Common Council - Regular Meeting

I'm good.

All right. I'm That will happen. recording in progress. I'd like to call tonight's committee, the whole meeting to order. It is 6:33 p.m. May you take the role, please.

Davis here. Lampy. Berg here. Barks here. Lanky here. Smith here. Arnett here. Wetzel here. Moldenhower

here. I got that's recorded. So, okay. Our only our only agenda item today is the Dodge County Community Development presentation by Mr. Nate Olsen. you want to come up and not quite on the agenda, but I like to thank you for the $100,000 grant to help us help us with Wilbur Street project. All right, floor is yours, sir.

I was told I could use a microphone. Is that all right?

We good? Perfect. Um, I'm a little bit of a hand talker and a mover when I give presentations and I to be honest with you, I hate sitting behind a podium. It's not my style. So, Deb's gonna help me uh click through there. So Deb, I'll just give you a little prompt. I'll stand over here a little bit so the folks here in the audience can can see and I can talk with you guys as well. So as Robert said, my name is Nate Olsen. I'm the community development administrator for Dodge County. I was asked to come tonight to just give a brief presentation on what Dodge County Community Development is, who we are, what we do, and go back Deb, you're getting a little ahead of me now. Um, and just just to give a very high level. So it's what Dodge County does. I'm not saying it's right wrong. I'm just saying it's what we do. I've been doing the I've been doing uh working for Dodge Co for 24 years going on 25. In some way, shape or form, I've been in community development, economic development, and in a variety of different ways. So, uh up there you see on the picture, we just have a staff of two, myself and Morgan Muki. Morgan is our communications and marketing manager for Dodge County. She would have come tonight, but she's actually down in Milwaukee. She's up for a governor's award actually tonight. So fingers crossed Morganville could be coming away uh uh with an award tonight. But also I believe she was here I want to say 6 months ago or a year to talk about workforce activities that I'm going to touch a little bit on that uh we're doing in Dodge County. Next one, De. No, go back one. Thank you. So when I talk about community development, you know, I talk about areas of work. We have these buckets, these areas of work that I I try to, you know, pigeon hole some of the things that we do to help make it a little easier. Now I'm going to go through these a little bit more but once again I only have a little bit of time so I'm just going through the stuff kind of high level but very first one is business assistance. This is your typical economic development activities working on business attraction working on BRE or business retention and expansion activities as well as B2B businessto business and then also I am

the lead contact for economic development in Dodge County. This is the business assistance. Once again, this is kind of more of your traditional economic development activities along with the third one, which is workforce. Workforce, this is major. This is huge. Everybody knows that there's jobs out there. Workforce is a big big driving issue, not only in Dodge County, state of Wisconsin, but the Great Lakes, Midwest States, all over. But in Dodge County, we focus a lot uh collaboration efforts with our K12 school districts. We have 16 school districts in Dodge County, majority of which I work with in some way, shape, or form. uh whether it's on the manufacturing business alliance, youth apprenticeship, inspire Wisconsin, GPS ed, or internships. I'm going to go into these in a little bit more because we have some really good measurable figures for you guys for that. There's also something I'm uh rolling out which is called classrooms to careers program. This is going to be an investment fund to actually help pay for some of the programming that goes on in Dodge County. I also work quite a bit with the workforce development board for southern uh south central Wisconsin. This is more with your uh older population. So, not K12. Now, I will tell you when we have unemployment under 3% where we're at, which we have been, which we will be for a while, uh not quite as much as I used to work with them as I am focusing on K12. Also, when we look at community and county activities, there's a lot I do with that. uh demographic challenges and trends that we're seeing uh baby boomers and the shift that we're seeing in uh housing and child care along with workforce. Some of that stuff's work a lot with businessto community relations uh maintaining those positive relationships where uh businesses want to be in our communities and where people want to be. Child care, housing, community development fund is another one. Robert mentioned that the $100,000 grant. I'm going to talk a little bit more on that and where we're at. Then also too is to do a lot with quality of life initiatives. Um data shows us if we have communities where people want to

be, businesses will want to be as well. Okay. So maintaining our quality of life, which we have very good here in Dodge County by many metrics. Um maintaining that is is a priority of ours. And then also one thing that we do that many others don't is tourism. Tourism is run out of the land resource and parks department. It falls with me. Morgan does a big part of that as I mentioned. But, uh, we do a lot of work with outdoor recreation, the Horcon Marsh, the Dodge County Park System. Your Dodge County park system is crazy, uh, popular. We book out a year in advance for our, uh, camping at them at our facilities. And when you think of camping, yes, we do have tent camping, but the camping of today is much different. It is literally house on wheels that we have to now accommodate. It's the campers. It's the $400,000 motor homes that we're coming in now. So that's really changed a lot. But we do take care of the parks and trail system. Uh work a lot with our with your with our chambers on tourism. Robin Kaufman who's with Watertown with the uh Watertown Chamber. Do a lot with Robin. Great partner of mine. She has been for years. Next one, Deb. So within all these buckets of work, um a big part of my job is to take down silos and get everybody kind of working together and going in the same direction. Whether it's taking on issues, addressing opportunities, it is to get everybody going in the same motion because unless we work together with all public, private, different entities, we're not going to keep making sustainable growth. Okay? So, a big part of my job is getting everybody going in the same direction. And also to remind you that in these buckets of work, it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. This is unending work that has to be uh kept at. It is ongoing. Next one, Deb. So looking at business attraction, we maintain the lowest uh database for Dodge County, which is a database of your building and sites. This is something that many counties do. Nothing new, but it is a good tool. It's what a lot of site selectors use. Ours is under

construction because we're redoing our website. So it will have a little bit new look that we're working on. But one thing with this that I really want to point out um is in my work, you know, I work with communities to help with their attraction and market their sites, especially larger sites, okay? With your industrial parks and so forth. I've done that through WDC site certification. Back when MADREP was around, I did it with gold shovel certification. And it's just to help make sites, I don't usually like using this term, shovel ready, but that's what it is. Try to get more shovel ready. Okay. Dodge County, we do not have an industrial park. Uh there was at a time there was talk about going for an industrial park for Dodge County, but uh about 20 years ago that was met with a lot of opposition, so we did not. So I work with communities on their business industrial parks as much as I can. And then also Dodge County, I help disseminate out our RFIs that come from WDC. And we're trying to work with our communities on the RFI responses such as Deb right here because Deb, you guys as a community, you're the local champions. You're the ones that make things happen. You know the conditions. You know what you want. It's not me as a county. I'm here to help you. So with these RFIs, cycle them down to the communities, those that want to respond, help get the information, submit them to the state for those RFI responses. Now I will say RFIs have have been a little bit of decline this year but the prior few years uh we are seeing record number of RFIs coming through WDC. Next one BR this is always a fun one business retention expansion. This is one of the legs of economic development and BR is essentially is to keep what you have and grow what you have. It in the economic development world with businesses it's a lot easier to keep a business and grow a business than it is attract a new one. Okay. So, BRE do this through workforce, quality of life, community relations, uh your B2B markets, helping them expand

and understand maybe new markets with other businesses in the area. At the heart of BRE is relationship building and maintaining it. At the heart of it, it is maintaining positive working relationships with your business community. And this is an ongoing effort which quite honestly, go to the next one, Deb, bleeds over into this one, workforce. As I mentioned, workforce is a huge, huge item right now and it will be for a while. And it will be for a while because of our demographics. Our demographic trends and our projections are not good for Dodge County, for the state of Wisconsin, even the Midwest states, Great Lakes states. We're all facing the same demographic challenges, and that's aging workforce, fewer working age people. So, what do we have to do to try to confront that? We come back to how I mentioned before working with our K12 district. Okay, that's your future workforce pipeline. And realistically, I kind of get sick of the term workforce because it gets overused so much. It's really it's your residents. It's your current residents and your future residents. What are you doing to help keep them and have a place for them into the future? So, that kind of comes back to is building communities where people want to be, where our youth want to be. Okay. So work a lot with our K12 on that retention. Our demographics are driving this where we're at. Uh our business community, when I do BR stuff and when I talk with our business community, there's two things they tell me to focus on. They focus on maintaining communities where people want to be and maintaining places where our where our kids want to be, where our youth want to be because that's what's going to matter for the future. All right. When I talked to site selectors, I've talked to sight selectors from other states. They asked me directly. They said, "Nate Olsen, what are you doing for workforce in Dodge County? I don't care what the state's doing. I don't care about all those programs. What are you doing specifically? And what are you seeing to make a difference?" Because workforce programs, especially some of the things that we have going on in Dodge County, I'm going

