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Okay, we're going to call the meeting to
order for the regular regular meeting of

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the common council Tuesday, August 25th,
6:30 p.m. And we'll begin with roll call

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and pledge of allegiance. Seth
>> here.

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» AJ
>> here.

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» Todd Kirkin
>> here.

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» Kyle
>> here.

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» Todd Spaith
>> here.

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» Cindy
>> here.

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» John
>> here.

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» Tanya
>> here.

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» Steve
>> here. and Christa

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» here.

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» America to the republic which stands one
nation under God indivisible with

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liberty and justice for all.

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Item two, approval of the August 18th,
2026 regular council minutes.

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» This is Tanya of approval. Oh, but I do
have a question.

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» Sure.
>> AJ, I'll second.

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» So, we have a motion and a second.
Tanya, question.

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Just uh for a point of clarification on
number nine, it says we were approved

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for the vibrant spaces grant and there
was some confusion on this last time

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and I just were were we approved and if
so great and if not if it was a pre

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approval or a like I just want it worded
correctly so if you're comfortable with

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what's in here. We were they we sent in
a preapp they responded that it had been

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we are welcome to send in the
application which pretty much usually

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means you've you've got it but and then
if then they would have held the 50,000

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for us like I said now the the audit
when it's done they'll hold that 50 for

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us so no we're not approved officially
yet

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» because you should that have to have
council approval to

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» yeah we have to have a resolution that's
plan should

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» that say preapproved
>> I think be clearer That's all.

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» Okay. Thanks. That's it.
>> So, we'll update that to say

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pre-approved. And we've got a motion and
a second. All in favor?

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» I.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries. Item three,

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council announcements.
Does anybody have anything to share?

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» This is Steve. Happy first day of
school.

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» Let's go.

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» That was what I was going to share.
Wait.

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» Good.
>> Anyone else have anything?

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All right, then we will move forward.
So, we have um we're going to go into

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the first period for public comment. If
you have just come in, there is a a

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clipboard going around with a pen and
there are three public comment periods

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tonight. This first period for public
comment is going to be for items 5

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through 13 on the agenda. So, if you
want to make any comments on any of

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those items, this first period is the
time to come up and make your statement.

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Um, if you are here to speak on item 14,
which is the public school tax bill

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transparency or on the presentation on
the resolution opposing the Marbel 765

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kilovolt project, um, there are two
different boxes on there with those

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agenda items on there. So, feel free to
sign up ahead of time. If you don't sign

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up, that doesn't mean that you can't
speak. It's just um we'll go in order of

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who's on the list and then add people
in. So the first period for public

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comment um if you want to make a public
comment either online or in person, you

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will come up to the podium and state
your name, your address, and you'll have

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three minutes for comment. And Sarah, if
anybody is online and wants to make a

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public comment, raise your hand and she
will help you unmute.

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Aaron Parker, uh, Lincoln Avenue. Uh, I
have, uh, two comments. One is um uh at

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the um
uh public safety meeting earlier, it was

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stated that the uh that the uh old city
hall property is too small for a

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building.
Um I'd just like to point out that uh of

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the historic buildings in downtown that
wouldn't fit on that site,

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uh there are only three. The opera
house, the Fortney, and the Temple

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Theater. all the rest of the buildings
in downtown would fit on that property.

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Um,
if you want what won't fit on the

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property, a Walmart won't fit, a
McDonald's with a drive-thru won't fit,

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and I think that's for the better. Uh,
my other comment is, uh, as part of the

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comprehensive plan, the city of Veroa
undertook a separate historic

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preservation plan. Now that the plan has
been approved, we can begin the long

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work of shaping and building uh a future
that allows

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that also recognizes
uh our history.

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uh Jason Tish, the senior officer uh at
the state historic preservation off uh

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office who incidentally nominated
nominated the city of Veroa for the

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excellence as best historic preservation
commission in the nation for which we

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were selected uh has written to Cindy
Hubard and me saying quote if the city

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would like to apply for a grant to do a
full survey of the city I would

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encourage it. There was a reconnaissance
survey done in 2001, but it looks uh but

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it looks like it was just a windshield
survey with minimum research, and we

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like to see surveys updated every 25
years. I endorse his recommendation.

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Historic preservation in the US is a
very recent thing. It was begun in

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response to the demolition of New York
City's Pennsylvania Station in the late

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1960s.
I've been involved with historic

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preservation for nearly 50 years. All
the work that I've been involved with

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has had the effect of saving or
preserving or restoring or sensitively

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renovating notable historic structures
and/or places. Preserving these places

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allows people to experience these places
with their own senses. That experience

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places them in space and time and offers
insight into whom we are and the society

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of which we are apart. In order to
actually know what places and structures

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are of value, the city must undertake a
thoughtful, well-measured and informed

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historical survey of the city. In that
way, we will be able to protect our

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heritage and be better able to access
our own local history. If we don't do

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so,
we will be at the um we'll be making

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decisions based on the economic and
political pressures of the moment. Thank

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you.
>> Thank you, Aaron.

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Chapter call 609 South Rock Avenue.
Um

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the comment just made
refers to the possibility that we have

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as a council and as a community to
consider

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the next 20 years in terms of the
comprehensive plan that's been approved.

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Uh,
and I think as we consider the next 20

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years, we have to think strategically in
the moment that we're in right now. And

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that means having a long-term
perspective on what

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the corner lot represents in terms of
the aesthetic value uh of green space

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versus the possibility of using that
land for income and tax revenue going

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forward. Having said that, there are
some safety issues I think that haven't

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been brought up. One being the amount of
diesel exhaust that happens on that

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corner every day. And we say young
people shouldn't be in that park, but we

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have uh a very mobile young young
generation now with the scooters and uh

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electric bikes. And I see them all the
time down there in that corner and

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they're exposed to diesel exhaust.
They're carcinogenic

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and dangerous. And I think uh we need to
take consideration of the air quality in

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that location.
Beyond that, I'd like you to consider

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if we're going to commit to the park
that we have a hard and fast number of

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the cost,
which I haven't seen yet.

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So,
uh, I don't like going into open-ended

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projects where we don't know what the
final cost is going to be. And I would

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encourage you to get a final number
before you make your final decision.

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» Thank you.
>> Thank you, Chuck.

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» Is there anybody online that would like
to make a public comment? If you do, you

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can unmute or raise your hand.

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Okay, so that is the end of first period
for public comment. We'll move to item

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five, review and approval of alcohol
agent change for Aldi and that's coming

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from public safety.
Okay, public safety just met tonight and

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there was a change with the agent for
the alcohol for Aldi. The name of the

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new agent is Andrew Van Olstein. The
reason that they're making this change

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is that the previous agent that they did
have had moved to another location. Um,

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all background checks and stuff have
come through. So, um, public safety sent

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it forward with their approval. Just
looking for your guys' approval to, um,

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change this on their license.
I'll make a motion to approve the

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alcohol agent change for Aldi.
>> Kyle, I'll second it.

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» Motion by Tanya, second by Kyle. Any
further discussion? All in favor?

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» I.
>> Any opposed?

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Motion carries. Item six, discussion
with possible action on class A beer

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license for Kikapoo Hospitality LLC
doing business as American from public

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safety.
>> Again, this was at public safety this

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evening. This is um a license that
they've had in the past at the American

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when when it was Vernon in. They want to
be able to have serve beer basically on

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a to- go basis. It's kind of like if you
went to a quick trip and whatever and

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wanted to pick up a beer if you're at a
hotel. Some hotels have this. Um the

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alcohol would be stored in a locked
laundry and storage room and it would be

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purchased at the front desk if you're at
the at the hotel. So everything is in

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order in regards to their agent has
already has a license. Um public safety

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approved forwarding this to you with
their approval. So, I'm just looking for

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your approval to move forward with this
license application.

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» Make approval to approve the class A
beer license for Kikapoo Hospitality

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LLC.

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» Steve, I'll second.
>> Motion by Tanya, second by Steve. Any

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further discussion?
All in favor say I.

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» Any opposed? Motion carries. Item seven,
operator license approvals from public

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safety.
>> Okay, I have several of them for

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Walgreens and I'm just gonna state their
names. So, Zachariah Bordon, Deborah

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Shepard, Maya Campbell, Rebecca Nelson,
Debbie Keance, and Steven Wedwick. Um,

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and then Gassers has Kendra Balden.
Pizza Hut has Michael Baker, Andrew Van

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Olstein for Aldi. Um, all of these have
gone through their background checks. I

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have one that came in today for Quick
Trip South for Carol Fletcher. So, if

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you approve these, it would be all
pending the background checks. All of

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them other than the last one has been
approved, but you can just make it as um

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making sure that all of them have been
done if you so choose to approve.

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This is Tanya. I'll recommend app or
make a motion to approve CH license

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approve operator license approvals
pending completed background checks.

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» No second.
Motion and a second. Any further

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discussion? All in favor?
>> I.

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» Any opposed? Motion carries. Item eight,
review and approval of changes to the

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fire ordinance, public safety, and this
is the first reading.

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» All right. So last month I brought it to
public safety uh to make a change in our

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ordinance to go from eight fire officers
to nine fire officers.

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And the reason for that is as we grow
and continue the the workload um

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continues to grow that we want to be
able to spread out that that uh amongst

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more people. Uh Josh now was on
full-time obviously as a fire captain

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and so we're looking to replace replace
him as far as um his previous position,

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but we would like to also add another.
So that was the main reason for bringing

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the ordinance in front of them in the
first place. Uh, as George and Steph

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went through it, they determined that if
we're going to make one change, we might

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as well make any other obvious changes
to the ordinance that either does not

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that needs some adjustments either be it
punctuation, um, capitalization,

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um, better way to word it. U, they went
through all that. Um, but the main

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change is again that going from eight
fire officers to nine fire officers. As

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far as budget, I could talk about that a
little bit. Uh, as far as budget, um, it

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won't affect it a lot. Um, because we're
still only covering a certain amount of

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weekends, you know, those types of
things. Um, and then obviously Josh is

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not getting that that stipened or
whatever. So, you know, we can we can

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move that to a different location. So,
the benefits definitely outweigh the the

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minimal cost that we may see. Um the
other changes I guess that that uh I

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want to bring up is um uh is it three uh
number three on there? Um it was uh it

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talked about
where the firefighters had to live and

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state ordinance or state uh law was put
into place quite a few years ago now of

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where it limited the ability for
the city in this case to um how much

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they could limit that that piece of it
where they had to live. So, um, George

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adjusted that to make it make more sense
and it puts it more on the fire chief to

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determine what works for the city when
we're hiring and working working through

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00:16:03,279 --> 00:16:07,920
that or whatever, what our response
needs are, what their position might be

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with the department, um, and so on and
so forth. So, the other pieces it did

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talk about the fire chief and the
assistant chief. So, that's section C

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there. And that used to require being
within 2 miles both day and night uh

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majority of their time so on and so
forth. So again completely opposite of

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what the state law um said you could do.
So he changed it to fit what that state

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law allows. So again changes mainly due
to um updates and then obviously that 8

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to9. So questions, thoughts, concerns.

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» I'd second that.
>> Push your button, too. John,

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» they add that to the motion.
>> Okay, I'll wave the second reading.

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» I'd second that.
>> All right, so we have a motion and a

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00:17:08,799 --> 00:17:15,039
second. Any further discussion?
>> I just appreciate that you're getting

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this updated. It's important to update
ordinances

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» when you can because

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» All right. All in favor?
>> I

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» I.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries.

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» That's going to be ordinance 26 002.

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» Thank you, Lori.
We'll move on to item nine, review and

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approval of pay request number 10 for
Hansen Farm Project Public Works.

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Okay.

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00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:58,919
So, we're looking at a current payment
for this pay request of 51,818.88.

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00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:10,320
Um there's a lot of stuff all over the
place. They're just finishing up a lot

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of what's making it look like a new area
to be. Uh so a lot of road work, um

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curbon gutter and finishing up some of
the the loose ends, so to speak, of

211
00:18:19,679 --> 00:18:28,559
things that weren't done before, like
some um sanitary sewer televising, some

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00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:32,160
storm water pipe. Um
yeah, I'm trying to be concise. So, if

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00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:36,400
anybody has anything that they want to
ask about, please do. But everything's

214
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:40,799
making sense. Um, we did have a few
things where like we have a certain

215
00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:45,520
category that repeats itself throughout
the pay request. And so, some of those,

216
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:49,120
like for example, is this number 74 is a
good one where it actually should have

217
00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:54,880
been distributed better throughout those
other ones. Um, but we've done the math

218
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:59,840
and recorded it and they are on par for
what they should be using.

219
00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:04,240
So, that's about it. Unless anybody has
specific questions, this did get

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00:19:01,679 --> 00:19:08,480
approved at public works and brought
forward.

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00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:12,640
» I'll make a motion we approve the uh
Hansen Farm project pay request number

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00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:17,520
10
>> for $51,810.

223
00:19:15,679 --> 00:19:20,720
And is that 88?
>> Correct. Yeah. Sorry.

224
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:24,880
How did
>> I second the motion?

225
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:28,160
» Motion and a second. Can we please have
a roll call?

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00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,360
Todd Spaith.
>> Hi

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00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,200
» Cindy.
>> Hi

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00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:32,960
» John.
>> Hi

229
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,240
» Tanya.
>> Hi

230
00:19:33,679 --> 00:19:35,440
» Steve.
>> Hi

231
00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:36,720
» Seth.
>> Hi

232
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,000
» AJ.
>> Hi

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00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:39,120
» Ty Kerin.
>> Hi

234
00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:42,640
» and Kyle.
>> Hi.

235
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:50,280
» Moving on to item 10. Review and
approval of pay request number nine for

236
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:50,280
center avenue project from public works.

237
00:19:53,679 --> 00:19:57,400
I will say that

238
00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:09,039
the best news I've heard in months
very

239
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:12,799
like I'm so here
like

240
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:18,799
but they everybody's sympathetic and
things should be really quickly now. Um,

241
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:21,799
nonetheless, uh, current payment due is
39,2641.

242
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:29,520
And this pay request is got items all
over the place because as you can see,

243
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:32,960
things are happening all over the place.
We're having some road stuff being

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00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:36,679
built. We got a lot of curbing gutter
going on, but we're still

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00:20:40,159 --> 00:20:48,799
also our store material. So, you always
see this this odd number in the corner

246
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:54,919
here where we have
one which is actually material and then

247
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:54,919
a deduction.

248
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:20,919
» This is Todd. I move approval for pay
request number nine for the Center

249
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,919
Avenue project for $39,264.71

250
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:31,120
» motion and a second. Any further
discussion? Sarah, thank you for

251
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:37,320
managing all those moving parts.
>> Oh, and I apologize. I just got to note

252
00:21:33,039 --> 00:21:37,320
that I did not press my button.

253
00:21:37,679 --> 00:21:41,280
» All right. Motion and a second. Roll
call, please.

254
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:44,000
» Cindy,
>> I.

255
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,280
» John. Hi
>> Tanya.

256
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,640
» Hi
>> Steve.

257
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,000
» Hi
>> Seth.

258
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:49,120
» Hi
>> AJ.

259
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,480
» Hi
>> Todd Kirky.

260
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:51,440
» Hi
>> Kyle.

261
00:21:51,039 --> 00:21:55,400
» Hi
>> and Todd Spaith.

262
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,400
» Hi.

263
00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:03,039
» Item 11, review and approval of change
order number nine, the Veroa Welcome

264
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,960
Center. I can take that one.
>> Thank you Cindy.

265
00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:09,760
» Yep.
>> If you wondering.

266
00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:13,840
» Yes.
It's specific to an extension of time

267
00:22:11,919 --> 00:22:17,520
for the sake of final decisions on a
series of details for sake of

268
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:21,919
completion. Amongst these are details of
a list of owner provided contractor to

269
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:26,480
install items. In other words, we hadn't
ordered the bathroom fixtures yet.

270
00:22:23,919 --> 00:22:30,320
That's what that's about. So, we were
waiting to make sure that we had the

271
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:35,520
funds and everything was, you know, in
line that way. So, now we will order

272
00:22:32,559 --> 00:22:39,280
them promptly. So, that that's big the
substantial completion date. We need to

273
00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:45,559
have the bathrooms ADA compliant. the
building ADA compliant. So that was the

274
00:22:42,159 --> 00:22:45,559
big hold up.

275
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,840
» Yeah.
>> It's very exciting.

276
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,320
» I'll make a motion that we approve the
change order number nine for the Veroko

277
00:22:55,440 --> 00:23:01,360
Welcome Center.
>> I'll second

278
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:03,679
a motion and a second. All in favor? Do
we need a roll call and a change order

279
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,400
for that? If it's not
>> There's no money involved in this. This

280
00:23:05,039 --> 00:23:13,440
is just changing so you don't hear.
>> Yeah. All in favor say I. I

281
00:23:09,679 --> 00:23:17,919
» any opposed? Motion carries. Moving on
to item 12, discussion with possible

282
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:22,480
action on the revised agreement with
town and country for survey work from

283
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:27,280
public works.
Okay, so you have all seen this before

284
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:33,039
um previously.
What was different is this line here

285
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:37,679
where it said the sanitary sewer survey
that I would be doing the survey work

286
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:42,400
which would save us $6,000 which is
absolutely wonderful when I have the

287
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:46,559
available time. Um but there's been a
few things coming forward that I'm

288
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:50,400
really wanting to get this interceptor
study done sooner than later and I don't

289
00:23:49,039 --> 00:23:55,039
want to be the reason it's not getting
done because I have lots of other things

290
00:23:52,159 --> 00:23:59,679
to do. Um so I'll be doing surveying but
maybe for the park and not for the

291
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:02,960
sewer. So um this is actually was
approved at public works and at that

292
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:09,120
time the work was just being done that
day. So it's this is uh in retrospect

293
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:15,880
here but the the contract amount is
going to go up by that 6,000. So that

294
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:15,880
was this 23500.

295
00:24:15,919 --> 00:24:22,080
So
looking for approval to approve that

296
00:24:20,799 --> 00:24:25,679
even though it's
>> already

297
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:29,679
» already done.
>> Okay. I make a motion we approve the

298
00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:34,720
town and country revised agreement for
survey work for was it?

299
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,640
» It would be like an additional 6,000.
>> Additional 6,000

300
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:41,600
» on that. Yeah.
>> I'll second that.

301
00:24:37,919 --> 00:24:46,320
» Motion by Cindy, second by Kyle. All in
favor? Actually, we need a roll call for

302
00:24:43,679 --> 00:24:49,120
that. Thank you, Lori.
>> John.

303
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,400
» Hi,
>> Tanya.

304
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:51,840
» Hi,
>> Steve.

305
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,120
» Hi,
>> Seth.

306
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:54,080
» Hi,
>> AJ.

307
00:24:53,679 --> 00:24:55,360
» Hi,
>> Ty Kirky.

308
00:24:54,799 --> 00:24:56,640
» Hi,
>> Kyle.

309
00:24:55,919 --> 00:24:57,760
» Hi,
>> Todd Spade.

310
00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:00,559
» Hi,
>> and Cindy.

311
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:06,080
» Hi.
>> Item 13, discussion with possible action

312
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:11,360
on old city hall site plan from public
safety.

313
00:25:08,799 --> 00:25:15,039
» Okay. Uh, I realized last week that I
did not do a good job, I think, of

314
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:19,840
explaining how we got where we are,
where we are now. Um, so I don't think

315
00:25:17,919 --> 00:25:25,440
we need to go over the history of the
site, unless anybody wants us to. Um, I

316
00:25:23,279 --> 00:25:30,960
think we all are well aware of the old
city hall getting why it had to be torn

317
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:34,880
down. We tried to RFB to get the
building fixed, but we got one person

318
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:40,880
and we weren't comfortable or satisfied
that that would f solve the situation.

319
00:25:38,159 --> 00:25:48,240
So, as Todd Spaith uh mentioned last
week, we did took RFB out for the site

320
00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:52,159
and got no one. Um, when HPC designated
it as a local or request nominated to be

321
00:25:50,559 --> 00:25:57,120
designated as a local site, they
suggested it be a park because of the

322
00:25:54,720 --> 00:26:02,799
historic significance of it and because
it could be a gateway, an entrance to

323
00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:08,880
our historic downtown. So, that was what
happened there. um WEDC, Wisconsin

324
00:26:05,919 --> 00:26:14,400
Economic Development Corporation. They
uh gave us a landscape designer or

325
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:19,760
architect to work with. I think he was
officially a landscape designer. I'm not

326
00:26:16,159 --> 00:26:23,520
sure. Um and we formed a design team
which you've seen all those names

327
00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:28,240
before. We had a wide variety. Library,
chamber, tourism, uh historical society.

328
00:26:27,039 --> 00:26:33,360
» It wasn't trick. You want me to
>> Yeah, that's Yeah, that's okay. Um so

329
00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:38,799
you saw that. I don't want to go over
every thing I didn't I covered. Um, and

330
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:42,720
that gave us a good idea of things that
would work, wouldn't work, and kind of

331
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:49,200
an idea of the budget. Then we got busy
with the U comp plan 2025 and pretty

332
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:54,720
much took it to the end of the year.
Then we heard that Vibrant Spaces had

333
00:26:51,360 --> 00:27:00,400
money left over. And so in February of
2026, we put a preapp in for that

334
00:26:58,159 --> 00:27:06,320
vibrant spaces grant based on that old
concept plan. Uh Mark Tolman, the

335
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:11,679
Lacrosse Regional Director of Wisconsin
Economic Development Corporation, uh got

336
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:15,919
back to Nate and I and said that it's a
great location for it. Uh this is what

337
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:19,679
the the kind of thing we're looking for,
but there are some things we need to see

338
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:23,919
in order for it to qualify to get the
Vibrant spaces grant. And being that

339
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:28,880
they're of the Wisconsin economic
development, they want to see something

340
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:35,760
put there that's going to lead to more
economic development or lead help our

341
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:41,600
economy, right? And the idea was that
this is a spot that can be the entrance,

342
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:47,600
like I said, to our downtown. I wanted
to point out that safety is always a

343
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:53,520
concern in our mind and the cost was
always a concern in our mind. As we met

344
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:56,880
with our landscape architect, um we did
um

345
00:27:55,120 --> 00:28:01,200
interview three different architects for
the plan. They were people that had done

346
00:27:59,039 --> 00:28:04,960
park and wreck planning. So that's how
we happened to pick those three people

347
00:28:02,559 --> 00:28:09,360
that had been recommended by Kale. I
believe Kale had heard of them and knew

348
00:28:06,799 --> 00:28:15,600
of them. And Kale's going to chime in
when he feels need to. Um

349
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:20,399
and then also Wisconsin Economic
Development Corporation does know

350
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:25,600
Veroqua. I wanted to point that out and
they are very familiar with that corner

351
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:32,000
and are interested in what goes on
there. So um we worked with Blake Thson

352
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:38,080
I think that's how you pronounce it or
the now I can't remember which it was.

353
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:42,960
Um if you want to go to Yeah. the site
the concept planned please. Well, I

354
00:28:41,279 --> 00:28:48,080
could I don't know if I need to go over
this again. Historic preservation. We

355
00:28:44,799 --> 00:28:51,760
wanted to point out historic site with
uh interpretive signs that can be

356
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:56,159
changed so that it's not going to be the
same history forever. It's going to be

357
00:28:53,600 --> 00:29:00,080
other people can put artwork in or they
can put the historical society can put

358
00:28:58,159 --> 00:29:05,679
stuff in there. You know, it's a
library. It's we'll you know, it's

359
00:29:02,559 --> 00:29:09,919
open-ended. Um tourism because there'll
be wayfinding

360
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:13,679
uh signage. uh Chad Burus recommend or
not recommend but mentioned to me that

361
00:29:11,919 --> 00:29:17,679
when they go to a town they often stop
at places like this kind of get a

362
00:29:15,919 --> 00:29:22,240
feeling for you know what's where should
I go from here kind of thing and this

363
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:26,480
would point them to the welcome center
would point them to the library and and

364
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:31,520
point them to our historic downtown of
course uh it would serve as a gateway to

365
00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:35,520
the historic downtown by some of the
things I'm going to uh mention and

366
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:38,240
definitely is going to make the site
more beautiful than it is now

367
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:42,399
beautifification
which definitely helps when they come

368
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:46,559
into town and their first impression,
you know, would be something really

369
00:29:43,919 --> 00:29:51,360
attractive rather than this place that
kind of looks neglected.

