Common Council - Regular Meeting

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Okay. Okay, I have 7:00 on my computer, so I'm going to call this meeting to order of the Lake Mill City Council for Tuesday, April 7th, 2026. Uh, Sam, would you please call the role? Miss Pnau, here. Mr. Waters, here. Miss Curler, here. Miss Smeagger here. Mr. Coots here. Thank you. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Our next agenda item is correction and acceptance of the city council meeting minutes from March 17th. Are there any comments or corrections? Okay, seeing none, we'll accept those into our record. Um, next we have board and committee reports and meeting minutes. So, uh, we do have Shelley Quant here from the Joint Rock Lake Committee. So, I'll ask, uh, Shelley to come up and give her a verbal report for us tonight. Hi, everybody. Um I guess the committee just wanted to give you guys an update on a number of decisions that were made at our last meeting uh based on requests that were made to us by the town. Um as well as interests of the community that have been brought forward to us. So um the first one was regarding Bartles Beach um and people bringing boats up onto the sand just outside of the swim area. I know Eric Shriner last year had mentioned that after Memorial Day that he was going to move the swim line and was waiting on a different anchor or something of the sort to move that swim line a little further out um to dissuade people from bringing their boats up onto shore. Um but we as a committee started talking about that a little bit further and we are recommending no action to move those swim lines um because that's a very popular area for launching kayaks and if we're encouraging kayak launching in a swim area that's kind of contradictory. Um, and if we were to make those same motions to not allow boats to pull up onto the sand at Bartles Beach, then we really ought to be consistent and do the same thing at Sandy Beach. And at this point in time, I'd much rather I guess the committee had discussed and we decided that it's better to encourage people to come use the restrooms at both Bartles and Sandy Beach rather than not.

So, we'll leave it there. Um, so there is that consistency. Um, second of all, the town had recommended uh asked us to make a recommendation as to whether or not to keep the swim area at Ferry Park open. Um, they were concerned with uh closures, the frequency of closures, etc. at that site. Um, and then maintaining that swim area as well. Um, so I did a little research and brought forward some statistics that showed that actually Ferry Park is not the most frequently closed swim area on the lake. Um, Sandy Beach, I believe, East West has that honor. Sandy Beach West has that honor. Yes. So, our recommendation to the town was to um maintain Ferry Park as a swim area. The third one was um regarding permanent peers and the pier ordinance. Um the question was you know what should the peer ordinance say and what sort of permitting should be in place regarding permanent peers and the the when there are issues regarding peer placement um encroaching on neighbors etc with removable peers that's something that's really easy to address and and move forward but once a permanent pier is installed it's permanent so the question was what would we like to recommend to the town? Um, and we did recommend to the town that they review the pier ordinance regarding permanent peers um and create a permitting process for permanent peers to look into um are we enforcing that ordinance prior to the installation of permanent peers? Um and then also further um as scientific data is collected regarding the environmental impact of permanent peers um further

amendments to the pure ordinance may be recommended but not until we receive further data. Um and then the fourth was um recommending to the town to place two to four slow no wake buoys. We're kind of estimating three at this point along Tyrannina Park at a distance of 100 ft from shore. Um what had been brought to us by the Rock Lake Improvement Association was to create uh was a recommendation to create a 200 ft slown no wakeake ordinance for the entire perimeter of the lake. Um, and the idea behind that or one of the concerns behind that was safety at for those who swim their dogs and who wait to go fishing and who swim from Tyrannina Park. Um, state law says that boats may operate within 100 ft from shore, yet swimmers can swim within 150 ft from shore. So, that's a 50-foot overlap there. it's a concern um because both would be within their rights and we just don't want an accident to happen. So placing buoys creates a visual barrier to separate swimmers and boers. Um whereas if we were to pass a 200 foot ordinance for the entire lake that still is subject to enforcement and it's um a challenge to actually decide what's 100 feet, what's 200 feet, what's 150 ft, and who's within what rights. Um so placing those buoys is a recommendation that we did make. Um it's going to take some time, probably won't happen this year to what see those buoys placed. Um there's a a process that needs to be followed to apply and um mark where those buoys would be located and then go through um the approval process. Um and lastly, we have one um member who has

chosen not to renew his position on the Joint Rock Lake Committee, and Pat Stevens is stepping down. He is a city representative. So, we are looking for a new city representative for the Joint Rock Lake Committee. So, if anybody knows anybody, we'd be happy to have them. Thank you, Shelley. Any questions? Any questions for Shelley? All right. Thanks for your report. We usually get your reports monthly through our clerk, but it's nice to to get some kind of updates from time to time. Yes. Thank you. We have our meeting tomorrow, so I'll uh send those meeting minutes over again tomorrow. So, thanks.

Super. Thank you. So, then on our agenda, we have um a number of other board and committee meeting minutes from plan commission, library board, and police and fire commission. Um are there any comments or questions on any of those minutes? Okay, seeing none, we will accept all of those into our record then as well. So, our next agenda item is reporting out on our correspondence and constituent contacts. It's been three weeks since our last meeting. So, uh, Greg Coots, would you like to start us off?

Sure. Um, since our last meeting, it actually, if I'm going to report everything, I would start by reporting several emails about the golf course resoning, both for and against. Um it was a couple days after our meeting when the uh when the planning commission had their special meeting and they've uh though golf course resoning uh emails have died down quite a bit since uh that special meeting but technically that is part of the correspondence this time. Um I have received multiple emails about the Sentry site redevelopment both for and against it. Um, I had an I had an email uh contact and a phone call with uh Todd Temperly about the history of the city referendum ordinance. Um, there were I had a communication about the public comment uh session during city meetings. I received a communication in support of the revised tree ordinance. Uh, I got a uh communication that essentially was just that was mainly uh just expressing appreciation about the repair and the refinish of the uh of the bridge over at Bartles and uh just the normal routine communications from Drake and Lisa and the library newsletter.

Great. Thank you, Greg Mary. Uh in addition, I received uh the same topics as well. I also had an inquiry about the way the dam was programmed for spring. I received uh some feedback on the sandy beach uh topic that proposal that we uh is on the agenda for this evening. And then also embedded in a few other subjects that were already mentioned um just an inquiry or concern about the threeminut time limit for public comment. And then I attended the um the plan commission meeting that Greg referenced.

Greg Waters The only thing I had in addition was uh an email based on what does city council do with public or uh correspondence that we get. And uh I can address that real quickly that uh that we're only allowed to talk to one other council member on any subject. So like if I wanted to talk to somebody about trees, I could only talk to one other council member and I can't talk to the rest of them. So, I did talk to Lisa Kurler between our last meeting on trees because she had some suggestions to make to an amendment that was uh that was out there that I brought to city council. But since I've talked to Lisa, I can't go and talk to Greg about that same topic because that would violate the rules of council. So, I think some people in public think that we just take that and talk to each other about it and and that is not the case. we can only talk to one other council member on any given subject. So, I hope that clears up any misconceptions.

Thanks, Greg. Michelle, I have nothing to add.

Okay. Um, I had pretty much the same thing. Greg Cous did a great summary. Um, I think of a lot of the emails that we all received. Um, I also had a um a little bit of correspondence regarding board appointments and you know, some of the upcoming um positions on boards that are coming open. um had a number of personal conversations about the century site in addition to emails. Um and I attended along with Mary the parks board had a work session yesterday on Tyrone at Tyrannina Park and it was kind of windy but it was nice to be out there and walk the park. So those are the other things that I can report. Okay, our next agenda item is public comment. And because several of us received um some questions and people wanting clarification about public comment, I wanted to just give a very brief um summary of what our procedures are before we get started tonight. Um so number one, we welcome anyone who's registered in advance to address the council. We do that at every regular meeting. Um by our ordinance, each speaker is limited to three minutes. Um, a a constituent actually suggested a couple of years ago that we provide a timer because that can help the speakers to know how much time they have left and it also makes sure that we're being fair in how much time we give to each person. So that's why we have the timer. Um, number two, we respect all individuals who want to speak and we we want to hear all viewpoints. So to make sure that we have a a respectful environment where everyone feels welcome, I ask the audience not to applaud or boo or, you know, make other outbursts that are sort of for or against anyone's comments because we want everyone to feel welcome and respected. Um, and then finally, kind of um, as Greg mentioned a moment ago, we listen during the public comment item, but we don't discuss or respond um, with people who come up to give comment. What we do instead is when we get to that agenda item that the comments were related to, if we've

received citizen input, oftentimes you will hear council members reflect that or ask follow-up questions based on the comments that we've received. So hopefully that helps. Since we've got a big audience tonight, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to um just clarify um how we handle our public comment. So having said that, um we do have a number of individuals who are registered to speak. Um, so I'll call you up one at a time and I'll also indicate who's the next person so you can be ready to go. So our first person is Jan Vanderhiden. Um, and the next will be Dana Ostraki. After Jan.

Um, hello. Um, I am Jan Vanderhiden and I live at 211 Oakbrook Drive in Lake Mills here. And I just, um, wanted to say my great concern about this proposed building. Um, I think it's way too big for the spot. And, um, we have such a beautiful downtown and it's what we have. You know, we're legendary Lake Mills and I really think that would put the kibash on how that is right now. Um I I read a little bit about what other people have said um even from the plan commission or the council and said maybe that fourth story ought to go and I would agree with that. Three stories is better than four. And um I also want to bring up um I believe last spring you broke ground up by Wallace Park for a big development of 165 units. And I think that sounds wonderful. That's a great place for that. And also, what about by the market? Another development with a 100 units. And I'm thinking with um these proposed developments, I just don't think we need a 100 units out by our beautiful downtown here. Um I had thought maybe we could compromise and go 50, but that even sounds like a lot. Um the other thing is um I think we need to keep parking. We do so many things in the in the square or in the park and everything and you know everything gets parked up and there's cars parked up and down the streets. I sure hate to see all that parking disappear. That I think that would be kind of a disaster. And one more thing um when I look at the plans, it says um 100 units plus some retail. And when I look at the picture, wow, I don't know what the retail is. There's like little doors going in there. I think we should have a small grocery store up town. We've needed that ever since Century closed. I I talked to several people who miss it, including me. Just if anybody goes up north of Landanda Lakes, there's a small grocery

store there called Charlie's. It's a little place, but you can do all your shopping there for the week. It wouldn't take up much space from what their proposed building is, you know. And if we could um attract a florist and maybe get the bakery to go up town, you know, a men's grooming store, just just something to have the nice retailer because it is a retail area. Um, I'm afraid with the 100 units is turning into a little bit of retail and a whole bunch of residential, which doesn't seem right for downtown. Anyway, those are my concerns. Um, the I think the building itself is nice, but I just think it needs a little tweaking so that the facade of it can maybe look like three or four stores, although it could just be one building, you know. Um, hopefully um I don't know, hopefully something can happen that we can go forward some different ideas like that. I thank you. Thank you, Jim. Okay. Uh, next person is Dana Ostroski and then Corey Warthal after that. Hey, Dana. Hi. My name is Dana Ostroski. I live at 413 Fargo Street here in Lake Mills. I am a lifetime member of the Lake Mills community. I am all for the redeveloping of the city lot. I totally agree that something needs to be done. However, I am very much against this monstrosity that is being proposed. Four stories is overkill. It's to too tall. Setbacks and all of it. It's out of line. And I feel it's definitely isn't kept. It isn't keeping with the historical look or the character of our community. A 100 unit complex is out of line. possibly 30 or 40 units, maybe even a few more commercial um spaces on the main floor. And how affordable will these units be? There are a number of vacancies units,

vacant units already in our community. And as Jan pointed out, they're already talking about building other apartments out in the area that we don't need anymore. an underground ground parking part concerns me. Um, the water table is supposedly high. Is I mean, is it even possible? They say it is, but you don't know for sure. And then will the the tenants will probably be charged an additional fee to have to park in this parking lot. And for those renters that don't want to pay this additional fee, that's going to take up those additional 49 surface stalls that are going to be part of the the um courtyard area. Um and then that would then the overflow falls into the municipal parking lots and the city streets. And I truly feel sorry for the people that live on Water Street that are going to have the impact of that. One of my main concerns is on the corner of South South Madison Street and East Lake Street. That's already a hectic intersection. You add 23 more. You try add 23 angle parking stalls to this mayhem and I see danger and accidents waiting to happen on a on a during the day. Watch a semi come down that East Lake Street. It has to cross over the center line. It can't go stay in its lane. Has there been any traffic impact studies done yet? I'm asking the council to consider voting down this proposal and ask for consideration on something more favorable, smaller, and favorable for our area. Thank you.

Thanks, Dana. Okay, Corey is next and then Sue Keys Johnson will be after that.

