Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We will call the January 20th meeting of the common council to order. And I will ask the clerk to call the role. Alder person Hos here. Halverson here. Keane here. Novak here. Nolan here. Roach here. Turner here. Wel here. Gisham here. Gro here. 10 present. We have a quorum. Please rise if you are able and join us in the pledge of allegiance which will be led this evening by Alderman Hosg to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. We will move to part D of our agenda public hearings. We have one item for public hearing this evening. And I will ask the clerk to read that out. Conditional use permit for First Spiritualist Church of West Dallas, a proposed religious institution use at 863 West Greenfield Avenue.

Thank you. And I'll turn it over to staff, Mr. Chair. Thanks, Mayor. Uh first hearing this evening is uh for a church. This is a small church uh small congregation about 10 persons uh within about 530 square ft at 8603 Greenfield Avenue. This is a look of the building. It's across the street from uh to the east is Mamma Mia's and then to the north is the Riviera um bowling alley. Um but there was uh the building is comprised of two commercial tenant spaces on the ground floor and then another two apartments behind those commercial uh spaces and upstairs there's four apartment buildings. Um the subject this evening is the tenant space on the west side of the building um west of that doorway with a red box around it. And this property is zone C2 commercial. Um it was previously a retail u use. It is a mixeduse building with residential. The hours of the um of the proposed use for the church are 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday. And then um and there will also be uh Sundays. And then um scope of operations, there'll be office work, uh board pastoral meetings, some educational and fellowship uh classes within the building. Uh the church services um are 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Wednesdays. fundraisers. They they'll feature fundraisers, spiritual events, fellowship activities on the weekends. The congregation consists again a very small 10person um group. The building area is about 7,700 square ft. Um and then as indicated mixed use with uh the retail and uh apartments. Uh those will be converted to the worship area. And then some internal improvements with the basically closing off a wall area. That area that's circled in red will be uh closed off and uh drywalled and then um additionally the ceilings will be

drywall to create a fire proper fire separation for the new assembly area uh the church area. The uh property does not have um off- streetet parking. Uh there is a small uh one stall space behind the building for a dumpster corral and um ingress and egress um from the building for people. Um but otherwise we'll rely upon uh street parking as it has historically. So plan commission has reviewed this and recommended approval. We've received no uh objections to date. Uh there were some minor conditions of approval uh including council well that's not minor council approval. Uh but the signage and lighting you know that's that was the uh the other u condition that was applied by plan commission. So thank you. Thank you for the presentation, Mr. Chair. Are there any questions from the members of the council? Mayor

Divine, all at once, please. Okay, let's do it again. Mayor, I'll start with Alderwoman Keane because she's closer to me and she could hit me if she needs to. [laughter] So, are they they looking to purchase the whole building? Uh, they'll just be leasing a space uh a ground floor space in that west tenant space. Um, and you said that there are Sunday hours. There aren't Sunday hours. There will be there will be weekend um primarily Sundays but uh not ruling out Saturdays, Sundays um very limited but throughout the week they do have um they do have some service within the building. U the church services will be um on on the weekends

and they plan to it's a 10-person congregation. Do they plan to grow their congregation? Not not so much. You know, this is a a very small u there's a board of trustees and some members, but it's it's very small. It's really not expected to grow much larger. The space is really only a very small, you know, 550 square feet at best. So, if they're going to grow, they're going to need to find another space to lease or or own. Okay. And then they're signing uh do you know how long the lease agreement is with the landlord? I I don't know that offh hand, but I could certainly find out. Thank you. Thank you. Who else had questions? I heard alderman wrote. Was there somebody else? [laughter]

That's why we have the clerk to run interference. Answered. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? Mayor Divine. Alderwoman Gisham. Uh, First Spiritualist Church of West Dallas. Are they relocating from a different location in West Dallas or are they just establishing now? I'm not aware if they're relocating um from from another place in West Dallas, but um Okay. Because I I'm just looking here and it says First Spiritualist Church of West Dallas on here, but when I Googled it, it said 1717 North 73rd Street as well. So, I'm just curious. That's what comes up.

