City Council - Regular Meeting

Do you think that's some sort of setting off on my end? Or is it a problem for the computer? See, the fact that it came up as asking you to sign in. Don't do it like this. This thing is not working again. Like, you know. And not with these either. So we have to go here.

This is not working. Usually if you put this, the mouse on this screen, then the clicker works.

Now it doesn't work at all. Okay, hold on. Hold on, let me try this. Yeah. Right here. Right there. I mean, just so that it's on that screen.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Sounds good.

Thank you.

So this is the second one? No. Oh!

How are you doing? No.

I want to take some time to just get impressed and figure out what your life is after. But I want to control my stinking for the first time. You know, just in part of it is not having to worry about who's taking the time.

All right. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So.

Yeah, this is mine.

Yeah, that's too bad.

This meeting of the Eau Claire City Council will come to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance

City Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Brewster.

Here.

Greger.

Here.

Johnson. Mboga. Miller. Here. Orth.

Here.

Otto.

Here.

Reed. Here. Schoen. Here. Serrano.

Here.

Werthmann.

All right. Thank you, City Clerk, and welcome, everyone, to the August 25th meeting of the Eau Claire City Council. The first item on our agenda, and you can find those in the back of the room, is the consent agenda. And some folks in the audience may be here for items number 1 through 13, which are the consent agenda. Please know that unless an item is pulled, all the items will pass or fill up with one vote. And you are welcome to leave the meeting if your item passes. Otherwise, you're certainly welcome to stay as well. And I just want to mention one thing related to the minutes, which is a consent agenda item. There are replacement minutes on each council member's desk with a change that was caught to make the minutes more accurate. So thank you. Do any council members have Questions regarding the consent agenda or wish to remove an item for separate consideration? All right. Then on a motion by Councilmember Serrano and seconded by Councilmember Brewster, the consent agenda has been moved. Is there any discussion on the consent agenda? All right. Seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Brewster.

Aye.

Greger. Aye. Miller. Aye. Orth.

Aye.

Otto. Aye. Reed. Aye. Schoen. Aye. Serrano.

Aye.

And that passes unanimously. All right, so now we're going to go into the commendations and proclamations section of the agenda, and we actually have three separate So the first is a proclamation, and then we'll go into a certificate of appreciation a bit later, and then a special recognition. But first, the proclamation is for Suicide Prevention Month, and I'd like to welcome Noel to the front of the room, and I'll read the proclamation. Whereas suicide is a serious but preventable public health concern that affects individuals, families, friends, workplaces, schools, and communities, including here in Eau Claire. And whereas in 2024, Eau Claire County lost 30 people to suicide, each representing a life, a family, a circle of friends and neighbors forever affected by that loss. And whereas suicide is complex and rarely has a single cause, and periods of crisis may be influenced by mental health or substance use conditions, physical illness or pain, trauma, isolation, loss, and other significant life stressors. And whereas reducing stigma surrounding mental health and suicide helps create an environment in which people feel safe asking for help and where those affected by suicide are met with compassion, understanding, and support. And whereas the 2026 theme of changing the narrative on suicide hopes to spark open conversations and reduce stigma. And whereas everyone in our community can play a role in suicide prevention by learning the warning signs, reaching out to those who may be struggling, listening without judgment, encouraging people to seek help, and helping connect them with appropriate resources. Now therefore I, Jeremy Greger, President of the Eau Claire City Council, on behalf of the entire City Council, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Month in the City of Eau Claire and encourage all residents to help build a community of connections, compassion, and hope where we look out for one another, speak openly about mental health and suicide prevention, and remind those who are struggling that they do not have to face difficult moments alone. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you so much for recognizing Suicide Prevention Month and for standing with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and all those in our community who have been impacted by suicide. We want to extend our thanks to Jeremy Greger, the whole city council, and city management for their work in extending this proclamation and committing to highlighting this important issue in our community. This proclamation is more than words on a page. It sends an important message that suicide matters, suicide prevention matters, and that conversations about mental health and suicide belong in our community and those who are struggling deserve support, connection, and hope. We recognize that many people who carry lived experience with them every day, including suicide loss survivors, attempt survivors, and those who have experienced suicidal thoughts. Their voices, experiences are an essential part of this work. This proclamation serves as a reminder that suicide is a serious but preventable public health issue, one that impacts families, workplaces, schools, and communities. Resources that are available, including the 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline nationally, and locally, Northwest Connections, which can be reached at 888-552-6642. Suicide prevention is something all of us can be a part of, and with this proclamation, we invite Eau Claire to join us this September and beyond by speaking openly about mental health, checking in on one another, recognizing the warning signs, and connecting people to support when it is needed. On behalf of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Wisconsin Chapter, we thank you for making suicide prevention a priority and helping us build a community where people know that they are not alone and support is available. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, thank you so much. And our next item is the Certificate of Appreciation. And I'd like to invite David Minor up to the front of the room. Whereas throughout a distinguished career in the Chamber of Commerce profession, David Minor has worked to strengthen communities, support local businesses, and foster economic vitality, including nine years of dedicated service to the Eau Claire community as President and CEO of the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce. And whereas throughout his career, David has been a steadfast champion for local businesses and a trusted partner in efforts to strengthen the communities and region they call home. And whereas during his leadership in Eau Claire, David helped bring people together around opportunities and challenges alike, fostering collaboration among businesses, local government, community organizations, educational institutions, and residents. and whereas his leadership helped guide the Chamber and the greater Eau Claire community through periods of remarkable growth, change, and challenges, always with a focus on building relationships, finding common ground, and moving the region forward. And whereas David's contributions extend well beyond his professional responsibilities, reflecting a genuine affection for Eau Claire and the people, places, businesses, trails, parks, events, and experiences that make this community special. And whereas through decades of service, David has earned the respect, trust, and friendship of countless colleagues and community partners and will leave a legacy of leadership, collaboration, and commitment to the Chippewa Valley. Now, therefore, on behalf of the City Council, its residents, businesses, and community partners, we extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude to David Miner for his outstanding service, leadership, and unwavering dedication to promoting and strengthening the City of Eau Claire, and with heartfelt thanks, wish him a happy and fulfilling retirement. Thank you.

Thank you.

You should know better than to give me a microphone and say a few words. It's dangerous. I really just want to say one thing. I happened to have the honor to be with our governor this morning at a meeting and reminded his secretaries that were with him, we are the third fastest growing county in the state of Wisconsin. I hope you all know that. And if you think about it, we move number one, Madison, in no disrespect, because Madison will grow faster, always has been and will because it's the capital and it's the Badgers. So we become number two. And over the next 25 years, we could become number one, but it's gonna take one thing. It's gonna take the city and the county and our school districts and our tech college and our university all to continue to work together. Some of you have traveled other places, but I will tell you in the state of Wisconsin, the uniqueness we have here of a collaboration, of all wanting to work together, now we're never all perfectly aligned and we shouldn't be. But there are too many communities in this state pulling 365 degrees away from each other. We're not. So we have an opportunity to really make sure in 25 years, those of you that are still here can see the fruits of the labor of what's going on. But it's going to take one thing from each governing body, and that is, are we looking forward with the decisions we're making today? I understand there are difficult decisions, and I applaud all of you for running for public office, especially in today's world. And yes, you need to look at what the impact is today, but I also encourage you to have one eye looking out, is this going to help over 25 years? Is this going to help our community in the long run? Because that is the only way we're going to continue to grow. But the major reason we're going to grow is all of these bodies working together. Not one of us can do it alone. We saw that through COVID when Dale Peters called me one day and said, Dave, can we put a task force together? It happened again when HSHS and Prevea closed. As a community, we came together, and that's what makes the Chippewa Valley unique. And that's what makes it fun of being here and working here and being part of a community that truly does want to succeed together. So thank you for this. It truly does mean a lot. Thank you.

Well, yeah, if anyone would like to share anything, feel free, Larry.

Thank you, Council President. Dev, for all the things you have done, The only thing I would tell you from the community, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. That's it.

