Remarks by Joshua Miller
55 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 3
- Play at 1:27:11
“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?”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:27:28
“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”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:28:38
“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.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:30:31
“Point of order, has this been moved yet, City Council President?”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:32:32
“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…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:38:31
“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…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:43:57
“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.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:44:54
“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?”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:46:40
“Thank you, Council President. I move to indefinitely postpone option A.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:49:08
“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.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:55:47
“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.…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 46:57
“Thank you, Council President. Thank you, Council Member Werthmann. I just want to give credit. I'm a seconder on this motion, but Council Member Werthmann did the vast majority of the work on this one. I just kind of helped him hone it and bounce some ideas off and refine it here. Just something to add that he didn't quite touch on. Some people, so the Tier 1, the at-home composting, It does define it more, but still as of now, no permit or registration is required for that one. You should still have to follow any sort of nuisance. It can attract nuisance like insects or rodents, but as of…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 48:43
“Thank you, Council President. Council Member Maboga. In the ordinance, under definitions in the first chapter, there is a title X, compostable materials, and it specifically lists the items that can go in there, such as yard waste, compostables, fruit scraps, and other acceptable materials. It defines fruit scraps and then free details such as fruit, vegetables, green meats, et cetera. I'm not going to read the whole thing here, but there is a definitions chapter of this ordinance which states exactly what you can put in there.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 49:21
“But we do have strong definitions on what can be composted and things that cannot be composted, like for instance, food scraps cannot contain slaughterhouse weight, animal carcasses, fats, and stuff like that. And as long as you're following the guideline, composting is a well understood process and there's really not problems. If any sort of problems do occur in which it becomes odorous or attracts vermin, that would then fall under a nuisance and the community services will be contacted It's one had a complaint with a neighbor that had a compost that was being a nuisance they can contact…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 54:24
“So just a clarification, are you talking about like tier ones that are going to be individuals? Are you talking about tiers two through four or all of them?”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 54:38
“Because tiers two through four will be easier for us because there's going to be registration and our licensing and our commercial operations. So the biggest, I wouldn't say the word challenge, but the biggest opportunity for having concerns from neighbors will be one in the neighborhoods at the... at the personal ones, but actually that doesn't change from how we are now. Because the purpose of this ordinance also, because right now you can have your own personal compost, or you can have a hauler do it. And there's no tiers two through four, and there's no community. So this actually doesn't…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:22:49
“Thank you, Council President. Courtney Hubbard, thank you for the presentation. I'm following up Councilmember Brewster's comments. So the areas at least indicated here with these blue boxes, they seem to follow existing property lines. On the southern portion going up, you see exactly where the lines theoretically would go. And then on the north side, you see exactly where the lines would go. So it seems like just declaring conservation outside of that one, we already have latitude, longitude, whatever GIS information we need to do. So I'm curious why we still just can't make a conservation…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:24:09
“But I guess my thought of this is that I would not be comfortable at all moving forward with this one without having conservation in place first. So I think for me, they'd have to go in that order to even happen. So that's my opinion. Any other may have their difference. So that's my thought process behind my questions here.”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 1:29:04
“OK. Councilmember Miller? Thank you, Council President. According to Hefford, looking at the lots, none of them are, because they're not being used for anything right now, that they are very wooded. So then the question comes up, I don't know how well they've been checked over. Would there be any possible complication with our tree preservation ordinances? They don't seem, I can't tell just from the street views, you know, if they have any valuable trees worth saving. Has that been ascertained at this point, if any of them would have trees that would be kind of under the protections from that…”
City Council · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 26:44
“Councilmember Miller. Thank you, Council President. I agree with the language that's provided in this motion here. Just I was wondering if we could, so I don't want anything in this motion to be considered exclusionary or disparaging. I support the item presented and the four points. I'm just hesitant on the phrase rather than solely catering to new wealthy arrivals. Because before that, it says insurers' investments benefit the original community. And I think we said period there. I don't want to have any, like I said, disparaging language. I mean, we do want new people to come to Eau…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 28:01
“If you, I'm sorry. Council Member Miller, yeah. We shouldn't really be talking to each other, we should be talking to the chair. Chair, if the mover desired to keep new but would be open to striking wealthier, I'd be okay with that. Slight amendment just to not disparage any particular economic classes from this motion.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 36:15
“Thank you, Council President. And before we move further, I thank Council Members Brewster and Schoen, Vice President Schoen, for bringing forth the motion. There was also input publicly from the Jonah Affordable Housing Task Force, and we had a number of community members from them speaking to this and helping craft this motion. And although it was read into the record, the first item here was protect and preserve the original community, vulnerable tenants, and homeowners from displacement. So I really appreciate that. the community bringing forth this equitable amendment to this…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 45:53
“THANK YOU COUNCIL PRESIDENT. I'M THE CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE ON THE Board of Health for the Eau Claire City County Health Department. And this resolution is being considered by many counties and cities across the state as an effort with the Wisconsin Counties Association and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities as an effort to prioritize how local public health is funded in the state of Wisconsin. State funding for Wisconsin Public Health Department is 49th in the nation out of 50 states, where the bulk of the funding comes from either local municipalities and counties, so the city and…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 1:00:32
“Thank you, Council President. During last night's presentation, Director Ness mentioned that she had reached out to the trucking companies involved in this intersection to talk to them. Before this, I just wanted to say thank you for reaching out to the companies. It's always great when our community members and partners hear about stuff that's happening at City Council ahead of time so they are prepared for it. So that goes a long way. So thank you for doing that.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 1:03:36
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Jul 28, 2026