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COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE -Minutes 20060622 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE – CITY OF MUSKEGO Approved 7/20/2006 MINUTES OF MEETING HELD JUNE 22, 2006 Mayor Charles H. Damaske called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. Those present recited the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Damaske, City Administrator Sheiffer, Ald. Buckmaster, Ald. Melcher, Ald. Snead, Ald. Salentine, Ald. Schroeder, and Ald Madden, and Ald. Borgman was excused. Also present were Brian O’Shea, reporter from CNI Newspapers, Kathy Chiaverotti and Rick Petfalski from the Muskego Chamber of Commerce, and residents Tina Schaeffer and Warren Miller. STATEMENT OF PUBLIC NOTICE Mayor Damaske stated that the meeting was noticed in accordance with the opening meeting law. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Ald. Schroeder moved for approval of the June 22, 2006 agenda. Ald Salentine seconded. Motion to approve the agenda carried unanimously. REVIEW MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING Ald. Schroeder moved for approval of the May 25, 2006 minutes. Ald. Salentine seconded. Motion to approve the minutes carried unanimously. Mayor determined that he would take items out of order. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS Pioneer Drive (Mayor Damaske) Mayor Damaske advised that in May, he and Ald. Chris Buckmaster had met with members from the Chamber of Commerce, (Michael Secula and Kathy Chiaverotti) to assist them in looking for a potential site for the Chamber of Commerce to build a facility. A discussion came up regarding the property where the Old Town Hall was originally built. An adjoining property (2196.976) was for sale in 2001-2002 for $59,900, and was purchased by the City using park dedication funds. Mayor distributed correspondence that he received from City Attorney Don Molter, dated May 15, 2006, addressing the following concerns: 1. The City would first have to determine how it came into ownership of the property and whether or not there were any “strings” attached to the acquisition, such as deed restrictions as to use or grant monies received restricting use. Committee of the Whole Page 2 June 22, 2006 2. The City could not let the Chamber of Commerce acquire the property or give the Chamber an interest in the property for less than fair market value unless the City could determine that there was some overriding public benefit. 3. Before any action is taken to allow the Chamber to acquire any property for less than fair market value, the issue of distinguishing the Chamber’s “public purpose” from other “public purposes” performed by other non-profit corporations should be extensively researched. 4. If City entered some type of lease of the land to the Chamber for fair value, there are potential problems with not following the public bidding laws and State wage scale regulations for improvements on property owned by the City, especially when eventually at the end of the lease ownership of the building would revert to the City. Mayor advised that we have been unable to secure an abstract on this property but we can determine that there is a 30 ft. road right-of-way from Pioneer running to the property line. The Plan Department indicated that there could be a potential problem with the property not presently being large enough for building purposes. The city is proposing to create a Historical District on Pioneer Drive and the setbacks could be reduced considerably. Ald. Buckmaster asked if this issue could be given to the Community Development Authority. Mayor stated that it would first have to be discussed by the Parks & Recreation Board as the property was purchased with park dedication funds. The question is do you want to discuss more or would like more information. Ald. Buckmaster felt that it would definitely be a good “kick-start” for the proposed Historical District. Chamber Director Chiaverotti stated they were looking at building a 1200-2200 sq. ft. building, with the thought they might have an additional area for business starting up. Mayor questioned what the committee would like to see for this area. Ald. Buckmaster would like to know what the process would be for moving forward. Mayor will secure more information to be discussed at the next COW meeting. Rick Petfalski and Kathy Chiaverotti stated they were not interested in leasing the property. The Chamber is considering a 1200 to 2200 square feet building using the additional footage as an incubator for a business getting started. Discuss Part-time Mayor Referendum Result Mayor provided the committee with copies of Ordinance showing the change from part- time position to fulltime position in October of 1997, through amended Ordinance #949. In order to change the Mayor’s term from part-time to fulltime, an ordinance would need to be adopted to amend Section 1.07, to read, “The office of Mayor shall be part-time”. Ald. Salentine moved to recommend to Council to amend Chapter 1, Section 1.07 to read, “The office of Mayor shall be part-time”. Seconded by Ald. Madden, motion carried 6-0. Ald. Buckmaster requested staff to research some comparables for part- time Mayor’s salary and benefits. Ald. Schroeder requested that the Mayor and City Administrator supply the Council with a revised job description for the Mayor and research salary and benefits given by other communities. It was requested that all the above information be provided to the Council in one document. It was stated that the effective date for all of these changes would be April 2008. Mr. Petfalski questioned Committee of the Whole Page 3 June 22, 2006 whether the present Mayor could voluntarily lower his salary. Ald. Salentine stated that she did not believe that you could address hours, only salary. Continued discussion on procedures for “public comment” for Common Council Agendas (Ald. Melcher) Ald. Melcher explained that the reason for this item being put on the agenda is his concern with the Mayor having final approval of agenda doesn’t allow any citizen to put any item on an agenda. He also has problems with not allowing non-citizens to have comments. The other issue is that we have a lot of our organizations that have non- residents on their roster. He is not in agreement with being so restrictive. Mayor stated that the City Administrator and the City Clerk put together the procedure with council direction. Ald. Madden