[0:00] Good morning everyone. I will go ahead

[0:01] and call the uh city of Westbend bid

[0:04] board meeting into order for September

[0:06] 1st. We do have enough for a quorum. So

[0:10] if we could just start with the last bid

[0:13] board special meeting from August 20th

[0:15] for the approval of the minutes.

[0:18] » A motion to approve the minutes from

[0:20] August 20th.

[0:21] » A second it.

[0:22] » All those in favor say I.

[0:24] » I.

[0:24] » Opposed. Motion carries. Okay. We'll go

[0:27] ahead and excuse me. Um do an update

[0:31] from the downtown Westbend Association

[0:32] and the Bend. Feel free to come on up.

[0:37] » Thank you.

[0:38] » Good morning.

[0:39] » Good morning everyone. Uh hopefully

[0:41] everyone's having a good morning so far.

[0:43] Um some of the events I want to talk

[0:44] about, we just had our summer sidewalk

[0:46] sale event. Um we thought that was

[0:48] really good. We got some feedback from

[0:49] customers that attended these shops. Um

[0:52] people would come out. Um and we had

[0:54] live entertainment this year as well at

[0:56] Old Sliders Park. We also, courtesy of

[0:58] Laughing Mountain popcorn, they gave out

[1:00] drinks um at Old Settlers Park from at

[1:02] 10 o'clock.

[1:04] [clears throat] Um also that's still

[1:06] stuff that is still going on. We have

[1:08] our Music on Main season um extending

[1:10] till September 10th. Now we have two

[1:13] bands locked in for that. Our farmers

[1:15] market is still going on um every

[1:17] Saturday up until October 31st. Um we're

[1:21] hoping to get the five pete this year

[1:23] for best uh farmers market in Wisconsin.

[1:25] Last time I checked, we are still in the

[1:27] lead for that. Um, and then upcoming

[1:30] this weekend, we actually have our

[1:31] Wheels on Maine event, which is the

[1:33] largest uh vehicle show in Washington

[1:35] County. So, we're expecting around 400

[1:37] to 500 vehicles this year again. Um, we

[1:40] also have live music at um for location

[1:42] this year this year um during that

[1:45] event. And then replacing the uh super

[1:48] and sourdough event, we have our taste

[1:49] of autumn event that's happening on

[1:51] October 3rd from 10:00 to 5:00 p.m. Um

[1:54] VIP passholders will receive free taste

[1:56] of food or beverage item at

[1:57] participating locations and it's also

[1:59] going to be $15 per person. So it's kind

[2:02] of what's going on in uh the downtown

[2:04] Westben. Uh we also have the podcast

[2:06] still going strong. We're going to be

[2:08] recording our fifth episode today. So

[2:10] we're still talking about the culture of

[2:12] Westben and getting sponsors and other

[2:14] participating businesses to keep doing

[2:15] that. So, it's been really fun.

[2:18] » Thank you.

[2:20] » Thank you.

[2:26] » Good morning, Noel.

[2:27] » Good morning, everyone. How are you? Um,

[2:30] from the Bend, just a little recap on

[2:32] August. Can't believe it's September

[2:34] already, but um, we hit a record for the

[2:37] Ben Theater in August where we had four

[2:40] nights in a row of sellout shows. So,

[2:42] that is super exciting. Um that was all

[2:44] thanks to um was it last week? My weeks

[2:47] are blending in. Um but we showed the

[2:50] uke documentary which honored the life

[2:52] of Bob Uker. Uh so we were able to get

[2:54] that in and we had four different

[2:55] showings. We had the license just for

[2:57] that specific week of August. Um the

[3:00] first night kicked off with a Q&A from

[3:02] former Brewers players. Um and it was

[3:04] just a wonderful event. So um we had

[3:07] three solo shows in a row and then we

[3:09] brought in uh one of the country

[3:11] legends, Lorie Morgan. had a lot of

[3:13] great hits, especially back in the 90s.

