please Okay, now I cannot read these numbers because they're very small on my screen Let's see, but I just want to Let me see if I can get them up here This will give you an idea of the revenue from truth or actually that tourism economic performance from 2019 compared to 18 runs through it with you Okay, so what this is telling us event It's basically the Wisconsin State Department of Tourism Commission's a company called tourism economics Who does economic data and economic studies for the tourism industry? worldwide and What they do every year is look at certain sectors of the industry and the Economic impact of them and report them compared to the year before we don't get the year's Numbers until May of the following year, so we don't know 2020 yet But if we compare 2018 to 2019 you can see that Chabuigan County as far as visitors spending coming into the county Goes we are ranked number 15 in the state among 72 counties and we pull in about 243 million dollars a year in visitor spending about 410 million is Is also brought into the county through business to business sales direct business to business sales Tourism is also responsible for about 3685 jobs that were shown in 2019 Of course total labor income is 92.7 million and in 2019 Tourism contributed 30.2 million to state and local copiers Of course, we do expect these numbers to drop for the first time since 2009 during the recession due to COVID in 2020 What this slide shows us is where we rank along the ranked shores That's our real competitive area. I'm Chabuigan County ranks number four along the link shores actually only behind Milwaukee Brown County door County and Racine and That's with the 243 million and visitors spending and I'm sorry Meredith I probably didn't tell you to switch that slide. So hold on a second because I'm looking at mine And that's what I start. Yeah, so we'll switch back slides again Okay, what we're looking at here is the history of room tax collections in our tourism zone and We're starting on it 2010 that's when the tourism office first opened as a tourism office embedded in the chamber That's when I started cutting that office and you can see how it expanded through 2020 Now there's a real there's a big jump from 18 to 19 and I'll explain that in a minute But it's tourism has been growing every year in our tourism zone and throughout the county But you can see where we took a big dip in COVID We were in 2019 at about one point two over 1.2 million in our budget and in 2020 we've dropped to 876,000 next slide, please So the Blue Harbor Conference Center is basically where the extra income is coming from the conference center was built based on an agreement for bond funding and For years a hundred percent of Blue Harbor's room tax was used to pay those bonds. Well, the bonds matured in 2018 But over that period of time that the bonds needs to be paid back The Blue Harbor room tax fell short about 749,000 the city of Sheboygan made that up for them because the bonds needed to be paid So the city covered it, but when the room tax laws changed in 2017 visit Sheboygan was incorporated duty changes made in the state statute so visit Sheboygan did agree that the city should be made whole again and Did agree to a repayment Schedule to pay back what Blue Harbor had fell short on the bond agreement with the city That agreement was originally set on annual payments that started in 2019 and carried through 2025 Next slide, please So through COVID we had a real challenge in here We had a sense of brand new expenses just to start income Unexpectedly started to drop pretty drastically for what we were taking on Including a new visitor center and new building with new operational costs a retail outlet Of course, we had to do build out Buy about $88,000 in furniture and decor another few thousand couple ten thousand and exhibit Signage we had a staff expansion to run it Because we had to have we still had to continue our regular jobs and run the visitor center and Then continue building up our marketing and promotion so that we could continue future revenue growth as we have in the past In 2021, you'll notice we just have a sign on that Building, but we have another huge expenditure coming with a monument sign out on the street We put that off just to see what's going to happen With the pandemic situation and revenue And then of course the visit Sheboy and steam project is right now basically stalled We did find that through COVID a lot of the grant program stalled and of course we couldn't find out There wasn't a lot of suppliers that we could even have come in and help us build that up So we're just rebuilding that again that one will probably be about 24 months Behind an opening by the time we're done catching up with it And then we had some contractual advertising obligations that we were able to negotiate halted In 2020 due to COVID that we pushed out when we knew people were traveling safer. It was safer to travel It wasn't worth telling people to come here during a lockdown when they were afraid to travel Next slide, please So tonight what we're asking for what we spoke to the finance committee about Was with the blue harbor bond debt We did make the first payment in 2019, which was the first year we got contracted to make it once the blue harbor room tax started coming into our budget But due to the impact of obviously COVID and our financial Setbacks and room tax income. We were requesting deferment of the 2020 payment We were also requesting at the time deferment of the 2021 payment However, going into our pro forma budget. We do have that in the budget for 2021 But we're so we're