City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the January 14th, 2026 meeting of the Final X City Council. The first item of business is roll call which is done electronically and I will declare a quorum present with Mr. Zimmerman absent. The next item on our agenda is a pledge of allegiance which is followed by a moment of silent reflection. Please rise. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible. Next on our agenda, we have some proclamations to recognize some retirements. So, first we have a proclamation recognizing Police Lieutenant Steve Olsen's retirement. If you want to meet me down front, I will see you there. Whereas Lieutenant Steven J. Olsen will retire from the Fondle Police Department on January 9th, 2026. And whereas Steven J. Olsen began his law enforcement career in 1995 as a patrol officer with the North Fondelac Police Department and joined the FondeLac Police Department in

1999 where he consistently embraced opportunities to serve the community in meaningful and impactful ways. And whereas throughout his distinguished career with the Fondelac Police Department, Lieutenant Olsen served in numerous assignments including patrol officer, field training officer, SWAT team sniper, honor guard member, DARE officer, crimerevention specialist, and school resource officer. And whereas Lieutenant Olsen's dedication to youth, families, and schools became a defining hallmark of his career, fostering trust and building relationships that positively impacted multiple generations within the Fondac community. And whereas in July 2021, Lieutenant Olsen was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, a role he accepted with humility and commitment, stepping forward to lead during a critical time when the department and community needed his experience and steady leadership most. And whereas Lieutenant Olsen has faithfully served the citizens of Fondelac with honor, integrity, and professionalism, consistently demonstrating a commitment to public safety and the well-being of the community. And whereas the city of FondeLeak wishes to express its sincere appreciation for Lieutenant Olsen's contributions as part of a dedicated team of law enforcement professionals committed to making FondeLac one of the safest and most welcoming cities in the nation. Now therefore I Tiffany Bralt, president of the Fondelac City Council, by my signature affixed do hereby recognize Lieutenant Steven J. Olsen for 27 years of dedicated service to the citizens of the city of FondeLac and extend the city's heartfelt gratitude and best wishes for a long, healthy, and prosper prosperous retirement. Congratulations. [applause] And also we would like to present you with a key to the city.

[laughter] I don't know what door that fits in. [laughter] It's good because I'm not very good with combinations. [laughter] It really is a key. That's super cool. So, congratulations. Thank you. Um, would you like to say a few words? I can hold that for you. Hold it.

Giving me a microphone because is dangerous, but I I will just say I didn't know I was going to say anything, but uh first of all, thank you to the city. Um, this is really cool. Um, this is my family. my son Noah, my wife Becky, and our daughter is at college right now um out in Arizona, and she's probably really happy that she's not here because she does not like coming up front in front of people. But um I just want to say thank you. Um my 27 years here, 30 years in law enforcement has been nothing but a a tremendous blessing. And the city being from here means so much to me. um it has provided for my family and um I I super appreciative. I'm I'm a better person um for working here the last 27 years. So, thank you. [applause]

All right. And next we also have a retirement of Joe Marramonte. So, if you could join me and bring any family you want to come join,

come on in. All right. Whereas Joseph Miramonte began his distinguished career with FondeLeak Fire Rescue on March 5th, 1992, dedicating nearly 34 years of honorable service to the citizens of the city of Fondelac. And whereas throughout his career, Battalion Chief Mayor Monty served the community with professionalism, integrity, and unwavering commitment, progressing through the ranks of firefighter, paramedic, lieutenant, captain, and battalion chief. And whereas Battalion Chief Marmont demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication, earning recognition as a two-time officer of the year, receiving five unit citations and being honored with an award of excellence. And whereas Battalion Chief Mayor Monty selflessly served as an active member of the Fondelac Fire Rescue Honor Guard, exemplifying respect, dignity, and pride in the fire service and its traditions. And whereas his career reflects a lifelong commitment to public safety, mentorship of fellow firefighters and the protection of life and property within the city of FondeLac. And whereas Battalion Chief Joseph Mayor Monty has retired from Fondelac Fire Rescue on January 10th, 2026, leaving behind a legacy of leadership, service, and dedication that has positively impacted the department and the community he proudly served. Now therefore, I, Tiffany Brol, president of the city council for the city of Fondelac, by my signature affixed, do hereby recognize and honor Battalion Chief Joseph Marrammont for his exemplary service, leadership, and commitment to the city of FondeLac and extend sincere gratitude and best wishes for a healthy, fulfilling, and well-deserved retirement. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. [applause] And of course, we're also going to offer you a key to the city. So, same place, I think. So, there you go. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Would you [clears throat] like to say a few words? Sure.

