Public Infrastructure Committee - Regular Meeting

all right it is four o'clock and we are we are we on okay all right well yeah you could we'll call the board the public works to order um first item on the agenda is bid for 10th street chicago to washington streetscape project ws2620

All right, one bid received from Benton Construction Company in the amount of $119,767.

Motion to refer the bid to the Department of Public Works for tabulation. Second.

All right, it's been moved and seconded to send it to Public Works for tabulation. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Next item is bids for Manitowoc Public Library renovation of meeting and study room spaces, re-bid project WB2618R.

Okay, one bid received from Hammond Construction in the amount of $310,500

So, Mr. Chairman, as this project is stated to be funded by the Library Foundation, I move that we refer this bid to the Library Board for tabulation.

All right.

Second.

All right, moved and seconded to refer to Library Board for tabulation. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Next item on here is Noxious Weed Assessment Appeals 260583, Property Owner Appeal for Noxious Weed Assessment at 2200 Rankin Street. Yes, ma'am. Do you want to have her come up to the table? Right here? Here, let's grab a... Yeah, here we go. You can come right up to the table, ma'am. We do have a copy of the letter that you wrote as well as the form that was the complaint in the picture. So if you'd like to address the committee, the floor is yours.

Yes, I took some pictures today too to show that the wood was gone. I paid $100 to a friend because they paid $100 to somebody to rent a truck to come and get it so I had to pay them the hundred and I've also got pictures of the yard where was mowed both front and back and it's been mowed a couple times and The problem was I had a friend that told me he was going to come and mow the yard, and he kept having every excuse in the world why he couldn't. And I didn't have a mower at the time, and my son finally got me a mower. So I've been out there doing part of it, and then I have a neighbor girl that does the other half. that I can't do because getting old and I just, don't have the energy to do all of it myself. So she does part of it, a very nice girl. But it was, as I say, it was very tall at the time because my friend just never got over there. And then he directly directed me to somebody else, which I had to pay him $50 to to do the lawn and then there was a guy his name was steve that i had been talking to here at the city and he told me that he he drove by my yard and saw the wood was gone and saw that the yard was mowed and he says i'm not even getting out of my car well then somebody who they said is he told he said that he he was contracted by the city to come out and look at it. And he found the weeds that I had gotten to because my weed whacker ran out of string. And I didn't remember how to restring it. And so he said, well, I have to cut it down or the city will get mad at me. So I spent... hundred and fifty dollars first to get and not letters that it got from the city didn't really specify exactly i knew the wood needed to be got because that was a specific letter which i did and that i knew the lawn needed to be mowed i wasn't sure i thought i had gotten everything thing that i needed to apparently i didn't and And it just was very frustrating when two different people tell me two different things. And my yard looked very, in fact, the guy who mowed my lawn didn't go close enough to my deck and that's why there were the weeds. That was the only reason why the weeds were there. because he was about, I'd say a foot or two away from the deck. And so I was kind of frustrated after that because then I got this big bill saying, you gotta pay this. And I really don't have the money to pay the $150 plus the 470. And so I did the best I could. on that kind of stuff, reading the letters. I did do as much as I could. And I spent a lot of time trying to get people to do this stuff because I didn't have the equipment to do it myself. And I live alone in my house. So I was very, I mean, when I got that other letter,

was kind of like a contradiction that one person says okay another person says it's not so this was my problem any comment from board members please go ahead i just have one real quick question describe someone who drove by and took a look at your property and said i mean it's not even worth doing that was that a city official yeah it was somebody from the city

I can't remember who, his name was Steve. And he had sent one of the letters. And so I talked to him several times. I had talked to him several times and he had told me generally what I needed to do. And so I got done what needed to be done. what I thought needed to be done.

Mackenzie, do you want to explain the difference between those two?

Yeah. So I can understand your confusion. Absolutely. Hearing two different things. There were two, it sounds like there were two different issues with the property. So the one with the wood that you had to have removed that used to talk to Steve about that goes through our like housing enforcement building inspection office. which is a separate kind of offense or violation than the tall weeds and grass which goes through the Public Works Department. So while Steve was telling you you were compliant with the wood and the other things that you had to have removed, he wasn't looking at the same things that the Public Works crew was in terms of the weeds that were removed. So I can absolutely see the confusion not realizing that it was two separate issues and departments.