Thank you, Council Member Mboga. Yeah, definitely appreciate, you know, the service and the whole, all of Northwest Wisconsin, obviously Europe and Superior previously, David, and it's, I think we're a much stronger place as a result. And just knowing that you'll be here and involved in the long run as well is very heartening to know and to help spur collaboration, help make sure that we're always moving forward. And we have some comments from Council Member Serrano as well.

Thank you, Council President. Yeah, Dave, you, well, the proclamation, the certificate of appreciation explained this, that you have earned the respect of so many different people in the community. And that is because of what you just even talked about today, just keeping that North Star and keeping, being very clear about what drives us, not get bogged down with minutiae, but really keeping us moving forward. So your last remarks to us really speak very true to who you are and the kind of leader you've been. And I just really appreciate it and really want to say all of that great respect you have from everybody is so well deserved. So thank you so much for all your service.

All right, thank you so much. All right, we'll move on to our next. We have a special recognition for two of our city arborists, and I'd like to invite Jacob Edge and Kyle Rader up to the front of the room. So earlier this summer on June 15th, while on the job, arborist Jacob Edge witnessed a woman was being attacked by an unleashed dog. Jacob immediately took action, stopped his truck, yelled to distract the dog, then opened the truck door for the woman to get in. The dog chased Jacob while he sprinted to get back into the truck. After gauging the extent of the woman's injuries, he ran to fellow arborist Kyle down the road to warn him. The pair ran back to the truck and used the first aid supplies in the truck to treat the woman's injury while they waited for law enforcement to arrive. These actions went above and beyond the normal duties of an arborist, and they reflect the kind of organization we want to be, where we are committed to serving the public and helping each other out. The two arborists displayed outstanding commitment to public service and community safety, and for that they deserve to be recognized. Thank you, Jacob and Kyle. And we have Phil Lubke up here as well to say a few words.

Yeah. If I may take a moment to brag about some of our fine employees, Jake and Kyle. I want to echo the thanks to you guys from Council President Greger and the rest of the council. So thank you for acknowledging their efforts. And I also have a personal... Thank you to extend on behalf of the woman's dad, Don, who sits on the Waterways and Parks Commission, to which I'm a liaison. He found me at a meeting and wanted to extend his personal gratitude to you. So it doesn't go unnoticed. It is a cool opportunity to be able to brag about my employees and folks who I've worked with. And this is just in keeping with who I know them to be, and they represent the city very well. So know that they are the face of the city to lots of different people at different times, and they're wonderful stewards of that. So thank you.

definitely heroic efforts and we see arborists out there in all sorts of conditions and working in dangerous situations and really they know that there's unexpected things that can happen and for neighbors and the community that they run across and it's just great to know that we have city employees throughout the city that are willing to step up and do what is needed and very much appreciate the opportunity to recognize you tonight, so thank you. Okay, now we have a whole business agenda as well, but a lot of great opportunities during our commendations and proclamations section as well. I want to start with agenda item number 14. This is a resolution granting a reserve combination class B intoxicating liquor and fermented malt beverage license to Condessa LLC doing business as Condessa 200 Eau Claire Street. Hiram Escobales, agent. And we have our assistant city attorney, Blake Herbison, to present on this item. Welcome.

Thank you, President Greger. Good afternoon, good evening, council members. So we are here today to present a reserve combination class B license for Condesa. So this is a sort of license that is traditionally brought to council because we are, as a municipality, limited in the number that we're able to issue. Currently, we have 18 available. So there's... Plenty of them in place, but just for your consideration, they are limited, so it's up to you to determine whether this would be an appropriate license to issue in our community. But in brief, Condesa is a full-service restaurant. It'll be located in the Haymarket, that commercial space near Haymarket and the Pablo Center. It'll focus primarily on high end Latin fusion steakhouse style cuisine with a dinner service Monday through Saturday and a brunch service Saturday and Sunday. As far as discussions in License Review Committee go, there are no concerns from the License Review Committee. There's no objection to council granting this license.

So I'm available if you have any questions before Thank You councilmember Brewster has a question Thank You council president so the reserve Combination class B. Those are the ones that are non transferable to another address or or business, correct?

Yes, that's correct. So there are regular Class B licenses that can be transferred between persons and addresses. The reserve would be specific for this applicant and this location. Thank you.

Councilmember Miller. Thank you, Council President. To follow up on Councilmember Brewster's question, so the one that is transferable, that'd be a combination, what's that called again? It's the combination B but not reserve?

That's right. So I'd call it a regular combination class B. There's a distinction that happened back in 1997 that set a certain number of regular and reserve for different municipalities. And that's the key distinction between the two. The regulars, regular combination class B have the ability to transfer from person to person, place to place. The reserve is gonna be, is not able to transfer to the same extent.

And last I recall, we have none of those currently available. Is that correct on that?

That's my understanding. So the regulars are not available at this time.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? All right. Well, then we'll move this item. Thank you for your presentation. So on a motion by Council Member Orth and seconded by Council Member Miller, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? We have Council Member Serrano.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. I personally just want to express my excitement and enthusiasm about this particular development of this particular establishment being a full-service restaurant right there at the Haymarket Plaza and the kind of food variety that it's going to bring to Eau Claire. So I'm personally really excited. eager to see this particular business flourish.

Thank you, Council Member Serrano. Any other discussion by the council before we move to a vote? All right, seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Greger.

Aye.

Mboga.

Aye.

Miller. Aye. Orth. Aye. Otto. Aye. Reed. Aye. Schoen. Aye. Serrano.

Aye.

Brewster.

Aye. And that passes unanimously. On to agenda item number 15, resolution recommending endorsement and support of the Western Wisconsin Regional Outdoor Recreation Plan for urban areas. And we have