asking that If without knowing what's going to happen in the future with vaccine distribution or the next big mutation That's worse than what's happened now. God forbid um Right now if everything goes as planned, we will be able to make the 21 payment But what we're asking is that we can revisit that in december and just look at how the year went and see If we should negotiate that payment down or if we're able to make it as planned in its original schedule So that's the end of the slideshow. I'm going to shut my power point here And if you have questions, I'll be happy to help with that Well, we're discussing this a little bit later in the agenda, but there are any general questions from anyone I have a general question here. This is alderman born. Please go ahead Amy I noticed in your presentation that you pay rent on the new building now who owns the building Um, actually wild legal lc owns the building. It's leslie collard's private Development company for that project Thank you I have a question like please go ahead all that person. Sorry. I just I was looking at your power point And there was a bullet point in one of your checklist that you were expanding staff this year I'm just a little curious about were you expanding staff? Was that put on hold or was that Um part of the plan even though you guys knew you weren't going to be able to to make the payments this year Well, unfortunately at the time what the only thing we've expanded is the visitor center staff We were going to expand the team staff Um, we did hire someone to do that who was only on a month before the shutdown And then we could see that project wasn't going to happen a few months later So that person went on furlough for a while and then was laid off Unfortunately, okay, because as we saw what was happening with the income There was no way to continue that project and probably won't start again until 2022 But we did bring on people to man the visitor center and the retail space So those weren't significant salaries all the marketing and advertising staff has was already there and had been there for years So right now we were looking at Two hourly positions to run the visitor center for the public and run the retail operation Any other comments? Lamy, thank you very much for that presentation. I appreciate it Sure, thank you Next we'll go on with mayors announcements Uh, to start out with I have a proclamation to present. I'd like to call up Denise Whitstock from big brothers and big sisters of sheboygan county christa sing from boys and girls clubs And uh sharp hack the act from horizon for girls is joining us remotely A proclamation whereas january is national mentoring month Celebrating the benefits of youth mentoring across the country and locally We recognize big brothers and big sisters of sheboygan county the boys and girls clubs of sheboygan county And horizon for girls and other organizations for their youth mentoring efforts And whereas every day in sheboygan and communities across the country Caring adults volunteer their time with mentoring programs to create create consistent supportive relationships with young people At its most basic level mentoring is successful in real life because it guarantees That young people have an adult to turn to and that they have a guiding hand to help them in dealing with day to day challenges At more a complex level. There's a powerful mentoring effect that ultimately Makes our community stronger and whereas quality mentoring programs are proven to build relationships That help to improve school attendance academic achievement and to promote responsible decision making And also provide skills to better navigate relationships at school socially and at home And whereas a report by mentor the national mentoring partnership Found that young adults who were at risk for not completing high school But had a mentor were 55 percent more likely to be enrolled in college than those who did not have a mentor 81 percent more likely to report participating regularly in sports or Curricular activities and more than twice as likely to say that they held a leadership position In a club or sports team and 78 percent more likely to volunteer regularly in their communities Whereas mentoring programs have shown to be effective in combating school violence Discipline problems substance abuse and incarceration and truancy Now therefore i'm mike van der steen mayor of the city of shabuigan do hereby declare january of 2021 national mentoring month in shabuigan And call upon public officials businesses and community leaders and educators And encourage all residents of shabuigan to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies activities and programs In order to recognize the men and women who serve as staff and volunteers At local mentoring programs and who help young people find inner strength to reach their full potential And uh with a great deal of pride i'm presenting these proclamations to both of these organizations We'll give showers to her later But i'd like to ask them to come up and tell us just a little bit about their program and what's happening In their mentoring program, especially how they're responding to cova We're having technical issues two folks on the other end of the meeting can't hear Scott i'll leave that up to you The chat was lighting up so i thought i'd say something Let me know when we're ready scott Can you hear us now can you guys hear us? Please enter your access code followed by the pound or To enable audio controls, please enter your Can you guys hear us? All right, we're getting thumbs up. I think we're good Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mayor van der steen and everyone Um for this honor. We're very excited to celebrate national mentoring month I thought i'd take just a few brief moments to share a little bit about big brothers big sisters I think everyone probably knows this the traditional model of what we do Which is the concept of pairing an at-risk quote-unquote youth with a caring adult But what some people don't realize is that for over a hundred years this organization has been Really fulfilling that sole mission in over 15 countries in the world and every 50 state here in the united states Um shabuigan county is the oldest in the state of wisconsin and we've served over 22 000 youth in our time here since 1965 And I wanted to respond to your comment about how we've transitioned during cova just a little bit We're in the human relationship business and so We took a pause to move our staff to work remotely, but after that we didn't really have much of a pause We inserted some technology into our programs, but otherwise we've been keeping Biggs and littles and families closer than ever Because this is a time of crisis for families that are facing a lot of struggles during normal times And we've continued to make matches We've continued to transition programs in our schools to make sure that kids are staying connected and safe having that technology to reach out and Feel supported when they've lost their single social often single social system, which is their school And one of the things that we're really excited about Is some of the firsts that we've experienced this year We have officially in this council. We've experienced our first official contract of partnership of I don't know. Are we dating now? Is that what we say? Between the shabuigan police department and big brothers big sisters to officially bring A formal program of Biggs with badges to the community Chief demigowski has been wonderful in helping spearhead that initiative and spreading it throughout the county to engage law enforcement with Youth that potentially might have a Pre-conceived notion about what law enforcement is or isn't in our community We're excited to be looking at a five-year pilot starting this fall with the shabuigan area school district with technology enhanced mentoring and the high school setting focusing on academic and career preparedness and If there's one thing we've learned in the last 12 months, it's that human connection is really Vital for kids particularly Our professional degree staff work with families sometimes up to 13 years And so we get to know families and kids very very well And we have become a very trusted partner for over 800 people in this community We've helped biggs that never thought they would have to navigate the social sector and apply for food Food services we've helped families navigate How to pay for a family member's burial expense? Because they were visiting from another country and we've had kids Five and six year old kids build relationships with really cool adults on a tablet For the first time ever so we've had some really cool experiences and it's really Kept our staff moving forward and knowing that even when our days are very very long The work that we're doing is worthwhile. So for those of you in the room that have participated with us and shared your time We appreciate it Captain Todd an amazing chef if you didn't know that administrator will Chad Chief Thank you, and we're excited to be here Thank you very much. Christina from boys and girls clubs All right, we get on the sound So i'm christina sing I lead the boys and girls clubs here in shabuigan county And the boys and girls clubs provides kids ages six to 18 with equitable opportunities safe spaces and vital resources This past year that looked a little bit like delivering Meals and grocery store gift cards to address food insecurity. It looked like developing virtual programming options Getting thousands of activity kits out to kids who needed them Expanding our teen program hours and also Opening a program for 10 hours a day when school switched to virtual learning So that we could support kids who didn't have internet access or a positive home environment On top of innovating our services We also opened a new location at jefferson elementary for before and after school programming And every step of the way we prioritize the physical and emotional safety of our youth So regardless of the circumstances our club delivers outcome based Programming in three core areas and that's academic success Healthy lifestyles and good character and citizenship For every kid the formula for success looks a little bit different And that's why our staff are trained to build positive mentoring relationships with the kids It's an important ingredient for everything we do and it really enables kids to Improve their outcomes in our three core program areas So um, your vanderstein mentioned some statistics about kids being 55 percent more likely to enroll in college if they regularly meet with a mentor 78 percent more likely to regularly volunteer and 130 percent more likely to Pursue leadership type positions If if they're if they have a mentor So statistics and numbers aside Our staff are sometimes the only positive adult relationship that that youth have and so They're often the first to notice abuse or neglect The first to hear about a big problem or challenge at home The first to celebrate a teen's new job So we we form those relationships with our youth Um In order to help them succeed and it's really at the core of what boys and girls club programming is all about so for For all you