Um, mostly just to thank thank everybody up here as well as uh all of my counterparts up here um as well as the comrades in the backyard. Appreciate that. Um, but much the same as Steve said, it's it was an honor to work for work for the city for these many years. Um, and it was a spectacular spectacular career. I wouldn't have changed a thing, but thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] And congratulations again to both of our retirees and thank you so much for joining us. Next, we'll move on to the consent agenda. The consent agenda agenda finalizes the proposed actions for the meeting. A, list of claims dated January 7th, 2026, and B, December 10th, 2025 minutes. Is there any discussion? Uh, seeing none, I will entertain a motion.

All right. Uh, Mr. Godfrey beat it to that, Mr. Mullen. Uh just a reminder um we have our app that we're using and you can make your motions in seconds right in the app but if you wish to speak on anything please hit your button um to do so. So we have a motion by Mr. Godfrey and a second by Mr. Heistler. Is there any discussion? Seeing none please proceed to vote. Are you in the actual tab of the item? So you have to move down in the app. Sorry. Bear with us.

All right. I think Okay. All right. Well, that passes unanimously uh with six eyes. So, next on our agenda is audience comments. Agenda and non-aggenda items. The presiding officer will limit speaking time for non-aggenda items to one minute and items noticed on the agenda to five minutes. Do we have anyone wishing to speak? Looks like we have just the one. Correct. Correct. Yes. So, we have Mary Beth Hayes who wishes to speak on agenda item 6A.

Good evening. Thank you. And yes, I'm here to speak on the discussion on creating a license requirement for the sale of CBD THC beverages. I want to thank Chief Goldstein and city attorney Deb Hoffman for working on this and finding a really good um solution. It's a big loophole in the law and I'm very glad that you are considering it and I will encourage you to pass this and close this loophole as soon as possible in the city of Fondelac. Thank you.

Thank you. And that concludes our audience comments. So we'll move on to our action items. Action item A is resolution number 9218, a resolution confirming reappoints to the downtown Final Partnership Board with our introduction by our city manager, Mr. more. Thanks. Good evening. Happy New Year, everybody. Happy New Year. Good to

be back. So, I'm going to I'm renominating Miss Dialer and Miss Laura. You've you've [clears throat] approved their service before. They they've had uh high quality service to the DFP during their first term. So, and they both want to reup. Before I turn it back over to you, u with that, I also want to tell you that Amy Crup announced today that she's going to retire from her position at the DFP at the end of April.

That is sad news to hear, but also we're happy to hear that Miss Crup will have some hopefully some free time in her in her retirement. [laughter] Um, all right. Is there any are there any questions for Mr. Moore? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion. All right. Are you able are you want to um so that is weird. Okay. So, we have the motion by Miss Laring and then I [snorts] need a second. Uh, we got Mr. Godfrey jumped in there before you again, Mr. Mullen. [laughter] All right. So, a motion by Miss Laring, a second by Mr. Godfrey. Is there any other discussion? Oh, all right. Mr. Mullen, are you able to get in the right spot?

Okay. Got it. Okay. We might be having a tech issue with our tablets up here. Yeah. And like Okay. So, I just Yeah, I just refreshed. So, if we could everyone refresh. So, hit the refresh button on the worked for me. motion by Okay, so we had a motion by Miss Learing

and Okay, I'm going to refresh mine because now I'm not seeing those either. Mine's not showing anybody's names. All right, we'll we'll just do a voice vote for this one. We we have our motion by Miss Larrying, second by Mr. Godfrey. I don't see any discussion on this. Uh so Oh, Miss No. Okay. All right. So, all in favor? I. Any opposed?

Seeing none, that passes unanimously. All right. So, sorry about that everyone, but uh it item B is class B intoxicating liquor license and class B fermented malt license entity Oxana Axe LLC agent Alexandra Christian agent address 265 East 9inth Street doing business as Oxana Axe business address 25 North Main Street. Uh the alcohol licensing committee recommendation is to deny and our introduction is by our city attorney, Miss Hoffman. Bro, am I on? Okay, I see green now. Uh, this applicant has a um felony conviction and state law prohibits him from having a liquor license. So, based on that, um, we the alcohol our office recommend. Alcohol license deny recommends denial. We recommend that you deny as well. I'm happy to answer any questions. Mhm. All right. Are there any questions from council? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion.

