City Council - Regular Meeting

Alright. It is 06:00, and, they tell me that the meeting is running. So, we will call this meeting, the Tuesday, 05/19/2026 council meeting to order. We will start with roll call. Christine?

Here. Everett? Here. Wiggerson? Here. Piper? Here. Bantrieste? Here. Wells? Here. Manion? Here. Molson? Here. Bottesca? Here. Anderson

Here.

Matthews Here. Micklitz Here. Rem Lemke Here. Camacho Here.

Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Excellent. Next up is public comment. First up, we have Darryl Enriquez.

Good evening, everyone. Good evening. I'm Daryl Enriquez. I live at 1712 let's see. I'm having a brain thing going on here. No. I live at at 1712 Blackhawk Trail. And what I've come here to talk to the esteemed city leaders is I understand you have a really important decision to make tonight, which would be who is going to fill the automatic spot vacated by our new mayor. And, I am here to speak on behalf of Eric Hagelstad, who I've known for how long has it been, Eric? Fifteen years.

I knew Eric when, he was a council member, and he was a much respected council member. Great demeanor, very curious, did his homework, very reliable person. And he's that way in his personal life too. He's got a lovely wife and child. He's a taxpayer.

Great citizen. I was I lived in the downtown district for quite a number of years, and Eric always answered my calls. Regardless of how big or small the issue was I brought before him. Now you guys are gonna have some tough decisions to make coming on coming up, especially with finance. I know that because I am on the finance committee as a county board supervisor.

I represent District 19. Even though that district is outside my walls. I still have the entire Eastern Part of Waukesha. So I'm very concerned about issues in the city, probably even more so than in the county. And one of the big decisions or decisions you'll have to make is budgeting.

As we know, the city has the threat of a deficit just as the county does. And, I would like to see somebody of Eric's caliber being involved with that because one of his strengths is that he's gonna make the trains run on time. He's not gonna throw a lot of politics at you. He's not going to do that to distract you from the task at hand, which is to make a wise decision on potential cuts or ideas on efficiency. So, I I hope that you see his his upsides and and cast a vote for him.

Thank you.

Thank you, Daryl. Next up, I have Lisa Saub.

Good evening. Lisa Selb. 434 Madison Street.

I am here pretty much to to talk again about what I had mentioned at the last public comment. I don't know if any of you have received, any additional information. And just as a refresher, it was in regards to, the new zoning code and specifically the zoning map. The plan commission approved the zoning map on March 29. The one that's on the attachment for the new draft is dated, April 17. So apparently, it's not the same map. And so there are some concerns if that's the one they proved. Why is there a new date? Is there a new map? What what are the changes?

I would appreciate it if you would all take a look at that. One of the things that is different from our current zoning map is that the historic overlays have changed, and it's a big, big big thing for our city to to be changing the zoning code, and that's not a bad thing. But it's such a huge huge thing in regards to even the amount of pages just reading through it, but so much of it is lumped together that I would hate for something as important as a historic overlay to get lost, in the exchange of the the new for the old. So even though we have a new zoning code, history doesn't change. So thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else for public comment? Alright, moving on. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting? Oh sorry. I'm sorry I didn't see your hand. Come on up. If you could say your name and your address for the record, and then you'll have three minutes. Sure.

My name is Barb Lum, and I live at 109 East Park Avenue. I would like to comment on behalf of Eric Heiglstadt to become our Aldermanic District Alderman. I have had Eric for numerous years and I his family is great, and he helps us a lot. So he's a great neighbor and a wonderful person to have to help you. That's it.

Thank you very much. Welcome. Is there anyone else? Making sure I don't miss anyone this time. Alright. I think we're good. Alright. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting? Alderson Molson. I move to approve the minutes as drafted. Okay. Alderson Mannion.

I'll second.

Alright. Please vote when it is before you.

Alderman Everett?

Aye.

Alright. That motion does pass. Moving on, to the appointment for the District 11 council seat. I'm gonna go over a couple of procedural things and then we will get right to it. So the way this is gonna work is that I'm going to pull up each candidate individually. In the past we've had maybe two or three and you guys can all sit up here together, but logistically that doesn't really work when there are seven of you, so I apologize. So we're gonna pull you up each individually. I'm gonna give you one minute as a very brief introduction and then we will do questions for the council members. I encourage you to ask the same questions of each candidate so that you have an answer from every single one of them. So if you have questions ready, please be prepared with that.

I will allow you unlimited time for your answers, so I want make sure that you're able to answer thoroughly, but I also request that you do your best to keep it brief as there are seven of you and I want to make sure that your answers are heard and I want to make sure that everyone's answers are heard. I'm also going to pull you up in the order that you are listed in the packet because I think alphabetical order is boring and it keeps it easier for us up here when we're clicking through all of the different links on our agendas. When it comes time to vote, we will be voting by a show of hands. This is not a secret ballot, and all, all votes must be recorded. We may have to go to multiple rounds of voting because a majority is required, so you will have to receive eight votes in order to be appointed tonight.

The lowest vote getter for each round will drop off. If there is a tie, say there are two of you that get only one vote, then you will both drop off in that round. I hope there are no questions because I'm not accepting any, but if any of the elders have questions or if you guys do have questions, just let me know. First up, we have Leonard Miller. If you can come up here, I'm gonna time you for your one minute and then I will open it up to the alders for questions.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you council members. My name is Lenny Miller. I'm with Leonard Miller. I am a lifelong resident of, city of Waukesha. Lived in my current house for twenty years. I was Alderman once before, and from 2019 to 2022, I I love my city. Waukesha is a great place to raise a family. And, I guess I'll take your questions.

Alright. Are there any questions for Lenny? Is it okay if I

call you Lenny?

Yes, please. Alright. Alderson Lemke.

I'm sure you're aware of being an alderman before that the city is budget conscious. Correct. And the only way we can keep the revenue somewhat in line is to increase net new construction. Correct. And the the best way of doing that is density.

And we we can't go out, we have to go up.

Right. And so my question to you is, are you in favor of the Mandel project across the street? Yes. Thank you.

Way to keep it brief. Thank you. Alderperson Piper.

Thank you. Oh, there you are.

Lenny, good evening. Thanks for thanks for your interest in the position. You bet, Joe. My question is when you're working with others where there are different viewpoints, how do you work to reach a compromise?

Well, Joe, I just recently retired from AT and T, okay, and working with customers, trying to selling cell phones. And everybody hates getting a cell phone. Know, everybody hates going to the store, you know, which I don't blame them. I do too. It's almost as bad as buying a used car.

Anyways, I have worked with all sorts of personalities in that role. And I've always been able to come to an agreement and, you know, basically make a sale. I use that same approach with like, constituents, you know, trying to figure out, okay, what is it they're asking? What is it we need? And is it something that we can do.

Added to that, I'm also on the I forgot to mention earlier, I'm on the Board of Appeals. Board of Review, Board anyways, we we listen intently to to how people think their taxes are unfair. Well, we all do. But anyways, always have to come to an agreement or a compromise and figure out what is the best for everybody.

Excellent. You have a follow-up.

And then my the second part of my question is, when you're finding if you're in a position where you don't see that a compromise is coming, how do you decide to step up and lead and bring the issue to a bring the issue to a conclusion?

Well, sometimes you have to. Sometimes you, you know, it's I've been in that many times in the past. You know, sometimes you just can't make somebody happy or come to an agreement. So then you just have to go forward, you know, move forward with, okay, this is the way it's gonna be. This is, you know, law ordinance or whatever it is that the direction we have to go in. And so this is gonna be it.

Alright. Alderson Wickerson and then Christine.

Thanks for applying, Lenny. We appreciate it very much. My question is it's actually got two parts. So District 11 shares the downtown corridor with my district

Correct.

District 3, and whoever fills the seat will be closely working with me on projects that directly impact the heart of our city. So my first question is, what do you currently know about the active projects and initiatives underway in the downtown right now? And second, what boards, commissions, committees, or other forms of city involvement have you participated in that demonstrate your engagement with Downtown Waukesha and the visions that we're building there?

Okay. Well, that's a lot that's a lot to take in there. Couple of things. I do know that there and I'm gonna say this wrong, Fryman Alley. They're doing some murals on there, which is great by the way.

I as hold them in the past, I had all of until they redid the lines, I had all of downtown in my district. And I worked with a lot of business owners. I was also Alderman during COVID. So myself and Alderman Rodriguez, we worked really hard on expanding the sidewalk ordinance, you know, so restaurants could expand outside, so they could keep their doors open. Know, and I still usually volunteer during the tree lighting ceremony to do what I can there.

I work with the business association on that. And so I'm sorry, there was another part to that question and I old, I don't remember.

You're you're answering it, it's fine. Okay. I wanna I wanna respect brief. Okay. Appreciate that.

Okay. So was did I follow-up on both your questions? Yes. You did. Okay. Thank you.

Alderson Cousine.

Thank you, mayor. Lenny, Waukesha Fox River goes through your district. We're having some lot of topic about flooding and just north of it dredging Saratoga Lake. What is your feedback or input on whether dredging it or river improvements?

