City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. It is six o'clock, so I'm going to call this meeting to order. This is the Tuesday, July 21st, 2026 meeting of the Common Council. We'll start with roll call and Dale Matthews will not be in attendance today.

Christine? Here. Everett? Here. Wigderson? Here. Piper? Here. Vantrieste? Here. Wells? Here. Mannion? Here. Moulton? Here. Witeska? Here. Anderson? Here. Helgestead? Here. Matthews is absent. Miklitz? Here. Lemke? Here. Camacho?

Yep. Here.

Excellent. We do have a quorum.

Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right, next up is public comment. Doesn't look like we have anything in the box. Is there anyone here for public comment? I will take that as a no. So we will move on to the approval of the minutes. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting? Alderperson Molson? I move to approve. Okay, is there a second? I'll second. Thank you. Alderperson Miklitz. Are there any comments? No? All right. Then please vote when it is before you.

Piper, aye.

All right. That motion does pass 14 to 0. Next up is consent agenda. Are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda? All right. I will take that as a no. So we will assume that the consent agenda is approved. Moving on to new business. First up, we have possible acceptance of donation from GD Process Design LLC. I believe we have Assistant Chief Fleming in the audience to go over this for us.

Good evening. Yes, Tim Fleming, Assistant Chief with the Fire Department. So sort of a unique opportunity from GD Process. Reached out with a change in their production process and offered us an opportunity to take delivery and use of one of their tanks that they use for their food processing. So the tank will be clean, non-hazardous, delivered free of charge. And this is simply just an ask to accept this training prop. They'll be delivering it down to our training center on Century Drive and afford an opportunity for our special services team to be able to train in a space that's a little bit unique but also within our community and a realistic incident that we may need to respond to. So a great opportunity at zero cost and an opportunity to improve our training program.

Excellent. Are there any questions or comments or motions?

Alderperson Piper.

Go ahead. I'll make a motion to accept the donation.

Thank you. Alderperson Miklitz? Second. All right. Any comments before we vote? All right. Then please vote when this is before you.

Piper, aye.

All right. That motion passes 14 to 0. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Moving right along, we have transit commission report. Alex?

No report. We do have a meeting scheduled for this Thursday.

Excellent. Water Utility Commission. The major thing that we have on our agenda, because Alderperson Matthews is not here, so I will happily give that report. We got an update on hiring our new director process, so very excited about that and hopeful to have some updates for you all soon. Next up, we have IT Board, Alderperson Manion.

No meeting, no report.

Landmarks Commission report. Alderperson Christine.

Thank you, Mayor. Just no meeting, no report, but just a reminder of Waukesha Unlocked first weekend in October. The Springs will be open house and various other awesome things around the city will be there to view. Thank you.

Excellent. Redevelopment Authority report. Alderperson Lemke.

No meeting, no report. Our next meeting is next month on the third Monday.

Excellent. Parks, Recreation and Forestry Board Report. Alderperson Wells.

We met last night and approved the fall fee schedule. We have had some events and programs rescheduled from last week with the smoke and air quality. So check the city website for those updates.

Thank you. Library Board Report, Alderperson Helgestad.

Thank you. Next meeting is August 13th. I want to encourage everyone to continue taking part in the summer reading program, and Waukesha Reads info is soon approaching. So, end of report.

Thank you. Cemetery Commission Report, Alderperson Christine.

Thank you, Mayor. We had no meeting scheduled for the month of July. The Friends of Prairie Home has worked out with Piala's Nursery about expanding some garden. Piala's is donating the labor. Friends of Prairie Home Cemetery purchased the plants, and it's going to look really nice. It's around the Veterans area, and that's going to be a little bit probably early fall once the weather cooperates. So that's a great partnership with the Friends of Prairie Home. Thank you.

Thank you. Housing Authority Report, Alderperson Piper.

Meetings actually tomorrow at the Housing Authority on Arcadian Avenue at 9 a.m. All are welcome to attend and report.

Thank you. Community Development Block Grant Committee Report. Maria, anything? All right. Public Art Committee Report. Alderperson Molson? No report. Thank you. Plan Commission, did you have anything to report?

No report, just the next meeting is tomorrow.

Yes, thank you. Finance Committee Report. Alderperson Piper?

No report this evening, but I'll take an opportunity to remind the council and the public of the show-and-tell as the budget kicks off on August 25th. That's Tuesday, 6 o'clock at the City Garage on Century Drive. Look forward to seeing a lot of you there, and as always, members of the public are always invited and encouraged to attend and report.

the best Finance Committee meeting of the year. All right, Building and Grounds Report, Alderperson Moulton. All items on consent. Thank you. Ordinance and Licensing Committee Report, Alderperson Wateska. It looks like we have one item for a second or third reading, correct?

Yes, this is the third reading of a proposed amendment to Municipal Code 9.115 to allow temporary extension of premises onto Municipal Lot 13. It's the third reading. This was a referral by Alderperson Evert. Anyone who wasn't here last time, I guess, or whatever. We currently allow this in the Clocktower lot so that... i was forget the name can have their their saint patrick's day festival maddie's has requested that we also allowed in municipal at thirteen so that they can do the same it's it's my personal opinion that it's unfair to allow one uh operator to be able to close a lot for their own you know purposes and not allow another so um with that i'll make a motion to approve the amendment as proposed i'll second all right we have a motion uh from alder person with tesca and a second from alder person camacho um i know that alder person everett might want to say a few words would you like to say anything i'd just like to say thank you for allowing this it's at the end of the day it's only fair but

Thank you.

