 Good evening and welcome to the candidate forum for council districts three five and nine I'm Dulcey Johnson a member of the shabuigan branch of the American Association of University women the sponsor of this forum AUW's mission is to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy education and research We are a non-partisan organization We do not endorse candidates at any level of government, but do take positions on issues concerning education and women AUW was instrumental in getting title nine passed and the lily led better fair pay act Locally we give scholarships to non-traditional women students We co-sponsor the great decision series with me public library and will conduct our sixth annual STEM conference in November To encourage girls to consider careers in science technology engineering and math New members are always welcome to help us in our mission Membership information is available on our website now in the interest of full disclosure Julie Koenig Candidate for the ninth alderman district is a member of AUW She has not had any involvement in any regard to planning this we haven't had a phone conversation or Even a passing high on the street and the only emails that we have exchanged have been the same emails that all of you have received So she is not any more knowledgeable about what's going to happen than the rest of you The moderator for tonight's event is attorney Charles Wingrove our timekeepers are Laurie brine and Anne missick Good evening The first question is why are you running for the council and what is one of the best Best contribution that you will bring to the council. What is the one best contribution that you will bring to the council? Oh I'm sorry Forgive me first. I'm minute to introduce yourselves. We'll start with miss Salazar Thank you Good evening and thank you to AA UW for hosting the forum tonight My name is Amanda Salazar and I am the district five older person district three older person I've been representing this district since 2001 I serve on the licensing hearing and public safety committee and the public works committee I am the older representative for the meet public library board of directors I grew up in Sheboygan and had a long successful work history in the nonprofit sector I also bring to the table experience Formally working with the city as the direct executive director of the business improvement district also known as the Harbor Center I am currently the director of operations at bookworm gardens my family and I love Sheboygan and One of the ways I've been able to give back to this community has been to serve on a variety of community boards Such as Lake Country Academy Uptown Social and the Wild Center as the older person for district three I enjoy serving the constituents as they work together for sensible. Sorry solutions for Sheboygan. Thank you Mr. Bolger I love Sheboygan born and raised here and spent the bulk of my time Raising a family with my beautiful wife Barb who happens to be here tonight and It's quite a chore four kids three girls and one boy and now four grandkids so I've been quite busy along with my wife and you know, it's allowed me to She's allowed me to really work very hard and develop a career where I spent most of my time in sales sales management and Running marketing divisions and running a food service sales operations for several companies. I think that's given me a broad base of skills I guess and Hopefully I can translate some of those skills into an effective older person's role. Thank you This is Remy. Hi. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to the AAUW for hosting this. My name is Angela Ramey I am the current older person for district five and I've been serving Since April of 2022. I have over 10 years of experience in the nonprofit sector a real passion of my life I received my bachelor of arts degree from UW Madison and I for the last 10 years have been Working at the John Michael Kohler Art Center where I'm currently the performing arts program director My partner Eric and I decided to live here in Sheboygan I moved here for work and I immediately fell in love with this community We have two young daughters who are in the public school system and my retired parents just last year because of My love for the city decided to move here as well So I have a lot invested and I really look forward to continuing to serve. Thank you Mr. Kustra Kostra and I I moved here in 1982 after graduating from Dork Christian College in Sioux Center, Iowa I'm originally from Florida. I was born and raised in Bradenton, Florida And then I went off to college and that's where I met one of your beautiful Born in Sheboygan women that talked me out of Florida to come to here and I was fortunate enough to marry her We've raised four beautiful children here They all are married and reside in Sheboygan as well and they've given us eight Wonderful grandchildren that all reside in Sheboygan and they also go to Sheboygan schools both public and parochial My children are all college educated and work in the area as well, and they all attended Sheboygan schools Mr. Mitchell Thank you like to first also thank our hosts for putting this event together for us to come and Talk about Sheboygan politics As well as everybody who's here or watching now or you know at a later time for just being engaged I'm Troy Mitchell. I'm the current district nine elderman. I've been representing this district since 2018 so About five years now 27 born and raised Sheboygan night. This is most certainly my home I did spend a little bit of time away for undergraduate. I did not go too far Just Concordia University down to Mac 1 where I received a computer science degree my Real job, let's say is as a programmer analyst with the QD. I Was recently married just this last August And my wife and I are looking forward to starting our family in the same Vibrant community that I had the opportunity to grow up and I've been asked to ask that you please remember to speak into the microphones miss Koenig Good evening. My name is Julie Koenig. I'm here because I want to be your older person in District 9 Five years ago. I fell in love I fell in love with the city of Sheboygan because I moved here to take a job at Lakeshore Technical College as a psychology instructor and My family just fell in love my family consists of my wife of 18 years Christine our two sons Joshua and Hunter and I'm happy Josh was in the audience with us tonight We also have four rescue dogs That's a passion of ours the dogs wanted to come tonight, but we told them no Um, but again, we fell in love with Sheboygan There's so much to love about our city and I'm running because I want to get back to the city of Sheboygan Some issues are a particular concern to me those include affordable housing fixing our roads Securing public safety with more street lights and finally safeguarding your hard-earned taxpayer dollars So I'm working for your vote so I can serve all constituents to make us a strong thriving Sheboygan Thank you now the first question Why are you running for the council and what is the one best contribution that you will bring to the council? And this time we're going to start with mr. Bullard, please asked to run and Somebody at church approached me and asked me if I would throw my hat into the ring and I decided to do it and I think what I bring to the party is I guess a broad-based experience being you know my background is in sales marketing and You know product development. I've had to work with a broad spectrum of people in my time out in the field and Lead sales organizations to achieve great things and I think I can bring a certain amount of empathy and common sense and discernment To the to the common council. I think I bring Ability to take a look at situations Assess them and try to come up with the best solution while working with the council members in a broad way So I hope to bring maybe a new dimension a new viewpoint to the common council That will benefit all the people of Sheboygan. Thank you Miss Remy her mic set on thank you I'm running for Common Council because I just really genuinely care about Sheboygan and I'd like to serve I like I'm at a point in my life right now where I Really want to help the city that I love. I am incredibly passionate about connecting our communities about building bridges and about Lifting up voices from especially those historically marginalized communities. I think that Sheboygan is a unique beautiful city that has a lot of a lot of Just different community members different ages different cultures and I really look forward to celebrating that and making sure that everyone in our community Has a voice and receives all of the services that they are entitled to I Really think my biggest contribution will be listening to my constituents to really being in District 5 holding town halls hearing what my neighbors want and what they need and Thoughtfully working with my fellow council members to really actually do some real change So, thank you Mr. Cuestra Yes, I was fortunate to be raised by Christian mother and father. I have an older brother that's eight and a half years older than me so we didn't have too many conflicts needless to say but What I was talking up was you need to have a servant's heart and we went through a lot of Disaggregation during my time living in Florida and I didn't understand why because I never saw color My family took in people of color The Lady across the street had some help and she just happened to be African-American when she got to the age she couldn't help anymore She took care of her until she passed away And like a family member because I knew her very well, too So I I bring to the community a servant's heart. I've I volunteered for a lot of things in sports been on boards at our churches and things like that and But the biggest thing I bring is I have 33 years of experience running a factory in Sheboygan I was the plant manager for 33 years of Scandi of plastics now. It's called Comar. We were industrial blowmolder and We started with 12 people we ended up at 125 when I left and What I bring to the table is I know how to work with people I Was the human resources department when we first started as well So I can wear a lot of hats I'm very good at communicating with people and I'm very good at trusting department heads to make decisions and I talked to them I get their input on it and When we're all comfortable we move forward and I think that's what this city needs and I I've met with some of the city employees and I I think That's gonna be the way it's gonna move forward if I do get elected Mr. Mitchell Let me first apologize. I don't get too much louder than this But I will try to continue to remember to speak directly into the microphone What I first decided to run back in 2018 I had Just had the opportunity to return back home from school It was within about six months Started working at acuity and as soon as I got home. I knew I wanted to plug back into my community and find a way to give back I would say that same thing motivates me now Looking back over what we've done the last five years. I've been Proud of a lot of what we've been able to accomplish