stated her concern is with the time limitations, the amount of people who may want to speak, and citizens not having first choice. A discussion was held by all present. Ald. Buckmaster felt that the best contact for constituents is their alderman and the only way to hear all points of an issue is to have it on the agenda. Ald. Schroeder felt that all items need to be on the agenda and city residents speak first. Ald. Salentine reminded all that most items come from a committee where citizen input is allowed. Kathy Chiaverotti explained her concern with citizen dialogue being restricted to the public comment section and not being allowed to clarify a comment made during the council discussion. Rick Petfalski also voiced concern with public comments only at the beginning of the meeting. Mr. Warren Miller was given the floor by Mayor Damaske and stated that he votes for his alderman and felt that his alderman should be speaking for residents in the district. He also stated that he felt the mayor’s position should remain fulltime. Ald. Madden suggested that a card be used for citizens to put down their issue and when they wanted it to be addressed; beginning of the meeting or prior to the agenda item. City Administrator handed out the draft of the policy, with amendments, that were made at the previous council meeting. She noted that Attorney Molter suggested that the policy include what the action would be if there were more people than the 30 minutes would allow. She included the following language: (Information and Public Participation) In the event there are more speakers properly registered to speak than 30 minutes allows time for, the Council must vote to extend the public comment beyond the 30 minutes allotted in order for public comment to continue beyond the 30 minutes. Ald. Schroeder felt that you might as well have it unlimited, because there is no council that is going to vote not to extend. Ald. Salentine agreed with Ald. Schroeder. Ald. Schroeder moved to recommend to Council to limit public comment to thirty (30) minutes, two (2) minutes/fifteen (15) speakers; on a first come first sign-up basis, for Muskego property owners and their agenda item. Seconded by Ald. Salentine, motion carried 5-1, with Ald. Melcher casting the dissenting vote. The City Administrator was requested to bring this item to the next council meeting with requested amendments. Committee of the Whole Page 4 June 22, 2006 Review of proposed tentative timetable for 2007 budget process – Review proposed table of contents for 2007 budget document and discussion with Council for parameters and goals for the 2007 budget Mayor asked to speak prior to handing the meeting over to the City Administrator to discuss the timetable for the 2007 budget. Mayor explained that in reviewing the budget this year, there would be hard decisions to be made as a result of loss of park dedication fees and increased costs. Mayor would like to have the library open on Sunday afternoons during the school year. In order to do this, he is voluntarily reducing the Mayor’s salary, effective January 1, 2007, to $33,000.00 for the remainder of his term, along with eliminating his enrollment in the city’s health insurance. He is hoping that this approximate $45,000.00 savings will be able to fund the library Sunday hours, during the school year. He is also working to have a zero percent increase in the tax levy. He will be submitting to the council the list of things that will be taken out in order to arrive at this zero percent increase in the tax levy. He admitted that it is a monumental task but that is what he is striving to accomplish. Ald. Schroeder commented that he hopes that with the reduction of the parks dedication money, expenses will be reviewed first to make ends meet and then look at increasing revenue. He feels that because of lack of funds, the 5-year Park Plan needs to be restructured. Ald. Schroeder stated he felt that Sunday library hours is an excellent idea. He felt that the goal of zero percent increase in tax levy is a great goal, but he is not sure whether it can be accomplished for 2007, and gives the council credit for trying. City Administrator reviewed handouts, attached, showing a proposed timetable and table of contents for the 2007 budget process and the document that will come to the council. She stated that since she is charged with developing the budget, and agrees that the process will be improved each year; she would like to see it user friendly. In addition, she is going to look at providing the numbers along with narratives, pies, graphs and historical documentation. She will be making changes in the budget format to bring it more in line with state reporting requirements. Currently the city’s format does not match the state’s resulting in the auditors having to make the changes at the end of the year. She advised that in the future there will be a change in the account numbering and she will be presenting one revenue budget, instead of multiple. The revenue budget will be presented first. Ald. Buckmaster would like to see all department heads presenting 5-year plans along with their 2007 budget. Mayor advised that he feels this will be an improvement from past budget processes. Ald. Buckmaster requested that information be sent to him electronically. He would also like to see the portion of positions supported by non-levy dollars. COMMUNICATIONS AND MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS AS AUTHORIZED BY LAW Ald. Melcher advised that Waste Management has offered a tour of the waste management site (Stage Coach Trails) this Saturday morning at 8:30 AM Mayor advised that he met yesterday with Art Dyer and will be meeting again tomorrow with Mr. Dyer and a developer. Committee of the Whole Page 5 June 22, 2006 Ald. Buckmaster stated that the amendments to the zoning codes will be brought forth in July and he feels that we may need a separate COW meeting for this process. Mayor advised that he would put that issue on the July COW meeting agenda. th Proposals for fire study are due in on June 30. Mayor, City Administrator, Building Inspection Director, Chief Johnson and a representative from each fire department will be review sometime in July. Ald. Madden suggested Ald. Schroeder be appointed to this committee and Ald. Schroeder stated he would be interested. ADJOURNMENT Ald. Buckmaster moved to adjourn at 8:58 PM. Seconded by Ald. Madden, motion carried. Transcribed from Meeting Recording Cathie M. Anderson