City Council - Regular Meeting

How are you? How are you?

That's the name of Bob.

He's a great character. Oh, look, you're smiling.

Oh.

I think I heard some stories three times. That is a great guy.

and you're going to be the 1996 chicago bulls do you have the list yet

Who's working with you?

Brent Hart, of course. There's one of these from what I left yesterday.

That's probably this one.

Yeah.

One of the things that I'd like to do is

that extra cost . I understand, you know, from a safety standpoint, . I was trying to think what just . It's one of those things where everything that we do, you know, we're the worst case scenario all the time.

Yeah, there's so many. There's a few more running.

I walked out. How's it going? Thank you. Any election appearances today?

He looks well put together for any couple. Oh, look, a bad guy.

Oh, hi. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Hey, do you live in the apartment? I'm a five.

I'm a ten. I'm a ten. How many persons ten? It would be for me and I.

We're going to the, I don't know if I can do it for sure, but it's going to the library or something. Thank you.

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

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

City Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Brewster.

Here.

Greger.

Here.

Johnson. Here. Mboga.

Here.

Miller. Here. Orth.

Here.

Otto. Here. Reed. Here. Schoen. Serrano.

Here.

Werthmann. Here.

All right, thank you, city clerk. And welcome to the Tuesday, August 11, meeting of the Eau Claire City Council. The first item on our agenda is our consent agenda. And some of you may be here for the consent agenda and set up agenda items number 1 through 18. Please know that unless an item is pulled out, all of the items will pass or fail with one vote. And you're good to leave if your item passes with the consent agenda, but you are also welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting. Do council members have any questions regarding the consent agenda or wish to remove any items for separate consideration? Council Member Werthmann.

Council President, I just want to draw people's attention to item number 18 on this resolution, which is regarding invoicing Eau Claire County for care of veterans graves. Um, this is something that has come forward. It's actually been a request of a number of families and veterans, um, because of some damages that occurred, uh, on the, um, East Hill, um, cemetery some years ago. But, but this is really important because, um, a lot of the, the, uh, the stars on the graves had been damaged and families were obviously disheartened by this, but I'm really glad to see that, I believe this is the second year in a row that we're requesting some support from the county to help give extra care to our veterans' graves. So thank you to the cemetery staff for helping to put this forward and our finance director and others for recognizing this important funding source that we're going to be hopefully passing tonight.

Thank you, Council Member Werthmann. Council Member Serrano.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. I also want to just point out to the public that we have a whole number of items on the consent agenda this evening, seven different items regarding special events. There are a lot of really interesting and quite fun events coming up that we're authorizing, a variety of sidewalk use, roadway use, things, different things. city-wide authorizations for a number of things that are happening. So please have a look at the packet. This is for items happening in September, October. And also I want to call special attention to item number 17, which means we're going to be canceling our September 7th meeting, which is usually our Monday evening meetings are For public public comment public here public hearings on a variety of topics So just be aware if you're preparing to come talk to us on Labor Day Which happens to be Monday September 7th the evening before we have our normal Tuesday legislative session We won't be meeting on Monday, but I don't know if we're gonna maybe have some public comment period On our Tuesday meeting so yeah on Tuesday. Just want to call that to everybody's attention. I

Well, it doesn't appear we have any questions or want to pull any items. So we should move this item before we continue to discuss, but that's OK. So then on a motion by Council Member Serrano and seconded by Council Member Brewster, the consent agenda has been moved. Is there any further discussion of the consent agenda? OK. Seeing none, the city clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Brewster.

Aye.

Gregor.

Aye.

Johnson. Aye. Mboga.

Aye.

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

Aye.

Werthmann. Aye.

All right, and the consent agenda passes unanimously. OK, so we're going to go into the business agenda. So agenda item number 19, resolution awarding a contract for procurement number 2026-45 Carson Park Stadium upgrades. And we have our recreation facilities, recreation and facilities manager, Patrick, Newkirk here to present.

Thank you. Thank you, Council President Greggert and council members. So this item before you here is a word of contract approval for us to proceed with work on our first phase of improvements at the Carson Baseball Stadium. So I just have a very brief overview of what that project is and then we also have some renderings of the design work that has been done so you can get an idea of what we're talking about doing at the stadium. But backing up a little bit, since last winter we have been working with the main users of the baseball stadium on design of these improvements as well as a few other future phases of work at the stadium. For all of these design improvements that I'll talk a little bit about, we have received approvals from both the Local Landmarks Commission and also the State Historical Preservation Office. related to the historical appropriateness of what has been planned as the stadium is both a locally designated landmark and also a nationally designated landmark. So we've received approval for historical appropriateness of the full scope of the design work, but what we're talking about right now is just phase one related to work on the first base side. The first base side work that's within this contract award would consist of construction of a new bathroom and retail space building behind the existing first base bleachers. That is work that would proceed immediately after the end of the Northwoods League season yet in the next couple weeks and that building would be completed and useful for the start of the spring baseball season of 2027. The bleacher seating on the first base side of the stadium would also be replaced as part of this work. There's a 10 to 12 month lead time on the materials for bleachers, so those would not actually be replaced until after the 2027 baseball season. to be ready for the 2028 season but again that's part of this contract award within those bleacher seats there are 408 chair back seats and those seats and then also the additional bathrooms are part of achieving our goal of satisfying private donations that we received going back almost 10 years ago now that have been held within the Eau Claire Community Foundation. There's $400,000 of private donations that are contributing to specifically this phase of work. So as part of the overall cost of this phase of construction, those donations will be fully used here as well. Like I mentioned, the bathroom construction would start right away. The bleacher replacement would happen after next baseball season. And then also part of this phase of work, the walkway between the first base ticket entrance of the stadium back to the fan deck in right field, which is currently a gravel walkway. It would all become a concrete walkway. So there's significant accessibility improvements that go along with this. In addition to making the first base bleachers fully ADA compliant, the bathrooms that would be added would be heated, fully plumbed, functional right away at the start of the university and high school baseball season. Currently, there are only port-a-johns available in the spring because we have to wait until the grandstand building thaws out before we can turn the water on in the grandstand building. So these are significant improvements both for the teams that use the facility but also their spectators as well and then also significant improvements from an ADA perspective. um other work that has been designed that will be future phases as we're able to work together with the community groups to hopefully secure additional funding would include grandstand work related to tuck pointing of the seating area facade waterproofing of the grandstand shell repainting of all of the green wood and steel structures and then connecting some drainage in the grandstand area into the existing field drainage behind the home plate area. We would also be replacing the light fixtures in the seating area with period appropriate LED fixtures. And then another planned additional phase is replacement of the third base aluminum bleachers with chair back seating, ADA compliant, elevated above the new dugouts to match what will be going in on the first base side as part of this first phase. And then a further future phase that's been planned is regrading and installation of a stormwater drainage system to be able to install artificial turf on the playing surface. And that's something that the users of the stadium have expressed a desire in pursuing because it would open up a lot more playability and schedule time, eliminating the work required to turn over the dirt infield in between games. It would open up a lot of more usage potential for the stadium and also cut down on the maintenance work related with the natural playing surface That has actually been deemed historically appropriate by both the Landmarks Commission and the state. So we've gotten approval to do all of those things. And as I said, those additional phases are all future funding dependent. So we would be working with the community over time to try to secure funding to make any of those future phases happen when we have the opportunity to. so the picture here that you see is a view from kind of walking into the first base seating area from the grandstand the building on the right that you see is actually the bathroom building the building on the left under the bleachers is an existing building that holds a bunch of electrical equipment and a generator that stays in place and then you can see the front side from the spectator view of the bleachers We can go to the next slide is looking from the opposite direction so leaving the fan deck walking towards the grandstand a little bit of a view of the ADA ramp which would start underneath the bleachers and then work its way up to that eight foot elevated ramp or walkway at the front row and then the ADA seats would be in the very front row of this new bleacher section directly above the dugouts. So there you can also get a view of what that bathroom building looks like along the front. So then the last picture there, this is just a view of what the improvements would look like after they're all complete. So the first base bleacher site is on the left side of this picture, and then the third base bleachers would be on the right side. And again, that would be a future phase. So if there are any questions, I'm happy to take them, but we're ready to go to get the work started and excited to be here.

thank you uh any questions from the council uh council member mboga thank you council president when i look at the package there was a the eau claire community foundation was supposed to split 50 50. is that right

So we're using all of the available private donations that they have, and that's the $400,000. It was actually voted on last year at council to appropriate the city portion of funds towards this work.