mentors out there, uh, you are champions of youth And and I thank you. I'm grateful To mayor vanderstein and to all of those who support programs like ours And all of those who either work in a mentoring capacity or volunteer to mentor youth So thank you so much Thank you very much christina Shara pacniak. Are you there? Well, we also thank all the work that shara does with horizon for girls So let's give these girls a big hand for all the efforts that they put forth on their organization We also remember all their boards that helped them to to manage things and then all the volunteers who volunteer in the community So thank you very much Next I'd like to bring up paula haelfrich paula, please come forward paula Is retiring this this week and in paul beginner employment with the police department on march 16th of 1987 on the third shift as a clerk typist She had applied for this position after seeing an ad in the shabuagan press classified section And is grateful that chief kital and the city took a chance on her. She was promoted In 1991 to department secretary and in 2006 to administrative assistant to the chief On january 1st of 2008. She assumed the additional duties of office supervisor paul and not only serves as the administrative assistant to the chief but also Coordinates all of the administrative functions for the department directly supervising 12 employees helps to pay the bills Order supplies administer records management software Managed a budget during her tenure with the city. She's demonstrated an impressive work ethic and has been extremely dependable for the department Chief damagalski told me that he is going to miss paula greatly She has been a great leader. He said and resource in a sounding board forum She is extremely organized and efficient and has been an unbelievable sense of went to step in and help and went to stand back He is very grateful for the integrity competence leadership and ability and professionalism that paula has demonstrated Each day during the last 11 years that he's worked with her and the 23 prior to that He is very proud of her ability to accept change and the growth that is demonstrated over her career We appreciate the care gratitude and kindness that she's shown to department employees And appreciate the loyalty and respect and concern that she has demonstrated for the city paula Has shared how she was then so proud to work for the city how much she will miss working with everyone in the city But has decided time has come to focus on her personal life and spend more time with her family paula's last day with the city is tomorrow january 5th paula on behalf of the city were very thankful for the 34 years of service and the positive contributions that you've made to the police department and the city of shabuagan Please accept our best wishes in your retirement and i'd like to present the certificate of appreciation to paula hail fresh for 34 years of dedicated service from march 16th 1987 through january 5th of 2021. Thank you so much paula and have a great retirement Next i'd like to call up russ schreiner Russ begin his employment with the city of shabuagan and the shabuagan police department in august of 1993 And without a doubt he is one of the best hires that the city's ever made Russ's last day will be with the city will be this friday january 8th of 2021 His accomplishments as the communication electronics technician for the department city and county are too numerous to list The rest assured every major communications and data project in the city and the county For the last 27 years has been led by russ The first mobile data system the citywide wireless mesh system the new police and fire stations countywide digital radio system The combined dispatch center and the voice over internet protocol phone system and the list goes on If that's not enough russ has also held leadership positions on county and state committees and looked On any project that that needed needed his help Without a complaint Well with Well without too much of a complaint He is served as the police department's own MacGyver There's nothing that he couldn't fix with a nail cutter a toothpick and a band aid russ is truly The guy who could do it all even Serving as the department bugler for a while. Wow His dedication and commitment to the city and incredible work ethic was noticed by all He has been twice selected as the police department's civilian employee of the year And was also recognized with the citizen awards by the sheriff's department He's easy going kind and caring personality In combination with a healthy sense of humor has endeared him to all of us Chief Tom Magalski mentioned that he is grateful for all the technical advice and counsel that russ has provided over the years His knowledge and skill have been invaluable to the department His ability to learn and keep us current and ahead of the curve and communications Filled in as technology has continued to advance Russ has always had the safety of our personnel as main priority And has left an amazing legacy in the city of shabuagan Russ has shared that he's grateful to have the opportunity to work for the city and county in shabuagan And to have the opportunity to work with all the city employees He asked that I share his gratitude and respect for the city's employees and the work that they do And he's grateful for the support that he's been given Lastly, he wants all of you to know the importance of the work Done by the city and the police department That motivates him to come to work every day and do what he can to help make their jobs easier Russ, on behalf of the city, we're