Let me know when you're ready. Nico Marie. One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine. And then, uh,
» Regina's online. She makes 10. Uh, can you hear us online?
» Yep. Loud and clear. >> Excellent. Thank you. All right.
Uh, good evening. It's Tuesday, August 11th, 2026. This is the Stoden City
Council meeting and the first order of business will be the roll call which is
going to be done by Nicole Marie. >> Uh Alder Ael
» absent. Uh Alder Butler
» here. >> Alder Caravello
» here. >> Alder Hirs
» here. >> Alder Jensen
» here. >> Alder Nino
» here. >> Alder Reeves
» here. Alder Sherlock >> here.
» Alder Schumacher >> here.
» Alder Tillison >> here.
» Alder Vinn Bian new is absent and excused. Alder Wnjak Scanland
» here. >> We have 10 elders.
» All right. Thank you for that. Um clerk's out doing elections tonight. So
if you haven't voted, uh you still have an hour. Um we are certified in
compliance with open meeting laws. Uh so that would take us to public comment. I
think there's at least one person signed up to speak. Three. All right. Who would
like to go first? Come on up to the podium.
» All right. You know the routine, right? >> Good evening.
» Push the button there. >> There we go.
» I should know by now. Okay. Good evening. Um, I want to thank the mayor
and the council for taking relatively swift action by ending the flock
contract and ensuring that the cameras were disabled in short time. Alder
Jensen, I want to thank you. There you are. uh for making a motion uh at uh to
recommend a resolution in the public safety commission and Alder Tillison, if
I'm pronouncing that right. Thank you for your amendment to cover the cameras
within 48 hours. Your comedic suggestion to set them on fire may not be recorded
in the minutes, but will be remembered. Those of us publicly opposing Flock are
aware that making statements like that and taking any action against the
corporation actually comes with risk, especially with all due respect for
anyone who is not a white male in a position of power. And Flock's CEO
called anti-lack activists terrorists. And we live under an administration that
has redefined domestic terrorism to include anti- capitalists and people who
disagree with the administration on issues related to immigration, race, and
gender. Knowing you will take a risk with us by making a remark like that is
no joke and it matters. You may or may not know that Flock
officials watched the city council meeting on June 23rd. We learned this
through a public records request. In an email dated June 24th, a flock
representative wrote to the police department and said that he and his
director had tuned in to the meet to watch the meeting. The email resulted in
a scheduled call to discuss strategy for protecting the contract.
Chief Hill is not here, but I've heard him report staffing issues and that
these record requests have been taxing. And I know that he's hiring primarily
from activity on Facebook. In fact, just days after Corey Ruiz was murdered by a
Madison police officer, Stoton Police Department announced its open
application by posting a picture on Facebook that said, "Feel the love." And
below it, it said, "Are you an officer not feeling the love from the community
you work for?" Stoen PD is hiring and welcomes welcomecommens you to apply as
a lateral transfer. Use the link below to escape to Stoton.
I wish he was here because I would ask him if that was sarcasm.
Was this part of some kind of blue code? Was this the true sentiment our police
department was willing to put out on public displays
after the world watched MPD respond to a call reporting nonviolent suspicious
behavior of a black man on a bicycle with and they responded with dangerous
and deadly violence. As a friend said, they may as well have
just said catching some heat after shooting someone in the street. No
worries, we've got you. This post was removed from Facebook. We
have screenshots. I'm assuming it's because someone noted
just how offensive it was. The city of Stoton has some reckoning to
do. The live feed camera pointing directly
at Cascade Falls entrance and exit was plenty of evidence that our leadership
is not considering the history and impact of overpolicing on communities of
color since policing began in our country.
The content of this Facebook post was insensitive at best, horrifying at
worst.
Racial disparities in policing is documented everywhere.
Harmful culture, including white supremacy within police networks and
departments, is also highly documented. We can't assume we are the exception.
I want to know that our city is going to address this to ask hard questions to
ensure proper oversight and begin building a culture of reconciliation.
Thank you. >> Thank you.
» All right. Who would like to go next?
» Hello. Good evening. Uh, my name is Lori Fory Herkus. I live in District 3. Thank
you for ending the Flock contract. I'd like to address a few things that I've
witnessed through this process. We've heard how overwhelming the emails,
testimony, research, and open open records requests have become, but
there's no meaningful public engagement process for this issue. We're deeply
concerned, and we have no other way to work through the critical things that
we've learned with you. >> [snorts]
» Three minutes at a microphone isn't meaningful engagement on an issue that's
connected to our privacy and our freedoms.
I don't want residents blamed for taking your time. I want you to be curious
about what we've learned. I need you to make space to hear from us. Did you know
that while Chief Hill was researching options for the council, he told Flack
his goal was to keep the cameras? that Flack representatives monitored our
meetings and offered to help SPD win the vote and keep the contract. That Flack
provided talking points and a strategy to Chief Hill that included offering to
contact older people directly to respond to residents concerns themselves and to
source advocates to influence your decision.