and so far as increasing the city's capacity to serve our residents goes But I do still feel that there's work on the table And I'd very much like to continue pursuing those ends. I As far as what I bring I would say my experience would be the number one item Since 2018 I am now one of two remaining members on the council that were Elected in that year around that council at that time. I Currently serve as the finance and personnel committee chairman. I've done that since 2021 so two years now Also the council's representative to the city plan commission Been on the redevelopment authority involved in the capital improvements Commission transit commission I'm sure that I am missing a couple, but please forgive me for that so With my area of expertise being in finance and personnel because I've served on that committee all five years Especially as we move into budget season now and whoever's going to be putting the next year's budget together will be Doing so for the first time. I believe the experience in the area can be Valuable as we work through 2024 miss Koenig as I mentioned I Really do love the city of Shiborgen and I hope to be here for many many years and I want to get back Following what you said There is something about being a servant leader and that's something I aspire to be and I have some unique skills from my years in Education I have several degrees including two graduate degrees in psychology And I think that helps me have better listening skills So as your older person I would really strive to listen to what you're saying and hear you as a human instead of thinking of you as simply a constituent and Also analytical skills. I Have an undergrad degree in economics. I decided not to be an economist and I thought I wasted those four years Turns out it would be quite helpful as a city council person to have a degree in economics to understand the financial underpinnings of the city Similarly, I have a welcoming friendly spirit and I want to include people I Honestly hadn't heard much about what district nine is doing and what the council is doing I moved to Shiborgen the same year Alder Mitchell took his position And I really can't tell you much about what was accomplished during that time period So if I were elected Alder person, I would really strive to facilitate communication So people know what's going on. I give my contact information on my campaign materials Folks can easily contact me if they have a question or a concern I'm very open and I think I also bring a positivity That is really helpful in some times like the times we're in today. Thank you And miss Salazar So I am running for council again, so I guess when I something I've always kind of wanted to do I actually was really interested in the county board a family member of mine Who is now passed away but set on county board and I was always took interest in it helped them sort of campaign and it's really got me excited and An opportunity proposed itself when the alder in my district wasn't going to rerun again So I went ahead and decided this was sort of my my time so I have been serving since 2021 I Feel like there is definitely work to still be done and I'm excited to sort of dig in and You sort of support that work and Lift sort of the staff members that are currently here also review the processes that we have so that we can Really make sure that we're putting our best foot forward as a city for retaining and attracting Either businesses but also other employees With my sort of background and a long history in working in nonprofit center, I am very savvy at Sort of streamlining operations, and I have an eye for a budget and I those skills will sort of Support this role But also with working in a nonprofit I am familiar with working with a large table of people or a large people at a lot of people at the table and that skill is Something that I'm excited to sort of Use and facilitate as your alder for district 3 Making sure that we're sort of lifting up the voices of our constituents, but also hearing what the employees are currently saying So thank you The next question is what are the three most important challenges facing the city council and this time we're going to start with Mr. Raimi please Thank you. I have a feeling you know, we're probably going to be repeating ourselves a lot The the the challenges that we we face here in Sheboygan I don't think we'll be surprises to to all of you here Definitely our roads. We've heard that many times, but I am I care about of course Us putting energy and effort into that, but I also want to make our roads Safer not only for vehicles but for bikers and for pedestrians as well And I know we're making great strides in that and as a member of the department of public works I committee I I'm always kind of probing that and asking those questions when we are doing new road service work public safety is Very important concern of mine Especially Highlighting the opioid epidemic and how we are handling that with our police And how we're handling the mental mental health crisis that we have here, which is not unique to Sheboygan Of course and affordable housing I know we all are feeling the pinch there but affordable rent and affordable mortgages and how The city can really leverage the property that we have And our growth that going forward making sure that that affordable housing not only is An affordable rent or mortgage, but is in a is in part of our neighborhood community So they're walkable. They're livable And just really expanding on the unique The unique size of Sheboygan and making sure we can all have those resources Mr. Coystra I think the number one thing I would address is We need a city administrator I'm not going to go into all the Nonsense of why we don't have one. I think we're all aware of that But those kind of things happen in life but I have Given it thought over the years As to why since we went to a city administrator Which is a very highly skilled position And you must be well educated well skilled Have a tremendous accounting background and juggle a lot of balls and have good communication skills and We still have a full-time mayor, which is There's no qualifications for it folks so Most cities our size either have one or the other And then they have a part-time mayor to do the ribbon cutting and the ceremonial stuff And you know, that's all good and fine. It's not a knock against our current mayor whatsoever. It's just something I think needed to be done probably five years ago and Now we don't have one and now we have The mayor making decisions And that's not how it was intended to be So we're in a very tough situation now and I only have one Criteria coming in and that's that I'll worry about the other one later Mr. Mitchell, please So the first item that comes to mind for me would Certainly be just current economic conditions as well as The aging infrastructure in the city is to have some interplay with each other. I'm sure Most of us have bought something within the last year At a store or elsewhere and the prices continue to go up The cost of most city business most city activity is going up, but there's Not necessarily a symmetrical increase on the other side of that ledger We've heard about roads already other infrastructure these are somewhat costly projects to keep these maintained They already were neglected in the past. We don't want to fall further behind if anything we are trying to catch up but working within the parameters of What we have available in our budget really limits a lot of what the city is able to accomplish Compared to what we would love to do if we add that unlimited blank check Hosing availability Definitely top of mind as well Going to assume that we may have a question about that one later. So I won't get into too much detail Uh, and then the other item would be communication in general Kind of made this one an umbrella there It's from both the perspective of the city itself being able to communicate information out I know that there used to be much more thorough coverage The council or the city is doing on a day-to-day basis and we don't really have much of that anymore There's been plenty of times where I've been having a conversation with somebody and Mentioned something that had recently been passed that they had never heard of because it was not covered and I guess I Just had assumed that it would have been and then Also more recently we the city has been in the news quite a bit And it's my understanding that city leadership has some work to do to rebuild trust within the community and buy in miss Koenig So as predicted there will be some overlap Particularly with um, Alderperson Rami and myself, which I guess is necessarily a bad thing It means we have similar priorities and we would work well together to achieve those priorities Um, so I believe affordable housing is the most important issue because it really permeates the quality of life for the entire community And it also affects employment We are having a hard time attracting quality employers to the area because we can't guarantee that there will be housing for the employees The second one is maintaining roads. I sort of think of maintaining roads is like the whack-a-mole game at the arcade You fix one road the next road needs it down the line So it really although it sounds like a relatively simplistic task It's really one that we need to keep our eye on we need to get those moles And finally a very serious one Is to have a public safety with a well functioning police force supporting our police force Making sure they have what they need to get their job done and also other issues involve Having street lights street lights are a concern of mine I live on meat avenue and going from my house to the front door going from the car to the front door of my house It's really dark and I honestly don't feel safe at night doing that and driving around the city I've noticed that other parts of the city are also really dark and need lights So that is a major concern that I have So in general public safety is something that can't be understated. We need all of our residents Of regardless of who they are feeling safe in the city Miss Salazar Thank you So one of the um, well, there are several so I agree with uh, Angela Ramey here and sort of echoing So that we'll be saying some of the same things, but also um her sort of sharing with us about thinking about not only our roads, but how we think about Building on our roads for pedestrians and how bikes accessibility I do sit on the public works committee with her So it is actually something that we both very much echo in that committee So that is absolutely roads, but also the access for pedestrians and bikes is important The other piece of that is supporting the revitalization of our neighborhoods and restoration of our lakefront in district three I have The luxury of being able to have like michigan across the street So really making sure that we think about the revitalization of that lakefront and sort of our neighborhoods Specifically my district because it includes the downtown and several other main parks that hold large events Meaning like the fountain park and our city green as well