370
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:55,200
Um, and then the promotion again is
going to be promoting downtown

371
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:59,679
businesses as I'm going to explain soon.
Uh, casual community gathering space,

372
00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:04,080
art, as I mentioned, lighting is the
Ballard lights, uh, picnic tables,

373
00:30:02,159 --> 00:30:08,880
walkways, shade. So, those are the kind
of things that they wanted to see. Also,

374
00:30:07,039 --> 00:30:14,240
um, as far as how is it going to help
the economy develop, they want to see,

375
00:30:12,159 --> 00:30:19,120
uh, programming, and I made the mistake
last week of talking about events, and

376
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:23,360
you're conjuring up, you know, hundreds
of people, and that's not what this is

377
00:30:20,799 --> 00:30:27,840
about. This is about programs where a
business can come down there and we'd

378
00:30:25,919 --> 00:30:31,360
have to pick, you know, decide when is a
good day to do it, when it is a good

379
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:35,440
time to do it, you know, when is the
that all things that can be decided. But

380
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:40,720
they would be able to bring something
that they have that they sell or that

381
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:45,679
they make. U Mark Tolman of WEDC
recommended Utopia. He said they could

382
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:48,799
spin show us how they spin yarn or you
know because they do a lot of stuff and

383
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:52,559
they could say and if you like this
there's a whole bunch more yarn up at

384
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:57,279
our store. That's the idea is to get
people to go into the stores uptown. So

385
00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:02,000
that's how it would help the economy and
tourists of course we want to encourage

386
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:07,679
tourists to stay the night. So that's
heads and beds kind of a thing. Um so

387
00:31:05,679 --> 00:31:11,679
that is I think that is the big thing.
So year round programming is what they

388
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:16,320
want to see. There's no definite number
that I've seen that says you have to do

389
00:31:13,919 --> 00:31:21,760
so many. It's just that we have to make
the effort to do something to bring

390
00:31:18,559 --> 00:31:28,080
people to our downtown. It's part of it.
Um

391
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:32,640
see gateway. See how things I mentioned
the plan itself. You could go to that

392
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:37,600
now. Oh, you could also show the Well,
let's talk about this first. Um,

393
00:31:35,679 --> 00:31:42,880
yeah, I think that we talked the only
thing I think he changed the holiday

394
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:47,279
tree. I don't I think it was AJ
suggested it be moved up farther so it

395
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:53,279
would be more visible from all
directions. Um, Chad Burus recommended

396
00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:57,120
that the two shade trees on the east
end, uh, first we got to make sure

397
00:31:55,519 --> 00:32:02,880
they're in far enough so they're not any
kind of a visual problem. But also um

398
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:07,679
our arborist Wyatt Oldm recommended
river birch, but river birch you can

399
00:32:05,679 --> 00:32:10,880
definitely see through and Chad thought
it might be better to have a tree that

400
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:14,720
you can't see through so much like a
pine tree I mentioned at our last

401
00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:17,679
meeting or at the public safety where
you could have branches all the way to

402
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:23,440
the ground. But these are things that
can be talked about, can be decided. Um,

403
00:32:21,519 --> 00:32:28,399
we're going to do the flower pots there
as another barrier. The burm three to

404
00:32:27,039 --> 00:32:35,360
three and a half feet high in the middle
and then it goes down with as aspen and

405
00:32:31,919 --> 00:32:39,120
that also would proide a barrier. Uh,
historic marker. I pictured the upper

406
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:44,480
right one there to be Moses Decker.
Yeah. But it' be facing in so that

407
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:50,720
people aren't trying to read it as you
drive by. You know, we're trying to

408
00:32:46,159 --> 00:32:54,000
think of all the safety measures we can.
Did you have anything you wanted to add,

409
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:58,240
Kale?
>> No, I think you're spot on right now.

410
00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:01,440
» And we're taking people in. That's
another thing. These sidewalks take

411
00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:06,080
people in. They get them away from the
corner in the street and the business

412
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:10,399
with the picnic tables in there and the
benches and things like that. Food

413
00:33:08,399 --> 00:33:14,960
truck, you know, they would have to make
a reservation and they could charge be

414
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:19,600
charged to use it. It wouldn't be just
free for all.

415
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:24,880
Um, does anybody have any questions
about things like that? Uh, like I said,

416
00:33:22,799 --> 00:33:28,799
safety and cost were what we were
definitely had in mind as we were doing

417
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:33,760
this. What could we afford and what
would be safe at that spot?

418
00:33:31,519 --> 00:33:40,399
» Yeah, like Cindy had mentioned, I think
everybody's kind of thinking special

419
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:48,159
events. This park is not special events.
This is more of a passive park with a

420
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:53,279
few small um tables and probably um a
few um

421
00:33:51,039 --> 00:33:57,039
small events to get people to the main
street. So again, don't think of the

422
00:33:55,440 --> 00:34:01,600
great lawn as we're going to have a
concert there and pack everybody in on

423
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:07,519
the great y lawn and listen to a
concert. That's not what we're going

424
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:12,560
for. It's more passive with um small
tables that people can come up to.

425
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,599
» But we do have to do the year- round
programming.

426
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,480
» Yeah.
>> You know, that's important. That's

427
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:20,079
something they want to see. But like I
said, there's small these are small

428
00:34:18,639 --> 00:34:23,280
events. We're not talking about big
event. I don't want to use the word

429
00:34:21,839 --> 00:34:27,280
event. Small.
>> One thing I just wanted to add to I was

430
00:34:25,119 --> 00:34:35,520
talking to Cindy. Um I just took a trip
around uh Michigan and all these small

431
00:34:30,639 --> 00:34:41,599
towns. um have a gathering space, lots
of them, right on their main drag. Um

432
00:34:38,240 --> 00:34:46,159
you know, just down south of Portage,
Wisconsin. Um I I actually had my wife

433
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:50,480
take a picture. I'm like, "Take a
picture of that because that's what

434
00:34:47,679 --> 00:34:57,599
we're kind of going for." So, as you go
around, you see a lot more green space

435
00:34:54,399 --> 00:35:02,880
in their their communities to get people
there, stop, see what's going on, and

436
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:06,560
get them into town. So, again, that's
what we're trying to do here.

437
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:10,880
» Could you show them an Namin Fall
pictures? This was mentioned last week

438
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:13,839
as a spot that's very similar to ours, a
very busy intersection. This is how it

439
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:18,160
used to look. Well, it looks like
they're starting to work on it when this

440
00:35:15,359 --> 00:35:21,520
picture was taken. And then this is this
is different angle. I'm sorry I couldn't

441
00:35:19,839 --> 00:35:27,599
find one with the same angle, but it
gives you an idea of how nice a spot

442
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:32,560
like that can look.
And it's very successful even though it

443
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:37,520
is at a busy intersection. But like Kale
said, it's not the only example

444
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:40,800
something like that.
Did anybody have any comments before we

445
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:44,960
move on to the budget? Do you have
anything else?

446
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:49,599
Okay. I'm sorry. Last week you got some
incorrect information that I didn't even

447
00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:54,480
realize you had. So, um, we we're going
to give you the correct stuff. This

448
00:35:51,680 --> 00:36:00,640
time, the updated that was old stuff
that we'd been working on.

449
00:35:57,359 --> 00:36:02,800
» Yes, please put the first one up.
>> This one here is the one, the correct

450
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:07,119
one. Yes.
>> Yep.

451
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:12,000
Here. What it shows is the owner soft
cost. We were lucky. The uh Verbecker

452
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:16,000
did a top topographical topographical
topographical survey for only $850 and

453
00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:24,400
we thought it would be much more than
that. Architecture the uh our part

454
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:28,640
architect is charging us 20,400
and he has been very good to work with.

455
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:33,520
I think we all were very pleased with
how fast it all came together once we

456
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:36,800
had you know met with him. Yeah. Can you
break down that 20,000 because I think

457
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:40,240
um
>> now I don't remember how it's broken.

458
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:45,760
» Well, I know that earlier in the
process, wasn't there like we paid for

459
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:49,040
step by step? We haven't paid all of
that for what we see. Is that correct?

460
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:54,000
Or is the 20
>> I'd have to look back

461
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:59,359
» correct. We've only paid 8,000 for the
first if we went through the whole

462
00:36:56,160 --> 00:37:04,160
project with Blake, it would be 20,000,
but we would have to come back to

463
00:37:00,720 --> 00:37:09,520
council to get that approval. That was
at the first council meeting. So, we've

464
00:37:07,359 --> 00:37:14,000
only paid them 8,000 right now.
>> Okay. So, that I think I remember that

465
00:37:11,599 --> 00:37:19,599
number being to get to the final
drawings

466
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:24,640
» through project management and bidding.
>> Thank you.

467
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:28,880
Um construction costs, those are the
78,362.

468
00:37:27,119 --> 00:37:36,640
And then in order for us, you can see
down below TID 6, we um decided in our

469
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:43,119
CIP, we approved 53,500
for the uh old city hall site and the

470
00:37:40,079 --> 00:37:48,880
vibrant spaces is worth 50,000.
So that brings us to 135.

471
00:37:47,119 --> 00:37:53,599
And you can see that there's a lot of
inind costs and what I and before you

472
00:37:51,839 --> 00:37:58,480
have a heart attack about the uh Oh,
that should not be there either. That I

473
00:37:55,359 --> 00:38:02,640
thought that I eliminated that. Yeah. Um
the 48,000

474
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:06,160
a lot of that has to do give you Well,
we can go to the next page.

475
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:12,320
» Yeah. Next page.
>> Yeah. Go to the inind donations.

476
00:38:09,599 --> 00:38:16,560
» Show you how that is because
these are numbers based on what it would

477
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:21,200
cost a contractor to do these things. Um
and the city will be doing some of the

478
00:38:19,119 --> 00:38:26,079
in infrastructure
and then some of the site amenities

479
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:32,800
and then the inind we're hoping to get
the public uh memorial benches, trees,

480
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:39,119
uh the mural
uh and the shade structure. So again, I

481
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:44,800
would say that the 145 is high for
putting that gray plastic thing around

482
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:52,480
there and the de demolition of the
parking lot

483
00:38:47,839 --> 00:38:57,359
and uh some top soil and then the lawn,
the burm trees. Again, the trees are

484
00:38:55,440 --> 00:39:02,079
just listed at 400 because those are
things that will be added. So we have

485
00:38:59,839 --> 00:39:06,960
not do not had a definite figure on that
one. outcropping stones as we find as

486
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:12,480
the city finds those big stones they can
put those on the burm uh picnic tables

487
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:18,160
kale thought that they could come out of
park and wreck budget uh signage is

488
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:24,079
split with the uh some of the money is
coming from the in the 78,000 figure and

489
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:30,000
some is coming from the city planner
pods we already have you want to add

490
00:39:27,359 --> 00:39:33,680
anything to that
uh about the city stuff or Maybe Sarah,

491
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:39,200
I don't know.
>> No, like I told Cindy, like we're we're

492
00:39:36,079 --> 00:39:45,040
currently trying to update some benches
and picnic tables throughout the other

493
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:52,240
parks. So, as we do that, um there's
maybe opportunities that we get a picnic

494
00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:56,560
table for that park as we would for all
the other parks as well. So,

495
00:39:54,640 --> 00:40:00,960
» as far as the trees, I have at least
four people that have already come

496
00:39:57,839 --> 00:40:06,240
forward wanting to donate trees. So, uh
I remember our mayor J Justin wanted to

497
00:40:03,599 --> 00:40:11,040
donate trees and uh several other people
have come forward. So, I don't think

498
00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:17,280
this def and we like we said we do it as
we go but it'll be we have an arborist

499
00:40:13,599 --> 00:40:21,440
so we'll do it right. Um the mural
that's another thing that we can do then

500
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:24,400
we want to be part of the mural walk but
again that doesn't have to be done right

501
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:28,640
away.
So

502
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:35,839
this is if you go back to the other ones
and really Yeah question.

503
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:42,640
» So are those numbers labor costs or
>> the 145 and the 153 were numbers from

504
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:46,079
the um our architect
for it be what the contractor what he

505
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:50,240
estimated would cost charge
>> but the but it's in kind city cost. So

506
00:40:48,240 --> 00:40:56,319
is it inind city like so that's coming
out of somebody's budget.

507
00:40:53,440 --> 00:41:01,599
Um, so I'm curious or and is it
including labor or is it just for um

508
00:41:00,319 --> 00:41:04,160
what's the word I'm trying to come up
with the things?

509
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:08,079
» Well, I think it's going to be less
number one. But

510
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:12,240
» so
like demo of the parking lot is just us

511
00:41:10,079 --> 00:41:16,480
using our equipment and our our crew
that already exists, right? So it's not

512
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:21,280
necessarily
the gas or something like that that we

513
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:25,119
would spend on a typical day. the
erosion control. We would need to buy

514
00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:31,440
some of those materials, but it's not
14,500. So, she's she's taken that

515
00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:37,119
number out of the original architect's
like line items budget, right? So, for

516
00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:41,920
for the contractor to do it, it's
14,500, but for us, it's usually a

517
00:41:40,079 --> 00:41:44,880
fraction of that, right? Because we're
paying for

518
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:48,800
» So, it's things that we already have.
So, we're not buying something and then

519
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:53,040
it's labor. We would buy We don't have
to buy top soil, but we do have to buy

520
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:55,839
that erosion control fencing, but I
mean, it's a fraction of that.

521
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,400
» 14,000.
>> I understand that.

522
00:41:56,400 --> 00:42:01,920
» It's not going to cost us $8,000 to
demolish that the old parking lot and

523
00:42:00,720 --> 00:42:06,160
the
>> and the if we paid someone to do it, but

524
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:07,920
yeah, in house, it's just work we're
doing.

525
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:12,720
» Yeah, that's the kind of stuff.
>> And the site amenities. I heard Kale,

526
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:16,960
you say you're you're buying new picnic
tables for other spots and you'd also

527
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:20,000
buy them for this site or you're going
to move.

528
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:23,520
» We could look to do that. Yes. As we
rotate

529
00:42:21,599 --> 00:42:28,640
» or maybe somebody would want to donate,
you know, money for picnic tables, too.

530
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:31,920
» Yep. So, if we don't have donations,
where's the money coming from?

531
00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:35,280
» Well, that's what we don't have to do it
all at once. I don't think that

532
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:39,680
» that doesn't answer my question. Is this
a park and racks budget item? Is this a

533
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:44,560
public work item?
>> What What exactly are you talking about?

534
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:48,040
» Because if we
>> Let me start over.

535
00:42:48,240 --> 00:42:54,160
» I don't care what the number is. It's
going to be something. We're going to

536
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:59,040
spend some money. You're telling me
those numbers are a little high, but

537
00:42:56,079 --> 00:43:05,839
there's going to be a number there.
>> Where is that money coming from? Whose

538
00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:09,839
budget is it coming from?
Why is this a hard help me am I asking a

539
00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:12,480
question that doesn't make sense to
other people?

540
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:15,839
» No, you're
>> Thank you.

541
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:19,680
» Can I
have it set

542
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:27,440
where it's coming and the 153 are what
are listed as estimates for contracted

543
00:43:23,839 --> 00:43:31,920
work that are being suggested could
actually happen inhouse from the city.

544
00:43:29,839 --> 00:43:38,240
So that's the top one. I think we all
got that you're saying. So what how do

545
00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:40,720
we get to the added up cost of what
those will cost?

546
00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:45,280
» Nope. Let me start over.
>> Okay.

547
00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:49,839
» Whose budget does any cost come out of?
Whose budget is paying for any cost that

548
00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:54,160
ends up being incurred?
>> It it looks to me like on that top

549
00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:59,680
infrastructure sess section would come
out of hers. What what materials they

550
00:43:56,880 --> 00:44:03,440
use and gas things like that. Picnic
tables would come it would come out of

551
00:44:01,119 --> 00:44:05,680
multiple departments. It looks like
>> picnic tables would come out of park and

552
00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:10,160
wreck.
>> So our wages and the gas and everything

553
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:13,599
like that would come out of street and
we haven't had the conversation of who

554
00:44:11,839 --> 00:44:18,000
is actually buying the erosion control
fence. I don't know that yet that didn't

555
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:23,520
have that conversation. I mean, we have
a budget meeting tomorrow

556
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:29,680
and the next day and we will have to
allocate even if even if the total cost

557
00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:32,480
ends up being $5,000 or $10,000, it's
got to come from somewhere, right?

558
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:34,640
» Yeah.
>> So,

559
00:44:33,119 --> 00:44:39,280
» it sounds like multiple.
>> If somebody wants money to pay for these

560
00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:44,079
things next year,
I would encourage you to tell me or Todd

561
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:47,200
or any of the people on the budget
committee where you think that money is

562
00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:50,960
coming from. So, you're only talking
about the top two, right? Because the

563
00:44:49,359 --> 00:44:53,520
bottom ones is plain. We're talking
about

564
00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:57,040
» I'm talking about any any money that's
coming from the city. And we are just

565
00:44:54,960 --> 00:45:00,960
happen to be on this page right now. I
haven't gotten a solid answer for the

566
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:06,720
» kind public would be coming from the
public.

567
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:09,760
» And if we don't get those donations,
>> well, we

568
00:45:07,359 --> 00:45:12,960
» then we just won't do them. We will wait
till we get I don't think you'll have a

569
00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:19,680
problem getting the trees and the
memorial benches but and the mural can

570
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:25,520
be put off the shade structure you know
right Tanya I agree with what you're

571
00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:32,079
saying because I'm on the budget team as
well that in order to make decisions for

572
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:36,960
how we're allocating money for next year
we need more detail. Is that what you're

573
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:40,720
asking?
Uh uh I have a hard time approving

574
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:45,520
something that I don't understand how
we're paying for it. I'll be honest with

575
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:48,800
you. So we could start with that
question.

576
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:53,440
» Um
can we hold that question for for a

577
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:58,480
moment? So
to zoom out a little bit, the design

578
00:45:56,319 --> 00:46:03,599
that we're seeing is a schematic design.
It's still only in the first phase of

579
00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:09,839
design and the estimated numbers are
based on what we're seeing there. So,

580
00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:14,720
um, when we approved to have this design
done, we said we were only going to go

581
00:46:12,079 --> 00:46:21,119
forward with the schematic design to get
to a place where we knew it would

582
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:26,960
either maybe happen or not happen. And
that's where we're at today. Some of

583
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:32,720
that was we had to have a design to get
approved or to actually apply to the

584
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:38,240
grant, which now we know we have a
pre-approval waiting on an audit. that's

585
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:45,720
almost done. Um that came from public
safety

586
00:46:39,839 --> 00:46:45,720
last one hour ago. Um

587
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:56,319
so
the appro any action taken tonight is

588
00:46:52,160 --> 00:47:03,280
not to finalize a design or finalize the
acceptance of the whole project. I think

589
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:10,640
it is to continue to the next step. But
I want Cindy to clarify that of what is

590
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:16,160
the next step and what do we actually
need to walk away from so we have

591
00:47:13,119 --> 00:47:18,800
numbers for budget or next steps to get
those numbers.

592
00:47:17,359 --> 00:47:21,440
» Does that
>> Sure.

593
00:47:19,359 --> 00:47:27,440
» Yeah. It sounds like I need to meet with
Sarah and Kale and we can talk about

594
00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:31,599
these numbers. Um because in two weeks
we hope to have the resolution. the

595
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:38,240
resolution has to be attached for the
application. So, does it have to exactly

596
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:41,520
be the way it's on there once we turn
hand in the application? No. My

597
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:48,640
understanding is does not, but it can't
be any major major changes either. It be

598
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:53,760
my understanding. So, so I think I see
us closer than maybe you see us.

599
00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:57,920
» I think we're closer. I think we also
will probably end up needing to come

600
00:47:55,520 --> 00:48:04,160
back with a resolution
>> that you're suggesting and also the um

601
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:07,760
next phase of design.
>> Excuse me, ma'am. No, please.

602
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:13,520
» On the agenda because it was a
furthering of our public safety and all

603
00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:17,760
this was supposed to do was cover that
we went through the chief of police,

604
00:48:15,839 --> 00:48:21,760
went through the chief of fire. They
don't see any issues with this plan

605
00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:26,880
moving forward. And that's all this
agenda item was. It wasn't to talk

606
00:48:24,559 --> 00:48:31,520
budgets. It wasn't to do any of that. It
was to say that we approved it from

607
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:34,400
public safety that everything looks to
move forward.

608
00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:39,760
» That's not my understanding. Thank you,
Seth. But my understanding is that

609
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:43,920
whatever was the agenda item last week,
we were going to public safety get

610
00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:48,000
public safety concerns answered and then
it was coming back to us for that same

611
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:51,440
line agenda item that was on the agenda
last week.

612
00:48:49,119 --> 00:48:54,960
» If that did not include talking about
the budget, then I don't know why we

613
00:48:53,920 --> 00:49:00,079
were talking about it today.
>> No, no, it it should have last week.

614
00:48:57,680 --> 00:49:05,200
I think it's all of those things that
the budget was on the um council packet

615
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:09,920
last week, but we didn't
>> it had incorrect things in it

616
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:13,440
» and we didn't get into that part of it
at the discussion last time because we

617
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:16,960
also
sent it to public safety. That's what

618
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:24,079
came out.
>> And yes, it did. Um Seth's comment of it

619
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:28,559
coming back here tonight. I just looked
at the agenda item

620
00:49:27,119 --> 00:49:34,319
context to that too.
>> Well, I mean it was what we were

621
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:38,480
» discussing as the concerns arose of
traffic and vehicles having an issue

622
00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:44,720
with
>> extra eyes on a spot and what the

623
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:51,599
concern is with safety measures to
maintain separation. And through what we

624
00:49:48,559 --> 00:49:56,160
discussed in public safety, through what
both chiefs presented, we have to

625
00:49:54,079 --> 00:50:00,400
obviously take concerns about what trees
and what plants go in there. But there

626
00:49:58,720 --> 00:50:05,920
wasn't anything that come out of public
safety that said we need to stop this

627
00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:10,800
process. It's
all I had hoped we were covering, but I

628
00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:16,880
wasn't here last week either. So,
>> does anyone else from public safety want

629
00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:21,559
to add anything from their
comments or the meeting outcome?

630
00:50:22,559 --> 00:50:29,119
» Yeah, I'll just say so I, you know, I
was a loud voice last council meeting

631
00:50:27,359 --> 00:50:32,960
about concerns around safety in
particular for pedestrians and

632
00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:39,359
representing someone who has a family of
pedestrians. Um,

633
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:43,920
I was impressed with how thoughtful both
chiefs were and listening to the

634
00:50:41,599 --> 00:50:47,359
concerns and how Cindy has laid back out
how safety has been a concern

635
00:50:45,359 --> 00:50:51,839
throughout. So, I will say that I voted
in favor of moving it back out of the

636
00:50:50,240 --> 00:50:57,119
public safety committee and back to this
body um, in great part because everyone

637
00:50:55,440 --> 00:51:01,200
was demonstrating thoughtfulness and
listening and concern and I would expect

638
00:50:59,599 --> 00:51:05,920
we would do the same as the project
unfolds. That's my summary. Yeah, there

639
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:13,200
was also
uh comments made as the project unfolds.

640
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:17,280
It's like we're not going to keep the
chiefs out of those decisions made.