This isn't simply tech support. The police department and the vendors shared
an agenda while the council relied on them for information and recommending
things to the council. This is hugely problematic and exactly why independent
information and oversight matter. The records also showed SPD was still
learning fundamental things about this system after the cameras were installed
and went online May 18th. On June 2nd, while watching a training
video, SPD discovered that the Jackson Street camera wasn't even the kind of
camera that they thought it was. Two days later and 17 days after that live
feed camera went online, which is the same camera pointing at Cascade Falls,
SPD asked Flock, "How do how do we stop outside agencies from viewing the live
feed data?" These aren't minor details. Camera
capabilities and external data access are fundamental things an agency should
understand before activating public surveillance. SPD put this technology
online before it fully understood either, putting residents privacy at
risk. And surveillance doesn't stand still. Once the infrastructure exists,
its capabilities and uses can expand faster than our understanding and our
oversight. We saw this happen here at essentially the same time SPD was
figuring out who else could see what its cameras captured. It was also trying to
expand what the camera itself could capture.
SPD wrote that it had specifically chosen the Jackson Street location so a
PTZ camera could monitor parts of the school, Cascade Falls, and the roadway.
Was the school school board aware? were families were the residents at Cascade
Falls. Who gets to make these decisions and what is the oversight?
Public trust isn't damaged because residents are asking questions. It's
damaged when residents have to investigate their own government to get
answers. If residents have uncovered information
that the council hasn't fully examined, you should want to hear from us. And
independent experts should be a part of this process. Police departments and
surveillance vendors cannot be the only voices informing decisions about PE
police surveillance. I'm also concerned about how often we're
hearing, "Let's see what Dne County does." Stoen needs to decide for itself.
Waiting to see which vendor the county chooses ignores what residents have been
saying all along. We don't want mass surveillance.
Flock itself told Chief Hill that competitors have federal contracts,
including with ICE and DHS. Are you independently investigating these
relationships before even considering another system? Most importantly, I
really want you to remember this. Residents haven't just identified
problems. We've given you a framework to address them. The people's resolution
was carefully crafted because of what we've learned. It addresses what went
wrong, what should have happened, the lack of transparency and the lack of
public involvement, and the concentration and misuse of power that
adequate oversight should have prevented. Every piece is intentional
and the p pieces were designed to work together.
This is what gets lost when the people's resolution becomes a punch list.
Breaking an integrated framework across multiple committees separates the
interconnected checks and balances from the failures that they were designed to
address. It moves decisions into spaces where public has little or no
opportunity to participate. I'm almost done. Public comments aren't even
allowed in all of these committees. Please don't dismantle the solution
before you've fully understood the problems it was designed to solve. adopt
the people's resolution as a whole and remember what it presents that the
original process never gave us. The ability to say no. If this community
doesn't want to be watched, we shouldn't be watched. Listen to the community.
That's how you build trust as our elected officials. Thank you.
» Thank you. >> All right. We have one more yet?
» Okay.
» My name is Katherine Foster. I live in Stoton. Last Friday morning, the gates
of the dam were all opened. This violated the order in the permits for
phase one of the Whitewater Park to notify Riparian owners at least 14 days
in advance of dewatering the site. There has been no such notice.
This is just another example of the deliberate attempts to hide information
and actions from the public by the city and the DNR. If this project had any
redeeming qualities, you would have been upfront and transparent about
everything. But you have lied, misinformed, and hidden important facts
and serious issues to assure the certainty of this vanity project that
only a select few want. 3,500 people know better, signing a
petition against this when they learned of the real consequences to the
waterway, the wildlife, and to current recreational uses that they enjoy. This
will not improve fishing, as the mayor has repeatedly said. In fact, it will
damage the spawning grounds by lowering the water levels in Yahara Bay. The fish
population is very diverse in this area where schools of bass have been seen in
the mill pond and generations of folks have fished with their friends and
families. I wonder if any of you have ever engaged with people fishing or
otherwise enjoying the Mil Pond area. It will not clean up the water as you've
stated. If you have ever read the sediment test on the website, you would
realize that there is a lot of contamination in this industrial site
that you plan to have children in inner tubes swimming in. You would also see
that there are further questions about the effects of construction and stirring
up what would be better left undisturbed and further testing in more areas that
need to be done. If you had read the materials management plan for this
permit, you would see that the order of construction will be to dig up
moderately contaminated sediment to reuse and build a whitewater feature.
This while diverting the entire flow past the most contaminated area prior to
dredging and removing that sediment. Won't that just send more contam
contamination downstream? Now, I understand that it is not about
the safe handling of industrial waste, but it is about using your pet project
to get taxpayers to clean up the industrial site where you want a housing
development to be built. If you had kept up with this project
costing over $10 million, you might have wondered why the the project
construction order was reversed to go upstream in phases rather than
downstream as was originally planned. Then you might have asked, is it safe to
first complete the phase that starts from the tainter gates at the dam and
goes through a box culvert past a structure of rock and concrete into a
deep pool? Those of you who feign concern for the safety of kids fishing
in the area don't seem to mind that there that you are creating a deadly
magnet for curious children to actually get in the water and try out the lower
half of a white water park. If you are unaware of these issues,
you've been irresponsible in your role as decision makers regarding public
resources and safety. If you know about this, you chose to promote a project the
3,500 people despise. You have been negligent, selfish, and completely
unconcerned with the health and safety of people and the protection of the
environment and natural beauty of this waterway that so many enjoy.
I cannot express how gut-wrenching and heartbreaking this is for me living near
the mill pond that will be eliminated and forever changed. I see great blue
herand, white and green herand, ospreys and bald eagles, many different kinds of
ducks in different seasons and the geese with their babies in the spring.