The thing was is I worked on trying to get as much done as I thought I needed to do, and I still got in trouble because I didn't do what they thought I needed to.

May I? Please. Just generally, this is, as everyone here knows, my least favorite of all of our ordinances. If I could wave a magic wand, I would get rid of this ordinance. I hate it to the core. Unfortunately, I'm not one of the people who could change this ordinance. You can certainly write your alder and ask an alder person to bring it up at a committee meeting, or even after this meeting, there are a couple of alders sitting here. But I don't like this ordinance at all. It is complaint-based. It is based on somebody, usually a neighbor, calls the city and complains. They say that someone's out of compliance with our ordinance. And we have to follow the law. We have to implement what is on the books. We don't go out looking for anybody. And when we look at the pictures, we look at these photographs, and as you said, you know, you didn't – One reason or another, you didn't quite get to trimming all of the weeds. You did a great job. You made great attempts. But my name is Eric Nitsch. I'm the city attorney. I have to follow what we have on our books. And the city incurred $430, $420, whatever it is. $470. 470 remediating this situation and you know one thing i can't tell other taxpayers is you need to pay for this particular issue um you know when it wasn't other taxpayers who had the issue right it does not feel fair it feels awful um i my heart goes out to you here but the city incurred the cost because of a lack of compliance and i didn't know that that was something i

I really didn't know much about the letter that I was sent. It didn't specifically say what it was that I needed to do or where it was or anything.

it's it's it's difficult because you know we we send you what the ordinance is a little bit you can't have the um the weeds above a certain length right anywhere on the property and that's really just what it what it comes down to again there's no one who's sitting around this table that that loves the result of this ordinance when it comes to this but because of this i i would move to uphold the fine given given what was said here second

right moved and seconded uphold any further discussion no okay uh all in favor say aye aye aye any opposed all right motion carries mckenzie next what what happens next um I'm sorry. Truly we are. As Attorney Nitsch did say, feel free to have a conversation directly with your alder and bring this up to them. I would say you can have that discussion with them. The next council meeting is the 20th. So you can always have that discussion with your alder prior to the 20th. I would recommend that.

If you're not sure who your alder person is, if you want to hop right their name, their email address, and their phone number so you have a way to get in contact with them.

Okay, thank you for coming today. Next item on our agenda is Noxious Weed Assessment Appeal 260584, Property Owner Appeal for Noxious Weed Assessment at 714 South 27th Street. Do we have anybody here as a representative? Doesn't appear anybody online. Okay, so do we have a recommendation on this?

Yes, after reviewing the materials and also speaking with Scott over there, noticing that this is the second violation, it's for the same address and owner, I think it's a no-brainer to move to uphold the assessment.

All right, moved and seconded, I'll uphold the assessment. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Motion carried unanimously. All right. Do we have any change orders?

We do. Change order.

Number three from Fearing's Madison AV for Council Chambers Audio Video Upgrade. It is an increase of $131.16. Okay. And then we have change order number two from Benton Construction Company for 2026 Red Arrow Beach Access Improvements, which is an increase of $25,832.77.

I don't know about Brock's project, but I guess from what I think, that must have been an alternate bid in there, I think. And so they just chose to actually move forward with doing the foundation for the stage. So I'm thinking that that was... Motion to approve the change orders.

Second.

All right, moved and seconded to approve the change orders. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

okay uh pay estimates we have a few uh we have estimate number three from mitten construction for red arrow beach access improvements in the amount of 563 872 dollars and 23 cents estimate number 20 from strand associates for design of rubic field dry detention in the amount of eight thousand five hundred dollars estimate number four from r.a smith for franklin street reconstruction in the amount of two thousand one hundred and eighty four dollars and fifty cents estimate number four from Bay Lake Regional Planning Commission for Maritime Metro TDP update in the amount of $15,538.32. Estimate number one from Silo Brothers Construction for 2026 remove and replace sidewalks in the amount of $21,776.17. Estimate number one from Vinton Construction for 2026 concrete paving one in the amount of $739,207.10.

Motion to approve the pay estimates. Second.

Moved and seconded to approve. Any further discussion? All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Any contractor payroll off the Davids? No.

Motion to adjourn.

We are adjourned.

Second.

Yeah, there you go. Second, and we are adjourned.

I love your enthusiasm. Get out of here.

That's awesome.

Go enjoy your softball.

Thank you. Okay, well.