So I know we are talking about phase one. There are three phases or four phases?

There would be one, two, three potential future phases.

So do we just, I'm sorry that I'm way ahead. Are we, the city council, are we going to vote for more funding for these three, the coming three?

Not at this time. That is something that we would have to take through all of our normal processes, and we would absolutely be working with community groups on more private fundraising to help make these things happen.

Thank you.

Any other questions from the council? OK. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So on a motion by Council Member Werthmann and seconded by Council Member Orth, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? Council Member Serrano.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. I want to thank our parks department for all the work in this planning, Patrick, you in particular also. I was out there, Carson Park is part of my district, and I was out there, I don't know, a month or two ago looking at the new dugouts and the impact to folks maybe in wheelchairs or with accessibility issues. And boy, this is a really needed project. in order to really be able to kind of make the stadium-going experience pleasant and equitable for our entire community. And I think that's a really important value for us. And so I'm, again, the dugout, new dugouts were great, but now this is a very necessary next step. So I just want to vouch for the necessity of this upgrade to our landmark Crescent Park.

Thank you, Council Member Serrano. Yeah, I just want to thank everybody who's put in a decade of work into this, really. I was working at the Chippewa Valley Museum at the time that a lot of the discussion first started around some of these renovations and fundraising. And it is a special night, actually, tonight at the ballpark, because Eau Claire Express have a tie breaking. game in the playoffs for Northwoods League. So I was able to catch a couple games this year, and it's really, it's impressive how we can showcase our community really to the entire Midwest, you know, and, you know, through baseball, but also like at the Eau Claire's Festival to the entire world, really. So, and the outfield is a, has recovered, I would say, from the staging and all of that from the Eau Claire's Festival. So it's a very resilient field as well. Okay, is there any further discussion before we move to a vote? All right, city clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Greger?

Aye.

Johnson?

Aye.

Mboga?

Aye.

Miller? Aye. Orth?

Aye.

Otto? Aye. Reed? Aye. Serrano? Aye. Werthmann? Aye. Brewster?

Aye. All right, and that passes unanimously. All right, we'll go on to agenda item number 20, resolution granting a class B fermented malt beverage license to Saki LLC, doing business as Motel 6, Eau Claire 2305, Craig Road, Arzu Patel, agent. This is postponed from May 26, 2026. And we have our assistant city attorney, Blake Herbison, to present.

All right, thank you, Council President Gregert, and good evening, council members. As the agenda item notes, this item returns from May 26th, being postponed by council in order to give applicants an opportunity to address some concerns that were raised by our License Review Committee. Since that time, those concerns have not been addressed, so it is at this time that I would recommend that this application for a Class B license be denied by the council. for these specific reasons. First, there were ongoing fire code violations that were noted at this location back in May by the License Review Committee. Our fire department had been working with them for several months at that point to try and remedy open fire code violations. And in the meantime, despite repeated visits from our fire inspectors, violations including retesting fire extinguishers, fixing exit site lighting, fire alarm panel issues, and some issues with a fire door in need of repair. None of those issues have been addressed since the council meeting back in May. I understand that they've been pleasant to work with and have made repeated assurances that they would get the work done, but at this point the work has not been done. And so that speaks to potential concerns for compliance from an alcohol perspective. Second, we had the applicant was required to attend the August 10 fake ID retailer training that's put on by the police department and health departments. I confirmed the, that was obviously just yesterday, I confirmed the attendance list did not include any of the individuals from the Motel 6, whether that be the agent, the listed individuals on the application, or employees. So we have concerns potentially from an underage sales perspective. And then additionally, upon review since May 26th council meeting, have had opportunity to look at other hotels in the city of Eau Claire with Class B licenses. And the setup here that's proposed at this Motel 6 includes basically a cooler behind the front desk of the establishment is different and distinct from other hotels in our community that do have a specific bar, restaurant area where alcohol is being served. So the check-in process and the alcohol service process are generally separated in the city of Eau Claire. So in this case, this looks different than other hotels in the city. So for those reasons, it would be recommended that the council deny the application and I'm available for any questions you might have.

Thank you.

Council Member Miller has a question. Thank you, Council President. Thank you, Assistant State Attorney Herbertson. Just administratively, if this were to be denied, is there any wait time for the applicant that we could reapply, or how would that work?

Right. So, yes, it's not a forever bar for the applicant, but it would be a one-year holding period before they would be able to reapply for the license at that time.

Okay. Thank you. Council Member Worth. Thank you, Assistant. Thank you, Council President, Assistant Attorney. Was the conversation at the license review pretty much unanimous on denial?

So FIRE raised their concerns. PD noted their history with the applicant. so generally if there's objections coming from different departments, we'll raise those and if they warrant denial, we'll certainly argue it before council here. This postponement period, maybe they were going to get there, but given that we've kind of given them an opportunity to prove themselves and it hasn't happened, I think it reiterates the concerns that were raised by the various departments that did have concerns.

Thank you. I actually have a question. I believe in the packet it referenced postponing indefinitely as the recommendation as opposed to denial. Like is either option like equal, I guess you could say, or is there one that's preferred from your? Right. Department.

Yes. So I would think at this point, postponing indefinitely would have the same effect as a denial. But given that we've got the history here and the opportunity to give them a chance to prove themselves, I think that a denial would be appropriate in this instance.

OK. Thank you. Any other questions from council? OK, so we'll move this item. Thank you. So on a motion by Councilmember Miller and seconded by Councilmember Johnson, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? We have Councilmember Miller.

Thank you, Council President. Yes, with the City Council, we give these licenses, and they are a privilege for businesses that meet the requirements. I understand. I don't want to see any business not do it the best it can, but they had 11 weeks since the last time that we met in order to come into compliance with the requirements for them. So at this point, and then going back to Council President's DISTINCTION BETWEEN POSTPONING DEFINITELY AND DENIAL. I RECALL THAT POSTPONING DEFINITELY IS GENERALLY THINGS WHERE PEOPLE LIKE DON'T WANT TO DO ANYMORE WITHDRAW BUT I THINK A DENIAL IN THIS CASE WOULD PROBABLY BE MORE APPROPRIATE SO I WOULD PROBABLY WANT THIS TO COME TO A VOTE AND THEN I WOULD BE GOING TO DENY THIS APPLICATION.

Thank you, Council Member Miller. Council Member Otto.

Thank you, Council President. I agree with denial and just wanted to say that this location is in the middle of the Riverbend Redevelopment District and maybe now that we've set that up that we might have additional resources to identify and assist these types of issues in the future. I just thought that was an interesting connection.

Thank you. Any other discussion from Council before we move to a vote. OK. City Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Johnson.

Aye. Invoga?

Aye.

Sorry. Yeah. Just to clarify a vote. to yes is to approve the light, approve the. No.

No. Council Member Miller. No. Orth.

No.