I see turtles of all sizes sunning on a log and at night I hear the bullfrogs.
Lately, I've seen a baby muskrat that could fit in my hand, floating in the
green duckweed that you think is algae, shoveling it into his mouth with both
little paws. The birds will fly away because the water surface area will be
drastically reduced. But what happens to everything living under the water's
surface? You have sentenced so many creatures to death.
All those who live on the river will smell that death. You have sentenced us
to heartbreak. One of you called me a nimi once. People
who resort to name calling usually can't support their position with facts. I
wonder if you would have called 3,500 people nimbies to their faces because
3,500 people call this waterway their backyard whether they are riparian
owners or not. And they say absolutely not in my backyard.
I truly hope that your consciences will prevail and you will give this thought
and do the right thing. Thank you. >> Thank you.
Anybody else wish to speak tonight? >> All right. Hearing none, um we'll go
into our agenda. Uh the next item is communications and presentations. Are
there any communications from alders?
All right. I just have a couple uh followup. I did have a meeting with the
officials from Stoton Trailers uh regarding uh the conversation we had
with uh the land. Um they are open to the idea of having a conversation about
extending the trail down by the RDA site. So, the city attorney is is
working with staff to put together um some sort of a proposal to hopefully
acquire that piece of property there. And then I also wanted to share that the
other land that we talked about um STI does have some interest, but they're
probably a couple years out from really wanting to pursue it. um which if we
chose will give us time to do some due diligence especially on the uh public
works garage site if that's something that you you chose to do. Um the other
update is um been having conversations uh city attorney and myself with other
communities regarding the billboard. So, we're still gathering some facts. Um,
but it seems like um whether it's the billboards or even the flock cameras,
not everybody is really doing things the same way as far as their process and
their approvals or the amounts that, you know, they're they're getting for their
signs or whether or not um their agreements are apples to apples. So,
we'll give you full updates as we get the rest of the information and we get
to the point where uh we're going to have to make decisions.
Um that's all I had. Um and then we do have a presentation
tonight and that's going to be from John uh Lindert from Strand. I'm just going
to cue this up for him so we can uh begin.
I'm not John, by the way. Brett. >> Oh, Brett's going to start, huh?
» Throwing me a curve. All right, I'm ready when you guys are.
» I'll just introduce uh John Lindard, as you you mentioned, from Strand
Associates. Uh so this is an update to our storm water quality management plan.
The last one was done in 2018. Uh so this just looks to assess our storm
water quality for compliance with our TMDL and John will go into much more
detail or as much as you want uh when it comes to our our storm water uh system
and our plan and our maintenance strategies. So with that I'll hand over
to to John.
All right. Go ahead. All right. Today, tonight I'm going to
talk about the stormwater quality management plan update for the city of
Stoton. Uh we recently submitted this to the DNR in I think it was early August,
might have been late July. So, uh next slide, please.
So, from an agenda standpoint, uh going to give you a quick introduction. Uh
we'll talk about some updated storm water programs uh that we're we're
doing. talk about storm water quality modeling update and alternatives
analysis and that includes BMPPS in the city and
participation in Yahara winds wershed adaptive management plan and some
recommendations. Next slide please. So I'll look at this one because it's a
little bit closer. Um the the city has a storm water permit, an MS4 permit it's
it's called it has expired. Um but we're operating underneath that permit uh
until they issue a new one sometime this year is my understanding. You've got a
long history of storm water quality management planning uh in trying to
comply with the per the permit that started back in 2006 with the original
plan an update in 2010. We got involved in 2018 with the TMDL or total maximum
daily load with the Rock River. I'll talk about that a little bit more. And
then the we did a uh analysis in 2020 to give you credit for your leaf management
program and we did some things in 2021 to update some programs due to uh some
permit changes. Uh the big thing here is Rock River uh is a 303D listed impaired
water. You are in that that basin. So there was a TMDL or total maximum daily
load approved by EPA in 2011 which uh added more requirements Um the main
objective of this plan itself was to address compliance with this these TMDL
requirements which you can see in that table over there. Uh the reach on the
left there's four different reaches or watersheds uh that the EPA um
and the DNR has designated and you can see your MS4 requirement was 20% TSS
reduction. TSS being total suspended solids otherwise known as sediment. Um
that's in your permit. When this Rock River TMDL came out, you had added a
total phosphorus reduction and you can see on the right um right two columns
the reductions there in terms of storm water quality requirements for runoff
coming off the city lands. Next slide please.
In terms of progression uh over the years, we just go back to 2010 where the
city was at 29.6% 6% TSS and 20.3% TP reduction uh in compliance with that uh
requirement. Uh so you got to kind of sit pretty for a while um until you got
to 2018 which responded to the Rock River TMDL that came out. And you can
see in bold there the city for that plan was at 31.7% TSS and 27% TP reduction.
