Finance Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, it is 5.30, and I will call the Finance Committee to order. We are without a quorum currently. We're waiting on one more member to show up. So we're a little limited on what we can do until we get a quorum. However, we'll start with roll call, and we have Alder Brey and myself present. Alder Reckleberg and Alder Dunbar are excused, and Alder Schley is MIA. He will be on his way. So that's a roll call. We can do public comment with not having a quorum. So during public comment, anybody who wishes to address the Finance Committee may do so. And if you're here for any of the license renewals, this would be your time to address the committee. And you can do that during public comment before the committee would take any action on discussing in closed session. So is there anybody from the public that wishes to address the Finance Committee this evening? Yes, come forward to the table. State your name and address for the record.

Hi, Robert Duane, 1010 South 8th Street. I'm here in support of Lacey Minto's request for an operator's license. Lacey is one of our drug court graduates. It's my understanding that her initial review led to her being denied because of her past record which is understandable as I stated in the letter that I sent to her and then I believe she forwarded on to you you know when she started with us she was every bit the person that put that record together but for the fact that she had a very very strong desire to change and she has she's remained arrest-free for I believe the last eight years She's worked full time. She's a great mother to her children. And I know that this committee in particular, well, not the finance committee, but the city council as a whole has been very supportive of people in recovery and the second chances if they're willing to work for them. And she has. And as I understand it, she needs a license for a promotion. And her employer believes she's the most qualified person. But she can't do it if she doesn't have a license. And that puts the employer in the position then of having to go with somebody who they don't think is as qualified. And I wouldn't say this about too many people, but as I finished with in the letter, if I could use my law license as collateral for hers, I would. She's kept in touch with the program over the years. I've seen that her commitment to her family, the community, and her recovery is not a temporary thing, it's a permanent thing. And she's looking for an opportunity to

make things better for herself her family in the community that's given her that chance so i would strongly encourage the committee members to grant her that thank you okay thank you and just so everyone's aware during public comment we our rules do not allow us to have a dialogue back and forth so it's just your opportunity to address the committee so is there anybody else that wishes to address yes

uh thank you committee jason lotta um a18 state street lighthouse recovery community center here to speak in favor of lacey minto's operator's license echo almost everything uh judge duane said except i don't have a law license to bet with but anyway lacey was our second employee when we opened the doors in 2018 had worked with us all the way through july last year where she had an opportunity to go to all these in the last two last short of a year, has had two promotions. This operator's license would be contingent of that position, so a big need there. She has done fantastic. She stayed engaged with the recovery community prior to Lacey working for me as executive director at the White House. I was a drug court coordinator from 2018 to 2022 while she was in the program. I've stayed engaged with her ever since. So I hope the committee takes a look at this and grants the operator's license. Thank you all for your time. Appreciate your work.

Thank you. Anybody else wish to address the committee this evening? Yes, come forward and state your name and address for the record.

I'm Susan Hadley, 2805 10th Street and Two Rivers. I'm here to get the operator's license. I'm currently the general manager at BP in Manitowoc. I haven't, because of my lengthy drinking history, I haven't drank since 2019. With all my drunk driving tickets and stuff, I did all the criteria for them back in Vernon County. I feel being here, like I said, I haven't drank since 2019. I do serve alcohol right now at the BP gas station underneath someone else's license. I've been doing that for six months now. Just like to have consideration to actually get my own license. I think that's about it.

Okay. Thank you. Anybody else wish to? Yes.

Hi, I'm Sarah Franz, 1076 Old Main Street, Michicot. I'm asking to renew my liquor license I've had for the last two years. I got in trouble almost 10 years ago, close to 10 years ago. I followed all the conditions of what I was being requested of. I decided to take the right road instead of the wrong road. I learned from my mistakes. I'm not sure really what I can say that you haven't heard a million times, but I lead a very productive life. I'm in the fifth year of my career managing Country Visions Co-op in Mishicot. I was managing one in Rapids, and now I'm actually starting in Reedsville. Ten kids at home, seven still at home. Three moved out. I just got guardianship of my grandchildren. I lived an overproductive life, and I'm very happy now. So I'm asking you to trust me and renew my liquor license, please. Thank you. Thank you.