Recreation and facilities manager Patrick Newkirk to present on the side of welcome Thank You council president Gregor and council members the item before you for your consideration today is a resolution of acknowledgement and appreciation of the Western Wisconsin urban outdoor recreation plan I have an overview of the plan here once we can Get the slides up there. Here we go. So this is a plan that has been in the works for about a year and a half now, started actually back in late 2024 in collaboration and really led by Visit Eau Claire and with the National Park Service. It is specifically regarding an urban area as defined by the USDA. There is also a rural area plan that includes multiple counties throughout western Wisconsin. but this plan is specifically focused on the urban area, so that's what we'll be talking about here. There were some grant restrictions that required the separation of the two areas within the plan, and because there are two plans, it requires close coordination between the two different planning committees, and these two plans are intended to be implemented in tandem over time with the different entities involved in their creation. The urban subcommittee consisted of members of city staff from the city of Eau Claire, city of Chippewa Falls, city of Altoona, village of Lake Halle, Eau Claire and Chippewa counties, town of Seymour, town of Washington, representatives from Visit Eau Claire and Go Chippewa. and then we also had some assistance from the National Park Service in the development of this plan as well. The urban area, to help people understand what that means, it's defined by the USDA, so this map here represents the boundaries of the urban area, so everything within that defined boundary is what is considered in this urban area plan so i i'll point out that there are things that members of the the community within the chippewa valley may consider to be part of the urban area in their minds but they're not necessarily within this urban area boundary so that would be why things like lois creek county park for example are just outside the boundary so you wouldn't see those in here The intent of this plan, it does not replace our city of Eau Claire comprehensive outdoor recreation plan. It is intended as a supplement and it is designed so that communities can work together to help build the outdoor recreation economy in western Wisconsin with the ultimate goal of turning the area into a five star outdoor recreation destination. Thinking of ourselves as the hub of outdoor recreation in western Wisconsin. The first step in this plan was to create a vision statement and where does the plan want to have things end up. So the vision statement of this plan is that the eight county region is a top destination offering diverse quality year round outdoor recreation and arts opportunities for residents, visitors and guests of all ages and abilities while supporting recreation related businesses and job growth. so that the region benefits from a strong outdoor recreation economy, vibrant communities, a healthy environment, and a wide array of outdoor activity options. So a pretty broad-based vision statement there to work on. We, as a group, had to decide on some guiding principles to help in the formation of the plan. Again, led by Visit Eau Claire and National Park Service, creating some exercises for those participating to help hone in on the development of the plan. Those guiding principles are here, think regionally, so zoom out from just the city of Eau Claire, think about the region and think about the people coming into the region to participate in outdoor recreation. We want to become the regional hub for outdoor recreation in western Wisconsin. Creating a new organization like an interim board or ad hoc committee to help implement this plan would be necessary because of the collaboration of multiple different municipalities and organizations. We also have in here as a guiding principle that outdoor recreation is a must-have. as it relates to the economy in our area. We also have a guiding principle related to branding and in creating a brand for the area in terms of outdoor recreation. We also made sure throughout the plan to acknowledge the connection between recreation and commerce and the business community that relies on recreation. In that context, we also had a little bit of a focus on income generation as it relates to components of the plan as well. And then lastly, very important is that the quality of the facilities and the amenities that the area has to offer are very important in terms of the goal of turning the area into a destination for outdoor recreation. There were also several themes that were created to help support the guidelines in this plan, one of them being rivers and corridors, or excuse me, river corridors and lakes. You think about the two rivers that we have running through Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley and then also the lakes in the area, there's a lot of opportunity for water recreation. So most of the goals there are primarily related to improving the access and the amenities of access for those water recreation opportunities, similar to what we have in our core plan within City of Eau Claire recreation assets as well. The next theme that was created was the Trail Towns theme. Not just Eau Claire, but throughout the Chippewa Valley there's a vast array of trails for all different types of transportation and recreation. So focusing on that and helping improve connectedness between the different communities and also from recreation areas and more urban locations like the downtown area and business centers is a goal in this plan related to trails. Another area of focus is related to outdoor community and cultural events. The best example most recently in my mind that I can think of would be the Eau Claire's Festival. So that's an example of a regional level event that we were able to bring to the community and other events like that are a focus of this plan. Another theme in the plan is ecotourism and agricultural tourism. So that would be like your tasting rooms, your breweries and wineries, your farm to table restaurants, those types of things. So there's a section of the plan with goals developed with those things in mind. We also have an adventure and exploration theme, so think like adventure sports, family fun things like splash pads, zoos, museums, like the Chippewa Valley Museum, for example, the Chippewa Valley Railroad, both within Carson Park. So there's a section of this plan related to improving those types of things in our area. And then lastly, we had an outdoor athletics theme because there's a significant amount of outdoor athletics and those things bring people to our area from outside of the region and then increase hotel stays, increase food and beverage stays at restaurants and are a vital part of the outdoor recreation economy in the area. One of the main things that we pointed out there was related to facility availability. and then also coordination between the management and operators of each of the varying facilities across the multiple different communities within the Chippewa Valley. We also had an economic development and marketing theme as well. Heavy focus was placed on that about how to get the word out about what the area and specifically the urban area has to offer. So there's quite a lot of development of a plan there as well. We have some action steps to take. These things will be initially led by Visit Eau Claire, starting with a kickoff stakeholder meeting, forming that committee that would be involved with helping implement the goals and objectives in this plan. That group would be determining the right structure, funding sources, and all of those things necessary to keep the plan in motion once it's going. collecting resources and acquiring help to develop the marketing plan that's spelled out applying for grants related to joint effort marketing and destination marketing as well related to the branding that is one of the goals of this plan and then lastly the the first we felt as a urban committee thing that would be very helpful for people coming to the community as it relates to connecting the recreation areas to The more urban areas, the business areas would be improving our wayfinding and directional signage on the trail system and around our parks. And then lastly, the next step would be starting an advisory group that would create collaboration between the recreation business community and those of us in Parks and Rec and with the other municipalities in the urban area. Common potential funding sources for activating things within the plan. There are various federal grant programs and state programs. All of them have something to do with outdoor recreation, so it just kind of depends on what the particular project is that might be related. to the plan, it would be a different grant opportunity. So our ultimate request is we are asking that council pass a resolution of acknowledgement and appreciation of the plan, and then that will help us with our justification and support of grant requests. The plan is well aligned with our comprehensive outdoor recreation plan as a city. Any projects related to the plan that would come up in the future would go through the usual processes that we have if they're on our property, including waterways, parks, and urban forestry involvement, and then the usual CIP budget process for any CIP projects. The Waterways, Parks, and Urban Forestry Commission did see this in May and they voted to recommend support of the plan. And technically we cannot formally adopt the plan because it is not solely the City of Eau Claire plan. So that's why we are asking for a resolution of acknowledgement and support. With that, I'm happy to take any questions of staff. And then we also have Kennedy from Visit Eau Claire who was the primary leader from Visit Eau Claire on this plan if you have questions for her as well.

thank you manager newkirk uh let's start with council member brewster thank you council president um can we safely assume that this will be influential in the destination master plan i would say that there will be components of this plan that would contribute for sure okay thank you thank you council member mboga thank you council president thank you for a presentation

Mr. Newick, I will start by saying happy party day to National Park Service USA. Today is 110 years old. So my question is, by adapting these solutions, Will the city be committed to future spending?

We wouldn't be committed to any future spending by passing a resolution of support of the plan, but what we would do as staff is use recommendations in it to then propose future projects that would go through our normal approval processes.

Thank you. Thank you. Vice President Schoen.

Thank you, Council President Greger, and thank you, Manager Newkirk. My question is related to the level of discussion that our changing climate had in the development of this plan. I think of couple people I know that we're supposed to go on river cruises this summer in Europe and the rivers are dry and just thinking about how influential I know that there's a specific objective and a goal related to river and lake management so I'm just curious if you could share more about sort of the conversations had our stakeholders at the table in that regard.

Sure, so everything in the park development world is a balance. There's the balance between development for a specific purpose and then conservation of habitat and keeping things as they are. So I would say that anything that's proposed in this plan or recommended to be undertaken would require significant community input as we would normally go through for anything that we're doing ourselves. So we would view that as soliciting input from waterways and parks, any neighborhood associations that might be in an area related to a proposed improvement So all of those things are what we would continue to do as part of our normal processes. So again, sort of like the corp, this is basically a guide, and then we have to do the work of making the best decisions moving forward with the guide in mind.

Thank you.

Thanks. Council Member Orth.

Thank you, Council President. Manager Newkirk, I wondered why some of our neighboring townships like Washington and Dunn weren't included in the plan, and my question was going to be were they not invited, but now I realize that perhaps they didn't lie within the boundary. Is that correct?

It might be, but I would honestly defer to Kennedy because she could probably better answer that question. Okay. Yeah, please.

I wish I could answer that question really well, but those boundaries were drawn by USDA Rural Development. So it was based on the metrics that they created, and I'm not sure what those specifically are. But yeah, that's really what determined the boundary and why it looks so funky. Thank you.

Then there's also like the more regional plan beyond that too that maybe helps. Correct. Helps complete the picture, maybe? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Otto.

Thank you, Council President. Thank you for this presentation. It reminds me of what Mr. Miner said just minutes ago about inter-regional cooperation that makes this area stand out. So I think this is a fantastic plan. I'm wondering if you could elaborate on the origin, the scale, and the likelihood of the grants that we're applying for.

All of that would be entirely dependent on after the envisioned collaborative committee of the municipalities and entities within the urban area is formed and then that committee would be kind of setting about on trying to prioritize action steps within the goals of the plan. So I can't really say for sure because it would be entirely dependent on which projects are identified as things to try to get done first.

Thank you.

Council Member Miller. Thank you, Council President. I know we have Kennedy from Visit Eau Claire here. I know she answered the question already, but I just want to give you opportunity if you want to make any general comments. Since you're one of the partners on this program, if you have anything else to mention specifically about this one, I just want to hear from one of our partners.

