COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - MINUTES - 6/1/2000
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - CITY OF MUSKEGO (Approved)
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD JUNE 1, 2000
Mayor De Angelis called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM. Also present were Aldermen
Slocomb, Chiaverotti, Le Doux, Patterson, Salentine and Wichgers, Police Chief
Johnson, Planning Director Turk, Engineering/Building Inspection Director McMullen,
and Clerk-Treasurer Marenda. Ald. Sanders was absent. The Clerk-Treasurer noted
the meeting was noticed in accordance with the Open Meeting law.
Ald. Slocomb moved to approve minutes of meeting held May 11, 2000. Ald. Le Doux
seconded; motion carried.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE
Mr. Don Pionek and Mr. Art Dyer appeared to present an overview of the proposal
relating to Parkland Mall that will be presented to the Plan Commission next Tuesday.
Mr. Pionek stated the proposal was a result of many meetings with the Mayor, planner
and engineer. He referred to the plan as “Muskego City Center and Park”. The plan
includes senior housing on Lannon Dr.; a restaurant with patio, deck and pond which
will be a detention pond; an increase in size to existing Pond #1; St. Francis Bank will
remain and will be increased in size; and three retail buildings with lessors to be set in
the near future. Janesville Rd. will be a divided street in front of the property, with
underground electrical service. The developer has discussed traffic signals with the
county to be located at the main entrance, which is directly across from the entrance to
Pick ‘n Save, as well as at Parkland Dr. The plan includes underground parking on site
under the three retail buildings and the senior housing. A clock tower with signage of
businesses on site would be located at the boulevard entrance from Janesville Rd.
Proposing a similar look for the retail as that of the Public Library, with a different look
for the senior housing.
OLD BUSINESS
Continue goal setting for 2001 budget
Mr. Dave Anderson of Ehlers and Associates, the City’s financial consultant, was
present at the request of Finance Director Dawn Gunderson to discuss a formal Five
Year Capital Budget. He proposed a series of about four workshops limited to two
hours each which will review where the City is at financially, how we compare with
other communities, Moodys’ criteria, where we want to be and what will it take to get
there. The cost of the workshops would be about $5,000. The aldermen agreed to
have one 2-hour workshop to learn more about the plan to determine if they wished to
th
proceed. The workshop was set for Thursday, June 29 at 7:00 PM.
NEW BUSINESS
Discuss Emergency Warning System
Chief Johnson reviewed the current system in place for warning citizens of tornadoes,
which includes the fire department sirens, but doesn’t provide full coverage for the City.
Formerly had a ticker on cable TV, but it’s no longer available due to the digital format.
As Emergency Management Coordinator for the City he felt this issue was of sufficient
importance to get direction to determine if he should research various systems for
budget preparation. Discussion involved TV notification, weather radios and sirens. A
sample configuration for coverage by a city-wide system was distributed. To provide
instantaneous warning, the best system uses sirens, radios and common sense. We’re
Committee of the Whole Page 2
Minutes of Meeting Held June 1, 2000
one of the last communities in the metro area to have a siren system. He felt that for
the community’s safety standpoint that we’ll need some type of system. One type of
system reviewed is about $170,000, which is an electronic system that runs on
batteries. Ald. Patterson noted the Public Services Committee has been discussing the
Cable TV ticker with Time-Warner, and there may be a way to provide such notification.
Chief indicated that would only be one phase of the system to help those inside with
their TV on, and would be in conjunction with the siren system for outside notification.
Ald. Wichgers reported the committee also discussed promoting the purchase of
weather radios in quantity and selling them at cost to residents. The committee
determined Chief should explore both the weather radio and siren systems for
presentation with the 2001 budget.