Uh, my name is Corey Worl. I live at 216 Church Street. I am a licensed professional land surveyor. I understand development and I'm not opposed to the redevelopment of this site. I worked on many properties, very similar projects. What this developer is proposing is just a very simple cut the cookie and paste it over here, there, anywhere. Ask the developer to try harder. Our town is not just another Sun Prairie, Cottage Grove, or all those neighborhoods in Madison. You and the council need to try harder, too. We have a 2acre site and a not too pretty site that needs to be repurposed. But to allow 10 lbs of ugly on a 2-lb site is wrong. Think, look in your mind from the north side of the park. Look south to the corner of Main Street. Look east along Lake Street. Look at the buildings. Look at the park. Look at the band shell. And look a little bit more to the east and look at what you are being asked to approve. 10 lbs of ugly in a 2-lb can. This developer wants to build this in my backyard. Let them build it in theirs. The developer is asking for amendments to go four stories high. Do we need four stories? Maybe ask nicely, can you go 10? Or you can do the right thing and vote no. Tell them to try again. In the resolution 2619, the city together with the developer are asking for 40k in grant money. Grant money equals my money. 150k to clear the land. Let the owner clear the land. After all, it's his. 250k to the developer for site developments. Let the developer pay for this. Grant money is all of our money, and I just don't have any interest in paying for this. Item H on page seven. This line has a max limit to by the developer to pay for related costs at

20K. What happens when this money has breached that limit? Will you just take line to continue paying for it? Can I ask someone on this team to please read and explain everything within the agreement? I do not ask this as a joke. We are all just a simple public here. I don't have your expertise and we don't either. Does this agreement favor the city or the developer? I don't know. Asking you, Mr. Lawyer. The agreement has reference to the city's firms, engineering firms. Who are these firms represent? The city? Maybe. The developer? Maybe. The community as a whole? Most likely never. If you approve this 10 pounds of ugly, then maybe ask the developer to look into doing a mirror image across the park east of Malberry Street. vote no and ask them to try again. A handful of storefronts and 25 units. Stay within the city statutes and the guidance written within the comprehensive plan that you all approved. Do what is right for our community.

Thank you, Corey. Okay, next we have Sue Keys Johnson and then Jacob Art after that. I applaud you for all that information, Frank. I'm Susan Keys Johnson, 126 Fargo. Um, I'm speaking on behalf of my neighbors and some other community members who are not able to be here tonight. Some who have attended remotely, but unfortunately that's not an option currently. The people of Lake Mills do not want a four-story 100 unit apartment building towering over our beautiful park and historic downtown. We do not need a want apartments with over 30 500 square ft studios to encourage more transient population. We want to build community in Lake Mills. We do not need to follow a trend established in other cities that do not have our historical history. We do not want an additional 140 cars twice a day. That's 280 vehicles in our downtown area and overflowing into our residential neighborhoods. Nor do we want traffic lights to control the downtown congestion. Those numbers are from DOT traffic county map. I think we can all agree that the old century site is an opportunity for improved development, but please consider something smaller. Uh if a downtown housing is a priority, at the very least, please consider an impact study prior to going forward with this development. I implore you to take this into consideration and to vote no on this project. Additionally, I was also informed by a contractor that bids have already come in on a HUD project

for an end of September start date um as noted on the Wisconsin Builders website. Does this mean that a decision has already been made and that the process of public hearing and council ratings are a facade and just a way of appeasing the community? Please address this in your discussion. I'm also wondering if uh social media is also taken into consideration because there's certainly a lot of comments out there. Lastly, I want to mention that I had on March 26 a few emails to all the council members asking for clarification of the evaluation process. Thank you for explaining that more clearly to everyone. Um, on April 1st, almost a week later, I called the city to find out why I hadn't received a message. I was told there was an email issue the week before and she would check on this. So, it was a week later. I did get two responses that day and a few hours a few a few days later. I did not hear from Greg Waters. I hope other community members emails were received despite this sniff. Um, also I don't understand why the discussion occur did not occur at last meeting. Uh, it seems like it was a missed opportunity. Uh, I don't know if committee wasn't prepared, but um, at least um, you know, our elected council members could have addressed some of the public comments because no response feels very dismissive.

Thank you. Okay, next speaker is Jacob Art and then looks like Nick and Nicole Williamson are signed up together.

Are you going to start me already? Yep. Yeah. Circumventing the u circumventing the public process is part of your habit. Sorry to say that, but that's part of your habit. basically you don't want public comment and um you don't make it easy and you uh you put it all uh up ahead uh like right now and then an hour and a half later you'll you'll deal with with the actual subject and then after five or six people have have made a comment you'll say well hearing no comments we'll move on to the next and that's what you did last time so basically circumventing can you state your name please

and then the glitches on the um on attack. Um, excuse me. Can you state your name? Jacob Art. Thanks.

527 Malbury Street. And then the glitches on the tech um uh seem to be uh really endemic. We all, you know, it's hard to it's hard to uh uh for a couple of months, you know, the system here doesn't work on online. Um we can't email people. It's just uh circumventing the system is not part of the process and uh that's a fairly fairly serious uh serious problem we have here. And then just dismissing the public um uh comments and the public opinions here is isn't part of the uh process either. Now, let me get to the uh uh the city of Lake Mills comprehensive plan. Uh let me just read what it says on our comprehensive plan. something that a document that uh is codified and is supposed to be adhered to and uh city should continue to grow with a of course I have to behave like a like a speed freak here because of the timing here and that's another thing about the uh uh the circumventing this is ridiculous really um so the city should continue to grow with this historic legacy in mind um uh and enforce existing downtown design standards to ensure that They remain um continuous cont uh uh contiguous with the historic architectural character and pedestrian scale of the district. Allow for modernization of existing um uh um you know uh of of the existing while protecting historic inter uh exteriors. Facilitate efforts to pres preserve historic buildings. City should consider historic preservation plan for downtown Main Street and Malbury Street plan. Articulate goals historic preservation and provide organized framework for

efforts to preserve historic properties. Should adapt design uh guidelines for downtown as part of the zoning code update. Work with uh uh work with contractors and experts in historic preservation and renovation. work to define like zoning standards and and and code standards. Those are the cultural resource that's in the cultural resource section of the comprehensive plan. Just uh anybody interested in the public wants to look at that comprehensive plan, scroll down and look at it. And that that's the codified document related to historic preservation and um cultural resourc.

Thank you, Jacob. That's that's your time. So we have Nick and Nicole Williamson our next and then you need to really get some savvy here and work with HUD because I've worked with time your time is finished. So years ago in the capital square on the HD buildings hubdy will work with you if you ask them to to uh work with them. They're not going to volunteer.

Thank you. Nick and Nicole Wilson Williamson are next and then Samantha Wright. Hello council. My name is Nicole. This is my husband, Nick. And we live on 507 Water Street. Oh, Williamson. Thank you. Okay. All right. I am concerned that a four-story 100 unit apartment complex will take away from the charm and integrity of our downtown. If it gets built, it will be the tallest building downtown. And the aesthetic of the building that is shown in the proposal doesn't fit with the historic look of the other buildings. HUD Properties doesn't care about preserving our town. They care about making money. And it's up to us and you council to make sure that our town's charm and integrity and the legacy of Lake Mills is preserved even with growth and development. I think everyone or almost everyone can agree that the century site does need to be redeveloped and that growth, you know, con conservative growth to the town is important, but I think how we grow is very important to consider. Um, yeah. Okay. So, here are some questions and I did email these to you all, but I want to just really emphasize them here. that I hope are taken into consideration and discussed during the meeting tonight. So, an impact study, has an impact study been done to show how an

apartment of this size will impact traffic, utility load, property values, public services, social impact, etc. I think we need to have some foresight here on not only the economic potential positives for the businesses downtown, but also potential negatives of building an apartment unit of this size in our town. We want to prevent infrastructure overload and other potential issues that could come up from this. Okay. And what research has been done to show that an apartment of this size is needed in Lake Mills? As others have said, there's other apartments that are being built. So, is this needed? And then I want to emphasize that I recognize the economic impact that this could potentially have on our downtown businesses and that is important. I want our downtown businesses to thrive, too. However, I also want to preserve what makes Lake Mills special and I'm hopeful that resident feedback will be highly valued and considered by the council in this decision-making process. I have a feeling that the century site is going to be redeveloped. I I don't think this is like a for or against conversation anymore. And so I'm really asking you to consider HVD properties to revamp their plans. You know, get something smaller, you know, not four stories, not 100 units, something that reflects Lake Mills and what we actually need. Thank you.

Thank you, Nick. Nick, did you want to speak separately or no? Okay. Okay, great. I just want to double check. Thank you. Uh, so Samantha Wright is next and then Raina Severson. Good evening, council. My name is Samantha. I'm not here tonight to oppose growth. I'm here tonight to advocate for coherent growth. Lake Mills is not just a grid of streets. Lake Mills is a happy, thriving community. And this proposed 100 unit apartment building will likely disrupt that community. So, I'm suggesting that we consider building something smaller and more coherent structurally. I'm also asking that we build with dignity and not for density. I'm asking that we build something that grows with us and doesn't grow over us. So, in my opinion, a cute little 24 unit with storefronts would be perfectly appropriate for downtown. Um, there obviously is going to be growth and we all want that. We just want it to be done in a way that is consistent with the values of the people that live here. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And our last person registered to speak is Raina Severson. Turn this up. Hello, Raina Severson, 121 Bayfield Court. Um, I serve as the executive director of Legendary Lake Mills Chamber Main Street Organization, and I am here tonight to express support from our board for the proposed zoning amendment requested by

HUD Properties for the parcel located at 204 East Lake Street. As an organization dedicated to supporting the vitality and long-term success of our downtown, we recognize the importance of thoughtful development that aligns with our community's vision. The proposed transition from downtown business district to downtown business district with a plan development overlay represents an opportunity to encourage strategic investment while maintaining flexibility, design, and use. We understand that the that the development has the potential to bring a positive economic impact to our downtown. Projects like this can can contribute to an increased foot traffic, support our existing small businesses, attract new visitors and residents, and strengthen the overall economic health of our community. Downtown housing and mixeduse developments are critical components of a thriving main street. We realize that they help create a more vibrant, walkable district and ensure that our downtown remains active beyond traditional business hours. We appreciate the consideration being given to this proposal and encourage continued collaboration to ensure the project reflects the character and needs of Lake Mills, positioning us for future growth. Thank you for your time, commitment to our community. That is all. Now, that's our last person uh registered to speak. So, we will close public comment and move on to our next agenda agenda item. That's the city manager report. So, we have a report from Drake. Our city manager Drake, is there anything you would like to highlight?

Um, if there's any questions on anything in the report, I'm happy to answer them. I would like to highlight um the city clerk's office who's currently downstairs administering um our spring election. Uh but I would like to note that during the February primary, a um random audit, accessibility audit was conducted. Uh this was the first such audit of uh city clerk Quest's tenure uh with the city. Uh and they received a 100% compliance rating with no deficiencies identified and no corrective actions required. Um, so I think it speaks to the high level of professionalism and uh um quality of the administration of the elections that uh the city clerk's office is able to provide. Oops.

I'll give you more time. Sorry. I'll give you more time. Set the buzzer. Didn't realize that was on still on. Um, thank you for that and uh uh please extend our uh compliments to the clerk's office and um all the volunteers as well that that help with uh running all our elections. I know we have a number of very experienced staff working on this and that's a great um kudo for them. Is there anything else uh council members that you wanted to Greg?

I just have comment. I see that there's a Lake Mills Fire Department spaghetti dinner this Saturday at 5 to 8. Is that a fundraiser or Um it's it's uh more geared towards as a community event, inviting the community into the fire department and um giving back and sharing um the the space with them. It was a historic um a historical event um that fell off during COVID and the fire department is looking to to bring it back and revitalize it and uh um continue on. So, um I'm sure uh you know donations will be accepted by the volunteer uh fire departments, but um the the purpose of it is uh community engagement, camaraderie, and uh just providing a time for uh the community to come see um visit the fire department and uh interact with its membership.

Great. Thank you. That's great. Thank you. I see Chief Russ here and I'm hoping that people will get to see our ladder truck that uh we just got last year because that's a really important piece of equipment for our community of firefighting. Any other comments on the city manager's report or questions? To let you know his microphone is not on. I'm right here and I can't hear him. I don't know if anybody in the back. Drake, was your was your mic on? Oh, we'll we'll try to check on that sound. Make sure we're I believe it's on. I I think it's on. I think it's on. Yeah. Sorry. Maybe it's just not projecting as well as we might like. So, okay. Any other comments for the city manager? Mary, did you have something? No. Oh, I was just making sure

I was making sure my microphone was closed.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um, so then we'll move on to council business. So, the first agenda item is confir confirmation of the city council president's recommended appointment of Barb Smith to the board of review. Um so normally we have our board appointments are usually done in May but the board of review is on a slightly different schedule where their uh terms end in April and their the annual board of review meeting is coming up in May. So uh we need to have this position um confirmed so that someone can um serve on the at the board of review meeting in May. So Barb Smith is asking to continue on. She's been serving previously. Move to approve president's recommendation of uh Barb Smith to the board of review.

Second. Any discussion? Oh, Lisa, I'd just like to say thank you for saying that because I was wondering when I saw that one on here if we were just appointing someone for one month or something, but thank you for that explanation. Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, they're actually five-year terms. Um but um it's a they only meet usually only meet once a year. Is that right, Sam? But it's a pretty important role. Um, so we want to make sure we have that have that fully staffed. Okay. Uh, can we have a roll call vote on the confirmation of Barb Smith for the board of review? Miss Carler, I. Miss Schmegger, I. Miss Quednau, I. Mr. Coots, I. Mr. Waters, I. Motion passes. 5-0.