641
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:21,680
We're going to include them in whatever
changes. I think I understand also we

642
00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:25,440
didn't talk about budgets and public
safety, right? That we are now. And

643
00:51:24,079 --> 00:51:30,960
there you do have a line on here that
says expenses, revenue, and then you you

644
00:51:27,599 --> 00:51:36,880
say there's savings just below like move
that up a little bit.

645
00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:39,920
» It's on there. So,
right. But I guess what I'm saying is

646
00:51:38,240 --> 00:51:45,520
like if you're already accounting for
savings and you don't have money in hand

647
00:51:42,559 --> 00:51:51,280
from donations, it does raise questions
of where does the money come from?

648
00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:56,319
That's I I that's why I sit with Tanya
in this discussion because

649
00:51:54,240 --> 00:52:00,400
um
budgets are real and you can't just say

650
00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:05,359
oh it's going to be donated everything's
going to be donated because then like

651
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:12,400
you said if it has to be a certain
uh design or we can't change it so much

652
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:16,559
then we can't just delay the whole park
>> while getting the grant money right like

653
00:52:14,319 --> 00:52:22,319
we have to build
the park Right. So like it has to come

654
00:52:20,240 --> 00:52:27,839
from somewhere.
>> I don't think there's a timetable. I

655
00:52:24,559 --> 00:52:34,000
mean this is what we're planning on
doing. And I mean they know what the

656
00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:38,640
project is. They know the inind
you know

657
00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:45,520
» they being WEDC,
>> right? I just uh

658
00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:50,960
I don't know. I so I sit on the uh
playground committee and we have a

659
00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:56,720
mural, but it was not free, right? Like
we did account for that in our budgeting

660
00:52:54,319 --> 00:53:00,880
here. It's like you have it accounted
for as it's going to be a donation

661
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:04,640
and I don't know that's you know what I
mean? Like it's hard to

662
00:53:04,240 --> 00:53:07,599
say.
>> You don't think that's a make or break

663
00:53:06,079 --> 00:53:12,000
thing for the
>> No, I'm not saying that either. I think

664
00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:19,280
we're just concerned that if you're
accounting for $40,000 being inind,

665
00:53:16,559 --> 00:53:24,079
it's hard to say yes, we're all for this
project knowing that we might be on the

666
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:28,079
hook for an additional $40,000 and not
knowing where we're going to maybe get

667
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:31,760
that money from is like I guess does
that make sense?

668
00:53:28,720 --> 00:53:36,960
» I don't think it'll be 40,000, but
>> sure. No, because of

669
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:41,040
» I understand any additional monies still
need to be

670
00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:45,359
accounted for and that's I think all
that Tanya was trying to

671
00:53:43,119 --> 00:53:51,680
» if I don't want to start a park project
that we get halfway through we're not

672
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:55,520
able to come up with the the um you know
the inind stuff and then but we still

673
00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:59,119
want to move forward or perhaps the
grant is requiring us to move forward

674
00:53:57,839 --> 00:54:05,200
and then we have to pay for it
somewhere. I think we'd also be remiss

675
00:54:02,319 --> 00:54:09,119
if by assuming that any of the stuff in
the inind city doesn't cost anything

676
00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:13,599
just because the city workers are doing
it. It's their time and labor that

677
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:18,880
they're then not doing something else
for the city. So, it is costly. It's

678
00:54:16,559 --> 00:54:25,680
just not money. I've got to write a
check for today, right? But it's time

679
00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:31,920
and money and work that they that they
aren't doing something else. Um,

680
00:54:29,119 --> 00:54:39,800
» is there a way that we can give clear
direction on what we need next to make a

681
00:54:35,119 --> 00:54:39,800
an approval or a decision on

682
00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:48,079
» what was the next agenda item?
>> The so the end goal of this is to move

683
00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:53,760
towards the preapp or the application
now with WEDC when the audit is done. Is

684
00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:58,400
that correct?
>> But we still need the resolution.

685
00:54:55,599 --> 00:55:04,000
» Correct. So the resolution is coming on
the next agenda the second week of

686
00:55:01,440 --> 00:55:11,280
September.
Is there something else we also need to

687
00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:16,440
have in a packet
to get to an approval for that

688
00:55:16,559 --> 00:55:22,359
or to inform or answer some of the
questions?

689
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:30,960
Um,
>> do you want to see a full budget?

690
00:55:27,760 --> 00:55:36,079
» Yeah, I think that would help.
>> Do you want to see those costs allocated

691
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:39,920
by department or estimated by department
or

692
00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:46,000
» wasn't that a part of the $8,000 we
approved was to get architecture to

693
00:55:43,359 --> 00:55:49,760
create a bid plan to so that we could
get to the point of bidding so that we

694
00:55:47,839 --> 00:55:53,200
had an end goal. Well, if we're still in
that early point, then I think

695
00:55:51,920 --> 00:55:58,160
» No, we have
>> Okay. Well, then then we have to

696
00:55:55,599 --> 00:56:02,640
probably be able to review that to make
choices moving forward off that, I would

697
00:56:00,319 --> 00:56:09,599
say.
>> Is that something that we can get to for

698
00:56:06,240 --> 00:56:14,880
the next meeting to see the costs
breakdown of that plan?

699
00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:19,280
Do we want to see it phased or do we
want to see it as a whole?

700
00:56:18,319 --> 00:56:23,200
or both.
>> I Yeah, I would answer that with a

701
00:56:21,599 --> 00:56:29,440
question which is we we brought up here
is how does WEDC define the park being

702
00:56:26,559 --> 00:56:32,240
done so that we can then receive that
grant money. So whatever

703
00:56:31,359 --> 00:56:36,400
» it's a good point
>> pieces of the budget get us to that

704
00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:41,359
» definition of done if you will.
>> I will say these WEDC grants are

705
00:56:38,880 --> 00:56:45,680
reimburseable. So you have to pay for
that stuff upfront and then get

706
00:56:43,040 --> 00:56:49,520
reimbursed. So you have to be able to go
far enough into your project with those

707
00:56:48,000 --> 00:56:55,119
inind
parts on those statement of expenditures

708
00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:59,680
in order to get reimbursed. So there are
upfront costs. I'm just letting you know

709
00:56:56,799 --> 00:57:03,680
that you need to know in this budget
going into it.

710
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:07,440
» Um well I I know you know vibrant spaces
grants but I know when I hand in the

711
00:57:05,599 --> 00:57:11,680
application they don't want the inind
stuff listed. They just want the budget,

712
00:57:09,839 --> 00:57:15,040
the construction costs, and
>> you still have to come up with the

713
00:57:12,799 --> 00:57:18,400
$50,000,
which is all construction costs, right?

714
00:57:17,200 --> 00:57:23,680
Yeah.
>> Yeah. You have to show expenditures and

715
00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:26,960
and some of that stuff when you're doing
>> in order to get the money,

716
00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:31,280
» you have to show that. And that's all
part of that has to be done first. And

717
00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:34,480
if that's not if you're going to do it
in phases, you're not going to get the

718
00:57:32,799 --> 00:57:38,640
money all up front and then be able to
finish it in phases. I'm just telling

719
00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:43,440
you that that's how these grants work.
You have to have it paid for and then

720
00:57:40,960 --> 00:57:46,640
get reimbursed. So, just keep that all
in mind when you're looking at this as

721
00:57:45,200 --> 00:57:51,040
well.
>> Sarah and Kale and Cindy, is this

722
00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:58,000
something that over the next weeks ahead
of the next council, this could be

723
00:57:53,680 --> 00:58:02,480
worked on to bring on the next agenda?
So, with regards to the stuff the public

724
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:09,040
works is doing, um, I can try to figure
out like how much the silt fence costs.

725
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:13,520
I do hesitate a little bit about like
our time and equipment, which I can

726
00:58:11,200 --> 00:58:17,599
certainly put in, but you brought up the
park project. I think you'd be surprised

727
00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:22,640
how much public works is split. And we
do that all the time. Public works works

728
00:58:20,079 --> 00:58:28,480
for everybody at some capacity at some
point. And so just to be fair to all

729
00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:33,440
departments, we don't necessarily like
parse out the oil change amount that

730
00:58:30,559 --> 00:58:38,079
like we did work on the police cruiser
or the you know, so I just I don't want

731
00:58:35,599 --> 00:58:41,200
to get too much in the weeds with that.
>> I'm not asking for that,

732
00:58:39,359 --> 00:58:44,240
» but I'm happy to look at like, okay,
what would have to come out of our

733
00:58:42,559 --> 00:58:48,960
budget that we wouldn't normally have
like silk fence for example?

734
00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:52,119
» Anything you're Yeah, the erosion I can
do that.

735
00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:59,599
This is also coming at a time when we're
scrutinizing our budget, so it's top of

736
00:58:56,640 --> 00:59:05,359
mind. Um,
but I think if we can get to having a

737
00:59:01,599 --> 00:59:12,160
full budget to review and approve or
review and discuss

738
00:59:07,599 --> 00:59:17,680
um with the resolution
and then we'll have an update on the

739
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:19,760
audit. Is that kind of where
it

740
00:59:18,079 --> 00:59:22,240
» I'm like maybe two days away from
getting that part approved. So that part

741
00:59:21,359 --> 00:59:24,079
is not
>> Okay.

742
00:59:22,640 --> 00:59:28,319
» What happened with that is that they
won't even allow us to apply for this

743
00:59:26,319 --> 00:59:32,559
grant because the the audit was holding
it up. Then they got the audit and they

744
00:59:31,119 --> 00:59:37,520
didn't like the wording within the
audit. So I'm trying to work with our

745
00:59:34,079 --> 00:59:42,799
auditors to get some side notes in
there. And I think I'm this close to

746
00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:48,559
getting it being okay. So that part
won't be an issue. I think that we need

747
00:59:45,680 --> 00:59:56,000
to leave out the inkind
uh donations and and work um unless

748
00:59:53,599 --> 01:00:01,119
they've already been committed unless
somebody's already committed to the

749
00:59:57,280 --> 01:00:05,680
trees. Um but the the shade structure
and and

750
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:11,520
uh the mural and things like that,
there's not 100% certainty that, you

751
01:00:08,160 --> 01:00:14,720
know, we're going to get that donation.
>> So, I think they have to be left out

752
01:00:12,880 --> 01:00:21,680
too, don't they? I think it goes again
to what do we need to accomplish with

753
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:26,960
this park space to fulfill the $50,000
grant money and

754
01:00:23,760 --> 01:00:31,760
» can we as a city accomplish that and do
we like what we accomplish before

755
01:00:29,760 --> 01:00:34,760
» that gets
received.

756
01:00:36,319 --> 01:00:42,400
» I hear Seth saying he wants to move this
along.

757
01:00:40,160 --> 01:00:49,640
» Seth, do you have a motion?
Well, I don't think that grant hinges

758
01:00:44,400 --> 01:00:49,640
upon a shade structure or a mural,

759
01:00:49,680 --> 01:00:52,400
» right?
>> Well, and again,

760
01:00:52,000 --> 01:00:55,359
» Huh.
>> That's a good point,

761
01:00:54,240 --> 01:01:02,240
» right? But I mean,
>> I maybe didn't understand and and

762
01:00:58,480 --> 01:01:07,119
» the agenda item was because from what it
looks like on our agenda, y

763
01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:11,839
» I would like to make a motion to move
forward with our

764
01:01:10,640 --> 01:01:14,960
part
plan. Is it green spaces? What are we

765
01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:18,720
calling it again?
>> Broke green.

766
01:01:15,839 --> 01:01:24,760
» Broke green. Not official
on account of approval from public

767
01:01:21,760 --> 01:01:24,760
safety.

768
01:01:25,280 --> 01:01:34,839
That muddied. I'm just That's what we're
covering tonight for this space. And

769
01:01:35,839 --> 01:01:41,359
» it's got a motion.
>> I'll second it

770
01:01:38,720 --> 01:01:47,280
» and a second by Todd.
any further discussion.

771
01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:52,319
» If we need to talk about when we're
being presented the actual budget of

772
01:01:49,599 --> 01:01:58,079
this, then that would just need to be
another agenda item, but to get us

773
01:01:55,839 --> 01:02:02,480
through what the agenda was for tonight.
So,

774
01:01:59,680 --> 01:02:06,920
that discussion has to happen.
>> Where's that admin when you need him?

775
01:02:07,280 --> 01:02:13,680
» I will say I wasn't at the last one
either. However, public safety really

776
01:02:11,920 --> 01:02:18,720
shouldn't have been put on this agenda
the way it was listed. It was just that

777
01:02:16,559 --> 01:02:22,799
it went to city council last week. It
was forwarded to public safety for those

778
01:02:20,799 --> 01:02:27,280
concerns and come back. So, it
technically is the exact same as what it

779
01:02:24,720 --> 01:02:30,799
was the last council. Public safety
should not have been listed on here. So,

780
01:02:28,799 --> 01:02:33,200
that is an error. I just wanted to make
sure that you're

781
01:02:31,599 --> 01:02:36,400
» Lauri was out last week.
>> I was at my clerk's conference. So, I

782
01:02:34,640 --> 01:02:39,520
wasn't if if I would have been asked, I
would have said don't put that on there.

783
01:02:37,839 --> 01:02:42,559
But I'm just letting you know that if
you wanted to change your motion, say

784
01:02:40,960 --> 01:02:47,440
and it's because of what came out of
public safety, that may not be actually

785
01:02:44,480 --> 01:02:50,079
what your intention should be in that
motion. I'm not trying to change your

786
01:02:48,720 --> 01:02:54,240
mind.
>> Should it be contingent upon a final

787
01:02:52,720 --> 01:02:57,040
budget approval?
>> That's what, however you guys want to

788
01:02:55,680 --> 01:03:00,480
put it. It just doesn't need to be
attached to public safety.

789
01:02:58,880 --> 01:03:04,079
» I'm probably not the one to be doing the
motion because I wasn't here last week

790
01:03:02,160 --> 01:03:07,520
that started this conversation that got
us to this point. So, I don't know what

791
01:03:05,760 --> 01:03:11,599
we were trying to accomplish in the end
here.

792
01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:16,319
» Do we need any further
approvals to move to the next phase on

793
01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:21,359
this that would need to come to council
next week to be presented to get this

794
01:03:18,559 --> 01:03:26,880
project continuing forward? Is there
anything like I'm hearing we need a full

795
01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:32,480
budget breakdown that shows all in all
all things together?

796
01:03:30,400 --> 01:03:37,200
We could have a side breakdown that
shows what's possible to be in kind, but

797
01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:44,480
we still need to see where everything
falls within department budgets to plan

798
01:03:40,559 --> 01:03:51,960
for and that if that comes next week
or sorry to the next council agenda that

799
01:03:48,079 --> 01:03:51,960
in addition to the resolution,

800
01:03:52,880 --> 01:04:03,520
what is the next step for this project?
because we're only at the first phase of

801
01:03:59,520 --> 01:04:08,319
design, right? The first 8,000. So, once
it's approved, then what do we need to

802
01:04:05,200 --> 01:04:12,240
do next?
>> Well, we we need the resolution and then

803
01:04:10,400 --> 01:04:15,839
we hand in the application. Okay. And we
wait to hear back. And I know that they

804
01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:19,440
don't want any inkind information on
that application. So, I'm puzzled by

805
01:04:18,799 --> 01:04:24,640
what you're saying.
>> My my my point of all of that wasn't

806
01:04:22,160 --> 01:04:29,599
what goes into the application. My point
is is when you get the money and we were

807
01:04:27,520 --> 01:04:34,799
talking about budgets and how are we
going to pay for this, the fact that you

808
01:04:32,400 --> 01:04:39,359
have to pay for it and get reimbursed,
those items need to be thought through

809
01:04:37,200 --> 01:04:43,119
as to where those funds will be coming
from. That was the point of what I was

810
01:04:41,359 --> 01:04:50,640
trying to make on that. I thought that
this that we approved

811
01:04:46,559 --> 01:04:54,000
$50ome thousand dollar from the city
back when we decided to turn that into a

812
01:04:52,799 --> 01:05:00,160
green space from the table.
>> So is it there? Okay. So was it 50?

813
01:04:57,680 --> 01:05:04,000
» That's on their um line number 16.
>> Wait. Okay, there it is. Yep. I'm sorry.

814
01:05:02,319 --> 01:05:08,240
I think some of the confusion comes in
is that the grant is because I've been

815
01:05:06,480 --> 01:05:11,920
helping Cindy try to get the application
in is that they don't want to see in

816
01:05:09,760 --> 01:05:19,039
kind donations because it doesn't need
to be that match like our match only has

817
01:05:15,680 --> 01:05:25,039
to be it can cover up to 75%. And so our
match of TID money of 53,500

818
01:05:22,799 --> 01:05:28,960
meets that match. And then Loriy's
talking about something we're we're kind

819
01:05:26,480 --> 01:05:32,640
of having three different conversations.
Um you're absolutely right. We right, we

820
01:05:31,119 --> 01:05:37,680
get into that all the time. We need to
make sure that we have our match or

821
01:05:35,200 --> 01:05:41,039
their match covered until they reimburse
us. So that's like another element that

822
01:05:39,520 --> 01:05:47,119
we have to make sure our cash flow is
working. And then in order to do the

823
01:05:43,839 --> 01:05:51,760
whole project of that 151,000, we have
those inkind donations that make up that

824
01:05:49,119 --> 01:05:57,440
remaining amount. So this is a very
challenging conversation, but I think

825
01:05:53,359 --> 01:06:02,960
everybody's right in some way. And it
for budget purposes, we want to see if

826
01:05:59,839 --> 01:06:05,920
those donations don't actually get made,
are we paying for them and out of what

827
01:06:04,960 --> 01:06:09,039
department?
>> Or we just don't

828
01:06:06,720 --> 01:06:12,720
» or they get eliminated, right? Yeah.
>> So that's where I was using the word

829
01:06:10,559 --> 01:06:17,200
phased, right? Like maybe those get
phased over time or it's an inkind

830
01:06:15,440 --> 01:06:22,960
donation
or it's another grant in the future for

831
01:06:19,920 --> 01:06:29,680
picnic tables or for that. It comes
together as the plan over time, but

832
01:06:25,280 --> 01:06:32,799
maybe not right all at the first build.
Does that

833
01:06:31,200 --> 01:06:37,200
» I don't know if a vibrant spaces grant
would work like that.

834
01:06:34,799 --> 01:06:40,880
» Kyle, you brought up you. Yeah, go
ahead.

835
01:06:37,599 --> 01:06:43,280
» Can you get as much clarification on the
grant

836
01:06:41,920 --> 01:06:47,520
» and then present that to us?
>> Well, I'm see I think we're there now.

837
01:06:45,359 --> 01:06:54,720
We've got way more than we have more
than 50% match and they only require 25.

838
01:06:53,280 --> 01:07:00,000
» Sure. But if you're saying that the
grant needs the plan like this plan

839
01:06:56,640 --> 01:07:04,799
can't be deviated from in a wide sense,
then it we're already locked into this.

840
01:07:03,680 --> 01:07:09,200
You know what I'm saying? Like it
doesn't we can't parse it down.

841
01:07:08,240 --> 01:07:13,760
» Does that make sense?
>> We certainly need to clarify what

842
01:07:10,799 --> 01:07:16,480
qualifies us as complete by the side.
>> Thank you. Do we need to add that to a

843
01:07:15,680 --> 01:07:19,440
motion?
>> Uh, I think we need to start off.

844
01:07:18,000 --> 01:07:21,920
» There's already a motion on the table.
We have to deal with

845
01:07:20,319 --> 01:07:25,119
» amend the motion.
>> The motion on the table was basically to

846
01:07:23,760 --> 01:07:30,240
move forward with the Veroa Green
project and you had

847
01:07:27,280 --> 01:07:32,319
» as proposed by public safety which are
you wanting to remove that piece is what

848
01:07:31,760 --> 01:07:36,160
I'm asking.
>> Remove public safety if that was not

849
01:07:34,240 --> 01:07:39,920
supposed to be part of your second and
then you need to vote on this one and I

850
01:07:37,839 --> 01:07:44,319
I if you're approving this and there's
money involved, we need to do a roll

851
01:07:41,200 --> 01:07:48,480
call. So, are we ready for the
Roll call on this.

852
01:07:46,640 --> 01:07:52,319
» I just want to say one last thing. I
promise it'll be quick because I asked

853
01:07:50,640 --> 01:07:57,280
one question about the budget and then
chaos ensued.

854
01:07:54,720 --> 01:08:02,880
Um that was not my intent. I just wanted
some clarity. Um I am going to be voting

855
01:08:00,880 --> 01:08:06,480
no to this project. Has nothing to do
with the budget. I just wanted that to

856
01:08:04,960 --> 01:08:10,720
be clear because I I'm going to get a
lot of kickback

857
01:08:08,559 --> 01:08:16,319
and I just I I'm opposing it because of
the project scope. I just want to be

858
01:08:12,319 --> 01:08:21,440
clear about that to the public.
>> All right. So, we have a motion and a

859
01:08:19,199 --> 01:08:27,040
second by Todd
>> Herking.

860
01:08:24,319 --> 01:08:31,520
» Can we Can you clarify what my current
motion is?

861
01:08:29,359 --> 01:08:36,400
» Motion by S, second by Todd to move
forward with the Veroa Green project.

862
01:08:34,159 --> 01:08:39,839
That was the end. If you're taking out
that Okay.

863
01:08:37,759 --> 01:08:42,880
» All right. Then we will take a roll
call. Tanya,

864
01:08:41,839 --> 01:08:47,600
» no.
>> Steve,

865
01:08:45,279 --> 01:08:49,359
» hi.
>> Seth,

866
01:08:48,480 --> 01:08:50,719
» hi
>> AJ.

867
01:08:50,080 --> 01:08:52,719
» Hi.
>> Todd Kirking.

868
01:08:51,839 --> 01:08:54,159
» Hi,
>> Kyle.

869
01:08:53,600 --> 01:08:55,920
» I
>> Todd Spaith.

870
01:08:55,120 --> 01:08:57,040
» Hi,
>> Cindy.

871
01:08:56,480 --> 01:09:00,159
» Hi,
>> and John.

872
01:08:57,920 --> 01:09:07,080
» Hi.
>> Motion carries.

873
01:09:02,080 --> 01:09:07,080
» Way less complicated, but public school.

874
01:09:07,520 --> 01:09:14,000
» What she said.
>> Okay. So,

875
01:09:11,440 --> 01:09:18,319
Before we move on to item 14, I want to
call attention to item 15, which is the

876
01:09:16,400 --> 01:09:24,359
second period for public comment. There
is a Thank you. Um,

877
01:09:24,400 --> 01:09:31,839
so there are two people currently signed
up to make public comment on item 14.

878
01:09:30,719 --> 01:09:37,199
We're going to start with the
presentation and then open it up for

879
01:09:34,719 --> 01:09:43,679
public comment. Each person will have
three minutes to talk on this. Does

880
01:09:39,839 --> 01:09:49,040
anybody else want to add to this list?
And if not at this time, that's fine. If

881
01:09:47,040 --> 01:09:53,120
you want to come up, um, what I'll do is
I'll call from the top of the list down

882
01:09:51,279 --> 01:09:57,679
and then when we get to the end of it,
if anybody else would like to start

883
01:09:55,760 --> 01:10:05,199
commenting,
um, we'll just come to the podium in

884
01:10:00,239 --> 01:10:11,040
line. So, item 14, presentation on
public school tax bill transparency.