Another piece to that is to continue investing in public safety And prioritizing our tax dollars and analyze our planning and development for our downtown that economic development is very important in Keeping everyone's shopping local, but also creating jobs locally Thank you And mr. Bolgate Thank you I spent a lot of my adult life on the road calling on customers around the country from florida to California and all over the place and I always felt great coming back to sheboygan not only that I always felt great leaving my family in a safe community There's a lot of great things that we have here in sheboygan that you don't see in a lot of other places Safety is is one of the things that I hear constantly about sheboygan It's a safe place people are moving here because it's a safe place to raise a family There's a and again. I mentioned there's a lot of positive things about sheboygan We need to continue to accentuate those positive things and build upon them for you know future young people that want to come into this community and there's a lot that can be done and Those types of things making it attractive to Bring additional businesses into the area so that we can increase our tax Broaden our tax base so that we can afford to spend money on renovation and making You know for example the lakefront We got to spend some time on that because the people that come from out of town Go to the lakefront and if we can attract them and make it a beautiful place for them to visit and spend time on They're going to come back and those types of things that we need to build on The positive things that this community has to offer and continue to Make those things even better for The people that come and visit us. Thank you The next question is what are the greatest assets of the city of sheboygan? And how would you build upon them and this time we're going to start with mr. Coistre, please Thank you The one thing I can tell you is that coming from a different state and spending four years of my life in The northwest corner of Iowa where all there is is corn growing all the time You guys have some great things here that you don't that you may you may take it for granted. Maybe that's harsh, but You have the best job market. I've ever seen I came here because of the jobs Jobs from employers that care about their workers They pay them a fair wage They have benefits They get back to the community in ways I had never seen And and that's what locked our family into here That's a strong thing for a city to have and in 40 years of being here and being a plant manager Watching the economy go up and down and how it affected things We still grew from five machines to 100 to 45 machines from 20 About 12 people when I started to 125 people 30 000 square feet to 200 000 square feet Twice as profitable as any other company our size when we got bought that's why they bought us Because our owner was 73 and he wanted to take a break and he deserved it so You have great parks and you take care of them Where I lived they didn't take care of them They cared about the tourists and everything they went to but they didn't care about us that lived there So I appreciate that and of course I probably wouldn't have moved here If it wasn't for Lake michigan because I lived a quarter of a mile from the gulf of mexico So um the big body of water sure drew me in and I appreciate that Mr. Mitchell I really thought I was going to get away with being the first one to mention the lake I Nonetheless, I when this question is asked the lake is always one of the first items that comes up and that's not just redundancy It's because it is true I sometimes forget that there's other ways to watch 4th of july fireworks rather than going down to the beach I we Are I guess privileged to enjoy having it here and It is important that we continue to prioritize keeping it clean and keeping it safe So that it's accessible for both residents that living in the city to enjoy As well as those that do come from out of town to Visit the lake The second asset I would list would be people two parts both internally and my time working with the city I I It's been my experience that nobody that works in this building is here just to punch in punch out at Exactly the time everybody here is a dedicated public servant who All work incredibly hard to keep our community as vibrant as it is And I I have to assume it's not like that everywhere. I believe we are quite blessed by that But then also the community in general I when my wife and I bought our house our neighbors all came over and introduced themselves right away if I'm quite confident if I Were to ever need anything I could knock on about two doors and be able to Get it as needed it seems like the tight-knit community that we have Can rely on each other and I believe that it makes shabuagan special and that actually takes me right into the last point Which I like to call the goldilocks size of shabuagan it Shabuagan is large enough that we have an ample selection of amenities whether it's restaurants entertainment and the like But it's also small enough that we can continue to cultivate and maintain that sense of community where people actually Can know each other and rely on each other miss conic Well all the person Mitchell and I agree on a lot with this one I too thought I would be the first person to mention the lake but drat But I can't undersell our lake. It really is amazing Little story Before we moved here. I was teaching at uw shabuagan and I had some time to kill So I was just driving around exploring and I stumbled upon the lake and it was sunrise and it was really just phenomenally beautiful You're not to be cheesy, but I would call it a spiritual experience and it's just amazing And we need to preserve our lake It's very important that we invest in tourism. So other people know how great shabuagan is and how great our lake is It's also important for us to value our labor force and our employers Again, it's the people who really do make the difference. So we need to pay a competitive wage to keep and Recruit tough talent. We also as you mentioned before need to have housing to house these individuals So people will want to come to our city And finally we have our location and our location is one thing that makes me want to stay here I agree too with the goldilocks But sometimes I need the big city and the big city is only an hour away So it's really one thing I love about living in shabuagan That I can pay the prices of living in shabuagan having a house in shabuagan And then every month or so drive to milwaukee and see more of the big city So we need to capitalize upon our location And I don't think we've done enough of this Capitalizing upon our exits making sure we have enough amenities to attract people to shabuagan Hopefully they will come once because they need an amenity And then they'll come longer because they want to stay in our city So we have a lot of resources and it's up to us to invest in them. Thank you Ms. Salazar Thank you So two minutes is not enough time. So I'm going to talk really fast because there's so many great things in shabuagan First I'll start with the community. The community is what really excites me and also the reason why I'm running for alder This is a community of doers We have the most amount of patents that are put through the development here the small businesses that have popped up We are community that sort of bands together and makes things happen in time of need meaning when for example we had When we're talking about homelessness the community bands together when we're talking about a park the community works together and does Beach cleanup I participate every year if you haven't done it I would encourage you to do it because you won't believe how much trash you can find in a small section of the beach but um This community is a community of doers and for me that is what's exciting and why I've Called this place home. I could have taken my talent and have left like many others I was born and raised here in shabuagan But I've chose to stay and work and be a part of this community the other piece that is A big sort of draw is what I like to refer to shabuagan is we have big city amenities as with small town prices So you are able to see a beautiful show at the wild center You are able to enjoy a pizza at el retrovo You're able to see national recognized art at the john michael kohler art center. We have a wonderful school district We have a community that um is friendly to their neighbors and for that that gets me Sort of excited and engaged and wanting to sort of serve this community because of what I've received in return Thank you, mr. Bolder We have an enormous opportunity in this community The surrounding area is really amazing. We have five of the top 100 golf courses In this area. This has turned into a golfing mecca And people come into this area from all over the world And visit our communities after they're done playing golf. What are they doing? They're looking for places to go in shabuagan and We need to really I guess Accentuate that we have so many different activities going on all over this area that bring so many people of means into Shabuagan and somehow we need to I don't know better market ourselves to these people because They like it once they get here. These are business owners. These are Young professionals. These are people on expense accounts and they spend a lot of money and to Think about that opportunity And cater to somewhat that kind of mentality With destination kind of places The dining scene is great here the food truck situation the art center as was mentioned These are all things that young professionals are interested in You know it's and in particular Schools if they're going to move into this area with their families. They want to have schools that are well well run and You know In a safe community for them to move their families to And I think we have a lot of that going on right now. I think the council has done a great job you know Presenting shabuagan in a very good light. We just need to continue that And accentuate that much more. I think than what we have Thank you Thank you, i'm going to echo a lot of um my colleagues up here. I'd like to start with um um one of our One of the things I think is just really amazing about shabuagan is the businesses and we have huge You know world-renowned Manufacturing that happens, but then even down in our downtown 8th street. Just these great small businesses that keep That keep popping up, which is amazing. So just the diversity In the businesses here, and I think we just need to really keep Keep shabuagan weird and keep attracting the the different people to come and open and commerce here I love our lakes and our park or the lake and the um all of our parks beautiful park system And but not only do I just just love the beauty of it. I love how we activate these spaces I have the uh immense pleasure of putting together the love at amp shabuagan music series where we welcome over 1,500 people on the city green every thursday night throughout the summer Bookworm gardens is an amazing place all of our cultural festivals that happen down by the lake