Yeah. I actually know what Saratoga Lake is. Most people don't know what that is. But yeah. Well, they've done it over the years. I remember as a kid, we used to go clean up the river every, I don't know, harbor day or whatever. You know, I was getting a day out of high school. You know, so we would actually go down and clean up the river. When when we did that, we actually pulled three or four cars out. You know, that yeah. That was long time ago. Anyways, that was about a hundred years ago when it was just a creek. You know? But anyways, yeah, I would be all for dredging. Really sorry that we don't have the the ski shows down there anymore.

I always thought that was a brought a tremendous amount of people down into our park, and that's what this is all about. You know? We have a wonderful park system, you know, with lots of events, lots of, celebrations. And, you know, that's that's, you know, that's a part of what people wanna live here. You know, is people like to take pride in where they live. You know, we have a a park system that's second to none. And, you know, that's what makes Waukesha Waukesha strong. You know, so did I answer your question?

You did. You had me at three cars.

Yeah. I'm that old.

Is that what's in there now? I hope not. Alderperson Camacho.

So I wanna jump a little bit off of what, alderperson Widgerson said. Yes. So you mentioned that you handled a lot of the small businesses during COVID, which is great, tough time. Yes. And I'm actually curious how you plan on supporting them moving forward.

I I know they are, you know, Friday Night Live. There's talk of of I don't know what the proper terminology is, but having open intoxicants.

The Dora. So

I would like to explore that further and if there's a way we can monitor that and make sure we're not giving our 15 year olds buckets of beer, I would be for that. And I was actually quoted in the Freeman when Friday Night Live started, That it was like walking through downtown Disney, you know, and it was. I I love Friday Night Live. I'm down there, well, maybe not every week, but every other week. And, you know, just wandering around and enjoying myself. And I would like to see it expanded.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions? All right. Thank you, Lenny.

You bet. Thank you, guys.

All right. Next up, we have David Vincent.

All

right. So one minute to introduce yourself, then we'll open it up to questions.

Thank you. I'm David Vincent, 141 Cook Street. And honestly, feel like the odd man out. Everybody else here was an alderman. I grew up in Waukesha since I was 16 years old. I've lived here over forty years.

I

own the house over twenty years. My dad was an alderman in Deep here. Roger Patton kinda put the bug in my ear back in the day to try to be an alderman. It and it seems like a natural extension for me. During the winter, I'm the guy you'll see snow blowing the whole darn sidewalk down Cook Street. Somebody's front lawn gets a little bit rogue. I go, like, get out there with a lawnmower to try and help. This just seems like a larger way to help the community and more people. I could go on, but no, let's not.

Brief. Thank you. I'm appreciating everybody with the brevity. So thank you very much for that. Alright. So I will open it up to questions. Alderperson Wickerson.

So I'm gonna ask this well, thank you first for applying. I love it that we have so much interest. I think that that shows a lot about our community. My question is the same for you as it was for Lenny. Again, District 11 shares the downtown with my district, District 3. So of course, we would have to work very closely together. So again, what do you know about any of the current projects that we have going on in the downtown? And then just, if you've got been involved in any type of city boards, commissions, if you could just explain and to demonstrate your engagement in the downtown Waukesha and the vision that we're building.

To be fair, I don't have enough knowledge. I'd have to learn that on the job. I as far as community engagement, it's been more individual and local for me. I I just like the opportunity to expand that out and help in a larger scale.

Local service.

I get this.

Any You

live volunteer

Anytime you wanna come down to Anoka and and snow blow my street, I would love that.

It could happen.

It could I got an errands now. I'm just saying.

Alright. Alderson Paper?

Thank you. And David, just so you know, I was standing in your spot about twenty years ago to this day, and I had a couple of other aldermen that were behind me seeking this role. So you're you're in good company.

It was warm, wasn't it?

It was warm. Yes. It was very warm. I'll I'll also ask you the same question. It's around compromise. And when you're working in a situation with others that have different viewpoints, how do you find compromise? And then my follow-up is when you're finding out that maybe compromise isn't attainable, how do you how do you simply step up and lead?

We have to compromise these days. Nobody's gonna get everything they want all the time. How to deal with it? You look at what each side wants, find a middle ground as much pardon as much as you can. You can't come to nobody's gonna get everything they want. But if you have to come to a decision, have to, in my opinion, select what's best for the majority.

Alderperson Camacho. And then

I'll follow suit with the same question I asked. There's a lot of businesses downtown as alderperson Widgerson said. So how do you plan on supporting them?

You know, I wondered why we don't have enough media downtown. I we've got so much going on in Waukesha. And to be fair, I'm gonna use this as a plug for the library too. The renovations there are freaking amazing. The three d printers, anybody can use them. I'm just saying. As far as downtown, I'd like to see more media exposure for all the activities going down on down there. If we could get six, twelve, four down there for Friday nights, that would be amazing. Some of the other events, Cutler Park, the events we have going on there. Frankly am a little bit confused why there isn't more exposure.

Alderson Matthews and then Christine.

Thank you. Thank you for your time. Just one quick question. What do you see as the biggest challenge that is for is facing Waukesha and a quick remedy in your mind that you would do to resolve that?

The quick remedy part is the hard

one.

I don't think there are any quick fixes for a lot of the major opportunities for improvement. We have great infrastructure. We have fantastic people. I think there's some fine tuning that definitely need could there are opportunities for fine tuning. But I'd say roads and sidewalks are a little bit of a focus. There's some definite room to improve. Parks are doing great in my opinion, but you guys know more than I do. Maybe expanding on those, but basically firming up the infrastructure.

Excellent. Alderson Cousine.

Thank you, David. Thanks for stepping up tonight and being one of the six up here. It means a lot. Just like elder Wigerson said, the community support and the love for District 11 is is fantastic. Same question. District Eleven's got part of the Fox River going through it, and there's it's high, it's low, and it's getting a lot of silt problem. And are you in favor of dredging it or doing something different with Saratoga Lake? What is your plans for that? Are you a fan of dredging it? And I was going to bring up the part of who's going to pay for it, but I'm not gonna bring

that up.

Okay. If we lay

are we leaving that out?

I'm leaving that out because it was it would be unfair to Lenny.

So Okay.

That was original point I brought that up.

But Well,

given infinite funds, let's dredge the thing. But With the flooding we've had, I can see the advantages of dredging it. I'd love to see it dredge. I'd love to see the ski team out there again. I'd like to see people swimming out there if possible. But, well, it's a stretch. But I don't think there's one solution to the flooding. I think the dredging is going to help. But if we have the water that the rain that we got this year again, I think that's gonna be part of the problem. We're probably gonna have to look at other alternatives as well.

So, yes, I'd like to see it dredged, but if we can do something to keep the bears from going underwater again, that'd be great. You all

know what I'm talking about.

Yeah. Of course. Yes.

Thank you, David.

I have a TikTok about that.

Alright. Alderperson Lemke.

Relating to the last same question as I had before, net new construction is gonna be one of our driving factors of revenue growth without having to increase fees on every other permit and service that the city offers. One of the big net new constructions we have is across the street, the Mandel property. How do you feel about that project?

I don't have enough information to speak to it wisely. I could throw out a pat answer but I'm not that guy. I would like to learn more about it before I come to a conclusion.

Thank you.

Alright. Any other questions? Alright. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Up next, Timothy Nikic.

It's like old home week. I'm Tim Nikic. I live at 810 Riverwalk Drive In Apartment 101, Riverwalk Apartments. I am a former alderman. I represented Alderman Piper's District from 1987 to 1998.

I'm invested in this community every day in my part time job as a leasing specialist at Riverwalk Apartments. We're part of downtown. When a new person comes to look at our apartments, one of my job is to promote the area. We have a lot of people from around the world that come and rent in Downtown Waukesha area because of General Electric, because of the hospital, and other industries. It's really, really important.

Anyway, I served a decade on the common council, and the only reason I stepped away is because I ran for mayor in 1998 and lost the general election to Carol Lombardi by a 160 votes. But I'm invested in the community. Back when I was an alderman, downtown was a priority. It was dying.

Ten seconds. Very interesting.

K. You have ten seconds. The thought that it was dying, and we invested a lot of money in the river corridor. We made the river a front door instead of a back door. The river has some problems. We'll need to address that. At Riverwalk, the last flood, we had two elevator shafts flooded not because of the river itself, but because of the high groundwater in the area.

Alright. Time. Okay. That's just for your introduction speech. Don't worry. You have plenty of time during questions. So are there any questions for Tim? Alderson Piper.

Hi, Tim. Good evening. Hi, Joe. How are you? Very good. I'll ask you the same question. In the spirit of compromise, when you're working with others, how do you find and seek compromise? And then the follow-up would be I when that's not attainable, how do you determine to step up and lead?

Well, okay. Sometimes you're gonna vote no if even if you can't compromise, but you gotta work together. You gotta try to find a solution, okay, to all the problems. Case in point, long time ago, we had a large discussion on how to honor Les Paul. And we were looking at roads and what to do, and somebody suggested the bypass. Okay? Well, somebody says, well, then we're gonna cost people a lot of money. I happened to take a step forward, wrote a letter to the state, found out that we could overlay Les Paul Parkway on all the signs and not cost anybody a dime. Now twenty plus years later, it's known as Les Paul Parkway. So that's one way you do it.

I was anti city administrator. Sorry, sir. I was looking I was looking I was looking for more of a part time or a city city assistant, something like that to take some of the load off the mayor's office. The consul had a different idea. There was no compromise. I lost 14 to one. So there are gonna be those situations there. Okay? If that helps answer your question. But you always have to work for compromise first.