All right. And oh, so again, because we're new to all this app, if if we want to approve, we make the second or the motion and the second in the app. If you're making a different motion such as a motion to deny, which is the recommendation of the ALC, we would have to just do that by voice. So, Mr. Shistler, since you hit your button, um can I just clarify what motion you'd wish to make? Okay. So, do we have a motion um on this item? I'll make a motion to deny.

Okay. So, Mr. Heistler makes a motion to deny the liquor license and then Mr. Mullen is second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, please proceed to vote. All right, that passes unanimously. That concludes our action items. So, we'll move on to our input items. Item 6A is discussion of creating a license requirement for the sale of CBD THC beverages presented by city attorney Miss Hoffman.

Thank you again, President Bro. Uh this I I want to give credit where credit's due and um the city attorney of West Alice brought this to them in u May of last year and I heard about it and thought that was just a really good idea and looked into it. And we also had questions from council members about it. So I think it's a problem that these I mean they are um uh psychoactive and they do you you feel high drinking those and I don't think it um if and if you are high and you're driving you can still get an OWI just because this isn't necessarily a prohibited thing you can still be driving while intoxicated. um due due to the effects of alcohol due the not alcohol but rather CBD THC. I also think this is something that's not appropriate for people that are under 21 years of age. So what I'm suggesting in the ordinance draft ordinance is that um every uh retailer that's going to sell these items has to get a permit from the city. Um when our police are doing um uh we do we do occasional review of of bars and they this is something they could check on as well when they're out doing that. Um this is very also something that's happening being looked at um federally and at the state to to deal with the loophole that the the hemp the the agricultural change in the law that was intended to allow hemp to be grown to be m you know to be used for for rope [laughter] created this loophole and they are I do believe they will in intend to fix this but it could be a year or more and in the meantime I'd like us to not have this happening in our city.

Right. Thank you. Are there any questions from council? And if you have questions, please hit your button. Uh Mr. Mullen.

Yes. Uh thank you for doing this. Uh Miss Hoffman, I I asked for this last month. Um because there is this loophole and these drinks do intoxicate. Um I I think it's uh I think it's a good idea that we restrict access to children. I don't think anybody has uh has any problems with that. Um it's difficult because these these products are legal um and they exist in this kind of loophole area in state and federal law. So the uh the solution that Moffman came up with um I think is a good one. Um it you know it informs potential retailers of these products that you know you cannot sell these to people underage. Um but because the possibility exists that unlike liquor stores and smoke shops that that res and bars that restrict miners from coming into the place, these could be sold at places that don't have those restrictions and so you need to have something. So thank you very much.

Thank you Mr. Heistler. Thank you. Thank you Miss Hoffman for all the work on this. I appreciate it. I'm just curious because this is an input item which will eventually come back to us as an action item in in the theory that the action item were to pass to pass council. What are the next steps? How does that work for current retailers and also bar owners?

We have to I've worked with the clerk's office and we come up with the necessary forms. We send them out to anybody that we think, you know, would be in, you know, in line for doing something like this and then anybody else that's interested, you know, and we're publicizing it, you know, through tonight, but we would take additional steps, put on the city's website and stuff. And it's very clear in our ordinance, no one's going to get a ticket if you didn't know about this. You you have we're we're going to try and give as much notice as possible. And if you you still didn't know about it and you're selling to to minor and or you don't have a permit, we'll go in and tell you the first time and you're going to get like a basically a warning. Okay.