Um those requirements per reach for the TMDL were not met everywhere. So, we
ended up having to do an alternatives analysis that had alternatives that
range from two to five million to get you in compliance um back in 2018. Since
then, you've done a number of things, a number of projects um which brings us to
2026. And if we look at the bold again, city at 45.4% TSS and 41.5% TPU TP
reduction. This is for a number of reasons which I'll get into. Um
the way that you end up getting in compliance is trading some pollutants
from one reach to another. Um and then you get in full TMDL compliance. And
we'll talk a little bit about more about that. Uh the uh the map on the right
shows those reaches in the purple are the the purple polygons are the
different ones. It's kind of hard to see, but those four reaches are are
shown within there. Most of the city 67 and southeast is 68. Next slide, please.
um as you've done since we've been involved, you've tapped in with Rodney
and Brett, uh Brett's support and all of your support into getting grants for
doing a lot of this work. Okay, so this project cost 122,000. Half of it was
paid for by the DNR, which is always a a good thing uh from a fiscal standpoint.
Next slide, please. Uh these bullets are really the
requirements from your permit. Um, we've done a lot of work on that in the past.
So, we were only focusing on a couple of these here, pollution prevention, where
we looked at some of the public storm water BMPs that were out there, uh, to
see if they were still operating as originally intended. We did the storm
water quality management with the wind modeling update and then we updated the
storm system map. Next slide.
Speaking of these existing public storm water BMPs, field reviews, uh we
reviewed eight BMPPS uh with the the text boxes there pointing to each of
those. Um and we have some results of that. If go to the next slide.
Um well, I should back up. Each of those No, no, stay stay there. Sorry. Um
the each of those BMPPS has a figure like this and an
associated data from a field survey that we did to look at uh erosion, how much
um sediment is in the pond, uh infiltration rates of infiltration
basins and bio attention basins. Uh so this is just an example of one of them
at Northview Heights. Next slide, please.
So this is a table from the report. It goes into detail about how much uh water
depth is left, how much sediment is in the pond. And what the DNR says is if
you have less than 3 ft of water, that's when you need to dredge. Okay. So the
far right column um basically based on sediment accumulation rate, we're able
to estimate the number of years before you have that three feet of water depth.
And so you can see the they're the flesh colored the if it's becoming one two and
a half 3.7 years you need to start really planning for dredging those ponds
doing something with them. And so you can see that Northview Heights um Barbar
Fields Wet Pond and Franklin Street are all kind of in in that impending uh need
and the Sen Fire Station is on there as number five. um and that got uh
converted to a buyer attention basin. So that that's all good. Um but really it
highlights the need to continue the program of field reviews of existing
stormwater BMPs that are out there and then initiate design and construction of
dredging or maintenance projects uh to address identified deficiencies. So next
slide please. Uh we did on a couple of them do uh some infiltration testing.
The the middle picture is this modified Philip Dune infiltrometer. It's some
newer technology. doesn't isn't as intensive to get some data. We also do
the double ring infiltrometer, but um that's a lot more work. Um so if you
look at the table on the bottom right, the North View Heights uh infiltration
basin, the DNR infiltration rate that you designed for is 3.6 in per hour. The
MPD measured infiltration rate is 73. What that indicates is something's not
working quite right in that in that infiltration base and something so
corrective action should be taken. Uh now the second one is Williams Drive bio
retention basin uh where 3.6 is the designed DNR infiltration rate and both
of the interestingly both of those infiltration tests came back with some
pretty similar numbers of 13.63 well and it well higher than what it was really
designed for. So seems to be working quite well.
Next slide. And this is really an action item summary of uh routine and non-Rine
maintenance for each of those BMPPS. This is to help Brett and his staff um
potentially go out and and do some corrective action. Next slide.
The storm water quality modeling which is really the the um big part of this
project uh is kind of represented here in these two two graphics. on the left
is baseline loading in um pounds per acre of TP. And what you'll see on the
legend on the right is the higher loadings are reds and oranges. And keep
in mind on the left that would be as if you didn't have any um best management
practices uh or BMPs. On the right is what what you have today. Uh it's called
existing condition with control. So what you want to see in this graphic is a
shift to those blues and greens. And you do see shift to blue and green a lot a
lot of that is on the west side where a lot of the development has occurred but
you can see some other blues and greens is really uh either projects the city
has done or developments that have occurred to uh to help the cause. Next
slide please. Uh this is
uh really the results of that modeling in detail. Uh on the left is the
pollutant uh TSS or sediment TP or total phosphorus. On uh the next couple of
columns you have the MS4 required 20% and then Rock River requirements per
reach. Uh and then we do what's called uh MS4 modeled existing conditions um
percent reductions. And then on the far two right columns we have a TMDF
pollutant reduction gap. Are you in compliance or you not? You're in
compliance if you have a negative number. You're not in compliance if you
have a positive number. So I s uh put a box around in red around reach 67 and
68. Uh you can see reach 68 has positive numbers meaning it's not in compliance.
But interestingly reach 67 is a is upstream of reach 68. The DNR allows you
to water quality trade. So you can kind of swap those pollutants out and
um get yourself into compliance uh without really doing anything. It's it's
basically you're doing better in reach 67 to help 68. So um that is is a good
thing. Uh next slide. Okay. So what have you done since 2018?