I just love how we use our spaces and how we're becoming more dog friendly in our parks And so that brings me to the final which is of course the people um I being at all these cultural events or just community events and just seeing how much culture and Diversity and which we could definitely have more of But just how many different types of people and walks of life And um, I just love it when we all can kind of come together through either a festival or for concerts And eat those from those food trucks and shop downtown Um, I just that yeah people lakes and business. Thank you The next question is what do you envision as the most appropriate development of the former armory site and this time we're going to start with mr. Mitchell, please Sure. Thank you The absolute best case scenario for the former armory site would be Something that provides the same value to the community that Many people's found memories of the armory Used to I don't know how feasible that is that's certainly what I would love to see but The city is not a developer. It's not going to be the city putting together an entertainment venue or anything like that so I I'm very open to Any proposals that come in that are going to develop that site in a way where it's again just being used in the community and Either filling a want or a need with that space I know the Last I heard at least the question on public dress doctrine was I believe still unsettled so there may still need to be some time that passes yet before anything Does move forward in that area although if I remember correctly Probably about a year little over a year ago at this point The council did pass a resolution to redraw the bulk headlines To address some of those concerns I know there were some discrepancies in historical records. So hopefully sooner than later We can't see it developed into something that both fits into the surrounding area and provides for the community augments the community miss conic I see it best as a mixed use facility That no surprise here. I'm going to talk about affordable housing, but um, we'd have some affordable housing Here's a statistic that's pretty scary about 20 percent of renters in shabuigan are underwater with their Monthly housing expenses, which means that they pay more than 30 percent of their budgets on housing So if we could have a multi-unit facility there that would be Feasible for people to rent at a low income moderate income place That would be part of the ideal But people need to want to go there and another thing that I think we need to be concerned with Is recruiting young professionals to the area? Our city is aging and we're not replacing all of the people that either leave or pass on So if we could have some entertainment Aspects of that facility, um, I don't know if this is the best thing to drop names But maybe like a davin busters or something like a chipotle that the kids these days really like Something like that might be very good for helping retain young people in the city Thank you Ms. Salazar I would love to see so I actually was able to attend the armory and and experience the North-South football basketball games, which were so exciting Um, wonderful memories. I actually live across the street from that empty lot now Um and use it to fly kites at sometimes, but um if we would be developed I would love to see some sort of um dual purpose for it meaning Whether it's specifically apartments or housing With partnered with a park meaning similar to what you see at city green That would have some sort of use that you could maybe park food trucks or have engagement with the lakefront Like paul is sharing before getting some sort of revitalization and access to that so that when visitors come it would attract tourism and give give them a space to sort of Spend time in and activate and then walk along the lakefront Or we I would love to see um, maybe possibly some sort of uh Housing slash public market where there is little moments where people can sort of rent little vignettes within the market space and We could have sort of new restaurants coming in a trial of small businesses And giving that space making it a sort of a destination but allowing people to also live there I would love also outdoor space. We don't have a lot of And when I say we don't I mean sort of dining space that you can sort of hang out like the the Manitowoc has done and sort of Green Bay has developed me right now I would love some sort of spot where you can sit with some friends and enjoy a sandwich or a salad have a cocktail That would be a sort of my wish for that development if if that's possible Mr. Boulder Yeah, I think that's a great piece of property What I would if we could do it I would reroute the traffic off of Penn Avenue turn it down fourth and You know close off that little section of broken drive And turn that whole space into an entertainment type of district Something that would draw people down into that beautiful area, you know Right now we have a road that runs into a dead end Right into the harbor and This is prime real estate And I don't know of all the limitations that the council or the city would be faced with to do something like that but to My wife spent a lot of time going to Milwaukee shopping for my four kids and if we could develop some sort of Enhanced the entertainment area down with that piece of land Man, that would be a lot of fun Because it's an underutilized Resource, I mean the lake has been mentioned so many times. It's just something that is You know a real great resource for Sheboygan. Well, that would be certainly a great Area To try to have developed into an entertainment district with music restaurants The whole ball of wax right there Thank you Mr. Amy Thank you I was not here when the armory was was Up and running but I had the great privilege privilege of seeing the film at the wild center and and Seeing firsthand what that space meant to the community and so I will echo trey. I don't think the city is developers and I would love to hear proposals But my opinion is that it should remain a public space. That's what the armory Was it was for the community? It was for the public and I would love to see it remain an open and public space for all Even with an idea of more of a permanent Shelter so people don't have to erect tents when they're doing events But I too would be very open to hearing different suggestions But I think keeping it public and keeping it for everybody would be ideal Mr. Koystra, I'm so glad you asked me that The Sheboygan Armory was a really special place to the Koystra family I played sports my entire life. I played all the way through college. I played soccer into my 50s in milwaukee and Some of our best memories Are watching my children play basketball games at the sheboygan armory You can't It's hard to describe it to people that aren't from sheboygan But it was a big deal It was a huge deal and I want other people to be able to experience something like that. It doesn't have to be basketball but my son played there My daughter Heather played there my daughter Megan played there And my little one Courtney Who's now a school principal in town? and a math teacher She works with this gal here a little bit once in a while She wasn't an athlete, you know, we always made fun of her and mom Throwing in the front yard together because Didn't look real good but She took stats for the varsity basketball games In the armory. So I totally want to see some sort of a Sheboygan residents multiplex for entertaining the people of sheboygan So that we can enjoy those have memories for our kids to grow up with too And I don't know what that would be and it would probably come with the developer's money But if I'm elected remember I'm from florida. I know a little bit about development. Okay. Thank you The next question is the city has not been very successful in tracking businesses To the new business park on the south side What would you do to bring new businesses to sheboygan? And how can sheboygan retain and surface companies that want to expand and this time we're going to start with miss conic What I would do is propose that we have an ombuds person or concierge to work with businesses So it's one stop shopping if I wanted to start a business The city can make it a lot easier for me by consolidating all the benefits and resources that can come to help small business owners So with that in mind the ombuds person could work with grants to help people get state local and federal grants They could also talk about and negotiate taxes so the businesses could have favorable taxes and fair taxes Of course affordable housing Businesses can't come to sheboygan if we don't replace to house their employees And in general having good public services If a business is opening in sheboygan They need to know that if heaven forbid a fire came to their business The police of the fire company would be there to take care of it And that the police will be there to secure safety around their business So in short anything we do to make sheboygan a better city can indirectly or directly help attract businesses Because they know they're going to a better home Miss Salazar So um what we could do currently which I believe I am it's happening right now I with trey and angela my colleagues we've sort of um approved and have uh been discussing sort of development of a street between and connecting that south That south end of business to that business park um So the south side of town to the business park right now the trucks have to sort of route around And so looking at really developing that connectivity for the for the businesses and the trucks is really important um that will sort of Make the land um a little bit more attractive and that connectivity will give them a reason to sort of come into town Right now they sort of have to go in a roundabout way to get there So that is um a one way to start looking at it. The other piece of it is communication. We need to start um Sort of not shouting but um sharing and highlighting and championing ourselves sometimes Locally as like I said, we are a community of doers. We are sometimes a community who's very quiet about how Um wonderful we are and we need to start sort of Sharing that with everybody sharing how wonderful we are our awards what we've accomplished. Um, how amazing this community is Um and start sort of documenting those things and sharing those that data So that businesses can understand that shabuigan is on the map You shouldn't move to milwaukee. You shouldn't think of racine or green bay We are a community that is welcoming and a place that you want to invest And you we have employees here and people that are ready to work Mr. Boulder That's a excellent question. I'm not really sure What all has transpired with that development? You know, I've heard uh last night and Tonight that it's not doing so well, you know, and Why isn't it doing so well? What's preventing businesses from coming to shabuigan when we all think It's a it's a great community. It's got great a great label labor force Maybe not enough employees Which could be detrimental or are there other reasons that are keeping businesses away? Do we make it