Okay. Uh as a Wawaossa location. Okay. Okay. Okay. Any other questions from the council? If not, are there any questions on this public hearing from the members of the audience? [clears throat] Seeing none, we will close our one and only public hearing. I'm sorry. Oh, you can if you I'm sorry, I didn't see you. If you wish to speak, please come up to the microphone and um push the button to activate the microphone and then please give us your name and address.

Erica Shad, 1524 South 81st Street, West Dallas, Wisconsin, 53214. Um I'm actually the president of West Dallas. Um so I can answer your questions. So yes, we originally have been in West Dallas. Um, we were renting a space at the Unity Center and Waossa briefly for a year and that's why you're getting that and Google search. The lease is for two years. Thanks very much. Any other questions from the members of the audience? All right. Now we will close our public hearing and we will move on to part E presentations and I'll turn it over to clerk.

Presentation of updated draft documents establishing joint fire department between West Dallas and Watossa. You decker.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh I'll handle it for tonight. This item's come before the council numerous times. We're bringing up an update to you right now. There's no slides or anything like that. So I was just going to go over it. The documents were attached to this presentation. So if you want to review them that you can do so at that time. I'll just highlight the changes from what was presented in December. Uh as I work through this with the city of Watossa's attorney and with staff from both communities, um there are six things that substantively changed since December. Uh one of them uh very exciting is the name. So the proposed name for the joint department is the Milwaukee Metro Fire Rescue Corporation. That was a process by which the two fire departments worked together to come up with that name with pretty heavy and significant interest involvement from the uh both fire unions. So that name has been added to all the documents. Uh also the way that payments were calculated were changed slightly so that it's really based upon the previous year's payment from each municipality not necessarily establishing the budget and then dividing down the middle. We found that that might create inequity between the two communities because of the way that the tax levies fund it. Um, plus it makes it way more predictable moving forward to just say, "What did you pay last year?" All right, we adjust it based on what you paid last year. So, for budgeting reasons, and since we're under a tax levy limit, that makes the most sense. uh previous expenses and income is attributed to each city not until the day of transfer but until the day that these staffing contracts end because we are going to be using our current fire departments to staff this joint department starting uh April 27th if they are both approved by both communities. Uh and it's likely that we won't have employees for the joint department until 1 one of 2027. That's to ensure eligibility for the grant. [clears throat] Uh so just wanted to clarify that

invoice timing was adjusted so that the finance departments are happy. Um and then this idea of an equity contribution since it's a brand new entity. Uh it needs to be funded with some working capital. So each community was proposed to submit uh a sizable equity payment that's more of a deposit that each community would get back uh in the future. uh either um if either department or either city wanted to back out of the agreement after the first 10 years, you would get only a portion of that equity payment back, only 50% back. That encourages both communities to stay in the joint department and ensures that the other department who does not want to back out of the agreement um gets their full amount back and the other one does not, creating a surplus for the purpose of transitioning back to two separate departments in the future should that happen. Um and then also the uh estimated grant amounts were added. That was just based upon the 2020 2025 numbers that we got from the McMahon and Associates report. So right now the estimated grant amounts are based upon expenses from each department. Um you'll see let's see I'll bring them up. Right now Watossa would be estimated to get 4.37 million per year for five years. West would get 4.22 22 million per year for five years. Um, you know, has that number is likely going to go up because it does not include certain expenses that were not that were included in the uh McMahon and Associates report. Does not include anything like building use or vehicle costs or anything like that. So, I expect those numbers to increase. Any questions on this update? Otherwise, if none, then this item will come back before you likely uh if an update is needed. Otherwise, on February 24th.

Thank you, Attorney Decker. Any questions from the council? All right. Thank you very much. And we will move on to public participation. This is where the council can receive information from members of the public during this 30-minute period of our agenda. We again ask each speaker to announce their name and address, sign in at the podium, and please limit your comments to one statement of no more than five minutes. Uh just to be clear, the council cannot take action on topics raised by the speakers and we cannot get into discussions um on the topics raised by the speakers. Does anybody wish to address the council under public participation this evening? I'm being very cautious because I missed somebody last time. I do not see anybody. So, we will close public participation and we will move on to item G. Our standing committees will be meeting during our recess tonight. Those room numbers are listed on the top of page two on your agendas. But if you are here for a specific item, whether it be a license or a permit or some business with the city and if you're not sure what room to go to when we break for recess, please stop one of us and ask and we will make sure to get you into the right place. Uh, moving on to item H. Uh, no, I do not have a mayor's report this evening. So, we'll go right to item I. Do we have any reports from the older persons?