share with the next slide, are making a difference. There are measurables there that are making a difference that are driving business decisions and it's driving decisions actually in communities. Go to the next one, please, Deb. some of the programs that we have in Dodge County. Now, I do not own these. I work with these though. I work with your K12 districts. I work with CISA on these. Um, first one up there is Youth Apprentice. Youth apprentice in Dodge County is extremely popular. It's popular to the tune where I have we have waiting lists of students that cannot get a youth apprenticeship. I need more employers to step up to the plate and do youth apprentice to be quite honest with you. GPSed, that's another state accredited youth apprentichip program that brought into Dodge County. It's only been around for a year and a half. Already seeing great traction in this because it is for students where the traditional school model does not work for them. Doesn't mean they're bad workers. Means the traditional school model doesn't work, but we're finding ways to get them into the workforce and get them into careers. CISA 6, the Inspire program. The Inspire program is a great program. This is uh like an initial intro to the wide array of careers that we have available right in our backyard. Between Dodge County and Fondelac County alone in the Inspire program, we had over 4,400 students in different engagements with our employers. That number is crazy. These numbers across the top three up there. I'm not aware of other counties in Wisconsin that can put up numbers like that to be honest with you. Then on the next one down is manufacturing business alliance which was out of the Beaver Dam chamber but I administer it. This is where it's a very select group of manufacturers in the Dodge County region that uh showcase careers in the manufacturing world to students. It's just for manufacturers. And when I say region, it's not just Dodge County businesses. Um I have Johnsonville Sausage to the south of us. They're in. I have businesses in Columbia County, Washington County, Fondelac County that are part of this because they really believe in the manufacturing business lines. But when you put all these together, these are this is I call this

a workforce portfolio for our K12 district. And there's investments that go on into this. And here are the measurable results to show you what what is coming out of uh those programs. So there is going to I'm going to get actually go to the next one. I might actually have it on there. It is. So, um, just want a quick touch on, uh, Dodge County activities in the land resource and parks department, which is where I'm at. I am also involved in comprehensive planning, zoning, uh, doing workshops for community officials. Farmland preservation program is run out of our office. Dodge County, we're typically a top five, top 10 for egg commodities produce, uh, one of the top counties for farmland preservation program. So, it's very, very big for us in Dodge County. CDBG housing rehab program uh goes out of our office as well as a region made over a 100 loans. Trail development coming back to making communities where people want to be doing non-motorized trail development is huge. I work on the Gold Star Memorial Trail if you're familiar with that. Implementing uh the Dodge County Career uh internship program. Dodge County, we're a large employer. We employ over 900 people. Um we have employment needs bad. we're going to have significant amount of people retiring. So, we're trying to address that early on. Create an internship program. And this is actually what some other communities are starting to do as well. And that is to uh have internships that are just career exploration where kids can come in for eight weeks and learn about all the different areas of Dodge County where they can work. Sheriff's Office, Clear View, my office, Highway, go down the list. So, that's been kind of exciting. the Dodge County uh community development fund is something relatively new. Watertown, you did secure a $100,000 grant for Wilbur Street over by Madison College. This program took me about four years to actually get developed. It took quite a while, but what it is is created a grant program that's internal just for Dodge County

communities. So, only cities, towns, and villages can apply to the community development fund grant program to secure a grant to help make a development happen. It's the last dollar in. It's to cover the gap to actually make a development happen. It's not planning, not conceptual. It's to get it across the finish line. We took $2 million of sales tax dollars to reinvest into our communities. There was a total of six awards that were made. Watertown was one of them. We are opening up uh for a lesser amount in 26. About 800,000 was made available uh for grants. That cycle will be in April and May and then uh be looking at June July for decisions. So community development grant fund uh community development fund is very exciting. It's one of the few that are in the state of Wisconsin I believe. So very cool there. Next one up is the classrooms to careers fund. So Deb go go back real quick. So these programs right here cost money to implement. Okay. In some way shape or form somebody's helping pay a bill to make this happen. That's not on the private side not a problem. But on the school side, it's an issue because schools are going to operating referendums. Budgets are tighter. Okay? So, some of this stuff is getting squeezed, especially like busing. Getting even kids to facilities is getting tougher and tougher. So, so through working on this over the years, I've had people come to me and say, "Hey, I want to give money to help make these things happen because I believe in them." Okay, great. I could fund it to schools. I could fund it to different ways. They wanted to go to a bigger cause. I could not take money. I cannot accept it. So what I after a while go ahead and I'll go forward Deb. So one thing I thought of is why not create an investment fund. So I'm working with an actual foundation. The Fondelac area foundation has a series of funds to actually create an investment fund. We'll be able to bring money in and then turn around and make grants to schools to help pay for career-based learning activities. You're going to hear about this more in 26. Um I have some interest down here in Watertown quite honestly uh with this program. So, next one up, Deb.

Robert, I'm trying to keep on track, man. I know it's a hard stop. Uh, community activities. Dodge County. We're a large county. We're 900 square miles spread ac uh villages. Takes you 1 hour to go from one corner to the next. Very large area. We have regions within uh Dodge County that are experiencing different needs issues. So balancing that out, I try to be a resource for planning, zoning for different community needs. Once again, housing, child care, um business and community relations I do a lot with too. And kind of coming back to the whole mantra of live, work, play. I kind of don't like using that, but because it's been used so much, but that's a reality is how do we keep making communities where people want to be? Make pe communities where people want to be with whatever the amenities it is. You have where businesses want to be and they want to invest. I do have businesses that have come to me and have said to me personally, what communities in Dodge County are investing in themselves? What school districts are? Because I've had the exact notion say said to me, why should I invest $50 million into this community if they can't even pass a $20 million referendum? Okay? I've had that exact statement said to me, whether right or wrong, just letting you know. Next one. Tourism. Tourism is a big part of what we do as well. Um there's there's a lot that goes on there. We are very big in outdoor recreation as I mentioned the Dodge County Park system, parks and trails, but we have the Horon Marsh. Work a lot with the marsh entities. Between Dodge County Parks and the Horacan Marsh, we did an economic impact study uh year and a half ago. Between just just our two entities, it was over an $8 million visitor spending impact just on outdoor wreck. So obviously it warrants a lot of attention from us. We do a lot with our visitor guys with digital content. We make a lot of videos. We ma we create interactive mapping for paddling. Paddling's really

grown really grown very very uh popular. Gem grant. We've received the joint effort marketing gem grant three years in a row. Once again, Robin Kaufman from your chamber has been very active with with us on that and has helped make that very successful. Matter of fact, Morgan and Robin just a couple weeks ago were working with your downtown businesses on creating a marketing video for downtown Watertown. So, very cool stuff going on in in the tourism space and and what we can and can't do. We have a do we have a new website. We're rolling out new social media as we can um as we're wrapping up with our third round of gem. And then two, I do a lot of uh park projects with our high schools. I like to do hands-on projects. I've done fish cleaning stations on Beaver Dam Lake or selfie stands. And the reason why is they're adding to our parks. They're adding to tourism, but it's hands-on activities working with your employers and your schools, your kids to do those activities. Next one, Deb. So, all these things I'm kind of I'm I realize I'm going over things very very quickly. try and be conscious of time. But one thing I do want do do want to make you conscious of and try to remember is going back to that initial sideway I showed with the with the people running on the gears and getting everybody going the same motion in community development, economic development. I'll probably community development, I'll say that just because that's me. Um, a big part of the job is to bring all the pieces together that I mentioned. Okay? And I like to describe it as a puzzle. There's a community development puzzle and everybody serves as a piece, right? It's my job to try to bring people together to complete the puzzle because we can't do this stuff without without one of them. And there's many more puzzle pieces. This is just a visual by the way, but there's a lot and you and it's our job and even your job as a community too, everybody, every entity, public, private, together to try to complete that puzzle and try to move to move forward to be sustainable and grow. Next one, Deb.