Yes.

Good evening.

My name is Andrew Foster. I work at Cinex off in North Rapids. I just started there about a month ago. Apparently, I need a license for it to serve the alcohol and everything. So that's what I'm doing here. My convictions were in 2010, and then my latest one was 2017. i've been off my addiction for the past nine years and doing a lot better mentally physically and emotionally of course we my family and i came out here from colorado been out here for three years i worked at the dollar tree for um well three years total and then i like i said just recently switched jobs so i'm asking the council if you can you know help me get approved for this so i can stay at the cmex because it is less physical work for myself because i do have multiple sclerosis so i couldn't do the job at a dollar tree anymore that's about it okay thank you anybody else wish to address the committee this evening yes hi i'm lacey minto 2018 monroe street into rivers

I'm here because I'm trying to obtain my operator's license. I have worked really hard to get to where I'm at in my, not only my career, but in my life. And I am very serious about everything that's going on in life and this job opportunity is really huge to me. I was in drug court and I took it very serious and I continue to take it very serious. I stay connected with everyone that I've seen when I was in there. Maintaining a job since I graduated, or before I even graduated drug court, I've been maintaining a job ever since. And I just want to grow. I have three kids at home, and I just want to give them the opportunity to have a good life as well. And this opportunity for me is really huge. I just wanna thank you for letting me speak.

Okay, thank you. Is there anybody else that wishes to address the committee this evening? Third and final call for public comment? Seeing none, I will close public comment and we will move on to our consent agenda. Now that we have a quorum, is there a motion or any committee member wish to remove anything from consent? If there's no discussion, so if there's a motion to approve consent.

So moved.

Second. And a second. Discussion, no, no discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye, and opposed? Okay, consent passes. Move on to our discussion of action items then. We have a few of those before we get to the closed session items. First up is the request from the dugout for a temporary extension of premise. Pretty straightforward, I believe that.

You've been tracked to the last couple of years as well.

So it's going to happen actually before we get to council. So for some approval, we're just going to approve it here at finance and then say it happened at council. Any discussion? Is there a motion? Motion to approve. Second. Discussion? All those in favor? Aye. And opposed? Okay. Move on to 26-0593, Mantua Marina LLC lease option to extend through March 31st, 2035. Sure.

So Attorney Nitsch could not be here tonight. It is his birthday, so he is taking the night off. So I'm going to try to explain it the best I can. I find that to be a weak excuse because it's my birthday and I'm here. Well, I like to think you want to spend your birthday with me. That's why you're here. So thank you. Happy birthday. Part of the provision, as you guys are aware, we've had a historical lease with the marina, the Mantua Arena, running the operations of the marina down there, and then we are responsible for any kind of the property. There is an option in there where we can extend it, which is into March 31st, 0.35. They have to do it within a certain time frame, which they are exercising now. There is a memo out there from Attorney Nitsch advocating and supporting this and at the time the staff that deals with the marina as well would support extending this agreement there are no changes to the agreement it's just extending it and then once we get past this if there are ever any changes warranted we can look at at that time i believe the city doesn't actually have an option on it it's up to the lease or leasee to

extend the lease if they choose to so they're making the option yeah so we just need a motion to approve so moved second motion and a second discussion all those in favor aye and opposed okay that passes then we'll move on to 26-0594 sanitary sewer extension by south alverno road adam

Good evening. I did provide a memo kind of overview of this, but basically what it boils down to is we have some industrial acreage off of South Elvira Road. It is served by water. It is served by stormwater, but the nearest sanitary sewer line is about 700, 800 feet away from the area that will likely develop. As a result, it is a relatively substantial cost when a new user is looking to locate there. So they have asked for consideration for the city to run basically the sewer main, and then they would tie into that as part of their development. Because of this unique area, if we do do this as a city project, it does open up additional acreage above and beyond this particular project. So it's not just benefiting one business owner. So it seems to make more sense as a public project versus just a private project. So based on that, we did review it, and staff is supportive of that. As far as funding is concerned, it is located within a half mile of tax increment district number 21. That is basically the industrial park increment district. That particular one does have a balance and would be able to absorb this cost. At least I believe that's the case. Sean hasn't said no, so I'm assuming that's the case. So ultimately that would be the funding source for this project. So we would design and construct this and then hopefully get at least one industrial development out of it in the next year or two.

