 Welcome everyone. At this time I'd like to call to order the first meeting of the 2019-2019 Common Council, rather 2020 Common Council. Would the clerk please read the quote for the day. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Teamwork gives you the best opportunity to turn vision into reality. Thank you for those words of wisdom. Would the clerk please call the roll? There are 10 present. Next we'll start off with a presentation of the National Colors by the Sheboygan Police Department's Honor Guard. Please stand. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next we have a musical performance by Vox. Thank you very much. Next I'd like to call up Pastor Bill T. Winkle from Hope Church for our invocation. Bill's a longtime attorney in town and he also served the state senator a few years ago. Bill, welcome. Distinguished guests and members of the council, Hope Church is a proud resident of the city of Sheboygan since 1891. Appearances to the contrary, I have not been its only pastor. But I am thankful for the opportunity on behalf of the faith community of Sheboygan to offer this invocation. So if it is your pleasure I invite you to join me in prayer. God of this city, we come to you tonight mindful of the truth that you are God and we are not. We come to you tonight aware of the truth that you govern the universe and beyond from time immemorial to beyond time and yet in your grace you have given these people the task of governing this city for a time. So it is we seek your blessings. The blessing of servant hearts which understand the call to be servants of the people not their masters. The blessing of knowing that to govern will require decision making growing out of their knowledge and discernment of what is necessary and best whether the necessary and best is popular or not. We seek for these leaders the blessing of knowing how to govern this city your city with the conviction of protecting individual rights the understanding that to compromise over debatable differences is not a sin when it achieves the greater good and the wisdom to know the difference. We pray that you will indwell these servant leaders then with wisdom. Wisdom to know the important difference between prudence and penny pinching in matters of health safety roads and infrastructure. We pray tonight as well that the spirit of Sheboygan will be one which offers opportunities to all of the rainbow of races and variety of languages you have called these people to govern. May words like equality and justice be more than hollow slogans and instead serve as their guiding principles. We pray that the residents and guests of this city will enjoy the spirit of genuine hospitality as it is offered in our parks and lakes and festivals. Tonight then God of this city give these leaders servant hearts wise minds and generous spirits as they serve and govern this city in this time. We pray this in the name of the one whom we worship and adore amen. Thank you very much. Next I'd like to call up recently reelected municipal judge Natasha Tory to swear in our city attorney and our city clerk elected to the office. swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of the Wisconsin and will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of said office to the best of my ability. So help me God. Congratulations. I'm Charles Adams haven't been elected to the office of city attorney having been elected to the office of city attorney swear that I will support swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States 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 of said office discharge the duties of said office to the best of my ability the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you very much judge. And next I'd like to call up the older persons representing odd number districts to please come forward for Meredith de Bruyne to administer your oath of office. swear that I will support swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States 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 of the office of all the persons of the best of my ability. So help me God. Next is item 1.7 adopting the rules of the common council. All the person wolf. Thank you mayor. I make a motion to approve. Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on the motion to approve the rules of the common council? See none. All those will have to call roll. I'm sorry. Ten eyes. Motion passes. Next we'll go on to election of the president and vice president of the common council. Go ahead. Thank you mayor. I move to 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 with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and the balloting to continue until one candidate receives the majority. Is there a second? Thank you very much. Nominations are then open. All the person down here. Thank you for that motion and support. Todd, do you accept? Yes. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Except the motion. Is there a second? We have a second. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Congratulations Todd. Next we'll go on to election of the vice president of the city council. All the person will thank you mayor. 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 with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and the balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority. Second. Is there, you have a second? Nominations are open. All the person sorenson. I move that we nominate Mary Lynn Donahue for vice president of the common council. Second. We have a lot of seconds. Thank you very much. Do you accept all the person down here? I do. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Entertain a motion? All the person will. Thank you mayor. I move to close nominations and direct the city clerk to cast in a unanimous ballot for Mary Lynn Donahue. Is there a second? We have a second. All those in favor that motion please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Congratulations. Next we'll move on to election of representative on the city planning commission. All the person will. Thank you mayor. I move that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by open ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated the candidate for the lowest number with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and the balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority. You have a motion and a second. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Nominations are open. All the person, Mitchell. Thank you Mr. Mayor. I'd like to nominate all their Jim Bowen as the representative on the city planning commission. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. All the person born do you accept? Yes. Thank you. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? All the person will. Thank you mayor. I move to close the nominations and direct the city clerk to cast a unanimous ballot for Jim Bowen. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. All those in favor of the motion please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Congratulations all the person born. Next is the election of two representatives to serve on the capital improvements commission. All the person will. Thank you mayor. I move that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by open ballot. And if more than two candidates, technically, yeah, two candidates are nominated the candidates with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority. Thank you for that motion and second. Nominations are all we have to vote on it. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Nominations are open. All the person born. Thank you for that nomination. All the person Sarnson, do you accept? I do. Thank you very much. Are there any other nominations? All the person down here. For the second position I nominate council president Todd. Thank you very much for that motion and second. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Seeing none. All the person Wolfe. Thank you, mayor. I moved to close nominations and direct the city clerk to cast the unanimous ballot for Ryan Sarnson, Ryan Sarnson and Todd Wolfe. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. All those in favor of the motion please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Congratulations everyone. Next we'll take a short recess to elect the chairman of the committee of the whole. Thank you chair. I move that nominations be received from the floor voting to be done by open ballot and if more than two candidates are nominated, the candidate with the lowest number of votes be dropped from the list and balloting to continue until one candidate receives a majority. Thank you. Is there a second? Thank you. Dominations are received from the floor. Someone will be nominated. Mary Lynn. I nominate Ryan Sarnson. Second. Thank you. Are there any others? Are there any others? Are there any others? I moved to close nominations. Second. Thank you for that second. And I moved to Mr. Chair to close nominations and direct the city clerk to cast a unanimous ballot for Ryan Sarnson. All in favor. Aye. Motion carries. Congratulations Ryan. Council meeting will reconvene. Next is a report by the council president and the election of the committee of the whole chairperson. All the person will. Thank you, Mary. Ryan, older person Ryan Sarnson is the elected committee of the whole chairperson. Thank you very much. Congratulations Ryan. Next item on the agenda is the president of the council's message. Alderperson Wolf. Thank you, Mary. All right. I was up all night doing this. I know you guys like really short speeches. So I hope this won't take us too long. So anyway, dear mayor, city administrator, city attorney, fellow elders, and our city managers and staff. We have accomplished another positive and momentous year in advancing our city's 2017 through 2021 strategic plan. Our city has shown continued growth and prosperity that has been identified by several outside sources. This has continued to show us that the direction that our city is progressing in a positive and meaningful to many in our city and outside sources. We have changed the city's path of the past and listened. This is in developing our new 150 acre industrial park, South Point Enterprise campus. So we have shovel ready locations for business growth versus watching it pass us and go down the road. We have invested in our city's infrastructure. Like our great city hall, which will be a beacon where the old and the new state-of-the-art technology will coexist. The city was able to accomplish this with 5.5 million cash reserves in order to limit the amount of 6 million borrowed funds. We continue to invest in roads, although this path that is truly cobbled with frustration, this will take many years and even to get a handle on. The damage has gone on for too long to correct in a quick manner. Even our great state's infrastructure is showing the troubles and where, but in 2018, more than 7.2 miles of streets were reconstructed or received overlays. In comparing this number of miles in the past decade, this 7.2 miles is more mileage than the combined mileage of the first five years of our past decade. The city has successfully worked with the SEEDC to meet the needs of our local businesses in attracting their employees. A part of the solution is creating a market rate workforce multifamily developments. Several residential developments are under construction and will soon commence as we all know. Please note that Sheboygan was noted as one of the top 20 small cities for business. Sheboygan county lands on the best places for millennials to move to list. Reasons we made it on the list, abundance of jobs as we all know, low cost housing and low crime rates. Another positive was the double digit growth in Sheboygan County's home median sale price. Even with the growth of the residential housing that we've all been involved with, we have assisted in filling the needs that were identified. The city with the multi-departmental strategy is working hard to stabilize and improve neighborhoods that surround our downtown area. The strategy includes the