So, one of the things that uh moving ahead that I'm trying to do to get even better and better at, it's it's kind of ongoing is I want to keep educating. I want to keep creating awareness. Hence, thank you for inviting me uh to come speak Robert is to help educate and create awareness on what community development is, but then also celebrate successes. This is something that quite honestly I'm bad at. I don't I'm not a person that likes to uh say, "Look at me, look what I've And I'm not that type of person whatsoever, but I do have to get better at just helping share successes that go on because a lot of people don't know and there's a lot of good things that have gone on in this county. A lot of good things that I think a lot of people should be proud of. You know, negative news travels quickly, right? Positive news doesn't. So, I want to get better at sharing successes and repeating this. Educate, awareness, success. Next one, Deb. So just uh going ahead, I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing, implementing uh my work plan, the areas that I've worked on that I just kind of shared with you. I do want a part of that success. I do want to grow our digital presence even more. We have a very good presence and we're doing good there, but we can do even more. And quite honestly, I want to engage the youth more in some of our some of our social media outreach. Um, got some kind of cool things that I want to work on with youth apprentices telling their story through their eyes, actually using AI glasses and recording their day, stuff like that that we're going to uh start expanding into. Strengthening local partnerships and building new collaborations. Um, you know, with the way the demographics are in aging, I'll be honest with you, there there's a lot of people retiring. There's a lot of my a lot of people I've worked with over the years that are no longer around. So I have to redevelop partnerships, have to reinvision collaboration on how things change in these institutions. I'm seeing this all the time in the in the private sector. It's a big issue of mine to be honest with you. So something I have to really keep up with is building and maintain those positive relationships.

And with that, I made it just under 7:00. Thank you, Mr. Olsen. Yes, Mr. Barry, I just want to give a compliment to the nice job you did on your presentation. Your energy is uh obvious and your um your passion is is very appreciated. And I appreciate too the way you brought in the importance of working with the school systems and MATC and and the tech schools. Those are the future employees and and citizens of our of our community. So, I I really do appreciate the way you emphasize those areas and I would say keep up the good work. Thank you.

Thank you. We got a few minutes if anyone's got any questions for Mr. Olsen. Get this side first. Oh, and I the work you do for the schools education in general. I very appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Olsen. You bet. Thanks for letting me use the mic and I stay behind the podium. That's good. You're welcome, sir. Okay, that being the last and only agenda item, I'll look for a motion to adjurnn. I'll make that motion. Okay, motion by Berg. Second. Second. Second Barnett. All those in favor say I. I.

I. Opposed. Okay. Thank you. It's 657. So, why don't we just take a fivem minute break? We can start a couple minutes after seven.

meeting to order is 7 oh sorry before that Mr. Zimmerman Mr. Dr. Dave Zerman from River Valley Church will give our invocation tonight.

Well, I'm going to start tonight with I was trying to figure out in my mind how many years I've been doing this invocation. Um, but I'm going to uh give the scripture tonight from the first one that I gave probably 10 or 12 years ago. Uh, it's from James 1-5. Uh, James 1 chap chapter 1 verse 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you. I think anyone in leadership positions finds that wisdom is often in short supply and we uh we are looking to any source that we can get our hands on to um to really find some wisdom. and you guys uh as I have been in and out of city business for these past few years, you're entrusted with some some mighty big decisions uh that you've had to make. And these decisions not only uh shape the future, they shape today and they have to be based on what's gone on in the past. And so it takes a great understanding for that. Uh this verse from James has has been of great comfort to me as I've been in leadership positions for probably the past 36 years or so. And this uh it reminds me that uh wisdom is not something we manufacture on our own, but it is promised to us if we ask for it. And God freely gives wisdom to us when we ask for it. And I I am of a firm conviction that when leaders uh seek wisdom with humility uh that's when unity happens. That's when clarity happens and uh a shared purpose is determined even when opinions may be going in all different directions as I'm sure you never experience in the

Watertown community. Let's pray together shall we? Gracious God, we come before you today grateful for the men and women who serve here in Watertown. You've placed them in these roles, and these roles require discernment, patience, and courage as they gather to make decisions this evening for the good of our city. We ask that you grant them the wisdom you promise. Wisdom that is generous, steady, and rooted in what is right. Give them unity of spirit even when perspect perspectives vary. Help them listen to each other. Help them speak with respect and work together for the common good. Lord, would you give them clear minds? Would you give them compassion for those they serve and a deep sense of responsibility for the trust that is placed in them. Bless their discussions this evening. guide their choices and may everything done in this room contribute to the flourishing of our beloved water town. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Mr. Zimmerman, congratulations. Second time you retire. 10 10 days left. But who's coming? Not you. Right. Let's make sure here. Okay. I'll call tonight's common council meeting to order on Tuesday, March 17th. It is 7:06 p.m. Megan, please take the roll call. Davis here. Lampy. Berg here. Barts here. Blanky here. Smith here.

Arnett here. Wetszel here. Moldenhower here. You please join me in the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. First agenda, we have minutes from the common council meeting from March 3rd. I'll move for approval of those minutes.

Motion by Berg, I believe. Second by Smith. Okay. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Thank you. Next, we have comments and suggestions from citizens present. Members of the public who wish to address the council must register their requests in writing before the meeting begins. Each individual request to address the council will be per permitted up to three minutes for their comments. Members wishing to speak during the public comment section may only speak once per meeting. Danielle Taylor

Hello, my name is Danielle Taylor. Thank you for the opportunity to speak here. I am speaking um in regards to the ordinance to amend chapter 319. Um um before I start, I have a couple questions here because it's the ordinance for um licensing established massage businesses. Um, so I was wondering how many of uh the council members or anyone in here has had a professional massage before by raise a hand this time? No, this this time m is up just for comment from you only.

Only. Okay. Um, well, the purpose of that was to kind of um help see if this was being written by people that are experienced with massage and or understand what massage is. Um I just was because these are being written um for us to licensed uh massage therapists to have to seek a license from the city where we are already licensed by our state board and um we had to go with um like we had to get uh we had to go through the school for that and get our lure through them. when um I was looking over the ordinance, the ordinance um uh dictates to me as a therapist what my scope of practice would be or what tools I could use such as the tables and the showers. Um I I just was wondering where does that end up stopping because those things are part of massage for hydrotherapy can be applied to it. Um, and then where it is requesting or telling dictating the hours of operation for me and section C, it limits me to basically a half a day. I understand that it's from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., but um though there other establishments and bars and whatnot also get they have more availability to their properties to be able to work or do what they need to do um to utilize their properties. That also dictates to me or suggests to me that I would have a clothing requirement um by the city. Um and then

number three under section C is already covered underneath my lure. Um this does single out massage therapy businesses uh alone as it doesn't state gyms uh spas chiropractors dentists or other well wellness um healthc care services for this um licensing from the city only. And I just um was also wanting to ask because it seems to be um to help target a criminal activity that um PE uh licensed therapists are that are following what is dictated by their lure aren't doing what the um what in the prostitution and statute for uh 944.3 don't cover. Um and then statute 944.32 don't cover and 944.33 and 944 34. Um these are all already laws for Wisconsin statutes that go under human trafficking pertaining into prostitution, prostitution solicitation. Um and adding um additional supports laws are the statutes um 948.051 944.36. These all are laws that are already in um available to our law enforcement to be able to uh conduct what they need to for the illegal activities by um the criminals that are hiding behind the name Massage. I think that's all I got for now.

Okay. Thank you, Miss Taylor. Thank you. Okay, that's it. Okay. All right. There's a chance for some public comment at the end of the meeting as well. I saw one. I'm like, "Oh, it's 47." Yay. 419. I'm sorry. But it's black with white.

So, everyone is muted. Oh, never mind. Okay. Apologize. Okay, next we'll go on to reports. We have the board of health minutes from February 3rd, plan commission minutes from February 9th, licensing board minutes from February 11th, plan commission minutes from February 23rd, finance committee minutes from February 23rd, public safety and welfare minutes from March 4th, public works minutes from March 10th, and tourism minutes from March 12th. Okay, we'll move on then. Okay. Next on our communicate, Mr. Mayor. Oh,

I'm sorry, Mr. Smith. I didn't see your hand.