Thank you. Our next agenda item is an update on the LD Fargo Library expansion. And I know we have our library director, Gerard Sailor, and some other folks here. Hi, I'm Gerard from the library. Happy to give a progress report on the building project and our fundraising. Uh, a couple people to come up to speak. We have Kevin Eperly from FE Design. He's our architect. And Pam Strike from our capital campaign committee, volunteer committee that's really been doing a great job as well. And our fundraiser, Jody Sweeney, is here as well. So, if Kevin wants to come up, we have the most up-to-date slides up for the plans. Thank you.

As Gerard said, my name is Kevin Eperly with FH Design, Architects, Engineers, Interior Designers. Uh we've been working on this one for a long time. Looking forward to it uh becoming real. Um not everybody's used to looking at floor plans, so I'll just do a little quick description. This is the addition. It's a one-story edition. This is the 1960s edition. And this is the original building. So, we are renovating pretty much the entire original building and then adding the one-story piece. Uh, this is probably the best plan to show because it's got all the furniture in it. Shows where the collection is and things. So, just to I'm sure everyone's been in the library many times, but I'm going to orient you on kind of what is there now and and what we expect to see. So, this is the historic main entrance. There are a couple holes that were put in the floor when the children's area was moved downstairs. We're moving the children's area out of the basement and bringing them up to the main floor. So, we're filling those holes back in so that we've got that floor area back right now. Right now, my my laser pointer died.

There he is. Oh, of course. Well, I'll just come up here and point. Can point. Yeah, cuz you need to see it by the microphone.

I need a microphone. So, when you come in, the existing circ desk is to the left when you walk in that horse historic entrance. That's really going to be kind of a quiet reading space. And then to the right is the fireplace area. And so, the historic part of the building, we'll get some res restoration work. Um, we are providing modern-day HBAC systems and controls and electrical. Well, that means we are going to have some chases and things that are being added, but we're doing our best to to do that surgically. Uh, in the back corner of the staff area, we're creating a meeting room. So, it's kind of in the upper left beside the historic stair. And then down by the other existing stair, just inside the building, that's the current teen area. I'll keep trying to Oh, here we go. There's the current teen area. This is the new teen area. So, right now, this is all the adult area. And this will become because the existing workroom is here, existing restrooms. We're going to move the circulation desk to be in front of the workroom and kind of be serviced by the work spaces. These are the adult computers and kind of business center coffee machine and the opportunity to use this meeting room. Three study rooms/meating rooms will be here. Two of them have kind of sliding glass doors from the teen area and one to the main kind of circulation corridor. It's really a pathway. It's not really a corridor. Holds. We've got some booths, teen collection, a laptop bar, some seating in that bay window. And then in the addition, this is really the adult collection with some seating along the outside of the building. This is the children's area and starts with the older youth down to the youngest.

This is a new staff work area for the youth staff. So, there's kind of direct access to the teen area and access to here. There are windows in this space. These are the computer work areas. These are most of the the stacks, the the collection. And then this is really kind of the interactive littleer kid area. Um, we've got a little a boat icon out here, some book bins. There's a big circular window here with a a big window seat and then bookshelving that kind of surrounds that. We do have um uh a mother's room and a restroom for those emergencies for the little kids right here. And then of course our large public meeting rooms uh with a dividing wall between the two uh separate entrances and our airlock is essentially opening sliding glass doors. Um exterior interior. So this is our airlock and then after hours this is a a rolling glass wall that we can close off the rest of the library. So the meeting rooms could be checked out after hours and they would have access to public restrooms, women's restroom, men's restroom, that's a drinking fountain. And then we've got a book drop from the exterior so people can drop off their materials at any time uh into the carts that'll be in this room and then they can just be brought into the staff areas from the vestibule. So that's pretty much the layout of the building. We're very close to having the construction and bid documents completed. One thing that's been holding us back, you may have heard that uh we're doing a geothermal uh vertical loop system to keep the operating cost down as low as possible

for the building. Well, we needed a test well to be drilled. It was scheduled in February to be done and then of course this well driller is in high demand. So they pushed it back a little bit and then the the Wisconsin DOT put weight limits on the road so they couldn't drive their drill rigs. They only had one rig that was under that weight limit. So they were trying to do as much as they could that the test well was just drilled a week ago last Friday from the point that they they drill the well do the testing and get the report to our engineering team is 3 to four weeks. So we're a week and a half to two weeks before we get that report. within another couple weeks uh we'll be able to complete the design knowing the number of wells the sizing of the pumps the sizing of a lot of the materials so the electrical and HVAC then can be completed uh we'll be submitting it to the state for the code reviews they've got uh kind of a minimum 30 working day review period so that basically equals 6 weeks So, we're going to wait three or four weeks before we send it out to the biders because it's been our experience kind of industrywide that many com comments are coming back from the state code reviewers. So, we want to make sure that there aren't change orders because of those state code reviewers. So, it'll be out for bid for about a month. We get those bids back. We'll bring the bids back and hopefully they come in with our budget. We've shared uh copies of kind of the current budget where it sits and there are a few copies of that timeline as well. So, um I think if there are any questions of me, there are a couple more that want to speak about the fundraising.

Um Kevin or Gerard, just to clarify, are there any uh is there any remodeling or work being done on the existing second story of the building?

Go ahead. Yes, there there is. It's it's all new HVAC systems up there. We our engineers have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to do this without providing some negative impacts. So there are some existing mechanical equipment pieces under the stairwell, the historic stairwell. Well, it's above. I'm sorry, not under. There's a small one of those pull down ladder accesses that some of you might have in your garage or in your house. Well, we've got a unit that's twice the size of that ladder. So, we're going to be taking that ceiling down and replacing all those units. There's about seven louvers in the big wall inside the room. Those are all going away. We're going to be reusing the duct work that's hidden above that flat part of the ceiling of that tall area. And we're also going to be providing new duct work and a unit above the ceiling that's above the stage. So, part of that will come down and then get replaced. The majority of what you'll see are is probably some removal of some things. Um, but it's for the most part it's going to look the same as it does now inside the meeting room.

Thanks. Any other questions for It'll feel more comfortable though. Sounds like it. And Pam Strike will give us an update on the fundraising.

Good evening. Uh, our committee members are here tonight to thank you for your strong support of the library, of this project, and our campaign. And I am here to give you an update about our fundraising. As you recall, the council challenged our committee to raise $2.5 million as a condition of your matching $2.5 million to complete this project. And this was supported by the referendum in 2025. This is the largest fundraising campaign in the history of Lake Mills and we're pleased to share with you and the public that we have surpassed $2 million and the $2 million mark. This monumental accomplishment was only possible with the amazing support of generous, very, very generous community members including 155 extraordinary women, local businesses, the Lake Miller Community Foundation, the Greater Watertown Area Health Foundation, and local clubs and organizations. We are still awaiting news about the state application for a grant. Our intention is to complete this campaign by the end of June and we want to offer ways for the community, everyone in the community to get involved and help. We have many activities in process and plan to raise the remaining $500,000. We wanted to share those plans with you tonight. The committee recently sent out a letter and materials to every business in Lake Mills and we have provided information testimonials from uh businesses that have already contributed and we have made visits to those businesses. Uh the committee recently sent a letter and materials to each of the local townships served by the library and requested a small contribution but most of all their assistance in reaching out to the residents of their communities. Many of our donations have come from members of surrounding t town townships and we thank them for their support.

We through FE uh we've had initial conversations with many local contractors to discuss potential inind donations and materials and labor and there's quite a bit of interest in that. We will also host um the May uh conversation with Thrive event here in Lake Mills where we will talk about the services that the new library can offer businesses and we expect about 50 um businesses to be be represented there. We are planning um events with the optimist club 55 senior connections and actually any organization that wants to hear and is interested in our story. Our hope is that our inspiring journey will encourage them to join us as well. We have identified additional in individuals who will be and might be interested in making gifts for naming opportunities and I think that um Gerard has an updated naming list um that you can take a look at where our progress is there. It's absolutely amazing. um a local couple has offered um their home for a small event where we're inviting um potential donors to come and learn more. And most importantly, beginning in June, we will conduct a communitywide information campaign. We will seek gifts of every size and hope to involve as many children as possible. Our main focus will be the sale of engraved pavers. We have 450 large and 450 small pavers available. Um they're going to be placed in the outdoor patio areas um so families can leave a legacy and businesses can use this unique marketing opportunity. The papers are $500 for a large and $250 for a small paper. Finally, we're reaching out to alumni who have moved from Lake Mills but are still connected to us. We will make a presentation at an alumni event on June 27th and participate in the Town and

Country Day parade. This has been a very very long campaign, but weekly we are genuinely touched by the generosity and the excitement um of all of our comm uh community members both near and far. I want to thank our community our committee and our library board of trustees for all their tireless effort to make this dream a reality. We have a long way to go but the finish line is definitely in sight with your help. If you or anyone listening tonight has made a pledge, thank you. And if you have not made a pledge or a gift and you'd like to, um, we invite you to consider that. There's information on the website and, um, just stop in the library and anyone can give you information about that. But most of all, just help us spread the excitement because it is definitely present and we see that daily. So, thank you very much. Do you have any questions?

Any questions for Pam? Thank you. Thanks. Anything from me at all? Any other questions? No. Vital, thank you for the update. Very much appreciate it. Congratulations on surpassing the $2 million. That's great accomplishment. Okay, our next agenda item is a discussion and possible action on a proposal by Martin Doula for food service at Sandy Beach Park. Uh Drake, do you want to start this off for us? And I don't know if Mr. Doula is here or

Sure. Um, city staff was approached by uh Mr. Doula with an idea for um a a different method of providing uh food service for the 2026 season. Um his proposal is uh included in your packet. Um the the way this differs from past leases and the template lease that the city uh currently enjoys and was approved by template by the city council is this is an in a uh service interior to the park. Um, so he's seeking u essentially exclusive use as a food truck purveyor to set up a uh quasi permanent um seasonal uh food service um with a se sit down area and um kind of more activating the space than um the food trucks that are currently located in the in the parking lot. Um so we would need to to craft an individualized lease to allow um something like this. Um there's a number of of requests that uh he's made within his uh proposal um to potentially do this for the 2026 season. Um and then it is he he is aware that this would be uh likely a temporary allowance uh while the city is pursuing um the the goal of a more permanent um food service option uh within a park shelter uh in future years. Um, so if there's questions, we can do our best to answer them. I'm I don't know if Mr. Doula is in the audience tonight. Um, um, but uh we would uh tonight if the city council wanted to move forward, we would need some direction to uh negotiate and formalize a uh a new lease agreement um with um Mr. Doula um to for the allowance of what he is proposing.

Okay. Are there any questions from council members on this proposal? Yeah, Greg. Um, it was an interesting proposal, an interesting read when I saw it. Um, one large question that I had looking it over though because this is, like you said, this is new and and would be an interior to the park in instead of where the food trucks have been in the parking lot. And because it's exclusive, is this something that we can gr just grant a year lease or is this something that has to would have to go out to bid?

We could negotiate a lease with uh this proposal. Um you're not required to issue an RFP or go out to bid uh for a service. Okay, this is like a normal food truck. there's no need for any kind of infrastructure. Correct. Uh they are asking for he is asking that the city either um install a plugin. Uh there's a picture kind of noting the location at an existing meter. Um so there would be a cost associated with that um or in the absence of that the request for the use of generators uh to run the um food truck.

Okay. I've got just a followup on that. Um, do we know what the cost would be on the um, electrical install and would we be needing that electrical install in a more permanent installation or would that just be for use for this temporary approach?

Um, I don't know whether it would have a future use um, f, you know, during and following the kind of park redevelopment that the city council is pursuing. Um, as far as a cost, it would just it would require the hiring of a of a electrician uh to install. So, um, we're not it's not going to be um significant dollars, but I would I would estimate it if I had to at under $2,000 for the installation of the service.

Okay. Very question. Um, I actually think it is a really innovative and interesting idea that I think would be a great bridge before we don't we don't know what the plan is going to be for that new concession pavilion and the timing whether it's really a 27 or 28. So, I I think this I'm calling it a pilot, a 2026. I'm I'm in support, I should say, of a 2026 um proposal, have this as a as an approach to bring some vibrancy to Sandy Beach, bring some adult presence and draw in community members and citizens. So, I I support this proposal. I happen to also have some um I would say personal relationship with Marty Doula. I don't know if anyone has met Marty. He's really involved in the community. He's really involved locally in his church here. He is very serviceoriented. Has had roles in many local businesses. He has experience in food industry. And what's also interesting about Marty is he has a very strong relationship following. So he has a brand which I think is really um positive and interesting. meaning I and he's got a small I think his his scale his his pictures look like it's grand but his menu looked modest and affordable and I I think it would welcome everyone and everyone's budget to be able to come that I think he would be a good since he's he's take picking up all of the leg work and I'm I'm the question I have though for the city is is you know I'm he's read it's reading as if he is picking up all of the heavy lifting so putting up chairs and tables and so curious on are there any behind the scene um expenses or city staff expectations that weren't noted in his proposal that you would say would cause you pause for us to support it. So something we don't know because I I otherwise I will support if there's

something that's really timeconuming or big concern on your end on the staff side the parks team in particular I would like to just hear that before um I I you know I would like to suggest we move forward and and with a motion but I'd like to hear from you a little bit. Uh I think within the lease we would structure it so as uh maintenance of the area within uh is the responsibility of the of the purveyor. Um that storage the necessary removal and storage of things at end of day is the responsibility of the of the per of the purveyor and that you know there could be um that the city could at its discretion um if the terms of the lease weren't abided by ter you know terminate that for if if we had issues there. So, um the the the um the uh proposal um does uh mention taking care of those things and so we would formalize those in the lease to ensure that um staff support of the that private function uh is minimized.