Why are we so much better? Why are we actually in compliance? Uh number one,
enhanced street sweeping program. uh a vacuum street sweeper was purchased and
uh the things you do uh with that uh help help the bottom line. We did that
TP leaf collection credit analysis in 2020 and again in 2025 well actually
2026 with the report. Um and then Paradise Pond which is out
there which is an internally drained area. We were able to get better uh
percent reduction there due to some monitoring that the city was doing and
we'll talk about that in a bit. you did the next two or two projects you
actually built uh with the help of grants. Um you've had new development
that has helped um because you you have ordinances in place that require them to
get certain amount of TSS and TP reduction uh redevelopment has occurred
and we've modeled we have some BMP modifications from a modeling standpoint
that we're allowed to do uh with DNR. So next slide please. So I'll talk through
some of these um relatively quick quickly. You have an enhanced street
sweeping program. You got a $54,000 grant back in 2020 to get a new vacuum
street sweeper. This TP leaf collection credit analysis is in that table there.
And those are the two analyses. And the total TP on the right. Uh and the 2025
analysis got you another well actually a difference there. Another 44.6 pounds of
TP which is quite quite a bit for work that you're already doing. Next slide.
Okay, this is Paradise Pond. The uh it's an internally drained wet pond with an
11 acre surface area. You can see the waterershed on the bottom right graphic
uh in blue, 166 acres. Uh discharge is only through that pump station uh that's
hand operated and the the table shows how we got an improvement. Uh so 2018
there were some assumed values. 2025 was based on actual monitoring that Brett
and his staff did uh every time they they pumped that out. Um so you got a
6.7% increase in TSS reduction and a 22.3%
uh increase in TP reduction all to the benefit of of the bottom line here.
Again, next slide, please. Uh the industrial park dry to wet pond
conversion was the highest priority project back in 2018 on that plan. The
uh project gets 30 pounds of TP reduction and and is in TMDL reach 68
which is where there was a need identified at the time. Next slide
please. Uh
here are some pictures of that uh after construction. Uh the table itself shows
the grants that uh that the city got for that. Uh so through Dne County urban
water quality grant and the DNR urban non-point source grant. So only 38.2 2%
of that project had to be paid for through local funds by the city. Next
slide. Uh next project was uh the second
highest priority in 2018 storm water plan and uh this project as you can see
there is in that blue watershed. Uh you can also see it's located above the
Yahar River Dam and potential water whitewater park uh coming forward. So it
helps to treat some water where people are interacting with uh with the water
uh down down at River Park and and the area there. So next slide, please. This
project even got more grant funds. Um in fact, only 13.8% of the project had to
be paid for by the city. There were grants through Dane County and DNR uh
that paid for the rest. And that was basically a box um that treated Yeah,
you can see it there. It's got some baffles and some other things that treat
water before it gets to the Har River where before it just discharged directly
uh to the river. Next slide, please. Uh new and redevelopment reduction. Uh
as you know, a lot of that uh development has occurred on the west
side. Those big whatever color that is orange stars. Um and as you can see in
the bottom um table, 569 pounds of reduction from
new development, 13.8 through redevelopment. And so you've sort of
helped you've sort of developed your way into compliance a little bit. It's
contributed to to helping with the bottom line again with compliance. Next
slide. And a lot of those developments on the
west side were in kettles or internally drained areas. Um the DNR has a number
of requirements that you have to meet before being able to take credit for
those areas. And this is uh a lot of detail you probably don't need, but uh
three of the areas uh qualified and we took advantage of that with the
stormwater quality modeling. Next slide. Uh even though you are in compliance, we
didn't know at the time if you would. So we did do a small alternatives analysis.
This is just a flowchart showing what how we would go about doing that. And
really the uh middle bottom watershed adaptive management you had been
participating in and bottom right design and construction of BMPS you had been
participating in. Basically at this point you're done. So um that's a good
thing um as well. Next slide.
So, we did look at uh four or five different BMPPS in the white text boxes
there. A bit hard to read, but the important thing is they are upstream of
the Har River, uh your river park, everything happening down there.
Anything you might do discretionarily at this point would help water quality
within uh the mill pond uh and downstream.
Next slide. So when it comes down to alternatives,
alternative number one was doing this water quality trading uh from reach 7 67
to 68. You can see that there. Uh alternative two was just these four five
uh six actually um BMPs that you could do in the future if you if you desired.
Um the Har River Park, is it called River Park? Just river park.
» Yeah, just river park. um bio biobasin that was out to bid recently that's
going to be constructed. Um that's part of alternative 2 but it's it's something
you were going to be doing. You you'll get some credit for that.
Next slide. Uh watershed adaptive management. You
have been participating in this for quite some time. The only thing I want
to say on here is the original buyin to this was $11,000. And what you were
doing here was buying in so that MMSD and Yahara Winds can go out to the egg
community and get um agricultural BMPs installed at a lower cost than you can
do in the city. Um buy in after the 2018 modeling update was 8,76.
So we were able to save the city $2,900 a year. Um, at this point, since you are
in compliance, that buyin gets reduced to zero, saving you another $8,76
per year. Uh, again, uh, a positive. Next slide.
This is just a table from the report and the uh, polygons there in red are
alternative number one, and it's that water quality trade. There's zero cost
to do that. It's already done. Alternative number two is adjacent to
that. And uh again, it's discretionary projects if you want to go ahead and
continue to work on on water quality or if requirements change someday, which we
don't have any indication that they are at this point. Next slide. So, here's
the obvious choice. Do you do alternative one or alternative two? Um
$0 versus, you know, 2.85 million. Um, and again, alternatives 2 is just there
to give you opportunities and projects to work on in the future if you'd like.
