MINUTES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

City Hall, Room 604
6:30 P.M.

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Council President Chad Fradette, Council Vice-President Chris Wery, Ald. Tom Weber, Ald. Celestine Jeffreys, Ald. Jerry Wiezbiskie, Ald. John VanderLeest (arrived late)

 

OTHERS PRESENT:  Ald. Gary Kriescher, Ald. Andy Nicholson, Ald. Tom DeWane, Atty. Jerry Hanson, Rob Strong, Cheryl Renier-Wigg, Chad Weininger, Molly Vandervest of DGBI, Paul Srubas and Rich Ryman of the Green Bay Press-Gazette

 

 

1.      Call to order.

The meeting was called to order at 6:55 p.m. by Chairman, Ald. Chad Fradette.  All members were present at the start of the meeting with the exception of Ald. John VanderLeest, who arrived late.

 

2.      Approval of the agenda.

Motion made by Ald. Jeffreys, seconded by Ald. Weber to move agenda item #7 after item #4.  Motion carried. Motion made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Wiezbiskie to approve the agenda as amended.  Motion carried.

 

3.      Approval of the minutes of the May 3 and May 14, 2007 Advisory Committee meetings.

Motion made by Ald. Wiezbiskie, seconded by Ald. Weber to approve the minutes of the May 3 and May 14, 2007 meetings as submitted.  Motion carried.

 

4.      Request by Ald. Nicholson for an update on Imperial Lane project.

Cheryl Renier-Wigg said they formed a team composed of Inspector Tim Meves, Planner Andrew Vissers, and herself, who met and laid out a mini plan for Imperial Lane and did a parcel by parcel survey of the area and made some recommendations that additional policing is needed in that area. They looked at removing key parcels to remove some blight and lessen the density and the other was to look at the one-owner concept so they can have on site management, which they do not have right now.  Ald. Nicholson was successful in getting some neighborhood enhancement funds to obtain one of the properties.  Cheryl said after the team took another drive through the area, they decided to concentrate on one of the parcels which abuts owner occupied properties on Manitowoc Road.  She indicated the parcels on the map and said a letter was sent to the owner, Bao He, who is willing to sell. Cheryl is in the process of obtaining an appraisal on the property and will be able to negotiate the price.  She said another owner is willing to sell and Bao He is interested in selling some land, which would allow the city to lessen some density.

 

Cheryl said they met with two property managers, Nancy Behnke and Janet Gollnick and said these women are forming a neighborhood association and have been meeting with the landlords, not the tenants in the area. Cheryl received a notice of a kick-off meeting to get people involved in forming a neighborhood association, scheduled on July 9th.  Cheryl said they also received a call from Raylin Packard, Director of Multifamily Housing with Wheda.  Cheryl forwarded a phone call from her to Keith Pamperin to see if they can work on assembling some of these parcels.  Rob Strong said he has talked to the Gorman Company, who would be willing to buy a number of these as long as they get enough that it makes it worth their while.  They would continue to be multi-family units but would have on-site management and they would invest money and rehab the units.  Discussion ensued regarding the individuals wanting to start a neighborhood association, but not living in the city.  Cheryl said a rule of forming a neighborhood association is you have to include the residents, do not have to include the landlords.  She said they are also looking at including some of the businesses to form a business neighborhood association, which would be good.

 

 Rob reported on Ald. VanderLeest’s request to check into other funding assistance beyond CDBG Home Funds stating that Brooke Kwaterski checked into state and federal programs and was not able to find anything beyond what we receive in CDBG Home Funds.  He said the assistance from WHEDA will be some type of loan program or tax credits to the developer and not available for the city to apply for. There is not city assistance to acquire the property.  Ald. Nicholson asked if Cong. Steve Kagen’s office had been contacted.  Chad Weininger responded that Cong. Kagen’s Office had been contacted in general about use of CDBG funds, finding additional funds to put towards Imperial Lane or an actual block development and said that was included in the city’s appropriations request for this year.  He stated that he has been in contact with Casey who handles Cong. Kagen’s appropriations requests in Washington, D.C. and she said they have only been through the first three appropriations bills, which do not include those funds.  He said we will not know for a few months where we stand on our requests, or by the end of the year. Chad stated that the Development Block funds could be used for Imperial Lane and this would be 2008 money.