Okay, good. Michelle. Um, so let's say we approve this and he starts this summer, which is great cuz that's really quick to get it ready and up and going. Um, and then we move forward with our renovations to Sandy Beach. Does this provider or purveyor, my bad, um, have any kind of like a um, what's the word I'm looking for? Right. Yeah. No, no, it'll be there'll be a specific term to the lease um that would require a a renewal if we wanted to continue it in the future. Okay,

Greg Waters.

I I agree with uh a lot of what Mary said there. Um one of my biggest regrets on council is that we haven't been able to move the food service forward on uh in the Sandy Beach Park area. This actually checks a lot of boxes that we've been talking about and uh looking for. So uh it's very positive, very innovative for uh Mr. Doula to come up with this and and uh you know I applaud his effort and support his effort actually. So I would support uh city staff working with Mr. Doula to uh formalize a lease to bring back to council. Um, I have a couple further questions. I I don't know Marty, so I have I take your take your word for it that he's a great guy and I agree that the approach is innovative. Um, it sounds like he would be a good person to operate under this um to operate this kind of a proposal. Um, I think we have others in the comm other businesses in the community that would also do a good job at this kind of approach. So, I I guess I'm a little reluctant to do this without offering the opportunity to other uh possible vendors if this is what we're thinking about doing. Um I guess another question mark in my mind is um this is not the first time we've had a request to use the bait shack. Um but now we have a very clear plan um and recommendation from our uh parks board to remove the bait shack. And so I I just wonder about um you know if we were to engage in this with the expectation that he could use the bait the former bait shack for storage that might prevent us from moving forward with some of our beach improvements. Um so I'm I'm just not quite sure of the timing. Um I guess so those are comments and maybe one other

comment would be that um we're we'll be hearing I think in the coming um weeks about uh staff's recommendation for our capital improvement plan and then we'll be talking about well when in the next 5-year plan will we be building the new concession building. So you know if it's in 2027 versus if it's not going to be till 2030 I guess I personally might have a different feeling about moving forward with this. So, uh, Drake, any, um, thoughts about the bait check or the CIP?

Um, I think if the city council was hoping to remove that bait check yet this year, then that obviously we would not want to provide that as um, uh, a space for it. I think that there's probably a difficulty in removing that bait shack this year because the clean boats I believe the clean boats clean waters program does uh use it for um some storage of material. Uh the county Jefferson County and then as well as other I believe other um uh lease holders of food trucks have also used it uh in the past for storage of material. So uh it's certainly we certainly could remove it. Um, so I think we'd want to probably come to that conclusion uh soon uh in the coming months as we lead up to the summer season. And then we would have to come up with an alternative solution for the storage of those if the council wanted to proceed here. Um, and then that would simply make that the responsibility of the of the applicant to find an appropriate place to store um his equipment overnight.

Yeah. Thank the uh and I'm sorry if I'm a little slow on the uptake here, but in uh section three with location, it just talks about a uh location approved by the city. Is there a is there a specific location that this is referring to that everyone is on the same page about or is the location still to be determined?

Uh the specific location would be determined as part of the lease. Um, I don't know how to adequately describe the the the location in the picture near that um near the existing meter. That's the uh um preference of the of the proposal. So, um that general vicinity would probably be the first place we'd be looking. Um but we would need to um find an area define an area within the lease, I think. and near the existing meter certainly would make sense, but is that it doesn't look like it in that picture, but I also didn't I didn't uh see exactly where this is on the overhead on an overhead map or anything. Is this That's not going to It doesn't cut directly into the flow of the beach or anything. It's not right in the middle of of everything. It does look like it's little set for set a little bit further back, a little more off to the side. That's correct.

Okay. Um the uh the other question, another question that I had the uh in number 10 with alcohol service and the class A liquor license. Is that something that he that there's already a food truck that this is associated with or would this be a a new liquor license?

Those liquor licenses won't be approved as part of the proposal or part of the lease. They'll need to go through the appropriate application with the city clerks. uh office and then uh if necess uh by the city council for the granting of those licenses. So um it is their desire to have that but that has a uh mandated approval process that would have to go through. Thank you. Uh, one other question. If I recall, our current leases with the food trucks, there is a a percentage cost sharing or something, you know, I don't I think it's modest, but it's a small um part of the revenue would come back to the city. Is Mr. Doula proposing anything like that?

Yes. The same structure. The same structure. Okay. And his proposal would not exclude the other vendors who already have licenses to be in the parking lot. Is that correct? Uh his the only exclusive use of his proposal is that other food trucks would not be provided the same opportunity to set up within the park, but they would be able to maintain services as they have in the parking lot of the park.

I had uh I sorry I have one more question. It was a it's actually for for mayor. It's more of a tech a little more of a technicality than anything else. Um, is this something that's been in front of the park board and were you speaking for the park board before or was that just just you speaking for you before?

No, this has not come forward to the parks board. Um, several I don't know last fall, Marty Doula approached me regarding having an idea and I suggested he talk since it seemed operational in nature and not specifically related to the Sandy Beach proposal that he speak directly with Drake and work on a plan if he decided to move forward. And so I was aware that he was had an interest in bringing something unique and different to the park. Um he's aware of the we had talked about food trucks because food trucks did not receive high remarks um as we all talked about when our working session about the beach um did not receive high remarks for um food service. It was more restaurant or a different experience if you will. And so um which is why I'm actually excited about this. He's using a food truck as a mobile kitchen, but he's trying to create the experience with having a seating area and um trying to create a destination rather than grabbing something and going back to your lawn chairs, I guess. So I'm so I'm and I think for one summer so at least I'm thinking I don't disagree with you regarding others possibly being interested but um the fact that he's bringing this forward and for one summer I mean I'm I'm hopeful 2027 we'll have something in place but I think it's probably not likely and so this could be a possible pilot program not just for Marty but for a broader scale stop gap until we have our building our new building in place for a more permanent solution. um that I I just think it's intriguing. It's low risk for the city. I I personally have a lot of confidence that Marty would want run a professional business. He will be there the hours he's committed to into the agreement. Um and that uh there would be you know like I would like to ask well I would like to make a motion but I'll wait till the discussion's done but that it comes with

a report and a review in October because I think we can learn about what we we can learn from learn a lot of things possibly through his experience on what we might want to entertain when we get to the point of actually being active on a more permanent scale and this could be one just data point for us for the future. So, I'm I'm really intrigued and I would like to continue to support this to move forward. And we didn't have a motion, but I mean I Nope. No prepared motion.

It's discussion or possible. Can I make a motion to to I would like to make a motion um that the city council approve uh the 2026 proposal to formulate a new lease agreement authorizing Marty Doula to operate his food truck and his um outdoor seating proposal at the dates that he noted uh with a report and review to be discussed in October. Okay, we have a motion by Mary Schmaker. Second. Second. Oops. I think I think Michelle got it in. Yep. Uh, so second by Michelle Qued. Now,

would the council like to see the finalized lease for approval at a subsequent meeting or would you like to delegate um execution of the agreement to administration? It's a question for you, Mary. I'm fine delegating. I I I don't have I think your expertise in the lease agreement space is I support it, but I don't know if any of my colleagues think differently. Would you second that?

I will second that. I was actually thinking about asking for it, but um I guess maybe my comment would be I I want to make sure that we're all understanding that this proposal is for a lease for 2026 only. Yes. And we'd be asking to receive a report in October and we may or may not renew the lease correct in 2027. Okay. Thanks for clarifying that. Any further discussion? So, we have a motion to ask staff to work with Martin Doula to develop a lease for providing 2026 food service at Sandy Beach Park consistent with his proposal. Sam, would you please call the role? Miss Schmegger,

I. Miss Queno, I. Mr. Coots, I. Mr. Waters, I. Miss Curler, I. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you. Okay. So, our next three agenda items are related to the former Sentry site and uh HUD properties proposal. So, if there's no objections for my fellow council members, I'd like to recommend that we sort of discuss them all together. Um and uh get information from uh the city manager and u the representatives of HUD are here tonight if they wish to speak and then we have our discussion. But then we would need to go through and have motions and vote on each of the three items to complete it. Does that make sense to everybody?

Okay. Okay. So, it's resolution 26-18, resolution 26-9, and ordinance 1288 that we'll be discussing right now. So, uh Drake, I'll turn it over to you to start the conversation. Uh for the past several years, the city council has identified redevelopment of the century side as its top economic development priority. Uh during strategic planning discussions, the council identified several prior priorities uh for such a development. Uh these included, among other things, a preference for mixeduse development with a desire for the residential component to be market rate. A developer with a history of highquality developments, on-site management, and high-end amenities such as underground parking. Uh this is a difficult site to develop with high acquisition costs, significant demolition costs, um significant site work, including environmental remediation, and rising costs of construction. Uh this is likely why multiple developers with options on the property have walked away over the past several years. Uh this plan the plan submitted to you is consistent with the city's future land use map uh the comprehensive plan, the city council strategic plan and the downtown TID plan uh previously adopted by the city council. Uh it is the role of the city administration to bring these city council adopted plans to fruition. Uh because of the alignment of these city council plans with these city council adopted plans, the plan commission and staff recommend approval. The applicant is available tonight to assist you in your discussion if desired.

Thank you. And I would note that we have an updated staff memo from our planners at meet and hunt and Brian Karan is here this evening if we have questions regarding that. Um, I guess at this point I would invite uh representatives from HUD if you'd like to come up and um give an overview. Um would also invite you to address any questions that you heard during public comment if you so desire.

Uh good evening Randy Gther with Yes. It cut out. That's what I was wearing. There we go. There we go.

Now you can hear me. Okay, good. Um, appreciate everybody's time tonight. We're we're happy to be here to answer any questions, clarifications for the council. Um, you know, we did uh hear several topics from the public comment and I thought I'd just take a couple couple of minutes to touch on a few of those if if that's okay with council. um you know in relation to size and some of these topics we have discussed along the various meetings that we've attended but uh for the benefit of those who who couldn't attend I just wanted to cover a couple of those topics so uh the size uh size always comes up in a conversation you know why why 100 units why is it that size um from uh there's a few reasons for that one we do pretty extensive market uh research including third party reports we look at all of the housing needs. We work with the county um looking at their assessments of, you know, the the needed housing and our research indicates that this is the appropriate size and is needed in the community. Um so that's one. Um two, we feel very strongly that we want to have on-site management, on-site maintenance. Um and having around that unit count is the economic point where that can work. um so that you have full-time staff, that they're there every day, that they're taking care of this and being part of the community. So, that's the second reason uh why the unit count is, you know, around where it is, but it's primarily driven by need and by the economic conditions. And then, uh three, um the economic vitality. Um as Drake just mentioned, um these projects are not easy. Uh the site is complicated and there is an economic reality to where it needs to fit to be able to work. Um, and so that's part of the equation that we go through. Not one thing individually, but it's a it's a group a group of things that that drive us to that, you know, to that ultimately. And then

three, um, uh, or four rather, um, you know, we look very hard at what types of units and the, you know, what people need and how that's going to impact the area around it. And we've had great success in many other communities developing in downtown areas. And we find the size to be a good size. Um you get a diversity of residents, uh different housing types for different people. Um we don't see it being tremendously transitory in our buildings. We average 65 to 70% renewal ratios in our apartments, which is well above, you know, industry norm. Uh so we actually have a lot of residents who actually uh stay. Uh they have a variety of reasons. Um you know, everybody's at different points in their life. So we like to have you know we like to have that variety in our buildings because we think it builds a better community within uh and meets people at different different points in their life. So that all goes into our nexus uh when we think about what the size should be. Um two on the design um you know we very very much are trying to you know in this project develop a project that will fit but we don't want also don't want it to be designed to try to mimic a historic building that's actually something that architects discourage uh trying to recreate a historic building just doesn't work. So our efforts in the design have been to try to find that balance. Um we've again we've done this in other communities where you know we've done the design work where you know it it is a newer building but it still works with the fabric and we had multiple discussions about this with plan commission and listened to feedback and made adjustments to try to get that you know try to get that right but ultimately the scale seems big on a rendering but all of that architectural detail is meant to break it up make it feel more pedestrian you know the stepbacks on the fourth floor you know bring all that down to a little lower scale in, you know, in reality. So, we work hard on that because we know it has

to fit within the community. Um, but we value the walkability. So do our residents and we think it's a good balance, you know, on this site. Um, you know, the site's been vacant for about seven years and, you know, we're really trying to find a project that works that fits with a lot of the desires of, uh, the council's directives, and we think we've, you know, we think we've met most met those objectives with this, uh, design and plan and scale. Um, see real quick, uh, there was a question, uh, or a comment about, you know, out to bid. Part of any development process is we do validate costs. And so the work that we've done is to go out to contractors to get indicative bids. Nothing's finalized. Nothing's done. It's it's a pro part of the process, right? You have to know what your costs are to be able to make sure that you can build the building. So, uh, I just heard that comment, but so I just wanted to address that real quick that, you know, that's part of the process, but it's not not a finalization. no construction contracts are being signed because we wouldn't be presumptuous to assume that uh everything would pass through council. So, but we are validating costs because we have to make sure it works um so that we can have assurityity that we're going to move forward with the project. So, uh that we were working on. Ethan, do you want to comment on a I'll let Ethan introduce himself too.