too difficult our tax burdens too high? Do we need to incentivize businesses in some fashion? In order to bring them in That would have to be done, you know through negotiations with each business to try to figure out what their their trigger point is and You know that becomes a sales job or a negotiation that Needs a lot of input from the from the council and and other players and legal Expertise etc So again while i'm not an expert on that particular situation I think there would be ways to resolve it because You know, why wouldn't a company want to move to shabuigan? And once you answer that question, I think you can start addressing the situation with with each individual opportunity Thank you miss ramey I too am not an expert on this situation. This Park was built well before I was on council it It does beg a question though if if the business park was built before a plan was in place to what to do with The business park We can't go back in time and create a plan But I would just really want to lean in on our, you know housing and development team to Work on again having more affordable housing having just more exposure For shabuigan and I will echo what amanda said It I do know we have heard that A big problem has been how to access that area with trucks and and what have you So we are moving that forward and trying to make it a more accessible Place to get to so thank you Mr. Coystron I know a thing or two about business I know How to bring businesses in I know how Businesses think And I've given some thought to this over the years shabuigan Here again. I come from an area of the country where we don't have the greatest workers Shabuigan has good workers Without a question And for us Number one to fill up South park We have to make it a priority Anything in life that's worth doing What do you have to do? You make it a priority You don't just talk about it and give it off to a study in this study and no you make it a priority And there's only so many priorities you can attack at one time but another way to bring them in Is Through the city's financial incentives You have to do that or you're going to lose them to somebody else And another great idea that I had Was you sister with those businesses coming in And you say look We've got all that land out there We want to help you develop your business there And We will build affordable housing units Close by For the workers you're going to need We're going to partner with you And show you that we got some skin in the game Because if you have skin in the game They know you're for real But that means you got to cough up some money And the world's full of money And if you make it a priority And you get people on staff in the city of shabuigan and make a department for that You're going to have more money to work with folks And that's what you got to do Thank you Mr. Mitchell The final items that were passed in pursuit of construction of the south point enterprise campus were Passed just after I had started in 2018 If I could get a time machine to go back and tell myself that Even with the benefit of foresight if you tried to pick a worse time to have a large shovel ready plot Then directly before the global pandemic and everything that happened in the global economy I think we I would have been hard pressed to find one So I guess I want to push back on the premise of the question a little bit to at least add the asterisk that there has not been Much development at all in the years since that park had finished I don't believe that would be unique to shabuigan between Just the cost of goods going up the cost of labor going up And now that we're starting to see that slow down a bit. We still have these sky high interest rates, which arguably affect the cost of the Final effort even more But we actually did in 2022 get a developers agreement with Or rather for a I believe it was a hundred thousand square foot does building with the Opportunity or option for them to continue adding on to that I don't want to get myself in trouble. So I'm not going to say anything else other than I believe there will be more developments coming in that area soon As far as how we can Attract and retain though. I think that starts with the businesses we have here. It's being a partner not an obstacle It's creating that strong relationship having those processes in place that make people want to develop in shabuigan marketing is also very important and then It is the environment that we have that if shabuigan's not offering development incentives other communities will That does not mean actually just taking taxpayer dollars and giving them to businesses that's using tiff districts and Pays you go tax incentives so that we are not giving city money away the next question is How can the city generate revenue other than increasing property taxes? And let's start with miss selzer, please Okay That's a great question Um, so how can we generate revenue? Can you say the question one more time? Sure How can the city generate revenue other than increasing property taxes? Okay, so um, they can Well, we we need to sort of look at what we are currently doing and evaluate As a city, what are we currently doing that are our revenue streams and making sure we are sort of optimizing those revenue streams to start Right, we need to see what we're doing Take a deep dive into it and make sure we're sort of optimizing and getting the best return on that um, the other piece would then to bring sort of the um Sort of not even the community but our directors together and the council together to start really thinking about Um, what are we currently doing and what can we do moving forward? and sort of thinking openly and Generating sort of ideas of what are new ways that we can sort of bring revenue as far as what those sources are I don't have an exact answer to that But I am definitely willing to idea generate at the table and work with the correct partnerships to make sure that We're really thinking about the future of shaboy again and making sure that those revenue streams are sustainable um For the future just Mr. Bolder Yes, sir um building tax revenue is all part of Community expansion and business expansion in the in the area I mean it goes back to the other question, you know, how do you get more businesses to move into the development? Park back there, you know, that is available to them How do you get current employers to expand in the area? How do you get more employees into the area? To, uh, you know fill those 3,500 to 4,000 open positions right now Uh, you know, that's an astounding number Once you can figure those things out the tax revenue is going to take care of itself And sometimes it requires being more tax friendly to the businesses that you're trying to attract you know, I'm a free market guy and uh, you know Reducing regulation and reducing tax burden on the very employers that you want to Attract and continue to have functioning in the area Is going to cause them to stay and add additional resources to their businesses. They already have And your employment rates go up and it attracts, uh, you know more people into the area I think those are the keys to, uh, you know advancing the tax revenue stream in shabuagan Mr. Amy Thank you. Um Several ways one. Yes growing our tax base by, uh Uh attracting more people to our community, but also I want to uh, I think we can do a lot more with tourism dollars and I think we need to really Figure out uh, lean into our tourism like visit shabuagan our business improvement district or harbor center And get people off the highway, you know, um have people come here and spending their dollars in our stores staying in our hotels And spending money here in our restaurants. Thank you Mr. Coystra cities get money from taxing The people that live in their community Cities aren't set up to run businesses for profit. They're not Set up to run restaurants Even the type of multiplex I'd like to see in the armory The city isn't set up to run something like that. There you heard earlier. We we got to have good roads We got to have good water. We got to have strong police department We got to have strong fire department And we have to support the city workers that take care of our parks and everything. That's what the city does That's what we're here to do but We can bring people in Take advantage of this lake Because I lived next to the Gulf of Mexico and When I drive down lakeshore drive All I can see is opportunity there Pay a bunch of those people A very fair price for their homes if they were to want to sell them And then put a bulldozer on one end and run it all the way down as far as you can man And then you start putting up those Apartment complexes not apartments, but condos luxury condos the kind that sell for $5,000 a month That's what brings revenue in if you want to earn revenue. You're going to have to give something up And taxes earned revenue for cities And it doesn't have to be high rises it can be a well planned developed community For people of Sheboygan to live in as well as others But it'll bring good tax revenue in and take advantage of the lake which right now Just has some shacks hanging out by it Mr. Mitchell so The city does not have the ability to raise property taxes To raise revenue even if it wanted to that is controlled by the state It's not something I would advocate for but it's not something that's on the table Uh about 30 I think a little over 35 percent of the general fund revenues in a given year. So say just operating budget Come from property taxes the other largest portion of that I want to say it's around 25 percent is from State and federal government. I think it's mostly state with the revenue sharing program That's not really an area where the city can negotiate how much money they're going to get Unfortunately, it It's not possible to increase there Really the best way that the city can increase revenue on a Yearly basis is what's been discussed development that new construction is one of the Only factors that goes into not being able to increase rates for property taxes but the Levy numbers so the full amount collected at the end so Let's say there was a field somewhere that was developed up into a property worth 10 times the value That would be more taxable property for the city I'm very open to and receptive to ideas for alternative revenue streams that we can identify but this is another one of those that you're seeing cities and municipalities around our size or All around wisconsin struggling with because there really aren't that many options available on the table we But on the flip side of that I do think it's important to also ask very quickly The question about what we are doing with the money we are collecting and if there are ways that we could Be more efficient and making sure that the money the city does have is being spent on those items that residents care Most about rely on the most Want and need to see Miss conan So as has been mentioned we have two options either raising the tax rate or raising the tax base And we can't raise the tax rate So again basic economics the way we raise the tax base more residents and more businesses and that's already been mentioned