 

Ald. Wiezbiskie questioned what will the holes create?  Cheryl Renier-Wigg responded that it would create some green space and potential parking. Ald. Weber said bulldozing a couple of units and leaving space for a developer would be good. Rob summed up by stating that this is a big project that will take time but they will keep chipping away at it.  Ald. Nicholson said he would like continued updates on this project at Advisory Committee meetings.

 

Motion made by Ald. Wiezbiskie, seconded by Ald. Weber to have continued updates on the Imperial Lane project as required.  Motion carried.

 

5.      Request by Ald. DeWane to review all BID operations and success and to create a new plan for forward to the Advisory Committee.

Molly Vandervest, employee of Downtown Green Bay, Inc. and Olde Main Street was present and said she could let Naletta Burr know what she needs to report on.  Chad Weininger said he talked to a number of people from the BID Districts and said he was not ready to prepare anything because he is waiting for an audit from one of the BID Districts. He asked that this item be held over until the next Advisory Committee meeting. 

 

Motion made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Wiezbiskie to hold this item until the next Advisory Committee meeting.

 

Ald. DeWane expressed concern that there was sufficient time to bring the report. He stated that if the BID was disbanded, we would be able to get a full, more dedicated economic development person from the city to start working with existing businesses as well as developing.  He indicated that he has talked with many businesses in the BID Districts and said they don’t understand why they’re paying this money and don’t understand what is going on.  Ald. Weber inquired if he is talking about continuing to collect the tax, adding that they would need to keep a BID in place to be able to collect the tax, and confirmed that Ald. DeWane is talking about changing control of the BIDS. Ald. DeWane would like to see one large BID created, instead of three.  Chad W. said sometimes there is confusion when you talk about a BID District because there is the BID District and the organization which the BID District contracts with, with the same name.  He indicated that he will have a diagram with some options and will include the amount of money that each BID District gets from the City directly. 

 

Ald. Fradette said it would have been good if representatives of the three BID’s had been present, in the event that other aldermen wanted to ask questions of them.  He asked Molly to report back to On Broadway to be careful when they talk to the media because they come under more scrutiny when they talk to the media.  He said one of the Board members said the city shouldn’t balk at a very large tax increase on the BID District.  He said “you can report back that I’m balking at it” and said he will not accept any tax increase on the On Broadway BID District, adding that this is his personal opinion.  He also objected to the On Broadway Director telling the paper that she didn’t know what they are going to do with the money, after putting a substantial tax increase on their BID District.  He said you should know what you are going to do with the money before you decide to raise the taxes.  Ald. Fradette said the Larsen project is not being managed correctly and said they will be under heavy scrutiny and the next Advisory Committee and they should plan to be in attendance.  He added that if we follow Ald. DeWane’s recommendation and hire a city person, they will pull all three of the BIDs so they should all be present.  He also wants Doug Daul and Rob Strong to attend.

 

Ald. Weber inquired if Ald. Fradette was suggesting to have some things put on the agenda in closed session for the next meeting?  Ald. Fradette said that would be a good idea.  Ald. Jeffreys asked Ald. Fradette to clarify what he said about payment of a person to manage the BIDs. He responded that he is fed up with the On Broadway BID and if they remove one BID, they would go after all three to have the funds to hire a full time person.  Ald. Jeffreys inquired about the “problem” with the Larsen project, to which Ald. Fradette responded that it should be discussed in closed session with Doug Daul and Rob Strong present.  Ald. Fradette said he would share his concerns with this project after the meeting.  Ald. Jeffreys said she is not inclined to dissolve bids and would like to see more research and work.   

 

Ald. VanderLeest arrived at this time.  Motion made by Ald. Jeffreys, seconded by Ald. Weber to open the floor to interested parties.  Motion carried.

 

Molly Vandervest addressed the committee stating that all three directors knew about this meeting and knew nothing was going to be brought forward, and they did not intentionally avoid this meeting.  She indicated that she would report back to them and make certain that they will all be in attendance at the next meeting.  Ald. DeWane said even though Chad W. told the directors that the Mayor’s Office wasn’t going to report anything out at this meeting, he feels they should have attended in the event Council members had questions of them.  Molly offered to answer any questions of the committee.  Chad W. said he assumed that the committee would want to know what the plan is before they acted, adding that if there’s no plan, there’s no point in bringing the directors through a number of questions.