Go ahead.

Um thanks. Um and again, appreciate the opportunity. Um, uh, Randy, uh, pretty well addressed and so did Drake, uh, a number of the the comments and I I just want to say on a broader note, um, we certainly understand the concerns expressed tonight. Um, and in the earlier feedback sessions, um, indeed, as as Randy mentioned, I mean, if it was economically or practically feasible to address everyone's comments, you know, we would endeavor to do that. Um, we are very much constrained. It's it's uh as as you progress in any project, you find out more and more about things that come up. So, you're working through your environmental and find out the additional costs that are related to that. Um, you know, here on the site, you know, we we have a lot of unique dynamics there that are just to get a a clean site is going to be a substantial investment just to get it ready to to build something. And so, you know, you have to there's a lot of competing demands on a project like this. So, we've um we've tried to address all of those in the design while meeting the feedback that we hear from the community, meeting the feedback we hear from council members um and what we know uh has worked and is economically feasible so that we're not delivering a project that struggles um and um you know, we we very much appreciate um the spirit that everyone's coming to and and in fact that's that's a big reason why why we hope to move forward in Lake Mills because in engagement with uh the community members. Everyone here really cares about their community and as a group that's trying to become a future member of that community. Um that's encouraging even though there's disagreement uh at this stage. So just uh appreciate the feedback and um uh our time to at least um uh go through this process.

And could you introduce yourself for everyone? Sorry. Ethan Schwanker um the uh chief operating officer at HUD.

Thanks. Um, and I'll hopefully have you stick around in case there are any questions any any questions in the immediately from council members. Thank you. Okay, so we have uh again we have three items um tonight before us. It would be approving the general development plan and precise implementation plan which we have included with our agenda. There's a resolution to approve the development agreement. Um, and then there's the zoning amendment which would amend the zoning on the the group of lots from downtown business to downtown business with a plan development overlay. So, would anyone like to kick off um conversation about the proposal prop the three items?

I'll be brave.

Okay, Michelle. Um before I um kick off any conversation, I'm just wondering, Drake, could you address a comment that was made um earlier this evening regarding the um uh just a minute, let me find it because Oh, um the grant money that's being used. Can you address that information? Yeah, there's information throughout the development agreement that lists uh public participation as well as the city um agreeing to assist in the application for um state um grants. So um there's a a site assessment grant that the project may or may not be um eligible for. These are through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and then the community development investment grant. Um if you recall with the redevelopment of the what is now the pharmacy uh tap room uh the city participated in the application for that process as well in order to be eligible for a CDI grant through WEDC. A resolution has to be adopted by um the city council city council which would occur if this um approval moved forward at a subsequent meeting. Um and that is the $250,000 um grant that is specific for um um developments within downtowns. Um so it's a specific program for uh downtown developments um and requires that kind of that commercial aspect um in addition to down you know downtown housing. So um that is the grant. Those are the the two state grants um that may be pursued uh in conjunction with this project.

Is that state grant something that the city has to pay back? No. So it is no the grant is granted is either is it can either be set up as a pass through through the city or um granted directly to the um developer depending on um who makes the formal application. Okay. And is that in conjunction with the TID? Correct. Okay. Um Okay. So thank you. What they're both they're both contemplated in the development agreement.

Right. Thank you for clarifying. Okay. Um All right. So, I was um I'm I'm going to be brave and do this in a way that I I think is going to be the most logical. Um I want to start by saying that there is certainly a lot to consider with this type of agreement. a lot to take into consideration, a lot to process. Um, this is a big big jump for Lake Mills. It is not an easy decision by any means. So, as much as I I I hear your passion and I too and am a passionate person, so I I feel your emotion as well, which kind of sucks. But the point is is that I know what you're feeling and I kind of am of the opinion that if you build it, they will come. So, as much as I it it it pains me to see Sentry Building go down um because there's a lot of memories for me. I would go there with my grandmother into the flower department and pick out flowers every Sunday. um we would get the certain kind of ambrosia chocolate to be able to make um chocolate nut clusters every Christmas. You know, there's a lot of memory there that I can assure you that I share with you. Um it isn't an easy decision by any means and I understand why so many of you would think that this is potentially an ugly building. Um, I I appreciated the comment that was said regarding um how it was described, but um one of the questions that you may not know that has been asked of the builder was how exactly did you contemplate

keeping it to what exactly it looks like throughout the rest of downtown? And they provided a really good explanation. Now he did exam give an an additional example of what was said was we don't want to reinvent what is we do want to keep to what can be. And um as much as it looks like a big chunk of building there's facades in there that are meant to look like downtown. It isn't going to look the same. Those buildings are over a hundred years old and they're falling apart. So, in this I I I just wanted to put it out there and say that um this is not an easy decision. I will cry over all of the decisions that are heavy like this. Um but do know that everyone sitting up here is very very passionate about doing what is in the best interest of Lake Mills. That's all I have to say for now.

Thank you, Michelle. Um I'd like to add something kind of along the um uh picking up on some of the things that you said. Um there have been some um emails and comments um that um maybe we're not listening or you know asking what the process is if we don't always respond to every comment. And I and I want to assure people that um I as a individual council member have read every email. I've followed up on the questions and the issues that people have raised and I've carefully considered all the way until you know tonight listening to all the input and I'm really um appreciative of everyone that has shared their input and come out and been engaged on this site. As Drake mentioned, this is probably in my five years on the council probably the most important decision that we'll make. Um, and it's it's very important for the future of our downtown, I believe. And I'm really um grateful for all the people that have participated and I'm grateful for the process that we've had. Um, you know, staff have worked countless months before we ever saw anything, I'm sure, in explaining to many developers even prior to um, HUD properties on what our requirements are and what we're looking for. And our plan commission first saw the concept plan in December. They made suggestions. Um, they held a public hearing. Um, they gave a unanimous recommendation for approval. So that's six citizens there who heard public input and um who made a recommendation to us and then we've had this on our agenda the last three meetings um heard from um many residents at these meetings. Um I've talked to many people around town, gotten lots of emails. So I feel that we have had a very robust public process and I'm very

grateful for everyone that has has shared their input in that. So that's I guess just one thing I I wanted to say at the outset. Anybody else that would like to toss in a few words as we start our discussion? I can go. They they

both did a great job uh summarizing and talking about uh the decision process. Um I'm willing to explain my vote a little bit as we uh as I talk through this a little. Uh, I know that we've had over the last seven years people come and kick on the the tires a little bit and and uh check with city staff and and uh we've seen that this builder is very proactive. They they've stayed on course and and kept the conversation going, have listened to public feedback and uh the project's evolved as it's as it's moved forward. Um, you know, as I as I look at this new building that they're proposing and I look at the existing building that's on that site, there's no doubt in my mind that this is a much nicer project than than what's exact than what's there right now. Um, it's a $21 million building that's coming in. Um it's going to house 100 apartments. And um one of the things that that when you do look at the uh the comprehensive plan is the the need for housing for for some of the uh the different generations within our community. and to have housing for some of the seniors where they can actually walk to the restaurants, they can walk to the shops, they can they can walk to the park. Uh I I think that's a nice addition to the community to to have that type of feature. Um the the prospects of bringing more business downtown, of course, the uh uh we've had some letters from some of the businesses downtown. they're they're fully support this project and uh and are very positive about getting more traffic in their shops. Uh so that's that's a big thing. We we have seen the

uh the downtown area grow here over the last 5 to seven years except for that section of uh the downtown. Uh we've had some good businesses come in and we want to see our businesses uh succeed within our community. So for me, it's a it's a pretty easy decision and and I do support the the project moving forward. So, Greg,

so I um I well I've only been the city council for two years, but I do know that there have been I recall when I first moved here almost nine years ago, early on in um when the century first closed, a lot of perceived interest or interest and then I've I've learned that there have been a lot of interest of people trying to make the money work. And so I appreciate um that the HUD team sharing that this particular parcel just the cost of buying it alone I mean if you do the math it is it takes scale it takes something larger to make it make this particular parcel viable. I know there have been a lot of really neat ideas. I've had a lot of citizens over the course of time give super cool ideas. Um you know one was a tea house. you know how many how many cups of tea you need to sell to just recoup the cost of the land alone before you even you know dig ground. And so it this is the the this is the right fit for the comp based on the comprehensive plan um materials but also based um best fit for financial um efficacy. This will this will be something that works and we've known that for a long time when you we've been talking about multif family as a part of the comprehensive plan in this space. So I feel like having multifamily with some mixed use is the right fit and I think the size is generally speaking um to make it work around the right size. Um I I do have I I have been listening to um many of the concerns regarding the size and my I have one point of interest and actually it it kind of spurred my thought Michelle the last meeting when you brought up the really nice property the L house apartments in um Wanuki and there's 103 units and I I was curious like why did you bring that one up and I don't know what you were talking about

the I call it dental work what what specifically were talking about, but I went out and looked at the lamp house apartments. And so what I I I found it to be for some reason just super attractive. And I said, if this is what was coming to downtown Lake Mills, I would be like, "Oh yeah, everyone's going to love this." And I think what I've concluded is what I have a pause on. um that just it it just kind of all resonated together with some of the comments that were here tonight and others I've received. And then looking at lampost is that our fourth floor facade only has the fourth floor only has a short setback from the front face of the building. And I feel like from the park that that fourth floor given that we have that exception to get that extra height. I know um just that front face of the park, not the entire building, but the front on um East Lake Street to me um I asked myself the question, could could we make that front face not feel as fourtory with a larger setback like you have at Lamp House? Is there a way that you can, you know, figure that gray band that looks like it creates a box structure that makes I think that's and it could be just a picture and it's hard to visualize it when it's really built because the picture to me made it look like a big like I don't know box at the top and then these this beautiful architecture. I appreciate the changes that were made from the first rendition to the second. And I think there's some complimenting elements to the pharmacy building which has some of the black lights and you've added that and some and some of the canopies and I and I like the changing architecture at the top of that first threetory facade. But the architecture, I think the transition to that straight

gray piece makes me pause on the size element. Like it would feel that's the part that makes me I feel like it feels big. But I don't know how you solve creating a a deeper setback like the lamp house. You don't see the fourth story because you've got this cool sitting area out in front and the fourth story has really a a I don't know that the I don't have an aerial on it, but it looks like there's a decent setback. So the fourth story isn't really like apparent on the front street. And so that's a that's only it's a comment on just thinking about the and I don't know if it's what they what the solution is like you know take the six apartments out on the front. I I don't know if that there's a solution, but that one that's just one observation to me that is a a question on is there opportunity for thinking about how we could solve a problem and making it feel less intrusive on that fourth floor on the front facing of Commons Park. And I know we're through we're it's been through planning. I know they did not discuss this specifically. They talked a lot about the the face of the first three stories. And so I don't know if it was a gap or just wasn't a question that they had asked. But that's one thing on my mind and it's trying to address the citizens concerns about the size and I think that that piece is is on my mind. But I support everything else. I feel like that's just one like oh that one strip on the front is feeling like it doesn't quite fit the downtown.

I've got some it's my turn. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Um I with the some of the comments that we've I've gotten over the last three weeks and the comments tonight, I do want to start by saying that I I value every person who wants to say something to to me and the and the council and the city. I uh I can only say that. I I I honestly mean it and I hope everyone realizes that I struggle with complex decisions when they're in front of me. Um, you can believe me or not, but I really do take all the comments to heart. Um, I also can't vote both ways on on things that come up. I have had people in person tonight uh in in emails. I've had people tell me to vote for this. I've had people tell tell me to vote against this and someone has to be left out. I can't do both. And I can't I suppose I could do neither, but that would kind of be not really the right thing to do either. Just never voting on anything as a council member because it's too hard. Um, we also only get to vote on the council on what's in front of us. I can't vote on a 40 unit project tonight. I can vote on a 100 unitit project. Um there are three separate resolutions and we can vote to approve the reszone but not this specific PIP. Uh if that's the way that it goes, but I can't vote for a 40unit project tonight. Um, what I do want to do, because one of the citizens that contacted me, I did a better job putting some feelings into words that uh I don't think I would have

done as good of a job. So, I just she said it was okay if I I quoted her. Um, what she said is, "What makes Lake Mil Lake Mills feel quaint is not just its historic buildings, the beauty of Commons Park, or ample street parking." Well, those things certainly matter. They're not enough on their own. True charm comes from life. It comes from people filling our streets, gathering in our businesses, running into neighbors, and creating shared experiences. It comes from energy, connection, and a sense that something is happening here. Without that, even the most beautiful downtown becomes quiet in a way that is not peaceful but empty. Um, we just went through a series of of discussions about a potential reszone of the golf course. One of the issues that came up in many of those conversations was the the concept of we, you know, the no one comes, so the golf course cuts hours and now because the golf course is never open, then people don't come and then because people aren't coming hours have to be be cut back. and without trying to to you know solve which came first the chicken or the egg in that case what that is that's a that's a a known feature of struggling business is it's called a death spiral that is not a not my term that's that's a term that's out there that is what it is and it's this self-fulfilling prophecy which is why it is so brutal to businesses because you can't make money if you're open, but when I'm open, I can't make money. And and what are you supposed to do with that other than eventually give up and