Next slide. Uh, here we have uh DNR approval of the
modeling and internal water quality trade. If you zoom in there, it's a nice
little sentence um couple of sentences that uh confirms that the DNR agrees
with the report and you're good to go um moving forward. Next slide.
Okay. So, we'll end up with some recommendations
for MS4 programs. The things that, uh, Brett and his staff are already doing,
uh, continue to do that. Uh, that's defined in that 2018 plan and a 2021 MS4
appendix. Uh, for each of those bullet items there that are conditions to the
permit, Yahara winds buyin. Um, you will need to follow up on calculations that
we submitted to Madison Met on July 23rd. Uh, that would reduce the city's
buy in to zero dollars in 2027. Um, so they're reviewing it right now. I'm
I'm sure they'll be approving it shortly, but Brett, we should just keep
our eye on that. So, uh, future stormwater BMPs that I talked about
discretionarily pursue alternative number two, BMPs. This would provide
additional pollutant reduction to the Har River. And if you pursue those two
grant programs, you can uh gain up to upwards of 80% um funding. Um and and
that's a good thing. Uh pollution prevention program modifications. I
mentioned this before. Continue the program of the field review of the
existing storm water BMPs. Uh and then initiate the design and construction of
dredging or maintenance projects to address address the identified
deficiencies. And lastly, One more. There we go.
So, are you are you truly done? Are you are you not? Um, I would say you should
be tracking the storm water quality improvements because because of new and
redevelopments in the spreadsheet format, Brett, we um that's something
that just will help. Um, and then the sec third bullet there, um, the storm
water quality modeling will likely still need to be updated every 8 to 10 years.
That's a ways out now. uh or if there are changes in the Rock River TMDL
wastist load allocations or substantial changes in the city boundary. And those
last two caveats were actually in that DNR letter that said, hey, uh if
something changes, you may have to do a little more. But at this point, you're
you're pretty much in the clear. Um but just keep track of what what
developments are doing and any projects you might do moving forward. With that,
I open it up to questions and answers. >> All right. Thank you. older person
reefs. >> So, and I don't know if you know off the
top of your head, but how many wet basins are there? And I'm curious who's
doing the water testing. Is it all of them? Is this sporadic? I'm I'm just
thinking that sounds overwhelming >> for staff or you know who's
» as far as the number of basins, we can refer to our GIS system.
But yeah, we can get you those how many wet basins and infiltration basins we
have. We can get you those. >> Yeah, I'm just curious. And then is do
we subcontract on the on the testing for you know the the water quality? I'm not
100% sure how all this work. So >> you come on up to the mic, Brett.
» Yeah, just take that corner seat there.
So through the the study they did um a snapshot of basically the basins and did
a basin aggregate. Correct. >> Yeah.
» So then over time we do visual inspections and then we have dredged
some um wet basins in the past as well. So we're actually looking at doing a few
um next year um some of our storm water swailes to regrade them for to improve
storm water flow. So it's a we're never done. It's always a constant I I want to
say battle because it's really the you know it's a a great thing that we're
doing to treat water before it gets to the Yahara. Um so it's it's a but
there's a lot of uh BMPPS out there. So there's as you in new development
especially uh which obviously is a good thing. However, we need to staff up for
it and account for equipment as we move forward with these two.
» Yeah. I just have a couple. So, Eastwood is one that you've dredged and I was
that on there? I don't know if I >> um I'm not I don't think it was in the
slides. That was back in 2019 or 2020 somewhere in there.
» And then um how about the man parking lot?
» Yep. So, those are infiltration or bio basins. So, that's all part of the the
new >> those we added recently. So,
» so, so we during the study I believe we forecast or used some of the um newer
basins um as as part of the study. >> Yeah. Everything we knew about would
would have been modeled and you had gotten credit for anything from this
point forward keep track of with a spreadsheet and and we we help you guys
with all of developments anyway. So, we have a lot of information, but it's it's
good to just kind of keep track of where you're at in the future to use that
information when you do have to update the model.
» As you'll see, the the project in Highway 51, they're they're adding, I
think, four new basins as well throughout that corridor.
» I think what I'm hearing is all the things that we've been doing is really
helping the water quality in in the river downstream in the area where we're
talking about putting the park. Do you have any concerns about the water
quality down there and people being in and out of there?
» I all I can say is any storm water BMP put upstream will help it in some
fashion. It's hard to like put a how much it's going to improve it. It
just it will incrementally improve improve the water quality. Less trash,
less other things, you know, out there too. And part of our maintenance too is
to um find um or or look at source pollution and then get on it. So um
luckily we have, you know, Sue Eddie, she's on top of it and she she's uh she
sees anything that's uh not normal, she will take action. Okay.
» Any questions from alders? Um anybody online? Regina, do you have
anything?
Uh, [snorts] no, not tonight. Thanks. >> Yeah, I know there's a lot of
information there. I don't know how best to digest all that. Um, if you have any
suggestions on how we could do that. So, >> well, uh, we've been experimenting with
some AI opportunities. So, so showing John
» uh we we basically took uh his um report and the slides and and put it into an AI
system and it spit out basically Cliff's notes. So, what I can do is is have John
review that and then we can send that out to the group. It it is helpful to
read. It kind of boils it down into an easyto read uh couple pages versus a
whole report or you know 34 slides. So, >> will it be accurate? Right.