You had just uh probably a quick oversight, but on the finance committee minutes on February 23rd, um Alderman Berg was there obviously from the um activity and his participation at the meeting, but he is not listed as being present, so I'm sure he was. Okay, we'll make no of those changes. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Is there anything else? Okay, apologize to Mr. Hand, Mr. Smith. Okay, we have a computer on uh reminder, April 7th council meeting will be moved to Monday, April 6th, due the election. So we'll have next mean in 20 days I believe. Okay. Next are employee recognitions. and Chief Jill Pedig serving 25 years in our department and Jane Flanigan serving five years solid waste division. Like to thank them for their service to the city. Okay, next we have a 2025 city annual report.

No questions, comments on that. We'll move on the fire department annual report. Anyone ask any questions? sheep's online for that. And then last we have E Fire Department monthly report January 2026. Okay. Under new business, review and take action committee appointments. Mayor, I'll move that we uh approve your appointments that you recommend. Okay. A motion by Berg.

Second. Second by Smith. Okay. Questions, comments. Okay. Roll, please. Berg, I. Barts. Hi. Blanky. I Smith. Hi. Arnett, I Wetszel. Hi. Moldenhower. I Davis. Hi. Motion carried.

Okay, thank you. Next are miscellaneous business. Have a payroll summary from February 18th through March 3rd. Paid invoices report from February 2026. Cash Investments February 28th. Okay. Questions or comments on those three items? Okay. Next. Licenses. Under A, we have a memo to the council from the clerk. Uh B, review and take action application for a temporary class B beer and temporary class B wine license from Luther Prep School booster club for the live prepared galley event located at 1300 Western Avenue on April 18th, 2026 during the hours of 5 to 12 5:00 p p.m. till midnight. Motion by Barts.

Okay. Second by Blanky. Questions, comments.

Okay. All in favor say I. I. I.

Opposed. Okay. Thank you. C. Review and take action applications for temporary class B wine licenses for the whiskey and wine walk event hosted by Watertown Chamber of Commerce on April 25th, 2026. during the hours of 1 to 4:30 p.m. Locations include Brao Jewelers at 217 East Main, Brown Shoe Fitting Company at 212 East Main, Drager's Floral at 616 East Maine, Sassy Sweets at 116 West Main, The Basketball Bar 111 East Main, White Oak Builders at 14 East Maine, and Wisconsin 26 Merkantile at 117 South Third. All other locations for the event are licensed establishments.

Mr. Smith, Mr. Mayor, I would move for the approval of the temporary class B wine licenses for the specified event and the um hosting entities that are listed. Okay. Motion by Smith, second by Barts. Okay. Mayor, I have a question. Yes, Mr. D. Just out of curiosity, could you remind us how many ounces of whiskey or wine are allowed to be dispensed at each location? Does anybody know that? I suppose it was about one. They're really small glasses last year.

Is it like one to two ounces somewhere in the neighborhood? And there's 16 locations. So theoretically, it's 16 ounces to 32 ounces of whiskey wine. Thank you.

Okay. And I think it's a like a three and a half hour period. All right. Thank you. That's what I was curious about. Okay. Anything else? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Okay. Thank you. Next. Review and take action. Application for a change of agent from Walgreens company located at 301 West Main Street from Crystal Murphy to Jessica Christian for the licensing year expiring June 30th, 2026. I'll move for adoption.

Okay. Motion by Berg. Second by Smith. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Okay. Questions, comments on item D. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. I. Opposed. Okay. Thank you. Uh E. Review and take action application for a class B beer license from A1 Oil LLC. Rajender Singh is located at 821 North Third Street for licensing year July 1st 2025 through June 30th 2026.

Mr. Blanky I'll make a motion for denial of this license. Okay. Motion by Blanky. Second by Barts. Thank you. Questions, comments? I real quick if we are if you're going to make a motion to deny I just ask that for the record um you state the reasons for the for denial that's required under state code um when we're providing notice to the applicant. Amend your motion. Mr. Blanky, I'm reading the licensing memo and which

what would you like as the motion to deny? I see reasoning but it could be for all if you were to agree all none some uh of the reasons set forth by licensing board that would be an appropriate amendment and rationale

like to amend my motion that to deny to state for the reasons laid forth by the licensing board and the following concerns and reasons are for recommend and a denial of public safety concern regarding drinking and driving at a gas station carry out allowance concern under the class B license that this is not considered a true restaurant and it would be setting a precedent in the city. Watertown has not considered or licensed this type of establishment a convenience store or gas station as a class B license in the past. Recommend your second. Okay.

All right. on this at all or uh no opportunity was for public comment at the meeting when it started sir just no sir it's for all those to discuss okay okay comments questions Okay. Motion was to deny hold of uh do a roll just in case. Blankie. Hi.

Smith. Hi. Arnett, I Wetzel. Hi. Moldenhower. I Davis. Hi Berg. I Barts I. Motion carried. Okay. Thank you. Right. Next. After review and take action application for an operator's license from Paul Babach. Mr. Mayor. Yes, Mr. Mullenau. I would like to um this application be denied. Okay. Motion by Molnau for denial. Second. Second by Barts. We'll want to list the reason again.

Okay. Mr. Mr. Mhm. You want to list your reasoning for denial? Um,

or just based on recommendation by licensing would be sufficient sir. Yes. Yes. Through the licensing um it was at licensing that this came up and uh it was um through licensing that this was denied. Okay. So motion based on licensing's recommendation to deny. Yes. Okay. Alderman Barts. Okay. Alderman Barts agrees to second on that. Okay. Questions, comments on item F. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. I. I.

Opposed. Okay. Thank you. Next. G. Review and take action application for an operator's license from Michelle Anavino. Mr. Mayor. Yes, Mr. Walnau. I would act I'd like to have this um application also the United Okay. Same reasons as state and licensing. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Okay. Motion by Molhar for denial for the same reasons as expressed by the licensing committee.

Second by BS. Okay. Questions, comments on G. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I.

Opposed? Thank you. Next under ordinances. Ordinance 26-04, amend chapter 550, official zoning map of the city of Watertown to reszone 510 South Second Street for number 291-0815-0424-040 for multif family residential MR8 zoning district to central business CB zoning district classifications sponsored by myself and the plan commission at second reading. Okay. Motion by Wetszel.

Okay. Second by Berg. Okay. Questions or comments? Mr. Blankie, go ahead, sir. I'd like to once again express my concern with this project. Before I do, I'd like to point out that at no point in time have I advocated the discontinuation of the car seat check program. This is a service we provide to the community that is focused on the safety of our children. And of course, I'm in favor of continuing that program. The concern is with the scope of this project and the fact that it has only had a hearing in front of public health, the board of public health and the finance committee. As was pointed out at our last meeting, there are alders who sit on those boards. But to make it seem as though that represents a majority or even a plurality would not be accurate. The two alders on the health board also sit on the finance committee. So only four of nine have truly had an opportunity to do a deep dive into this plan to and discuss its drawbacks and merits. I believe to this day that this should require the deliberation of the full council. If the argument is that once finance approves something, it has had sufficient deliberation, then why does anything else approved there come to the full council? Since I'm not sure that day will come, I will lay out some of my concerns. According to the 2024 health department report, 60 car seat checks and 250 vaccinations were administered by the health department. Looking at the car seat checks, that is an average of five a month. Unless we are extremely unlucky, it is unlikely that all or even half were done in extreme weather conditions, specifically heavy rain, since that is effectively the only thing that this would protect against. I also believe it is fiscally irresponsible to spend one-time funds on a project that will have long-term maintenance and financial obligations. Those long-term maintenance cost projections projections should be done, presented, and weighed by the council. Once that occurs, it would be

appropriate to move forward with whatever decision is made. Currently, it feels as though this is being pushed to a point of no return where it becomes a fiscal negative to stop the process. I'm not asking to stop looking at this. I'm not asking to stop this. I'm asking for us all to look at this, have input, and possibly engage in the timehonored tradition of compromise. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blankie. and just went to planning too I believe Mr. blankie, right? So, planning, finance, health. Yes.