Alderson Wigerson and then Matthews.

Hey there. Thanks so much for applying and thank you for your service in the past as an alderman to the city. I wanna ask the same question that I asked the other two, which is, you know, are you aware of what active products we have going on in the downtown, and any involvement or engagement that you've had in that downtown area?

I've had engagement in the downtown area ever since 1987 when I was first elected. I was a product of what they back then, the Chamber of Commerce had leadership three was their educational process about the government structure and everything in town. It was heavily invested. We brought people in. We opened storefronts. We tried to save downtown the best we could. One of the things that happened is we decided we needed to create more neighborhood around town because the whole community wasn't invested in the central city. We did that. We have Mountain Village. We have Riverwalk.

We have several apartment complexes that surround it now. And to expand on that, we're landlocked now. We can't expand our borders. We have to build up. We have to create ways to do it. The I'll take another question away from one of you. The apartment project Mandel is building, as long as there's some compromise with the neighborhood on the hill above, that's perfectly fine, but it's a necessary project for the city. Other questions?

Alright. Alderperson Matthews?

Thank you once again for your interest and thank you for your former service. I'll ask you the same thing. What's the biggest opportunity that you see or biggest challenge facing the city of Waukesha coming up in the future? Maybe a quick

risk. Budget is one of the biggest things, and we have to do something collectively that doesn't harm the citizens of this community, but we also have to do things like you just did with the the garbage collection fee. People don't realize that if you live in an apartment, your rent through your rent, you're paying that collection fee. Okay? You're paying your property taxes through that rent.

So that's a matter of education. All 15 aldermen should be out there walking around their district talking to the people that are the loudest noise so that they understand. There needs to be more lobbying to the state to the capital. There needs to be a lot of communication with the citizens. When I was on the common council, we had TV twenty six, and you could turn on your television station, and you could watch the common console meetings.

A lot of older citizens don't have that opportunity anymore because they don't play with computers. They bring can't bring up that kind of thing. So your communication needs to improve a little bit overall what they see on the console and things like that. That's my opinion. Because I was there when we established TV twenty six and we did it with the school district. We created a program where we brought kids in as interns into the city, juniors and seniors. We selected courses they needed to know to run the TV station, and we had some of the finest students in this city running channel twenty six and twenty five at the time. So that's that's one another way of doing it.

Excellent. Thank you. Alderson Camacho.

K. I'll follow-up with the same question. How do you plan on supporting the downtown businesses? That's probably a little different from back then.

No. It's not.

Interesting. Because

the downtown back in '87 was having all kinds of problems. The highest grossing business in downtown back then was discount liquor, and people wanted to get rid of it because it was a liquor store. And it was bringing people into the downtown while things were dying around it. Simple fact is we have to support the center part of the city because that's our biggest and strongest asset. It's part of the Park Jewel system that we have created. Okay? We need to maintain that. We need to talk about it, And it it just needs to be promoted. Downtown is what makes this city click. With all of the things that go on now, if I'm selected, I'm gonna hit the ground running, reintroduce myself to all those businesses.

And there's a lot of people down down there that I already know because I'm down there an awful lot.

Excellent. Alderson Kussien.

Thank you, mayor. Same question, but before I say that, welcome home from my family. And the same question to you is the District 11 has the Fox River going through it. It's got some drainage issues, some flooding issues, and it's really you can't even kayak most of the time through it. What is your plan to help with that river, the vitality of the river, and do you support dredging it?

Where I live is on the river. It's an asset. There are so many sport fishermen on my section of the riverfront from Wisconsin Avenue through Bethesda Park. It's unbelievable. There's a lot of duckweed in that part of the river. The river needs to be maintained. It's it's an asset. We we created an asset. You have to maintain it. So if we have to dredge it, that's something we should be planning for, to do it because people there's a lot of kayakers that portage out of downtown and come down my section of

the river all the time.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Alderson Lemke.

I just wanted to say that you, answered my question admirably and I don't have to ask it again.

Thank you.

Alright. Alright. It doesn't look like we have any additional questions. Thank you very much, Tim. Next up, we have Eric Helgesdead. Again, you'll have one minute for an introduction and then unlimited time for questions.

Good evening council members and mayor of Helgesdead. My name is Eric Helicestead. I live at 117 East Park Avenue. I currently am privileged to serve on the library board as a trustee, and I also serve the role of liaison to the Friends of the Waukesha Public Library. I'm very thankful to be in front of you this evening for this opportunity, and I would love the opportunity to serve the city as a council member once again.

Great. Thank you. Doreen, did you have a question? Alright. Alderperson Wagerson.

Hi, Eric. Thank you so much for applying. I want to and for your service because I know that you were a previous alderman also. I wanna ask the same question that I asked everybody else, which is about do you know what the current programs are that we're doing in the downtown? And then what engagement have you had with those programs or on boards or whatnot to support the downtown?

Sure. I can speak to what's currently underway downtown, both in your district with Freeman Alley. That project is looking fabulous. I have to assume that all of you have seen them work on that mural that's going up right now. My wife and I were just downtown walking our dogs and saw them working on it this weekend, and I'm excited for how that's gonna turn out.

That has been a alleyway that I think had been previously really underutilized and really had an add a element to our downtown linking that Riverfront Street to Main Street and really the beautiful ones that's done. Further, I know that there is similar place making efforts for Williams Street. That, I believe, the plan was finished, if I remember correctly, it was last year. And there's a long term plan, I was reading through that presentation on the city website that goes out from, I believe, this year out through at least 2030 with different efforts out there, make some some more place making out there. Otherwise, I believe that this council completed a new master plan for the city.

And I reviewed portions of that as well. And like the study that was done in 2012, I think that's gonna be important that the city support and execute upon that master plan as well because it's not just downtown, it's the entire city as well.

Alderperson Piper.

Thank you. Evening, Eric. Thank you for your interest in the role. My question again is when you're working with others with different viewpoints, how do you see compromise? And then at what point do you have to simply step up and lead?

I think the first part of that is listening, honestly. I think in order to seek compromise, you need to find out where other people are at, where their position is at, what they're opinion at, what's important to them, whether that's another member of the council or a member of a citizen member, you know, coming to you with a problem or just an opinion or, you know, something they're concerned about. And from there then, I think you need to then be able to effectively communicate and respectfully communicate to your position and your ideas. And sometimes you can convince other people of your position, sometimes you can't. Sometimes that compromise has to come from, you know, say me.

You know, sometimes I may come into and I've I've known this from my previous experience on the council. I came in some nights with a you know, I was sure of my position. I was sure of my answer on this, you know, an issue. And I realized from listening to my council members, listening to staff, listening to the public that I need to be the one to compromise. So but other times when I know for certain my heart of hearts, I I'm I need to lead on something, then it's again that effective communication.

And I think some of that too also comes from building a relationship with your other council members and staff. So that way then when you communicate that out, you know how to again be respectful, communicate effectively, and hopefully win them over to your side. But at the end of the day, if that doesn't happen, that's not on the other person or someone else. It's just what it is and you move on because it's for the benefit of the city as a whole. Whole.

Aldeperson Mathews and then Camacho.

Eric, thank you. Thank you again. Thank you for speaking and thank you for your former service. Same question. What do you see as the biggest opportunity coming up for the city of Waukesha or the biggest challenge that you're coming in? And a quick thought or a quick I don't wanna say remedy. That might be a little bit loaded, but a quick thought regarding that challenge or opportunity.

Oh, I wish I had a remedy for that I could just give you on any situation that the city is facing. There's a number of them. I think the overarching one that's already been mentioned and I think is probably all on all your minds is our budget. I know that the city's been making really good strides to manage the financial position of the city, to balance our budget year over year, and that's really dedicated hard work by the staff and the council to make that happen by managing the CIP, by managing our staff, and looking for ways to, you know, produce efficiency. I've heard learned through my service on the Library Board, for example, that there has been consistent work over the last couple of years to study our financial position and inventory ways we can find efficiencies.

You know, for example, you know, saving software licenses on the IT side of things. Making sure that staff their positions are in it correctly aligned. I believe there's been a lot of work on the HR side of things with the city to to help make sure they're compensated correctly because a lot of people wanna say, well, why can't we just slash the budget? Right? Well, most of what the city budget is is people. And unless we wanna cut services budget, I have to imagine none of you here or people behind me wanna see city services cut. You know, you're not gonna get that. So I think it's through diligent study, diligent work that's ongoing right now and has to continue to balance that budget year after year and for the future.

Thank you. Alderson Camacho.

Hi, Eric. Okay. Same question I've had for everybody else. How do you plan on supporting the downtown businesses?

Well, I think that's gonna be reengaging with the downtown businesses and the association downtown. I mean, today, my wife and I, we support downtown as much as we can. We're one household. We can't do it all ourselves. But we're down there every Friday morning after we drop off our kiddo for school. That's our Friday morning coffee date. And we go down there for New Year's Eve, whether we're getting sushi or we're going down there to buy art for family members. I think that's something to as an alderman for the Downtown District, you need to champion those businesses. You need to speak up for them. You need to speak out for them.

But also then working with them to understand what are their actually core issues. Thankfully, Downtown has already completed the Downtown Street reconstruction that was done a couple of years ago. That was a major improvement. It really improved the streetscape and improved the opportunities for street side cafes. But again, it's going to be going through and engaging with them, listening to them, and being open to what they have to suggest. So, and working with the rest of the council on that.