So just to recap some points That if we improve our services Hopefully we'll be able to maintain and even increase our residences because sheboygan will be known as a town That has good municipal services. You can count on having your garbage get picked up when it says it's going to get picked up Also the tangled web of affordable housing One more time, but again if we want more residents we need to put them in places I'm not sure if a five thousand dollar a month condos the way to go or more a thousand dollar a month apartment But in any case that's something we can debate and try to figure out how best to add housing to our city More businesses we've talked about this before Again tax incentives seems to be the textbook answer I brought up the idea of having an ombuds person to work with new businesses To be a source of one-stop shopping to find all the resources you need to begin your business And since a lot has already been said i'll end there The next question is should the city allow private companies to take over some services Such as maintaining our parks and this time we'll start with mr. Bolard, please Well, we have a number of great parks in the area and they are expensive to maintain And uh being that we have quite a few of them I would say we should try it You know give uh, you know a contract a short term contract to an outside firm To manage and maintain A park or two and see how it goes You know if they perform And do the job that they're paid to do and maybe even exceed expectations Then you expand the program And uh, yeah, I think it would be something that would be worthwhile to try Ms. Raimi I'm not in favor of privatizing those kind of services the The moment that it becomes privatized The city we have no we can't help You know, it's no longer Something that we can ensure that everyone has access to we can't enforce that the parks or Garbage collection or fire or police or any other services that could be entertained to be privatized We we have no more No more control over ensuring that they are for everybody. Thank you Mr. Koester In a word no Here again, we're talking about The the object here would be to generate revenue By saving revenue and the amount of revenue you're going to save it's peanuts. It's nothing And it employs people in the town, which is great and they're a tax base. That's great Just like with making cars, you know We got to take the focus off of peanuts We got to put our focus on Grander ideas. I'm all for affordable housing I'm not for affordable housing going down on lake michigan That would be the most ridiculous waste of a resource I've ever seen in my life You don't know how much revenue you're giving up And I've lived here 40 years and those houses that were there. They're still there, man Where I come from they walk up to people with a house that's worth $100,000 and they offer them a million dollars for it And then they do it over and over and over and you gotta have developers for that And then they run a bulldozer down them and it looks really nice when they get done because they know what they're doing We don't know what we're doing developing But there will be people coming after that And they'll be glad to develop it for us We have to open the vision a little bit. We have to see what other communities have done like that not just next to us But in other states that have natural resources like this I'm telling you It's a windfall I've said that for 40 years and all I hear is it's cold and foggy down there Well, guess what blue harbor built and all those condominiums sold out like Right They're gone Mr. Mitchell privatizing city services is going to be another one where I will say that I would keep an open mind and I would look at it objectively on a case-by-case basis, but I would certainly lean toward no for the most part it The city does actually contract some services. We don't have an internal city assessors department That is contracted out to a private company and In that scenario it makes sense to do so but oftentimes because of the I guess different main motivations between a private organization and public organization like the city where there's a profit incentive built in on the private side that is not wrong But that could lead to a lower level of service than if it is kept under the public side being the city where really the Motivation is resident resident satisfaction in the first place We actually did look at options when the city switched over from The old way of picking up garbage and recycling to the new bins and new trucks Looking at the private option it may have been cheaper for the city's budget on the books But that's because the residents that would be receiving the services would be receiving A large chunk of that bill directly from the private entity providing it and it was Notably more than is collected in the garbage or recycling these and that was how it would start Once you privatize it and put it under a contract for however long Whatever you have in the contract that is The only thing that is enforceable. So who knows where it would have gone from there. So that one At the beginning I thought privatizing it sounded like it could be a good option You know, there's the incentive to be in fish much more efficient turns out it did not I would Need to continue to look at that on a case-to-case basis on any other area Miss conic I too would be open to studying the pros and cons of this But a big question in my mind is accountability The city is accountable to the taxpayers Would a privatized company be accountable to the taxpayers to the same degree? Would they receive the city's minimum wage of $15 an hour or would they lower wages and shortcut employees to try to save money? Also, would there be externalities or byproducts of this? Other negative impacts such as perhaps a law and company trying to shortcut environmental Legislation and use a product that's bad for the environment It just seems as if there's too many unknowns right now to conclude that this is definitively a good idea and to switch paths So i'm open to studying this idea, but i'm not ready to make that decision right now Miss ramey. I'm sorry miss selzer forgive me Yes, I would also have great, I would also have to um Say no to that idea as well Um, right currently right now our public works committee. I sit on that committee right now and that team is worked Um, it's worked really hard to sort of take care of the parks that we have um, if I guess maybe I would be open to the idea if maybe um visit sheboygan sort of Supported and collaborated with tourism organizations to make sheboygan a year around destination Um, then I would say, you know, do we need do we need more employees? Is there some is there a service that we need to contract out that we can't handle in the winter that we're not Be able to provide Again, I would sort of echo with sort of what everyone else is saying up here It's something that I would have to take it a case by case basis Um, but to start I would say no Thank you The next question is would you support having social workers team up with 911 dispatchers to assist the police as needed? And now we're going to start with miss ramey Thank you Yes, um, uh, absolutely. Uh, I feel that uh We have um, definitely a mental health crisis happening in um in this country and that Definitely touches sheboygan as well. I think that our police force Uh could potentially is Has too much to do to a lot a lot of work to do So to have that support to help with um, uh, uh with different people. I think it would be absolutely Necessary also beyond just that call or um Uh that that immediate event The working with the social worker they would be able to do follow-up work So it's not just, you know an arrest or a ticket or what have you There's actually if it is a mental health issue Or physical health issue or a family issue that social worker Would be able to follow up So we are just taking care of our citizens at a deeper level and additionally working with social workers they can Collect the data and we can actually Um look at over time if this is working if it's not working So I am yes. I'm definitely in support of that Mr. Cuestra I'm in support of anything that helps Anybody that's in trouble whether it's um I suffer from depression. I suffer from anxiety I had a pretty high-pressure job most of my life and uh But it's all under control And I learned how to talk about it And I counsel people now And I needed that because I was one of these guys that Couldn't figure it out and I said why doesn't when I saw somebody like that I said why doesn't that guy just You know lace up his bootstraps and get on with it And then I looked down one day Had my boots I didn't have any bootstraps It sucks I was the last guy that you would have thought would go through that I was the sole supporter of my family my wife stayed at home to raise our children Praise the lord. I had a nice guy that I worked for And he said mark you just Take your time. We're gonna get through this together Don't worry about it And I learned how to accept it and I'm for anything That helps people understand that People going through trauma like that. It can't help it. It's a chemical imbalance But there's a lot of good doctors With millions of different ways to treat them So that they live a productive and happy life again. I know I did and uh I might be a little crazy for You know getting involved in this when I could just retire But uh when you have 1500 people in a group that call you up one night and say mark we need you man I'm like, okay guys Because I can't talk my wife into going to florida with eight grandchildren here anyway, so Thank you Mr. Mitchell To the best of my knowledge this Is currently being tried out in the city and back in october the council allocated Uh arpa funding the american rescue plan act dollars that the city had received in concert with the county's health and human services department To form a co-response crisis co-response pilot program Which involves both crisis workers in the dispatch center being able to screen calls Get them to where they need to go And also having social workers actually embedded within the police department embedded within police vehicles To respond to the type of incidents where they can best assist This was I think the pilot program it's either 2024 2025 it's going to run through At which point we should be able to get a fairly good amount of insight as to How effective it was how helpful it is if it's something that should continue on in the future Now the biggest challenge is most certainly going to be the cost The pilot program again is being funded by one time federal grant dollars between the city and the county I'm not going to be able to get the exact figure. I want to say it was around $400,000 a year Through the years that it will be running so it It would certainly be a challenge to find that much at the end if it's something that we want to continue on but To me because of how important it is I mean if the city has one responsibility It is the safety of its citizens the health And well-being This would be one that would be very much worth pursuing and finding the funding however