» That's that's so it's a tool. AI is a tool. And so [laughter]
disclaimer. >> Yeah. So we have to, you know, proofread
and and do our due diligence that way. But um you know, it's interesting where
things are going. So I I showed that to John before. I'll send that to him
tonight. When he has time, maybe we can just review that for accuracy.
» Sure. >> Thanks for doing that. And I I would say
the commitment you the city of Stoton has made to to storm water over 20 years
is pretty remarkable. We do a lot of work for other communities and you're
done in 20 years. Okay. And there's communities we work with that are
looking at 40 50 years before they're going to get into compliance. So the the
work and dedication you and Rodney and yourself and you know everyone here have
had is is really a success story. and we did present on uh your story at a
conference and it was wellreceived. So you're doing you you did a lot of the
right things. So >> appreciate hearing that. And do you work
with some of the other groups like uh Renew the Blue or the Lakes and Water
Commission? >> Um
I I don't personally, but I'm aware of all those initiatives. Yeah.
» So we have like Brett, he's he's leading one of the teams on there. Adrian's been
pretty involved as well. So, >> perfect.
» That's the other thing is we have really good commitment from our elders as well.
» That's great. >> All right. Um, any questions from alders
before we cut John loose? He's got to go all the way back to Oregon tonight. So,
» all right. Thank you for being here. >> Thank you guys.
» All right. and I'll get queued up here for the next item is the uh consent
agenda. So we have a number of items in the consent agenda. I would entertain a
motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So move second.
» Motion by Jetson. Second by Tillerson. Would anybody like anything acted on
separately on the consent agenda?
Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I.
» I. And uh any opposed? None oppose. That motion carries. Takes
us to old business, right? >> Y.
» Okay, we're going to old business, which is uh a second reading from the plan
commission on ordinance 14, older person caravllo.
» And this is ordinance 14 of 2026 amending chapter 78 article 8
signage regulation. And I so move. >> Is there a second?
» Second. Second by Wazak Scanland, other person Caribelloo.
» And I'm just gonna hand it over to Chris if anybody has any questions so she can
enlighten us about Reed versus Town of Gilbert fun facts.
» I know you guys all listened to my spiel at the last meeting. Did you guys have
any follow-up questions to any of it or want anything else explained? Don't want
to hear all about exciting signs? [laughter]
Um, if you have any follow-up questions, let me know. Um, if you guys see
something in the ordinance you want changed later on, we can address it. But
for the most part, not a lot has changed. We brought it into compliance,
just made more robust definitions and um, tried to break out so it was a
little easier in a chart with those areas. So,
» thank you for your work on that. Anything you want to add, Attorney
Manthy?
Uh nothing to add but happy to answer any questions if uh there are any on the
Supreme Court case law or anything like that.
» All right. Any questions from alers or comments?
Hearing none. All in favor of the motion say I.
» I. >> And any opposed?
That motion carries. Um that'll take us to
um ordinance 15 is a first reading and that's coming from public works all
person to listen.
Uh, yes. This is ordinance 15 of 2025 to amend ordinance section 50-5, offenses
against public peace order and other public interest to replace section H
with construction activity within the public right ofway. Uh, move the former
section H to newly created section I and I so move.
» It's a first reading, bud. >> Oh, well, first reading.
» Yeah. All right. Do you want to walk us through this or somebody?
» Yeah. So I'm going to summarize so that it's just questions but uh this is
basically for the piece. Uh so when construction
crews can work and when construction crews can't work uh during certain set
hours so that there's no real noise pollution that we're not having uh major
issues because we don't want anyone to be like the person who runs their lawn
mower at 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday. We're all been annoyed by that. So, this is
just directions or ordinances for those construction type crews to say, "Hey, we
don't want to have this." So, then I will let Brett take it away from there.
» Right. Yeah. I'll just add to to that. That's a a great summary. So, um, so
before it was more of a a policy that we had here that, um, construction the
right of way, uh, could not occur after 700 p.m. until, uh, 7 a.m. And so, we'd
like to make that ordinance and add some more language in there about the types
of activities that would be allowed, emergency type services or or water main
breaks, for example. Um, so, um, this is in the the nuisance ordinance and it's
not to be confused with what's already in there when it comes to on private
property, um, and the noise ordinances that are already, uh, in there. Um, but
it's just to add, um, an ordinance versus a policy so that we can, you
know, enforce this and potentially issue citations. So, uh, we do, um, again, it
it does not allow work, um, after 700 p.m. until 7 a.m. Monday through
Saturday and no work on Sundays, uh, is allowed. Now, there is some some
carveouts, um, emergency exemptions, um, section two. Uh so essentially if there
is uh a reason to or a necessary to protect uh life, health, safety or
property u we can um allow crews to to work uh beyond those hours or even on
Sundays. Um again the example is a water mane break. Um so essential public
services uh we we wanted to define that um as law enforcement, fire protection,
public works operations, water, sanitary sewer and wastewater utility services,
storm water management as we talked about today and flood control, emergency
management, disaster response activities and any other governmental function
designated by the city as necessary to protect life, property, public
infrastructure or the continuity of governmental operations. Um then beyond
that, we do have special authorizations where um I could authorize some entity
to work beyond those hours. Uh we wouldn't take that lightly, but let's
say um a crew wanted to work past 7 till maybe 8 9:00 so they didn't have to come
back the next day to disrupt a business for example, we may allow that. Um, but
we need to take those um, asks very seriously because we want to stick to
the ordinance. Any questions? I know this is just a
first reading, but any any questions? >> How does this apply to the state highway
that we have running through our town? >> Yeah, so it's it's a connecting highway.