Otto. No. Reed. No. Serrano. No. Werthmann. No. Brewster.

No.

Rager.

No. All right, and that feels zero to 10. All right, so we'll move on to, there's four different agenda items, 21 through 24, that will each be considered separately, but they're all under that excess land discussion that we had yesterday. So the first one is resolution granting excess land of,

excess land of parcel two two one zero four zero three six seven park ridge drive and we have our uh coordinator hufford uh to present yeah um and i won't have information for each one of them um but i did clarify the timeline so for lawrence street and riverview drive being planned commission um recommended those go to waterways and parks that would be august 26th or yeah and then back to plan commission august 31st bringing it back to council on september 8th and would you guys want a public comment period again on the 8th would be a question um and then vine and park ridge drive we would recommend um following planned commission's recommendation of approving those two And unless there's any other questions, that's all I have.

So that's presenting on all four of the items at once, essentially.

OK.

Thank you. Yeah, so just to clarify that timeline, August 26 for waterways, parks and urban forestry, August 31 for plan commission, and September 8 for a vote by the city council. we'll have a public hearing that same day. So you want it on the public? I think that would make sense, yeah.

OK.

So questions from council? Council Member Otto.

Thank you, Council President. Is there any, I guess I'm not sure who could answer this, but is there any reason waterways and parks would be prohibited from also looking at Park Ridge, the Park Ridge Drive parsonage?

That would be a decision by you guys. It's not, from my understanding, it's not something they normally would, but if you guys want them to review it, we could take it to them also.

Thank you. Okay, any other questions from council? okay so thank you uh coordinator hufford and so we'll move agenda item number 21 so that'll be on a motion by council member mboga and seconded by council member otto um agenda item number 21 is moved is there any discussion this is just the parkridge drive um

property uh council member otto yeah i'd like to motion that we include park ridge drive with the lawrence street and riverview drive or review with waterways before it returns to us okay is there a second um point of information i think you just move it separately don't like uh this is three four separate items so yeah these i think you just want to

Motion to postpone this pending waterways and parks review.

Thanks. Yeah, so the motion is to postpone to go to waterways and then plan and then city council. Is there a second to that motion?

I will second that motion. That parcel of land is in my district, and I think there's always good benefit that can come from having a little bit more review. There's no urgency in time, so I feel like it makes good sense to have the waterways and forestry have a look at this one, too.

Okay, thank you. All right, so with that motion to postpone, is there any discussion? Councilmember Miller.

Thank you, Council President. If the mover or seconder could elaborate as to, so the parkway is right across, it's just kind of a little triangular piece of land that is bounded by homes on one side, a light industrial on the other side, and across the road from Rotten Gun Park, I understand you know having more time to hear things out but also every time we did postpone something or refer to committee that's more staff work goes into it that's more they've already worked in this so I'm always just cognizant of staff time where staff is very stretched very thinly so just given the size of this parcel and the fact that it abuts on current residential and industrial I just kind of curious of the rationale other than just to do it to have this go to waters and parks if

Thank you, Council Member Miller. Council Member Otto.

Thank you, Council President. Rationals, yeah, I know it's across the street from Rod and Gun Park, near a waterway area. Probably not technically within the purview of waterways and parks. But I do know that this committee would want to look it over, would want to have a buy-in into it. And I guess ultimately it's a show of good faith toward the Waterways and Parks Committee. So not the biggest issue, small parcel like you said, but I see no harm in granting them additional review of this.

Thank you, Council Member Otto. Council Member Serrano.

Thank you, Council President Greger. For me, I mean, I'm always just aware, even if it's a small little piece, you know, developing any kind of parcels near Parkland already where wildlife lives, there are wildlife considerations to think about. And we're always balancing, you know, development and housing with green spaces. And I think, I know we don't want to apply, you know, send everything necessarily yet to to the waterways and forestry commission, but at this point I think this is close enough to an area where wildlife exists that that's my interest in kind of having them weigh in.

Okay, thank you. Any other discussion from council on this motion to postpone? I guess for me, I just, you know, I do feel that across the street from a park is Adjacent enough to be considered adjacent. I guess I also Mean I I know we just updated the purview of waterways parks and urban forestry and it is also a forested piece of property and like might be ambiguous as to where that fits in but I also just generally feel that every piece of land is a potential park so like to be able to have a perspective on from waterways and parks and urban forestry on this would be helpful. And I think while it's in a gray area, I think it makes sense since they're already considering other excess land or potentially if we vote that way. It's relatively efficient for them to consider. So any other questions? discussion on the postponement before we move to a vote. All right city clerk please call the roll on the postponement.

Councilmember Amboga?

Aye.

Miller? No. Orth?

Aye.

Otto? Aye. Reed? Aye. Serrano?

Aye.

Werthmann? Aye. Brewster? Aye. Gregor.

Aye.

Johnson. Aye.

All right, and that postponement passes 9 to 1. So we will move on to agenda item number 22, resolution granting excess land of parcel 221091354. The address for this parcel is 2027 Vine Court. And. On a motion, yeah, we already had the presentation on this. So on a motion by Council Member Serrano and seconded by Council Member Brewster, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? Okay. We have Council Member Serrano.

Thank you, Council President Greger. I just, I totally support this. I think this is a great parcel to declare excess land so something useful can be done with it. This is also in my district.

Okay, thank you, Council Member Serrano. Any further discussion of agenda item number 22? OK, seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Miller? Aye. Worth?

Aye.

Otto? Aye. Reed? Aye. Serrano? Aye. Werthmann? Aye. Brewster? Aye. Greger?

Aye.

Johnson? Aye. Mboga? Aye.

All right, and that passes unanimously. OK, onto agenda item number 23, resolution granting excess land of parcel 201160477. And this property is on Lawrence Street. And since we've already discussed this, we can move it to, we've already gone through questions, we can move this item. So on a motion by Council Member Werthmann and seconded by Council Member Orth, this item is moved. Is there any discussion of the Lawrence Street excess land? We have Council Member Brewster.

Yeah, I would like to move to table this item pending review by Parks, Waterways, and Urban Forestry.

All second.

OK, so we have a motion. And do you intend to have it go to plan commission and city council as well? Yeah. So we have a motion by council member Brewster. And was it seconded by council member Werthmann? OK. So we have a motion to postpone just as we did with the Park Ridge property. Is there any discussion on this postponement? Okay, seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll on the postponement of agenda item number 23.

Council Member Orth.

Aye.

Otto.

Aye.

Reed. Aye. Serrano. Aye. Werthmann.

Aye.

Brewster. Aye. Rager. Aye. Johnson.

Aye.

Mboga.

Aye.

Miller.

Aye. All right, and that passes unanimously. Onto agenda or that that post that is postponed unanimously I should say The next item is number 24 resolution granting excess land part of parcel two two one one six zero three six eight at East Riverview Drive And we've already had gone through questions about this item earlier. So on a motion by Councilmember Miller and seconded by Councilmember Johnson, this item is moved. Is there any discussion of agenda item number 24 on the East Riverview Drive? We have Councilmember Brewster.

Thank you, Council President. I would like to move to refer this to parks, waterways, and urban forestry as well, and then have it cycle back through plan commission and come back to council after a hearing or a public hearing. With a public hearing.

Okay.

Okay, so we have a motion to postpone by Council Member Brewster, seconded by Council Member Otto, is there any discussion on this postponement proposal? Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Council President. Just to reiterate, it was said before, but since we canceled the meeting on Monday, September 8th, this will be on a public comment on Tuesday, the 8th at 4 p.m., followed immediately by the City Council meeting. So just be sure that if you want to come to the public comment, it's going to be on Tuesday, September 8th at 4 p.m.