885
01:10:08,080 --> 01:10:17,440
Christina Reer James is here. Uh some
background on this. Christina emailed uh

886
01:10:13,760 --> 01:10:21,920
me as the mayor and said that she has
been doing advocacy work on this. I

887
01:10:19,679 --> 01:10:27,520
remember her being at the empowering
education event that was held in West

888
01:10:24,560 --> 01:10:35,600
about a year ago. with some of this on
the presentation agenda. Um,

889
01:10:32,640 --> 01:10:43,280
I want to set some expectations that we
are not here to have debate about where

890
01:10:39,040 --> 01:10:50,400
money is going or what things that the
city cannot control. We are here to talk

891
01:10:46,239 --> 01:10:56,480
about the decision of what the city
could do and how. Right? So, if the city

892
01:10:54,320 --> 01:11:01,360
council hears and decides there's
something that they want to do, then

893
01:10:59,280 --> 01:11:06,080
there's the how do we actually do it?
Um, so the conversations about what

894
01:11:04,239 --> 01:11:12,960
budget it comes out of and who does the
work um would then be discussed

895
01:11:10,480 --> 01:11:18,800
and that is the intention of this. There
are some additional community members in

896
01:11:16,080 --> 01:11:23,600
the room tonight from the public school,
also from the county because uh along

897
01:11:22,000 --> 01:11:28,239
with the city, the county, the public
school, the DPI, there are a lot of

898
01:11:25,440 --> 01:11:34,640
people involved in how this transparency
of where public dollars go gets to your

899
01:11:32,400 --> 01:11:41,080
tax bill. So, with all that in mind, I'm
going to um invite Christina Racer James

900
01:11:37,280 --> 01:11:41,080
to start her presentation.

901
01:11:43,920 --> 01:11:48,960
Um, hello. My name is Christina Reer
James and I'm not a big public speaker,

902
01:11:47,840 --> 01:11:53,360
so I've written this, so I'm just going
to read it to you guys. Um, I'm here

903
01:11:51,199 --> 01:11:57,360
today as a concerned community member.
I'm a resident of Vernon County and a

904
01:11:55,120 --> 01:12:01,440
graduate of Kikapoo High School. In the
past few years, I've become a strong

905
01:11:58,800 --> 01:12:05,920
advocate for an accidental advocate for
public education. I stand before you

906
01:12:03,840 --> 01:12:09,840
today on my own accord representing only
myself, no school district or no other

907
01:12:08,239 --> 01:12:13,280
organization.
I want to bring attention to an issue

908
01:12:11,440 --> 01:12:16,640
regarding our property tax bills that
has bothered me for some time and I

909
01:12:15,120 --> 01:12:19,920
would like to bring forward a possible
solution.

910
01:12:18,320 --> 01:12:24,320
When I reached out to the mayor to ask
if I could address the council, I did

911
01:12:22,080 --> 01:12:28,320
not know that the Veroa area schools was
going to announce an operational

912
01:12:25,679 --> 01:12:32,960
referendum. I want to make it clear that
to everyone that I am not addressing you

913
01:12:31,120 --> 01:12:36,719
on that I am addressing you on a
completely separate issue. This has

914
01:12:35,120 --> 01:12:41,199
nothing to do with the school's work to
educate the public on their referendum

915
01:12:38,719 --> 01:12:46,239
and I apologize if I have made a complex
situation even more complicated.

916
01:12:44,159 --> 01:12:52,480
I'm here today to address only one
topic, transparency on our tax bills. My

917
01:12:49,920 --> 01:12:58,159
issue is that the public money funding
tuition for private voucher schools is

918
01:12:54,880 --> 01:13:03,520
included in the public education portion
of our property tax bills. I believe

919
01:13:00,880 --> 01:13:08,239
this is misrepresenting where our tax
dollars are actually going.

920
01:13:06,080 --> 01:13:13,520
Legislation
um to require separating the aid

921
01:13:11,440 --> 01:13:19,040
reduction caused by education vouchers
from the public education portion on the

922
01:13:16,719 --> 01:13:23,440
property tax bills has been introduced
in the state legislature for the past

923
01:13:21,199 --> 01:13:28,640
decade, but it has never even received a
public hearing. This is why I feel it's

924
01:13:26,080 --> 01:13:33,600
incumbent on us to take action at a
local level. We can no longer wait for

925
01:13:31,040 --> 01:13:39,840
them to legislate. We have the ability
to tackle this here on our own.

926
01:13:38,080 --> 01:13:44,080
Because the voucher programs were
expanded statewide under the budgeting

927
01:13:42,159 --> 01:13:48,800
process and were not voted on by the
public, many community members are

928
01:13:45,840 --> 01:13:53,760
unaware that there are currently four
taxpayer-funded private school tuition

929
01:13:51,040 --> 01:13:58,320
voucher programs here in Wisconsin. The
original program, the Milwaukee Parental

930
01:13:55,760 --> 01:14:03,520
Choice Program, is funded off the top of
the general purpose reserve. The other

931
01:14:00,560 --> 01:14:08,480
three programs, the rine parental choice
program and the statewide Wisconsin

932
01:14:05,760 --> 01:14:12,800
parental choice program and the special
the special needs scholarship program

933
01:14:10,719 --> 01:14:19,600
are all funded through state aid
reduction deductions that reduce local

934
01:14:16,480 --> 01:14:25,040
public school district revenues.
The two programs that affect our area

935
01:14:22,560 --> 01:14:31,199
schools and most rural schools are the
Wisconsin parental choice program and

936
01:14:27,440 --> 01:14:37,280
the special needs scholarship program.
The current 2025

937
01:14:33,920 --> 01:14:41,440
and 20 through 27 state budget which
allocates state funding for public

938
01:14:39,199 --> 01:14:45,760
education gave zero new general aid to
our public schools for the next two

939
01:14:44,080 --> 01:14:50,560
years.
The same budget did increase the voucher

940
01:14:48,400 --> 01:14:54,560
payments for private schools, which in
turn did increase the amount of tax

941
01:14:52,239 --> 01:14:58,719
dollars going to private schools.
Although I have always found this issue

942
01:14:56,320 --> 01:15:03,280
to be of transparency troubling, what
spurred me into action at this time is

943
01:15:00,640 --> 01:15:07,440
the fact that since 2017 when the
voucher program was expanded statewide,

944
01:15:05,600 --> 01:15:11,280
there has been an enrollment cap
limiting the percentage of students in

945
01:15:09,679 --> 01:15:15,520
the district that could participate in
the voucher program.

946
01:15:13,520 --> 01:15:20,159
This coming year, this coming school
year, the caps fall off. There will be

947
01:15:18,239 --> 01:15:25,440
no limit to the number of vouchers per
district. I feel it is more important

948
01:15:22,480 --> 01:15:30,560
than ever to give tra property taxpayers
a more honest understanding of where

949
01:15:27,199 --> 01:15:34,800
their tax tax dollars are going.
Local property taxes have been funding

950
01:15:32,640 --> 01:15:39,280
the statemandated private school voucher
programs for years, but this cost has

951
01:15:37,440 --> 01:15:44,719
been inaccurately
bundled into the single education line

952
01:15:42,239 --> 01:15:49,920
item. Even though the public schools
have no control over the use or use use

953
01:15:47,920 --> 01:15:55,520
or account accountability of those
funds, by separating out the amount

954
01:15:52,800 --> 01:15:59,120
levied for the voucher programs,
property owners would be able to

955
01:15:57,280 --> 01:16:04,000
understand what portion of their tax
dollars do not actually go to their

956
01:16:01,120 --> 01:16:08,480
public school. Depending on the location
of the voucher school, your tax dollars

957
01:16:06,320 --> 01:16:13,040
could be leaving the district entirely
to support private schools in other

958
01:16:10,239 --> 01:16:21,360
communities across the state. Last
spring on April 15, 2025,

959
01:16:17,920 --> 01:16:26,400
last year in April 2025, um the Green
Bay City Council voted to support adding

960
01:16:23,920 --> 01:16:32,000
a line under the note port section of
the tax bill. The note reads, "Of the

961
01:16:29,440 --> 01:16:36,640
amount levied by the Green Bay Area
public schools, X amount of dollars is

962
01:16:35,120 --> 01:16:42,159
for the purpose of private school
vouchers. This was an effort for clarity

963
01:16:40,159 --> 01:16:46,640
and transparency.
Since then, other Wisconsin cities have

964
01:16:44,159 --> 01:16:51,760
taken similar action to address this
issue, either through a line on the tax

965
01:16:49,440 --> 01:16:57,679
bill or through inserts included in the
tax bill envelope. These cities include

966
01:16:55,040 --> 01:17:02,880
Milwaukee, South Milwaukee, Racine,
Oaklair, Shbboan, Bay View, Westburn,

967
01:17:00,640 --> 01:17:06,960
and Ashland.
Wisconsin public schools educate over

968
01:17:04,800 --> 01:17:11,199
800,000 children each year. the public
schools are held to a strict standards

969
01:17:09,440 --> 01:17:16,080
regarding mandates, transparency, and
accountability. I believe the taxpayers

970
01:17:13,679 --> 01:17:21,120
deserve transparency regarding what
amount is being diverted away from our

971
01:17:18,320 --> 01:17:26,960
public schools. I am not here today to
support or oppose educ education voucher

972
01:17:23,840 --> 01:17:31,360
programs, but rather to ask that we all
do what we can to provide transparency

973
01:17:28,880 --> 01:17:37,040
for the general public.
In in order to begin this process, I ask

974
01:17:34,560 --> 01:17:42,880
that the Veroa City Council consider
following the example of Green Bay and

975
01:17:39,199 --> 01:17:48,960
pass a transparency resolution.
You could use this resolution

976
01:17:46,480 --> 01:17:52,960
to direct staff to work with the Veroqua
Area School District to follow the

977
01:17:50,880 --> 01:17:58,719
example of the growing list of Wisconsin
cities and municipalities that are that

978
01:17:55,920 --> 01:18:02,960
are providing more transparency for the
general public.

979
01:18:00,960 --> 01:18:06,000
Um, we do not have to reinvent the
wheel. We can be guided by the

980
01:18:04,560 --> 01:18:09,440
blueprints used by these other
communities.

981
01:18:07,520 --> 01:18:14,560
I want to thank the city council for
allowing me to speak. I chose to address

982
01:18:11,920 --> 01:18:18,560
Veroa City Council first as the county
seat in the largest school district in

983
01:18:16,239 --> 01:18:21,440
Vernon County. I do intend to share this
information with other cities and

984
01:18:19,840 --> 01:18:25,600
municipalities.
Um, members of the council as well as

985
01:18:23,760 --> 01:18:28,960
interested community members are welcome
to reach out to me for additional

986
01:18:27,280 --> 01:18:31,520
conversations.
Thank you.

987
01:18:31,760 --> 01:18:35,159
Thank you, Christina.

988
01:18:35,600 --> 01:18:38,600
Um,

989
01:18:39,280 --> 01:18:43,400
so at this time

990
01:18:44,400 --> 01:18:51,120
we're going to Christina's going to
stay, but we're going to open up um

991
01:18:49,360 --> 01:18:56,520
public comment, the second period for
public comment.

992
01:18:53,520 --> 01:18:56,520
And

993
01:18:57,280 --> 01:19:05,760
during so with this in mind that during
the item 16 discussion with possible

994
01:19:02,800 --> 01:19:11,360
action towards a tax bill transparency
resolution that portion will be a

995
01:19:08,480 --> 01:19:18,960
discussion by council
in collaboration with questions or

996
01:19:16,560 --> 01:19:26,000
any kind of input that might need to
come for education of council in this

997
01:19:22,159 --> 01:19:31,760
decision from the public school
um or the county. I believe the

998
01:19:28,800 --> 01:19:38,560
treasurer may be online
um at this time and Lori

999
01:19:36,480 --> 01:19:40,080
as city clerk. So
>> may I make a suggestion?

1000
01:19:39,520 --> 01:19:43,440
» Yeah. Y
>> I just wondered if Christina could talk

1001
01:19:42,080 --> 01:19:46,080
about this because this is very
important. She could just talk about

1002
01:19:45,040 --> 01:19:51,679
that line.
>> Do you have a spec about that specific

1003
01:19:49,280 --> 01:19:53,760
line? Yeah, Roa, just talk about how
exactly are you talking this is

1004
01:19:53,199 --> 01:19:58,000
affecting.
>> Okay, so these are the numbers um the

1005
01:19:56,080 --> 01:20:02,560
aid reduction from each school district.
I just chose these because they're area

1006
01:19:59,600 --> 01:20:08,159
schools and the biggest point of this is
the increasing amount and Baroco went

1007
01:20:05,199 --> 01:20:11,679
over a million dollars. Um, I just think
people should understand where that

1008
01:20:09,679 --> 01:20:16,719
money is going because it is separate
to, you know, the the money that's going

1009
01:20:14,320 --> 01:20:20,880
to our public schools and it has always
been identified as in one line and I I

1010
01:20:19,360 --> 01:20:26,400
don't understand why we can't separate
that out.

1011
01:20:23,679 --> 01:20:31,520
» Thank you.
>> I would even ask that you go one step

1012
01:20:28,640 --> 01:20:38,000
further and explain what aid reduction
means. Does that mean that's that less

1013
01:20:35,360 --> 01:20:42,480
money going to our public schools
because Okay, I just wanted to make sure

1014
01:20:40,239 --> 01:20:47,719
everybody was on the same page.
>> Thank you, Seth.

1015
01:20:44,719 --> 01:20:47,719
» Yep.

1016
01:20:47,760 --> 01:20:58,239
» Um, yeah, let's let's talk more on that
when we open the discussion and let's

1017
01:20:55,440 --> 01:21:00,640
come Yep. No, that's valid. I mean, I I
I'd be happy to answer, but I just feel

1018
01:20:59,520 --> 01:21:02,880
like if there's somebody who knows more
than I do, then they should probably be

1019
01:21:01,920 --> 01:21:06,320
talking.
>> So, we'll move on.

1020
01:21:03,920 --> 01:21:11,600
» We move on to public comment. We can't
actually dialogue with the people

1021
01:21:08,239 --> 01:21:15,440
speaking. So, I think it's okay to ask.
>> Is that why you're here, Chris?

1022
01:21:13,280 --> 01:21:18,480
» Yeah. To to answer that question before
public comment.

1023
01:21:16,159 --> 01:21:21,360
» Do you feel comfortable answering that?
Okay. Do you want to come up to the

1024
01:21:19,760 --> 01:21:26,719
microphone so anybody that's listening
online can hear? Um, so Seth, do you

1025
01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:32,480
want to re ask your question just for
clarity? And then

1026
01:21:28,560 --> 01:21:37,600
» I was simply from a wide openen
perspective

1027
01:21:34,159 --> 01:21:44,320
wanting the explanation of aid reduction
and what that term means in terms of

1028
01:21:42,880 --> 01:21:49,600
what's getting pulled from public
schools.

1029
01:21:45,120 --> 01:21:54,800
» Sure. Uh, we we refer to this as our
voucher number, if you will. So, uh, it

1030
01:21:51,920 --> 01:22:01,199
it's the amount that the DPI bills the
school district every year for

1031
01:21:59,120 --> 01:22:04,719
private school vouchers.
>> So, it's not necessarily money they're

1032
01:22:03,280 --> 01:22:10,719
taking away from you. It's money that
you have to pay as a school district to

1033
01:22:07,760 --> 01:22:14,159
support the vouchers
>> overall. You you could look at it that

1034
01:22:12,320 --> 01:22:16,639
way. I mean, I could get into I could
get into the weeds on a whole lot of

1035
01:22:15,440 --> 01:22:21,920
things. Um,
>> meaning and I don't necessarily want to

1036
01:22:18,880 --> 01:22:27,040
do that. um here uh I want to be able to
answer questions and those kind of

1037
01:22:23,280 --> 01:22:32,239
things, but um it it is it that number
comes out of our June 8 aid payment. Um

1038
01:22:30,639 --> 01:22:37,120
you know, there are things we can do
with our levy um and the revenue limit

1039
01:22:34,719 --> 01:22:40,880
that allow us to be able to offset that
cost though.

1040
01:22:38,719 --> 01:22:45,840
» Can you state your job?
>> I am the director of business services

1041
01:22:43,840 --> 01:22:52,560
for Roary Schools.
>> And your name? Sorry. Go ahead.

1042
01:22:48,239 --> 01:22:59,199
Um, for the the purposes of our
deliberation and discussion tonight on

1043
01:22:55,520 --> 01:23:04,120
the tax bill says public school and a
number,

1044
01:23:00,800 --> 01:23:04,120
what happens

1045
01:23:04,719 --> 01:23:14,719
with this number in your world that
would help inform a city council

1046
01:23:11,600 --> 01:23:21,120
decision to help with transparency?
Does this get subtracted from that? Is

1047
01:23:17,040 --> 01:23:25,760
that that simple?
>> We we've got we've got different levies.

1048
01:23:24,080 --> 01:23:29,360
We've got our operating levy. This is
part of our operating levy. We've got a

1049
01:23:27,679 --> 01:23:39,600
debt service levy. We have a community
service levy as well. Um the reduction

1050
01:23:35,360 --> 01:23:46,000
th this number is born out of um I guess
our operating levy is born out of our

1051
01:23:41,280 --> 01:23:53,760
revenue limit. uh that is set by the
state. Uh there's a per pupil amount and

1052
01:23:49,280 --> 01:24:00,480
it fluctuates based off of enrollment.
The as you kind of work down the uh the

1053
01:23:57,199 --> 01:24:06,719
the revenue limit worksheet, it uh does
then remove um this dollar figure from

1054
01:24:04,639 --> 01:24:11,840
the money that's coming to the school
district. Every district in the state

1055
01:24:09,840 --> 01:24:17,040
also has the ability to be able to claim
a revenue limit exemption

1056
01:24:14,560 --> 01:24:22,880
for this number.
So in essence and and and most do the

1057
01:24:21,199 --> 01:24:29,600
the district could not afford to cover
this by itself. So essentially by

1058
01:24:25,760 --> 01:24:35,239
claiming that exemption we are the the
that dollar figure is passed directly to

1059
01:24:32,000 --> 01:24:35,239
the taxpayer.

1060
01:24:38,320 --> 01:24:46,080
Appreciate the clarification.
>> Can I ask a question?

1061
01:24:42,800 --> 01:24:51,840
» Is it is it similar to like if like we
collect property tax the levy for the

1062
01:24:48,960 --> 01:25:00,040
city and then we had to write a million
dollar check to back to the state to you

1063
01:24:55,360 --> 01:25:00,040
to distribute to other municipalities

1064
01:25:00,880 --> 01:25:08,480
» potentially. I think it depends on when
you look at how much you can levy

1065
01:25:06,239 --> 01:25:14,480
because that that's specifically
controlled on our end. I I don't I don't

1066
01:25:11,199 --> 01:25:22,239
know the levy the levy side of um it for
the the municipality. um you know so

1067
01:25:19,440 --> 01:25:26,239
it it it it has a significant impact.
The the the place where it becomes more

1068
01:25:25,120 --> 01:25:31,920
challenging especially in the
environment that we're in right now is

1069
01:25:28,159 --> 01:25:37,199
that when we're going and we're you know
we we see no new general aid. Um

1070
01:25:34,639 --> 01:25:42,400
expenses increase. We don't get regular
inflationary increases to our revenue

1071
01:25:39,120 --> 01:25:46,480
limit and heaven for decades. Um, and
you see the inflation that we've seen

1072
01:25:44,719 --> 01:25:51,199
over the last number of years, things
become more expensive. We don't get more

1073
01:25:48,320 --> 01:25:56,400
money. That squeezes budgets. That
results in us having to go to an

1074
01:25:53,120 --> 01:26:00,400
operational referendum to be able to ask
our taxpayers to exceed our revenue

1075
01:25:58,400 --> 01:26:04,480
limit.
This comes as part of the conversation

1076
01:26:02,239 --> 01:26:11,120
when we're talking about our mill rate.
Um, this is an additional cost for

1077
01:26:06,960 --> 01:26:15,840
education that taxpayers have to pay.
um you know so when we're communicating

1078
01:26:13,920 --> 01:26:19,280
our mill rate in those conver in those
conversations that we have about

1079
01:26:17,120 --> 01:26:25,280
operational referendums
this is part of that number. Um you know

1080
01:26:22,719 --> 01:26:28,880
so when we're you know when someone's
looking at their tax bill and they're

1081
01:26:26,719 --> 01:26:33,840
and they're and they're trying to
determine how much the school district

1082
01:26:30,560 --> 01:26:39,080
is actually you know getting from them.
Um right now this number is part of

1083
01:26:36,080 --> 01:26:39,080
that.

1084
01:26:41,120 --> 01:26:48,560
Does anybody have more questions before
we go to public comment?

1085
01:26:46,639 --> 01:26:52,320
Did you want to add anything on that?
No.

1086
01:26:51,440 --> 01:26:57,280
» Thank you, Chris.
>> Thank you.

1087
01:26:53,920 --> 01:27:02,400
» Okay. So, we will move to item 15, the
second period for public comment. Um,

1088
01:27:00,080 --> 01:27:07,760
I've got two people on the list and once
we go through those two, if anybody else

1089
01:27:04,719 --> 01:27:12,400
wants to come forward in person or
online, I will invite you to do it at

1090
01:27:10,159 --> 01:27:15,400
that time. So, we'll begin with Kim
Little.

1091
01:27:16,560 --> 01:27:21,679
Kim, can you state your name and address
and then you'll have three minutes for

1092
01:27:20,800 --> 01:27:27,600
public comment?
>> Kim Little, 425 Chicago Avenue. I've

1093
01:27:24,639 --> 01:27:32,000
been here about many things before, but
um I

1094
01:27:29,600 --> 01:27:35,199
do want to say I'm not representing the
Veroa school board. I am a member of the

1095
01:27:33,679 --> 01:27:42,000
Veroa school board, but I am not
representing the school board. I'm just

1096
01:27:36,719 --> 01:27:48,480
representing myself. I myself went to um
12 years of private education for which

1097
01:27:45,360 --> 01:27:53,280
my parents and myself we paid for that.
So that I'm not opposed to private

1098
01:27:50,800 --> 01:27:59,600
education in any way, shape or form. I
think the question this brings is the

1099
01:27:56,400 --> 01:28:03,920
transparency so people understand and as
you discussed earlier you were talking

1100
01:28:02,000 --> 01:28:08,000
about you're applying for these grants
where these where these money is coming

1101
01:28:05,600 --> 01:28:13,840
from that is a transparency thing you're
trying to understand and see what's out

1102
01:28:10,480 --> 01:28:20,800
there and yes it does make a difference
for us that as a school system a million

1103
01:28:17,679 --> 01:28:25,360
dollars goes out and I will say you know
people just need to understand the

1104
01:28:22,400 --> 01:28:29,520
difference because you know what Tanya
brought up a thing but you talked about

1105
01:28:27,360 --> 01:28:35,040
going to other government agencies in
essence with that money not to private

1106
01:28:32,159 --> 01:28:39,760
agencies which I think that's that's a
difference that people need to

1107
01:28:36,080 --> 01:28:45,040
understand and they need to understand
that public school educates everybody if

1108
01:28:42,960 --> 01:28:49,600
you appear at the door you get an
education have to meet their needs no

1109
01:28:47,440 --> 01:28:53,520
matter what they are and everything
private schools do not have to they can

1110
01:28:51,520 --> 01:28:56,960
say, "We don't want to deal with you
anymore." As a matter of fact, they can

1111
01:28:54,960 --> 01:29:00,960
enroll you and two weeks later they can
say, "We're not going to enroll you."

1112
01:28:59,199 --> 01:29:04,000
And they come back to the public school,
but the third Friday counts already, so

1113
01:29:02,719 --> 01:29:10,080
we've already missed a half a year of
state aid. So, I think really budgets

1114
01:29:07,679 --> 01:29:15,520
are very complicated as you kind of were
indicating even in your discussion about

1115
01:29:12,320 --> 01:29:19,440
the the the park or whatever you the
green space, you know, having that

1116
01:29:17,760 --> 01:29:24,960
transparency. This is really about
transparency. It doesn't change where

1117
01:29:23,199 --> 01:29:32,239
the money goes. It's just so the public
understands that a million dollars of

1118
01:29:28,320 --> 01:29:37,120
your tax money goes to private schools.
That's really what it's about. I if it's

1119
01:29:34,960 --> 01:29:41,120
complicated to do and everything else, I
don't know the ins and outs. I'm sure

1120
01:29:39,520 --> 01:29:46,000
Lori's thinking, "Oh, now I got to
figure this out and put it on the bill

1121
01:29:42,800 --> 01:29:53,600
and everything." But I I would encourage
you to do that. Thank you.