Discuss Little Muskego Lake District Charges to the City
Ald. Slocomb felt there was an inequity in the method of taxation to the City between
the two lake districts, with the Big Muskego Lake District charging the City the same as
other on-lake, off-lake property owners, and the Little Muskego Lake District charging
the City 15% of their total budget regardless of the number of lots. He felt the charges
should be based on on-lake, off-lake property ownership, and if it is determined some
parcel like Idle Isle creates a greater impact on the lake, then adjustments are
discussed. Ald. Salentine reported her research found a resolution passed in 1983
increasing the City’s percentage from 10% to 15%, but no rationale was included. The
Mayor will discuss further with Mr. Roppuld, Chairman of the LML District, to determine
how much impact the launch sites have on the lake compared to a residential property.
He added that we should be able to come up with the number of launches at each site.
Discuss Grant Writer position - Planning Department
Planning Director Brian Turk said that during the 2000 budget process the Council
allocated funds to hire a grant administrator position mid-year. That has been put off
due to the remodeling and moving to the first floor when space will be available. But in
evaluating this position, he felt we have four people on staff with significant grant
writing experience. A full-time grant administrator will lead to additional costs to the
City as the majority are matching fund grants. He felt a better alternative is to
reallocate his staff time and put the funds into a GIS system position. Cost for the
position should be about the same. Ald. Slocomb stated he was not interested in hiring
people for web publishing as it will be easier with Office 2000. Sean McMullen noted
that you’re not looking at a full 40-hour position to do grant administration unless you’re
looking for federal funding, and then you change the entire scope of your projects. Mr.
Turk stated he did not want to hire this person because we don’t need it. We have a lot
of GIS deliverables in next several months. Would consider hiring after we move
upstairs. Will prepare job description and present to Finance Committee for review.
Ald. Salentine stated it makes sense for the same dollars.
OLD BUSINESS
Further discussion on Weights and Measures licenses
Mr. Turk stated he hasn’t had the time to pull it all together.
NEW BUSINESS
Committee of the Whole Page 3
Minutes of Meeting Held June 1, 2000
Moorland Road Corridor Presentation
Engineering/Building Inspection Director Sean McMullen reviewed proposed changes
to the Moorland Road corridor south of Janesville Road, indicating revision at the
intersection with Woods Rd. by moving the cul de sacs, a re-designed route south of
McShane going through four wetland areas and a 100 ft. right of way so in the future it
could be increased to four lanes. Some minor changes may need to be made in the
area of the intersection with N. Cape if required by the county. Mayor stated the road
design should be an 80’ local, 2-lane, rural cross section, and posed questions about
using the existing route of Durham, rather than to the east as now drawn. Patterson
and Wichgers asked that the road be created so that in the future it couldn’t become a
major arterial. Mayor agreed but still need to look at future development possibilities
and not encourage it to go to the next level, but make it safe to travel. Wichgers felt the
extension to McShane as designed is okay, but south of McShane should use the
existing road for reconfiguration so as not to encourage increased traffic. Mayor said
but we do need to plan ahead to have it on our maps as a possible future road
configuration. Sean was requested to lay out the road along the existing roadway, with
an 80’ R.O.W. Janesville to McShane, and 100’ from McShane to N. Cape. Sean
added the 100’ south of McShane is necessary to allow for a 2-lane section divided
with the fill required to allow for 24’ pavement, 3’ shoulders each side, 8’ bike path and
ditches. He will plat and bring to next COW. Ald. Le Doux preferred the road moved to
the east south of McShane as shown on the current design.
Discuss Approval of Committee Minutes
Clerk-Treasurer Marenda advised she had researched the question of who actually
“approves” committee minutes by reviewing a number of publications and talking to
Larry Larmer, Professor of Professional Development, affiliated with UW Local
Government Center, who provides training on the meeting process. He said that the
preferred method of obtaining approval of committee minutes in order to have a good
record, is that the committee itself approve its minutes at its next meeting - either with a
motion, or by statement of the Chairman that the minutes are approved as submitted.
At the Council meeting, the committee minutes are presented as a “report”, and are
“accepted” by the Council, as only the committee can “approve” its own minutes. No
motion to accept is required by the Council.
Adjournment
Ald. Salentine moved to adjourn at 10:11 PM. Ald. Patterson seconded, motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Jean K. Marenda, CMC
Clerk-Treasurer
jm