Yeah, thank you, Council Member Miller, for that clarification. It's helpful. So any other discussion on the postponement of the East Riverview Drive excess land? OK, seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll on postponing this agenda item.

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

Aye.

Werthmann. Aye. Brewster. Aye. Greger. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Mboga. Aye. Miller. Aye. Wirth. Aye.

All right, and that postponement passes unanimously. All right, now into agenda item number 25. Resolution approving a final plat called Orchard Hills first addition for phase two of Orchard Hills located along Fuji Lane. File P-1-26. And we have our community development director. Aaron White to present.

Thank you. Good evening, Council President Gregor and Council members. I apologize, I don't have a presentation for this as this is a final plat. These typically go forward to consent agenda. It has gone through the preliminary plat process, the evaluations and pre-development meetings. It's consistent. It's been approved by the state, by state statute. Final plats have to be approved. So I would be happy answering questions, but this is a...

been a lot this is the next phase of a very long-running project and it's it's conforming to all of our required codes and zoning all right thank you director white is there any questions from the council all right well thanks for your presentation let's see so on a motion by council member mboga and seconded by Council Member Otto, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? OK. Seeing no discussion, City Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Next agenda item, number 26, resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a subdivision infrastructure agreement with CDPG Developers LLC for street and utility improvements within the plat of Orchard Hills first addition. And we have our engineering director, Leah Ness, here. Thank you for joining us.

Good afternoon, Council President Greger, council members. The development agreement before you today is standard to what you've seen in the past. It will allow for infrastructure improvements within the next addition of the Orchard Hills development the final plat that just passed a condition of signatures on the final plat is a subdivision infrastructure agreement one additional note to this agreement is we do have an additional term within the letter of credit financing side of things that water pressure testing will be completed and negotiations related to booster station tank will be completed with the developer moving forward. So we are looking at our utilities in that area with the developer and working with them on that further as well. I can take any questions related to the SIA at this time.

Thank you, Director Nuss. Any questions from the council?

All right. Thank you. Thanks for your presentation.

All right. So on a motion by Councilmember Reed and seconded by Councilmember Serrano, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing no discussion, city clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Serrano? Aye. Werthmann?

Aye. Brewster? Aye.

Greger? Aye.

Johnson? Aye. Mboga?

Aye.

Miller? Aye. Orth? Aye. Otto? Aye.

Reed? Aye. All right, and that passes unanimously. All right, next agenda item is number 27, resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a collective bargaining agreement between the city of Eau Claire and firefighters local 487. We have our Human Resources Director, Carrie Riepel, to present. Thank you.

Good afternoon. We actually have three agenda items for you tonight. So a tentative agreement has been reached with Firefighters Local 487 for the extension of their contract, which actually expired December 31st of 2024. The first item is a resolution which authorizes the execution of the contract, which would be a three-year contract running from January 1st of 2025 through December 31st of 2027. The changes to the agreement would be wage increases first, so it would be 5% in 2025, 3.5% in 2026, 2.5% in 2027, for a total of 11% across the three years. There would also be a one-time market adjustment of $625 annually per position in 2026. The other changes are the employees hired on or after January 1st of 2026 would receive one day of vacation on hire. Right now they don't get anything until after they've been here a year. And then the other two are military and funeral leave adjusted to better align with other employees. So later on the agenda are two ordinances for introduction. We will ask that you suspend the rules and consider them today. The first is on the pay plan so that we can get them their current rate of pay and back pay issued as soon as possible. And then the other one is for that vacation change so that we can get those new employees that one day upon hire. With that, I will take any questions.

Okay, any questions? Council Member Mboga.

Thank you, Council President. Walk me through this. I did not understand. Did you say they did not have a contract for two years?

It's a three-year contract.

No, no, no. You said they did not have a contract for two years.

Correct. So right now they are operating under the old contract that expired at the end of 2024. So they've been being paid since that time at the 2024 rates. That's correct.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you, Director Riepel. Oh, sorry. Council Member Serrano has a question.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. Yes, Director Ripo, question. The extra vacation or the vacation day upon hire, what happens to folks that we've hired like in the last two years with that extra vacation day? How does that backdating of the early vacation day get implemented?

So it is effective January 1 of 2026. So anybody that's been hired since the beginning of this year will get one day of vacation loaded to their balance. Yeah, everybody else will not get anything additional.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions from the council? All right, thank you, Director Riepel. So on a motion by Council Member Brewster and seconded by Council Member Werthmann, this item is moved. Is there any discussion? Council Member Serrano.

Thank you, Council President Gragert. I'm really glad we are getting this contract finalized and that parties have negotiated. And I just want to express my thanks for our firefighter force here in Eau Claire, second to none, and just really appreciate all their service. Just very glad to get this contract completed. Thanks to everybody that worked on it, our legal, HR, and the firefighters local also. Thanks to everybody.

Thank you, Council Member Serrano. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Werthmann.

Aye.

Brewster. Aye. Greger. Aye. Johnson.

Aye.

Mboga. Aye. Miller. Aye. Orth. Aye. Otto. Aye. Reed. Aye.

Serrano.

Aye.

All right, and that passes unanimously. All right, so we're going to go into the category of ordinances for action. Ordinance to amend our agenda item number 28, ordinance to amend title 17 land development ordinance, or LDO, and the official zoning map. And we, again, have our community development director, White, to comment.

to join us tonight. Thank you. Good afternoon again. I don't have any additional information to present. I did send out an email earlier this afternoon to all the council members, answered a few questions that came up last night. Hopefully, everybody had a chance to read that. I'd be happy to recap if needed. But I'd be happy to answer any additional questions, should there be any. All right. Any questions from council?

All right.

Thank you, Director White. Thank you. So on a motion by Councilmember Orth and seconded by Councilmember Miller, this item is moved. Is there any discussion on these amendments to the LDO? Councilmember Werthmann.

Thank you, Council President Gragert. One of the things I wanted to highlight in this package is, and we heard last night from one of the business owners, but the additional flexibility that this provides to people doing businesses out of their home, more artisan type businesses, I'm really happy that this change is happening. It allows not only the folks that we heard from last night to be able to transition from Banbury into their home to continue making chocolates, but It allows other businesses that are very low impact to consider how to operate out of their home. I do think there's going to be a point in the future where we might want to consider whether it makes sense to allow these kind of small scale, low impact businesses to operate throughout our residential neighborhoods. So right now this is, still pretty restrictive. It has to be on a block connected to UR or commercial, or on a collector street, a block. But there's plenty of places throughout our neighborhoods, and you can think about East Hill where I live, and Third Ward where Council Member Brewster lives, Joshua Miller, a council member, where a low-impact business should be able to thrive. And so I'd love to see at some point us even expand it further and say, you know, if it's under 10 trips a day, you're not having a lot of traffic, there's no smells or sounds or bright lights, you should be able to have a business out of your home. But let's just make that a thing. So this is an awesome step in the right direction. I want to thank director white i want to thank our planner ned noel and i want to thank the the city manager and the business leaders ross and andy who showed good faith in local government to help solve a problem and we're helping to to do that today all right thank you council member worthman any other discussion

Okay, city clerk, please call the roll.

Council member Brewster.

Aye.

Greger.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

Gimboga. Aye. Miller. Aye. Orth.

Aye.

Otto.

Aye.

Reed. Aye. Serrano. Aye. Werthmann.

Aye. All right, and that passes unanimously. Next is agenda item number 29, ordinance amending chapter 8.32 entitled Management of Waste and Recyclables of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Eau Claire to create a comprehensive organics management and composting program. And is there any further presentation? Maybe we'll just move it, and then we can have further discussion from the mover. So on a motion by Council Member Werthmann and seconded by Council Member Miller, this item is moved. Is there any further presentation or discussion on this agenda item? Council Member Mboga.