[3:15] Uh so she was another sellout show that

[3:17] uh that following day. So super

[3:18] exciting. That always means that people

[3:20] are coming downtown. They're enjoying uh

[3:23] contributing to the economy, going out

[3:25] to eat, going out for drinks, and

[3:27] enjoying entertainment. So very always

[3:29] happy to be a part of that uh downtown

[3:31] with our team. Um coming up this month

[3:35] of September, uh we are continuing with

[3:37] a free lecture series that we're calling

[3:39] the Bend Sessions. So that started back

[3:42] in August as well, but every week until

[3:44] the week right before Thanksgiving,

[3:46] we're bringing in a different speaker

[3:48] covering a different topic. And again,

[3:50] it's free for the public. Most of them

[3:51] will be on Tuesdays. We do have all of

[3:53] our information on our website about

[3:55] this. Um, but tonight, um, starting at 7

[3:58] p.m. is when they all start. Um, and

[4:00] they'll always have a Q&A at the end, so

[4:03] people can come in and like write down

[4:04] questions, uh, that will get asked of

[4:06] our guest speaker at the end. Uh we have

[4:08] one of the owners of Sausage Plus who

[4:10] will be um at the bend tonight. So um

[4:13] highlighting a local business and

[4:15] talking about like where your meat is

[4:16] coming from uh from a trusted source

[4:18] like Sausage Plus. So um we're really

[4:21] excited to have him. But every week,

[4:23] like I said, there's going to be new

[4:25] topics. We're also going to be starting

[4:27] our origin series again, which is the

[4:29] original singer songwriter series. So

[4:31] yet another offering for a community um

[4:34] that is very cost- effective because no

[4:36] cost. just come on in, enjoy music

[4:38] that's going to be starting on uh

[4:40] Thursdays on the 17th of September. And

[4:44] we have a variety of music and comedy uh

[4:46] coming up for this month. Um anything

[4:48] from a jazz tribute to Sting to Face

[4:51] Value, which is music from Phil Collins

[4:53] and Genesis. Uh we have a Tom Petty

[4:56] tribute, the Guffs, uh if you know the

[4:58] Guffs from um especially the 90s and

[5:00] early 2000s. um they have quite the

[5:02] following uh duo is going to be coming

[5:04] in on the 19th and then at the end of

[5:06] the month uh we're bringing in some more

[5:08] Latino music. So we're bringing in a

[5:09] Selena tribute. Uh if people love Selena

[5:12] music that's for them. Um and then a

[5:14] couple of comedians Andy Gross on the

[5:17] 12th. Uh he is going to be doing a

[5:19] familyfriendly show at 1 p.m. and then

[5:21] for 18 and older at 7:30. But his videos

[5:24] are really cool. He does um kind of like

[5:27] these mind tricks. He's a magician. He's

[5:29] a ventriloquist. So, it's something fun

[5:30] and new and different that we're

[5:32] bringing into the ben too when it comes

[5:33] to comedy. And we also have uh comedian

[5:36] Carmen Lynch on the 26th coming in as

[5:39] well. And she's bilingual. She'll be

[5:41] doing one show in Spanish, one show in

[5:42] English. So, that's a new thing, too.

[5:44] And then, yeah, it's just off to the

[5:46] races as we continue into the fall. So,

[5:48] lots more to come. And always check our

[5:50] website and our socials for what we're

[5:52] doing downtown.

[5:55] » Awesome. Thank you so much, Noel. We

[5:57] appreciate it.

[5:58] » Thank you.

[6:01] Okay. Uh John, if we want to go into the

[6:03] financial report.

[6:04] » Yeah, that Oh, I am. My speaker is on.

[6:06] Uh so this this uh morning. Sorry. Um

[6:09] I'm still behind, I guess, at by a day.

[6:11] Uh so in your packet, you have a summary

[6:14] of the financial report. Um we're on

[6:16] target for the year. We actually have

[6:18] some um savings um in some funds,

[6:21] although some of our bigger uh costs are

[6:23] going to be coming up like the tree

[6:25] installation and stuff like that. So you

[6:26] will see that um as the months go

[6:28] forward that uh dollar amount at the

[6:30] total uh declining a little bit as we

[6:33] have those last end of the year

[6:34] expenses. There's any questions? Let me

[6:36] know.

[6:40] There any more comments or questions on

[6:42] the financial report? If not, if we

[6:44] could have a motion in a second.

[6:50] » I'll make a motion to approve the

[6:52] financial report.

[6:55] I'll second that.

[6:56] » All those in favor say I.

[6:58] » I.

[6:58] » Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. The

[7:02] um agenda items for consideration are

[7:04] the approval of the 2027 bid operating

[7:06] plan.

[7:07] » Um so um Peggy um we kind of reversed

[7:10] these two things. I actually think what

[7:12] we need I'll do is I'll do the

[7:13] presentation of the operating plan. Then

[7:15] you can have the open form for people to

[7:16] comment in case there's any public

[7:18] comment that might influence your um

[7:21] action on the consideration of approval

[7:23] and do the consideration approval last.

[7:24] Does that sound okay?

[7:26] » Yeah, of course.