we can And I'm looking forward to seeing the results at the end of our pilot program Miss conic I'm absolutely in favor of this Um when I was in graduate school I learned of a case where in michigan a woman was having a psychotic rage and her daughter called the police Thinking that she would get taken to the psych uh to a psychiatric hospital Instead of the police arrested her and put her in jail for a month And she had trauma issues to begin with and then after being in jail for a month Her trauma issues were severely exacerbated. So, um, I'm really passionate about this It's not only the fair and just thing to do for individuals with mental illness. It's giving them fair treatment giving them a shot Um, it's much better than putting them in a prison and Denying them any mental health services. So this is both effective for the people who have mental illness who are arrested Or who are encountering the police and also for our police officers. They're not trained to be mental health professionals Social workers have extensive extensive mental health training in a two or three year graduate program So they're much more qualified to deal with mental illness This way our police can focus where they're trained where they're talented In dealing with cases with people who are not suffering from mental illness. So I'm very much in favor of this. Thank you Miss selzer I also am in favor of this. Um, I have actually done some work currently with my fellow colleague older person joe heidemann we have sort of I think initially we were Sort of tackling the homeless problem that was happening in the downtown and sort of trying to collect information about What's going on and where can we start and we sort of had a meeting We had a meeting with the county and I actually learned and my eyes were open to all of the resources and silos Um that are currently happening in this community this this organization is doing this this company is doing this And what I was proposing is we sort of documented all of it is is getting everybody in the same room and sort of having the discussion about how can we Not only support the police department, but to support our our homeless population and our local community with the mental health Issues and problems that are currently happening and how are we best serving them and creating a resource So that the community and us as community members have something to give them Currently right now. Where do we direct them? We we just dial 911 and we expect our police department to sort of handle that sometimes They're receiving the call for the same person several times And I believe if we create and sort of put our our efforts together and create some sort of resource We can see some sort of movement Um In that in in a positive direction Thank you Mr. Boulder Well being that the Trial program is already moving forward. It'll be very interesting to see the results of What kind of impact that has had? You know, not only that, uh, you know survey the police department to see what kind of results The trial has actually garnered It seems like police have a lot on their plate already and putting a person in the vehicle Uh that they have to be concerned about Of an additional person may be a distraction and things could escalate pretty quickly and People could get hurt But you know, if there is a benefit to doing it Absolutely, I would be all for it. You know the mental health situation in Sheboygan county from what I understand Is overtaxed the way it is And where you're going to find the people and the additional resources to support the program Those are, you know, some pretty big questions that need to be answered But i'm sure answers would be forthcoming after the the trial is concluded And decisions could be made after that Thank you The next question is the city council recently terminated the city administrator Should the council consider changing the form of government and eliminate the city administrator position? And we start with mr. Quaster, please Oh, thank you. I think i've already addressed this Earlier, but I will repeat myself Um No, absolutely not. It's just the opposite Right now, um Since i'm running for office I made it my duty to kind of not just listen to what people tell me But like I did when I ran a factory People always come to you and tell you, you know Jane looked at joe cross-eyed. What are you going to do about it? You know So then I have to go talk to jane and I have to go talk to paul and then I Talked to the other people that were nearby. I'm working that day and You know by the end of it all I sit them both down and I haven't worked it out, you know and What we need to do here Is understand that the city is set up right now to be run by a city administrator I met with several key people in city hall over the last month And I talked for a half hour. Some of my interviews went over two and a half hours It's not a fun place to work here right now folks I'll tell you that Something's got to be done about it That's why I'm sitting here I know how to fix it You work with other people You get along while you're at work You don't bring your agendas in with you You leave them at the door And you all work for the common cause And maybe it's because I worked for a for-profit business my whole life But at the end of the day You don't make money unless you work together And you don't have happy citizens if you don't work together at city hall Mr. Mitchell I'll try to speak fast. I feel like I have more than two minutes on this one I guess first I just want to know we have a mayor council a form of government So the administrator is not actually Whether we have that position filled or not the forum would remain the same and The technical term I believe is a weak mayor system and I don't say that to be derisive That is just the name of the system weak strong council It's when the powers authority And duties that are traditionally considered to be executive Are actually shared among the council and the mayor So if we didn't have an administrator at the moment the Department heads are still hired and fired by the council And I believe report to the council The council is still tasked with putting an annual budget together and then passing it So these are all Motivations for having that administrator position Having somebody who's actually in the building every day That is providing that oversight over those responsibilities and Also making sure that the council's Let's say will through the policy that it passes is actually being followed and pursued on a day-to-day basis They're Also most organizations that are around the city of sheboygan size would have either or both of a chief administrative officer And a chief operating officer even if they have a CEO so having those two functions combined into A position that requires a qualified individual to be Both providing that oversight and analyzing administrative tasks functions as well as operations to Suggest different ways to the council that we can get more efficient with the business that the city conducts To me is invaluable And most certainly worth the cost of admission Miss conic Definitely be open to studying this issue The big question seems to be is there enough work for two people or that be a form of redundancy? So from what I have heard to date it seems as if there is enough work to keep the two positions But again, I'm open to working with others to see what they say and possibly revamping it Maybe making one of the two positions part-time for example miss cello sir um, I would So support keeping the administrator position I believe that there is plenty of work for two full-time positions What I have learned through this process Is that we need to evaluate Sort of reevaluate and put a spotlight on the actual duties and the job description and have it very clearly delineated between The responsibilities of the mayor and the responsibilities of the city administrator and making sure that the council is Is currently educated and up to speed on sort of what the expectations are Not even just specifically the council, but also transparency to the community and to the city staff leadership itself Sharing that responsibility and everybody being aware of what they're carrying At the in the group setting allows for each of us to sort of pass the baton when needed And an understanding of when to volley something over to your fellow colleague or to the council itself As we've learned in all of us have been in a classroom setting when you are aware of what your tasks are You are able to be successful as a unit, right? So if you're assigned something and you are very clearly aware of what you are you're responsible for what you need to communicate That brings a successful group and when we're all successful together We're able to sort of move the wheels forward So thank you Yeah, I think we need the position filled as fast as possible. I think it's too bad what happened with mr. Wolfe and His dismissal It's a big responsibility 125 million dollar budget That and a lot of employees in the community or in the government here to keep motivated And uh, you know, these are all elected positions We could be gone in two years Once we're elected and you need to have I think some continuity Of the position so that somebody has a strong understanding of how The the finances of the the community work And keep that continuity flowing Mr. Raymond At this point, I do feel that the position is is needed. I think it's there is enough Work to merit that position. I will respectfully disagree with how fast to fill it I think if anything we need to learn that we could take time and find the right person for that position And I'd also want to echo Amanda and really looking at that job description And what those expectations are and I would want to reevaluate the salary for that position. Thank you The last question is the city marina has always been a financial burden for the taxpayers Contrary to the rosy predictions when it was built Many of the original docks have never been leased Ice damage is a big cost and severe winners open in 1993 After 30 years the current debt of the marina is still between two and three million All of the docks need to be replaced at a cost of six million The council has authorized several studies of ways to reduce damage from the icing winter, but has not acted on the proposals Which are of course very expensive What is the future of the marina as it continues to struggle and we'll start with mr. Mitchell Thank you I don't want to sound like a broken record. This is one where I am very open to suggestions. I I Right now the marina remains the city's responsibility and like any other public infrastructure the city Is responsible for it needs to be maintained I don't know that of just getting rid of it and either changing it to a private ownership and operation is necessarily the best idea because we've Heard quite a few times how valuable our lakefront is in shabu again. I mean even When I was in school down to mekwan, we they just don't have that you can get right onto the beach and into or onto the lake Access that we do here It does need to be something that we Maintain I do