Mayor Divine. Alderman House. I move for approval of the minutes of the December 9th, 2020 25 council meeting. Second. There's a motion and a second. If there are no corrections or changes, all in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? The minutes are approved. We'll move on to K. Uh, standing committee reports. Alderman Hos, would you like to make a motion on the committee of the whole action? Yes. I move for approval of item four. It was approved by the committee of the whole in a 8 to2 vote. Approval of NNS towing as our primary contractor to be clear. Thank you. Is there any discussion?

If not, I will ask the clerk to call the role. Alder person Hos Iverson I Keane I Novak no Noling hi Roach I Turner Wel I Gisham no Grove I [clears throat] eight in favor motion carries we'll move on to item oh I'm sorry public works committee there is a item five do we want to pulling it up the Do you want to send it to committee? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Good. So moved. And then item L will be our consent agenda. I believe we have at least one separate action item.

Right. Mayor Divine. Thank you. Um yeah, there's been a request for separate action on item 25. That item 25 be referred to the public works committee. Do any council members have any other requests for uh changes on our consent agenda? And then uh Mayor Divine, I move for approval of the consent agenda minus item 25. Second. There is a motion and a second by Alderwoman Keane. Um if there is no other discussion, I will ask the clerk to call the role. Other person has I. Halverson. Hi. Keane. Hi. Novc. Hi. Nolan. Hi. Roach. Hi.

Turner. Hi Wigel. Hi Gisham. Hi Gro. Hi. 10 in favor, zero opposed. Motion carries. Mayor Divine, do we need to act on item 25 to refer it to committee? Did we just do that? I think I just did it when I said so moved. They can be referred without objection. So, if the chair wants to refer any item, you can do so uh upon consent. So, no need to take a separate vote unless there's an objection. Does anybody object? Good. Good. All right. Then we're done with that one for now. And I believe we are to recess. It's a lot of Mayor Divine [laughter] on page 10. Yeah.

Alderman H. I still haven't gotten there. [laughter] I move that the council stand in recess until the conclusion of our committee meetings. Second. There is a motion and a second by Alderwoman Gisham. All in favor? I. Any opposed? We are in recess.

Good evening. We will call the common council back from recess back to order. I will ask the clerk to call the role when she's ready. Elder person Hos here. Halverson here. Keen here. Novak here. Ro here. Turner here. Wel here. Gisham here. Grop here. 10 present. All right, we still have 10. And that is a quorum. So we will begin public works committee. When you're ready, madam. The public works committee recommends adoption of items 5, 25, and 55. Mayor Divine, I move in accordance of the committee report.

Thank you. Alderman wrote is there any discussion? If not, I will ask the clerk to call the role. Alder person Hos I. Halerson. I Novak. I Roach. Hi. Turner. Hi. Wel. Hi. Gisham. Hi. Gro. Hi. 10 in favor. Zero opposed. Motion carries. And then we will move to the economic development. The economic development committee recommends Hold on. Holding of item 58 until February 10th meeting, granting of item 59 and adoption of items 60 and 62.

Mayor Divine, I move in accordance with the committee report. Thank you. Is there any discussion on the economic development committee report? Hearing none, I will call the role. Other persons? H I Herson. Keane. Hi. Novak. Hi. Nolan. Hi. Roach. I Turner. Hi. Wiggle. Hi. Gisham. I. 10 in favor. Zero opposed. Motion carries. And then the public safety committee. The public safety committee recommends granting of items 63 64 and also 65. Mayor Divine. I move for approval of the public safety committee report. Thank you. Any discussion, questions?

If not, all in favor? Any opposed? The eyes have it. Item is approved. Mayor Divine. Alderman. I move that we adjourn until our next scheduled meeting, Tuesday, February 10th, 2026. Second. There is a motion and a second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you.