[7:27] » All right. Great. So the uh operating

[7:29] plan you guys saw last um last uh month

[7:33] uh we have not made any changes to what

[7:34] was uh reported. However, um there have

[7:38] been two things that we caught. one was

[7:40] we had a special I'm going to go to the

[7:45] pardon my scrolling

[7:48] um

[7:50] under electricity cost we had a special

[7:53] project for skyline lighting as you know

[7:55] last month or last uh yeah last month

[7:57] you guys approved for that project to

[7:59] actually try to move forward this

[8:00] particular year so uh that 6,000 is not

[8:03] I don't believe is necess necessary as a

[8:05] line item in addition in double-checking

[8:08] all of our numbers

[8:09] there was a line item for irrigation and

[8:11] fertilizer for um the plantings under

[8:14] landscaping that we missed. So that

[8:17] dollar amount was short by 3,000. So I

[8:19] would propose um when it gets time for

[8:22] consideration that we put back the 3,000

[8:24] into uh the landscaping. And if you want

[8:28] to leave uh 3,000 for skyline lighting,

[8:31] you can. Or you could um just remove

[8:33] that whole 6,000 and put the remaining

[8:35] 3,000 into um uh

[8:40] the account that would be sort of the

[8:42] savings account type situation um for

[8:44] something to be designated in the

[8:45] future. Um just going through the the

[8:49] operational plan is pretty standard. Uh

[8:51] there's nothing changed in the bylaws.

[8:53] Uh the major parts of it for this year

[8:55] are the the summary. So this I'll just

[8:57] go through the quick summary for

[8:59] everyone. Uh essentially we have the

[9:01] audit expenses, administrative cost,

[9:03] marketing, lights and decorations,

[9:05] electricity, uh facade grants, um

[9:08] landscaping donations, water, and future

[9:11] undesated um dollar amount. So if we

[9:14] were to the electricity could come down

[9:16] a little bit and that future undesated

[9:18] would go up a little bit um from what I

[9:20] just discussed. Um if there's any

[9:22] questions um I'd be glad to answer them.

[9:27] or if you need clarification of what I

[9:28] just said because I probably said it

[9:30] pretty quick.

[9:33] » So, John, what you're saying is strip

[9:35] the 6,000 from the skyline lighting

[9:37] upgrade. That doesn't need to be there.

[9:39] » I don't believe it needs to be there

[9:41] because we've you've already taken

[9:42] action last month. And then when we just

[9:44] double checked, uh we did find one line

[9:47] item that was dropped out in landscaping

[9:49] that was for irrigation for the hanging

[9:51] baskets. That would be 3,000 we should

[9:53] put back in

[9:54] » And then we could put the other 3,000 in

[9:55] future funds.

[9:56] » The other 3,000 could go back to the

[9:58] future funds.

[9:58] » Thank you for the clarification.

[10:10] » Any questions?

[10:12] You want to open up for public comment?

[10:17] Yes, we can open it up for public

[10:19] comment for the large public that has

[10:22] come to our bid meeting this morning.

[10:24] [laughter]

[10:26] I think though this is this is one of

[10:28] those reasons why we had initially

[10:29] talked about possibly having this

[10:32] particular meeting at a different time.

[10:34] Um it might be the one time a year that

[10:36] maybe if we had it in the afternoon or

[10:38] early evening that maybe we'd get

[10:41] somebody. I think it's not it's not

[10:42] worth um or it's worth mentioning that

[10:45] maybe we try it one year.

[10:47] » Okay.

[10:47] » Because this might be a difficult time

[10:49] for people to get here start at the

[10:50] start of their day. School's just

[10:52] starting today. There's a lot going on.

[10:53] You know what I mean?

[10:54] » Yeah. It's hard. I mean, I think it's

[10:56] hard for a downtown because you have

[10:57] people who are obviously getting

[11:00] families and stuff off to work and that

[11:02] kind of thing. And it's right before a

[11:03] lot of shops open. But then on the other

[11:05] hand, late afternoon is also when the

[11:07] restaurants are ramping up for their

[11:09] busiest part of the day, too. So, you

[11:11] know, downtown really is busy from 7:00

[11:14] a.m. to 10 at night. So, I probably

[11:16] never find a perfect time, but we can

[11:18] certainly try that.

[11:19] » Yeah.

[11:20] » Do we feel like too that we've kind of

[11:23] publicized that there is this type of

[11:25] form for people to kind of

[11:26] » Oh, it's publicized. Yeah. I mean, it's

[11:28] it's the on the city website. They put

[11:30] out a notification. It's in the paper.