not like the cost of it I would love for those books to have you know numbers on each side that equal out But right now it remains the city's and until there's a viable alternative to that it still does fall on the city to include the capital asset improvement funding necessary in the capital improvements plan Thank you miss conic Following mr. Mitchell. I too am open to different suggestions I'm not an expert in the maritime industry consequently. I would hire a consultant or Consult with someone to give more information about this decision. Thank you Miss Salazar Okay, this is a great question and actually something that I've been thinking about currently as I sit on the public works committee Hearing the budget numbers when they were presented to us. I was shocked with how Those are not balancing out and how large they are and so Having thought about it My first initial thoughts were do away with it, right? But that's not a feasible idea And so I'd like I sort of challenged myself to think about how we use our marina and started looking at other communities And the way that they have access and uplifted their marina I think if you're sort of following in the news the development that's happening And the revitalization that they've already done in manatee walk is huge and really thinking about how That access to the marina is specifically with the boats, but then how the community access is Well, it has access to that space as well. I think that's important Currently right now the space is used during the summer But how do we make that a space that's used in the community all year around? and really thinking about maybe parceling that out with some city Sort of support of dollars, but then also maybe privatizing a portion of it And and making sure that that public access still exists We can really Reimagine what that space looks like that just requires time and and and a plan so I would encourage us to Be open to new ideas and and try to reimagine the space And and make sure to get that sort of balanced out on the spreadsheet. Thank you. Mr. Boulder Yeah, this is the first time hearing that the marina hasn't been doing well Um We need a marina sheboygan I mean with the lake you got to have a marina down there And we have to figure out a way to profitability for that and turn it into a money making enterprise You know, I'm again shocked and disappointed at the fact that it's not a productive endeavor for the community and Yeah Exploring options to keep it You know viable and vibrant To me would seem To be something that would be in the best interest of the community Miss ramy I'm yeah echoing everyone here. It's gosh if I had the answer I'd be a millionaire I agree that we need the marina. I also am the Yeah, hearing that the cost was is still really hard for me to Wrap my brain around So I really like what you said Amanda about maybe exploring an option of of privatizing some of that and but What I think is and I think we had this in a conversation Once before too that I'm having that that space Accessible to everyone in the community. I know it's used a lot by People who are visiting and that's phenomenal But our lakefront is our one of our as we've all said most important assets here and it should be accessible For everyone to to use and whatever we do. I just want to make sure that we're Doing it keeping the the quality of the space and the environment top of mind And I I look forward to I know where we are currently we have studies happening right now and figuring out what to do and the cost Of of fixing some of those slips. So I look forward to hearing the results of that And continuing those conversations. Thank you Mr. Cuestra It's not hard to make a business profitable. The problem is the city Is not set up to run a business. I've said that several times What you do is you do a cost analysis And then all the rich people float their boats down here and park them there You charge them for it And you charge them enough to where at the end of the year you're making money It's not that hard That's what you do when you run a business for profit The key is for profit We're not running a non profit marina It's not helping anybody that lives here The amount of food those people buy at the restaurants here forget it You know, so it's time for somebody that has some business sense to look at it Come up with a plan to make money in a two-year period of time Because nobody would throw money at their own business for 25 years You kidding me? It's ridiculous. It doesn't help the people that live here. In fact Those rich folks float their boats down here And then they go swimming swimming pool and we can't use it And we're losing two million dollars on it. It's not that hard to figure out If we can't make money on it You shut it down. You pull the docks out of the water And we'll turn it into a beautiful place with benches and everything else for the meantime Because that doesn't cost that much And then we get some idea guys in that help us figure it out And we just license it out to them For 99 years And give us our money every year If they don't make money they go away And We sit in the park benches again and look at the beauty That's how I would do it Thank you. Now each candidate will have one minute to tell us what they want us to remember about their candidacy Starting with a miss conic Thanks to auw for coordinating this evening As I shared earlier, I love the city of shaborgan and that's why i'm running to be the older person for district nine I have two graduate degrees in psychology and i'm an instructor at lake shore technical college I bring a variety of experiences from the world of education that make me an effective engaged leader I strongly support public safety such as increasing street lights on our streets to protect our residents I support better roads investing more in our infrastructure I also support affordable housing that every resident deserves access to housing that won't break the bank And serving all constituents no matter where they live If elected, I promise to listen to you To safeguard your hard-earned tax dollars While at the same time having high hopes and expectations for the city as shaborgan Thank you for your vote on april 4th Miss sellers are As I shared earlier, it's been an honor serving the constituents of district three I have enjoyed working with all of you to address your concerns and issues and as you're older I will continue to listen to my constituent constituents and advocate for transparency in all levels of city government Support the revitalization of our neighborhoods and restoration of our lakefront. I will continue to um invest in public safety and repairing of our roads and infrastructure I will prioritize the why spending of our tax dollars and analyze planning and development of our downtown The people of shaborgan are our greatest asset to this community And it's one of the reasons why I found it activate shaborgan, which its mission is to help build a rooted community We know we have many opportunities here in shaborgan and we need to work together to devise a new sensible solutions for shaborgan My name is Amanda Salazar. I am the district three alder and I welcome your support and reelection on april 4th. Thank you Mr. Baldert I want to thank everybody that attended the meeting tonight and spent some time here listening to us all present our case to serve on the common council I think my experience level in the free market will lend itself to Making wise decisions for the taxpayers dollars to help the community become what it can become and enhanced Marketplace for many companies and businesses That should be moving to this area because we and the past Government has put together a great community for People to live raise families in a safe environment. We need to continue to focus on our infrastructure and bring this word and tell the story for Everyone to hear vote for me on april 4th district three paul bulgert Miss ramey. Thank you It has been a true privilege serving the constituents of district five on the common council I have genuinely enjoyed working with the community and listening to the people in district five and throughout shabuagan I strongly support safer roads for vehicles bikers and pedestrians I support equal access to city services such as police fire parks our library roads garbage recycling I support a fort doing what we can for more affordable housing and of course protecting our beautiful environment And wise budgeting of our tax dollars In shabuagan. We truly have so much to be thankful for I love this city It is a beautiful city and it really comes down to the people here and all of us working together like amanda said We are a community of doers I chose to raise my family in shabuagan And it is important for me to serve my community and keep shabuagan thriving again My name is angela ramey and I welcome your vote on april 4th for district five Mr. Cuystra Thank you again to the Uw Especially to dulcy Dulcy and I had a conversation a while back And I said I wasn't coming And then the phone started ringing And I had just asked dulcy last night if I could come And she was gracious enough to allow me And I think that was worth half of my time to tell her that thank you dulcy What I'm going to tell you is nothing about my campaign When I was 23 living on pinstreet with my wife and had my little boy and we're just starting out I was looking at the rice coal company I went to go to bed got on my knees and asked jesus to be my savior That's what I want people to remember about me That I follow his ways. I read his word every day And I'm nothing but a dirty rotten sinner trying to get better every day God bless you all and thank you for having me. Mr. Mitchell. Thank you Representing the ninth district for the last five years has been both an honor and a privilege. I Would never have thought that that is what I would be doing with my 20s But I don't regret it for a second The first time around when I ran I Wanted to get involved and I wanted to be you know a new perspective open to ideas I've been doing the job for a while now. I've had the opportunity to really learn how the city operates Learn what residents care about seeing their council address And learn what the largest wants and needs in our community are I have the experience to hit the ground running and immediately continue contributing to various efforts within the city and We'll also commit to remaining focused on Fundamentals which I won't define I'll just say thank you and I will Ask for the support of district nine on April 4th. Thank you And and I'd like to thank all of you for participating In this evening I'd also I would also like to thank Attorney windgrove for being the moderator and our timekeepers Ann and lorry and to all of you for participating to Tell the citizens that you choose to represent how you feel about various issues in the city And I especially like to thank scott miliff director of w scs for taping this forum Which he will make available throughout the w scs schedule until the time of the election On april 4th, and it will also be available on demand on w scs. So thank you all for coming. Have a good evening