And then after that, if you're going to continue to sell and you don't get the permit, then you're going to get a ticket. Makes a lot of sense. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Um I'm not seeing any questions from others unless did anybody mean to hit their button and have any questions? All right. And just one clarifi clarification question. We're not looking to ban these from anywhere in the city. It's just providing some regulation and especially protection for minors. Correct. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you. As others said, thank you so much for the work that has been going into this. Um because it really did kind of throw us for a loop with this loophole. Um, and so I appreciate the work that's been done, especially I know council member Mullen, I believe you did a lot of work as well on this. So, thank you. All right. Well, seeing no other questions or discussion, we will move on to action item or I mean input item B, which is Veterans Park donation conversation presented by Council Member Laring. Okay. So, as um many of you may have noticed, there's a piece of land in front of our county government city county government building um that has been under a construction remodel. Um it is the veterans park and it's one of the parks that are located within our city in the heart of our downtown. The park needed upgrades to have it be more safe and more accessible for the disabled and elderly people. Um, I think that in making this park more accessible provides us, the city, an opportunity for the city and downtown businesses to partner with the county and veteran services that would be of great benefit to our city. The space is a memorial and it's not intended to be a graveyard. It should be used. It It's It's pretty underused right now. Um, it can be a sanctuary for the community and a place for the public to be reminded of our veteran sacrifices. Currently, the space is barely used mainly for Memorial Day

and the Christmas tree lighting. I would like to see the space used to benefit both the downtown and the veterans. With upgrades to security and lighting, the park can be used during the day and evening. It can be a space for celebrations and community gatherings and an atmosphere for themed events with dynamic lighting and sound. I would actually like to see events that directly benefit the veterans of our county through paying for medical supplies, therapy, um, service animals or other veterans needs. In speaking with Dave Tiffson of Veteran Services, he has told me other veterans would like to see the park put to use, too. Um, I spoke with Terry Detel from county, he's our county land info director to have this item on our next year committee agenda in February in order to change the park ordinance to allow um public events to occur in the park. I think the city could collaborate on this as it with the county as it will benefit the city. Currently, you can sponsor an engraved brick for the park. Um, you can also donate through the FondeLac Area Foundation. I provided a flyer for um that sponsorship to each council member. Um, the park still is in need of security cameras, a sound system, lighting inside the park. The city is providing the lighting on the perimeter of the park already and fiber optics is needed to go from the city county government building. The plan is for the park to be ready for Memorial Day. The rededication ceremony is scheduled for May 22nd. Many donations have come in and eventually I will I feel we'll meet the needs, but I would really like the city to be involved with this project for our veterans. I think this park or space can be so much more than it is right now. It's such a great opportunity for us to be a part of it.

Thank you. Uh, is there any um discussion or questions from council members? Looks like Mr. Mr. Mullen is trying to hit his button. Okay, Mr. Mullen.

Uh, no, I think I think it would be a great idea if we could use this park. It sits right smack in the middle of our downtown. Uh and so um I would like to see more events there or more uses, you know, of course it has to be congruent with uh the nature of the park as Veterans Park, but I I think there are things we could we could do and and work with the county on that. So I support that. Thank you. Did did you want to address any questions or as I come in or do you want me to just kind of let everybody speak and then come back to you? No,

I mean I just I agree fully with that. I think it would be good for us to partner. I think the city and county should partner more on [clears throat] things together. Thank you. Oh, Mr. Heisler. Yep. Thank you, M. L, for bringing this forward. I I I live directly across the street, so I see it all the time. And you nailed it. It's underutilized right now. It just plain is. And I'm excited for what is to come. I think and and Dave is doing a great job over there. I think anything that we can do to benefit our veterans is a great thing and also anything we can do to utilize it as a city is great. So, thanks for taking the initiative tonight and thanks for putting it on the ERS committee agenda. I'm excited about further discussions. It'll be really cool. Thank you.

Thank you. Um I'm not seeing any other questions. Um, so I I want to reiterate, thank you also for bringing this up. Um, I think you know this a lot of people don't realize that Veterans Park is actually a county park, but being in the middle of the city of FondeLac, there is absolutely so much opportunity for collaboration and connection that we can have there. So I I I'm really glad that you've brought this to us and and started this discussion here. Um, so I guess I' I'd just like to open it up to see if there's anything else you'd wanted to add. No, I mean it's it's a park that's just really underutilized and I think in the you know it's right in the heart of our city and we have Sam Meyer improving a building right across from it. There's a lot of businesses that could benefit from events there and I think that you know by [clears throat] us being involved we will have more of a say in things like that. So

right wonderful. All right, I am not seeing any question more questions or comments. So, we will end that input item. And that is the end of all of our input items. So, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Uh, we got a motion by Mr. Schustler and a second by Mr. Godfrey. I went away, but you [laughter] got it emailed. All right. Um, this is not debatable. Please proceed to vote. And that passes unanimously. We are adjourned.