[11:32] Um, yeah, it's definitely and we we let

[11:34] the members the bid members know. We

[11:35] definitely let them know. So, it's just

[11:38] um you know, I think that it's our job

[11:40] to try to find a time that even if we

[11:43] got a few people here, it would be

[11:45] better than nobody here.

[11:47] » Yeah. I don't believe we've had I don't

[11:50] believe Ashley or I have had any contact

[11:53] from anybody with any questions.

[11:54] » Yeah. I was wondering like did anybody

[11:55] email in or anything? No.

[11:59] » No.

[11:59] » I think last year I had one person call.

[12:02] So,

[12:04] » Not a big deal. Today's also the first

[12:06] day of school.

[12:07] » I It is. I know.

[12:08] » So, it's Yeah,

[12:09] » I was almost late because of that kind

[12:11] of thing, but

[12:12] » Yeah,

[12:15] » We could certainly try the afternoon

[12:16] next year if you would like.

[12:17] » Okay. Thank you.

[12:18] » We'll put on the calendar so we don't

[12:19] forget.

[12:20] » Yep.

[12:20] » Yeah.

[12:24] » Um otherwise, the only other action that

[12:26] we would need to see today is for your

[12:28] recommendation of approval. It would

[12:30] then be forwarded to common counsel.

[12:32] Common council then holds a public

[12:33] hearing and then they would take action

[12:35] on it. So there is another opportunity

[12:36] by the way for an evening opportunity

[12:38] theoretically at the council level um

[12:41] for comments. But

[12:45] » Okay,

[12:47] » Then I'd make a motion to recommend for

[12:50] approval uh the 2027 operating plan uh

[12:53] removing the $6,000 from the uh lighting

[12:57] and adding $3,000 to landscape

[13:02] » And 3,000 to future funds

[13:04] » And 3,000 future funds.

[13:07] » I'll second that.

[13:09] » Great. Thank you guys. Uh all those in

[13:11] favor say I. I

[13:13] » Opposed. Okay, motion carries.

[13:20] » Then we have the um

[13:25] pretty much any agenda items for the

[13:27] next meeting which would be when

[13:29] » It would be the first Tuesday of o are

[13:33] we meet I think we're meeting October.

[13:34] Yes, we meet in October.

[13:35] » October or November. I think we meet in

[13:36] October because if we meet in before

[13:39] Chris Yeah. But we usually meet in

[13:41] October before the holiday um event. So

[13:45] » And when is the lighting event this

[13:46] year? November.

[13:47] » Uh it's o next meeting is going to be

[13:49] October 6th.

[13:50] » Okay.

[13:50] » And the first Thursday of November,

[13:53] which would be the tree lighting would

[13:55] be November 5th. Um we've already been

[13:57] in contact with the tree installer. they

[14:00] will be installing the week uh probably

[14:02] starting the 28th, 29th, and 30th of

[14:05] October. Um because we leave the first

[14:09] three days before the tree lighting as

[14:11] reserve days just in case the weather's

[14:13] bad. Um so Yep.

[14:18] » Okay. So, next meeting is October 6th.

[14:22] All right. Any agenda items for next

[14:24] meeting that anybody would like to put

[14:26] on the agenda?

[14:29] Hopefully by next month, um Rhett and

[14:34] Rhett has agreed to help me um call some

[14:37] of the building owners that are downtown

[14:39] that don't have lights on their

[14:40] buildings. Um we thought just going out

[14:43] and actually kind of talking to the

[14:46] individuals would be better than sending

[14:47] emails or that just get out there and

[14:49] start talking to them. So, um I've been

[14:52] in contact with the um Academy of Music,

[14:55] um with Chad Gaiman on the Saloon

[14:58] Royale. Um I talked to the executive

[15:01] director of Seed of Hope. Um she has

[15:03] agreed to do the lights already. So, I

[15:06] think that just getting out and talking

[15:08] would be better than the other way of of

[15:10] just waiting. So, um I'm going to be

[15:13] leaving this afternoon. So Rhett is

[15:15] going to try to reach out to some of the

[15:16] people and then hopefully we'll have a

[15:18] um when I get back then I'll meet with

[15:20] Rhett and we'll try to get more of these

[15:22] people on board. So hopefully we'll have

[15:24] a nice report for you next time.

[15:29] Other than that, um I think that would

[15:32] be it. Then I guess we make a a motion

[15:35] to adjurnn.

[15:37] » So moved.

[15:38] » Second.

[15:40] » Second. Thank you. All right. Motion

[15:42] carries. Have a great day.

BID Board - September 1, 2026

Transcript