Thank you. Alderson Cousine.

Well, I got the river on my mind tonight. And for consistency, I'm gonna talk about the river. It goes through District 11. And I've been talking all earlier this the other questions about the problems of the river. Right now, it's really hard to even kayak on it. It rises. It falls. What is your plan on are you support dredging it or leaving it run its natural course with Lake Saratoga?

Well, I think that's if I'm understanding correctly, there is a study ongoing about the dam and the dredging and trying to get some cost estimates around that. So I think that's one thing we got to see what that study comes out with. Overall, I want to see that access improved. The river is a fabulous asset to downtown. I mean, I remember when I was previously alderman, I sat down with some folks at a community listening session and they really advocated for having better kayak access and having better fishing access down there.

And I miss seeing more of that downtown. I would love to take part in that as well. If the right decision is dredging, I absolutely support it. I know that the dam itself is another question that I think is out there. So again, I want to see what that study comes back with and then work on what that right decision because I know that's not going to be a cheap, you know, fix and a cheap decision to make. I'm hoping maybe there's opportunities to work with the state, maybe work with the DNR but we all know that the state, the federal government, we're all under, you know, pretty significant cost constraints. So, it won't be an easy decision, let's be honest. But I want to see that access improved.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions for Eric? AldoPerson Lemke.

Just piggybacking on my last question. What are your thoughts about net new construction density and the Downtown Mandel project?

Sure. I think as the Downtown has matured, density is going to be important. It's going to continue to be important. I think that project across the street, I'm in support of that overall. I think also we do need to focus as well on redevelopment because we're landlocked essentially.

Borders are set, our water service area is set. And expanding that's going be really tough to try and advocate for and expand, right? But I think through smart development, I know looking through the new zoning code updates, I had a chance to review the materials that presented at the last Celebrate Walk Shop Breakfast and some of those zoning changes that will allow for some more moderate density development too. I think those are gonna be really great assets to have in District 11 and just generally in the city so that we can add to that tax base, but do it in a conscious manner, if that makes sense.

Okay. Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much, Eric.

Thank you for your time.

All right. Next up we have Aaron Spencer. Again, you'll have one minute to introduce yourself and then unlimited time for questions.

Hi there, Aaron Spencer, 630 West College Ave in Waukesha. Again, named Aaron Spencer. I have actually run for this position previously the last two times and come up a little bit short. In the meantime, I have met a lot of the local constituents, a lot of the businesses. I've talked to a lot of the people, heard a lot of the concerns, heard a lot of the positives, heard some of the negatives and I'm still here just because I I feel it's my duty at this point to kind of serve them a little bit of justice, shine a little bit of insight of what I've learned previously with this little bit newer information.

Feel a little bit challenged just because well, we've got all this baseline history here. But I've been a resident here for the last twenty years and I've developed and built some skills within that five year time period running for alderman to

That's time.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Bye bye.

All right. Alderson Wickerson?

So my question for you is the same as the others. So I'd like to know what you understand of what's going on in downtown and then an explanation or regarding your engagement in communities or boards that you've served on that support our downtown efforts.

Absolutely. There is always something going on in Waukesha. And that's from the small businesses within the district itself all the way out to the Farmer's Market, which I would like to actually see some of the small businesses participating in that as well. All the art shows, all the murals that are going on, some of the personal businesses that are throwing up events that are going on. Since I I had ran previously for Alderman, I had joined the City of Waukesha Police Department alumni and then participated in some of the events even outside of downtown, Oktoberfest and National Night Out and a few others like that.

So I think the best way to actually approach some of these businesses is to talk to them personally like I have been, work with them and find some new avenues with that, including with talking with some of the residents there, I've also learned that they're in need of a grocery store within the downtown district. A lot of them are handicapped, have a limited mobility access, and they could really use, for example, like the Ace Hardware that's banking right now could actually be made into a grocery store within those apartments. I know we've Alicia and I have both talked to some of the residents there as well, and they've expressed those particular interests with us. There is a lot of opportunities. I have pages and pages of documents.

I'm not going to waste your time with that right now, but I would like to act upon some of those items. Any other questions?

Alderperson Piper.

Yes. Aaron, thank you for your interest in the role. And I also have the same question, which is when you're working with others with different viewpoints, how do you find compromise? And at what point do you simply step up and lead?

Absolutely. Well, the stepping up and lead is the automatic position right away. You don't just wait for an opportunity to step up. And part of that leadership role, even based in my particular trade, I'm a carpenter by trade. And I've actually been trained to deal with these particular compromises and construction etiquette and particular things of that nature.

And how you do it is you actually talk to the constituents, you talk to the businesses, and you can follow-up with them. And once you follow-up with them, it's a process to actually learn what the course of action is going to be in that particular situation. So if it's in their favor or not, it is an education process throughout the entire process. And that's how you come to a compromise or you don't. But in that essence, you actually learn exactly what can be done. And if it's right for the city and right for the constituents, that's the move that you work towards. And you can do it together.

Alderperson Matthews.

Aaron, thank you. Thank you for your continued interest in the role. Ask you the same question. What do you see as the biggest opportunity or biggest challenge facing the city of Waukesha today?

Throughout there is a lot of challenges and there's a lot of good things with the city. I mean, depends on which aspects you go with. I would have to agree with some of the previous element. It would have to be budget wise. I understand with the city's government academy that I went through that you guys host, which is a great program by the way.

It's very informative. It actually shows you the actual hard numbers of where we're at. It looks like we are coming out of a bit of a deficit, which is great. We're going in the right direction and I'd actually like to promote that. There's a lot of different avenues with that and it's kind of a loaded answer and question. However, it requires taking a look at that and working with other constituents and also fellow aldermen as well.

Alderperson Cousin.

Thank you. Thank you for trying to well, you are one of the those tonight wishing to represent District 11. Same question. The river, it rises, it lowers, it floods. We have some issues with try to change it up a little bit with the same question.

It's the river.

Thank you, my neighbors. I'm gonna move over there again. Sorry. This is on me, not you. I apologize for that. So river issues that runs through District 11, what is your view on dredging it or letting it naturally take its course?

So my original hometown is from Mercer, Wisconsin, way up in Northern Wisconsin, where they actually experience a lot of these particular issues with lakes and rivers, they need dredging. Just so happens my father used to build them, the dredgers that went through the lakes, and he actually worked and operated and worked on. So there is a little bit of background, on what I've learned, through that particular process. And I also learned that, the ecosystem there is relatively, fragile. So it would have to come to a point learning whether or not dredging at a particular time, particular place.

It would just have to make logistical sense when to do it, how to do it. And I would be in support of it if it would help the system out there. And if not, then it would do more damage than good based upon research on the particular project, then I would probably be against it. So sorry that's wishy washy but that's how I would handle the situation. You.

Alderson Camacho.

Okay so following suit with everybody else and keeping it the same question. So how would you support the downtown businesses as an Alder? Well,

like I said, there is a lot of logistics that go with that and since I've talked to the constituents and business owners quite a few times already recently, I've learned there is also other issues that could help create a better atmosphere within the downtown system. So making it more available and more even younger generation friendly people to come in. So residents is one of the issues. Like I had mentioned before, the farmers market would be something I'd like to see local businesses participate in. It's been I've been told by local businesses that right now that the farmer's market is kind of a hinder on their businesses and they have to shut down during that time.

I'm not going to call out any of the particular businesses, but that's one of the things that you have to work with and you have to figure out as you go. Kind of the revitalizing downtown is going to be one of the biggest uphill battles. And that is actually working with business owners that are in the district that's going to tell you what their capabilities are and basically try to give them opportunities within the council. So I also have friends within the city of Delavan, Alderman as well. And it's nice to see exactly kind of some of the ideas of what they're working with and what they're how they're doing things and just get more ideas.

Now I know City of Waukesha actually does a lot of research and a lot of surveys within the community, and I would actually continue to promote that. But I think can think we can do a lot more and a lot better with what we have. Yes, sir.

Alderperson Lemke.

Aaron, I would just like to get your opinions on net new construction, density, and the Mendel project across the street.

You bet. That is a important topic that is coming up. I was with the Landmarks Commission that unfortunately called out the the common council at the time for missing some historic aspects on the on the approval of it. I tell you what, if it is viable and it is good for the city and it's good for the constituents, I I will be for it. If if it is not and it is harmful to the historic value of of the area and there is no compromise, I may be against it. Thank you, Rick.

Alderson Winkerson.

Thank you. I have one question specifically for you. Sure. April 21, this council sat here and there was a motion made by Alderman Matthews to move District 11 to an appointment, and then they moved to put you in the seat immediately. That is typically an unprecedented move for our council. So I'd like to know what your reaction was and any conversations that you might have made prior to that and what your, you know, what your overall thoughts were about that moving and doing something that was typically not something that the council has done in the past.

I appreciate that question, actually. And I I did find that a little shocking that I wasn't even asked, previously. And and lucky I was there to, to witness it. And I did appreciate the process that went through. There was actual motion made, and it was voted down.

And that was due to not knowing exactly who you guys were voting for, and you wanted more information, and you wanted to go with the traditional system, which was fair, and I fully agree with that. Prior conversations, I have, in the past, I have, talked to a previous alderman, just due to my interest in the aldermanic position here for District 11. But that is basically getting information on current events and particularly how it is governed like through Robert's rules. I'm the vice president of my local, Local two thirty one through, Carpenters. And it is always, always fun to kinda contrast, okay.