Yeah, I wrote this one. I'll be supporting the goals of making the compost more accessible to Eau Claire residents. I believe keeping food and organic materials out of our landfill is a smart and long-term investment in our community. I also believe we need to do it This is a responsible making cost of the resident transparent. Educating people about what belong in the compost stream and address contamination and the messes. The amount of waste actually divided from the landfill. If we can do these things, I believe expanding compost collection is a positive step for our city. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Mboga. Any further discussion? Do we have any

Council Member Miller. Thank you, Council President. Although I'm the second on this item, I just wanted to thank, actually it was Council Member Werthmann that did the, Council Member Werthmann, city staff, and city legal that did a lot of work on this over the past couple months. So I just want to thank them for their efforts, and I'm happy to have help refine some of the points as we bring this forward here to hopefully approval today. Thank you. Council Member Serrano. Thank you.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. I also want to thank the mover and the seconder for this item. I want to just emphasize a few things for the public's benefit, because I think originally this was proposed as a more far-reaching proposal. And I just want to be clear, sometimes when that happens here on council, We get news stories and such about the original idea. It gets modified, but the public doesn't really get the news on the modifications. So I just want to be clear that this does not mandate that our trash haulers be obligated to offer composting services. I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just letting the public, emphasizing again for the public benefit that that is not included in this particular ordinance. And the other thing, I just wanted to read a little bit, because I think it seemed like this was maybe a little bit vague last night when we were talking about this, that for the Tier 1 residential on-site composting, The acceptable materials are, so this is your backyard compost, only yard trimmings, leaves, grass clippings, uncoated paper products, plant-based food scraps, and eggshells may be composted. There's a distinction here. Meat, fish, bones, dairy products, eggs other than eggshells, fats, oils, grease, and foods containing meat, fish, dairy products, or substantial amount of fats, oils, or grease shall not be composted in Tier 1 systems. I just thought that was just a good thing to highlight for the public benefit, that this is what we're talking about when we're talking about this Tier 1 backyard composting.

All right, thank you so much. Council Member Orth.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you to Council Member on my right, Council Member on my left, for bringing this forward and for all your work on it. I just think it's... Such a great opportunity for us to highlight this and make it known in our community that that 30 to 35% of our landfill doesn't need to be there. And I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Council Member Werthmann. Thank you, Council President. I'd just like to add a few things. Our assistant city attorney, Blake Herbison, was, and probably our city attorney, Steve Nick, incredibly helpful because this is a pretty complicated and lengthy ordinance, but with going through drafts and helping to guide this ordinance process. So I want to thank the assistant city attorney. Blake Herbison, the Sustainability Advisory Committee gave feedback on at least four different occasions, which I thought was incredibly helpful as well. Some of you attended those meetings. And then as background, this concept, which is trying to divert some of the organics from the landfill, from our waste stream, is something that is called out in our comprehensive plan and in our renewable energy action plan of 2018 or 2019, I always forget the year, but as one of the goals for our community to reduce its overall waste stream. This idea and compost, I had, as a council member, at least 12, 13 years ago, I think it was 2012, had started to see interest in from our community. And one of the things that had happened was there was actually a collection that was happening among five or six downtown restaurants that was being brought to the community garden at Forest Street. in five gallon pails and the restaurants love this idea because it was like it was like um pad thai and others they were able to divert it from the landfill it was costing them less and the gardeners were using it well we came to come to find out that we had very strict ordinance language about not transferring across property lines so that was what got things kind of rolling initially was that there was interest but then over the years people have certainly reached out and said we'd love to be able to do this we'd love to be able to do a neighborhood or a community garden composting we just want to do our part as citizens and it's too difficult right now so that's why this ordinance is in front of you is we're trying to open that door to make it easier for our residents to have this option um and we get part way there on this i hope we continue this conversation but i think it's a it's a good step and as Council Member Serrano said, it kind of opens that educational door for folks to learn more about what this is. So I want to just thank, again, our city staff, our committees, and my co-sponsor of this, Council Member Miller as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Werthmann. Any other discussion? OK, seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll on agenda item number 29 on the composting program.

Council Member Greger.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

Amboga.

Aye.

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

Aye. That passes unanimously. All right. So we have maybe a new category of agenda item, agenda items that folks haven't seen before. It's under the category of options related to direct legislation. So it's agenda item number 30. There's two routes that can be taken with this. It'll be presented by two different staff. So agenda item number 30, options for petition for direct legislation. Option a ordinance creating chapter 2.5, three of the code of ordinances of the city of Eau Claire relating to the citizens advisory healthcare action committee. And then part B is resolution placing a referendum on the November 3rd, 2026 ballot regarding a petition for direct legislation. So those are the two options that will be presented. We have, um, City Attorney Steve Nick and we have our City Clerk Nicholas Kerner to go over the options with us. City Attorney Nick.

Thank you Council President Kregert. We'll tag team any questions you might have but this is an option A or B so if you to decide to enact the ordinance, B is made moot. But what you have is a petition for direct legislation. It is a means that citizens have in the state under State Statute 9.20 to directly petition for a legislative action to their city council with a minimum of 15% of electors signing that petition as of the last gubernatorial election. That petition has been filed with the city and the clerk then has 15 days to review that and see if there's sufficient signatures. Clerk Kerner has done that and found that the petitions are sufficient. Another restriction on direct legislation is it can't be a matter that the council has already basically made a decision on, has already adopted an ordinance or resolution pertaining to the same topic. That's a closer one on this issue. So this is a petition for an advisory committee on health care issues. access and insurance rates. You have a board of health that has committees that do similar work. But this is at least somewhat different in that it would be a council-appointed directly committee and arguably have a somewhat different focus and certainly a different makeup. The proposal would be a seven-member advisory committee that would report periodically back to council on those health care access and affordability issues to paraphrase. So as a petition for direct legislation, at least arguably on a topic that is somewhat new to issues before the city of Eau Claire, council has presented really with just two choices. You either can adopt the ordinance as presented exactly, there's no option to amend at least within two years of the initial presentation, So you either can adopt the ordinance directly and that is before you today and up for a vote under the 30A option. Pass it and that ends it just like any other ordinance. It would become effective upon publication and again could be amended but not within two years of adoption. Or you place it on The next available general or spring election. The next available election being the fall election, November 3rd. And so that would be your option under 30B. And you may have additional questions or questions. City Clerk Kerner may have additional information, but those would be your two options. The second one would have costs. It would have ballot printing costs. And I wanna steal all of Nick's thunder, but just to make a joint presentation on both your options, estimates of cost are approximately $2,500 with the additional printing and publication costs with that option. And then, Should you elect that choice and adopt that resolution under 30B, the ordinance only becomes effective should a majority of electors vote in favor of the matter. And then same effect. If adopted, it would become an ordinance and one that you couldn't amend for a period of at least two years. Mm-hmm. Happy to answer any questions. Obviously our city clerk is here. Our health director is also present should you have any questions in terms of implementation and at least the partial overlap of this concept with existing committees run through the city county health department and under the board of health.

Thank you attorney Nick. Clerk Kerner, would you like to share a bit as well?

I don't have much to add to what Steve already has said. Again, the estimated cost that I discussed with the county clerk would probably be around $2,500, and the wording would have to go to the county clerk on August 25th, I believe is the deadline for that. So if you were to pick option B, I would begin working with the county clerk on getting that referendum on the ballot for November.

All right, thank you. Makes sense maybe to have our health department director, Liska Giese, present before we go into questions. Would that be helpful to council? And I know we received a couple of emails, at least one email from Director Giese. Thank you for joining us tonight.