So, we do have local control. Um, so [clears throat] within reason because
there are some operations within the um the construction of the roadway. Uh, for
example, when they saw cut the concrete, a lot of times those may be after hours
um after these hours, which was again a policy um but um within the right area.
So if it's on the northwest side of town, we may uh work with them to allow
them to do that so that doesn't disrupt um you know the flow of traffic like we
have now. you know, we have traffic on these these roadways to keep it flowing
and and it's not shut down like it was on East Maine last year. So, uh we do
have local control up to Roi Road. So, beyond that, we don't have local
control, but we do have local control when it comes to that.
So as a followup to that, is that something that would be in the the
contract with the >> So uh for us and our contracts, we
usually go over this during the uh pre construction meeting with the
contractors so that they understand what our or well policy was, but if you guys
approve this, what the um ordinance is in the city of Stoen, uh we already go
through this with them and we uh we harp on that because our citizens need a
break in the evening um and on Sundays as well.
» So, how about the DOT's agreement? Do we have any say in that?
» Again, it's a connecting highway. So, >> generally, they've been pretty good. Um
you know, not working late. Uh the example I do have is the the saw cutting
of of concrete, which I know they were doing well into the evening. And for
some of that there was no there was uh there was no other alternative but
» and some of it's [clears throat] depends on where they are. If they're out by the
car dealership on 51 there's no residential out there. It's probably not
an issue. Right. >> Right. And those are the types of you
know situations that we would take into account when we would would allow them
to do that type of work. It's also about being efficient to get
the job done. Like like I I mentioned the example is if they have another, you
know, 7 o'clock and they're going to get finished in the next hour or two just to
get it done so they can move out and not disrupt another day um of of business or
or residents getting to their homes. We may allow them to do that.
» Sure. Any questions or comments from alers?
Um otherwise, this one will be back at the next meeting. Um, if you have
anything that comes up, feel free to reach out to us and we'll we'll get you
some answers. Thank you. All right. Uh, next item is u R114
um outdoor warnings sirens and it looks like that was at finance person Butler.
» It was this is R114 of 2026 to amend the 2026 budget for outdoor warning siren at
51 West. And I so move. >> And is there a second?
» Second. >> Second by Alder person Reeves. Alder
person Butler. >> Yeah, this was at uh finance tonight. It
did pass unanimously. It's to um cover a little bit of an increased
cost for an outdoor siren um uh in the 51 West area. Is Chief Rip on?
» Yeah, he's still on there. >> Okay. I saw pulse point went off. I
wasn't sure. Go ahead, Chief.
» Yep. Um, so this is this is a siren that was approved as part of the capital
budget for 2026. Um, by the time we got to ordering uh
the siren, there were some price increases that had come through uh that
raised it uh little over $4,000 more than we anticipated. So, I'm just
looking for approval to finish the purchase and uh get this project moving.
» All right. Thank you. Any questions or comments on this one?
» I'm supposed to remember I'll remember it now. I won't remember it next time
this comes up that um this is something that we're looking at adding to um
development agreements going forward so that the city doesn't have to shoulder
um the burden on it. >> You remember through tonight. That's
pretty good. Okay, thank you. Questions or comments?
Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I.
» I. >> And any opposed?
That motion carries. The next one is R15. That one also came from finance.
» This is R15 of 2026 to reduce the irrevocable standby letter of credit for
SDI holdings. And I so move. >> Is there a second?
» Second. Second by President Schumacher or person Butler.
» This also passed um almost unanimously. There's one abstension um
uh to reduce the standby letter of credit due to finishing most of um phase
or yeah most of phase 2A's um uh improvements with the exception of some
storm water stuff. And I will let either Nicole Marie or Chris speak to that.
Um, so we started bringing the letters of credit through finance committee and
common council just so we've got tracking history of the paper trail of
how the credit letters of credits get issued, reduced, released as they go
through the various phases of construction. So this is the um original
letter of credit from STI Holdings was $11 million. They rolled part of that
into phase 2A, which is what this letter of credit is for. So we're releasing um
a portion of that except for the storm water part. So, at the end of the day,
we'll retain a $2.6 million letter of credit until the um remainder of the
infrastructure is complete, and we hold that for a period of one year.
» All right. Thank you. Anything you want to add, uh, Attorney Matthew?
No, this is uh pretty standard um and in line with the development agreement to
reduce the letter of credit as work is completed. And once it's accepted um so
the public improvements haven't been accepted at that point, then that's when
the one-year warranty would begin. >> Okay. Thank you. Questions or comments
from olders?
» Hearing [snorts] none. All in favor say I.
» I. And any opposed? None opposed. That motion carries. I
would entertain a motion to adjurnn. So vote. Motion by Jensen. Is there a
second? >> Second.
» Who was that? >> I think it was Nino.
» Uh second by all the person Nino. All in favor say I.
» I. >> And any opposed? That motion carries.
We're adjourned. Thank you. Yay.