Well, this is this happens in this particular meeting. You know, this is not really, local governance. So kind of the figure of the two out has always been kind of an interest with myself. That's why I've personally tried to educate myself as much as possible. So when I learned one one of the biggest budgets that Citi has is security, I right away signed up for the Citizens Academy Police Citizens Academy.

Great program, may I add. And then I was so moved by it. I ended up joining the alumni so I could actually support and participate in some of the fundraising for the the police academy as well. I tell you, there's there's so many great things that are going on in Waukesha. But but to get back to your your previous question is I was honored to be even nominated for a particular motion.

I appreciate your guys' process. And if it actually came up again, and which it probably will, there's a lot of aldermen here and the process is the process. I would stand by repeating that process again. I hope that answers your question.

Alderson Piper.

Erin, just to follow-up. When you gave your opening remarks, you made a comment about serving them justice. And I'm just I'm curious what you meant by that.

Well, I feel it's a unheard voice. A lot of people don't like to make public comments. I I feel I feel a little bit of responsibility. I'm not trying to sway particular things. I ran bipartisan.

So I mean, was no political aspects on that part, but I really want to give back to the community. I really wanna give back to the city and it served me and my family so well. It's my wife and two children there. And I have five children total. So we have been in the school systems. We have participated in a lot of different events. We love the walks a night out. We love volunteering. We love going to the Jamboree. We love everything that city has to provide for us.

But I also have learned within campaigning that there are particular aspects that we are missing. For example, if you go downtown and you take a look up and go down the streets, and this was brought to me by a business owner, that there's air conditioners that are hanging out, and they're very dangerous and it looks like some of them could fall out and that's a unrented space come to find out. There are a lot of the residents that live up in the upper apartments that I've talked to during campaigning. They have a need for parking because when they get home and they have all the businesses locally that are all parked up in the parking spaces, they really have no set place to park. Although they pay rent there and they're paying parking fees and they don't have the right to park near their house.

They have to walk several blocks most of the time. I I could go on, but I I don't wanna take away any more of your guys' time with the the interview process. Maybe just justice is a is a harsh term, but it's an honest one. And that's that's what I give it. Yes, sir.

Alderperson Cousine.

Thank you, mayor. I'm gonna ask a question about the river. It's on that flag. If it wasn't for that river, I don't think Waukesha would even be here or is what it is today. So I try kayaking on the river. It's very difficult to do, and we talk about dredging, leave it, dredge it, not dredge it. What is your input since the river is runs through District 11 on the West End? What is your vision or idea about leaving the river as is or dredging it?

Well, I have to ask you some probing information in order to answer that question. So what do you know about dredging right now? If you're to dredge this year, how it is it? Is it going to affect the the plantation and the river itself and everything within that that river?

This is unprecedented. We were told we're not supposed to answer questions when people are standing there, but I'm going to. Gonna send to wife.

I will allow it to stop.

Thank you. This I look toward

Thank you, miss mayor.

Thank you. I because without that guy out there who

was out there said, we're

not supposed to answer questions, our former mayor. Thank you, mayor. Since my family was not in the manufacture or from Mercier, but I've been on that river, basically, we spend money, and we wanna spend more money. I think I was one of the few that voted down no to having the survey done on it. What should we do with it? And that's why I brought this up. What should we do with the river? We it was a lake. We we made it a lake. It's a lake now, Saratoga Lake.

So as far as my question is specifically is some people wanna do the study, and I think the study was a 150 to $250,000 just to find out what we should do with it. Where I'm bringing this topic up is I didn't wanna spend the money on the survey because I know what the survey is gonna say. We need to dredge it. We need to dredge it two feet, three feet, and should we have a dredging schedule? That's the only thing I know we're going get out of this survey.

So I voted no on the survey because no matter what the survey says, we're going to do it. We're going to need some dredging. Now a reason I bring it up for future is, should it be a five year schedule, a ten year schedule, a twenty year schedule? Should we automatically dredge every twenty years or work together with the DNR, which is part of what the survey is? And or should we just let it run its course and not do anything with it? That's why I brought that up. Did I answer your question?

Well, perhaps that's why, you know, you have to run the survey to justify paying using constituents' taxpayers.

That's why I voted no because I appreciate my constituents dollars and my dollars. Thank you.

Alright. I'm gonna limit the back and forth. Has your question been sufficiently answered? Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Alright. Any other questions from any other of the elders? Alright. Thank you, Aaron.

Thank you.

Moving on. Next we have Becky Fetters. And again, one minute to introduce yourself, but unlimited time for questions.

Yep. My name is Becky Fetters. I am neither a former older person nor a lifelong resident of Waukesha. I moved here in 2012 when my husband took a job here. I think at the time, we were moving from Long Island, New York, where I'm also not from.

I I bounced around a bit. This is the place that we have chosen to put down roots. We didn't move here because of this, but I remember seeing a report from Money Magazine or something that it was like in the top 20 cities of places to to live, which was exciting, and we've had a great time here. I think I tell everyone all the time who will listen to me that the local government that you have is the place where the most impact on your day to day life is. And so I figured with this opportunity, to put my name in the in the ring for this, it was a good chance, to put my money where my mouth was, and I think I have good gifts to serve my neighbors and my community.

And so I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you.

That was fifty eight seconds, by the way. So congratulations on that. Way to go.

I I didn't practice that. That

was very impressive. Alright. Are there any questions for Becky? Alderson Matthews.

You think I'd have your questions memorized by now, buddy.

I I would hope so. It's not gonna really change. But thank you once again for for your interest position. So what do you see as the biggest opportunity? I mean, you're one of the newer residents here, came similar time frame that I did to the city of Waukesha, which we love. But what do you see as one of the biggest opportunities or challenges facing the city right now?

Well, everyone has kind of given a nod to the budget, and I know that that is an issue. But one of the issue I I didn't mention where I live. I live, on Pleasant Street at 808, if that matters, which is just a block east of East and very close to the Hope Center. And so an issue that I hear kind of in the scuttle but on social media is people are concerned with the homeless population in Waukesha. And so that is a challenge that we're facing, I think, to the quality of life for people who have homes and people who are houseless.

And so I'm not I don't have like a great solution to that, But I think that that is definitely a challenge that the city in in different neighborhoods, but I see it every day. So that's that's a challenge I think that and and I don't know what y'all are already up to in terms of addressing that, but I know that that is a concern that my neighbors have and the wider city has.

Excellent. Next up is Alderson Piper.

Thank you. And Becky, thank you for your interest in the position. Yep. You started to address my question in your cover letter, but I'll ask it as well. When you're working with others with different viewpoints, how do you reach compromise? And at what point do you determine that you simply need to step up and lead?

So I have a background in the helping professions. That's been my professional life in various ways. And I always have sought to, like, just naturally be a consensus builder as much as possible. I'm a good listener, and so trying to hear what what the under sometimes the thing isn't the thing, you know, sometimes speaking more of con on a constituent level, the things that people are concerned about that they speak about may have some underlying issue. And so listening well to be able to kind of figure out what that is.

I also am skilled at hearing different points of view and kind of being able to understand where different people are coming from, which I think is valuable just in trying to have conversation around whatever whatever the issue may be. And then sometimes you just really do need to step up and say, you know, okay, like, what are we doing here? Like everybody other people have said, you can't please all the people all the time, and so sometimes you you make the the best decision as a council or as in in other venues of life as you can. But you want to try and make sure that people know that they have been heard and that their opinion matters. I think sometimes the problem comes when people feel like you just kind of like brushed right over them and didn't really pay attention to whatever their concern was.

And so trying to make sure people feel heard in in whatever the process is so that, you can try and get people to get on board. Thank

you. Alderson Wigerson.

Hi. Thanks again for applying. My question is the same as it's been for everybody else.

Yep.

But, you know, what what do you know of the projects that we're working on in the downtown area? And then any type of engagement or community boards or anything that you're on that supports that town activity?

You know, I I feel I can't remember which one said like, know, I'd have to learn on the job for some of these things. Some of the things that I see as I drive my middle schooler to stem every ding dang day earlier than I would like to. I've certainly seen the hotel going up, and I know that Family Promise is gonna has gotten a grant or funding to build family housing shelters right near the library for the what used to be the Christian Scientist Church. And so those are two things that I am aware of because they're in my my sphere of of driving around every day. And I'm excited about the family promise thing when I lived in New York, like, was something I was a little bit involved in and and knew some people involved in, and I think that's definitely a need.

As as I already said, you know, there's a there's a challenge of people being unhoused, and so I'm I'm glad for for that to be happening, although I'm sure that there's gonna be some uproar about it. I already saw it on Facebook. So

Alright. Alderperson Christine and then Camacho.

Thank you. Thank you for stepping up

Mhmm.

To represent District 11 on the Western end of District 11. Fox River goes through there. As you've heard tonight, are you a fan of dredging it or let it naturally happen, whatever is going to happen with the river?