Thanks. Is there any other comments or questions regarding this item? All right. Then please vote when it is before you. All right. That motion does pass 14 to 0. And again, that is to allow temporary extension of premises onto municipal lot 13. Next up, we have the Human Resources Committee report. Alderperson Anderson, I understand you were not present. So you are passing that over to Alderperson Christine? Correct. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Mayor. All items were on consent with the exception of the item 04035, the action on review the HR policy E2 motor vehicle use, formerly the vehicle collision control and accident reporting. And the only difference is we wanted clarification on what the city of Waukesha, their risk risk assessment uh... that they ran this through and basically i'll read it please uh... honor this but this is basically we wanted it read for you guys tonight uh... it is only individuals authorized by the city and may operate city-owned vehicles authorization is limited to city employees and approved city volunteers who have successfully completed all requirement background checks motor vehicle record reviews, training, and any other requirements established by the city of Waukesha or other individuals are prohibited from operating city-owned vehicles. The wording was very close, but it was advised to change some of the words around so it flowed a lot better. So I'll make a motion, and I can answer any questions after that. So I'll make a motion to approve 04035.

Excellent. So we have a motion and we have a second.

I'll second.

From Alderperson Wateska. Are there any comments or questions? Alderperson Wateska?

Yeah, just one. I didn't catch if Alderperson Christine said this. The only reason this was not unanimous at HR was because Dale actually wanted to see, and I'm speaking on his behalf even though he's not here. which might not be fair, but what he had said was he just actually wanted to see it written out, right? This was exactly the language we discussed. He just wanted to actually see it in the text when we voted on it as a council. So that was his only concern for not approving it at HR. So I'd encourage everybody to support it.

And I did not receive any concerns from him, just for full disclosure. Are there any additional comments or questions regarding this item? All right, then we do have a motion and a second regarding HR policy E2 motor vehicle use. Please vote when it is before you. All right, that motion passes 14 to zero. Moving on, Board of Public Works report. I know we have a number of bids. I'll throw it over to you, Alex.

Thank you very much. The first bid that was received on June 26th was for the Luke Avenue, Bourne Place, and Walton Avenue Utility and Street Improvement Project. The board recommended moving forward with a low bid. from Musson Brothers in the amount of $1,418,655.50 to be awarded.

Alderperson Piper? So moved. Alderperson Wateska? Second. Are there any questions? All right, please vote when it is before you. All right, that motion passes 14 to 0.

Next bid is for the Greenway Terrace Playground Resilient Surface. We received two bids on this. The board recommended moving forward with the low bid from Blue Mills in the amount of $112,800. That's the base bid only.

Excellent. Alderperson Piper? So moved. Alderperson Wateska?

Second.

All right. Are there any questions or comments? All right. Then please vote when it is before you. That motion passes 14-0.

The next bid and final bid would be the Greedy Park Irrigation Installation Project. So this was brought to the Board of Public Works. It did come in over budget and it was recommended to be approved pending additional funding being discovered from the Waukesha Community Foundation. after some additional discussions internally with administration and park rec forestry department we're actually recommending rejecting the bid um at this time and uh revisiting reworking that project back to like the beginning of a little bit and reimagining re-sculpting etc so i don't know if there's anything else to add to that tony but uh that's no i would just reiterate what alex said after discussing it concerning the condition of the memorial right now

and where we are at in the season. It seems more appropriate at this time for both Public Works and PRF to go back and redesign the project to figure out if we can adjust the scope of it and then also get out the gate a little bit earlier in the season, so hopefully January, February, so we get favorable pricing. So that's why at this time we're requesting that the bid be rejected.

Alderperson Piper?

I'll make a motion to reject the bid.

Okay. Alderperson Camacho?

I'll second.

All right. Are there any questions or comments? All right. So the motion is to reject the bid. So if you vote yes, that is to reject the bid. Please vote when it is before you. Oh, can you make sure that's reflected in the minutes that it's reject? All right, so that motion does pass, 13-0 to reject, and we will make sure that that is properly reflected in the minutes. Oh, 13-1, sorry, thank you. Yes, and we'll make sure it's reflected in the minutes appropriately. Thank you. All right, Director of Public Works Report.

I'll just say thank you to the elders that came and visited the Clean Water Plant today. We had a nice tour. Dan Ryder and other staff at the Clean Water Plant gave a very nice tour. So thanks to Dan, Zach, and Hunter for providing that tour to the group here. So thank you all for coming.

Yes, thank you all for being very engaged. That's always wonderful. City Attorney's Report. Nothing? City administrators report.

I'll keep with the theme for this evening, no report.

I'm going to mess it up then. I do have a resolution to honor the life of David Stearns, and I'm just going to read this out in its entirety because I feel like he deserves that respect from us. So, whereas death has taken from our midst David Stearns, and whereas David Stearns served the city of Waukesha as alderperson, chair of the Waukesha Redevelopment Authority, and president of the Waukesha Public Library Board of Trustees, And whereas David Stearns further served the broader community through his work with the Southside Business Council, Waukesha Lions Club, Waukesha Rotary Club, and his role as president of the Waukesha Area of Chamber Commerce. And whereas David Stearns will be remembered and live on through his beloved family, his wife Connie, his children Amy, Scott, Craig, and Sarah, numerous grandchildren and siblings, as well as the endless people he touched through his dedication to his community. And whereas the city of Waukesha wants to remember and thank David Stearns for his service towards his community, now therefore be it known that this resolution be contained in the permanent records of the city of Waukesha and that a copy thereof, duly certified by the mayor and the city clerk, will be transmitted to the Stearns family. All right, are there any referrals? Wow. All right. Seeing none, unless there are any objections, we are adjourned.