thankful for your 27 years of service and your positive conscience that you made The police department and the city of shabuagan. Please accept our best wishes for a happy retirement And I'd like to present this certificate appreciation to russell shiner The certificate of appreciation is in recognition of your 27 years of dedicated service from august 30th of 1993 to january 8th of 2021 Congratulations, rus Well, thank you very much you know One one thing one does when you come to retirement age is Kind of reflect back on on time I happen to go through a few pictures in my office and Found that I really did have dark hair when I started this job Um Now I I have to admit I I don't think it was from the stress of the job Um, but I spent 23 years in the basement of city hall. We had no windows down there So I think really that was what happened but really I I want to thank you mr. Mayor and all the past mayors and city administration um and The all the department heads in the city and county that I that I was able to work with and work for Chief domogowski and chief montanano and the past chiefs that I worked under um and You know all the other department heads fire chiefs other police chiefs in the county certainly The employees that I and coworkers that I work with um, they they really made me a better person and And helped me to succeed um, and I want to thank my immediate supervisor also cap and cob and all my past supervisors and It's been a good a good run. I and I thank you and And I would be remiss if I didn't thank another very important person in my life And that would be my wife martha and my family For their support, especially on those nights when something would go wrong and we'd have to come in and And take care of some critical system But again, thank you very much and uh, I'll just I'll just leave this going forward I plan to if I want to use a few technical terms. I'm going to uh spend a little more higher frequency having fun and relaxation But I will stay in tune with all my My associates and and co-workers. So thank you very much. Appreciate it Russ, I want to know who's going to be the blue santa next year. Are you going to come still come back for that? I'll I'll always I'll always let that open Thank you much, Russ. Thank you Next let's move on to a covet 19 update and review the numbers for january 4th Our positive cases count went up 303 and that's down quite a bit from the last couple of weeks The active cases are at 848 which is down 222 from last week the recovered cases have increased 532 And I stand at 10,541 Currently there's 21 people hospitalized that went up three from last week And the death toll has gone up two more from 92 to 94 Total negative tests are up to 40,581. They were up 582 during the last week The trajectory the numbers since november was where it was down 40 percent And we've been pretty consistent since then but our activity level is still very high We've come off the critically high, but we're still at very high The efforts of so many at this time has reduced the strain and hospital admissions We are only three days past new years and in the coming weeks We'll see how the year-end holidays affected our future test results Please continue to wear a mask wash and sanitize your hands Often and maintain social distance and try to avoid groups of people that are not in your family These actions have followed will prevent the spike of coronavirus during the next few weeks The wisconsin guard testing continues to offer testing on both wednesdays and fridays at the shavuigan county aging and disability resource center in shavuigan falls If you're going to go in for a test, please sign up in advance at the state website covid connect wi.gov The next step is the vaccine distribution A vaccine is a very small part of Harmless part of a pathogen like covid 19 teaches your body how to respond before you come into Contact with the real virus in real life The vaccine will likely cause you to have a sore arm and potentially a fever That's a normal part of getting vaccinated. It will take months to reach Community immunity and we must continue to stay at home wear a mask and physically distance and practice good Hygiene while this vaccination goes on You will need two doses of the vaccine to have full protection ask your vaccinator when you When you need to come back for your second dose before you leave the vaccination clinic The first groups that are receiving vaccine are front-line health care workers who are providing direct cared and covid 19 patients And people living and working in long-term care facilities The next group to receive the vaccine will be essential workers Then vulnerable populations and then the general population If you have health conditions that put you at a greater risk for covid 19 complications Please contact your health care provider And they will work with you to get scheduled for a vaccine when it's available for you. Thank you very much Next we'll go on to the consent agenda That'll include items 2.2 and 2.3 all the person sorenson. Thanks, may I move to receive all RO's receive all our season adopt all resolutions and ordinances Thank you for that motion in support. Is there any discussion on the items that are on the consent agenda? Seeing none. Will the clerk please call the roll for passage Ten eyes motion passes Next is reports of officers Item 3.1 is RO number 119 of 2021 by the city clerk submitting communication from The shabuigan county register of deeds certifying that the stonebrook crossing edition number one has been recorded as directed by 236 colon 36 wisconsin statutes All the person sorenson. Thank you. May I move to receive and file the document? Second. Thank you for that motion in support. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? Opposed Motion passes Item 4.1 is resolution number 140 of 2021 by all the person sorenson and sphaglio and decker establishing a temporary polling location for the february 16th of 2021 and april 6th of 2021 elections for wards 16 17 and 18 and wards 15 20 and 21 in the city of shabuigan All the person sorenson. Thank you, mayor I just want to say a few words first before I make a motion I know that there's been a lot of discussion and we've had this item back and forth just in terms of moving and solidifying the polling locations and we always have to Do them within a certain amount of days to notify the registered voters And I know we have some elections coming up and I appreciate meredith and her staff working on that So just for with providing that context. That's why we're going to be suspending the rules So I'll ask for a suspension of the rules. Is there any objection to suspension? Seeing none, please proceed. Thanks. You I move to adopt the resolution Thank you for that motion motion in support. Is there any further discussion on the motion? Seeing none. Will the clerk please call the roll? Ten ayes Motion passes Items 4.2 through 4.4 will be referred to various committees Under reports of committees item 5.1 is rc number 2 19 of 2021 by the finance and personnel committee to whom was referred resolution number 136 of 2021 by all the person sorenson and donahue Authorizing the appropriate city officials to execute the first amendment to the agreement between the city of shabuagan visit shabuagan Inc and the shabuagan area room tax commission Regarding reimbursement of expenditures made by the city of shabuagan related to the blue harbor resort and conference center It recommends adopting the resolution and the first amendment to the agreement with amendments All the person donahue I move to receive the report of the committee and adopt the resolution and first amendment to agreement with amendments Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on the motion? I guess I have a quick just a quick question Maybe this is for the chair of the committee. I know that this this item we It was proposed to suspend the rules last time, but we decided to refer back to the committee just was curious if there was an affirmative vote or what the general sense of the committee was for coming back to the council Older person donahue You know, I I have some trouble hearing you alder sorenson. Sorry. What was the exact question? So my statement was that I know that this item we it was proposed at the last council meeting to suspend the rules and approve But instead we made the recommendation to refer it back to the finance committee I was just curious what the general sense from the committee was Um On this item and if there if there was any feedback or any other point to discussion that should be raised with other elders Oh, um, and thank you for that question. Um, we actually had a very good discussion Uh, and I appreciate amy wilson coming before the committee And I think her power point presentation today provided even further information Regarding the nature of this obligation between the city and the visit and visit schweigens with respect to the blue harbor bonds, um, so After a lively discussion, we determined that it certainly makes sense to suspend the 2020 payment And to revisit the 2021 payment Towards the end of the year As amy pointed out The payment is in the bud in there in the visit schweigens budget but depending on recovery of tourism and so forth it may be possible for us to receive the full payment or partial payment or to Suspend the payment for another year This of course just extends to the term of the contract So that the city is Finally reimbursed and made whole Thank you for those comments Go ahead jim Thank you, mayor, uh, yeah, i'm uh, I agree with all the person donny who's explanation and i'm very comfortable After amy came into the committee and explained everything to us But I was also happy to see that visit schweigens has already budgeted the uh, 2021 payment so that's encouraging but uh, We will we will be reviewing it, uh at our probably our first meeting in In december to see if it's still practical practical to go ahead with that, but i'm very comfortable in delaying the 2020 2020 payment because of The reasons for it. Thank you Thank you any other discussion See none will the clerk please call the roll ten eyes motion passes Item 5.2 is rc number 220 of 2021 by the finance and personnel committee to whom was referred resolution number 138 of 2021 By all the persons donahue and borne authorizing a transfer of appropriations in the 2021 budget All the person donahue All the person donahue she's her mic's muted You're muted. I move that we receive the report of our committee and adopt the resolution my apologies Thank you second. Thank you for that motion in support. Is there any discussion on the motion? See seen none will the clerk please call the roll for passage. All right Sorry Ten eyes motion passes Under Other matters authorized by law city attorney There's one other matter 7.1 Which is an aural by the city clerk submitting various license applications for the period ending december 31 2021 and june 30 That'll be referred to licensing hearings in the public safety committee All the person sorenson Is there a second? All those in favor of adjournment, please signify by saying aye Opposed motion passes we stand adjourned. Thank you for your time tonight