I didn't know that a a survey would cost a $150,000. That's kind of like a a gulp. But certainly, I think there are people who who have better education and knowledge about that type of thing that I would hope we would be able to at least, you know so when the river is flooding and they park the salt trucks on there I'm on Facebook a bit too much maybe,

but people are like, what

are they doing? They wanna get rid of don't wanna have to buy

new trucks. And I'm always like, don't

you think that the people who work for

the city know what they're doing? Like, they have the qualifications to make those choices. And so I'd hope I don't know all of the the different positions of the people who work for the city and and all of that, like what their backgrounds are, but I would hope if we can't afford to do a survey, we could at least get some wisdom, on that end of things because I, you know, I would be concerned about the environmental impact as well. But, you know, we we want the river to be a thriving, healthy space for living beings and for the human beings that wanna use it as well. So I would want more information, but, you know, based on on that, I would would be able to have a an answer, but I don't really know right now at what the what

the best choice would be. Great answer. It doesn't matter if we could afford it or not, we voted for it. Yeah.

Well, there you go. See, you voted no, but I didn't know that everybody else voted yes.

See, at

least you didn't have to vote. Right? Alright. Alderperson Camacho.

I'm gonna collect myself, I promise. Okay. So, yeah, back at it. So how would you support the small businesses? As you know, there's a lot of them in this district as an elder.

I would certainly hope to connect with them. I know that as I wander around downtown with my dog or with my kids or my husband, There's a few spots, like right downtown, that I'm always curious. Like, there's been a lot of turnover in the past, however many years I've lived here, fourteen years. And I'm curious about that. Like, I'm not an entrepreneur, entrepreneur, but I'm always curious about like what it is about those sites that make it hard to make a go of it. And so I'd be curious to hear from some of some of those people as well as from more thriving businesses just to kind of hear what they need from the city and how we could support them. So that's what I would do.

Alderperson Lemke.

You've heard it before, but what are your thoughts about net new construction, density, of new builds and the Mandel project across the street?

Don't know a ton about the project across the street except for, you know, little snippets that I have heard. I didn't do a deep dive into everything before tonight. And I know there's some concerns about it in terms of traffic and in terms of the neighborhood surrounding it. That said, I'm I'm not opposed to I drive past past that a lot too because I take take my kids up to Hawthorne. I got a high schooler, middle schooler, and a and an elementary school killer schooler, so I'm like a a mom taxi every day because none of them can take the bus.

Anyway but yes, recognizing, you know, I've had some conversations with the mayor in other, you know, encounters and knowing that part of the challenge of the city's budget is the way the state gets funded, funding back to us. And that in order to be able to meet rising costs, you know, like the things that we do are increasingly costing money and that doesn't necessarily mean we're getting more money to do it. I think building is gonna have to happen and I know when I hear about that, people are unhappy about that as well because people have like this idyllic image of the place that they grew up or the way that they want it to be and that's not always the way that it's gonna be. And so how do we balance having a place that feels like home with also those needs and creating affordable housing hopefully for people to be able to live here as well as helping with the tax base and the budget. So I would be in favor of that, generally speaking, and then the specifics would would be up for conversation.

Alright. Any other questions? Alright, thank you Becky. Thank you so much. Next up we have James Touchstone. And this is our last candidate for the evening. And James just as a reminder, one minute to introduce yourself and then unlimited time for questions.

Good evening, mayor, council members, citizens of Waukesha. I live at 212 Fountain Avenue in Waukesha. I once read that a man who carries a cat by tail learned something he can learn no other way. Well, I have carried many cats in my time, and I believe that has prepared me rather well for public service. It began simply enough, I was 17 years old on my path to being a public service, old enough to be foolish, old enough to be useful, standing in a recruiter's office, right hand raised towards the ceiling, swearing an oath to the constitution of The United States Of as a member of the Idaho National Guard.

When I came home from my second combat tour, I came to Waukesha, Wisconsin. I carried those lessons with me. I became a supervisor at the Veterans Administration. Before that, I'd managed a $6,000,000 career and technical education grant. District 11 is my neighborhood. I've lived there for twenty five years. I'm not here to promise you the moon. I'm here to promise you what I have delivered elsewhere. Honest work, careful judgment, and a man who shows up. I would be honored to serve.

Thank you. Alright. We'll start with questions. Alderperson Camacho.

My question this time. So how would you support the downtown businesses?

In my many years and being as a business owner, the easiest way to support somebody or get to know somebody I feel is over a cup of coffee. Sit down, spend thirty minutes with them, find out what they need, what they want, and what could be done to best help them.

Great. Alderperson Matthews.

James, you can probably guess what I'm gonna ask. What do you see, in in your history with Waukesha? What do you see right now as the current or biggest opportunity or challenge facing our city right now?

I think the biggest challenges that we have are entry level homes and the city budget. Now the Habitat for Humanity, project that went up with all those homes, think is a great project. I think the biggest opportunities that we have right now for our city is we can capitalize on our historic downtown and on our farmers market. And I really think the connection between the two is a key that we can use to unlock it. Affordable, home affordable homeownership because that solves the tax base problems and it creates more opportunities for growth in Downtown Waukesha.

Thank you. Alderson Piper.

James, thank you for your interest in the role and thank you for your service. My question, again, is around compromise. And when you're working with others that have different viewpoints, how do you found how do you find compromise, and how do you determine when it's time to simply step up and lead?

The hardest project that I ever did in my life was when I was deployed to Afghanistan. I was a team sergeant for, the four thirty second civil affairs battalion out of Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was assigned a project to build a girl's school. Now the challenges of that was the religious leaders in the area did not want a girl's school there. It was funded by two different funding sources, so I had to answer not only to the Department of Defense, but it had a grant from the Australian government.

I was required to use US building codes to build a structure in a third world country, and I also had to find teachers and people to support it when it wasn't worked. So how did I find compromise? I asked everybody the one thing that they wouldn't give up. The Australian said it had to have girls in it. The religious leaders said that we had to divide the boys from the girls.

So I'm from a construction background. I've owned a construction company for, I don't know, thirty eight plus years here in Waukesha. I knew how to help the people to build a boys and girls school within the budget that was allowed. So we came in with the budget that the DOD gave us. We came in with the boys and girls school that was separated so that they could both be educated, and it made the religious people happy.

It made the people of Afghanistan happy. I was in Shinke province in Zabul located up on the Pakistani border. And when it was inspected and passed, not only did we build to The US codes, but we created a training program for the Afghani workers that I was teaching so that they would have a skill that they could take to other areas of Afghanistan to help it. So I think that in order to reach compromise, you have to find the one thing that they won't move on and then put everything else as compromise. Along that same vein, I was a first sergeant for the four thirty second Green Bay for both Charlie company and Delta company.

So as a first sergeant, I know sometimes that you just have to make a decision. And when you have to make a decision and step up for leadership, it comes down to taking responsibility for it, looking people in the eye, and telling them why you have to do what you do, whether it's a time crunch, money crunch, or just a simple logistics.

Thank

you. Next up, alderperson Wagerson.

Hi there. Thanks so much for applying and again, thank you for your service. My question is the same as it's been with everybody else. Maybe after you know, since you're the number seven, you know, what do you know about the downtown things that we've worked on and just any of your engagement with communities or whatnot, boards to help that downtown area that's part of District 11?

Alright. I'll start with projects. So the project projects I know about is a Friedman Alley. It's got new signs, new lights, new structures. We have the courthouse renovation that's going on. We have street resurfacing that's going on. My favorite project is the connecting of the trails. We're in phase two of that right now as our runner. I ran the Kettle Marine ultra marathon, so I love to run run out and back. And the pedestrian bridge system are the current projects that we have going on right now and we're working for.

Community involvement, I have six children. I have two boys and four girls. So when they were active, most of my stuff went to supporting South High School. When I wasn't supporting the kids at South High School, a veteran, I did work with veterans groups and did veterans kinds of support things. And occasionally, when I have time, I work with the food pantry as well.

Great. Alderperson Cousin and then Lemke.

Thank you. Thank you for stepping up to represent, those in District 11. The West End of District 11, the Fox River runs through it. Are you a fan of dredging it or letting it live and stay naturally?

And believe it or not, I've actually been looking forward to your question.

No one else up here has. So Which is why I asked it.

If you look at it, we're only one of 22 districts that are part of this whole river thing. So if we choose to do something without partnership with the other 22 districts that are in our river, we can be throwing money that's not gonna be not. So what I would look at is to propose a watershed district in cooperation with them, and what we really have to focus on is storm water management upstream from where we're at with those other communities because as somebody who's watched the bears disappear, myself, I like to watch a dragonfly, but as we watch them go under with the floods, it's from the storm water upstream. Upstream. So we need to form a partnership upstream and not focus just on dredging the place where we're at.

We also need to focus on green infrastructure with the river so that we can keep it a nice place that people wanna go. I do miss the water skiing show like everyone else. It was a great place to take your kids, on an evening thing. And when we mix that up with it, like with the Friedman Alley, it could almost be a template for how we would improve the River District and bring more people down here, but I think it's far beyond dredging. That's a really simplistic way to look at it. It's more of a partnership with all of the people both in our town and upstream who have our river flowing through their districts.

Thank you. I love that. We'll defer everything to Pewaukee. That was a great idea.

No. Work with them. Work with them.

I'm sorry. I'll I'll change that.

Alderperson Lemke.

Net new construction, density, and the Mandel project, if you could speak on those.