 

Motion made by Ald. Jeffreys, seconded by Ald. Weber to return to regular order of business.  Motion carried.

 

Motion made by Ald. Jeffreys, seconded by Ald. Wiezbiskie to hold the request of Ald. DeWane to review all BID operations and to create a new plan for forward to the Advisory Committee, until the next Advisory Committee meeting.  Motion carried.

 

6.      Request by Ald. Wiezbiskie that information required for Common Council, i.e. general ordinance documents, be enclosed in the packet and not presented at the Common Council meeting.

Ald. Wiezbiskie stated that he brought this item forward after several occasions where he had done his homework, spent hours doing research and came to a Council meeting to find a new document in front of him that changes everything.  He asked why things cannot be deferred? Ald. VanderLeest said there are time sensitive materials at times that come up at the last minute and suggested using email for the late information that is not included in the packet.  He asked that there be some flexibility for late communications and said that those Council members who do not have email could be notified by phone.  Ald. Wiezbiskie said he doesn’t mind receiving documents one or two days prior to the council meeting, but gets frustrated when he sees a couple page document and tries to review it during the Pledge of Allegiance.  Ald. Weber said he would not be in favor of taking any steps that would slow down the process and cited a problem with the RDA and the necessity of open disclosure.  He stated that he believes it would be more appropriate for the committee chairs to direct this process.  He said sometimes they lack supporting documentation and are given too little information.

 

Ald. Fradette said many times they are getting last minute changes in print and thought this would be preferable over verbally giving the changes.  He said council members can hold an item up or review it line by line, which would make for longer meetings, but said they do have that option.

 

Ald. VanderLeest asked if it would be appropriate to receive and place on file or to direct staff to email or notify Council members of late general ordinance changes or document changes.  Ald. Jeffreys said she feels that the Committee chairs should be responsible for notifying the rest of Council members if they are going to be making a change in an ordinance or document.  She added that she does not appreciate sloppiness and would prefer not to receive ordinance changes at the last minute. Ald. Fradette said most of the time the city attorneys are making the changes to ordinances.  Atty. Hanson recommended making a motion to receive and place this item on file but also include in the motion that Council would like items or ordinances that come up at the last minute, get them out as soon as reasonably possible via email and call the council members that do not have email.  Then, if a council member has a concern, they can contact the Attorney’s office for a hard copy if they wish to see it now.  Ald. Weber expressed the need to keep things moving forward and asked that the committee not adopt anything that would slow things down.

 

Ald. VanderLeest motioned, Ald. Jeffreys seconded to receive and place on file and to inform staff that any documents that are going to be placed on the Council desks that evening, to communicate those changes to Council members as soon as possible via email or telephone in advance of the Council meeting.  Motion carried.

  

7.      Request by Ald. Jeffreys for an update on Receivership relative to the Neighborhood Action Team (NAT).

Atty. Jerry Hanson said at the last Advisory meeting they discussed landlords and property owners who receive citations and either pay them or sit in jail and the bottom line is the property does not get fixed.  He said he was asked if receivership is a possibility?  Mr. Hanson said there are two ways for receivership; you can go through a raze order through the court, there’s a process in the State Statute 66.0413 which ultimately allows you to get to a receivership in that case, adding that you jump through a lot of hoops to get to that stage.  He said subsequent to the last Advisory Committee meeting they discovered a section in 28.302, which ultimately does the same thing, allows the city upon fifteen day notice, to then go in and fix what we have requested them to fix, if they don’t fix it, and charge them as a special charge, and that is already on the books in the city ordinance.  Atty. Hanson read one such Notice of Summary Nuisance Abatement by Inspector Tim Meves and said we are sending these notices out and moving forward. He said the city would be second behind delinquent taxes, but before the lenders, to receive payment. Ald. Wery inquired if all inspectors are aware and willing to do this, adding that this could be a powerful tool. Rob Strong said this is a way to start getting the neighborhhoods cleaned up, adding that he has a limited amount of resources to get at these properties and the fewer times the inspectors have to go back to a property the better.  Rob inquired if the property has to be declared a nuisance first, like an abatement before they can use this tool? Atty. Hanson confirmed this.