Okay. Thinking of things that come in front of council, but we have three organization, three committees that have four alders that sit on that and some of you in here are more more than one of them. Um, it's like I I don't public work. I mean they all have their jobs when it comes to council here too. We rely on those other committees to send things through. So you are correct that just because something goes through finance or goes through any board doesn't mean it goes through council at all or doesn't have to. Okay. Nobody else has a comment.

This is a reasonzoning matter that we're this is this is resoning. Yes. Yeah. And I I don't understand the the problem with the resoning. I'm for it. And that that's that's I said we have a team. So it's the nine of you that decide. So a lot of things that we pass through here are everybody agrees and there's some things that we disagree with. So yeah. So obviously this is one that some people disagree with. So I just want to make sure everyone's got a chance to speak. Okay. All right. We'll take a roll call then. Please. Megan Wetzel. Hi. Moldenhower. Hi. Davis. Hi. Berg. Hi. Barts. Hi. Blanky. No. Smith. I.

Arnett. No. Motion carried. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Next. B. Ordinance 26-05. Amend. Amendments to the 2019 save water comprehensive plan. Amendment from central mixeduse FLU and two family residential FLU to institutional FLU. Pins 291- 0815- 0424- 043 291- 0815- 0424- 042 291- 0815- 0424-40 291- 0815-424-11 and 291-815-424-009 spots myself the planning commission on second reading and we just got done with Pi Day and made me think I was resetting pi to like 80 digits or so, but

come on. Motion to approve. Motion by Davis. I'll second it. Okay. Second by Berg. Okay. Questions, comments on B. Okay. Davis. Hi. Berg. Hi. Barts. Hi Blanky. No Smith. Hi Arnett. No. Wetel. Hi. Moldenhower. Hi. Motion carried.

Okay. Thank you. Next. C. Ordinance 26-06. Amend chapter 550 official zoning map reszone lot zero gateway drive pin number 291-0815-1631- 003 for multif family residential MR8 zoning district to single family residential SR4 zoning district classifications sponsored by myself and planning commission at second reading Mr. Mayor Mr. Blanky. I'll move for ordinance 26-06 on its second reading. Okay. Thank you. Motion by Mlanky. Second by Smith. Okay. Questions, comments on that one.

Lanky. Hi. Smith. Hi. Arnett. Hi. Wetzel. Hi Moldenhower. Hi Davis. Hi Berg. Abstain. Barts I motion carried okay next D ordinance 26-07 adopt the plan development PD overlay district general development plan GDP precise implement implementation plan PIP for lot zero gateway drive pin number 291-0815-1631-003 sponsored by myself and the planning commission also on second reading mayor Mr. Blankie.

Move for ordinance 26-07 on second reading. Okay. Got a motion by Blankie and second by Smith. Okay. Questions, comments on that one. Okay. Blankie. I Smith. Hi. Arnett, I Wetzel. Hi. Moldenhower. Hi. Davis. I Berg. Abstain. Barts. I. Motion carried.

I was getting excited. I'm almost at the second page. I realize I have a third one yet, but okay. Who made this big agenda? You know, ordinance 26-08, ordinance to create section 80-8, lift assist services with a with amend section 410-13, sale and discharge of fireworks of the city of Watertown and general ordinances sponsored by Alder Davis and the public safety and welfare committee on its first reading. Miss Davis, I'll move to approve ordinance 26-08. Okay. Motion by Davis. Second by second. Second by Moldenhower. Okay. Questions, comments on E.

Okay. Davis. Hi. Berg. Hi. Barts. Hi. Blanky. Hi. Smith. Hi. Arnett. Hi. Wetszel. Moldenhower I. Motion carried.

Okay. Next. F. Ordinance 26-09. Ordinance to amend chapter 319 health and sanitation article 5 practice of certain trades professions requiring state licensing registration or credentials. Sections 319-35, 319-36, and 319-39 of the save water general ordinances sponsored by Alder Davis and the public and safety welfare committee on its first reading. M. Davis. I move to approve ordinance 26-09. Okay. Motion by Davis. 08. Second. Uh no 09. This is 2609 on the on the agenda.

Correct. Okay. A second by Barts. Okay. questions, comments, Mr. Bur, go ahead.

Yeah, the the person that made their comments under public comment u they obviously are in the profession, it appears, with their background, and they expressed u uh some concerns on on the intent of this. I don't think that person or anybody would be opposed to making changes that are going to address uh the concerns of our police department and those that brought this to the attention of public safety. But um these type of topics do require uh it seemed like uh some decent critical thinking and some time to to look at all the ramifications of what we may be trying to do with good intention that may affect people in the profession like that individual and others who uh who are there with proper licensing and with the right intentions to provide a service that people want and benefit from. So I'm I'm asking u you know whatever they can to provide uh uh some explanation but I'm also of the view that uh it went through public safety in a in a in an expeditious manner and I just don't see the we need to do things right and we need need to do things with people that are impacted involved in that process of uh being able to contribute toward potential changes and improvements to make it you know the best it can be. So I'm I'm asking uh my my opinion would be to send it back and to involve uh people in that profession to be more in the in the in the ramifications of this and the impact it might it might have on their profession. They've spent money. They're in the profession of providing this service and they they need this for a livelihood and they're they're there with the right intention. I I just would like to get reassurance that it is thought through

and that it is uh ready for adoption instead of um uh ideally sending it back and having further discussion. Thank you, Mr. Berg. Well, Miss Davis, um maybe um the attorney and Chief Brower, you can share the process that has taken place and the meetings that have taken place and then also the input that we've heard and um kind of share what was involved in in bringing this ordinance to public safety and then all the research and meetings that have gone into it.

Sure. Um generally this started out many years ago. um with investigations that involved sexual um criminal acts and um especially though in in human trafficking as being the impetus for this. And what we ended up realizing was as we attempted from law enforcement's point of view um to enforce the state statutes that are already in place um we reached a point where we just we couldn't make cases. it became a matter of we've got somebody as a witness saying a sexual thing happened um or pursuing the potential human trafficking nexus on these things and we would get um obviously other side saying no it didn't happen became just a he said she said and in the court of law for the criminal end of things we weren't able to reach that burden of proof that's necessary um and so we had known establishments engaging in both human trafficking and sexual um criminal things for decades now, many years. I remember as a young detective investigating these things years ago and being unsuccessful with making a difference in this and stopping it. Um one method that is very successful in similar areas is to go after the ones who are holding the purse strings, the owners, the managers, those sorts of things. Um, and the way we've done that in the past with other businesses is to have a license process where you can't operate in our city unless you go through a licensing board. Um, the burden of proof of the licensing board is much less than the criminal so that we can bring in witnesses, we can bring in evidence and we can have a licensing board make a decision on a license um, at a level that's much more appropriate for this sort of thing. In other words, preponderance of the evidence, clear and convincing, um things that are appropriate um to make a difference and say no, you can't continue your business in this fashion. Um so that was the impetus for this was to begin looking at

how to do that. Um one of our detectives kind of spearheaded this um got um some research done with other cities, other police departments. I'm looking at different um um ordinances and methods to create something that would allow us to have an impact on this even though we can't quite make that criminal case in these situations. Um so it's a it's a way to to get to that point. Um that detective has done a lot of work. Um Miss Davis has done a lot of work with it as well. Um the gal who spoke with us this morning has already been in comm or this evening has already been in communication with us um extensively and um we don't necessarily intend to put this into place next month before we continue to have more discussion more adjustment to the ordinance um potentially as we get more of that feedback. Um part of our roll out then would also include uh contacting the businesses that are currently in place, advising them of the new needs and listening for some of that feedback as well. um and we'd be very interested and willing to um listen to those concerns. The things that are in place right now, pardon me, the way it's written right now um certainly um do a good job of doing that. And if we bend or change a few of those things, that would not mean that this ordinance would be useless. We are not in any way um already at that last ditch. We're sure this is where it has to be. Um, so we'll continue expecting to do that. The roll out for this, we've also discussed timeline on this, perhaps not even starting until the first of next year to give time for some of these things to become in effect. Um, but that isn't set in stone. It's just that we've even thought that far out that we don't need to move quickly on this. If if by any mistake that it appears as though we are trying to move quickly on this, I can assure you we're not. Um, this is something that's been in the works in our heads and then working slowly through the process for many years now.