Yeah. So we do need, as I said earlier, more new construction. I prefer single or home ownership over apartments, but I understand that both are important to the tax base. As far as a project across the street, I think that you guys have already voted on it to my understanding. My two things whereas is taking into the concerns of the people that the hill neighborhood up there and the people that have to deal with the parking that comes here.

And the other thing that I'm I haven't seen the our the blueprints, but we have a really beautiful building here, and I'd like to see that mirrored in whatever new construction we build across the street so that it makes this area an attractive area to be at.

Alright. Any other questions? Alright. Thank you, James.

Alright. Thank you.

Now for the fun part. Alright. So we are gonna do this, as a show of hands again, but this is not yeah. Alderperson Lemke.

Do we get to speak before we vote? I'd like to make a couple of comments.

Sure. Yeah. I I will allow that. Yeah. But I I'm gonna ask that we not do a lot of back and forth.

No. No. No. No.

No. If you

would like to make

a statement or anybody else would, sure. So I'll start with you, Alderson Lemke.

I I just wanted to I mentioned to one alderman my thinking when I seconded the Aaron Spencer recommendation last meeting. And it was not in my in my opinion, I was taken aback by I never expected it. So I seconded the motion, and and I'll just mention why, my thoughts. Okay? It wasn't to pull a fast one.

It was because, Aaron ran two races before, and my consistent thought has always been, give the opportunity to the man who tried to win the office rather than just appointing someone who didn't go through the work. Now I know Joe when I talked to Joe, he said, well, if if that would have been the case, he wouldn't have been on on the board. But Aaron ran twice and narrowly got defeated by Alicia. Alicia, I think, outworked him, but that's just my own personal opinion. I think both of them would have been very good aldermen.

So I seconded the motion because I firmly believed that the person who ran before once or twice, the voters spoke even if he came in second. They spoke that they chose that person. And in in Aaron's case, it he ran against three people and won the primary against Leonard. Now Leonard is a great alderman, but that's what happened. So my thought was to promote Aaron. Okay? And I'm just gonna use an example. Eileen, you were just elected, and and I don't know how you're gonna be as an alderman. I hope I've talked with you many times. You're you're great.

But if something would happen and you were in this office for two, three months and you said, you know, this just isn't for me. Okay? Eileen was in a in a three way primary with my cousin Dean. Love him dearly. We all have our opinions, but okay.

And there was a a second person and Dean got eliminated in the primary and Eileen won in the general election. So if Eileen stepped down, I would even pick the person, the second runner-up versus going for my cousin because I think the voters spoke and said, here's the winner, here's the second one, and here's the third one. So when I did that last week, that was my thought. Okay? It it didn't have to do with the qualifications of anybody.

I because I've heard from everybody here, all seven, and I would be happy with all seven of seven of them. I would encourage them all to run-in the next election, okay, so that the voters have a choice, but I was respecting the voters' choice. So that's my thought. And and please don't hold it against Aaron because I don't think he knew that we were gonna do something nefarious. Okay? So that's my thought.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any other people that wish to make a statement tonight before we vote? Alright. So the way that I'm gonna do this is I'm gonna, again, list everybody in the order that they appear on the agenda to keep it really simple, and you know what to expect next. I'm going to ask that you keep your hands raised so that I can record who votes for whom because again this is not a secret ballot. So with that we are going to start with Lenny. Please raise your hand if you would like Lenny Miller to be the new District 11 alderperson. No one? Alright. Moving on. Moving on.

David Vincent, please raise your hand if you would like David Vincent to be the next alder person for District 11. Alright. Nobody? And again, if there was a tie for last, both people will drop off. So just a heads up on that. Next up, we have, Timothy Nekisch. If you would like Timothy to be the next District 11 alderperson, please raise your hand. I'm seeing Mike Krissine. Anyone else? Alright.

Alright. Next up, we have Eric Helgesead. If you would like Eric Helgesead, please raise your hands now. And please keep them up so I can record all of the votes. I am writing them all down.

Oh, One,

thank you. Let me just make sure I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. All right, thank you all. Next up, Erin Spencer, please raise your hand if you would like Erin Spencer. All right.

Thank you. Next up, Becky. Alright, 123, excellent. And then finally James Touchstone. And I've got one. Alright, so then by the rules that we went over at the beginning, Lenny and David are no longer up for consideration. So that was our round one votes. And I'm just marking that for myself here. Alright. So we have remaining.

We have Timothy Nekic, Eric Helgesead, Aaron Spencer, Becky Fetters, and James Touchstone. So we are going to revote again, minus Lenny and David. So all those that would like, Tim, Timothy Nekisch, please raise your hand. All All those for Eric Helgestad, please raise your hands. All right.

Exactly the same. I have to make sure I'm following the rules so that Brian doesn't yell at me. All right. So Aaron Spencer, please raise your hands. Alright. Alright. So we're adding SBT. Thank you. And then next up, Becky Fetters. Excellent. Thank you. And then James Touchstone. I think we you can only vote one Alright. So that means that James Touchstone will drop off with zero votes. Alright.

So next up, we are going to vote again. Please raise your hands if you would like Timothy Necich. Alright. Eric Helgasted? Alright. No changes there. Erin Spencer? Alright. No changes there. And then, Becky Fetters. Excellent. Alright. So that means that Tim Nekisch has dropped out in round three. And alright, so we are back to revoting again. We will start with Eric Helgeset.

Alright, so the same seven. Erin Spencer? Thank you. Becky Fetters? The same three. Alright so with that it means that Becky has dropped off with only three people because we did have the four then this time around for Aaron Spencer. So Becky I'm sorry you are out in round four. All right. So next up, we have all those who would like Eric Helgasten, please raise your hands. I got to start a new page.

Yes. We just have two people left. So all we have are Eric Helgesead and Aaron Spencer. So please keep your hands raised so that I can mark everyone down. Okay, sorry.

You're good, you're good. If you're on the right side of me, you're good. Alright. And then just so that we have a record, if you are for Aaron Spencer, please raise your hands. Alright.

Well, with that, it looks like Eric Helgesead, you have, received the majority of the votes. Congratulations. I knew there were gonna be multiple rounds. We were prepared. So, Eric, as you make your way up here, I do wanna thank all of those who, applied. I know this was quite the process here, tonight, so thank you for putting in that effort, especially because you all wanted to be my alder person, so thank you for that. And also thank you to the council, for being brief with your questions, but also pointed and making sure that you made a good choice tonight. Thank you. Alright. Eric, come on up. This is not the price is right.

Following my sheet, but only because

after it's already decided, I counted eight. Now I have to support them all.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. They're all gonna be hearing

from me. My he was my second choice, by the way.

For District 11

Alderman for District 11

of the city of Waukesha, Wisconsin

of city of Waukesha, Wisconsin

to the best of my ability, so help

me God.

To the best of my ability, so help me God. Congratulations.

Eric, you made your wife cry on your first day. You only did cry. Welcome. Welcome to the council. You're going to sit right next to Alderson Camacho there. That was your spot. Right? Yes. Okay. Alright. Well, welcome. So we have completed the first part of the agenda so far. So next up is consent agenda. I believe there's one item to be pulled off of consent.

Yeah. We need to remove the extension of premises for BBs on Main.

Alright. We will discuss that under ordinance and licensing then. Is there anything else to be removed from consent agenda? Alright. Seeing nothing, we will assume that that passes. I'm getting to the right page here. Too many pages. All right. Next up then we have the termination of the tax incremental finance district 13. Jennifer?

Yes. I'm going to provide a little bit of context about our TIF portfolio. I promise I'll go quickly. But just since we haven't dealt with a lot of TIF related things in the last couple of years, I just wanted to give you a quick update as well. So here's a little bit of the history of how the city has used TIDs for almost fifty years.

And it has a drastic, effect on property owners or property values when we put we create TIP districts and provide incentives to, encourage development to happen in those districts. And historically, our average district life is seventeen years. There's three different types of districts that we've used in the past. The redevelopment district always takes a little bit longer because the costs are usually higher because those projects are usually much more complicated. But this kind of gives you an idea of how long our districts generally last.

And currently after tonight, we'll have 13 open districts with that have created $442,000,000 in value. And just as a side note, we closed six districts in the last six years. So we're generally on a trend of closing one district a year or maybe one every other year depending on what's going on. I think last year we closed two actually. And the amount of tax base generated by those six districts we closed in the last six years was almost $200,000,000 And real quickly, just as a reminder, here's some of the work that we did in the past.

So the old Fleming property got improved into the shops at Fox River and some manufacturing. An old foundry down on Racine Avenue in the bypass found new life for some commercial and residential development. The former Span Creek site, I forgot how bad this looked until we pulled this picture out. So we redeveloped that into a shopping area. The vacant Kmart site and some of the properties around it got a fresh development and for commercial in that area on Sunset Drive.

And this is Oberlin Filter up by the airport, really an underutilized piece of property and the company really wanted to stay in the city of Waukesha because they had quite a legacy here but also a lot of their employees were here and so we worked with them on this property so that they could expand. So that brings us to TID 13. This district is twenty three years old. It's run its statutory life. We're required to close it at this point, and it has generated a modest amount of increment over those twenty three years.

The most interesting thing about this district to me anyhow is that it was the first what we call PAYGO District in the city, meaning that it was the first agreement where that the city did with the developer where the developer fronted the costs and then recovered some of those costs through the increased tax base over the last twenty three years. This site's on the West side of the city off the bypass. It was a site that the city used as a landfill since the 50s. And then after that, not much happened on that site. So by 2003, when we created the district, it looked like this.