I think Nate pretty much brought up what I was thinking with David talking about the future of Eau Claire and the 25-year vision and beyond and the collaboration piece of it too. I think all of this really plays well into that. Additionally, there's discussions about a Riverwalk district being developed potentially in town. So there's discussion about that and how this plan and that plan can play off of each other. And then as far as grants go, I do want to say working regionally like this and collaborating opens, or at least the grant applications that we'll go for, even if they're individual project applications, they will be much stronger just because they are part of this bigger regional plan. And I think that's pretty much it but visit Eau Claire has been really honored to help lead this project I think it's been about three and a half years And we're ready to kind of be more of a stakeholder and let the region work its magic now that we've built the plan So there's more to come on this. But yeah, we're excited especially to work with go Chippewa And really in a full eight County region Thank you. Thank you Thanks

I guess I had a question kind of about some of the assets that we have right now from a transportation standpoint and how some sometimes people are you know recreating or feeling like they're recreating while they're transporting themselves around or they're they're purely out there for recreation. But I was wondering about like our urban transit system like Eau Claire transit and the idea of also like connecting to other communities potentially in the future. It's been like 100 years since we had a intercity streetcar between between here and chippewa falls for example and uh was there is there discussion of the plan about like how transit fits in from like a tourism and and even from an adventure standpoint um in the plan at all yeah you know i i you bring up a good point about

transit that isn't necessarily on the trails. I would say the focus was a little bit more on trails, but as it relates to connecting the recreation areas to the business areas, I think that definitely creates some opportunities for other types of transport, like you mentioned. Something that was discussed that is sort of a missing thing in the water access world right now in Eau Claire, once upon a time there used to be a business in town that would bring people to and pick people back up from river trips. I think there's one now, but less prominent than had been happening in the past. So that would be a type of transportation where we could connect people to the water who maybe aren't able to go right to it. But all things to be considered over time as we work towards the goals in the plan.

Thank you. Yeah, I know that there's a program called Transit to Trails through Sierra Club as well. So like helping connect people who may be don't have access to transportation get to destinations that are more recreational. But yeah, thank you, Manager Newkirk. Any other questions from the council before we move the item and discuss it? OK, thank you for your presentation. Thank you, Kennedy, for being here as well. So on a motion by council member or actually vice president shown and seconded by council member Amboga, this item is moved. Is there any discussion?

Councilmember Miller. Thank you, Council President. I just want to, again, give thanks to all the subcommittee members just listening here. The City of Altoona, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Go Chippewa, Lake Hallie, Seymour, Visit Eau Claire, and the Wisconsin Central Regional Planning Commission were all involved in the crafting of this recreation plan. It's extremely extensive. I perused it. It's 127 pages of, I mean, it's a well-thought-out, organized plan that's really going to help us be a regional destination for tourism and you know, continue to grow the region and showcase what we have here. So big thanks to everybody involved.

Thank you, Council Member Miller.

All right.

Any other discussion or support? All right. Seeing none, City Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Amboga.

Aye.

Miller. Aye. Orth. Aye. Otto. Aye. Reed. Aye. Schoen. Aye. Serrano. Aye. Brewster.

Aye.

Greger.

Aye. All right. And that passes unanimously. Congratulations. All right. Agenda item number 16 is a resolution authorizing the community services department to accept a monetary donation of $300 from Downtown Eau Claire Incorporated for free transit rides. And because this item amends the budget, a two-thirds vote of elected members or eight affirmative votes is required for adoption. And we have our transit manager, Katrina Running, here to present.

Yeah, good afternoon, everybody. Before you is a resolution to accept a donation for free transit rides on the day of Fall Fest this year, which is September 12th. We're really excited about this opportunity again this year. They've done this for a number of years, and I know last year we brought a bus, and we were able to talk with a lot of community members. It was about two weeks before our transfer center opened, so... Really excited to be involved this year when we have a transfer center that people would arrive in. So very excited about this opportunity, and thank you to DECI for reaching out to us.

All right.

Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Running?

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah.

On a motion by Council Member Otto and seconded by Council Member Reid, this item is moved. Is there any discussion on this donation?

All right.

Well, yeah, I just want to thank DECI for, you know, obviously the fall festival, but the extra incentive for folks to try transit and, you know, I think the attendance at the Fall Festival is in the many thousands, so it'll really help people access the event and make a more sustainable community and showcase our transit center. So, appreciate it. Seeing no other discussion, City Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Miller.

Aye.

Orth.

Aye.

Otto. Aye. Reed. Aye. Schoen. Aye. Serrano.

Aye.

Brewster. Aye. Greger. Aye. Amboga.

Aye. And that passes unanimously. OK. The next item is number 18, resolution providing for the sale of approximately 12,645,000 general obligation promissory notes, series 2026A. Point of order, Council President.

I think we skipped item 17. Oops. Thank you.

Number 17, resolution authorizing 2026 budgets budget adjustments for the adopted operating and capital budgets. And because this item amends the budget, a 2 thirds vote of elected members or eight affirmative votes is required. for adoption and we have our budget analyst, Michael Corbel here to present, welcome.

Hello, good afternoon city council members. So my item on the agenda today is our standard process of bringing periodic budget adjustments before you for city council approval. And today I will have both operating adjustments as well as some capital adjustments. So to start with, I'll start with the 26 operating budget adjustments. So item number one, this is for the Ellie Phillips Memorial Public Library, and they have a quarter two budget adjustments in the amount of $31,078.91. And this is from various gifts and grants that have been received during that time. Item number two is for the Health Department. They have a quarter one budget adjustments in the amount of $531,500, and that is in various grants and donations received. And then item number three is also for the Health Department. It's for their quarter two budget adjustments, and they received $28,000 in various grants and donations. Item number four, this item is requesting to move $33,600 within the central equipment fund. This would move the budget from the repair parts and supplies line to the miscellaneous contractual services line item. The reason for this request is deployment of the fleet management component of Cartograph and cartograph is our asset management software program this adjustment does not increase the total amount of the budget it simply moves the money to a different expense line item within central equipment item number five we received 463 dollars and 67 cents in reimbursement for police services that were provided for a visit from senator tammy baldwin Item number six, we received $416.40 in reimbursement for police services, and that was for a visit from Congressman Derek Van Orden. Item number seven. This adjustment moves payroll budget from the police parking enforcement to the neighborhood services department. Due to changes in parking enforcement responsibilities, the police department's community service officer two position has been temporarily authorized to be filled as a constituent services associate two within the neighborhood services department. this adjustment does not change the overall general fund budget as a whole it is simply shifting the budget from one department to another because neighborhood services is completing that responsibility now so that is it for the 26 operating budget adjustments the last few items here are related to capital budget adjustments item number eight is for our police departments this adjustment would increase the 2026 police body armor replacement project by $12,548.34, and this is due to receiving an award from the Bureau of Justice Assistance through the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program. Item number nine is for the Hobbs Ice Arena. This adjustment is requesting to move $20,000 from the 2026 Refrigeration Compressor Overhaul Project. 10,000 of this would be moved to the 26 floor pump rebuild and replacement project and then the other 10,000 would be moved to the 26 cooling main pipe insulation project. The reason for this request is the bids for one project were under budget and then the bids for the other two projects were slightly over budget so this is just redistributing that budget as needed to complete those projects. It does not create an overall increase for the Hobbs capital budget in total. And then the last item this evening is number 10. This is for the Parks and Recreation Department. This request is to reallocate funds from the 2026 citywide staining project to a new project. And this project would be the Phoenix Park pedestrian bridge decking. This adjustment would allow the funds to be used to complete an engineering study and to contribute to the repair of the bridge decking. And this has been requested from the Parks and Recreation Department based on priorities for parks maintenance and upkeep. And that is it for the items.

Thank you so much. That was quite a rundown. Any questions from the council? Council Member Amboga.

Thank you, Council. But I'm just curious, why, explain to me why the payroll costs being moved from one account to another account.

Are you speaking about the neighborhood services, the move from police department to neighborhood services? Yes, yes, yes. So in 2026, when the budget was originally put together, we were assuming that there was going to be someone working on parking enforcement within the police department. And then in early part of 26, there was a memo signed by the city manager at the time, and neighborhood services is kind of taking over that responsibility from the police department. And so we're just moving the funds from police to neighborhood services because police is no longer going to be completing the enforcement, basically. Does that make sense?

OK. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? All right. Well, thanks for presenting. So on a motion by Councilmember Serrano and seconded by Councilmember Brewster, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Orth.