 

Ald. DeWane commented about properties in his district where abatement plans have been done and nothing changes.  Cheryl Renier-Wigg asked him to email her with these problem properties. Ald. Weber mentioned an estate property on Hazelwood that has been held by the family for 3-4 years, where a tree has fallen.  Ald. Kriescher said he has a tendency to get problem properties in his district flattened, and said two properties on N. Van Buren will be down by the end of summer. He said the inspectors issue a repair or raze order with a certain amount of time to comply and if they do nothing, a contract is issued and they raze the property and the city bills the owner.  Ald. Kriescher said this process can be done in about 90 days if the owner doesn’t contest the order.  Atty. Hanson said the property owner has to start a court action to stop the raze order.  He said the judge will usually give the owner a chance to fix their property.

 

Motion by Ald. Jeffreys, seconded by Ald. Weber to receive and place on file the update on Receivership relative to the NAT Team.  Motion carried.

 

Ald. Fradette apologized to Chief of Staff, Chad Weininger stating that Chad had informed him about what he had done about the BID and said he should have known that Chad told the Directors of the three BIDS that they did not need to be in attendance, since nothing was going to be brought forward.

   

8.      Request by Ald. Jeffreys for an update on the study and customer service at the 911 Communication Center. 

Ald. Jeffreys asked to hold this item over indefinitely, until she has an opportunity to speak with the County Executive, Tom Hinz.

 

Motion made by Ald. VanderLeest, seconded by Ald. Wiezbiskie to hold this item indefinitely.  Motion carried.

 

9.      Request by Ald. Fradette to consider and prepare a resolution to state officials in support of suspension of the state imposed tax on gasoline, for a period of time to be determined, as a way to offer tax relief to state residents, businesses, and the transportation industry.

Ald. Fradette said we hear a lot of rhetoric about what can be done about the high cost of gasoline.  He said the state of Illinois in 2000, suspended their gasoline tax for a period of time.  Ald. Fradette stated that the state has a $.33 per gallon tax and said they could stop this tax for a period of time and give some relief to the citizens.  He said the state’s argument would be that this money goes to the petroleum environmental cleanup fund and that goes into the road fund, and said his answer to that would be to stop robbing those funds to balance the budget and they wouldn’t have to worry about it.  He said he is asking the committee to consider a suspension of the gas tax for a while.

 

Chad Weininger distributed a copies of an ordinance drafted by André Jacque, Assistant to the Mayor, for the committee’s review.

 

Ald. Vanderleest expressed concern that Wisconsin’s gas tax is already the third highest in the nation and they are talking about increasing that tax by another 7 cents per gallon. He stated that he would like to see the gas tax suspended for a period of three weeks and include in the resolution, not to raise it from the current levels for the next 2-year budget cycle. At the very least, he would like to request that the state not impose the 7 cent per gallon increase.

 

Motion made by Ald. Vanderleest, seconded by Ald. Fradette to support the resolution in support of suspension of state-imposed gas taxes and to include language related to not raising the gas tax for the 2007-2009 budget cycle.

 

Ald. Weber said when the committee has an item that may require an amount of discussion, and the first person who speaks makes a motion and the motion receives a second, it limits the discussion to the motion on the floor, rather than to the general agenda item. He asked that committee members allow each council member to speak before a motion is made.  Ald. Fradette withdrew his second of the motion.

 

Discussion ensued with Ald. Weber and Wiezbiskie in favor of removing the fifth Whereas that referred to class distinction. Ald. Jeffreys wishes to leave that wording in the resolution and asked to include language describing 1) what the problem is here in Green Bay 2) words about public transit in Green Bay and outlying areas 3) different energy sources, conservation and said it’s about what we do with our entire energy resources.  She stated that a transit system helps people who are poor and would like to see this included in the resolution, adding that she would be more in favor of a resolution requesting a tax holiday. She indicated that she would support a resolution with the above amendments.  Ald. Wiezbiskie would like to make a request for permanent suspension of state-imposed gas taxes, rather than a 3-week time period. He questioned if this is the proper venue for this committee to take up this subject.  Ald. Fradette responded that the City can weigh in on issues and give our opinions and suggested a separate resolution to address energy sources. He agreed with including language about public transit.