Thank you, Council President Gregert. I don't have a formal presentation, but it is an opportunity to at least let you know that I have reviewed the ordinance after we received it. The Health Department was not involved in any way in the work. We were not contacted as part of the process. I have also been in contact with the La Crosse Health Department director. My understanding is that a Similar if not identical processes happening there. They also were not contacted the health department as part of that process the ordinance that was created by the city of Eau Claire and Eau Claire County and to create the health department did as attorney Nick say, you know, created a board of health that is responsible for health in this community. It doesn't have specific language related to healthcare access explicitly. We do as part of our three year process to do a required community health assessment, which is a statutory requirement. We do do a survey and look at data every three years that does include a component around access to care so if you've looked at that recent community health assessment you'll see that that community health assessment did receive votes around it's about the fifth top priority although depending on how you divide it as as an important topic so it certainly has been elevated in the city of Eau Claire and across Eau Claire county as a topic. We have done surveying which is similar but not identical to what is proposed in this ordinance. We have written reports around access to care, again similar but not identical to what is in this ordinance. There is on our website an access to care report that was written a few years ago that was a partnership with Health Watch Coalition, which is a coalition that exists in Chippewa-Eau Claire County that looks at access to care issues. So there are a number of connected processes and products that do exist that are related to this topic. But again, we weren't part of developing this concept or the ordinance in any way. I just want to make sure council's aware of that. And certainly can answer questions if there are any.

Thank you, Director Yeezy. Yeah, I appreciate it. Maybe we might call you up soon, depending on the questions too. So the first person to have their light on, I believe was, I think it was Council Member Brewster. Yeah.

Thank you, Council President. I have a couple questions. One of them is for City Attorney Nick, and that is with regards to the language in here, does that offer a sufficient flexibility were we to pass it as written to fill... I'm reading the creation membership organization sections. Would we be allowed to... basically like fill the entire thing right away with people that have the staggered, you know, like have three people who have a four-year term, two people with a three-year term, you know, so we can like start the cycle because it looks very specific about how it wants that done and I'm not sure that that would give us the flexibility we would need to like actually have a committee that cycles. City Attorney Nick?

Again, through the direct legislation petition process, you don't have any opportunity to refine an ordinance or adjust it even if it's furthering the expected purpose of it. So you'd have to live with what you have written verbatim for two years. After that period of time, you could amend it or repeal it. Okay, thanks.

And then second question is for Clark. Sure. Would this be printed, like is the extra cost just because ink is expensive? Like is it going, will it be a separate ballot because we have to print a lot of stuff on it? Or where is the extra cost there?

Coming from other than I mean, obviously your time has value but Thank You councilmember the cost comes from the county charges us a certain amount for the the way we use the ballot. So for our April elections, we pay a larger percentage of the ballot because we use up a larger chunk of the paper, basically. So it'll be a similar type thing where we would get charged our normal amount for the ballots and then the extra amount for using up more of the ballot.

Okay. Very quick follow-up. Okay. But this wouldn't be printed in its entirety, right?

like it would be available online but it would be like this is the ordinance vote yes or no right yeah it would be the question and then we have the publications for the referendum and the explanation for what a yes or no vote means okay thank you okay thank you city clerk

Councilmember Otto has a question.

Thank you, Council President. I'm not sure who would answer it if it has an answer, but I know this was an initiative across the entire state. Do we know which options other cities are choosing or do we have a sense of which option other communities are choosing, A or B, if anybody knows that?

I guess my understanding is the only other community that I'm aware of is La Crosse, and so I'm not sure if they voted on it yet.

Council President, I believe they voted to send it to referendum.

Okay. So, yeah, it's been voted to go to referendum in the city of La Crosse. Council Member Serrano.

Thank you, Council President Gragert. I have a question for City Clerk Kerner. The language that would be on the ballot, would we as council have an opportunity to review that language? Like how it's worded? A lot of times we get referendum items on ballots and the wording is not, you know, I don't know. I'm just curious to know what the approval process is for the wording of what actually people vote on.

The due date for turning in the wording would be the same day as the next council meeting. So I'm not sure if there would be enough time to have a full council discussion on the wording.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Serrano. Any other questions? Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Council President. City Clerk, following up on Council Member Cimarron's question, so are you the one that ultimately or perhaps the city legal determines the exact wording of the language? Who authors that wording?

I would work on it with the city attorney's office.

So then it's not actually a binding city council? item would be possible legally possible to just submit it to city council electronically for any so just so we can see what it looks like before it goes for some feedback since it's ultimately uh the city clerk and city legal that determine that if you know i think councilman serrano was interested in seeing the language before it went out onto the ballot is this a feasible request

I would defer to the city attorney.

Yes, city attorney. Yes, city attorney. Nick, do you have any thoughts on that?

Well, a couple things. One, the resolution does... reference what the form of the question is in the resolve clause. So that is covered directly by your actions should you take it under 30B. And then beyond that, providing updates as the manager does typically is certainly something that's possible to give you that advanced information a little bit.

Yeah, thank you, City Attorney. I do now see, it says, in the form of the question, quote, shall an ordinance be enacted creating Chapter 2.53 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Eau Claire, creating the Citizens Advisory Health Care Action Committee, question mark, end quote. So it looks like the language is already determined.

all right thank you for council member brewster as a question just one more quick question for city clerk kerner um i know we have a big election coming up um in november is it looking like the elections budget will be sufficient for that so if we decide to send this to referendum it won't need any additional funds

Thank you, Council Member. I believe those would come from different funds. Those would come from the city clerk and probably city council funds for the noticing.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Orth.

Thank you, Council President Riggard. I just wanted to note that we did have five community members who did speak to this issue last night. at the public discussion, and I believe all five of them were looking at it as it coming as a referendum question.

Thank you, Council Member Orth. All right, so in terms of queuing up an option for that we can discuss. Does anyone want to make a motion? Or do you have further questions? Make a motion for option B. Second.

Point of order, has this been moved yet, City Council President?

I think that's the intent in this motion is to move one of the options. Thank you. Thank you so much. So we have a motion by Council Member Werthmann and seconded by Council Member Brewster for option B. Is that correct? OK. So let's discuss that now.

Is there any, Council Member Brewster, you want to present? Thank you, Council President. I guess my thoughts in this are, if it was up to me to write something like this, I don't think it's a terrible idea. There's some tweaks that I'd like to make, and if we send it to referendum, And it passes. We're stuck with it for two years, possibly. If we take it right now, we're absolutely stuck with it for two years without the ability to modify it. So I would rather... have it go to referendum so we have a chance to take it if it does fail. My guess is it probably won't, but if it does, we could workshop it a little bit and come up with something that maybe works more closely with the Board of Health and some of our other partners, include them in that. So that's my thought process on pushing it for referendum. Thank you. Council Member Otto.

Thank you, Council President. So this came about as a focused political effort with resources put in toward the campaign, and it is a good idea. I support putting it to referendum, just democratically that feels more, well, ethical, trustworthy. We'll put it in the hands of the public to let them decide.

Thank you, Council Member Otto.

Council Member Miller. Thank you, Council President. Yeah, so this direct legislation option here, so we don't have a lot of choices of what we do. As the City Council representative to the Board of Health, it is a little disappointing that the organizers of this, they took the time to canvass two cities and get thousands of votes, but at no point did the organizers communicate with the Board of Health or the Health Department. The Board of Health and Health Department's have overlapping purview with the function that this wants to create. So then we theoretically have a problem of one organization doing one thing and one doing another thing and possibly come up with different conclusions. So I did reach out to the organizer. He was included in the um our information here as did the health director she also reached out and we did not hear back from mr spencer to ask you know why they weren't communicating with the board of health why didn't try to work with the existing organizations um so that being said i would not want to vote for this directly to be approved because i don't pre i don't i don't like to i think it could have been present better. But by taking option B and presenting it to the voters, that will at least give the voter the mandate to approve this, even though I think it should have taken a slightly different route to get to here today.