Aye.

Otto. Aye. Reed. Aye. Schoen. Aye. Serrano.

Aye.

Brewster. Aye. Rager. Aye. Mboga.

Aye.

Miller.

Aye. And that passes unanimously. And I will read again item number 18. Thank you, Council Member Miller, earlier for correcting me. Resolution providing for the sale of approximately 12,645,000 general obligation promissory notes, series 2026A, and we have our finance director, Kitsey Winters, to present on this and maybe on the others too, I don't know.

Yes, good evening, President Greger, council. This presentation covers all three of the next agenda items in relation to two note issues and one bond issue. Our current general obligation debt levy is around 13.1 million and not including the health and library. This graph is indicative of where if we weren't doing any more projects, that's the payoff, so that would be over 19 years. The first bond issue, or note issue, excuse me, is a tax exempt general obligation project. So those are all for a public purpose. Standard, annually we borrow $5 million for an investment in the streets. in sidewalk improvements that isn't going as far as it used to be but we continue to invest 5 million there storm water system improvements is an investment in expansion and repair fire department is 1.2 million dollars i want to say for a fire pumper truck and another 150 thousand dollars in relation to the command vehicles so replacing the fleet of those first vehicles that are on the scene transportation and transit it's our annual investment in the bus replacements that would be our 20 percent portion in really in addition to a security system enhancements land building and equipment is repair so it's repair of existing building projects, IT infrastructure, cemetery buildings, and other related safety equipment for police and fire. This year it would be an annual investment into our radio system. We're starting a project with communications. And lead service line replacement is a 50% portion that's unable to, but at the end of that project, this is the portion that is not billed back to the rate payers. current promissory note on tax exempt interest rates is around 4.3 percent that is we have a estimate in there for any rate volatility but we do get this is the current market rates so it's we're still receiving a good interest rate with a double a2 bond rating taxable geo projects. So I had a question about what's the difference between non-taxable and taxable. So taxable are more of a private purpose. So that could be where we're gonna buy land and sell that. It'll be in relation to any developer agreements that we've signed. RDA, so that could be something where we're acquiring a property or then look to sell that or do something different with that under statute. So our taxable projects are in relation to TIDs. TID 17 and TID 13 are all developer agreements in relation to housing and capital projects County e property acquisition that we just passed or that you just passed this year and Land acquisition reserve RDA affordable housing project. I would say that's more land acquisition and market rate housing But that covers all the full scope of anything under the RDA statute there. I That interest rate is a little bit higher, at 5.9%, so we do work with our bond council to make sure that we definitely delineate between taxable and non-taxable. Water projects are separated, those are revenue bonds. We have expansion, main replacements, that's something in our standard replacement plan. Two of the projects that you've approved outside of the normal annual projects, I guess you would say a Folsom water tower will be painted to extend the useful life, in addition to starting our well replacement plan. The water utility supports repayment of the revenue bonds. Those are closer to a general obligation rate of 4.4%. So that, the 2026 bond issue, those, part of that has repayments, so the TIDS, the water utility, RDA, they have a payment source, they pay for that. The debt issuance that is passed on to the taxpayers is about a $700,000 increase over 2026. That's around, I wanna say it's about a 5% increase in the debt levy, but what I love about math is there's a numerator and a denominator here. So even though there might be a 5% increase in debt on the numerator, were always growing, so they had equalized value on that denominator, spreads that out to more assessed value, more taxpayers. So the tax levy per 1,000 is actually going down .03, so it's going from 1.48 to 1.45. It's kind of a confusing principle, but there's more people to share in that cost or to share in those increased taxes. We still have a very good limit on our debt capacity, so a little bit over 50%. That gap can close if we're not growing, so it's really important to keep our net. It's another reason that we want to keep growing. So our next timeline, tonight you are approving the set sale resolutions so that Ehlers can go out to market. We will have a rating call, so on the week of September 7th, Director White, City Manager Solberg and I will work with Moody's, talk about the different benchmarks to essentially get our credit score for the city and we hope to maintain that double A2 rating. We'll have a due diligence call with bond council, distribute our official statements, it's kind of a report card of the city to the SEC, and then we will bring you resolutions back on September 22nd to approve the interest rates that are assigned by the market. I do have Josh Lowe here with Ehlers, so he's a wealth of economic knowledge, if we have any questions. But with that, I'm available for any questions.

Thank You director winters councilmember Brewster Thank You council president.

I was wondering if you could give us a very you know econ 101 sort of description of the difference between notes and bonds oh I might let Josh Lowe do that but notes are There's a lot of change I want to say one to two years back so issuing a note is requires less steps in the process, there's less costs. I don't have to issue bonds anymore, but I might let Josh take that. for the official statute. She's basically got it right.

Sorry, Josh Lowe from Ehlers. Thanks so much for having me. You're welcome. She basically outlined it correctly. About two years ago, I think it was 2024, they changed the statute because it used to be notes could only be done for 10 years, and then bonds were the only way you could do 20 years. Then they shift notes to 20. That was helpful because bonds had a very strict set of projects you could do for 20 years. so if you wanted to do like city hall renovations i think was one of the categories if you wanted to do it was outside of the 20 years streets was a classic thing that was 20 years but there were some building projects that we had to issue as notes first because you couldn't do them for 20. so what we had to do was a funky thing where we would do like interim financing and then refinance that again later so it was a two-step process So this actually really streamlined these things. So instead of having to do two debt issuances for these, there was one. So at this point, we almost never issue general obligation bonds in Wisconsin anymore. That was under statute 6704, and now we issue everything as promissory notes under 67.12.12. So for all intents and purposes, this project, there's almost no reason we would ever do bonds. I haven't done a general obligation bond under 6704 in like three years.

Thank you. Thank you so much Any other questions from the council? All right, well then we'll move this item and then we'll vote on each of these individually and everything so On a motion by councilmember Orth and seconded by councilmember Miller. I This item is moved. Is there any discussion on item number 18? All right. Seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Otto. Aye. Reid. Aye. Schoen. Aye. Serrano.

Aye.

Brewster. Aye. Greger. Aye. Mboga. Aye. Miller. Aye. Orth.

Aye.

And that passes unanimously. We'll go on to agenda item number 19, resolution providing for the sale of approximately 7,390,000 taxable general obligation promissory notes, series 2026B. And we already had the presentation on this as well. But are there no specific questions about this? Probably. Councilmember, OK. Thank you, Council Member Brewster. So seeing no questions, we will move this item. So on a motion by Vice President Schoen and seconded by Council Member Amboga, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing no discussion, city clerk, please call the roll on agenda item number 19.

Councilmember Reed. Aye. Schoen.

Aye.

Serrano.

Aye.

Brewster. Aye. Greger. Aye. Mboga. Aye. Miller. Aye. Orff.

Aye.

Otto.

Aye. And that passes unanimously. On to agenda item number 20. Resolution providing for the sale of approximately $6,260,000 of Water Works System Revenue Bonds Series 2026C. We've already had the presentation on this, but are there any questions about this one specifically from Council? All right, then we'll move this item on a motion by Council Member Otto and seconded by Councilmember Reed, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? All right, seeing no discussion, city clerk, please call the roll on agenda item number 20.

Councilmember Schell? Aye. Serrano?

Aye.

Brewster? Aye. Greger? Aye. Mboga?

Aye.

Miller?

Aye. Orth?

Aye.

Otto?

Aye. Reed? Aye. And that passes unanimously. Agenda item number 21, resolution urging attorney general call to provide law enforcement guidance on police transports out of jurisdiction and to respond to the city and county's opinion request letter dated January 13th of 2025. We have our city attorney, Steven Nick, to present on this item. Thank you.