1122
01:29:48,880 --> 01:29:56,320
» Thank you, Kim. Matthew Vos,
you state your name and your address in

1123
01:29:55,520 --> 01:30:02,080
three minutes.
>> Uh, my name is Matt Vos, uh, 815 Chicago

1124
01:29:58,800 --> 01:30:06,560
Avenue. I'm also, well, I have I have
had five children go to, I think, every

1125
01:30:04,400 --> 01:30:10,880
form of public and private school in
this entire community.

1126
01:30:08,639 --> 01:30:14,960
Um, I'm also the administrator of Youth
Initiative High School, which has been a

1127
01:30:12,960 --> 01:30:20,080
private high school here, uh, since
1996.

1128
01:30:16,800 --> 01:30:25,120
Um I guess basic thing I want known is
that uh you know we are not a voucher

1129
01:30:22,159 --> 01:30:29,840
school. So if uh there's ever any
problems with vouchers that you have

1130
01:30:26,960 --> 01:30:36,320
lose my number. Um
but I will say that you know I think in

1131
01:30:33,199 --> 01:30:41,600
terms of uh transparency I have never
I've always voted against um every

1132
01:30:39,360 --> 01:30:47,440
public education referendum that has
ever been put up um recent and that's

1133
01:30:45,520 --> 01:30:53,120
because I have felt that the public
school um yeah has has not always

1134
01:30:50,719 --> 01:30:56,960
represented the whole public.
My views on that have changed pretty

1135
01:30:55,120 --> 01:31:01,440
dramatically. Um, I think I will
definitely be voting for this

1136
01:30:58,480 --> 01:31:05,360
referendum. Um, because the public
school has become, I think, more

1137
01:31:03,360 --> 01:31:09,040
transparent about what they're doing and
more cooperative with working with the

1138
01:31:07,120 --> 01:31:14,560
entire community. I think it's important
to remember that these, you know, this

1139
01:31:11,840 --> 01:31:19,679
money is going, this is not just flying
to some, you know, these voucher schools

1140
01:31:16,800 --> 01:31:23,920
are heavily regulated. Um, they are
accountable to state standards in many

1141
01:31:22,239 --> 01:31:28,159
of the same ways that public schools
are. Um,

1142
01:31:26,719 --> 01:31:32,960
you know, I think if you want to take
transparency all the like are are you if

1143
01:31:30,880 --> 01:31:35,840
if someone wants to pay if the school
system wants to pay a million dollars

1144
01:31:34,239 --> 01:31:40,880
for a new athletic field, is that going
to go on the tax bill? Not everyone's

1145
01:31:37,920 --> 01:31:47,440
going to agree with that. Um, in fact,
that's why I didn't vote for the last

1146
01:31:42,480 --> 01:31:52,880
referendum. But, um, the I think taking
a wider view is really important here.

1147
01:31:49,199 --> 01:32:01,040
the these schools in this community um
have been an engine for economic growth

1148
01:31:56,560 --> 01:32:07,679
for an expansion of tax base and economy
generally. I mean I know I can look at

1149
01:32:04,000 --> 01:32:13,840
dozens of people um in this room who
made the decision to move here to buy a

1150
01:32:10,320 --> 01:32:19,040
house here um in whole or in part based
on the educational choices they have in

1151
01:32:16,000 --> 01:32:26,480
this community. So, um I guess it
doesn't putting just the private tax or

1152
01:32:23,040 --> 01:32:29,760
the private um payout to the voucher
program on the tax bill doesn't feel

1153
01:32:27,920 --> 01:32:34,800
like transparency to me. That that feels
like targeted transparency. Um and if

1154
01:32:32,400 --> 01:32:39,679
you want to do full transparency,
put the whole, you know, put the entire

1155
01:32:36,880 --> 01:32:42,560
school's budget in the envelope. Um and
and people are going to have they're

1156
01:32:41,280 --> 01:32:46,400
going to pick and choose what they like
and what they don't like. But part of

1157
01:32:44,000 --> 01:32:49,840
living in a, you know, diverse community
is

1158
01:32:48,239 --> 01:32:55,440
sometimes means paying for things that
you don't actually like. There's a lot

1159
01:32:53,440 --> 01:33:00,880
of things that my tax dollars go to that
I don't agree with,

1160
01:32:58,560 --> 01:33:04,000
but I think that's part that's part of
living in a community with other people

1161
01:33:02,480 --> 01:33:10,639
who have different views. And it's part
of supporting choice. And I think that's

1162
01:33:07,199 --> 01:33:14,880
really important. um and has been while
you watch other small towns fade into

1163
01:33:13,120 --> 01:33:19,040
the distance, this town continues to be
vibrant and even growing and I think

1164
01:33:17,360 --> 01:33:22,040
private education plays a huge role in
that.

1165
01:33:22,159 --> 01:33:28,480
» Thank you, Matt.
>> Yeah, go ahead.

1166
01:33:27,360 --> 01:33:33,040
» State your name and
>> My name is Christina Reer James, Retown,

1167
01:33:30,400 --> 01:33:39,040
Wisconsin. I just wanted to a couple
things. um they do not have the same uh

1168
01:33:37,120 --> 01:33:42,719
accountability and transparency as
public schools. But that isn't the issue

1169
01:33:40,560 --> 01:33:46,960
we're talking about right now. The issue
that we're talking about is

1170
01:33:43,840 --> 01:33:51,520
transparency. Like how many of you knew
that your tax dollars were going to fund

1171
01:33:49,440 --> 01:33:56,159
public schools? And not I'm not I'm not
saying anything I or private schools.

1172
01:33:53,920 --> 01:33:59,199
I've I sent my own children to a private
school. I have nothing against it and I

1173
01:33:57,920 --> 01:34:03,760
understand the value of the public
schools in our community. But your tax

1174
01:34:01,520 --> 01:34:07,360
dollars are also going to the Academy of
Excellence in Milwaukee or wherever, you

1175
01:34:06,080 --> 01:34:14,719
know, because some of these schools are
online. So, and also like public

1176
01:34:11,679 --> 01:34:18,800
schools, you can go to the DPI and look
at the public school budget. You can see

1177
01:34:16,239 --> 01:34:23,280
it all. It they it is transparent. It's
all available. It's public information.

1178
01:34:20,800 --> 01:34:28,719
And that is not true of of voucher
schools. But my issue is just that the

1179
01:34:27,280 --> 01:34:33,280
community understands where they're
talking. I don't think that the public

1180
01:34:30,159 --> 01:34:38,960
school should carry that burden alone on
the tax bill. And and that isn't saying

1181
01:34:36,480 --> 01:34:43,199
anything bad about the school, any
school. It's just saying this is where

1182
01:34:41,040 --> 01:34:47,520
your money's going.
There's nobody in this room that has

1183
01:34:45,440 --> 01:34:52,000
anything bad to say, I'm sure, about the
good schools we have in our community.

1184
01:34:50,159 --> 01:34:58,320
We just think people should understand
how the money is being spent.

1185
01:34:55,600 --> 01:35:03,840
» Thank you, Christina.
Does anybody else from the public either

1186
01:35:01,840 --> 01:35:09,400
online
or in the room want to come forward for

1187
01:35:06,000 --> 01:35:09,400
public comment?

1188
01:35:10,560 --> 01:35:17,040
» Sarah.
>> Yep. Sarah's gonna

1189
01:35:14,880 --> 01:35:22,400
» Can you state your name and your address
and then you'll have three minutes?

1190
01:35:19,280 --> 01:35:29,760
» Yep. Hi, this is uh Karen Dap. I'm the
Vernon County Treasurer uh at E7130

1191
01:35:26,320 --> 01:35:33,199
Swenson Road in Baroqua. Um I just
wanted to talk a little bit about what

1192
01:35:31,600 --> 01:35:40,719
should and shouldn't I guess go on the
tax bills. Um so really what should go

1193
01:35:37,600 --> 01:35:44,639
on there is how much they should pay,
when they need to pay it, and where it

1194
01:35:42,800 --> 01:35:51,840
needs to get paid.
Um I know uh they used uh Green Bay as

1195
01:35:49,040 --> 01:35:55,920
an example and I just wanted to kind of
state that when they did that they had

1196
01:35:53,679 --> 01:36:00,960
to abbreviate a lot of things which
caused a lot of confusion to the

1197
01:35:57,600 --> 01:36:08,880
taxpayers. So because our systems don't
allow for a lot of notes. Um they had to

1198
01:36:04,159 --> 01:36:13,840
abbreviate GBAs I believe on there and
then a dollar amount. So, a lot of

1199
01:36:11,440 --> 01:36:19,040
people didn't know what that stood for.
Um, so I would recommend if there is

1200
01:36:17,040 --> 01:36:25,040
going to be something with the
transparency to put it on the the back

1201
01:36:21,520 --> 01:36:30,480
of the tax bill or in your insert that
shows the DPI website and where more

1202
01:36:27,199 --> 01:36:34,880
information can be found. Um, I'm going
to be the one taking a lot of those

1203
01:36:32,080 --> 01:36:39,199
phone calls along with Lori um, in
regards to where those numbers come from

1204
01:36:37,040 --> 01:36:45,440
and we don't always know those answers,
but the school would probably know that

1205
01:36:42,159 --> 01:36:49,760
or DPI would know that. So, that's just
my concerns. Thank you.

1206
01:36:47,520 --> 01:36:56,080
» Thank you, Karen. Um, are you staying
online for So, we're in the public

1207
01:36:52,400 --> 01:37:01,040
period or public comment right now. Um,
I'm hopeful that you'll stay online for

1208
01:36:58,800 --> 01:37:06,159
the next discussion with possible action
where we can talk and ask questions in

1209
01:37:03,920 --> 01:37:10,320
more detail about what you just shared.
>> Sure. Absolutely.

1210
01:37:07,520 --> 01:37:16,880
» Thank you. For the public, Karen Dap is
the um treasurer for Vernon County. So,

1211
01:37:14,560 --> 01:37:20,800
that's who we just heard from. All
right. Um, is there anybody else online

1212
01:37:19,040 --> 01:37:23,800
at this time who wants to make a public
comment?

1213
01:37:28,080 --> 01:37:34,000
Thank you. Um, you can come forward,
state your name, your address, and

1214
01:37:32,560 --> 01:37:37,440
you'll have three minutes.
>> Do I press a button here first? It's

1215
01:37:35,920 --> 01:37:42,239
already on. Uh, my name is Michael
Brown, uh, 410 East South Street here in

1216
01:37:40,159 --> 01:37:47,840
Veroa. Uh I just want to take a moment
to to thank uh Christina immensely uh

1217
01:37:44,880 --> 01:37:54,320
for taking the lead on uh understanding
a very complex issue that has been with

1218
01:37:51,280 --> 01:37:58,880
Wisconsin for uh for quite a while now.
Um what we have seen in the in the

1219
01:37:57,360 --> 01:38:03,600
public is that not a lot of people
understand how money goes from one place

1220
01:38:01,679 --> 01:38:09,199
to another and what's happening. Uh and
I I personally support the transparency

1221
01:38:06,159 --> 01:38:14,480
effort um to uh to understand where
money is going. um and so that we all

1222
01:38:11,920 --> 01:38:19,679
can make better decisions uh as we think
about uh what we need to do for

1223
01:38:17,119 --> 01:38:24,000
ourselves uh in in elections uh with
elected officials and start to think

1224
01:38:21,520 --> 01:38:28,480
about how to affect change that can um
uh that can really affect a community

1225
01:38:25,760 --> 01:38:34,960
positively. Um, I think the the issue
overall that we're looking at, um, I

1226
01:38:31,119 --> 01:38:40,400
think people are just tired and people
are exhausted and there is a lot of

1227
01:38:37,920 --> 01:38:44,320
noise in the world. And when it comes to
something like this, looking at this

1228
01:38:42,159 --> 01:38:48,080
grid and saying, "What money am I
talking about?" Not many people can sit

1229
01:38:46,159 --> 01:38:52,400
there and and take the time to absorb
that. But um Christina, thank you for

1230
01:38:50,560 --> 01:38:56,239
taking the uh taking all your personal
time to to figure this out and actually

1231
01:38:54,639 --> 01:39:00,320
come forward with a proposal that can
help people understand better what's

1232
01:38:58,560 --> 01:39:05,199
actually happening in very complex
systems. Uh and I just want to voice my

1233
01:39:02,880 --> 01:39:11,800
support for seeing more transparency uh
within our tax bills. So thank you.

1234
01:39:08,400 --> 01:39:11,800
» Thank you, Michael.

1235
01:39:14,400 --> 01:39:22,880
» My name is Sonia Newuenhouse. I live at
422 Hickory Street. Um I have a daughter

1236
01:39:19,760 --> 01:39:29,520
at 8th grade at Veroqua. I support
having transparency but mostly my reason

1237
01:39:26,239 --> 01:39:35,440
being um with declining enrollment not
at all just due to private schools but

1238
01:39:31,520 --> 01:39:41,760
to population changes. Um we really need
to support our public schools and that's

1239
01:39:38,400 --> 01:39:46,000
how our our town will stay vibrant. um
as well as having the additional schools

1240
01:39:43,840 --> 01:39:51,360
to keep our you know people wanting to
move here. Um and when people see a

1241
01:39:48,560 --> 01:39:57,600
higher and higher proportion of their
tax bill going to public schools they

1242
01:39:53,679 --> 01:40:02,960
might just be like you know so I think
it would be just um wonderful to spell

1243
01:40:01,360 --> 01:40:09,040
it out a little more. I think it should
be an insert. I'm very grateful that

1244
01:40:05,199 --> 01:40:14,560
Karen took the time to be on on the call
today. the treasure um to remind us of

1245
01:40:12,000 --> 01:40:19,360
the details and the potential headaches.
But I also think we could use that

1246
01:40:16,239 --> 01:40:23,280
insert as an opportunity um because many
people don't go on the website of the

1247
01:40:21,760 --> 01:40:26,719
city. So now I'm not talking about
schools, but it's an opportunity for the

1248
01:40:25,119 --> 01:40:30,880
city to maybe make some other
announcements

1249
01:40:28,320 --> 01:40:35,280
um you know like uh something about
shoveling if if it's winter time and the

1250
01:40:33,280 --> 01:40:39,679
tax bill is coming out then. But um I
think we could really use that insert

1251
01:40:36,880 --> 01:40:44,080
for some other key aspects that we want
everybody to know about because I don't

1252
01:40:41,840 --> 01:40:49,199
think people go to our website to find
out information about mowing and

1253
01:40:46,239 --> 01:40:52,679
shoveling etc.
Thank you Sonia.

1254
01:40:57,280 --> 01:41:08,320
There anyone else at this time?
All right, we will move on to item

1255
01:41:05,360 --> 01:41:14,239
16, discussion with possible action on
tax bill transparency resolution. We do

1256
01:41:11,840 --> 01:41:19,760
not have a resolution drafted at this
time. We have looked at um some of the

1257
01:41:17,199 --> 01:41:23,560
other resolutions that are public that
other places have

1258
01:41:24,080 --> 01:41:32,800
either put forward or adopted. Um but at
this time we are at the very first step

1259
01:41:30,480 --> 01:41:36,960
of opening this conversation in our
community and this is a conversation

1260
01:41:34,880 --> 01:41:43,199
that is not
uh something that the city does on its

1261
01:41:40,639 --> 01:41:46,800
own. This is something that the city is
a

1262
01:41:44,800 --> 01:41:53,520
piece of the pie or piece of the puzzle
of how tax bills come and um what it's

1263
01:41:51,520 --> 01:42:02,400
included. And so where we can make
decisions, it's our intention tonight to

1264
01:41:55,920 --> 01:42:06,639
ask questions to the other people who
have to make some of these decisions

1265
01:42:04,400 --> 01:42:10,800
there. Um, we do not have anybody from
school board here representing, but we

1266
01:42:08,639 --> 01:42:15,040
do have two people in the room who are
from the public schools. Uh, Dr. Jeremy

1267
01:42:13,520 --> 01:42:19,440
Hill, our district administrator
superintendent, is here and Chris

1268
01:42:16,480 --> 01:42:25,679
Rosseski is here. And you heard from him
a little bit earlier.

1269
01:42:21,600 --> 01:42:30,639
Um Lori Pamus is our city clerk and
Karen Dilap is online. She's the Vernon

1270
01:42:28,639 --> 01:42:35,199
County treasurer.
And I think in this conversation and

1271
01:42:33,520 --> 01:42:39,840
discussion, we're all going to learn a
whole lot about

1272
01:42:37,440 --> 01:42:45,119
how this all works because as council
we, you know, discuss and think about

1273
01:42:42,480 --> 01:42:51,360
what we want to do, a park, school
funding, tax bills, all the things. And

1274
01:42:47,520 --> 01:42:55,920
then these fine partners help implement
and figure out how we're going to do it.

1275
01:42:53,520 --> 01:43:01,280
So anything that we decide we might want
to do here, this is an opportunity to

1276
01:42:58,320 --> 01:43:07,280
ask the questions about, well, how would
that actually go? And then also to

1277
01:43:02,960 --> 01:43:13,360
listen to hear what actually occurs in
the offices upstairs and down the street

1278
01:43:10,400 --> 01:43:19,600
because we're the county seat um county
buildings nearby, but also at our

1279
01:43:16,080 --> 01:43:24,199
schools. So um with that we'll open for
discussion on this topic.

1280
01:43:27,600 --> 01:43:38,080
» Well I have an easy question I think. Um
if we were to move that we wanted to

1281
01:43:32,960 --> 01:43:41,760
have this line item or this insert,
how would that would that just be the

1282
01:43:39,840 --> 01:43:45,280
city collected ones? You were thinking
the same thing, weren't you? Because the

1283
01:43:43,600 --> 01:43:51,199
county sends out a postcard. So, we
can't do an insert with the postcard.

1284
01:43:48,239 --> 01:43:55,040
» Okay. I just been sitting here quietly
worrying about this one because I know

1285
01:43:53,679 --> 01:44:00,239
there's a lot of people in the room that
don't know how a tax bill actually is

1286
01:43:56,719 --> 01:44:04,560
created. The city itself does not create
those tax bills. That's why we have the

1287
01:44:02,000 --> 01:44:08,880
county treasurer that does that. There
are only so many lines, as you did hear

1288
01:44:06,560 --> 01:44:12,000
her say, to be able to put on that tax
bill. And there's only so many places

1289
01:44:10,639 --> 01:44:16,560
that you can actually make those
changes. There's not a lot of room left

1290
01:44:14,639 --> 01:44:21,920
because the state tells us what we have
to put on there. And Karen, you may want

1291
01:44:20,480 --> 01:44:26,320
to answer this one. When you said put it
on the back of the tax bill, I don't

1292
01:44:23,280 --> 01:44:32,000
even know. Is that possible?
>> I I'm not sure. I I think so, but a lot

1293
01:44:30,080 --> 01:44:34,719
of the the back of the tax bill is
actually like statemandated. What's on

1294
01:44:33,920 --> 01:44:36,560
there?
>> Correct.

1295
01:44:35,040 --> 01:44:42,639
» That comes from like the Department of
Revenue. So, I I'm not sure if that is

1296
01:44:39,920 --> 01:44:46,560
an option. the insert is probably the
best option in my opinion and not

1297
01:44:44,719 --> 01:44:50,800
putting it on the tax bill. The problem
is the font size is going to be tiny. It

1298
01:44:49,040 --> 01:44:54,000
might work for the city of Aroa that
only has one school district, but when

1299
01:44:52,560 --> 01:44:56,880
you start talking multiple school
districts, those are going to be

1300
01:44:55,440 --> 01:45:04,080
different numbers and that's going to
cause a lot of I mean I don't know how

1301
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:07,760
that would even work. Um because the the
notes would have to be the same for each

1302
01:45:05,920 --> 01:45:12,560
municipality.
So, as far as I know, that's not even a

1303
01:45:10,880 --> 01:45:14,719
thing that we can do right now at this
time.

1304
01:45:13,199 --> 01:45:18,320
» Okay. So, I just want I just wanted to
make sure everybody heard that

1305
01:45:16,239 --> 01:45:21,840
originally, the back of the tax bill.
So, that's probably not an option. The

1306
01:45:20,320 --> 01:45:27,360
second option that we've talked about
here is the tax inserts.

1307
01:45:24,719 --> 01:45:32,960
Everybody is required by the PSC, we
have to send out notices on when they

1308
01:45:30,719 --> 01:45:38,000
have the the the listing of how much
you're paying in your utility bills.

1309
01:45:35,360 --> 01:45:42,320
Plus, they have that other options. And
so, that's already a two-phase or

1310
01:45:39,840 --> 01:45:46,800
twosided thing that goes in as an
insert. The other thing is your dog and

1311
01:45:44,800 --> 01:45:52,719
your cat and all those licensing that
one-third sheet. These are not free. We

1312
01:45:50,239 --> 01:45:58,080
use a third party that actually stuffs
and sends out our tax bills. We cannot

1313
01:45:55,679 --> 01:46:03,440
send them stuff just to attach and throw
in there. We have to pay for them to

1314
01:46:00,719 --> 01:46:08,080
print and stuff that. So, if we add
another insert, that is going to

1315
01:46:05,520 --> 01:46:13,119
increase our postage. They only allow us
three inserts, and we already have

1316
01:46:10,000 --> 01:46:17,040
basically three already. So, we can't
even add anything in there at this

1317
01:46:14,880 --> 01:46:20,960
point.
So, I'm just saying that if you decide

1318
01:46:18,960 --> 01:46:25,440
that you want to do an insert versus
maybe if there's a line item that would

1319
01:46:22,960 --> 01:46:29,760
like say reference someplace, I know
everybody wants to have that ooey gooey

1320
01:46:27,760 --> 01:46:34,080
letter saying what everybody's doing in
the city. It's a great idea. I love the

1321
01:46:32,400 --> 01:46:39,040
idea, but I don't think it belongs in
the tax bill. I think it belongs at

1322
01:46:36,560 --> 01:46:42,960
maybe another time of the year because
we are always at the end of the line of

1323
01:46:41,199 --> 01:46:46,960
basically the time frame and when we can
get this stuff out based on when the

1324
01:46:44,560 --> 01:46:51,840
budget happens because we're waiting on
the school district, the county, all

1325
01:46:49,199 --> 01:46:56,239
those entities to get us the information
to get to the county so that they can

1326
01:46:53,600 --> 01:47:00,880
even get those processed and then sent
out to our third party. We get calls

1327
01:46:58,639 --> 01:47:03,760
every year, where's our tax bill? It's
like the middle of December and they

1328
01:47:02,320 --> 01:47:07,440
still haven't gotten it yet. Well,
there's a lot of factors that get it to

1329
01:47:05,280 --> 01:47:12,320
that point, but if we add things into
that tax bill as another insert, that's

1330
01:47:09,760 --> 01:47:17,600
another delay for you guys getting your
bills. So, I just want you guys to all

1331
01:47:14,560 --> 01:47:23,360
be completely aware of all the
additional cost that just one insert can

1332
01:47:20,960 --> 01:47:26,800
do to your PAX bill that we are already
required to do.

1333
01:47:25,360 --> 01:47:32,800
» Can we take out the dog and cat
licensing thing and put in the

1334
01:47:31,040 --> 01:47:37,920
if you don't want to collect dog and cat
licenses, I I'm required to do that,

1335
01:47:35,520 --> 01:47:42,000
too. So, something's got to give. And I
don't know where that I mean, I I

1336
01:47:40,400 --> 01:47:46,880
totally agree with the fact that we need
transparency. I just don't know if the

1337
01:47:44,560 --> 01:47:53,199
tax bill is the actual location. I would
rather somehow teach our residents that

1338
01:47:50,800 --> 01:47:57,920
there are other options for resources
than just spoon feeding it. Because if

1339
01:47:55,440 --> 01:48:02,639
you look at the number of tax bills that
go out, a lot of them don't live here.