Thank you, Councilmember Miller. Any other discussion? Councilmember Werthmann.

Yeah, thank you, Council President Greger. Our city clerk reminded me yesterday that the last time that we had such a referendum, direct legislation, was in 2014, I believe, which was around a request to put one million, any project above one million would essentially go, as I understand it, sorry, it was around spending on the Performing Arts Center. DOWNTOWN. IT DIDN'T PASS. IT WAS 40%. BUT THIS I EXPECT WILL PASS BECAUSE I THINK WHAT THIS TELLS ME AND WHAT I'VE SEEN IN OUR COMMUNITY IS THAT PEOPLE DEEPLY CARE ABOUT HEALTH CARE AND ACCESS. The fact that they collected so many signatures where people were like, yep, sign me up, whatever we can do, I think it sheds light on the fact that we have a pretty broken health care system. People want action. I do feel like other council members that this could have been done with a more collaborative spirit, with our health department especially, because it does seem to me like there's a lot of overlapping jurisdictions here. In fact, you could imagine a route being that we update our city county board of health to include some of these other kinds of things as one idea. I'm sure there's a whole lot involved there. But either way, this points to the fact that people in Eau Claire, with the closure of the hospital, with the care they're getting, with the cost of insurance, I have my own health insurance or health story that I feel like would be relevant for a committee like this. People are frustrated and they want action and they want more out of their local government, they want more out of their state and their federal government as well. So I don't wanna take away from that overall sentiment, but I do think there could have been, a lot more due diligence and work done to make this a stronger ordinance change. Either way, I'll support this and I think people are gonna be pleased to see this on the ballot and they're probably gonna pass it from what I can tell.

Thank you, Council Member Werthmann. Council Member Mboga.

Thank you. I will take back what Councilor Whitman said. We're going to have a premium coming up. We're going to go up to the beauty bill coming up in January. So I think when we put things under power, I feel like the community feel like they are part of the conversation. So they will decide it. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Serrano.

Yes, thank you, Council President Gregert. I actually am feeling like I'm welcoming any additional groups of people that can brainstorm and can bring ideas forth of what can be done at the local level. about this problem. I mean, I appreciate that we have our Board of Health, we have other entities kind of trying to do what they can to report on the state of health in our community. But boy, if we can find another group of people with new energy also to advise us as a council my understanding is that one of the ideas is to make recommendations to city council what can we do locally boy i'm all ears so um i i welcome this and i do think that putting it forth to a referendum helps us to get more I don't know community visibility on the fact that you know we are all eager to hear more and and all ideas are welcome and we are open for ideas of what to do because we very much have a crisis on our hands in terms of health care access. So I don't see any downside to having another team of people who are going to more formally advise us on what can we do. Thank you.

Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Council President. I just wanted to clarify that, you know, my perhaps, you know, remarks on the process of how we got here today. I don't want to, like everyone has been echoing here, that I don't want to dismiss the sentiment that so many people have anxieties and concerns over health care access and the cost of health care. You know, they've got twice the number of signatures required to get to this point here today. So I do want to empathize with the people who this is a major concern, as it should be, as it is for all of us here on the council. So the process probably could have been a little better, in my opinion, but I do fully sympathize with the sentiments being carried here.

Thank you, Council Member Miller. I had a question, I guess, for staff, because we've had a lot of, I mean, I guess in recent years there's been a lot of discussion about the staff time it takes to make sure that our board's committees and commissions are a meaningful experience for volunteers, but also have real tangible power, right? as much as, and this one has advisory in its name, obviously, so it's in that category, but is there an estimate from staff, like, how much time some of these additional duties and objectives of the committee would take, like, over a period of the two years minimum that it would exist if it were to pass?

City Manager Solberg. We don't have an exact hour that, you know, we can't say that it's estimated 200 hours or 300 hours, but it is something that we talked about and we do have deep concern over because this is a very broad discussion. task that's assigned. So the hours that staff will be spending working on this are hours that could be going towards sustainability, advisory committee, all sorts of things that the council on our boards, commissions, and committees actually have purview over. And my issue with this is it's Creating a lot of additional work for staff that City Council doesn't have Purview or power over the over the health insurance companies for this you you have an ability to Broadcast this but this is a City Council if they're if they're really for awareness, you know oftentimes the groups that that organized the petition could do the same research and have a broader range over the county or over the region instead of just locally in the city. So those are just a couple of things, but we do frankly have very strong reservations and concern for staff time because I think it is going to be, if it's going to be meaningful and when we are tasked with doing something, we want to give quality numbers and a quality product to present and to have out. So it'll easily be in the hundreds of hours of staff time to do this. We'll have to do it once before council could reconsider it again and potentially change it for the two year period for the charter status with that. Okay.

Thank you. And do we, I mean, sometimes we have various boards, committees, and commissions that have multiple departments involved. And sometimes it's just within one. Is there a preliminary idea of this being housed within the city county health department and then maybe having support from planning? I don't want to assign anything here or imply anything here, but just want to try to get a sense of where What departments would be most involved?

Yeah, that's something that we look at. When council enacts an ordinance, the organization works forward to enact the ordinance and operationalize it. So we would work among all of the departments. Our first presumption is that the health department would have a lead role with this. But do we have... They would need assistance either with additional funding to staff up to take this on even if it's in a short-term role or they would need assistance from from other venues whether they This isn't a county ordinance, you know with DHS Potentially has expertise that could potentially help with it Or is it is it our? We haven't gotten that far for figuring out how we would pull this off of their existing resources, because this doesn't come with a funding source to do this. This is an unfunded mandate, and we are all very concerned with health insurance, and we are feeling it.

We're going through the budget, so I think everybody in this room is very concerned with health insurance.

But just frankly speaking, this is an unfunded mandate on our employees. Thank you.

Manager Solberg. Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Council President. In reviewing the ordinance, the section of powers and duties, section B, states that hold at least two public meetings each year for the purpose of et cetera, et cetera. So reading through the ordinance, I see that there's a minimal requirement of having two meetings a year. So I would hope that future members of this committee will hopefully be able to have effective meetings and perhaps limited to just the two meetings per year as not to taxed resources of the city through this unfunded mandate. Okay.

Any further discussion of the motion to go with option B, which would be to pass a resolution placing a referendum on the November 3rd, 2026 ballot regarding a petition for direct legislation. Um, Any further discussion? Council Member Miller.

I think, also, I checked with the city clerk, and if we don't do anything, it automatically goes on the ballot anyway. So you can let that weigh into your vote. So I guess we all know it still goes in the referendum anyway. Would that be correct, city clerk?

I would check with our city attorney.

City attorney Nick. Hate to give hypothetical answers, maybe this vote. Yeah, it has to be one of those two. And if this one does pass, then we'd recommend a motion for indefinite postponement on the ordinance under 30A just to clear the agenda. Okay.

Okay. Any further discussion? From council. All right, city clerk, please call the roll on the option B, please.

Council Member Crager.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

Amboga.

Aye.

Miller. Aye. Orth.

No.

Otto.

Aye.

Reed. Aye. Serrano. Aye. Werthmann.

Aye.

Brewster.

Aye. All right, and that passes 9 to 1 to place a referendum on the ballot. And then is there a motion to indefinitely postpone option of Council Member Miller?

Thank you, Council President. I move to indefinitely postpone option A.