Thank you, Council President Kregert. Council, this resolution is an issue raising awareness and calling to action on the far too common practice of either law enforcement or other public agencies making custodial transports outside of their jurisdiction to drop off particularly unhoused individuals, although it could apply to any individual. But the practice is focused on those unhoused some type of personal crisis to neighboring communities, including the city and county of Eau Claire, and dropping off specifically without any receiving facility, personal family connection, or often absent any request or legal consent to be transported to the intended destination. This is an issue certainly of legal importance, but It is also one of personal welfare, civil rights, public safety, and really the policy issues attendant to what is a local, state, you know, national issue of especially those unhoused and suffering from various types of physical, mental, FDA, other life challenges, personal crises, being transported from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. arguably distracting resources on that important, important issue to the transport as opposed to building those resources locally and regionally throughout again our state nation. We raise those legal and policy issues to the Attorney General's attention through a joint letter from the city and county in January, specifically a letter of January 13th of 2025. The attention to that issue continued, whether it was local or state interviews that I and others did. Chief Rokas focused on both locally with his colleagues and statewide. Chief and I did statewide training on this issue to League of Municipalities in June of that year. We received a letter of receipt from the Attorney General in late January of 25 and have been in periodic contact through 25 that the issue, again, was received, but with fairly limited attention on it, at least in 25. In January of 26, or about a year after we sent that letter, and after, again, we had presented to our League of Municipalities, the City of Madison joined us in that request to the Attorney General. The City of Madison wrote, Two, the attorneys assigned to that and basically to the Department of Justice and the Attorney General of the City of Madison joins in these requests based on its experience with this practice and its concerns that increased use of it will lead not only to greater legal exposure and complications for Wisconsin municipalities, but also the cascading effect of Wisconsin residents being randomly transported back and forth to various municipalities. with which they have no connection or reason to visit other than the arbitrary decision of the transporting agencies. And also in relevant part, we share the concerns of the county and city of Eau Claire related to the legal authority of law enforcement officers as well as the rights of individuals being transported. With that additional input, DEFINITELY COMMUNICATION INCREASED WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OFFICE AND I'VE IN 26 BEEN IN REGULAR CONTACT INCLUDING COMMUNICATION TODAY WITH STAFF ATTORNEYS WORKING ON THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE AND I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THEY HAVE BEEN DILIGENT IN THAT WORK. We continue to get the responses I have again today that the issue has been received and is being considered, but that basically they don't have authority to release preliminary drafts or discuss it with us further. So we appreciate the attention that those attorneys assigned to this within DOJ receive. have provided but this is a matter both of local regional and statewide again personal welfare civil rights issues and public safety those incidents continue to occur in the city and county of Eau Claire and we know around the state and so we again are drawing our collective attention to this important issue and specifically calling on Department of Justice and specifically Attorney General Call to authorize moving forward with that work to provide, again, legal and law enforcement guidance and best practices on what we know is an imperfect response to a very difficult case. societal issue and also as we typically do with these resolutions should you see fit to adopt it to ask our collective local and regional and state elected officials to join us in that leadership effort as well as our associations like the league of municipalities and the county's association so Again, we've appreciated the partnership with the Department of Justice over the years on these sort of training opportunities. We've participated with them often in those. We know that they have and maintain something that's known as WileyNet for best practices for law enforcement and look forward to that soon being issued. And again, present this resolution for your consideration to urge that on a policy level as well. If you have any questions, I'm available as is Chief Rokas.

Thank you, City Attorney Nick. Any questions from the council, Council Member Brewster?

Thank you, Council President. I was just wondering if we have any good idea as to how widespread this is. We know it happens, but is this really common, kind of common, somewhat rare, but still common?

know problematic perhaps I'm checking peripheral vision if the chief may want to approach on it on an operational level but I've been aware of the practice you know for you know my entire tenure and have drafted letters either directly or for prior chiefs reaching out to other jurisdictions raising this issue with various success and again a difficult issue and we know it's not anyone's first choice but it continues to occur and occur far too often certainly since the limited sample of examples we raised In the letter to the Attorney General, it has continued to occur, and ones that are equal or greater concern both for, again, personal safety, civil rights, and our own community safety. Thank you.

Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Council President. Secretary Nick, so just in the letter, there are some examples that happened prior to the date of the letter of January 2025. Just in case Council Member Brewster's question was more vague, it's more specifically, since this original letter date, have we had specific examples of repeat instances of regional bodies police forces, et cetera, bringing individuals to Eau Claire, since this letter specifically?

Yes, quite a few of them, and certainly one of notable concern where Washburn County, several counties away, transported an individual in custody in handcuffs, a person who had been arrested in Spooner, if I recall correctly, and brought you know, to the Washburn County Jail for booking, booking being an obligation of the sheriff. Instead of booking the individual, you know, a deputy was directed with colorful language that I won't repeat here to get that individual... And that person was transported again in custody to Eau Claire, uncuffed, let loose on the streets of Eau Claire, where soon after, as an individual was in crisis, created several incidents, including one that required the complete clearing of a Culver's.

Thank you. Thank you. Vice President Schoen.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. I appreciate staff raising this issue again. It's one that this council has considered before, obviously, and understands the gravity of. Just while we're considering the issue again, I'm wondering if either you or Chief Rokas might be able just for benefit, I think, of the collective community and this council considering the item again could share just what is our own practice I know it was included in our packet, but just if you could highlight that or if Chief Rokas could speak to our own policy for transporting individuals out of our jurisdiction.

Thank you, Council President, Vice President Schoen, and the other members of the City Council. Yes, since the letter to Attorney General Josh Call was issued, absent direction from the Attorney General's office, we have developed our own policy on this matter that has several very important components to it. So this is our department policy and practice with it, that our sworn personnel should not transport individuals outside our city's corporate limits. unless the transport is requested by the person. Our policy also prohibits our officers from suggesting it to the person. We want to make sure that it's consensual and is with consent. If that person who's experiencing crisis or dealing with some hardship requests that and it's consensual, our officer needs to have supervisory approval. to do the transport. Additionally, they need to get supervisory approval and then also consistent with state statute to notify the receiving jurisdiction that we will be bringing someone into their community or into their jurisdiction. Additionally, our officers are required to make sure that there's some type of warm handoff to services. So some of the most acute examples that we're aware of that have happened in the city of Eau Claire is where they're just kind of dropped off outside of a closed shelter. or on a dark street corner in an unfamiliar community without any supports or services and so if we're going to do that it needs to be lawful with consent we need to notify the receiving jurisdiction and we need to coordinate with that with that county's human services department contact a relative a friend another another support system and then have that warm handoff so we're not um causing someone who's already experiencing hardship and difficulty to be experiencing that on an even more acute basis in an unfamiliar community as well. When backing up a little bit, when receiving the request or consent, our officers are outfitted with body-worn camera systems, and so our officers are required to have their camera systems on During that entire interaction so that's document documented that consent is provided that it wasn't suggested by the by the officer itself and then during that Transport quite contrary to the example offered by attorney neck for the Washburn County example if that transport occurs That the body-worn camera stays on for the entirety of the transport in the contact with the person Thank you very much

Thank you, Chief Rokas. Any other questions? Council Member Mboga.

Thank you. Thank you, Council President. Chief Rokas, I did not get it very clear. What does the state statue say? Did you say about warm welcome? Did you say something like that?

It's not a statutory requirement. The term I used is a warm handoff to services. And so it's not anything legally required through state statute. It's something that we require of our officers through our department policy, which dictates how our officers conduct themselves in the community. So if we're going to take someone outside of our community, it's at their request. and that the warm handoff to services term is that we're leaving them somewhere where they're safe and where they're supported. So if they're dealing with a mental health crisis or mental health issues, there's a treatment facility, healthcare, a shelter, a family member, a friend that's going to be receiving them. And so the warm handoff to services is a term that we've developed or taken from somewhere else or that I don't know the exact origin of, but that we're not just leaving them on a street corner or at a gas station, an unfamiliar place. We're leaving them where they have help or support or care.

Yeah, thank you. Can I ask you my last question? Yeah, please. Just curious, for my knowledge and have a report, why these western counties, they like to dump.