1340
01:48:00,000 --> 01:48:06,239
We've got Airbnbs up the wazoo in this
city and they they don't look at that

1341
01:48:04,800 --> 01:48:09,520
information. Half the time when they
send their payment back, those inserts

1342
01:48:07,840 --> 01:48:13,440
are coming back with the payment. They
never even opened and read it. So, I

1343
01:48:12,080 --> 01:48:17,119
don't think that that's the place that
they're going to actually a lot of

1344
01:48:15,040 --> 01:48:22,159
people will, but I'm just saying what
I've seen that I don't think that that's

1345
01:48:18,800 --> 01:48:28,880
the most greatest use of our resources
and our our tax dollars to spend to send

1346
01:48:26,159 --> 01:48:33,840
that stuff out.
I think that's important to include what

1347
01:48:30,960 --> 01:48:38,960
she just said is that it's going to cost
us more

1348
01:48:36,320 --> 01:48:46,000
if we try to tackle this as an insert
that it will cost more tax dollars

1349
01:48:43,280 --> 01:48:52,639
to help educate about where the tax
dollars are going and that's just

1350
01:48:49,280 --> 01:48:57,920
important to note. Um Karen, do you have
anything to add on this topic at this

1351
01:48:55,280 --> 01:49:02,880
time? and then I'll ask some of the
others in the room who might have an

1352
01:49:00,239 --> 01:49:07,360
idea on this.
>> No, I think I, you know, basically just

1353
01:49:05,199 --> 01:49:11,760
stated that I I do think if you just put
it onto the tax bill, um it's just going

1354
01:49:10,159 --> 01:49:16,159
to be minimal characters. It's going to
be very small and it's going to cause a

1355
01:49:14,000 --> 01:49:21,119
lot of confusion and nobody's going to
understand it. So, I don't think it's

1356
01:49:18,159 --> 01:49:24,960
really going to serve its purpose there.
Thank you.

1357
01:49:23,119 --> 01:49:30,800
Can you talk a little about what you
shared with me the other day, like the

1358
01:49:27,119 --> 01:49:37,119
cost of actually trying to change the
form for the tax bill?

1359
01:49:34,080 --> 01:49:42,000
» Sure. So, I'm I'm not super familiar
with that. I just um I did reach out to

1360
01:49:39,440 --> 01:49:46,159
Lacrosse County Treasurer um because she
has had this come up. She's had, I

1361
01:49:44,239 --> 01:49:52,480
believe, three school districts request
a resolution to put it on the tax bill.

1362
01:49:48,960 --> 01:49:58,800
And so she did a lot of research um and
she was the one that I discussed this

1363
01:49:55,040 --> 01:50:04,000
with. Um she informed me that um you
know just due to the minimal characters

1364
01:50:00,480 --> 01:50:08,159
that we'd have they'd have to um make
changes to the program and there would

1365
01:50:05,840 --> 01:50:12,480
be a cost associated. I don't know what
that cost would be. I don't know who

1366
01:50:09,760 --> 01:50:16,800
would um have to pay for that cost in
order for us to do what we actually

1367
01:50:14,000 --> 01:50:22,239
would want to do. And in regards to if
there's multiple school districts that

1368
01:50:19,600 --> 01:50:27,600
are included in one municipality,
how do you, you know, how do you

1369
01:50:24,880 --> 01:50:32,000
determine which tax bills are going to
have $1 amount versus the other based on

1370
01:50:30,080 --> 01:50:38,239
the school district? Our system isn't
smart enough to figure that out. It just

1371
01:50:34,080 --> 01:50:43,840
be a blanket statement for a
municipality, if that makes sense.

1372
01:50:42,239 --> 01:50:46,400
» Thank you.
>> Yep.

1373
01:50:46,480 --> 01:50:57,119
Dr. Hill or um Mr. Roseski, if you want
to add anything at this time, uh

1374
01:50:55,280 --> 01:51:02,480
not that you need to, but if you do want
to, please come up to the podium and and

1375
01:50:59,600 --> 01:51:08,480
do so.
>> Could one second. Could this be

1376
01:51:05,199 --> 01:51:11,679
something as simple as instead of coming
up with a dollar amount on your tax

1377
01:51:10,560 --> 01:51:17,639
bill,
>> a percentage?

1378
01:51:12,560 --> 01:51:17,639
» A percentage. Okay. So I get

1379
01:51:17,679 --> 01:51:25,119
a letter say or it doesn't have to be
that. It could be in the newspaper. It

1380
01:51:20,480 --> 01:51:33,760
could be on the right anywhere saying
8% of your tax school tax money goes to

1381
01:51:30,880 --> 01:51:38,080
outofcount schools instead of putting it
in the

1382
01:51:36,159 --> 01:51:41,679
sending it out with your taxes. Is it
something that could be that simple

1383
01:51:40,400 --> 01:51:47,440
instead of coming up with a dollar
amount? It's a great offering of an

1384
01:51:44,880 --> 01:51:50,719
idea. Go ahead.
>> Uh, thank you, mayor. My name is Jeremy

1385
01:51:49,280 --> 01:51:56,400
Hill. I'm the district administrator for
Veroa Area Schools, and I am at 5386

1386
01:51:54,080 --> 01:52:01,920
Birdie Court.
We appreciate this conversation. We

1387
01:51:59,280 --> 01:52:06,000
appreciate the partnership with the city
and with the county and we think that it

1388
01:52:04,239 --> 01:52:13,520
is important for people to know where
their tax dollars go and and what we pay

1389
01:52:10,159 --> 01:52:19,119
for at the at the school. I think the
the question raised about municipalities

1390
01:52:16,639 --> 01:52:26,000
is is actually probably the opposite of
that. This one municipality

1391
01:52:22,320 --> 01:52:30,000
is all Veroa area schools, but Veroa
area schools includes several

1392
01:52:27,840 --> 01:52:35,119
municipalities.
So when you make a resolution to say

1393
01:52:33,280 --> 01:52:41,920
that that this is what you would like to
do if that were to be the case, it

1394
01:52:38,320 --> 01:52:45,760
doesn't cover the Veroa Township,
doesn't cover Jefferson Township, it

1395
01:52:44,080 --> 01:52:50,320
doesn't cover any of those additional
township pieces that would be very

1396
01:52:48,320 --> 01:52:54,520
difficult for the county to try to
disagregate and break apart.

1397
01:52:56,560 --> 01:53:01,040
Any other questions that you would have
for me?

1398
01:53:02,800 --> 01:53:07,360
Okay.
>> I was just trying to look up what our,

1399
01:53:05,679 --> 01:53:13,520
you know, an image of our tax bill,
which I think would be helpful.

1400
01:53:10,320 --> 01:53:19,360
I mean, so, and I'm very familiar with
what the county postcards look like.

1401
01:53:18,159 --> 01:53:25,199
There's not a lot of room on the
postcard, but the city bill like there

1402
01:53:22,480 --> 01:53:30,080
is a line item that has
Are you saying that we can't add a sec

1403
01:53:27,280 --> 01:53:33,920
another line item? Like our like there
seems like there's plenty of room on a

1404
01:53:32,000 --> 01:53:39,679
on a city tax bill.
>> So before we answer that, I just want to

1405
01:53:36,960 --> 01:53:46,800
make sure we stay in the frame of the
agenda, Mr. McClur. Um that the goal

1406
01:53:44,320 --> 01:53:52,159
tonight is to start this discussion and
to understand the nuance of just how

1407
01:53:48,800 --> 01:53:55,599
detailed this is because in order to
continue with this work, council does

1408
01:53:54,000 --> 01:54:00,960
need to think about the amount of work
that would possibly need to go into

1409
01:53:57,840 --> 01:54:07,760
unwinding and then clearly and
transparently communicating it which

1410
01:54:03,280 --> 01:54:14,480
would take a a an approval of
do we want to work towards this or not

1411
01:54:11,840 --> 01:54:20,480
and if we do are we approving city t
staff time to work on that and so that's

1412
01:54:17,920 --> 01:54:27,199
the frame of tonight
from that we would then bring an update

1413
01:54:23,360 --> 01:54:35,280
to a future the other ideas that do
should there be a committee formed or a

1414
01:54:30,639 --> 01:54:39,040
separate team formed for this task these
are some things that we can take action

1415
01:54:37,760 --> 01:54:44,480
on tonight
>> the other thing that I want to say

1416
01:54:40,159 --> 01:54:48,960
before I sit sit down is that I work for
the Veroa Area Schools Board of

1417
01:54:47,119 --> 01:54:55,520
Education.
They instruct me in the work that I do

1418
01:54:53,760 --> 01:54:59,440
and they have not had a chance to talk
about this either. And so it's important

1419
01:54:58,000 --> 01:55:04,000
for them to be part of that
conversation.

1420
01:55:01,760 --> 01:55:08,639
We're lucky that we live in Veroa and
that we have partnerships across our

1421
01:55:06,560 --> 01:55:13,920
community. This is an incredible place
to raise your kids because there are so

1422
01:55:11,760 --> 01:55:17,599
many choices for schooling. This is a
community of choice. And the great thing

1423
01:55:15,760 --> 01:55:22,159
about Veroa is that there is a place for
everybody in this community. So, I want

1424
01:55:20,400 --> 01:55:26,639
to state publicly that that we are
grateful for those partnerships. We're

1425
01:55:23,840 --> 01:55:30,880
grateful for our partnerships with the
private schools in our community because

1426
01:55:28,800 --> 01:55:36,239
we share resources. We provide
opportunities for their students to take

1427
01:55:32,880 --> 01:55:41,599
two classes in our school system.
We're grateful for the partnership with

1428
01:55:38,320 --> 01:55:46,080
the city. We don't want to lose sight of
that as well. So, thank you for having

1429
01:55:44,080 --> 01:55:51,440
this conversation.
>> Thank you for coming. And I want to also

1430
01:55:48,480 --> 01:55:56,159
as a leader here share gratitude for
everybody in this room and that we are a

1431
01:55:53,599 --> 01:56:02,080
strong place because we have options.
And we're also a

1432
01:55:58,880 --> 01:56:07,520
phenomenal picture at a time in the
world of a lot of different people

1433
01:56:05,360 --> 01:56:12,159
coming together to say, "Huh, that's a
tricky problem. How do we want to solve

1434
01:56:10,080 --> 01:56:17,040
this?" Because at the end of the day,
this is what will keep us strong is that

1435
01:56:15,280 --> 01:56:22,000
we're going to look at the challenges
that any one or parts of us are facing

1436
01:56:19,520 --> 01:56:25,360
and say,
"Yeah, we should look at that

1437
01:56:23,280 --> 01:56:30,080
differently or we could do this to
overcome things that maybe we can't

1438
01:56:27,440 --> 01:56:34,800
control at a local level,
but we can do something to help each

1439
01:56:32,639 --> 01:56:38,880
other through it." So, thank you for
coming and I totally agree with your

1440
01:56:37,199 --> 01:56:41,840
sentiment.
You

1441
01:56:42,719 --> 01:56:49,520
just to well I'll try to keep it quick.
So I you know my parents were both

1442
01:56:47,840 --> 01:56:53,199
educators. My grandparents I have
grandparents that were educators um in

1443
01:56:51,920 --> 01:56:58,159
the public all in the public school
district. Um what I'm hearing here I

1444
01:56:56,639 --> 01:57:03,360
think is sort of a root cause that we
need more support for our public schools

1445
01:57:01,040 --> 01:57:08,080
and that they need more money. I'm not
sure that this methodology of pushing

1446
01:57:06,080 --> 01:57:14,000
that education campaign out to the
public makes sense to me. Um, I love the

1447
01:57:11,920 --> 01:57:18,159
communication campaign. I love I love
the passion that you're putting into it,

1448
01:57:15,679 --> 01:57:21,679
Christina. That's why I'm that I love
that I'm engaged in this council as like

1449
01:57:20,080 --> 01:57:26,880
the junior most member of this council
because I'm learning so much. Like I can

1450
01:57:23,360 --> 01:57:31,760
I now know that $1 million figure. If I
could remember, I could tell you how

1451
01:57:28,080 --> 01:57:36,080
much it costs to patch the concrete
bump outside of Aldi or Walmart. Like

1452
01:57:34,480 --> 01:57:40,719
I'm learning like an excav how much a
new excavator costs. A used ambulance

1453
01:57:37,920 --> 01:57:44,000
costs $55,000.
Um,

1454
01:57:42,560 --> 01:57:47,679
but I don't know that I want to put all
that in the tax bill for property tax

1455
01:57:46,159 --> 01:57:51,280
owners. I mean, I'm I want to educate
myself more on where my tax money is

1456
01:57:49,520 --> 01:57:54,880
going. I do believe that even though
this money is being funneled out of our

1457
01:57:53,040 --> 01:57:59,920
p public schools, it is still mostly
going to help children in the state of

1458
01:57:57,360 --> 01:58:04,639
Wisconsin, which I'm happy about. I do
also suspect that some of the money I

1459
01:58:01,440 --> 01:58:07,760
spend on taxes, not Veroa taxes, does
maybe go to potentially harm children,

1460
01:58:06,560 --> 01:58:12,800
and that is a concern, and I'm
embarrassed that I don't know what that

1461
01:58:09,199 --> 01:58:15,760
number is. Um, so I I can't imagine
personally voting in favor of this

1462
01:58:14,400 --> 01:58:20,960
resolution because it's just like where
does it is this the beginning of some

1463
01:58:18,080 --> 01:58:26,320
larger thing where we decide one onesie
twoozy what we put into our property tax

1464
01:58:23,040 --> 01:58:31,360
bill and how how could we instead use
this body to somehow promote or or

1465
01:58:29,760 --> 01:58:36,400
figure out how to better support our
public schools and and educate the

1466
01:58:34,480 --> 01:58:40,560
larger public about like why do people
not want to pass resolutions? That's

1467
01:58:38,719 --> 01:58:46,800
crazy. Of course, we all want the best
for our kids, right? So, that's just

1468
01:58:42,719 --> 01:58:53,040
kind of where I am at. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Kyle. I think that's

1469
01:58:51,119 --> 01:58:58,080
exactly what we're doing tonight is just
opening this conversation like is a

1470
01:58:54,960 --> 01:59:03,040
resolution the right path? Is a tax bill
the right place? What other options do

1471
01:59:00,719 --> 01:59:10,800
we have? And I want to encourage us to
ask those questions of do we want to

1472
01:59:06,719 --> 01:59:17,599
create a subcommittee on something? Do
we want to approve working

1473
01:59:13,199 --> 01:59:23,280
collaboratively across our community to
figure out how to tackle

1474
01:59:20,800 --> 01:59:29,360
supporting public goods,
not only just obviously public works and

1475
01:59:25,679 --> 01:59:35,360
public safety, but um continuing to have
strong schools, school choice, safe

1476
01:59:32,320 --> 01:59:41,199
places for all people in our community.
Um,

1477
01:59:38,080 --> 01:59:45,719
I'd like to hear more about what what
your thoughts and deliberations are.

1478
01:59:52,239 --> 01:59:58,880
Okay. I definitely think the public
needs to know because I I agree that a

1479
01:59:56,800 --> 02:00:02,960
lot of people don't know that their
money is going to the private schools.

1480
02:00:00,639 --> 02:00:06,719
Whether they like that or not, they need
to know. I think that's important. I

1481
02:00:05,119 --> 02:00:11,360
think we need to figure out a way to
tell them and and I certainly would, you

1482
02:00:09,199 --> 02:00:16,560
know, listen to what Lori had to say and
our county treasurer about how it would

1483
02:00:14,800 --> 02:00:20,480
affect them. I'm curious, I guess, how
the other cities, Oaklair, other cities

1484
02:00:19,040 --> 02:00:26,560
that did that they have a did they have
the same problem as Green Bay? I don't

1485
02:00:22,639 --> 02:00:32,239
know. But if some other suggestion, I'm
open to something so the public knows.

1486
02:00:30,639 --> 02:00:37,840
Well, the you had asked a question
regarding is there room on our tax bill.

1487
02:00:34,960 --> 02:00:41,920
We are statemandated to if there's a
referendum at all, that is the one thing

1488
02:00:39,920 --> 02:00:47,520
that has to go on there. So, the more
referendums that end up on there, that

1489
02:00:44,320 --> 02:00:52,719
is what has to be on there 100%.
That's not saying that there's going to

1490
02:00:48,960 --> 02:00:56,560
be room to do that every year if it's
possible. Well, I guess I would have to

1491
02:00:54,080 --> 02:00:59,760
work with our county treasurer to know
if it's even possible because we that's

1492
02:00:58,400 --> 02:01:03,920
one thing that we have to put on there
is how much of your tax bill is paying

1493
02:01:02,159 --> 02:01:08,960
for this referendum for this school
district. That is one of our

1494
02:01:05,920 --> 02:01:13,760
requirements. Now, I believe on the last
tax bill, I think there was was there

1495
02:01:10,480 --> 02:01:17,280
three referendums listed? I can't
remember what dates they were that that

1496
02:01:15,760 --> 02:01:21,199
they came through, but it seems like
there was three lines of different

1497
02:01:19,280 --> 02:01:25,360
referendums.
Yeah.

1498
02:01:23,119 --> 02:01:29,520
Yep. So there might been two left, but
if they go for another referendum, then

1499
02:01:27,599 --> 02:01:34,080
that's another one that has So all them
spaces have to be used specifically for

1500
02:01:31,920 --> 02:01:38,320
that. So there may not be room. There
may be this year, but maybe not next

1501
02:01:35,599 --> 02:01:41,560
year. So you can't count on that on the
tax bill.

1502
02:01:42,400 --> 02:01:49,760
Is there a way right now to find out
what like if I wanted to call somebody

1503
02:01:48,159 --> 02:01:57,920
right now and figure out what percentage
I paid to this,

1504
02:01:53,520 --> 02:02:00,960
is there a person I can contact?
>> Yeah.

1505
02:01:59,440 --> 02:02:06,639
» So, if that information is already
readily available,

1506
02:02:03,840 --> 02:02:12,239
transparency is great.
But do we Yes. My own taxes

1507
02:02:09,920 --> 02:02:16,880
» of your personal Yeah. I think it's just
a probably a percent.

1508
02:02:14,080 --> 02:02:20,800
» So transparency is great, but if it
already exists,

1509
02:02:19,040 --> 02:02:24,320
if people want to know,
>> right? Why spoon feed them?

1510
02:02:23,119 --> 02:02:26,880
» They don't even know the ask the
question though.

1511
02:02:25,520 --> 02:02:29,280
» Maybe they don't care though.
>> Oh, I think

1512
02:02:28,159 --> 02:02:32,239
» right. Like I mean,
>> but if they care, they should go

1513
02:02:31,280 --> 02:02:36,080
looking.
>> But if people don't,

1514
02:02:34,400 --> 02:02:39,360
» I mean, I think the question it's a good
question, AJ, but the question is like,

1515
02:02:37,760 --> 02:02:43,840
were you surprised by that number? And
if you were surprised by that number as

1516
02:02:40,960 --> 02:02:47,920
a council person who's involved in
making those decisions, then maybe other

1517
02:02:45,840 --> 02:02:49,760
people would also be surprised by that
number.

1518
02:02:48,719 --> 02:02:54,639
» Agree with that, D.
>> And we didn't ask the question.

1519
02:02:51,920 --> 02:02:56,719
Christina was just brought it to us.
>> Appreciate Christina.

1520
02:02:55,760 --> 02:03:00,639
» It's good question.
>> I'm saying if it's already there to get,

1521
02:02:59,199 --> 02:03:05,679
right? Like
>> we now see this if Yeah.

1522
02:03:04,239 --> 02:03:11,040
like they can get they can get that
information if they really needed it

1523
02:03:07,440 --> 02:03:17,000
without us spending
x amount of dollars to put it on a tax

1524
02:03:13,360 --> 02:03:17,000
bill or an insert.

1525
02:03:18,320 --> 02:03:25,520
» I think anything relating to the school
tax le you can always call me about. Um

1526
02:03:23,599 --> 02:03:30,239
that's that's definitely part of my job.
>> Do you want to state your phone number?

1527
02:03:28,400 --> 02:03:34,960
» Just kidding.
>> Um that that number changes every year.

1528
02:03:33,440 --> 02:03:40,080
I mean, we could we could come up with a
percentage of what the total total levy

1529
02:03:36,960 --> 02:03:44,960
is b what the percentage of the the
voucher piece is out of our total levy

1530
02:03:42,080 --> 02:03:48,320
and you could apply that to your uh your
the amount that you've got on your tax

1531
02:03:46,639 --> 02:03:51,280
bill for the school district. And that
is essentially what that number would be

1532
02:03:49,920 --> 02:03:55,760
if you're ever interested in knowing
what that would be. I like doing math um

1533
02:03:54,159 --> 02:03:58,080
and can figure that out for you and let
you know.

1534
02:03:59,760 --> 02:04:08,880
So, thank you for that answer and I
appreciate what you're asking

1535
02:04:05,520 --> 02:04:14,000
tonight. Do we want to move forward with
continuing work on this? And

1536
02:04:12,320 --> 02:04:21,280
I'm not suggesting we have to move
towards a resolution, but continuing to

1537
02:04:18,800 --> 02:04:26,000
work on this means that we would have to
approve the ability to do so.

1538
02:04:24,159 --> 02:04:32,280
I would make a motion we continue to
work on this just to see how we should

1539
02:04:29,280 --> 02:04:32,280
proceed.

1540
02:04:36,719 --> 02:04:41,520
I mean I I'd be in favor of at least
finding out what a resolution looks like

1541
02:04:40,320 --> 02:04:45,920
or what some other
>> You got to get a second before we can

1542
02:04:42,960 --> 02:04:50,800
discuss if to her motion.
>> I'll second it. So we

1543
02:04:48,480 --> 02:04:52,880
» So motion by Cindy and a second by
Tanya.

1544
02:04:51,920 --> 02:04:56,239
» Further discussion.
>> Yeah. So hearing that there is interest

1545
02:04:54,239 --> 02:04:57,760
in in my thought. Can I finish my
thought?

1546
02:04:56,480 --> 02:05:00,400
» Oh de cut me off.
>> Yeah, please do.

1547
02:04:58,719 --> 02:05:04,719
» Sorry, I'm just trying to do rapid rules
here.

1548
02:05:02,080 --> 02:05:09,119
» Uh to find out what the other options
are, you know, it sounds like putting it

1549
02:05:07,119 --> 02:05:13,119
necessarily a line on the tax bill isn't
isn't maybe the best option, but years

1550
02:05:11,040 --> 02:05:16,880
ago, I remember asking Nate if he could
do one of those pie charts so people

1551
02:05:14,639 --> 02:05:22,480
could see like for every $1 of your tax
money, how much of that goes to

1552
02:05:20,400 --> 02:05:25,360
different departments? because I found
that enlightening when somebody showed

1553
02:05:23,840 --> 02:05:28,639
that to me and I feel like that's it's
just another exercise. So like finding

1554
02:05:27,040 --> 02:05:32,159
the way that actually gets the
information to people is more important

1555
02:05:30,560 --> 02:05:38,400
than
so moving forward is just

1556
02:05:35,599 --> 02:05:43,920
how to maybe it's just a something on
our website that just is very very clear

1557
02:05:41,280 --> 02:05:48,239
or you know apparently the only place
people get their information and news is

1558
02:05:45,840 --> 02:05:52,960
on Facebook. So
>> you know post on Facebook but I'd be in

1559
02:05:51,199 --> 02:05:57,360
favor of moving forward. But I'm not in
favor of having the staff

1560
02:05:55,520 --> 02:06:02,040
take this on as something that they need
to solve necessarily.