Um, but I I agree with you, Mr. Burke, that we do want to be um careful to incorporate good ideas that are shared with us from people who are in these types of legitimate establishments. And so, as Chief Brower has mentioned, we've already gained some good ideas from the individual who has spoken tonight. And um the attorney is already looking to see how she can incorporate those ideas. In fact, every one of the um suggestions that was shared tonight, we've already discussed internally and have ideas on how to incorporate. So, what I'd like to see us do is to continue moving forward um passing it on its first reading tonight and then we can meet as a team um and we'll continue to meet to incorporate some of these ideas and continue to have the conversation so that when it comes for the second reading there may be some amendments but those we can be assured that that those amendments are um amendments that are collaborative in nature and that have taken into account the concerns that have been shared. So, I think as chief says, we're on the right track and um and that there's still time to incorporate these amendments.

One other quick thought um again responsive to your question, Alderberg. Um I think is that we don't mean it we don't want it to appear as though we see that of the massage businesses in Watertown, a large percentage of them are problematic. this is a very small percentage and we do not want to cause undue stress to the legitimate businesses. Um and the ordinance is written in such a way that um I think that accomplishes that. Um but we do want to receive that feedback and make sure that we are being as nonrestrictive on the legitimate businesses as possible with the intent and they know who they are to target the businesses that are problematic. Mr. Blank.

Mr. Blankie, go ahead.

So, one thing that jumped out me to me as I was reading this in um H&J of the ordinance, it refers to the licensing board as the reviewing body. Um but then in a it says that they'll obtain the license from the clerk. Just wondering if there needs to be some mention of the licensing board there because are we is the licensing board overseeing the licenses or aren't they? Um because if they're if they're the reviewing body for a revoked license, they should also be the reviewing body for issuing a license. I think procedurally that is the correct method.

And I think that's the intent, but we'll make a note to see if there's a better way to state that. Thank you. Um, I also wanted to ask about the logic of um the hours being between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. where did we come up with that? Uh, why was that decided?

Yeah, I can speak to that. Um it's just a as you might surmise um the time of day matters to the illegal activities and most illegal activities are occurring late at night. So an attempt to um encourage good activities, legitimate activities. That's the purpose of that. I don't think Miss Davis you can give me an opinion if you have something different than this. I don't think that's a hill to die on by any means.

Right. And I think um uh detective RLE spoke to that in some of the dialogue we had today or some of the emails we had today um where she kind of explained that um there the number of oneoffs where you might um have a client a after hours would not change your operating hours to so that it would be infrequent. But definitely that's something we can look into. In fact, I've already started I've looked at seven other municipalities who have a very similar ordinance and the hours of operation vary. So that's definitely something we'll look at because that was some of the feedback we received. Okay.

Um and my final comment um kind of piggybacks on Alder Bergs and some of the other comments that were made. um the rollout time frame looking at possibly uh January 1st of 2027, the fact that we're still uh in consideration of this ordinance and looking at making changes. This isn't a finished product. So, I'm being asked to vote on something now that's not a finished product and then we're going to change it with the second reading and make amendments. I think that that isn't in the spirit of how passing ordinances are. To me, when we pass a municipal ordinance, the idea is that we pass two identical versions of said ordinance. We don't pass this one on the first reading, make a bunch of changes, and pass this one over here. That opens the door to bait and switch where we could get a lot of public comment at that first meeting. Then we come back to the second meeting and when we're not having a lot of public comment, we make changes. I think it's disingenuous to the public. We should be looking at a finished product and if we are taking into consideration um input from the professionals in this service and they are professionals. they're required to be licensed by the state that if we're still looking at their suggestions to make changes to this, I don't believe this is a finished product. So based on that, I'd like to make a motion to refer this back to public safety for further amendment.

I'll second it.

Just making sure we're on F. Okay. Okay. Motion by Blankie and second by Burr. Get this to send back to safety. Okay. Comments on that. Mr. Smith. Um, first of all, I want to commend our police department for their proactive approach and their complete dedication to trying to address an issue that is of concern to public safety. and for which modifications to our current uh ordinances will give them a better ability to promote that public safety. Um I also want to thank the members of the public safety committee and what I consider to be very significant and excellent work uh up until this point. But based upon our chief's comments relating to the uh timeline for which this uh the passage of this or a similar type ordinance would be effective uh suggests that we do have time to be deliberate and the last thing I want to do is to in any way impinge upon the legitimate businesses that are involved in this line of work in our community. And I agree with uh on a procedural basis with Alderman Blanki, which is before we ask the council to vote on

this finished ordinance. uh so that the first reading will be then something that we look at in virtual identical form at in the second reading. I think it would be a wise approach to send this back to committee. It would give the best opportunity for um meaningful input from the legitimate businesses that would be affected by this. And it would in my estimation uh allow a better version of what is already uh a good ordinance. And so I will support the referral motion. Um but and doing this in no way uh voting in that manner that it might be interpreted as in any way uh negatively uh commenting upon what I consider to be the very excellent work that has already been done on this and the tremendous input and initiative by our police department to address a problem that needs to be better uh regulated for our our community's public safety.

Miss Davis, go ahead. I'll just say I'll support that. I'm I think um everybody on public safety and everyone who's worked on this um wanted to bring an excellent ordinance to this council and if you all are suggesting that it go back to public safety, let's do that. Okay,

Mr. Mayor, I I want to just uh again echo Alder Person Smith and the other persons that have made comments from the council. I do appreciate the intent to make this legislation better. I I also commend the the police department for uh looking into where there might be concerns that are legitimate and that they want to address it by some changes in our in our language and our ordinance that will make it better and and take away the possibility of illegal activity and things that are that are impacting on public safety. So, I'm I'm I'm all on board with that. I have in doing uh commercial real estate. I've actually put in um in Watertown, Fort Atinson, Walkshaw. I' I've put in a lot of uh different businesses including massage therapist type businesses and they do have a license. Uh I reminded them of that. Other than that, I I wasn't aware of things that they had to have, per se. As long as they were in the right zoning and they were there with the right credentials and they had uh other things that we did look into as far as our background check on them as individual people, we felt they were a legitimate business that was worthy of going in as a tenant and a business in our communities. And I've put them in again McFarland, other locations like that. Um I know one of them that I put in, they have a 9 to9 type of time frame. So that's a slight change from 8 to 8. I also uh I'm interested in in this uh city type of license and what that would have above and beyond uh the requirements of the of the state license that they all uh currently have and carry. So, I I'm not maybe maybe I missed it in your information here, but I I'd be wanting to know what is entailed in uh and successfully getting a license from our our licensing board or clerk. And I would encourage uh

everybody who has uh a business in massage maybe to be given notice of the of the next meeting so that they can attend and participate in that discussion hopefully before it becomes a uh an action item again for us. So I appreciate the effort. Okay. Sufficient just send it back to safety I assume. Okay. All right. Motion to send it back to safety. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. NextG G. Ordinance 26-10, Ordinance to amend section 76-8, budget system and repeal section 76-10, service charge for tax exempt residences of the city of Watertown and general ordinances sponsored by myself and the finance committee on its first reading. Okay, Mr. Smith. Mr. Mayor, I would move for the approval of proposed ordinance 26-10 on its first reading. Okay. Motion by Smith. Second. Second by Wetszel. Okay. Questions, comments on it. Mr. Berg,

uh, remind me we we had the discussion at finance committee. Um uh Alder person Smith brought up a topic involving our our budget and I I obviously know that this year we did have an example where we had a continuation of public of the public public hearing for purposes of the of the budget which then went to a continuation with our council taking action uh under a a majority vote type of approach. uh remind me of this language where it's being taken out and how that is going to allow a continuation of that practice for us going forward.

You mean the revenue? I I I mean the ability for us to do what we did this year and and the at at the the council level where we had a a public hearing and then it was followed by our our council taking action uh not needing a um a twothirds type vote. Um just clarify that line being taken out and what impact it has. So in the last budget season the amendment happened during the public hearing. So that is why it required a majority vote. Right. Right.