Second. OK, we have a motion from Council Member Miller, seconded by Council Member Reed, to indefinitely postpone option A. Is there any? Discussion? Seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Johnson.

Aye.

Mboga. Aye. Miller. Aye. Orff. Aye. Otto. Aye. Reid. Aye. Serrano. Aye. Werthmann. Aye. Brewster.

Aye.

Greger.

Aye. All right, that indefinite postponement passes unanimously. So we are done with agenda item number 30. And now we're into the category on our agenda of ordinances for introduction. I will read all three of those, and then we can go from there. Item number 31 for introduction is ordinance amending S2.72.010 entitled city of Eau Claire pay plan adopted specifically those parts thereof pertaining to firefighters, local 487 employees. And I'll read the next one. Agenda item number 32, ordinance amending the city of Eau Claire employee benefits and leaves plan, specifically those parts thereof pertaining to firefighters local 487 employees. Agenda item number 33, ordinance annexing land to the city of Eau Claire located in the town of Washington, Eau Claire County, as shown in planning drawing number 26-1A. Annexation ordinances require a two-thirds vote of the elected members of the governing body per Wisconsin Statute 66.02178. Therefore, eight affirmative votes are required of the 11 elected council members for the council to pass an annexation ordinance. So those three items, do any council members wish to suspend the rules to take up any of these items tonight? Council member? Miller?

Thank you, Council President. I move to suspend the rule to take up ordinance item 31. And if I'm permitted to do so in the same motion, also do item number 32. OK. I think that's fine. I got a nod from the city attorney.

So we have a motion to take up items 31 and 32. Do we have a second? Council Member Serrano?

I second that motion, please.

OK. So seconded by Council Member Serrano. So we will take up 31 and 32, but we'll do those separately. So we'll start with 31. Point of order. Sorry. You need to vote. Oh, we need to vote. And it requires a 2 thirds to pass. Sorry. So yeah, we have it requires a 2 thirds vote to suspend the rules, but in that motion can do so for both of those agenda items. So is there any discussion on whether to suspend the rules? Okay, so seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll on whether to suspend the rules for agenda items 31 and 32.

Council Member Amboga. Aye. Miller. Aye. Wirth. Aye. Otto. Aye. Reed. Aye. Serrano. Aye. Werthmann. Aye. Brewster. Aye. Greger.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye. All right, and that passes unanimously. So we can now take up, we'll start with agenda item 31 and then later go to 32. Perhaps we could have a staff presentation on this, or maybe? So just to make sure we understand what we're considering.

So agenda item 31 is an ordinance to implement the wage increases for local 487 employees. So it improves the wage increases of 5% in 2025, 3.5% in 2026. 2.5% in 2027 for the total of 11% over the three years. And it also includes that $625 one-time adjustment in 2026.

OK. Thank you. Any questions for Director Riepel? Council Member Brewster.

Thank you, Council President. I guess my question is, we knew we would eventually have a contract, right? So have we been sort of like squirreling money away waiting for this moment?

Yes, the finance director included a projection in her budget and adjusted for it. Okay, thank you.

Okay, any other questions from the council? OK, so we're going to move this item on a motion by Councilmember Johnson and seconded by Councilmember Amboga. This item is moved. Is there any discussion of agenda item 31? OK, seeing none, city clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Miller. Aye. Orth.

Aye.

Otto. Aye. Reid. Aye. Serrano. Aye. Werthmann.

Aye.

Brewster.

Aye.

Greger.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

Amboga.

Aye. All right. And that passes unanimously. The next item is number 32 that was read earlier. Is there anything further to present from Director Rieppel?

So the employee benefits and leaves plan is also an ordinance, and that includes a vacation. So this ordinance provides that one day of vacation to new fire department employees hired after January 1 of 2026, on or after.

Okay, thank you. Any questions from the council? All right, thank you. So on a motion, by Council Member Otto and seconded by Council Member Reid. This item is moved. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing none, City Clerk, please call the roll on agenda item number 32.

Council Member Orth.

Aye.

Otto. Aye. Reid. Aye. Serrano. Aye. Werthmann. Aye. Brewer. Brewster. Aye. Gregor. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Amboga. Aye. Miller.

Aye. All right. And item number 32 passes unanimously. Any other interest in suspending rules to take up the final item, number 33? Okay. All right. So we will move on to... So that concludes our agenda. So we can go on to announcements and updates from the city manager and the city council. So does anyone have any announcements? Oh, Council Member Amboga.

Thank you. I wanted to draw attention to one of the firefighters who lost his life. I think some, I don't know if it's the council or the staff, but we really want to thank him and thank his family for, you know, It is an emotional time to lose a family member, especially for somebody who worked for the city, you know, how long they worked, what time it was, all that kind of thing. God bless. Peace. That's what I want to say.

Thank you, Council Member Mboga.

Council Member Miller. Thank you, Council President. I'll be on the Board of Health, and we have the health director here. It's probably been noted, but the health director is retiring from her position at the end of this year. She has served, I knew until I started talking, how many years has it been? Thank you. 14 years as the director of the Board of Health, including the COVID period, which is a very stressful time for us. But she's still here and has decided to retire. We are currently having applications open for a new director of the health department. That's open through August 31st. And then tentatively the Board of Health, we have meetings in October to pick a candidate. And then by the end of the year, have somebody hired to take the role. Okay, not replacing, but take the role that she will be vacating at the end of this year. So I just want to thank her for her 14 years of service. And I'm sure she'll get another chance to come forward and say when she actually retired, when she was here, and this is the ongoing process right now, so I just wanted to alert. If you want to be the director of the health department, you have until August 31st to put in your application.

I decline, thank you. City Manager Solberg.

Just a few upcoming events. August 17th, there is the We Care Eau Claire event in Phoenix Park at the Farmer's Market. That's for Eau Claire school district students, excuse me, from four until seven, where they can receive free school supplies. August 18th is the City Council Academy and a team building with city staff from five to 8 p.m. at the Chippewa Valley Museum. August 28th, we're at our next Chamber Eggs and Issues. The theme of the meeting is building our communities. We'll have representatives from the city of Eau Claire in addition to other local communities talking about some of the economic development and growth that we're having in our area. And then if city council members are interested in the fall conference, which is now called the Civic Connection for the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, that is October 7th through the 9th in Appleton. and let the city manager's office know if you're interested and we can get you signed up for that. And then now that we're in August, we are down to three Sounds Like Summer concerts in Phoenix Park, including this coming Thursday. So take advantage of the Thursdays from now through the end of August as we approach fall. We have no further announcements.

Thank you, city manager. Yeah, I just wanted to acknowledge that it is a primary election day today across the state of Wisconsin. And polls close at 8 o'clock, so there's still time to vote today. And I want to thank our city clerk and all the staff that work on the election, especially kind of doing double time with helping with a council meeting while the polls are open as well. And I just want to thank all of our poll workers and just the voters for getting out today and exciting competitive primaries, partly thanks to a previous council president as well. So we will go on to Council Member Serrano next.

I just have to echo what Council President Braggart is saying. Many, many thanks to our elections department and our city clerk and our colleagues at the county also and the counting of ballots and all of the really incredible election integrity that we have here in Eau Claire and across the state. So people worked really, really hard to do this really, really well. So I'm just so grateful for them.

All right.

Thank you.

Well, if there are no other announcements, and if there's no objection from council, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming.

Thank you. I make no disclaimers about what's in the wallet. Thank you. Thank you.

See you at Waterways. See you at Waterways. See you at Waterways. You know, Nate, my wheels are turning. We need this, we need this, we need this. I know.

I brought a bunch of boys and girls, pub kids to the Lake Street.