1561
02:06:02,320 --> 02:06:06,880
» Some of how that
>> volunteering to be on a committee, the

1562
02:06:06,080 --> 02:06:14,400
budget committee.
>> Some of how it happens is a question

1563
02:06:08,639 --> 02:06:20,719
comes in or an email comes in to the any
any office staff person, right? someone

1564
02:06:17,280 --> 02:06:25,760
calls, hears this meeting, calls or
calls because they saw something around

1565
02:06:22,480 --> 02:06:33,599
town and then it takes time during the
day to

1566
02:06:28,800 --> 02:06:38,079
route that and answer that question. So
knowing that there are going to be

1567
02:06:35,440 --> 02:06:44,400
questions asked because we have an
active school referendum. So people

1568
02:06:40,480 --> 02:06:49,520
inevitably ask questions.
Do we want to Yeah. the you know that's

1569
02:06:47,280 --> 02:06:54,320
one of the ways that this happens is
time is allocated because the public's

1570
02:06:51,440 --> 02:06:58,639
asking how do we want to move and I'm
hearing a motion in a second but Kyle

1571
02:06:57,599 --> 02:07:03,119
also wanted to
>> yeah just the question and it can be

1572
02:07:00,239 --> 02:07:07,520
totally be left unanswered but um for
those of you that that are interested in

1573
02:07:05,040 --> 02:07:11,679
moving this forward let's say we
realized that there was a magic wand

1574
02:07:09,840 --> 02:07:15,599
right now and we could wave that magic
wand and all of a sudden every property

1575
02:07:14,079 --> 02:07:19,679
tax payer
in Veroa.

1576
02:07:17,360 --> 02:07:23,360
This information was in their mind right
now and they knew exactly what that

1577
02:07:21,920 --> 02:07:27,520
number was, what the total budget for
the school was, what percentage of the

1578
02:07:24,960 --> 02:07:33,040
budget, what percentage of their payout
was was being funneled out

1579
02:07:30,480 --> 02:07:38,000
of the community or out of the public
school. Um, what would happen? Like what

1580
02:07:36,400 --> 02:07:41,440
is the greater good that would happen
from that? All of them knowing because

1581
02:07:40,320 --> 02:07:45,520
that's ultimately what we're trying to
accomplish, I think, is what I'm

1582
02:07:42,560 --> 02:07:48,639
hearing. We want everybody to know this
and we want them to know what their

1583
02:07:46,960 --> 02:07:51,360
contribution is that's being taken out
of the public school system that they

1584
02:07:50,079 --> 02:07:55,199
thought was part of the public school
system. That's my question.

1585
02:07:52,800 --> 02:08:00,480
» One thing comes comes to mind is do we
want to have a voucher system? And that

1586
02:07:58,159 --> 02:08:04,320
would be something that you contact your
representative about

1587
02:08:02,639 --> 02:08:10,960
» if you didn't like that what was going
on.

1588
02:08:06,800 --> 02:08:16,320
What I heard um is that the line item
calls it public school funding and it's

1589
02:08:13,679 --> 02:08:22,079
not. It's public and private school
funding. So that's what I heard and that

1590
02:08:18,639 --> 02:08:27,119
I think is a fair delineation. If the
state in their folly or wisdom has

1591
02:08:25,280 --> 02:08:31,920
decided that that money is no longer
public school money, but now it's public

1592
02:08:28,800 --> 02:08:35,360
and private school money, then that's
what we should actually be telling

1593
02:08:34,639 --> 02:08:38,400
people.
>> Just those private schools that have

1594
02:08:36,800 --> 02:08:40,000
signed up for the school choice program.
We wouldn't want to throw all the

1595
02:08:39,520 --> 02:08:43,360
private school.
>> But it's money that is going to private

1596
02:08:41,679 --> 02:08:48,000
I didn't say it's all private schools. I
said it's going to it's funding private

1597
02:08:45,840 --> 02:08:52,719
schools. Some private schools. It's
funding private schools. So, it's not

1598
02:08:49,840 --> 02:08:57,520
just funding public schools.
So, I sent my kids to both public and

1599
02:08:55,679 --> 02:09:01,760
private schools.
And I never once asked my neighbors to

1600
02:09:00,159 --> 02:09:09,400
help me pay the tuition at my private
school.

1601
02:09:03,760 --> 02:09:09,400
And um that's where I stand.

1602
02:09:15,119 --> 02:09:22,239
Do you have an answer to your own
question or an idea on it? Or

1603
02:09:19,599 --> 02:09:25,520
» if I if I could if if I had a hundred of
those magic wands that would put

1604
02:09:23,920 --> 02:09:29,520
information about where people's tax
money was going, this was not this would

1605
02:09:27,920 --> 02:09:32,719
not be the magic wand I would wave
first. That's all I'm saying. I I think

1606
02:09:31,280 --> 02:09:38,239
this is important. I want everybody to
know everything. I agree. But it's not

1607
02:09:35,119 --> 02:09:44,000
the top priority in my mind for what we
need to educate our public. push an

1608
02:09:39,679 --> 02:09:47,920
education out to property owners about
>> everybody. Remember that my name is on

1609
02:09:45,760 --> 02:09:49,920
those bills. So, whatever you decide,
I'm the one that's going to get the

1610
02:09:49,119 --> 02:09:52,719
call.
>> I do want to make a motion, but I won't

1611
02:09:51,440 --> 02:09:57,760
actually make a motion about the dog
register.

1612
02:09:55,440 --> 02:10:04,960
» Yeah, we have a motion to continue
working and a second by Tanya. Um,

1613
02:10:01,440 --> 02:10:08,360
» what's that look like? Who's the who's
working on it?

1614
02:10:12,400 --> 02:10:17,239
Some of this comes in um

1615
02:10:17,440 --> 02:10:24,560
in calls and emails
and it's my understanding in

1616
02:10:22,560 --> 02:10:31,040
conversations with the school that this
is something that

1617
02:10:28,159 --> 02:10:36,960
the board may take up to work on. I
don't want to speak for them or make

1618
02:10:34,000 --> 02:10:48,440
assumptions for the school. So, if um
Dr. Hill wants to help clarify that um

1619
02:10:43,040 --> 02:10:48,440
I would be very open to that.

1620
02:10:55,840 --> 02:11:01,440
It was left on for me earlier. Made me
look good.

1621
02:10:59,119 --> 02:11:08,639
I I would say that right now our board
is committed to two board goals which is

1622
02:11:06,560 --> 02:11:13,760
uh ensuring that 100% of our students
make a minimum of one year's growth in

1623
02:11:10,639 --> 02:11:20,000
one year's time and that 100% of our
students manage 95% attendance. So those

1624
02:11:17,840 --> 02:11:24,880
are the two big board focuses that they
have right now. um as you learned and

1625
02:11:23,199 --> 02:11:29,280
this is not necessarily germanine to
this conversation and and we've all said

1626
02:11:26,960 --> 02:11:34,800
that they voted last week to go to
operational referendum and that will be

1627
02:11:31,040 --> 02:11:38,400
their major focus until November 3rd. Um
I will bring this to their attention. I

1628
02:11:36,560 --> 02:11:42,960
I did share with them this morning that
I was coming this evening. Uh and I

1629
02:11:41,520 --> 02:11:48,440
think that that will be up to them if
they want to to take that conversation

1630
02:11:45,440 --> 02:11:48,440
on.

1631
02:11:54,480 --> 02:11:59,400
Do we want to work on a resolution?

1632
02:12:05,920 --> 02:12:12,960
» I'm sorry. Do we need to vote on what we
already

1633
02:12:10,880 --> 02:12:19,599
» You put forward a motion in a second,
but Steve asked a question of what are

1634
02:12:15,280 --> 02:12:27,360
we working on or doing? Sorry, clarify.
>> No, who's doing the work? You say we,

1635
02:12:24,639 --> 02:12:32,239
» but like so we we talked in this greater
sense of the community.

1636
02:12:30,639 --> 02:12:39,440
» Like if there's going to be a
subcommittee made up of members of this

1637
02:12:35,360 --> 02:12:43,840
body plus other members, I guess I'm not
going to be on that board. I don't have

1638
02:12:41,440 --> 02:12:48,719
any more time with all the other boards
I'm on to do something that is just to

1639
02:12:47,119 --> 02:12:54,320
inform
and doesn't change ultimately

1640
02:12:52,079 --> 02:12:59,280
anything, right? Like the money is still
going to come out.

1641
02:12:56,960 --> 02:13:03,760
You know what I'm saying? Like
>> I felt

1642
02:13:00,960 --> 02:13:08,000
a lot of work to
>> nothing.

1643
02:13:06,239 --> 02:13:12,639
And I'm not saying education's not
>> No, I understand. And I think I hear

1644
02:13:09,679 --> 02:13:18,320
that you're saying like we don't have
the magic wand

1645
02:13:14,800 --> 02:13:23,840
» to make this possible for everybody to
know tomorrow.

1646
02:13:21,040 --> 02:13:29,920
» We're working within systems
that we learned from Karen and the

1647
02:13:26,400 --> 02:13:36,320
county of what is possible to put on a
tax bill. What's put in there? We have

1648
02:13:33,760 --> 02:13:43,440
only so many hours in a day to do the
work of using tax dollars to

1649
02:13:40,719 --> 02:13:47,880
take care of, maintain, and do projects
for public goods across the city.

1650
02:13:49,280 --> 02:13:55,760
Unfortunately,
decisions that are made at other levels

1651
02:13:53,119 --> 02:13:59,840
of government
are making it challenging for some of

1652
02:13:57,840 --> 02:14:05,520
our public goods or most of our public
goods to remain

1653
02:14:02,000 --> 02:14:12,239
well resourced and that is not public
information at this time.

1654
02:14:08,480 --> 02:14:17,199
So what we can do at a local level is
tell

1655
02:14:15,199 --> 02:14:25,119
is to make that transparent and then
tell that message

1656
02:14:19,599 --> 02:14:30,719
out to say it's we need this to
resource our community the way we want

1657
02:14:28,159 --> 02:14:35,280
to resource it right if we want to have
choices how do we want to do it if we

1658
02:14:32,880 --> 02:14:40,800
want to have
you know I think the discourse of this

1659
02:14:38,079 --> 02:14:46,000
across the city with partners is an
important thing and I I hear the motion

1660
02:14:44,000 --> 02:14:50,880
and second to work on it and I think we
don't yet know because we are coming to

1661
02:14:48,000 --> 02:14:55,599
the table in
support of

1662
02:14:53,360 --> 02:14:59,320
a community conversation that will be on
a ballot in November.

1663
02:15:00,960 --> 02:15:06,960
I would prefer that we if this does move
forward that we have that if somebody

1664
02:15:05,440 --> 02:15:10,400
has a resolution that they actually want
to bring forward for us to vote on that

1665
02:15:08,639 --> 02:15:16,320
that's what happens next.
>> Okay. I kind of feel like rescending my

1666
02:15:12,560 --> 02:15:22,239
my second only because
I don't think this body gathers together

1667
02:15:19,920 --> 02:15:26,400
to
to do the work you're talking about

1668
02:15:23,840 --> 02:15:32,000
happens outside of council and then a
resolution or a proposal is brought to

1669
02:15:28,480 --> 02:15:36,000
council. So I I while I still want to
move forward with this, I'm not sure

1670
02:15:33,360 --> 02:15:41,679
this body needs to necessarily vote on
it. I think that that anybody at any

1671
02:15:38,880 --> 02:15:45,599
time can put on the agenda
an actual proposal to vote on and that

1672
02:15:44,079 --> 02:15:51,719
if there's folks who want to work on
that outside of that, I'm not I'm just

1673
02:15:47,440 --> 02:15:51,719
not convinced we need to

1674
02:15:52,239 --> 02:16:00,880
decide or appoint that tonight.
Does that make sense?

1675
02:15:57,599 --> 02:16:06,880
» Totally. one of the I.
>> So, here's some insight is that if let's

1676
02:16:04,880 --> 02:16:12,079
say let's say Seth was going to work on
this tomorrow. In order to do so, he

1677
02:16:09,840 --> 02:16:17,360
would have to pick up the phone and call
Lori to get information. So now Lori's

1678
02:16:15,760 --> 02:16:19,920
» we're doing this work in some of the
committees that we're working with

1679
02:16:18,800 --> 02:16:23,840
housing board. That's what we're doing.
We're doing the work in the committee

1680
02:16:21,679 --> 02:16:27,760
and then we sometimes have to ask Lori
questions and then we bring a proposal

1681
02:16:25,840 --> 02:16:31,400
to council. Is there a committee that
this belongs in?

1682
02:16:38,559 --> 02:16:44,319
Why don't we just vote on it so we can
move on? We spent a lot of time on this.

1683
02:16:42,399 --> 02:16:47,599
» So, you're in favor of it being worked
on?

1684
02:16:44,880 --> 02:16:51,399
» I don't care anymore at the moment. I
think we need to move on.

1685
02:16:53,359 --> 02:16:57,120
» No offense. I'm sorry.
>> No, I just think

1686
02:16:56,479 --> 02:17:00,399
Um,
>> I think the public needs to know, but I

1687
02:16:59,200 --> 02:17:02,880
agree with Trina.
>> So, how do they know?

1688
02:17:01,200 --> 02:17:09,040
» Tanya makes good points.
>> How do they know? That's the question.

1689
02:17:05,280 --> 02:17:12,679
» Well, call Can we call the question?
>> Can we call the question?

1690
02:17:13,920 --> 02:17:19,240
» Well, I know you have a meeting tonight.

1691
02:17:19,519 --> 02:17:22,519
Oh.

1692
02:17:30,479 --> 02:17:36,479
All in favor? Roll call.
>> You want a roll call? I can do a roll

1693
02:17:35,599 --> 02:17:40,280
call.
>> Let's do a roll call.

1694
02:17:41,120 --> 02:17:45,679
» No.
>> No.

1695
02:17:44,880 --> 02:17:48,800
» Hey,
>> no.

1696
02:17:47,920 --> 02:17:51,359
» No.
>> Kyle,

1697
02:17:49,679 --> 02:17:53,040
» no.
>> No.

1698
02:17:52,479 --> 02:17:54,719
Cindy,
>> no.

1699
02:17:54,080 --> 02:17:58,160
» Don,
>> no.

1700
02:17:56,080 --> 02:18:01,359
» No.
>> That means we don't want to continue

1701
02:18:00,479 --> 02:18:04,319
this.
>> All right. Well, that means we don't

1702
02:18:02,639 --> 02:18:07,200
want to continue with this
>> motion.

1703
02:18:04,800 --> 02:18:10,800
» Motion. If somebody wants to bring a
resolution forward that that this did

1704
02:18:08,880 --> 02:18:13,800
not stop that.
>> Thank

1705
02:18:14,399 --> 02:18:17,399
resolution.

1706
02:18:18,559 --> 02:18:22,719
» All right, we'll move on.

1707
02:18:24,080 --> 02:18:33,439
So item 17, presentation on resolution
opposing the Marbel 765 KV project. No

1708
02:18:30,559 --> 02:18:40,519
765 Line Inc. and the Coalition against
Marbel 765 Inc.

1709
02:18:37,519 --> 02:18:40,519
So

1710
02:18:42,160 --> 02:18:50,399
again to keep this in boundaries the
there is a resolution that will be

1711
02:18:47,200 --> 02:18:55,840
coming up as item 19
whether or not the city wants to take

1712
02:18:53,519 --> 02:19:02,319
that up opposing this project. So to
hear about this project, uh, Michael

1713
02:18:58,160 --> 02:19:09,639
Brown and Tim Woodhouse are going to
share a short presentation ahead of the

1714
02:19:05,599 --> 02:19:09,639
final period for public comment.

1715
02:19:16,399 --> 02:19:22,639
» Do I get my name again?
>> Okay. Okay.

1716
02:19:20,719 --> 02:19:25,439
» Uh, sorry. Go ahead and tell who which
organization you're with.

1717
02:19:23,840 --> 02:19:35,120
» Yes. Yes, my name is Michael Brown and I
am a board member uh treasurer and media

1718
02:19:29,679 --> 02:19:39,599
lead for no 765 Line Inc. Uh and this is
>> my name is Tim Woodhouse from Genanoa.

1719
02:19:37,439 --> 02:19:45,040
I'm the leader of the coalition against
Marbel 765.

1720
02:19:42,319 --> 02:19:54,000
Uh we're a group of directly impacted
land owners about 70 uh families.

1721
02:19:51,840 --> 02:19:59,600
Uh, so I don't know how uh well
acquainted everyone is with the 765

1722
02:19:57,439 --> 02:20:04,160
uh Marbel project lines. Uh, you may
have seen signs. Uh, you may have seen

1723
02:20:02,160 --> 02:20:09,840
me, you may have seen a number of things
uh around town and throughout the uh

1724
02:20:07,200 --> 02:20:13,120
southern Wisconsin region. Um, I think
the the thing I really wanted to open up

1725
02:20:11,439 --> 02:20:18,160
with today is, you know, why is this
happening? Uh, and then also explain

1726
02:20:15,600 --> 02:20:23,760
what exactly is happening. Um, these are
the biggest power lines ever proposed uh

1727
02:20:20,640 --> 02:20:27,359
in Wisconsin. And the the order of the
presentation today is we're going to

1728
02:20:25,280 --> 02:20:31,280
look at the the the machine itself, the
the money, uh the stakes, and then uh

1729
02:20:29,760 --> 02:20:35,120
you know, the the fight and what's
happening out there in the um uh in the

1730
02:20:33,760 --> 02:20:42,960
world. So, we can move on to the next
one. Um you know, 765

1731
02:20:39,760 --> 02:20:48,960
kilovolts. Uh that is a lot. Uh it is
more than we've ever seen. Uh if you're

1732
02:20:45,760 --> 02:20:55,120
familiar with uh the drive from Madison
out to um like Spring Green uh is it 14

1733
02:20:52,800 --> 02:21:00,960
I think. Um those towers that have gone
up uh those are 345 uh kilovolt towers.

1734
02:20:58,800 --> 02:21:05,920
So we haven't seen anything uh that
carries that load in Wisconsin. Um and

1735
02:21:03,520 --> 02:21:10,800
the Marabel project is the is the
project that is uh being proposed right

1736
02:21:08,160 --> 02:21:16,240
now to carry those lines.
Next one.

1737
02:21:13,200 --> 02:21:23,600
These are tall towers. Uh really,
really, really oppressively tall towers.

1738
02:21:19,359 --> 02:21:29,600
Um roughly 200 feet. Um and a design
that uh we really haven't seen before.

1739
02:21:26,000 --> 02:21:33,600
Um this proposed uh proposed towers, uh
like I said, they're 200 feet, but they

1740
02:21:30,960 --> 02:21:38,800
and they carry 765 kilovolts. Uh but
they're also designed to uh to carry

1741
02:21:35,920 --> 02:21:42,640
additional uh loads off the side. So,
um, they are, uh, I think this is the

1742
02:21:41,439 --> 02:21:46,640
thing that catches most people off
guard. It's like, oh, wow. Uh, you know,

1743
02:21:44,560 --> 02:21:52,880
we we we see electric lines all over the
place. Transmission, it is what it is.

1744
02:21:48,960 --> 02:21:57,840
Um, but this is, uh, enormous. Um, and
the enormity of the project itself, the

1745
02:21:55,280 --> 02:22:02,319
towers itself is one thing. I I would
encourage everybody to think through um,

1746
02:22:00,319 --> 02:22:06,800
what it takes to actually construct and
build something like that. you know,

1747
02:22:04,479 --> 02:22:12,319
when you put steel and concrete in the
ground, uh what is that going to do? Uh

1748
02:22:10,240 --> 02:22:18,880
how does that actually come about? Uh
that comes by way of trucks and trucks

1749
02:22:15,120 --> 02:22:23,439
on roads and um there's a lot that goes
into this. I'm not going to go into all

1750
02:22:20,560 --> 02:22:28,000
this today um because there are many uh
many facets of the issue. Um and the

1751
02:22:26,080 --> 02:22:32,880
website that we've developed is a really
great resource to understand um

1752
02:22:30,319 --> 02:22:37,680
everything at play. Um but I want to
start here. Towers are huge. Towers

1753
02:22:35,680 --> 02:22:41,960
weigh a lot. Towers have a lot of wear
and tear on your roads when they come

1754
02:22:38,960 --> 02:22:41,960
through.

1755
02:22:43,760 --> 02:22:51,359
It's five times the voltage or five
times the power, double the voltage. And

1756
02:22:49,280 --> 02:22:56,319
uh one thing that I have heard in the
multiple opposition uh resolutions and

1757
02:22:54,479 --> 02:23:01,359
conversation around those opposition
resolutions is the is the safety

1758
02:22:58,560 --> 02:23:08,640
elements um involved in building
something like this? Um when something

1759
02:23:04,800 --> 02:23:14,800
goes wrong with uh power like this, uh
are municipalities equipped to handle um

1760
02:23:12,160 --> 02:23:20,160
emergencies when they happen? uh our
local EMTs uh are they equipped to to to

1761
02:23:17,840 --> 02:23:23,319
handle this? Uh so something else to
think about.

1762
02:23:24,800 --> 02:23:32,960
This is the the biggest uh shock that
I've seen in my in my learning journey

1763
02:23:29,600 --> 02:23:37,200
of this um uh of this project is that
Wisconsin's been great about electricity

1764
02:23:34,960 --> 02:23:42,160
use. You know, for the past 20 years, uh
it's been on a decline uh 4%. That's not

1765
02:23:39,520 --> 02:23:46,960
4% annual, that's 4% overall over the
last 20 years. Um, and this has come by

1766
02:23:44,560 --> 02:23:51,920
way of um, you know, focus on energy
programs, uh, people putting on their

1767
02:23:49,359 --> 02:23:57,040
own solar panels. Um, there's a lot of
reasons that this has been happening.

1768
02:23:53,760 --> 02:24:01,680
Um, and so you might ask yourself, why
is this uh, if if we've been on a

1769
02:23:59,040 --> 02:24:08,200
decline of energy use, uh, then why is
this being proposed? Um, so we can go

1770
02:24:04,319 --> 02:24:08,200
forward to the next one here.

1771
02:24:08,960 --> 02:24:12,200
That's okay.

1772
02:24:14,080 --> 02:24:23,439
So, keep that in mind. Uh if you don't
know how uh energy projects are uh

1773
02:24:20,960 --> 02:24:28,160
managed, proposed, uh who does the
permit issuing and who does the

1774
02:24:24,960 --> 02:24:35,040
building, these are the three players to
understand. Uh MYSO or MISO, uh depends

1775
02:24:31,760 --> 02:24:39,840
on who you talk to. Um this is the uh
this is the 15 state uh uh body that

1776
02:24:38,479 --> 02:24:44,000
says hey this is how we want
transmission to happen throughout the uh

1777
02:24:41,840 --> 02:24:48,160
throughout the region. Um and they are
the the organization that came through a

1778
02:24:45,840 --> 02:24:54,319
while ago and said hey we're going to uh
improve the grid in this way and we're

1779
02:24:50,880 --> 02:24:58,399
going to ask for uh more transmission to
be built. and the public service

1780
02:24:56,000 --> 02:25:04,319
commission of Wisconsin is the the ones
who say uh hey developers come in um uh

1781
02:25:02,640 --> 02:25:10,240
we will look at your we'll look at your
bids and then um award those bids to

1782
02:25:07,520 --> 02:25:14,399
various developers. Um so when you think
about how the projects come about can

1783
02:25:12,240 --> 02:25:18,240
this can be very very confusing. Uh it
was to me when I first uh first started

1784
02:25:16,399 --> 02:25:22,680
learning about all this but uh those are
the three entities to really think

1785
02:25:19,680 --> 02:25:22,680
about.