Once the public hearing's closed, you need that twothirds vote. But as discussed at finance, before we open up the public hearing process, uh a potential, it's just a scheduling thing for for this body. We would have a committee of the whole or multiple committees of the whole um to be scheduled before the public hearing so that members of the public can um and this body can meet to discuss the proposed budget before it gets to public hearing and before the public hearing closes as to trigger those vote changes. More time for public to

give their input to us. But the example of what we had then a continuation of the public hearing going to the council that will not be allowed. No, we didn't do that last year either. We didn't have a continuation. Well, this year we had a public hearing and we then continued that discussion.

We continued the discussion, but we didn't continue the public hearing. After the mayor calls for the public hearing to be closed, that's it. It's all done at at that point in time. Mr. Smith. Um the uh reason I believe that the finance committee uh sent this forward recommending approval of the two disparit sections would be to bring our city code into conformity with state statutes. the sections that are being eliminated uh from our city code are right now in conflict with state statute. Uh the point that Alderman Berg is bringing up and which was discussed and our mayor has been very responsive to that is to allow an opportunity earlier than the public hearing where we can get meaningful public input and still be operating under simply simple majority rule. Uh what this would put in place would be that any changes following the public hearing in the future would require a supermajority and that's consistent with state statute and I'm fine with that. We s we have plenty of latitude uh to schedule in our budget approval process meaningful input from the public and do it at a point in time where changes can be made by majority vote. Okay, Megan, I think we're

Smith. I Arnett, hi Wetzel. Hi Moldenhower. Hi Davis. Hi Berg. I Barts I Blanky I. Motion carried.

Okay, thank you. Move on H. Ordinance 26-11, Ordinance to amend sections 446-13, 446-17, 457-6A, 4557-6B, 457-6D, 4557-6F, 457-11B, 457-12D, 457-7A, 457-27E, and 484-5B of the city of Watertown general ordinances. sponsored by Alder Annette and the public works commission on his first reading. Mayor I move first reading on this.

Okay. Motion by Annette. Second by Wel. Okay. Questions, comments? Okay. Make them.

Mr. Mayor. Oh, sorry, Mr. B. Go ahead, sir. Just one comment. I'll echo what I said in public works. It's a rare thing when a city can provide better service at no additional cost. And the changes to A and B of 446-13 where the city will now accept batteries only at the street department and also appliances at the street department. So, it's nice to see the hard work being done by staff to make services better without increasing the cost to them. I had some other recent changes, too, that allowed things to be dropped off at free of charge, I believe, a couple months ago.

Okay. Sorry, Megan. Go ahead. Arnett, I Wetzel. Moldenhower. I Davis I Berg I Barts I blankie I Smith I motion carried. Okay. Thank you. Next under under resolutions exhibit 9836 resolution to approve the final plat for Gateway Drive subdivision sponsored by myself and the planning commission. Mr. Merrell move for exhibit 9836.

Motion by Blanky. Second by second by Smith. Okay. Okay. Questions, comments on that resolution. Okay. Megan Blinky I Smith I Arnett I Butzel I Moldenhower I Davis I Berg I Barts I motion carried. Okay. Thank you. Next. Exhibit 9837, resolution to authorize submitt of 2025 annual storm water report sponsored by Alder Annette in the public works commission.

Motion to move. Motion by Barts. Second by Blankie. Okay. Okay. Questions, comments on B? Okay. Megan Barts. Hi Blinky. Hi Smith. Hi Arnett. Hi Wetzel. Hi Moldenhower. I Davis I Berg I. Motion carried. Okay. Next. C. Exhibit 9838 resolution to adopt citywide bicycle and pedestrian network plan sponsored by Alder Net in the public works commission.

Okay. Motion by Wetszel. I'll take a second by Smith. Okay. Questions, comments on C. Mr. Bird, go ahead.

The mayor, I just want to uh compliment our city for attaining a grant of 80,000. That's a significant amount. It will do a lot of good in addressing the the objectives of this uh of this task force that task force we've had in place for several years. and I've been on public works and I've I've I've worked with this committee over the years. They they need resources to uh to do some of the things they want to do as a as a task force. I know they need to work closely with our public works u uh commission because of uh trying to coordinate our street repairs u in a way that are conducive to the to the areas that can be allocated for uh bike and pedestrian in a way that can help make these objectives more more real. So, I I I think it's a it's a it's a fantastic type of uh initiative that we're having uh funds to help address these uh these these plans. And uh it's going to make our city more user friendly for people to uh again bike, walk, and and use our streets in ways that we're not currently using. But it takes time. It takes a plan. And I I I'm starting to see some of the the improvements and the changes from this task force and their diligence of being together for several years now.

Mr. Smith, go ahead. I echo what older person Berg um has just said. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to have served this last year on what was an ongoing project. Um, I am appreciative of all of the efforts by the individuals who have been both citizen participants, city staff, and um the underlying purpose for uh studying and promoting this concept of biking and pedestrian well-being in our city um completely positive across the board. Um I voted for this in committee. I think it is something that is tremendously valuable as a working planning document um moving forward and it certainly sets the standard by which we are emphasizing uh an important area of our city's future. But I want to mention two things that I think is important that our city and certainly our council uh keeps a careful mindset uh attentive toward. And the first one is the total cost of what is being recommended in this um uh study that has been uh completed. Uh there are three categories of priorities

for the recommended areas of improvement. Um the combined cost if all were to be implemented under current dollar values as recommended uh within this uh report uh is uh over $10 million u and that is just the infrastructure cost. There is the ongoing cost which is addressed in a separate section of this study dealing with maintenance and the ongoing maintenance costs of everything that's being recommended is about $31 million. Now that's addressing infrastructure that has 20 to 30 year useful life. so amvertised. We're still looking at about a million dollars of anticipated maintenance cost if all of this were to be implemented. Now within the resolution, it addresses the fact that this is very discretionary, which is to say these are all wonderful projects, but as it specifies in the uh the uh resolution uh provision of this resolution is is that this is uh this document is to be considered and used as a guide when opportunities and funding allow. So we have complete discretion to move forward at a pace and uh undertaking

future expenses in a manner that is wise and is within the scope of reasonable affordability by the city. If we could wave a magic wand, virtually everything in this proposal is something that would benefit our city. We just need to be wise as we move forward. And there are very very clear sections in uh three different tables in chapter 7 that set forth the anticipated cost of every single recommended project. That's my first concern. The second one which I think is important for us to keep in mind and this um this uh proposal uh addresses uh the very very broad geographic area of our entire city. But within the scope of the downtown area, where this seeks to promote biking as an increasing presence in the downtown area, does make recommendations which will have alternative implications. um specifically uh in the area of downtown parking and if we were to implement the biking provisions in the downtown area, specifically the First Street area, the Fourth Street area, and the Market Street area, we would lose um almost 140 parking spaces in the city. So, we're going to have to be very cautious in moving forward and recognizes that there's going to be a tension between what we would like to be able to do,

especially in its beneficial aspects for the downtown and not make decisions that have um unintended adverse consequences. And from my perspective, the importance of parking and we're we're not talking about parking lots. We're talking about on street parking. We're going to have to be very very careful about what we do and what we authorize and recognize the implications in this area of parking as we move forward. Go ahead, Mr.

Just to piggyback on Alder Smith's comments, those were definitely present at the public works review of this report in which I'll quote uh Audi saying, "It's a non-starter to be taking away parking spaces downtown." And that was exactly why the commission made an amendment to the plan to describe those particular elements as being extremely prospective. Um so okay. Okay. All right. Megan thank you

Moldenhower. Hi Davis. Hi Berg. Hi Barts. Hi Blanky. Hi Smith. Hi Arnett. Hi. Motion carried. Okay. Thank you. Next uh resolution under E exhibit 9840. Resolution to approve 2026 sidewalk repair area sponsored by Alderette in the public works commission. Point. We're at 9839. Okay. Thank you Mr. Okay. Sorry. D, exhibit 9839, utility construction services with Roberty Lee Associates for $53,650. Sponsored by Alderette and the public works commission.