Okay. Any questions from the committee? So a motion to approve as presented.

So moved.

Second. The motion and a second. Discussion? All those in favor? Aye. And opposed? Okay, that passes. Thank you. Then we have 26-0595, Wisconsin DNR surface wetland surcharge grant contract for $30,000 with a $0 local match.

Yeah, this one, to kind of rewind a little bit, public infrastructure brought this forth back in January as a resolution to authorize to apply for it, which it did go through unanimously and passed by council. So now here we are, fast forward, and the DNR has issued this contract for 30 grand to help with the continued efforts by Brock Wettenkamp to do the Silver Creek project and restore the streamline and stuff like that. It's really just looking for the formal approval to enter into the contract. As it stated, 30,000 comes from the DNR, and there is no required match from the city.

Those are the best ones. Any discussion?

Is it Brock's birthday, too, or not?

None for me. Looking for a motion to enter into the agreement?

So moved.

Second. Motion and a second. Discussion? All those in favor? Aye. And opposed? Okay. Then that passes. Then we have 26-0464, discussion on Manitowoc Marine Band fundraising agreement.

This agenda item is being referred from the Parks and Recreation Committee. There is a small memo attached to it and some ideas of what the Manitowoc Marine Band would like to have occur at the city location that they use. Unfortunately, the main individual that's kind of spearheading the fundraising is out of the country, so is unable to be here to discuss more. That's why there's no official fundraising agreement on it either. So it carried over in our system onto here. So I think at this time, it's probably best to table.

I think we're just going to hold it till next time. Yep. Perfect. Okay, then we will move on to our next item, which is 26-0596, request for approval for RFP for audit services for 2026 to 2031 and appointment of audit RFP for review committee.

Attach the RFP on there, but essentially what it says is for our auditors that do our financial audit or annual comprehensive financial report. We last did an RFP back in July of 21. We are entering into the last year of the contract with them. Therefore, we're looking to send out another RFP for our audit services to a variety of individuals to see if one is a more better firm from a pricing standpoint or just also in the realms of not being complacent with the same auditor for a while. So page three kind of goes the timeline schedule of it, but essentially first we wanted to bring it forth to finance to get the okay, and then we'll continue it on through that process. Ultimately, the final contract would come back through this committee once we have met.

So any questions? Any questions of the committee? Matt, I would look for a motion to approve. So moved.

Second.

Is there a motion to approve with a second discussion? Seeing none, all those in favour? Aye. And opposed? Then we have 26-0597, resolution for carry-forwards, the 2026 budget from appropriations from the 2025 budget.

Sure. Similar to the years past, this is an annual resolution that we bring forth when we're carrying over any carry-forward projects that a department might have that they want to use. some remaining funds in 25 and bring it over to 26. We don't have any of those requests this year, but also another part of the resolution is the larger part in the middle is about the non-lapsing funds, or sometimes called, you might hear it referred to as the assigned funds. Ultimately, these are the accounts where we're allocating specialized dollars for certain funds. projects and or future events so the details listing what these amounts show is how we would start the beginning of 26 even though we're six months in the audit is finally wrapped so now we know these balances but it's allocating the amounts on there so I know it's not on here, but to reference, it did decrease substantially over last year. Last year was around $3 million. A large portion of that was, I just want to call out, was the fire safety equipment line. Currently, it's showing a balance of $769,000 and some change. It was larger, but we did take possession of an ambulance and an engine this past year, so we moved those funds out to cover that cost. So that's kind of the purpose. We're putting the money away for future things, then the expense happens, we take it out, and basically there's no hit to the general fund.