 

Chad W. said this resolution is a working document and said he will be covering items in the state budget at the next agenda item and said State legislators today increased funding by about $7 million in the biennial budgets to help the transit systems. Ald. Fradette said the problem in Green Bay is the problem in the entire state. He would support suspending the state-imposed gas taxes for three months to give citizens and the transportation industry a break. Ald. Vanderleest recommended keeping this resolution to address gas taxes only and keeping the scope concise to one item. He supports separate resolutions for the other items that were discussed.  He supports his original motion with amending it to state suspending gas taxes for at least three months, preferable in the summer months.  Amended motion seconded by Ald. Jeffreys.

 

Ald. Weber stated that half of the equation is the revenue side and the other is the spending side, adding that we are not saying where the state should cut spending, or what service we want them to cut.  He would favor a resolution that states “we disagree with this for these reasons and here’s where I feel we can stop the spending”.  He summed up by saying that this resolution is o.k. but he would not be comfortable supporting it as it stands.  Ald. Fradette agrees that we need to address where the state is spending. Ald. Jeffreys agrees with asking for a suspension from the gas taxes for the summer months to help tourism and said that New Jersey has one of the lowest taxes on gasoline in the country and they pay $2.60 per gallon.  She said our country has yet to adopt an energy policy that will work and said the gasoline taxes is not the only problem. She said she would be in favor of more resolutions. 

 

After further brief discussion, a vote was taken on the amended motion by Ald. Vanderleest to pass the resolution in support of suspension of the state-imposed gas taxes for a period of at least three months, preferably during the summer months, and to include language related to not raising the gas tax for the 2007-2009 budget cycle.  Amended motion seconded by Ald. Jeffreys.  Motion carried with a 5 to 1 vote, with Ald. Weber voting “nay”. 

 

10. Request by Ald. Fradette to review the 2007-2009 Wisconsin State Budget for impacts to the City of Green Bay, particularly tax and fee increases, dispersal of state aids, and program changes; and prepare a resolution to address the City interests with our state legislators.

Chad Weininger distributed information taken from the Senate Budget Proposals which included areas of interest to the City.  He explained that the this one piece covers one packet to the amendments that the Senate is adding.  He said the information was taken out of the Joint Finance paper.  He explained the budget process stating that the Governor did his budget, Joint Finance took it up, passed their version.  The State Legislature has, by statute until the end of June to pass budgets on both houses. He stated that it’s the Senate’s turn to go first and they’re taking it up today. He said the Assembly will probably take their’s  up July 3rd (which is after the date that is statutory required) and do the counter bill and it will then go to the Conference Committee and is going to take an extremely long period of time working out many of the changes because of all the fee increases and a lot of the counter ideas.  Mr. Weininger said there will be many changes coming out that will be significantly different from what he handed out.  He said after the Assembly is done, we will know precisely kind of where we stand as a city, what we have in for earmarks, some policy items, etc.  Ald. Fradette weighed in on the proposed Health Care Plan and said this will cost us 2.5 times more for health care coverage if this plan passes.  Chad W. said the health plan was just released today and there’s a position paper on it and said he spends time talking to legislators about what’s really going on with the plan.   Chad W. briefly reviewed the Senate Budget Proposal areas of interest to the City and asked the Committee to receive and place this item on file and said he would keep the committee and Council updated.  He stated that he believes it would have more effect for Council members to call legislators rather than passing a resolution.

 

Motion made by Ald. Vanderleest, seconded by Ald. Wiezbiskie to refer the request by Ald. Fradette to review the 2007-2009 Wisconsin State Budget for impacts to the City of Green Bay, particularly tax and fee increases, dispersal of state aids, and program changes; and prepare a resolution to address the City interests with our state legislators, to the Mayor’s Chief of Staff to keep City Council updated on developments with the state budget and positions of the City.  Motion carried.