I would so move, Mr. Mayor. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Molenower. Second. Okay. Second by Davis. Okay. Questions, comments on item D? Okay. Moldenhower. I Davis. Hi. Berg. I Berts. Hi. Blankkey. I Smith. I Arnett. I Wetzel. I. Motion carried.

Okay. Thank you. Next. Exhibit 9840. Resolution to approve 2026 sidewalk repair area. sponsored by Alderette and the public works commission. May I move for 98. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Annette. Mr. Berg is a second. Okay. Questions, comments on E.

Mr. Mayor, if I could, I I think we um we've had a good discussion at the the committee level where I went with u public works to to make comment. And I just want to reiterate a few points here just to uh hopefully make uh comments that are meant to be helpful. Um this approach of being proactive and going into our city and addressing an area and doing uh more of a um um an inspection of that defined area and finding defective sidewalk that's um that's viewed as being a safe a trip and fall type hazard or a problem. um that is again being proactive and it's helping to make our our city better by addressing those u areas of uh of of defective sidewalk. So I'm happy and I I I did mention it when I was on uh public works before as a chairperson we did it. It had a lapse for some reason. I think because of COVID and other reasons why it's being now reactivated uh through public works which is uh a good step forward. Uh from what I know, they're going to try to address about onetenth of our city in this defined area roughly. Um I think going forward, they're going to take a larger a larger chunk of our of our city uh in a way to uh over time be able to uh uh address all the needs within a city in a in a more timely fashion. But um what I'm understanding is that there's a total of $80,000 between money that's in reserve and money that's budgeted. Um and and that u from what I understand is going to uh this area that's defined in this resolution is going to cost around uh almost $50,000. But u we end up just a reminder uh we end up uh charging uh assessing the

property owner for the identified areas of defective sidewalk. uh we end up then giving them an option of fixing it themselves or of or bringing in uh our contracted uh contractor that we have for doing that at a more affordable rate. Um, and then we we end up having the work done and and then after it's done, these property owners are assessed and they're build and we eventually get paid back, but we pay the the cost and that's why the 50,000 that we are showing uh is an upfront cost to pay for uh these improvements on sidewalk in these areas that are addressed here and then to be paid back and put back into a a reserve account that we can news for next year. Uh I'm told also by our our our person Richie Peltz and he's our engineering projects manager and I had a a a good conversation with him. Uh, and what I want I want to compliment him too because he comes from Beaver Dam from his background, from what he he mentioned to me and his style of being a city official is if he in the course of his duties sees defective sidewalk, he will uh mark it down and he'll address it as a defective area that needs to be taken care of because we always have done uh a complaint approach on taking care of bad sidewalk. But to to wait for a complaint is not uh always the best approach because a lot of people don't and then in in in the course of that you end up with a sidewalk that's at risk. So his approach is to be proactive. I like the way he's doing it. A lot of uh people even in city employees in my experience have been complaint driven and they don't necessarily uh act unless there is a complaint. So between the two

uh he's telling me uh that they are going to uh between the the sidewalk, the curb, and the complaints that are driven that are that are outlined and and taken care of in the course of this year, uh they will use up potentially up to that $80,000. And then that will go back into a reserve account based on repayment. So the program is excellent. It's going to make our sidewalks better, and I I'm just glad that we're actively doing it. Alder Davis, go ahead. A question for Mr. Berg. Have the inspections already taken place or does somebody know? I'm sorry. I was Richie, do you know? No.

No, this is the area that will be under inspection. So, that was my question. If the inspections haven't taken place, how do we know that it will be $50,000 worth of repair? the best estimate because and there are certain elements that we know we need to replace in advance because there are some curb cuts and things that we need to do on our that you know aren't on the property owners. They're not we're not fixing broken things. We're putting in improvements that are necessary. So those are some of the more significant costs of the program frankly as compared to replacing a broken square here and there.

Of this metobrook, Wedgwood, Timber Ridge tail, these are new. It's a newer development and the sidewalks are generally in good repair. So, as I was reading over this, I was thinking, "Oh, there probably won't be that many repairs that need to be done in this particular area because the sidewalks are relatively new." No, you'd be surprised. I mean, there that you're getting an area that is getting in the, you know, 20 years in some in some sections of it, 20 years. And you have trees that are relatively new growth in there, too. So in general, we hope that it will be less than you would find in certain sections, but it will be area I live in.

Okay, Richie, go ahead.

Uh to answer a few questions, uh these areas have been preliminarily inspected, uh just not measured or marked. Um, these are areas that I've walked or driven past and have noticed either trippers or sidewalks that are all cracked, open cracks and possible trippers. And these areas are areas of our city that have not been inspected for a couple decades. Thank you, Richie. Okay. All right. Me

Arnett. I Wetzel. Hi, Moldenhower. Hi, Davis. Hi, Berg. Hi, Barts. Hi, Blanky. Hi, Smith. Hi. Motion carried. Okay, thank you. Last item, exhibit 9841, resolution to modify the 2026 economic development budget sponsored by myself and the finance committee. Motion Smith. Mr. Mayor, I would move for the adoption of exhibit 9841. Okay. Motion by Smith by Berg. Okay. Questions, comments on F.

Mr. B.

Yeah. our you you initiated this uh as an area of uh of adding hours to our economic development person who we uh have a a high regard for and and she uh is anxious to put more hours in and you've you recommended a a way of doing that. uh to the credit of our alderperson Davis, she did bring to our attention and it was a reminder of of monies that are in a fund balance within our econ economic development uh fund balance we could use from there to to take care of the the funds we are recommending instead of taking from our contingency account which which we are trying to leave alone if we can. Um so in the context of of of using an account and a fund balance that had dollars available, it was the preferable option and our finance committee did go that route because we know the need is great and the approach of taking from that account is is by far the best uh way to go. And I I commend the mayor for giving us uh more hours with this professional we've recently hired. Uh other than the mayor, um this person is is in many cases the front person for dealing with investors and businesses and and a lot of the people that are looking at our town for relocating and for uh investing into as far as uh development. And between the two, we now have uh two professionals that can actually help address areas of where we want to grow. And we know that growth is going to provide property tax relief and help our city uh uh flourish and and improve. And so I'm I'm just thankful that we found the funds and we did it in the right manner.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Berg. Okay. Megan Smith. I Wetzel. Hi, Moldenhower. Hi, Davis. Hi, Berg. I Barts I blankie I motion carried.

Okay. Thank you. That was our last item. So last up is comments and suggestions from citizens present. Anybody wishing to address the council's permit up to three minutes as not spoken and uh on agenda items only. Please usually I'll I'll give you one minute. It's usually only one or the other. He can come up just for I'll give you a minute. Okay. I appreciate. Sure. And I did hand out the information to all the council members. Okay.

I I got nervous. Um this is not my forte and I didn't get to have anybody before me show me go come up to show me how it's done. So sorry. Um and thank you council members for the vote to push this back. And I do hope to work with the the police and um with Miss Davis here on trying to find um someone that would represent and be part of my peer group um massage therapy to help with the what they are trying to accomplish because it is something that does affect us and we would I know that my my uh other licensed therapist and especially the boards that I also have to answer to um want to help move move this along when we would know I we would know what is looks like an inappropriate behavior um happening inside those establishments as well. So I do thank you for that and you and then I dropped the ball but you guys did get a packet of papers um handed out to you. I don't know if you had a chance to go over them. Um so the the first one is just what recently has changed with the um with the uh the lure from the state and then the boards that I answer to are on there and I don't know that any of them have been contacted or brought into this for that and then the other state cities that have had ordinances established and what their um what some of their successes may have been or is it the second But I know that um two of them, well, Brookfield has uh recently been able to prosecute or have charges brought against for sex trafficking or um inappropriate from a criminal hiding underneath the guise of

being a therapist. Um, I think that's all I have to add, but and to thank you very much for this opportunity to help tighten up this. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Taylor. I'll look for a motion to adjurnn. I'll make that motion. Okay. Motion by Davis, second by Barts. Okay. All in favor say I. Hi. Hi. Thank you. It's 8:27 p.m. and our next meeting will be on a Monday with the 6th.