close? Um, and the reason I'm bringing this up isn't to revisit that, but because that's something that sadly I can see happening at times in some of our other businesses in Lake Mills. Uh, one of the comments earlier tonight asked about social media. Um, to answer that question specifically, each member of the council has their own relationship with social media will read or not read social media as much as they want and give the opinions found on social media as much weight as they feel they should. So, it's it's up to every individual person what they think of social media and how they're going to interpret that. There was one comment in the uh one of the Lake Mills community groups uh just a couple days ago talking about cost cutters. Is cost cutters open? It's looks like it's never open. I think it's closed. And the answer the answer that f someone finally gave was oh no it's open but it's only open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Well that's describing that's describing the death spiral. We've got a business but it's not open during all the business hours you'd think it'd normally be open. And what do you do with, you know, what do you do with that? The uh something that came up in connection with this project that that they were that has been talked about is costs. And it's not just the cost of everything continues to go up. Even if even if we want to just stay the same as a as a as a city and never change anything and never make any changes, the price of everything will continue to

go up and everything will continue to get more and more and more expensive until something has to give. Um, if you go back and listen to listen to the discussions about the new wastewater treatment plant, that is something that is going to be built in Lake Mills in the coming years and is going to cost. I apologize because I don't remember the exact number, but it was somewhere around $30 million. Um that's because that's necessary and needed and it's part of state statute that you have to uh that you have to maintain a certain level and plan for certain things. It's it would be illegal not to. Um, the city council does as good of a job as it can trying to control cost. And in our last meeting, we uh we the council, all five members seem pretty thankful that the uh designers came back with a administration building that cost about $800,000 less than the first than the first goround did. So, yay that we saved $800,000, but it's still going to cost some again somewhere in the $30 million ballpark. Saving one helps. 1 million helps, but it wasn't even 1 million. And that just happens. Um some of the past discussions have talked about, you know, the the rising cost of water and frankly everyone's water bill is going to go up that in the coming years. That is something that's come out. that that would be true whether even if we don't build the plant, but especially if we build that new plant. And what was said in that in one meeting in this chamber, u someone said it was stated the only way that you could that costs will not go up for individual families or individual people

is if if the cost is spread over a wider base, if there's more people to distribute the cost amongst. So that's that's the the dilemma. Even staying the same doesn't mean you can't it doesn't mean no growth or no change ever. Um this is why I don't normally talk as much as I do. I don't I'm not good with endings, so I don't know. I'll take a break and

don't know exactly how I want to end, but yeah, if if you can just bail me out right now, that that'd be great.

All right. Well, I'll add a few comments from my perspective. Um I really appreciate uh Greg, you're reading uh those comments from one of our constituents. I thought they were very compelling um in terms of thinking about the vitality of our downtown. Um some of the questions that people have raised that I I do want to make sure that we address. Um housing needs uh was one question people, you know, several um constituents have asked me, you know, how do we know that there's housing needs? Um Jefferson County did a residential market analysis. I forget if it was 20, 2022 or 2023. Um and their conclusions were this was independent of the work that um Hubdy um explained tonight their their analysis but Jefferson County's residential market analysis is that current renters do not have enough choices because there's low supply and there's low vacancy rates. In other words, all the apartments are rented. So the cost is never going to go down and then it's hard for, you know, current renters to find affordable places. The demand that Jefferson County is expecting in the next five years for the county is 2,000 new units with almost half of th that demand uh needing rental. So a thousand rental units is what they're projecting would be needed over 5 years. This is a hundred. So it's would only be one small piece of that. Um some people have asked me about condos and it would be great. I think a lot of people would love it if the this was a condominium form of ownership. There's just a lack of interest in the development community to build them. Uh that's been true for many years if you do any research on that. And I I'm not an expert in this. So I I don't know all the reasons, but there's a lot of legal reasons why that's not desirable. So I don't think we can just wait expecting

that there's going to be condominium condominiums built. And really, we need, somebody else commented this, I think we need all housing types in Lake Mills. We need small starter single family homes. We need larger homes. We need apartments of all sizes, including the studio size, which I think is a low a better price point for some people. And so, that's going to be um that's something that I think this development address addresses. Uh people have asked about utilities, and Greg, you hit on that a little bit. um that's come up a number of times in the last couple years as we've had um development proposals come before us. And first I want to assure people the city staff review the utility plans and consider the capacity of our system every time they're looking at a development proposal. So that's always being looked at by our staff experts. Um and also we're required to have utility capacity for our water, our wastewater, our electrical to support out for, you know, 20 years of projected growth. So it may seem 100 units and a four-story building may seem like big in the space that it's being proposed in, but that's not a lot for our utilities. We, you know, our utilities, our wastewater, water, and electric can handle um that volume and the additional commercial. So, that's not something that needs to have any special study. That's something that, you know, we know and that we we've planned for. Um, another question that came up that I wanted to make sure that we're addressing is traffic. Um, and some people have asked for a traffic study. Um, if you haven't lived here that long, um, as, uh, was mentioned previously, the site's been vacant for I thought it was more than seven years actually. It feels like more, uh, but at least seven years. So, certainly it hasn't generated much traffic. um since the grocery store has been closed um other than when visitors parked there um

during downtown festivals or other kind of peak times. But the Sentry grocery store had regular in-n-out traffic all day all evening and it was primarily accessing via Lake Street. So in my opinion um the vehicles that we could expect from a 100 unit apartment building would be comparable in volume. Um, you know, it might be certain times of day rather than in and out all day long. Uh, but it would also be limited to Water Street, which I think is an improvement. Um, over having two driveways on on Lake Street. Um, and so because we had that past use at this property, our streets and traffic controls, I believe, are already sufficient to handle, you know, what would happen here. it will be different than what people are used to from the last seven years because we haven't had, you know, um an active business or residence there. But I I I don't think um I I think our street system and our traffic controls can handle all of that. One other issue that people have raised was is parking. And um if you look at the planners memo because this is in a downtown business district and the unique requirements of that there's actually is no requirement for parking to be provided at all. Uh the current site is not a public lot. Um the current owner hasn't prevented people from using it. But you know technically it's not something that we can say oh we're losing that because it's not city it's not public parking now. Um, I believe looking at the proposed development that it is providing enough parking spaces for all the residential units. In addition, closing off Lake Street, not having access, there's going to be 23 new public parking spaces. So, to me, that sort of is a net benefit. Um, but I also look at that in the context of there's there's actually no parking

required at all, but this proposal I believe provides sufficient parking. Um, one other thing that a couple constituents brought up to me, I don't think anybody raised tonight, is green space. And again, that's not something we would normally expect to see in a downtown site because, you know, downtown that's your infill and where we would tend to have less green space. But actually, if you look at the proposed uh documents, they'll have there's about 10,000 square ft of green space now on the site, and it would be about double that um under the current proposal. So, I one of the things I like about the proposal is although it it doesn't have the um building going all the way up to the sidewalks on four sides, which it could, that would be allowed under our ordinance or or with minimal setbacks. instead it has greater setbacks which to me gives less of a feeling of that enormity uh when you're walking around as a pedestrian and um it provides opportunities for trees and other vegetation. So some green space that I think is a is is appealing. So those are a few things that have kind of um that I've been thinking about and that I wanted to respond to that some constituents had raised. Is there anyone else who would like to take a round two of comments? Can I

just make a comment? I I liked Lisa how you were addressing constituent questions and one um that I had that I think is worth noting um regarding the goals of and I think it was mentioned as a public comment the goals of the multifamily in Lake Mills and the concern around the number of uh multifamily apartment areas that we have been are going to be developing or are in development and we have some growth goals that have been noted um as part of our comprehensive plan and it's been part of our strategic conversations and with this 100 units we are still in the we have like I say it's like a 6040 but we 6040 is kind of the um maximum amount of single family to multif family we would still be within our goals for the number of multifamily units we have as a population or as a percent of our total um housing here in Lake Mill so this doesn't put us over as having being out of out of our I don't want to say tolerance It's about a goal for us uh with with adding this 100. So I think that's worth at least noting also for somebody who had asked that question. Anybody have other thoughts that they want to share? Um Drake, I actually had a I guess kind of a question or maybe just for make sure everybody has an understanding as a part of our um development agreement. This is in a tax incremental financing district uh which was set up by the city a number of years ago intentionally to provide incentives for this site to be redeveloped. And so we're we're going to be using that. Um, if I'm understanding the uh documents that we have from Ellers's um correctly, uh we wouldn't be borrowing until the site uh until the construction is completed and we would

be receiving then we would be starting to receive um increased taxes at that time. Is that right? And maybe could you just elaborate on that a little bit? Yeah. Um assistance is not due until occupancy has been granted. um that is to prevent um the development from ceasing partway through or for um the uh building not being constructed. Um so the it's structured so that the building must be built and occupied um prior to um the the uh TID um exercising its obligations.

Thank you. And so I I know there was some some comment about whether the development agreement, you know, is in the city's best interest. And I think that's one of the things that the agreement does to protect the city. Um yes, we're providing an incentive because we want to see that um site redeveloped, but we're we don't want to be we're not going to be left in the lurch if for some reason the development doesn't get completed. We will not have I would note the the the the

the TID portion of the development agreement is um is contemplated that the development itself is providing that um assistance. Uh what I mean by that is that there's a guaranteed valuation $21 million. Um and then there's also a clause that if um the increment the the the new value generated the revenue generated from that project um fails to pay um for the obligation that this that the TID has incurred that the developer makes up the difference of that. Um and so the um the uh the developer and the city have worked to come to a an agreement that is that works for both sides to ensure that there's adequate protections uh for the city while also ensuring that the proforma of the project uh financially pencils out um so that it can be brought to completion.

Thank you. I appreciate that. So that's you've described a couple of ways that that agreement and the way that the financing is worked out. you know, are in are in the best interests of the city and make sure that we're protected to the extent. So the another way to put it is that the incentive doesn't exist if the development doesn't exist. So this isn't these aren't dollars from the city's general fund. These are not general tax dollars. These are not um coming from the levy or or you know things of that nature. It is the revenue that is being generated by the project is being used to support the project. Thank you,

Greg. I have a procedural question for Mr. Dresser. Should we be should we be considering ordinance 1288 before we look at the resolutions?

Uh um I think you conduct the third reading of the ordinance. Um I it's kind of a chicken and egg situation. You can't uh reszone or amend zoning to include a plan development district overlay without approval of the general development plan, approval of the pre precise implementation plan, and authorization to proceed into a development agreement. Those are the subjects of resolution 2618 and 2619. Um, I would definitely conduct the third reading of the ordinance and and treat that as an independent item. If you want to address the resolutions after the ordinance, that's probably uh procedurally okay. If you do it before the the ordinance amendment, that is certainly procedurally okay. So, you have obvious.

So, it doesn't matter. I don't think so. I think you have to address the zoning amendment itself independently because our ordinances require three readings and and and um overt council action on that. Okay, Greg, I was thinking the same thing that I I think we should probably do that one. I was wondering if we should be doing that one first as well. Well, I'll move to approve ordinance 1288 then. Prior to that, let's conduct a third.

I was going to say let's have a let's have the third reading. Um, okay. So, we've got our three agenda items and agenda item F is ordinance 1288. Uh, so Sam, would you please do the third reading of that ordinance? Ordinance 1288, amending the city of Lake Mills ordinance 660-44A, official zoning map, City of Lake Mills, Wisconsin. address 105 South Madison, 204 East Lake Street, 203 West Street, 209 Water Street, and 223 Water Street, Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Parcel numbers 2467131322016, 017, 018, 037, 038, and 039. owner Gunlock Properties LLC, petitioner Hubdy Properties LLC.

Thank you. So, I'll move to approve ordinance 1288, which is the zoning amendment. Mr. Coots will second.

Okay. So, we have a motion by Greg Waters and a second by Greg Coots to approve ordinance 1288. Is there any discussion? Uh, I would just make a couple of comments. We haven't talked about these in a lot of detail, but um this is a zoning change from downtown business to downtown business with a plan development district. And the reason that the petitioner is requesting this is because they want um exceptions to three uh requirements of our code. Um so one is the uh maximum setbacks from the lot line. There's a couple of them, but that's a category. Another is a building height of 49 feet instead of our maximum of 35. And the other one is the apartment sizes of some of the uh studios and single family are smaller than what how our ordinance reads.

One bedroom, one bedroom, sorry. Yeah, studio and one bedroom. Thank you. So, does anybody I just want to make sure that people understand that. Does anybody have any comments on any of that question? Yeah, Michelle. Um, and I might have missed it in my reading. What's the height of the um the three floors before it's the four? Because you mentioned that they're looking for an exception of the height. So, uh, Drake, are you able to answer that? Do you know what the height is of the top of the third floor? Is that what you're asking? Yes, it's in there.