I don't recall a year of no carry forward requests that I can recall. Any questions from the committee? No. Okay, then we will look for a motion to approve as presented. So moved.

Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All those in favor? Aye. And opposed? Okay, that passes. Okay, everything else we have requires closed session, so I'll read that notice. Lengthy. Notices hereby given that the above governmental body may adjourn to a closed session during the meeting as authorized by Section 19. 8501A of the Wisconsin Statutes, which authorizes the governmental body to convene in a closed session for the purpose of deliberating concerning a case in which the subject of any judicial or quasi-judicial trial or hearing before the governmental body. The specific subject matter, which may be considered in a closed session, is 26-0598, two-year operator license application for Elemento, 26-0599, two-year operator license application Application for S. Conley, 26-06000, two-year operator's license application for A. Foster, 26-0601, two-year operator license application for S. Franz. And notice is hereby given that the above government body may adjourn to a closed session during the governmental meeting as authorized by Section 19.851E of the Wisconsin Statutes which authorizes the government body to convene in a closed session for the purpose of deliberating or negotiating the purchase of public properties, the investment of public funds, or conducting other specified public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session. Specific subject matter that may be considered in a closed session is 26-0602, Mr. Martinez's claim for damages greater than $5,000, And 26-0603, a term sheet for tax and environmental financing for project located in River Point Drive lots one and two. The motion to convene in the closed session was made by Alderperson. And second by Schley. And so it goes, aye. Schley? Aye. And Bryan? Aye. All right, we are in closed session. Okay, we are back from closed session. I will take up the documents. 26-0598, two-year operator license application for Elemento. Is there a recommendation from the committee?

Before we make a recommendation, I just want to say we've looked at a lot of these over a long period of time, and I was very impressed with the list on this particular one of all the people that stepped up. to recommend approval on this, particularly Attorney Larson, who is a good friend, but not only a good friend, a damn good attorney, and Cooper Schmidt from Manitowoc Police Department. And I just wanted to make note of that. With that being said, I wanna make a motion that the recommendation of this committee be to approve the license pursuant to 111.335 of the Wisconsin State Statutes. There's a motion to approve.

Is there a second?

Some, yes.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye, and opposed? Okay, if there's no objection, I'll just put that on consent. Then we have 26-0599, two-year operator license application for S. Conley. Is there a recommendation from the committee?

I will keep this one shorter. We'll make a motion pursuant to 111.335 of the Wisconsin State Statutes to approve this license application also.

There's a motion and a second. Discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye, and opposed? Okay, I'll place that also on consent. 26-0600, two-year operator license application for A Foster. Is there a motion?

Once again, we'll move pursuant to 111.335 of the Wisconsin State Statutes to approve this license.

And second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye, and opposed? Okay, let's place that on consent. Then we have 26-0601, two-year operator license application for S. Franz. Is there a motion?

What the heck? Let's round it out with a motion pursuant to 111.335 to approve the license.

Second.

There's a motion to approve with a second. Discussion? Seeing all those in favor? Aye. And opposed? Okay, that passes as well. Just for those operator license applications, this is a recommendation from the Finance Committee that get forwarded on to the Common Council meeting. That meeting date is July 20th. That's where Council will take final action on that application, being that it's an affirmative recommendation from the Finance Committee.

If I can add to that, if you want to come to that council meeting where they will be voting on that and speak again from public comment, feel free to do so. And I want to say I do appreciate all the people that came to speak. Sometimes we get these and no one shows up. And it's not a good look, I guess, is what I'm saying there. So we do appreciate you coming in. Thank you.

Thank you. Then we have 26-0603, term sheet for tax financing for project located at River Point Drive Lots 1 and 2. Is there a motion from the committee?

We move to recommend approval of the term sheet and directing staff to complete the development agreement and sale of the property.

There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. Discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. And opposed? Okay, that passes. Thank you. I'll actually pass that one for signatures in a minute. Then we have 26-0602 is the Martinez claim for damages of greater than $5,000. There is no action being taken on this document this evening. So with that, that does complete our business. We'll look for a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn.

Second.

We are adjourned. Thank you, everyone.