1786
02:25:24,720 --> 02:25:31,120
Uh so
in 2022

1787
02:25:28,560 --> 02:25:36,080
uh the build out uh known as the as the
tranch uh was a $10 billion buildout

1788
02:25:33,520 --> 02:25:41,600
that got revised uh two years later to
be a $22 billion buildout. Again, this

1789
02:25:38,640 --> 02:25:46,880
is out this is across the the 15 state
uh region. Um, and two of the lines uh

1790
02:25:44,880 --> 02:25:51,920
that we're looking at right now are the
the 765 kilovolt lines uh coming through

1791
02:25:50,240 --> 02:25:56,640
southern Wisconsin. Right now in the
news, you'll hear about the the Marbel

1792
02:25:53,680 --> 02:26:01,200
line uh which is going from uh Genanoa
uh Tim's area uh all the way down to to

1793
02:25:59,120 --> 02:26:05,359
Bell Center. And then when you hear
about what's called the Becky or BECI

1794
02:26:03,520 --> 02:26:11,520
line, uh that's the one that goes from
Bell Center uh wraps up around Madison

1795
02:26:07,840 --> 02:26:16,160
and uh goes down to uh the Boet area.
Um, so those are the the big ones that

1796
02:26:13,280 --> 02:26:18,160
we're looking at right now.
>> Go ahead.

1797
02:26:17,359 --> 02:26:20,000
» Ask a question.
>> Yes.

1798
02:26:18,479 --> 02:26:24,560
» Maybe you're gonna answer this, but how
far apart are these? So like how many of

1799
02:26:22,479 --> 02:26:28,640
these towers are we talking about? Are
they going to be between Genanoa and

1800
02:26:26,960 --> 02:26:32,640
» uh I think they're Tim, you're I think
they're 800 feet.

1801
02:26:29,920 --> 02:26:38,479
» It depends on it depends on the
geography as far as how much uh where

1802
02:26:36,160 --> 02:26:44,560
those placements will be. So, we've been
told um

1803
02:26:40,880 --> 02:26:50,640
on a straight level stretch uh roughly
three structures, current structures

1804
02:26:47,120 --> 02:26:55,280
would be replaced by one tower. But then
if you're familiar with well any of the

1805
02:26:52,479 --> 02:27:01,120
area around here, you've got some pretty
traverse. So, so I don't think that they

1806
02:26:58,640 --> 02:27:04,560
know and they certainly haven't told us
yet.

1807
02:27:02,960 --> 02:27:07,760
» I'm just thinking how many towers we're
really talking about. Yeah,

1808
02:27:06,240 --> 02:27:12,080
» quite quite a few.
>> Quite a few.

1809
02:27:10,640 --> 02:27:17,359
» Oh, yeah. So, this is the breakdown of
the the Marbel and the and the Becky

1810
02:27:14,000 --> 02:27:21,040
lines. And um they are operating on a uh
on a different pace, a different

1811
02:27:19,120 --> 02:27:24,800
program. Uh they're they're permitted
differently. Uh and and right now, the

1812
02:27:23,280 --> 02:27:30,319
important thing to know is that the the
PSC has not issued a docket or or handed

1813
02:27:27,760 --> 02:27:34,240
out uh the starting of a permit for
either of these projects. Uh the

1814
02:27:32,080 --> 02:27:38,880
Maraveel line has been in in development
for a while now. Uh you know, land

1815
02:27:36,800 --> 02:27:44,640
owners have been made aware of what's
happening. Uh and uh coalitions have

1816
02:27:41,920 --> 02:27:48,880
formed. People are being made aware. Um
you know, and and that is really the uh

1817
02:27:46,800 --> 02:27:53,520
the one here that has been of most
concern to Verning County. Um and then

1818
02:27:51,439 --> 02:27:59,200
separately, this this Becky line. Um
that is a a separate topic. Uh and that

1819
02:27:56,319 --> 02:28:04,399
one is accelerating uh at a pace that we
haven't seen transmission line projects

1820
02:28:01,200 --> 02:28:11,840
uh develop before. They've uh fun fact,
they issued um uh mailers to land owners

1821
02:28:08,800 --> 02:28:18,399
and we're expecting within a month for
landowners to uh open up their mail um

1822
02:28:16,560 --> 02:28:22,960
attend an openhouse and issue their
comments. Uh and then after that, the

1823
02:28:20,800 --> 02:28:27,680
developer would then go in and make some
revisions in a back room somewhere. Um

1824
02:28:25,359 --> 02:28:35,920
but typically these processes take much
longer than that. Um so we can move on

1825
02:28:31,280 --> 02:28:43,200
from this slide. Thank you.
So earlier I said uh 4% reduction in

1826
02:28:39,600 --> 02:28:47,040
electricity uh in demand. Uh why is this
happening now?

1827
02:28:44,640 --> 02:28:53,680
um the forecast uh all of a sudden
flipped and said, "Guess what? Uh we're

1828
02:28:49,680 --> 02:29:02,479
expecting a 40% increase um uh in in
demand." And uh that 40% increase um

1829
02:28:57,600 --> 02:29:08,080
roughly 70 72% of that increase uh in
Wisconsin can be attributed to three uh

1830
02:29:05,439 --> 02:29:11,840
three data centers specifically. Um
there I just attended a couple open

1831
02:29:09,760 --> 02:29:17,359
houses that uh there's breakdown of all
of these charts and graphs and there's a

1832
02:29:14,319 --> 02:29:22,720
um a fair amount of um
smoke and mirrors going on in describing

1833
02:29:19,920 --> 02:29:28,080
what the load is and uh uh conflating
peak demand with constant demand. Um and

1834
02:29:26,560 --> 02:29:34,080
uh I I think everyone that I've spoken
to has concerns around well if this 40%

1835
02:29:31,200 --> 02:29:38,160
increase uh is there and you're
anticipating more data centers coming on

1836
02:29:36,479 --> 02:29:42,319
the path, what happens if those data
centers don't materialize? Um why would

1837
02:29:40,720 --> 02:29:46,160
we need this massive transmission
project? Uh if that doesn't actually

1838
02:29:44,640 --> 02:29:51,920
happen,
um and if they don't happen, then we're

1839
02:29:48,880 --> 02:29:56,560
stuck with some very large uh obtrusive
towers uh and the cost that goes along

1840
02:29:54,000 --> 02:29:56,560
with it.

1841
02:29:59,280 --> 02:30:08,880
Uh, one particularly concerning issue is
that uh you will hear a developer claim

1842
02:30:06,080 --> 02:30:14,800
uh that there is uh for every dollar
$1.80 to $3.50

1843
02:30:11,760 --> 02:30:20,399
uh spent or for sorry for every $1 spent
there's roughly$180 to 350 in benefits.

1844
02:30:17,439 --> 02:30:23,680
Um but the way this organization works
uh myo there is an individual named

1845
02:30:22,240 --> 02:30:28,080
David Patton. He's basically the
internal watchdog. Um and he he does

1846
02:30:26,160 --> 02:30:32,160
checks and balances. He runs the math.
He says well if you hadn't if you had

1847
02:30:29,600 --> 02:30:38,000
considered these things um maybe your
math is not uh is not accurate and he's

1848
02:30:34,800 --> 02:30:44,000
raised he's very vocal uh opponent to
this specific fact. uh and he is uh

1849
02:30:41,359 --> 02:30:47,600
standing in front of MYSO saying uh no
for every dollar you spend we're

1850
02:30:45,600 --> 02:30:53,120
actually only going to see uh 40 cents
or less benefit uh towards this project.

1851
02:30:50,399 --> 02:30:56,960
Um and that in in and of itself doesn't
sound okay great somebody's losing money

1852
02:30:55,040 --> 02:31:03,319
on the project but who's losing money on
the project? Um and we'll get to that

1853
02:30:59,439 --> 02:31:03,319
here in the next slide.

1854
02:31:04,080 --> 02:31:10,319
Oh, we won't get to that in the next
slide. Sorry.

1855
02:31:08,399 --> 02:31:15,760
Um, no, that's okay. We'll we'll we'll
uh we'll uh change the narrative here.

1856
02:31:12,720 --> 02:31:22,720
Um the the three reasons that I would
like to see Veroa uh pay attention to

1857
02:31:18,399 --> 02:31:27,439
this um is that uh around us uh more
than 20 resolutions

1858
02:31:25,200 --> 02:31:31,760
um uh opposition resolutions have been
passed uh within Crawford within Vernon

1859
02:31:30,240 --> 02:31:36,240
um and these are communities standing
standing up and saying we don't want

1860
02:31:33,280 --> 02:31:41,600
these projects uh for for various
reasons. Um so our neighbors uh within

1861
02:31:39,760 --> 02:31:45,680
our county, within our community are
saying we don't want this. Uh and this

1862
02:31:43,840 --> 02:31:51,120
is an opportunity for Veroa to stand up
and say uh as the county seat uh Vernon

1863
02:31:48,800 --> 02:31:56,319
County itself has already uh entered an
opposition. Um this is a chance to join

1864
02:31:53,920 --> 02:32:00,960
in and say we agree we don't want to see
this. Um you know geographically I say

1865
02:31:59,040 --> 02:32:04,960
you know the ridge you know while there
is not a tower necessarily proposed to

1866
02:32:03,120 --> 02:32:09,920
come through here. I'm using this ridge
as like the sort of the metaphor for

1867
02:32:07,120 --> 02:32:14,160
like what happens upstream really is
going downstream to our our neighbors.

1868
02:32:12,160 --> 02:32:21,200
So, we have a chance to be uh to be
leaders here. Um organic farms as well.

1869
02:32:17,439 --> 02:32:27,680
We have 230 in Vernon County. Um and
when lines like this uh go up, uh these

1870
02:32:25,040 --> 02:32:32,479
are I I hear from from land owners
almost every day. Um I've been taking a

1871
02:32:29,920 --> 02:32:36,800
call from a woman uh near Poinette. uh
she runs a strawberry farm that she's

1872
02:32:34,160 --> 02:32:40,720
been cultivating for for decades now.
And she's just distraught because this

1873
02:32:38,880 --> 02:32:44,560
line is proposed to go directly over her
strawberry farm. And when they come in

1874
02:32:42,880 --> 02:32:49,120
with the towers and the lines, that's an
easement that they have the um that they

1875
02:32:46,720 --> 02:32:52,479
have the ability to say, uh we're going
to maintain this line in the way that's

1876
02:32:50,640 --> 02:32:59,040
appropriate to us and they can destroy
her uh organic soil. Um then there's not

1877
02:32:55,760 --> 02:33:03,200
a whole lot she can do about it. Um, so
many reasons that we as a community

1878
02:33:00,800 --> 02:33:08,080
should be concerned about this. Um, and
we can go on to the next slide here.

1879
02:33:04,800 --> 02:33:12,560
Thank you, Sarah.
Um, this one, I mean, I I asked Tim to

1880
02:33:10,960 --> 02:33:15,680
to come here. You know, we we've been
we've been involved in many

1881
02:33:13,760 --> 02:33:22,760
conversations today, but I I think this
one is most appropriate for for Tim to

1882
02:33:17,680 --> 02:33:22,760
to speak to. Well, I should have

1883
02:33:23,600 --> 02:33:32,080
um so I I got I always got a caveat that
I'm the leader of the group, so I got to

1884
02:33:28,640 --> 02:33:37,120
keep my personal opinions to myself. Um
but you know, I work for the Genoa

1885
02:33:35,439 --> 02:33:42,640
Township, so I understand the role of
government, the role of eminent domain.

1886
02:33:39,760 --> 02:33:49,120
Um, and you know, I' I'd like to make
note that our group is um funded

1887
02:33:45,840 --> 02:33:55,280
privately up until now taking donations.
Um, we've taken this the step of

1888
02:33:52,399 --> 02:34:00,880
retaining an attorney. We've got a court
date in Vernon County that speaks to the

1889
02:33:58,319 --> 02:34:07,040
use of eminent domain in a project such
as this. It's massive. Is it needed?

1890
02:34:04,800 --> 02:34:12,720
that's going to be debated in the court
system with the various lawyers. So,

1891
02:34:10,240 --> 02:34:17,359
I'll just leave that up to your own. Um,
you know, we feel that that the use of

1892
02:34:14,880 --> 02:34:22,880
eminent domain on our farms isn't
appropriate. So,

1893
02:34:20,960 --> 02:34:25,840
and I should say farms, our properties,
homes.

1894
02:34:23,680 --> 02:34:31,040
» We've got a lot of different vacant land
owners.

1895
02:34:27,600 --> 02:34:35,600
» Can you give a little bit of detail on
what eminent domain is used for?

1896
02:34:36,560 --> 02:34:45,520
Why? Yeah. Why?
>> So, you know, in generally speaking,

1897
02:34:43,520 --> 02:34:51,439
eminent domain is used for the public
good and and I think that's why this uh

1898
02:34:49,439 --> 02:34:55,120
issue has spilled over into the public
forums. You know, you might be sitting

1899
02:34:53,200 --> 02:35:01,200
here thinking, why is this the city
council's um but I I think this has

1900
02:34:59,040 --> 02:35:06,960
opened a huge can of worms as far as
what is the appropriate use of eminent

1901
02:35:03,840 --> 02:35:10,560
domain in situations such as this if
it's for a data center, you know, and

1902
02:35:08,800 --> 02:35:17,760
our group doesn't want to get into this
whole. Our premise is the last 20 years

1903
02:35:14,960 --> 02:35:24,720
our rates or our usage has declined four
to 4% stayed around that. Now, if this

1904
02:35:21,680 --> 02:35:30,080
thing gets built, everybody in this room
will be required to pay for that. And I

1905
02:35:27,359 --> 02:35:34,720
think that's the larger issue that we're
trying to shed some light on. You know,

1906
02:35:32,240 --> 02:35:41,120
I'm not here to cry a SAB story about
our members and our individual, although

1907
02:35:37,920 --> 02:35:45,439
we are very concerned. We're directly
impacted and then we would be stuck

1908
02:35:43,280 --> 02:35:51,040
paying for this. But I think the larger
community would see that you know the

1909
02:35:48,319 --> 02:35:55,120
use of eminent domain on on projects
such as these will be required to pay

1910
02:35:54,080 --> 02:35:59,720
for.
>> Do we get anything from that payment?

1911
02:36:00,319 --> 02:36:09,120
» So that's that's also up for debate. And
uh I think um the community outreaches

1912
02:36:06,880 --> 02:36:14,000
like the town of Genanoa, you know,
they've sat through the presentations

1913
02:36:12,000 --> 02:36:19,920
uh utility tax, you could get into all
these different various things. They

1914
02:36:16,479 --> 02:36:25,120
have not seen any benefit. Therefore,
their opposition to the proposal. I

1915
02:36:22,720 --> 02:36:32,080
think Vernon County with the
presentation and their thoughts, they

1916
02:36:28,399 --> 02:36:37,280
haven't seen any benefit to the county.
I can't speak for the state. I know as

1917
02:36:34,720 --> 02:36:41,280
members of the coalition, there's no
benefit to us on the use of eminent

1918
02:36:40,160 --> 02:36:47,600
domain.
>> Thank you.

1919
02:36:43,120 --> 02:36:53,120
» And I just want to uh iterate here on um
when the when a company came comes in

1920
02:36:50,240 --> 02:36:57,280
and uses eminent domain for the quote
unquote public good. Um what's happening

1921
02:36:55,520 --> 02:37:03,680
is they're building the transmission
line and then the cost of that project

1922
02:37:00,479 --> 02:37:08,720
is uh is actually going back and being
paid for by the rateayers as a whole. So

1923
02:37:06,240 --> 02:37:15,280
anybody who gets an electricity bill uh
is paying for these projects and that is

1924
02:37:11,840 --> 02:37:19,439
uh at the return of roughly 10% per year
for the life of the project and

1925
02:37:17,760 --> 02:37:27,840
sometimes that's 20 years sometimes
that's up to 60 years. So 10% per year

1926
02:37:24,479 --> 02:37:34,319
for the foreseeable future is being paid
back to the company that developed the

1927
02:37:30,240 --> 02:37:39,200
project by you and you and you and me
and all of us.

1928
02:37:36,960 --> 02:37:44,720
And many of us are looking around saying
we didn't need the project in the first

1929
02:37:41,120 --> 02:37:52,240
place. Why are you uh overdeveloping
these lines? Um so uh keep that in mind

1930
02:37:48,960 --> 02:37:59,640
as we think about uh standing up uh in
solidarity and saying we don't need

1931
02:37:54,080 --> 02:37:59,640
these projects. Um next slide please.

1932
02:38:00,080 --> 02:38:07,120
Uh and these are just an explanation of
the the people and the organizations

1933
02:38:04,080 --> 02:38:13,200
that are doing some of this work. Um CAM
765 that is a coalition against Marbel

1934
02:38:09,600 --> 02:38:19,439
that is Tim. Uh no 765 line. I represent
that group here today. Um, we have uh a

1935
02:38:17,280 --> 02:38:24,240
lot going on right now, especially with
the launch of the the Becky project. Uh,

1936
02:38:21,600 --> 02:38:30,960
and then new coalitions are forming. Um,
and you will continue to see this issue

1937
02:38:26,720 --> 02:38:33,960
in the uh in the news. Um, next slide,
please.

1938
02:38:34,240 --> 02:38:42,399
Uh, so, you know, Vernon County has uh
has passed its resolution um opposing

1939
02:38:39,359 --> 02:38:47,200
the line back in uh in March. uh and a
number of other towns uh have these

1940
02:38:44,240 --> 02:38:52,640
opposition resolutions on the books um
and many others are pursuing these uh

1941
02:38:49,920 --> 02:38:58,800
pursuing these right now. And so I
encourage uh encourage Veroa to uh

1942
02:38:55,760 --> 02:39:05,280
consider uh joining the ranks and I
think that's the last slide.

1943
02:39:02,000 --> 02:39:10,640
Oh, nope. Uh
uh here's here's some action you can

1944
02:39:06,960 --> 02:39:14,720
take. Of course, I'd be an an awful uh
nonprofit member here if I didn't say

1945
02:39:12,240 --> 02:39:18,399
here's the actions we can take. Um these
projects, this project is being built as

1946
02:39:16,479 --> 02:39:25,200
a as a done deal by any developer that
you speak with. Uh we see it as not a

1947
02:39:20,399 --> 02:39:29,200
done deal. Um so join us uh and please
um

1948
02:39:27,200 --> 02:39:32,200
consider passing a resolution. Thank
you.

1949
02:39:32,800 --> 02:39:39,439
» Thank you.
So,

1950
02:39:36,399 --> 02:39:45,120
we'll open up item 18, final period for
public comment on item the presentation

1951
02:39:42,720 --> 02:39:49,520
from 17 that we just heard of. If
anybody wants to come forward with

1952
02:39:46,560 --> 02:39:53,640
public comment on this, either online or
in person, please do so.

1953
02:39:55,680 --> 02:40:02,080
Sarah, do we have anyone online? Uh,
there's a few people online. I don't see

1954
02:40:00,479 --> 02:40:07,520
them unmuting, but that would be what
you do. you'd unmute or put your hand

1955
02:40:04,479 --> 02:40:11,760
up. It's one of the actions you can do
through Zoom.

1956
02:40:10,720 --> 02:40:14,960
I don't see anything.
>> Okay.

1957
02:40:13,200 --> 02:40:20,160
» All right. We do not have anybody. So,
we'll move on to item 19, discussion

1958
02:40:17,439 --> 02:40:26,800
with possible action on a resolution
opposing the Marbel 765 KV project. And

1959
02:40:23,600 --> 02:40:31,040
we have that resolution
drafted. This has gone to George and

1960
02:40:29,280 --> 02:40:39,040
Stephanie.
Um, this is a resolution similar to what

1961
02:40:33,920 --> 02:40:47,600
has been put in front of other um
others on the list, Vernon County, etc.,

1962
02:40:42,000 --> 02:40:53,479
and has been modified to be more clearly
related and specifically related to why

1963
02:40:50,000 --> 02:40:53,479
the city of Veroqua

1964
02:40:54,560 --> 02:41:02,319
would be interested in passing this. I
make a motion we pass the resolution

1965
02:40:58,800 --> 02:41:06,160
opposing Marvel 765 KV project. We've
got a motion by Cindy.

1966
02:41:05,200 --> 02:41:11,160
» I'll second it.
>> Todd Kirking the second. Any further

1967
02:41:08,160 --> 02:41:11,160
discussion?

1968
02:41:11,840 --> 02:41:18,319
All in favor?
>> Any opposed?

1969
02:41:16,160 --> 02:41:22,000
Motion carries.
>> All right. Item 20, payment of the

1970
02:41:21,680 --> 02:41:27,359
bills.
>> I make a motion we pay the bills.

1971
02:41:23,840 --> 02:41:27,359
» I don't second it.

1972
02:41:27,439 --> 02:41:31,000
Roll call, please.

1973
02:41:33,200 --> 02:41:37,280
» Okay, Seth.
>> Hi,

1974
02:41:36,720 --> 02:41:38,640
» AJ.
>> Hi,

1975
02:41:37,840 --> 02:41:39,840
» Ty Kirking.
>> Hi,

1976
02:41:39,280 --> 02:41:41,200
» Kyle.
>> Hi,

1977
02:41:40,479 --> 02:41:42,399
» Todd Spaith.
>> Hi,

1978
02:41:41,840 --> 02:41:43,680
» Cindy.
>> Hi,

1979
02:41:43,120 --> 02:41:46,160
» John.
>> Hi,

1980
02:41:44,399 --> 02:41:52,000
» Tanya. And Steve,
>> hi. Before we make a motion to adjurnn,

1981
02:41:48,800 --> 02:41:56,399
I just want to point out that
the differences between these things

1982
02:41:54,720 --> 02:42:01,439
that we just talked about is that
there's been a lot of time put into

1983
02:41:58,160 --> 02:42:08,720
organizing and getting to a resolution
to educate people like us.

1984
02:42:05,200 --> 02:42:13,520
If we believe in the aha moment we all
just had about where our public dollars

1985
02:42:10,800 --> 02:42:18,720
are going, which is not to public
schools fully as it is shown on a tax

1986
02:42:16,240 --> 02:42:22,880
bill. We need to care enough to say that
we want to approve and recognize that

1987
02:42:21,120 --> 02:42:28,160
city hall staff are already working on
this because people are calling

1988
02:42:26,479 --> 02:42:32,479
because there is a referendum for our
schools and there's declining enrollment

1989
02:42:29,760 --> 02:42:37,120
and challenges from
places we can't control.

1990
02:42:35,040 --> 02:42:42,479
that I encourage us all to take control
of what we can do and I am saying this

1991
02:42:39,840 --> 02:42:47,439
out of frustration however also
encouragement that we focus on what we

1992
02:42:45,040 --> 02:42:51,760
can do here together and that if we want
to see a resolution I hope that people

1993
02:42:49,760 --> 02:42:57,359
will know that I want to work on that
and if someone wants to work on that

1994
02:42:53,359 --> 02:43:03,439
with me I will volunteer my time towards
that in the name of public service

1995
02:43:00,880 --> 02:43:06,880
because I believe in transparency and in
dollars going into places where

1996
02:43:04,960 --> 02:43:12,800
accountability is upheld and
transparency follows that money. And I

1997
02:43:10,080 --> 02:43:18,319
just want to make that a clear statement
as we close this out. So, thank you for

1998
02:43:16,000 --> 02:43:24,080
being participatory in a long meeting
and taking on things that I'm sorry that

1999
02:43:21,359 --> 02:43:28,000
we all collectively have to deal with at
this level because they're not being

2000
02:43:26,000 --> 02:43:33,120
legislated on in a way that they need to
be. So, thank you for bearing with and

2001
02:43:31,680 --> 02:43:38,920
if anybody wants to make a motion for
adjournment, please do so.

2002
02:43:34,800 --> 02:43:38,920
» Steve, I make a motion we adjourn.

2003
02:43:39,439 --> 02:43:46,680
» All right, motion and a second. All in
favor? I I

2004
02:43:42,960 --> 02:43:46,680
» Okay, we are adjourned.