Sure and there's there's a there's been a variety of reasons or Excuses for lack of a better term that have been provided. This has been an issue That's our community of space for a number of years. We've certainly taken an iterative approach to dealing with it the letter to the Attorney General's office was not the first approach and are the first steps that were taken when these incidents occur. When we learn about them, it's usually because there's some type of friction in our community following the person being brought here. There's a call for police services where there's a disturbance. They're experiencing a mental health crisis. A member of our community is victimized through the commission of a crime. And so when we first noticed this trend, we would call and follow up with the law enforcement agency that brought them here. It's usually disclosed to our officers that they were brought here and under what circumstances. So we would call them. We would ask for the circumstances or an explanation of what occurred. We would get copies of the police incident reports, the body worn camera footage, and then look into it that way. We would offer a cautionary warning or an explanation of the concerns with the behavior of that law enforcement agency. Despite those initial efforts, the practice persisted and continued. We then went a next step where the attorney's office provided assistance in issuing a letter to that law enforcement agency or maybe their oversight board, like their police and fire commission, their mayor, city manager, the county board, judiciary and law committee. That didn't that didn't make a difference at all I'm a member of a number of professional organizations and so when at meetings with those groups I would bring this up as a topic and as an you know as an issue and a concern Many other cities our size are experiencing the same thing as attorney Nick provided So during during the entire course of that dialogue or those instances and that follow-up, you know these are these are kind of excuses or reasons that I had heard from other from the other agencies is that Eau Claire has more services for them. We don't have those services. We didn't know what to do with them. We just wanted to maybe get them closer to maybe some distance, you know, some destination that may be across the state or across the country. So it's been a variety of reasons, not knowing what to do, not having services, which many of the jurisdictions that were noted, and Attorney Nick's letter our county seats that have human services department and should have some sort of supports or services provided so not having those not knowing what else to do we're just trying to get them out of their community so it's been it's been a variety of reasons given reasons given that necessarily aren't in the best interest of the person experiencing hardship

Thank you, Chief Rokas. City Attorney Nick. Thank you. Try to briefly just augment a little bit that, and I think the Chief, of course, did a great job of saying, you know, the question was why in this area? And yes, it happens in this area, but it is not unique to this area. So that's why Madison joined. When I talked to the city attorney of Waukesha, they experienced the same issue and joined in that call and recognized frankly in earlier practice that they've now discontinued of doing sort of the same thing. Wausau, Stevens Point, all of La Crosse have all indicated they experienced the same issue. And one of the reasons we ask the question is because it has legal implications and also policy implications. So a little bit more on the legal is it's important to have information out and ask the Attorney General to provide that. We provide legal advice to our own, but with this practice continuing, there are real constitutional issues. So you have a Fourth Amendment seizure issue. If you're suggesting the issue and you're confronting an officer is that consent is the individual able to provide a consent and I won't go through all the case law but you know saying the word yes if it's being suggested to you where a reasonable person doesn't feel that they have the ability to say no isn't lawful consent so that's potentially a Fourth Amendment US constitutional violation continuing to transport someone that you believe may have consented originally but withdraws that consent, especially out of jurisdiction when you're no longer in your home jurisdiction and you continue a custodial transport. Under Wisconsin law, under 17540, it indicates that for the purposes of civil and criminal immunity, you as an officer only have, you only act in that official capacity in very limited circumstances. And a long-term transport like this doesn't likely meet any of those conditions, which means that that officer or that agency may open themselves up to individual criminal or civil liability. And then it's just not the best use of resources. We all acknowledge this is a very difficult, broad, big issue. moving people from place to place when they're already in crisis and there isn't a service receipt on the other end, either by a family friend or a care facility, is not really helping that individual, it's simply moving it from one jurisdiction to another so they don't have to deal with it anymore. unfortunately also with underlying and only staffing but real financial implications not so much for the city although our staff time of course is very important our public safety obviously is critically important but especially on a county level and one of the key reasons the county joined us in this request is if an individual is now moved and identifies no other stated residents their care is now that county's responsibility. So the healthcare costs or other treatment costs become that new county's responsibility. And those are not, again, furthering a joint shared approach to this very difficult issue. It is simply in human terms, you know, ping-ponging them around of someone who has got a lot of things already going on. So there's a lot of need for coverage of those, again, very serious legal constitutional issues as well as hopefully an enhanced policy approach to the issue of unhoused and the various you know, personal service needs that many of them are looking for, you know, closer to home as opposed to being transported to a place they're not familiar with. All right.

Any other questions from the council? Thank you. All right, so we will move this item. So on a motion by Council Member Serrano and seconded by Council Member Brewster, this item is moved. Is there any discussion by the council on this item? Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Council President. You know, obviously smaller communities in western Wisconsin, you know, it's easy to understand why when one of these police departments takes into custody a person experiencing issues of whether they've mental health, substance abuse, that... really a policy or not, you know, they might be seeking to take this individual to a larger community such as Eau Claire. I understand that Eau Claire City and County has more resources than some of the smaller communities in western Wisconsin. But when these police departments take somebody with mental health or substance abuse issue and just take them to another community, it doesn't fix anything. It's only moving the issue from one area to another. And... You know, when a law enforcement officer encounters one of these individuals, you know, I would imagine the individual has some sort of sense that they're going to be getting some help from this officer here. But it's unconscionable for these police officers in other areas to be taking individuals needing help and then without coordinating with anyone else in the target community in Eau Claire. Then I reached out to the police department, then I reached out to our social services and just deposited them on the streets and leaving. It's their election of duty on their behalf to provide for the public good. And so it's rather uncomfortable. And I would have hoped it would have stopped once this letter was brought up to the attorney general back in January. But as the city attorney has stated, this continues to be an ongoing issue in which other communities are not communicating with those who can provide support like Eau Claire. So I do call on Attorney General Call to issue some sort of guidance for state police departments to adequately handle this one so that the people in greatest need are not being picked up by those in a position to offer assistance and then just dropping them off someplace and then hoping that it's somebody else's problem. Thank you for the work on continuing to push us forward, and I hope to hear a response from the Attorney General in due time.

Thank you, Council Member Miller. Vice President Schoen.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. This issue is obviously a really challenging and complicated one, and I have empathy for our communities across the state that are all struggling to understand how to respond to this crisis. But I think that the most important things that we as humans need to keep at the center of these decisions and these conversations is that every single person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and deserves to be awarded their constitutional rights. And so I join Council Member Miller in calling on AG Call to make a decision here and offer guidance to communities to aid us in this difficult challenge we're all facing.

Thank you, Vice President. Council Member Otto.

Thank you, President Greger. It's fantastic that we are sending this message, if this gets passed, to the state government. And I just wanted to remind people that the state government funds a lot of local police forces. It gives grants to, I believe, all of them. And in that sense, that it is on the state government to make sure that local police forces are getting the support they need and acting with accountability. And in establishing guidelines for these local governments that receive state grants, I'm hoping that we will have a more humane, more ethical solution to what's currently going on.

Thank you, Council Member Otto. Yeah. I just want to appreciate the work, you know, by our city attorney's office and police department and, you know, just, you know, tackling these difficult like statewide challenges from that local perspective and yeah. And just advocating for people and their, their rights and, and the and their welfare. Yeah. And I think, you know, I've kind of speaking to the, how common this is. It's, you know, I've had people call me that are confused as to why they're in Eau Claire and they, and they are experiencing homelessness. And, um, sometimes it's not, it's not super clear, uh, you know, that it was because of a law enforcement, you know, involvement, but there's a, there's a lot of reasons that people end up here maybe because there is a perception that, that they can find what they need. um, So it's a very complicated topic, and it's hard to know exactly everybody's story. Those are very personal, challenging times for people, and we just need to be as compassionate and also as diligent as possible to make sure that local governments know what they're the best way that way they can address these issues with the state and with other jurisdictions. So appreciate the work that's gone in. I frustrated, you know, by the lack of, you know, response that we've gotten so far from the attorney general's office, but I think, um, sounds like we've kept that communication channel very open and there's opportunity, um, for this to move, uh, relatively quickly, potentially as well, just because we're, because we're on top of it. So appreciate the work. Any other discussion from the council? All right. Seeing none city, clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Serrano.

Aye.

Brewster.