partnership of the city and the neighborhood associations. Nine neighborhood associations exist as of December 31st, 2018. We are looking to see this number increase over the next years. Even our city's local surveys are showing positives in the many changes that have been happening locally. Another good example is city transit. Improving services over the years. Ridership in 2018 was 599,714, so close to getting that 600,000, which was a 13.2 increase over 2017, highest ridership since 2002, 16 years. And some questioned why buses are not full. That's the one I enjoyed, but I do disagree with it because of the numbers. Ridership in the first quarter of 2019 is up 15.9% over the first quarter of 2018. Average work weekday trips is over 2,500 riders. This Thursday, 5 new state-of-the-art buses will be released to our city's routes for our ridership to enjoy. Shoreline metro ridership increased to its highest level in 16 years. Thanks in part to a new partnership with the Sheboygan area school district, whereby local students can ride year-round for free, which is huge. Crime in Sheboygan continues to decrease, and we've been very blessed by that. These are some of the many positives that together we can we will continue to affect and help provide the voice of the of our constituents. We know that there will always be topics that will be reviewed and questioned today and into the future. Sometimes these decisions are difficult, and some are personal, or issues that blur the lines of logic and good stewardship. Our jobs are not always appreciated and understood, and as we will welcome our newer elders, together we will continue to learn together, lean on each other, and support the changes that will continue to drive positive change for today, tomorrow, and the future. Please note that I want you to know that you you can count on me to assist our teams in continued transparency and communicate together. Together we can find the information and the proper city staff, person, or department to make your jobs easier when helping our mindful constituents. Thanks for electing me as your council president. Thank you all for taking these difficult positions and helping to make Sheboygan a great place to live, work, and play. Thank you. Thank you very much, Alderperson Wolfe. Next item on the agenda is the committee of the whole chairperson's message. Alderperson Sarnson. All right, thank you Mr. Mayor. Todd might have had that big stack of paper. This is my speech. All right. Thank you to all my colleagues for entrusting me to serve as another term as the committee of the whole chairman. First off, I want to congratulate Barb Feldy for the newest addition to the Common Council. I know Barb you'll be a fine addition to this council. I also want to thank the city staff that are here today and the city leadership. You guys are doing an awesome job and I'm excited to see what Sheboygan has in future with your leadership. Over the past few years, as Alderperson Todd Wolfe has mentioned, we have accomplished a lot. However, we still have a long way to go as we move forward to make Sheboygan a thriving 21st century city. I challenge every single member of the Common Council to help move this city forward. Engage, listen with your constituents, research, and see what other communities are doing across the country. And let's bring those ideas to the Common Council and the Committee of the Whole for that matter as a platform to bring innovative and bold ideas that will help move Sheboygan forward to a stronger community. We still have many miles of roads that need to be repaired. We need to increase our housing stock with a focus on affordable housing for the average working Sheboyganite. We also need to embrace our diversity and make sure that our city is much more inclusive. We must also focus on creating an environment of entrepreneurship to attract businesses in our community and help them grow along the way. Every member of the Common Council has different backgrounds and experiences. Some of us were born in Sheboygan. Some of us were born in other states. Some of us have mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons. Some of us are blue collar workers. Some of us are white collar workers. Some of us are perennials and some of us are millennials. But all of us have a shared love for our community. We want to see it thrive. From time to time we might disagree on specific topics and we might get in heated debates, but that's okay because at the end of the day we love and respect each other and we all get along. Our politics today needs a lot more civility and we can be that shining example. I want to end with a quote that means a lot to me and I think that we should all take it to heart whenever we're talking or working with our constituents or debating an issue when we're in the council meetings. So this is by President Franklin Roosevelt. Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of a creative effort. Again, thank you for entrusting me and leading you all in the committee the whole. I know that this will be a great session. Now let's get to work. Thank you everybody. Thank you all the person sorenson. Next item on the agenda is public forum. There is no one this evening. Okay thank you then we'll go on to mayor's message. City council members, Sheboygan staff and residents, 2019 promises to be an exciting year for the city of Sheboygan. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the candidates that ran spirited campaigns for office and tonight we welcome two new members to our council, Betty Ackley and Barbara Feldy. My congratulations to the city officials, Maris De Bruyne, city attorney Chuck Adams and all their persons Barbara Feldy from the first district, Mary Lynn Donahue from the third district, Marcus Savaglio from the fifth district, Rose Phillips from the seventh district and Trey Mitchell from the ninth district. We now have a year of positive experience behind us with a reduced council of 10 older persons and I'm looking forward to working with all of you to make Sheboygan someplace better. Tonight we're going to look forward to the future of our city. A high priority on the list is to continue the resurfacing of our city streets. Last year we were able to see 7.2 miles of streets resurfaced. This was the best mileage in over a decade and this year we have some expensive projects North Avenue and Pennsylvania Bridge so while our mileage might drop slightly we're still committed to putting all of the city budget that we have available to draw down some state money to dovetail this and get as many of our roads paved as possible. Unfortunately the North Avenue project for example came in $1.3 million over budget. This will cause some of our contracted projects to be delayed for another year and so that they remain eligible for future state funding. For the last few years the streets crew has paved about 40 percent of all the mileage that we've done. This department is being looked to to increase the mileage this year to try to make up some of that difference. Sheboygan was the 11th city to join the Green Tier communities of Wisconsin. The 2018 Sheboygan sustainability annual report detailed a number of the impressive accomplishments that we have achieved. To sustain this progress we will start a green team composed of city staff as suggested by Chad Pellecek. We had a good discussion on the sustainable Sheboygan task force and the council made it clear that they wanted to see a sustainable resident committee and I've asked Chad Pellecek to look for a new model for the makeup of this committee and after council approval and the appropriate appointments will be forward for your consent. Sheboygan will continue to address the shortfall in our housing stock. This year we look forward to ribbon cuttings at several projects that are under construction. The Lux 42 units, 7-pin, 85 units. These two projects are market rate apartments. The Badger State Lofts 118 units and these are workforce apartments which are partially subsidized and also the Water's Edge condos. They're completing the first 15 condos that are planned in this development and there's another phase that will follow later on and also the Kingsbury site another 30 condos. We also are working on the Oscar project which is proposed for the Vandervaert site and if approved could add another 240 subsidized apartments. There have already been about 800 units built in Sheboygan County in the last two years but Sheboygan is still at a very low occupancy rate just a little bit above one percent. A good community strives for a three or four percent occupancy so we have to keep on working on our housing stock in order to to get close to those numbers. For some time we've tried to meet the desire for a grocery store downtown and last year we commissioned a grocery store market study. We have the expectation that some of these new rental projects will help improve our opportunity to create the environment that will attract a grocery store in our downtown area. When you live in Sheboygan you live in a great city in a great neighborhood. We now have nine neighborhood associations which are managed by the Mayor's Neighborhood Leadership Cabinet and I want to thank the members of Sheboygan Neighborhood Pride for the work to develop the new neighborhoods associations. We further leveraged our neighborhood revitalization efforts by adding a second code enforcement officer and a new and another beat cop. They follow up on problem properties and keep our neighborhoods clean, maintained, clutter-free and safe. We have four target neighborhoods which will be concentrating our efforts on in 2019. Those neighborhoods are South Calumet, River Bend, River Watch and South Lake. This year the finishing touches of lighting and walkways and signage and a new water tower will complete the South Point Enterprise Campus Development, Sheboygan's Business Park expansion. In this first phase we developed 150 acres of streets, water lines and sewers to accommodate the future business growth. We have also contracted with a commercial realtor to market the business sites. Last year parts of Memorial Mall were demolished to make way for the new Mayor's Store location. Mayor will hold their grand opening next week Friday and there's more development opportunity for a 40,000 square foot small store and also the outlots on this site. We look forward to these additional developments. Our police department continues to bring strong focus to community policing. This strategy has produced significant decrease in part one crimes in 2018. The department has also added a second beat cop to strengthen our north side neighborhoods. The conversion to county dispatch for all 911 and emergency calls has eliminated the transfer of cell 911 calls from one dispatch center to another and consolidated all dispatch operations in the county law enforcement center. The city green will again be hosting entertainment to name a few the Levitt Amp concerts on Thursday nights this summer along with several picnic on the green events and other new programming for this summer and it looks like it's going to be a great time downtown again. Our century old city hall is being restored and remodeled and in 48 days we're looking forward to moving back into our new offices at 828 center avenue. Plans will soon be announced for a ribbon cutting and open house so that everyone in the city can come to see these remodeling efforts. We also look forward to a new authentic German beer garden which will open on May 25th along the Sheboygan river on the south side of Kiwanis Park. The city is contracted with a party to operate the concessions from May 25th through mid-October. The German and craft beers will be served in liter and half liter glass mugs, baked pretzels will be sold and other food items may be added to the menu later and patrons may bring their own food and a deposit will be charged on the mugs and we've also made it clear that dogs will be allowed in this area. We also have a new bike trail that is going to begin construction along the lion energy transmission corridor and that project commenced this summer. The city