 

11. Request by Ald. VanderLeest to draft a resolution to Congressman Kagen, Senators Kohl and Feingold seeking funding for Immigration Officers for Green Bay/Brown County.

Ald. Vanderleest said he feels it’s imperative that the City of Green Bay and Brown County receive assistance from Immigration dealing with criminals that are released into Brown County after their sentence is served. He stated that he encouraged his constituents to contact Cong. Kagen, Sen. Kohl and Sen. Feingold to ask for funding assistance for Green Bay/Brown County to help with Immigration issues.  Chad W. shared a resolution from 2005 in which the City Council requested that a federal immigration officer be assigned to Northeast Wisconsin.  He stated that at that time Cong. Mark Green’s staff had come to a Council meeting once to talk about something that the Congressman was trying to do, he believes in conjunction with the Federal Courthouse and said they were going to look into appropriations, adding that his last year in office, Cong. Green did not do any appropriations, so it fell by the wayside.  He stated that Sen. Feingold’s office sent a letter back stating that they did not have the funds for this and said they received no response from Sen. Kohl’s Office.  Chad said he spoke with Casey in Cong. Kagen’s office before the meeting and she said the appropriations deadline was several months ago, and she will check into making an appropriations request and he will wait to hear back from her.

 

Ald. Vanderleest inquired if there are other cities the size of Green Bay that have immigration officers?  He said it is appropriate to pass a resolution similar to the one submitted in 2005.  He stated that he would like to see illegal immigrants who commit criminal actions, not be released back into the Green Bay community upon completion of their sentence, but have them released to a deportation hearing and are sent back to their country of origin.  Chad W. suggested sending a copy of the 2005 Resolution, along with an updated resolution and a cover letter stating that we still haven’t received any help on this issue, to Sen. Feingold and Sen. Kohl.

 

Motion made by Ald. Vanderleest, seconded by Ald. Fradette to adopt a resolution for 2007 requesting that a federal immigration officer be assigned to Northeast Wisconsin and include detail on concern of illegal immigrants being released back into Green Bay and Brown County after their sentence is served.  Also to include a copy of the 2005 Resolution with a cover letter indicating that this is a second request for assistance and to send these documents to Sen. Feingold, Sen. Kohl and Cong. Kagen.

 

Ald. Wery said he knows someone who works for ICE in Milwaukee and recently told him that if you want an immigration officer, you need the federal government to declare you an official Port City, adding that this designation moves a city up the ladder.

 

A vote was taken on the motion by Ald. Vanderleest.  Motion carried.

 

12. Request by Ald. VanderLeest for the City Law Department to give direction on the local community’s rights on enforcing immigration issues.

Ald. Vanderleest said this has been discussed at Protection & Welfare.  Atty. Hanson said there is a federal program, 287G , which provides a Memorandum of Understanding to municipalities who successfully complete the application process.  Chad W. said a while back, the city requested information on how to begin the application process, and are still waiting to hear back.  He said research shows that there hasn’t been a city granted this status; it usually goes to state and/or county so he believes the best thing would be to work with the county.  Ald. Wery said meetings with ICE officers and the County have been set up, but have been repeatedly cancelled. Ald. Vanderleest suggested inquiring what options we have if we are not going to have immigration officers to help Green Bay.  Chad W. responded that the Federal Government preempts us from doing those things and said we need to discuss this with the county because they are the ones who will have to make the application. Chad said he can’t speak for the Sheriff but believes one of their main concerns was to take the illegal immigrants that are in jail and begin processing them quicker, adding that the ICE Officer basically said he would be up here every two weeks to review the people that are in detention right now.  Suggestion was made to invite Sheriff Kocken and Supervisor Harold Kaye to a future Protection & Welfare Committee meeting.

 

Ald. Fradette said in researching this issue, he finds that very few cities have applied and agrees that the county needs to make the effort. 

 

Motion made by Ald. Vanderleest, seconded by Ald. Wiezbiskie that Supervisor Kaye and Sheriff Kocken be invited to  a future Protection & Welfare Committee meeting to discuss Brown County/Green Bay’s enforcement of immigration issues through the federal government.  Motion carried.

 

There being no further business, motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Fradette to adjourn the meeting.  Motion carried.  The meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Mary Haupt, Recording Secretary