A story is 11 ft. Um, I'm I'm ballparking that though. So, um, 36 to 39 ft probably ballparking maybe a little bit more. I I have I did not calculate that myself. That's okay. I was just thinking about it in terms of the the exception to or what they were looking for an exception in regard to the that the um Lake Street front would be three stories with the fourth set back. How that would be perceived. That's all I'm looking at. That was my comment. My that was my comment earlier regarding that fourth story. Yeah,

it was outlined in one of the drawings. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I just don't remember what the number was. the on and one of the drawings um it shows the 49 ft and that's only at the parapit which is kind of that highest point at some of the corners and then the rest of it um I think on all sides it looks like it's about 3 ft lower so it's about 46 ft um still exceeds our requirement um I feel that um the recess um of the fourth floor on the two sides does a lot to mitigate those impacts and also the whole building being um a little further set back from the sidewalk than um our ordinance would require I think does mitigate some of those impacts. I I did a little bit of investigating on building heights in the downtown and there's a lot of variety um but there are several that are that are um over 35 ft. Um and the library is our tallest building and will continue to be our tallest building even if this is approved tonight. So um for whatever that's worth. Yep. I'm going to change a subject you asked, but you mentioned specifically the size units of the singles and the um studios. I I used to think the studios and uh were like the like when I was growing up, you come in a room and it was like your bed was your couch and your kitchen was a stove. And the modern studios today and I know it's the design of the studios you have now are extremely popular. I think you mentioned at one of the earlier meetings that is not your your quickest seller. They are really popular with young professionals. My daughter's a nurse. A lot of our new nursing colleagues live in studios. It it's affordable. They they are not transient. They're they like to stay put, but they have time. They want to save. They want to travel. They want to do things. And so, um Lisa, you had mentioned having different size apartments and units. And I feel um we don't since we don't have those I know

their concerns um because I had I had a perception of studios as being a bad kind of a bad you type of unit and they actually are in today's world for um at least young professionals and elderly um a really popular and um really well set up um type of a unit. And so I just wanted to just bring that my my my I had to learn because I had a judgment about them as well and concerns and I I think they would be a nice ad to um Lake Mills. Just wanted to add that studios. Thank you, Mary, for I appreciate you bringing that up because I was trying to figure out how I would incorporate that and that was a beautiful incorporation. So thank you for that. Sure.

Okay. So we're still discussing ordinance 1288. Any other comments or discussion or questions? Okay. Uh, seeing none, um, Sam, would you please call the role on ordinance 1288, Miss Quadnau? I, Mr. Coots, I. Mr. Waters, I, Miss Curler, I, Maker, I. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you. So, we have our two resolutions. Um, would is anybody like to make a motion on either of those resolutions? Why don't we start with Oh, let's start with resolution 26-18, which is approving the GDP and PIP. Um, and have Sam read that title for us. City Council Resolution 2618, approval of the consolidation of general development plan GDP and the precise implement P plan PIP for the development of the Sentry site with the downtown businesses B1 district with a plan development district overlay B1 PBD zoning address is 105 Madison Street, 204 East Lake Street, 203 West Water Street, 209 Water Street, 223 Water Street of Lake Mills, Wisconsin. To read the parcel numbers again.

No, I don't think we need to. It's stated in the resolution, but thank you. I move to approve city council resolution 26-18 as written. Mr. Coots will second. Okay. We have a motion by Michelle Quednau and seconded by Greg Coots. Is it too late to ask for staff comment on this resolution? No, we can discuss any of them. So, sure. Great. Can we get some comment on on why this resolution's needed?

Um, as part of the um plan development district um zoning classification, the process for adding the overlay to an existing zoning district. Um there are three pieces um essentially that need to be approved as part of that process. um the developer has the option of pursuing a uh consolidated process as you see here or um doing them one at a time. So this is the consolidated general development plan and precise implementation plan process. Um both the GDP and the PIP are required components of the uh of the plan development district overlay zoning change uh in conjunction with the um development agreement that is um remains on the agenda. Um so this is uh the general development plan is the the broader overview of a project and then the precise implementation plan is a is a more detailed um um package um for consideration.

Thank you. Um, a comment I had intended to make on the last one, um, I sort of alluded to it earlier, but I'd like to make on this one as well, is um, that we do have a unanimous recommendation for approval from the plan commission, and that is six city residents who, uh, we, you know, charge with the responsibility for evaluating um, these kind of projects and and, um, giving us input. So, that's very compelling to me. Um we've certainly had plan commission um decisions that denied projects or that were split, you know, over the years, but this one was unanimous unanimous. So I think that that was very important consideration for me. Any further discussion on resolution 26-18

on the uh to be further resolved issues? The snow removal kind of sticks out for me a little bit. Can we talk a bit about that the thought process there as far as why it's included in the resolution? Yeah.

Yeah. So, even after the city council approval of a GDP and a PIP, uh they're still required to obtain the what's called the building site and operations or administrative review component. So after all of the um uh technicalities, exceptions or uh other components are addressed within the PIP and the GDP, there are certain operational um considerations uh that the developer needs to coordinate with engineering, public works, planning, things of that nature um before prior to the a build permit being issued. And so um those are the types of things that we request from the developer uh to maintain on file with the approval um so that it uh there is an acknowledgement of what of how this of how the site will operate and what the what the plan is um for it. So that is a an an administrative approval um following um the city council electing to move forward uh with the uh GDP and PIP. Um

so those are things that still need to be worked out basically. Yeah, there's been we I mean there there are general you know the green space and and general areas in which um it's anticipated to to accommodate those needs. Um but there is a there is a still a formal um administrative uh process that occurs prior to the issuance of build permits.

Okay. Thank you. I have a question that might fall into that category as well. I got a question from a constituent about um fire protection and I noticed in the staff memo that it indicated that our uh fire chief didn't have any concerns about the ability to um um to serve this proposed building, but is it true that there will still be, you know, reviews from the state and and things that might be required to ensure that fire prevention is is achievable?

Sure. Uh if the council would like, Chief Russ is here, he can kind of speak through what that what that process is. But uh the fire department has reviewed the plans. Um the fire protection is reviewed um by uh the state of Wisconsin. It is a sprinkled building. Um uh they they can go through processes and designate, you know, rescue areas, rescue zones. Um, and the the fire department uh indicated that they have the capability of serving and protecting the development as it's designed. Um, if you'd like to hear from the fire chief, I'm sure he'd be happy to assist.

Does anyone want to hear from Chief Chief Ross? No, I feel satisfied, but thanks for being here, Chief. Any other discussion on resolution 26-18? Seeing none, Sam, would you please call the role on resolution 26-18? Mr. Coats I Mr. Waters I Miss Curler I Miss Schmeer I Miss Quednau I Motion passes 50.

Okay so our third item regarding this property is resolution 26-9. Sam, would you please read that title for us? City Council Resolution 2619 approving the developers agreement by and between the city of Lake Mills and HUD properties for the mixeduse residential and commercial development on the former Sentry site and authorizing the city manager to execute the developers agreement. Thank you. Is there a motion? I will move to approve city council resolution 26-9.

Second. We have a motion by Marish Maker and seconded by Greg Waters. Um Drake, you talked about this a little bit, but would you like to give any kind of an overview on the development agreement?

Um uh certainly. I don't know if there's additional information other than what's already been stated, but um the development agreement is structured so as to provide adequate protections uh to the city in terms of um any incentive is not issued until um occupancy has been granted. Um the uh the the the uh inclusion of the clause for any if there's any uh if the assessed value doesn't doesn't if there's a shortfall essentially of the revenue collected from the project that there's that the developer make makes that up. Um there is a guaranteed valuation of $21 million um uh upon completion of the project. Um the um I guess if there's you know additional questions I guess the TID TID in general it has to it has to satisfy what uh the state of Wisconsin calls the but for test meaning that um there has to be a an analysis that the development would not occur but for the tiff being involved. That analysis is handled by the city's financial adviser Ellers. There's a proforma analysis in which uh uh market data um rent information costs all of those things go into it u to show what uh the gap is that is is keeping um the uh the development from occurring. Um it's the development is will be generating in what's called increment. So that's revenue above and beyond what the site is currently generating. And that increment is what is being used to assist uh uh in the project. So that as I stated before when the butt four test is met that revenue does not exist unless the development occurs. Um the analysis does show that the uh project pencils out for the tiff district and that at the at the end of the life of the TID the TID is in in the positive.

Um, I would also note that the the the TIFF district was essentially created um for um general downtown revitalization but largely considering the redevelopment of uh the Century site. Um the uh if there are um questions to be answered, I'm I'm certainly happy to answer them. But that is the general framework of the development agreement as far from the TIFF's perspective. And then there are of course other um standard language that we've included in development agreements in the past. There's very little there's not a a lot of public work um that is going on uh within this site. The existing the connections are existing. Um, so there there is there's not the um it's not like past projects where this the city is reviewing the construction of public infrastructure that will ultimately be dedicated to the city um because it's an infill development and not an extension of existing uh infrastructure and and and things of that nature. So um that is a broad overview of the development agreement. if there's questions um we're happy um to answer them. Um I guess the I think one takeaway from it is based on the guarantees that the developer is willing to provide to the city. They they are standing behind their project um and um making guarantees um to ensure that it's financially successful for both the tiff district um as well as um for their project. And so, um, that is what I would note as far as how it's structured and why it is structured in the way that it is.

Thank you. Any questions or further discussion on resolution 26-9? Okay, seeing none. Uh, Sam, would you please call the role on resolution 26-9? Mr. Waters, I. Miss Kurler, I. Miss Mer, I. Miss Quednau. I Mr. Coots I. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you very much. Once again, we appreciate everybody's comments and participation and hope we addressed many of your uh questions. So, our next agenda item, let me shuffle my papers here. Our next agenda item is ordinance 1289 uh which is repealing and replacing chapter 59 594 trees. Uh, so Sam, would you please conduct the third reading of that ordinance number 1289, repealing and replacing ordinance 665B as amended by ordinance number 1054 and as chapter 594, trees, vegetation, and urban forestry.

Thank you. U could you close the door in the back there because we're continuing with our meeting. Thank you. Okay. So, that completes the third reading. So, we can have a motion and a um vote this evening on threes. Before we get to that, can we talk about 1289A? Sure. Do you want me to start? Uh, sure.

Okay. So, um, so Lisa came to me with some some revisions which I was in total agreement for it. basically uh takes suggestions from the ad hoc committee, maybe tightens it, restructures it a little bit and hence 1289A. So if Lisa wants to go into that a little bit more and what that's all about.

Sure. Um so 1289A um well let me step back. So the we remember the ad hoc tree committee, they finished their work a little over a year ago and um one of the products that they gave us was a proposed ordinance changes to chapter 594 and Greg Greg kept that alive and and took up the mantel and and worked on some changes um to give us the original ordinance proposal that we had. And in that um the original um underlying strikethrough version that we got from the tree committee last year, there was really three key areas that they changed. One is they had a sentence um right near the beginning where they make a very specific policy statement about the preservation of trees shall be, you know, considered in every infrastructure project. And that I think was really the foundation of why the committee really existed. That was very important to them. So there's that policy statement. Then there was a number of um technical edits in um other uh in subsequent sections of the ordinance existing ordinance. And then there was a creation of a new section on heritage trees. So my proposal in ordinance 1289A just does the first and the third of those. So, I kind of tried to simplify it and I'm just proposing to amend the existing chapter 594. So, it includes the policy statement that the tree committee wanted for making sure that we're um that it's a priority to preserve u mature trees in our infrastructure projects. And it um inserts a new section on heritage trees. And I the proposed heritage tree section is a little different than uh what the tree committee or Greg proposed based on what I shared at our last meeting what I learned from um the village of Cottage Grove Forester and talking to our own

forester. And so some of the the one of the key things that I um revised was to have the initial heritage tree program have be have uh trees that are recommended by our city forester and have no more than three heritage trees approved in the first year and then up to one every year thereafter. So it really then is the most special of the trees in our community and it's something that our st you know our existing staff resources they can manage something at that volume and all the proposals would go through the parks board. So then what's not in 1289A is the other technical um changes that the committee had recommended and my suggestion is that we um make sure that our staff have those and that they can consider those when they are updating um which I understand Brian's working on now is um um working on hiring a contractor to update our urban forest management plan, do an audit of our trees and see what are the latest um um uh professional recommendations I guess if you will um you know how the International Arborous Association you know would handle things making sure that when we put those technical changes in we've got the most recent information. So, sorry that was a long explanation, but I tried to be actually a little simpler with 1289A and just um hitting on two key recommendations from the committee.

And the focus is still on public trees, not private trees that's been removed. Yes. In the heritage trees, it's just public trees. They could be in, you know, they could be street trees. They could be in a public park. They could be in in front of one of our buildings, uh, city buildings. but any public trees is what is retained. Mary,

so I really like um the time that you took to pull this together. I think it was um kind of simplified it did simplify things. I am curious to know why you chose for the first year of the program to nominate up to three trees and why we you just didn't say we're just going to have one tree every year to keep it even simpler. I was curious about the three in the first year because it read like that because then after this year then that full sentence is obsolete. So then it's like one a year. So why just not one a year and or you can have one a year but at the discretion of the city forester. So if they have like bandwidth to add three in one particular year for some reason they had the discretion to add up to three but they just do one a year. I was just curious your thought process.