has also purchased additional land from the Union Pacific Railroad to extend the Shoreland 400 bike trail south down to Union Avenue. The Sheboygan County non-motorized projects have given us bike trail improvements to benefit the residents of Sheboygan. Also look for Sheboygan to set up a track bike share program this year. To start out we plan to purchase 20 bikes. They will be positioned at three different locations on South Pier, the Harbor Center Marina and our downtown and in 2018 Sheboygan was recognized as a bronze level bike-friendly community. We hope that these non-motorized improvements will allow Sheboygan to be recognized as a silver level bike friendly community in the future. The city remains committed to increasing its communication with our residents. Last year we launched a communications committee to make recommendation to approve both our internal and external communications. We currently provide a monthly newsletter The Sheboygan Insider and use various social media, Twitter, Nextdoor, Nixle, Facebook and council meetings are streamed live and on video on demand and council videos are now being produced as separate videos for the public consumption. And when we move back into City Hall we'll also have the capability to transmit and record our committee meetings. Residents have asked the city to establish a dog park on the north side. We will be working with the Humane Society to develop a north side dog park in conjunction with their facility expansion plans. A committee will also be set to inventory our community and make recommendations for Sheboygan to be recognized as a pet friendly community. Other parks will also see improvements this summer. The Valrath Park tennis courts will be resurfaced and three pickleball courts will be added to the Valrath Park along with some new fencing. Optimist park splash pad was finished last fall and will be open this summer and the Shaw family universal playground will be formally open in June. The new lights at the Mary T Canal fields at Wildwood Baseball Park will be turned on for the A-Season opener and they plan to open up a new party deck and concession stand which should be finished soon. And we also are ready to open up our kayak launch which was installed along the Sheboygan River in Kiwanis Park. Our forestry department has been very busy as well and is implementing our plan to deal with the emerald ash borer infestation. This year we'll be planting 515 new trees and 800 ash trees will be treated. 375 ash trees and 350 to 500 other trees will be removed and the stumps will be ground out. And 2500 trees will be trimmed. Sheboygan will be celebrating Arbor Day on April 26th at 10 o'clock at JC Park. The city will receiving Wisconsin's first 41 year tree city USA recognition. That means that the first Wisconsin community to meet the guidelines set by the Arbor Day Foundation and continually cared for the trees for 41 years is the city of Sheboygan. The Public Works Department has also stepped up to reevaluate their operations this last year and council accepted the new winter snow emergency rules that they recommended and last night they approved the changes proposed to modernize our garbage collection system. Both of these changes will allow the department to be much more effective in the future. I would like to thank all of our city employees for the hard work that they do every day. I also am so appreciative of all the work that you do and for your service to the city. Without all of you we would not be the great city that we are today. Thank you also for the volunteers who serve on city committees or participate in our community in many different ways. It's those contributions that makes our city so great. It's my honor and privilege to serve the people of Sheboygan as your mayor and I'm very proud of our past accomplishments and look forward to a successful council year. May God bless each of you and may God bless the city of Sheboygan. Thank you. Next we have a resolution item 2.1 is resolution number one of 1920 by Alderperson Wolfe requesting that the mayor reactivate various special committees for the 2019-2020 council year. Alderperson Wolfe. Thank you mayor. I make a motion to pass the resolution. Second. Thanks for that motion and support. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor please signify by oh I see we have to take the roll. I'm sorry. Ten ayes. Motion passes. Would the city clerk please hand out the mayor's appointments. Pursuant to section 272 of municipal code the standing committee assignments are made by the mayor on Tuesday April 16th and subject to confirmation by the full council next Monday on April 22nd. The code further states that it's the mayor's responsibility to make assignments that best serve the interests of the city of Sheboygan. To assist me in that process I've asked all the council members to rank their committee preferences and made every effort to take these preferences into consideration and the standing committee appointments that I have made and prepared for tonight and present for your consideration and approval. Under the municipal code each alderperson shall be appointed to at least one and not more than two standing committees. In addition to the list of appointments for the standing committees I've shared the council's committee preferences spreadsheet with the rankings of all the alderpersons and I'm pleased to report that eight of the alderpersons received their first choice and two received their second choice and their first committee appointment. I trust that you as common council members will agree that these committee assignments and leadership selections along with the elections to help tonight will position the city of Sheboygan for a successful 2019-2020 council year. Those appointments will lie over till next Monday. Next item on the agenda is adjournment. Alderperson Wolff. Thank you mayor I make a motion to adjourn. Second. Thank you for that motion in support. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed. Motion passes. We stand adjourned. Thank you very much.