Aye. Greger. Aye. Amboga. Aye. Miller.

Aye. Orth.

Aye.

Otto.

Aye.

Reed. Aye. Schoen.

Aye.

And that passes unanimously.

All right.

We're now into the section called Ordinances for Action. Agenda item number 22, ordinance annexing land to the city of Eau Claire located in the town of Washington, Eau Claire County, as shown on planning drawing number 26-1A. Annexation ordinances require a two-thirds vote of the elected members of the governing body in accordance per Wisconsin Statute 66.02178. Therefore, eight affirmative votes are required of the 11 elected council members for the council to pass an annexation ordinance. And we have a presentation from planning manager, Ned Noel.

Thanks for joining us. Thank you, President Gregor and council members. I'm here filling in for Director White. This item is an annexation request due to a failing septic system. It's about an acre along East Hamilton. The state has found this in the public interest. It helps to close up an irregular boundary. Next slide. This is a subject location map. Next slide. And this is a property aerial. So we recommend approval. Plan commission is already approved. There's a recommended approval. Any questions? Thank you.

Manager Noel, are there any questions from council? All right. Thank you. All right. So on a motion by council member Orth and seconded by council member Miller, this item is moved. Is there any Discussion? All right, seeing no discussion, city clerk, please call the roll on agenda item number 22.

Council Member Brewster. Aye. Greger.

Aye.

Mboga.

Aye.

Miller. Aye. Orth.

Aye.

Otto. Aye. Reed. Aye. Schoen.

Aye.

Serrano.

Aye.

And that passes unanimously. All right, so the next section is ordinances for introduction, so I'll read each of them. Agenda item number 23, ordinance amending chapter 10.04 entitled state statutes adopted of the code of ordinances of the city of Eau Claire to include updates to traffic statutes. Agenda item number 24, ordinance amending chapter 10.09 entitled motor scooters of the code of ordinances of the city of Eau Claire to update electric scooter regulations agenda item number 25 ordinance to amend the comprehensive plan for properties from industrial land use to low density housing medium and high density housing located at 2209 county line road z1765-26 Agenda item number 26, ordinance to rezone properties from NRP to NR, MR, and P public located at 2209 County Line Road, Z-1766-26. And then finally, agenda item number 26, ordinance to rezone property from LIP to CC located at the southeast corner of Music Road, Z-1768-26. Do any council members wish to suspend their roles to take up any of these items tonight? It doesn't appear that there's interest in that, so that's great. So we will, now move into announcements and updates from the city manager and the city council and i just maybe want to announce one thing and that is that the uh the west central area labor council is hosting labor fest on labor day on monday september 7th at phoenix park And I believe that starts at about 10, 30 or so, 10 o'clock in the morning. But just one option to celebrate Labor Day that I just thought I'd give a highlight for. City Manager Solberg, fresh off a trip to the Boundary Waters.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. Just a few upcoming dates for City Council to consider. The Chamber Eggs and Issues will be held. They're back under their Friday schedule, so this Friday, August 28th, if Council members would like to attend, let me know and we can get you signed up for that. This Saturday, we have Saturday Sidewalk on North and South Barstow Business Districts for shopping, sidewalk shopping in the downtown area. Friday, September 4th at Haymarket Plaza is UW Meets Eau Claire. So it's an opportunity for the college kids to come to Haymarket Plaza and experience downtown Eau Claire. So give them a warm welcome. On Tuesday, September 8th, so two weeks from today, there is a League of Wisconsin Municipalities monthly roundtable. It's from noon until 1 via Zoom. If you would like to be signed up for that and participate, we can get you signed up for that. And then, as approved earlier today, the DECI-sponsored fall festival will be Saturday, September 12th, beginning at 10 a.m. I believe there was 14,000 people here for that last year, so it is quite a festival in downtown and a I would encourage everybody to attend that if possible. And lastly, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities Fall Conference in Appleton is being held October 7th through 9th. So if council members would like to attend, let us know and we will get you signed up for that event as well. That's all I have.

That's quite a good grab bag of information, thank you.

And I'll send this out with an update to council, except that the update will come out after Chamber Eggs and Issues announcement, but I'll send this out to help with memory on that.

Thank You city manager Solberg councilmember Otto Thank You council president same day as the fall festival September 12th The Northside Hill Association is hosting a fundraiser party in the parks. It'll start a little later on in the day And I believe that will be at Mount Simon Thank you, yeah Anything else from council for announcements

All right. Then we're ready to adjourn the meeting. If there is no objection from council, this meeting is adjourned. And we will be taking a five-minute break and then going into a work session. And that is on the ADA transition plan for the city of Eau Claire. So we'll see you all back in five minutes. And folks are welcome to stay if they want as well.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool, cool. Come on, come on. Thank you. See you, Matt. We'll be on it. I will say those AILERS consultants are like the John Forrester of finances. They're so passionate.

They're so excellent. They just know their stuff. Spoiler alert.

I know, right? I know.

You know, the spreadsheet's just driving me crazy. It's a good spreadsheet, though. It's about as close as you get to God. It's 22 slides.

Well, it'd be better for me. So if I give you a word, I won't be like you.

It's not obvious.

Let's say I have to write a research paper. It's all, I live in a club, so. Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. Yeah. It says 26 minutes.

She took John Schultz's place.

I've seen him before, but I don't think I like him.

Yeah, same group. Okay, so thank you. Sure.

I mean, did you send the invitation in an email or something? Okay. I should have recorded that. Thank you.

For what? The city council travel? Is that the thing? The ticket thing. You did.

Thank you.

My head, it seems like a small amount.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, I have to turn it off.

Yes, thank you for the reminder, though.

I think I had two Aaron. I think I had two Aaron. Aaron White brought that up today, and then I think he was talking about something else that I was thinking of.

It was the info for El. Yeah, that was the info.

... ... ... ...

Thank you. My memory is not great. Thank you. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. um um And then another one.

um is

We don't have them yet.

It seems he's not working yet. Okay, hold on. Well, where did you send him? I'm not receiving anything.

I said earlier, song, dance, number, dance to shop. He showed up dressed in his bubble.

all right we have to wait a little oh okay sorry

There's a chance if I log in, I can just pull it up.

Should we try that?

It certainly doesn't hurt.

No, no, no, I guess the point is we made a mistake. I don't understand. Oh, just now. Okay, I'll leave it at that.

I'll leave it at that.

I'm so sad. I'm so sad.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

he has not logged in to her email so it's trying to update it's like 32 like here on this computer it wants like half an hour to update it's 10 minutes left but now we are trying on his account

I don't know where it is. Thank you. so um

So I'm just speaking as just with an update for the public that there is a work. We're trying to get some technical difficulties worked through in order to start our work session on the ADA plan for the city of Eau Claire but we do not have that figured out yet Yeah, so maybe let's turn mics on for a discussion about whether we want to just do this later. Anashe, is there a Does it make sense maybe to just try this in September?

Or is it working? It is working.

OK. OK, we'll just wait to get this working here.

Did you know that terracotta is a porous material used to water plants? Sure is. Just learned that today.

Pretty cool.

I don't have anything to say about it. You can also use it as a refrigerator.

No, terracotta, it's porous.

Or a heating source. You can build a fire in it.

Build a fire in it, but you can also, like, chill a bottle of wine inside of it, a terracotta tube, by just pouring water on it, and the evaporation chills the wine. That's cool. Or other beverage.

Our mics are on.

we'll have the mics off i guess if we're just waiting here like we will wait two more minutes sorry

Thank you. she's very impressive Thank you. um okay um

Okay, so we're just having technical issues, so we are going to not do the work session tonight, but rather try to do it maybe after our September 8th meeting, which is Tuesday, September 8th. So that will be focused on our ADA plan. So unfortunately, we aren't able to do it tonight, but thanks, everybody, for sticking around. Yeah.

But thank you. All right, we'll have fun. Catch you later. Why am I going up this way?

Oh, sorry to interrupt you.

Yeah, I know. Apparently they have been updating your stuff today.

So, um, it wasn't working. Maybe try the next two.