Honestly I' I'd be fine with just one. I wanted to, you know, honor the um committee's desire to, you know, have some special trees designated and it would take a while if you only did one a year. Um and also just in talking to Andrew uh Whistler, our our chief arborist, um he said he already had several that he could think of that he would want to nominate. And so I thought, well, that would be a nice way to get the program started. Um, so three was a little bit random, but it was just a way to kind of get get the program started. Um, as I mentioned last time, Cottage Grove has one and they've only had one for like three years 30 years, so I would be totally fine with just starting with one. But then that means it's hard to pick, you know, which one. So

I I just found an I just I Well, I just found in a in you know, in a you know, a section to have that had one just a one event one time. It just, you know, it's just offering another suggestion for simplification. Well, I do appreciate um, you know, Greg's work on this and the tree committees. Um, and I appreciate Greg's um, openness to some of the changes. So, with that, I'd like to make a motion to approve ordinance 1289A. Second. Okay. So, we have a motion by Lisa Kurler and second by Greg Waters. So Mary, would you like to make a motion?

Well, I would like to make a motion to amend ordinance 129 1289A section D procedure for heritage tree designation to strike the reference for up to three heritage trees. um references in um the D1 and three and then add at the discretion of the city forester they may nominate up to three trees per year period so that way in a given year they have the discretion to add more if they're if they're bandwidth

second bits okay so I don't know if I got that language did you get it Dan if not If not, I have a hard copy that I struck and I can pass over to. So, it's just the proposed amendment is just in section Dangage up to three and then what I don't have is where you propose to add the language in the discretion of the forester up to

that would be at the nominations. They have up to three the park um nomination shall be screened by the city forester to verify the tree meets the criteria. This is number two up to three screen nominations shall be can be submitted at the discretion just kind of in there I think would fit. So that gives flexibility I think for other years if there's something special or the there's bandwidth or we didn't have one for a few years and there's a gap then we can pick up he can pick more he or she and so um subsection 3 also needs that edit then

parks board shall review nominations once a year and may designate up to three trees in the first year and one additional thereafter motion to amend struck that struck yeah Okay. One. Got it. Okay. But I'm but I'm open if you the parks board. I mean, so if I'm suggesting that there's discretion to nominate three, if you were thinking the parks board was going to approve three, I think that would be also at the discretion of the parks board to approve three. So I think that it would to be consistent. I wouldn't want necessarily the parks board to be reducing uh if the forester had three that that he was able he or she was able to bring on board.

That makes sense. If I understand what you're proposing, you're trying to give some discretion to the forester who would be um who would know whether they had the capacity who's administering the program manage because it requires management of those trees in perpetuity um once they're designated. Correct. So, okay. So, I was trying to stick with one, but then because your three intrigued me. I think why three? And I understand it was probably to get a little movement, but perhaps there is a year where if we haven't had one for a while and three come up, they may be able to add three in at that particular year, but I was trying to just be able to address both.

Okay. So, we have a motion to amend by Mary. Um, does everybody feel they understand the proposal? Um, does anyone want to second? I did second it. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, Michelle. I didn't hear you. Okay. Okay. So, motion by Mary Schmaker, second by Michelle Quednau to amend ordinance 1289A. Any discussion? Just to clarify, so in 10 years that could be 30 trees in the heritage program. Correct.

If the forester each year chose three and the parks board approved those three nominations 10 years in a row, you could have 30. So that's So if that Yeah. So that's something that that discretion could be adding on a lot of trees. Well, we would also be expecting the forester and the public works department head to tell us if they don't have the capacity and to tell the parks board or to tell us if they need resources in order to manage those and then we could decide if the program's too big or it's right size or maybe there's a lot more public support. Who knows? So I still have it it's reading to to nominate a tree,

but they have the discretion they could nominate up to three. So I I that's I'm just trying to make it. They have a tree, but if there are special circumstances, we just want to understand the scope. Yeah, that's a good point. Very good point. Yeah. Or we could just make it a hall of fame and not a hall of very good. I'm sorry I didn't hear you, Greg. It's a hall of fame, not a hall of very good. Okay. I like one a year. I'm going to vote against the revision. You like one a year? Just take out the discretion. The first strike. So, you just didn't like the discretion? No, I'm okay with starting with three. That starting program things start different then they then they continue. That's fine. Especially if he's already got a list.

Okay. Any further discussion on the motion to amend? Okay. Sam, would you please call the role on the motion to amend? Miss Kurler, no. Miss Meer, I miss Quednau. Hi. Mr. Coots, no. Mr. Waters, no. Motion fails. 35 or 32. Sorry. Getting tired. Okay. Well, thank you for the discussion. I appreciate I appreciate that. So, we're back to um 1289A. Any other discussion? Okay, seeing none, Sam, would you please call the role on ordinance 1289A?

Uh, Miss Schmaker, I. Miss Quednau, I Mr. Coots, I Mr. Waters, I Miss Curler, I. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you. And thank you again, Greg, for keeping that moving and getting it across the finish line. Okay. Our uh last agenda item under council business is ordinance 1290. Uh this is just the second reading. So Sam, would you do the second reading for us, please? Ordinance 1290, repealing ordin ordinance number 824B, storm water regulations, codified as chapter 565, storm water management, and replacing with chapter 565 construction site erosion and settlement control and creating chapter 566 post construction storm water management. Thank you. any discussion or comments this evening? Okay, then we will move that on to our next agenda. So, that concludes council business for this evening. Our next item is announcements and recommendations for future agenda. So, we already had the announcement about the spaghetti dinner. So, looking forward to uh having some spaghetti at the fire department on Saturday. Uh any recommendations from council members for future agenda? Yeah, I I kind of have a question. I want to take advantage of this being my last opportunity to say I'm the new one. So, I don't know. Um, is now the appropriate time to say something nice about Greg or do we save that for later?

To it there, Greg? I got a I got a thing ready, but we should wait until all of the other stuff is determined. Well, I had that on my list uh for a future agenda to have a formal resolution to recognize Greg Waters service on the council at our next meeting. So, I think we can recognize him at both meetings if you like. Uh, whatever your preference, but Michelle's been prepared for weeks. So, I thought your last meeting was the last one. So, I came prepared and and I didn't do any revisions. You didn't you didn't deserve any revisions. So, you should be happy about that.

Um, so since I'm the most senior member on this council now, which feels weird cuz I think I'm the youngest. Um, I think it's appropriate for me to um give you kind of a send off that because you were just shortly behind me. So, um Okay. Um, you beat me in a runoff at Hold on. You're getting You're getting ahead of me, Greg. I'm trying to be funny over here. Come on. I've already cried once today. I've held that against Mike Foster for years.

Thank you. I'm good. I'm I'm glad that you you did that. Uh Greg, when we first met, we were both contending for a position on city council that was vacant. During that time, the world was in COVID mode, and so our opportunity to meet in person was reduced to video and voice. As you recall, I won the seat, but that did not stop you from trying again. Uh not too long after that, you joined the ranks of a completely new city council and acted as its president for quite some time. Your patient leadership and quiet strength with a little bit of a silly smile when you made a dad joke or thought you were hilarious brought four brand new people who had so many different perspectives and backgrounds together to solve the problems presented to us. That type of leadership and vision is not easy. Not to mention hiring a brand new city manager and navigating the process none of us had experienced before. Yet, we looked to you for leadership. Through it all, even though you were learning too, you were a mentor. I don't know if you know this, but you taught me many skills. And you only ever gave me a difficult time when you knew I could handle it, which then made the playing field open, and I was able to get one in too if I was quick enough. People trust you with their vulnerability, asking for your advice and guidance in navigating some difficult situations. You showed appreciation for what everyone new and renewed brought to this council and accepted that there were going to be difficult times and items on our agenda that would definitely need to spend some time on. MyAngelo once said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. I know that we're probably supposed to highlight the accomplishments that you've made over the course of your

tenure on city council, and maybe someone, you know, Dan will, but like my Angelo said, people will never forget how you made them feel. Out of pure appreciation, I thank you for the opportunity to work with you, learn from you, and grow because of you. Being on this adventure with you has made a mark on my life that will never be forgotten. Thank you. That deserves a lovely job. Thank you. I don't think we've ever clapped for things like that before.

That was beautiful. I would still like a resolution recognizing Greg at the next meeting. And I'm not prepared to make as illustrious remarks as Michelle just did. So, does anybody else want to say anything tonight in recognition of Greg's final meeting? Well, I brought him a little card. Oh, very nice. So, my words are in here, but they I just want to thank you because you inspired me and invited me to consider city council and you I I can't pass up on those lovely words that Michelle said because they are are all true. you you bring a lot had brought brought a lot to city council and have made a big contribution to the city. So, thank you. Thanks. Yeah, and I can't top what Michelle said either, so I won't try tonight. Plus, I only have so many good things to say about Greg and I can't use

I don't know if I have enough material for two different goes at it. So,

all right. Well, I'll save my next time, too. But thank you, Greg. And um appreciate all your all your contributions over five years. I think it's been so um I've got kind of a list so the next to today's election so the next meeting we will have a new member who I believe is sitting in the audience to take Greg's place. Um so we have our annual organization meeting and election of officers. And just a heads up I'm going to bring a resolution proposing that we change the regular meeting start time to 6:30. So that's something you can think about in the next couple weeks. Um so we have our storm water ordinance third reading. Uh Dan has contacted me about the recycling ordinance um change that we need to make. Sorry solid waste chapter.

Okay. There will be multiple multitude of changes to that chapter. Okay. Ordinances but you'll see. Thank you. So solid waste ordinance and that's due to some DNR requirements. Um the I think we need an update on a status report on the Bayberry Cottage hotels.

Um and then normally we do a um a review of our a formal review of our city manager every fall and then we do a midyear check-in. So I think the next meeting would be a good time to um have a close session just to have our midyear check-in, see how things are going. And um last but not least, I wanted to mention um Pamela Zarus is going to be stepping down from the plan commission after I think it's 26 years of service plus 10 years on the city council. Um and the plan commission will be recognizing her at their next meeting. And I would like to have a resolution also for the city council to recognize because that's really a lot of dedication.

Uh prior to the plan commission or after the plan? would be I think it would be after because I think they're going to be recognizing her in April and then we would be able to Oh yeah. So then if we could have that like in May, early May would be my idea. But very impressive lady and very long long record of service to our community. So not to mention superintendent. Yeah. Lots. So any other Yeah.

Yes. I would like to make one uh announcement. I would like to um share some thanks to the city council from our fire department and a big thank you to our fire department. I happened to see them personally in action when they were helping out with the controlled burn and they strategically placed their big beautiful uh fire engine in my driveway of my little farmet. And once all of the dust cleared and all the water had been sprayed over my lawn to prohibit all of the fire from jumping over into my yard, I had a chance to speak with some of our lovely, talented u firefighters who um shared that they strategically placed their equipment in my driveway to be the last line of defense so my building was was safe. Fortunately, they had lots of controls in place and it never made it even close. Um but they their thanks came quickly um regarding our approval of the UTV that will be coming and I had a chance that was a multi- um some multi- units having to help out and there were several UTVs that came from other um local cities and they said thank you city council because this is why we need this particular piece of equipment. and I got to see it in action and um frankly I you know until you actually see it you just like okay did we spend the money in the right way and I can say that um city of Lake Mills will be in much stronger strength of fire protection when this piece of equipment rolls around and um so I wanted to share that they thanked us city council so I wanted to make sure I announced it publicly to all of us you so

great that's great um I'm going to add on to that kind of reminded me. Oh, and Chief Russ is here. So, hopefully you can pass that along to your team. It's actually in house now and it'll be service department. Great. Super. They were just a week late.

Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Well, I'm glad I'm glad it's arrived and they're getting ready to use it. Um your comment uh reminded me that one of the constituent letters that we received about the tree ordinance um from one of the committee members also highlighted um the work of the forestry staff um as well as Drake and how much they learned about the good work that the forestry staff has done um and continues to do in our in our um city. So I'll pass that along to um Drake and Brian just so you can see those compliments um for our staff. Greg,

I'll save my uh comments for the next meeting so I can address Mr. Bartlett at the same time and and staff, of course. But but I did on a night like tonight, I did want to comment that um that city council does listen to the comments of the community and and we do take those comments very seriously and um I mean, we all have to make our own independent decisions. we all consider what's right for the community and at the end of the day we have to do what's right for the community. So that's that's what happened tonight and um and uh you know I I I respect everyone's decisions and comments and thank you for being a part of this. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Drake, any other uh agenda items that you want to mention that will be coming up? No, we'll have a resolution as required by the CDI grant from WEDC um in uh in in uh contemplation of the development agreement which was approved tonight. Okay. And I know you're working on issues related to Sandy Beach. Um any um projection on when we'll see that next?

Um uh well I I am continuing to have meetings with with our planners. Um, I guess one thing to note is is we are having um difficulty hiring for uh the gate house um positions and so that we may we may not be able to to bring forward um paid uh paid parking proposals for this upcoming season because we're struggling to find staff um that would essentially be a part of that. So, I just want to make the city council aware we are still trying to hire, but we are um having difficulties um there. Um and then I'm continuing to have meetings with uh planning staff on um uh developing that um the ne next thing to put in front of the city council as far as priorities, timeline, and potential costs. Um we are still striving for May. I will I will be out uh and unavailable at the second meeting in May. Um if we if we do hit the the first meeting in June, we're still on track for inclusion of anything in the capital improvement plan. So, uh we are still on schedule for um discussions about improvements in 2027. Um so, I just want to put that out there that we are actively working towards it. Um, and we should anticipate seeing something in in the coming months, but we are still on schedule for inclusion in the the CIP discussions.

Sounds good. Anything else for the good of the order? If not, I'll call this meeting adjourned. Thank you, everyone. Okay.

Okay then. I I