There was some storage and an Aldi there on the corner, but generally not much had happened on this large district. And so there was a thought that this might be a perfect spot for some industrial development who had created the district. The owner went ahead and did some cleanup, but we had we did see some development, especially along that Les Paul Parkway, area. And then there's some other, buildings like that recycling transfer station that also occurred. But we didn't see the industrial development there that we thought we might.

And it was really once they started to dig into the soils there, they realized it really couldn't support the foundations needed. And it was very difficult to run the utilities because the soil was so unstable that the mains would break and it was it's just an extremely difficult site. So it's kind of built out to probably its maximum use as is right now. So this is the first time in the city's history when we're closing a district that it has a shortfall. Usually, we have a positive balance or we've always had a positive balance at the end of these districts.

This is the first time we have a shortfall. And it kind of goes back to that I mentioned it was our very first PAYGO district. And we learned a lesson from this. As part of that developer agreement, we, the city, capped ourselves for administrative costs at $35,000 So what happens is any staff time that's spent working on TIFs, managing them gets charged to that TIF and so the TIF is paying for whatever staff time goes into it. And that's what we were doing because that's our practice.

And then once we reached that $35,000 cap, we weren't able to recover the rest of that staff costs. We would have been able to if the developer had reached their maximum incentive, but that never happened as I just showed The development really didn't it wasn't as robust as he had thought or that we had thought at the time in 2003. So there was some additional staff costs that was not covered by this district. So this is the second item under new business. So we're proposing that to offset that shortfall that we use contingency funds to pay for those unreimbursed staff time at the end of TID 13.

So that's a very quick overview because I know it's been a long night already, but I'm happy to answer any questions you have on

this. Alderperson Lemke.

Being that staff is mostly salary, it's really not it's it's a loss of revenue to the city, but it's not really a loss of money. Why would you have to be reimbursed just so your department gets reimbursed or how does that work?

It's it's really an accounting thing so over that twenty three years we were charging that staff time to the district anticipating at some point that we would be reimbursed and and then stop that once we realized that it probably wasn't going to happen. But so it's an accounting mechanism to offset those past expenses because you can't close a district with a negative balance. We've got to bring that district to zero in terms of the accounting of it so that because you can't close it as in the negative. It's

Okay. Alderperson Piper and then Alderperson Vantrasse.

I'll yield.

Alderperson Vantrasse.

Thank you, Mayor. Jennifer, so in the land that's still available over in that area, if we were to go back in there, would it be too much cost to the city to develop it so that we wouldn't have any more main breaks over there or is it just way beyond trying to fix?

Yes, we've had different proposals over the years and I think that this what you're seeing here kind of on the western end where it's the storage, that's the worst part of that old landfill. That's where the most issues are underground. And so, I think that it's probably cost prohibitive unless it was like some type of, I don't know, amazing development that was worth a lot of money or something that could offset that. But I think it would be very difficult to do much more than what's out there right now. Yeah.

Anyone else? Is there a motion? Aldeperson Piper.

Thank you. I'll make a motion for the termination of tax incremental finance 13. And with a second, I'll speak briefly. Alderson Camacho.

I'll second.

Thank you. Alderson Piper, go ahead.

Just wanna reiterate a couple of things that Jennifer pointed out for the public and for the council is that we've been the city has been very good at TIFF. And this is a rare instance where we have one that is finishing in a deficit, but that's not been the standard that we've done TIFF in the past. Plus, as Jennifer related, it sounds like all of us, including staff, learned a little bit of a lesson around how to structure these things and that it was our first PAYGO TIFF and we've made those changes since then. So I'd ask for your support to terminate TID 13 this evening. Thank you.

Alderson Evert.

I second.

Oh, it's already already been seconded, but Okay. Thank Well Thank you for the support.

Checking. Checking.

Alright. Any anyone else? Any other comments? We don't need another second? Nope. Alright. So the motion is to terminate, tax incremental finance district thirteen. Please vote when it is before you. And you can voice vote,

Eric. Aye.

Aye. Christine, aye.

Matthew's, aye.

Alright, that motion does pass. Moving right along. So I know you kind of went over this, do you want to just kind of mention it again or no? Okay. So then we do still have the item for budget amendment. Is there a motion on the floor? Alderson Wiggerson?

I will make a motion to, wait a minute. On the budget amendment for the shortfall from the TID 13 termination.

Alright. Alderson Matthews.

I'll second it.

Alright. And to be clear, that motion is to fund, and pay for the administrative fees related to past staff, for once the final audit is or excuse me, I'm reading the wrong thing too. To approve the budget amendment for use of contingency funds. Is that correct?

Correct.

Alright. Excellent. Any other comments? Aldeperson Piper?

Jennifer or Tony, just for the record, can you state what the is the amount the $70,000 or can you state the amount for the record?

Yeah. We don't know the exact dollar amount until after the final audit's done. It's about Denise is estimating about $66.67. I just said 70 to provide a little bit of The cushion final audit will be done later this year, and then we'll have that exact number.

Alright. Very good. Thank you.

And to be clear, your motion is pending the final audit, kind of really close, if not exactly what the suggested motion is?

Yes. What you said. Thank you.

Oh yeah, is this a two thirds majority, Brian, for budget amendment?

Yes it

is. Thank you for that. Alright, so please vote when it is before you, or voice vote if necessary. Aye.

Matthews, aye.

All right. That does pass with more than a twothree majority. And Alderson Lemke was actually able to vote electronically, which is even better.

It's not me.

Alright. So next up, we have a disallowance of claim for Chad Stouthammer. Brian, I will let you take over from here.

Thank you. This claim that was filed against the city arises out of a situation down in Dale Matthews District. It's a situation that is continuing to develop. It arises from a an application for a driveway permit from mister Stouthammer who has property in the village of Waukesha that is close to a stub end street. We have a number of stubs on the streets down in the Southwest Side of town because they were laid out that way in anticipation of development in the town of Waukesha that would be annexed into the city.

So as a good planning practice, the streets were made to line up so that they would continue into that projected subdivision. The village, well the town is now the village, it incorporated into the village, which means that there are not going to be any more annexations, and we will not be connecting our streets into the streets of a subdivision that would be annexed into the city. Mister Stouthammer asked for permission to run his driveway off the end of our Stubb Street and was rejected by the engineering department for several reasons, but primarily because this is not what that street was laid out for. It was laid out not for a private driveway in an adjacent community. It was designed for a street to continue into a subdivision that would be part of the city of Waukesha.

Among other reasons, just as a practical matter, the layout was not really advisable. So there had been some discussion back and forth with mister Stouthammer who made it very clear that he was not agreeable to discussing any compromises or complying with the engineering departments requests or requirements. Not long after that we received this claim that came in which is for $600,000 in damages on what is known as an inverse condemnation. And what that means is that the city has what's called police power inherently to control among other things access to its streets. But when regulation by a police power reaches an excessive point, then the claim can be made that the owner of the property that's affected by the regulation has been deprived of substantially all of the value of the property to him or her and therefore becomes a taking which under the fifth amendment requires compensation by the government.

Mister Stouthammer is claiming that the denial of his driveway permit has deprived him of substantially all of the value of his property and is seeking compensation in the amount of $600,000. I naturally am recommending disallowance of this because this is a legitimate exercise of police power. It does not arise to the level of a taking and compensation is not due. If it were due, we would not be determining that in this forum. It would be determined in a court after a thorough analysis of all of the legal and factual issues.

So we are recommending disallowance of this claim which as most of you know,

does not

mean that there will never be a recovery from the city, but it means that the time period within which a lawsuit to recover that from the city is shortened from six years to six months. So that's really the effect of this. As I said, it's a developing situation. This almost certainly will not be the end of it, but it's one step along the way to at least shorten our period within which that lawsuit can be filed. So we are recommending disallowance.

Okay. Alderson Molson. I move to disallow the claim of Chad Stouthammer. Alderson Wachowska?

Second.

Alright. Are there any comments or questions? Yeah. Alderperson Matthews.

Yep. This situation is very near and dear to me. Sometimes on a daily and multiple times daily out there. So I would appreciate and I support, fully support disallowing this claim and letting it go through the due process and doing it the right way.

Thank you. Alderperson Evert.

He's he's got a he's got a driveway to get in and out now, doesn't he?

There is access to the property which is a number of parcels that are under common ownership by a corporation called Riverview Farms Incorporated. It's a large area that is currently in agricultural use and some of it lies fallow because it's wetland along the river. There is access currently to Salesville Road by a road that is apparently primarily used for agricultural purposes. So this is by no means the only way to access this property. Thank you.

Alderperson Vantrieste.

Brian, so are you saying that that the way the egress into his residence, he he can't enjoy the same as the rest of the people? I assume this is an HOA maybe, but, you know the what you were saying about it's it's part of a group there. So everybody else is able to to have egress to their property off of not off of Salesville Road, but it would this is the only property that he'd have to come in through Salesoil Road. That's it.

Well, I don't know that I understand your question fully, but right now the land is vacant. There's nobody residing on it. The plan apparently is to put a single family residence on the property and it's not within the city of Waukesha. It's in the village of Waukesha. It's beyond the city limits. K.

Just just that singular property though. Yes. It's beyond the city limits in the village instead of the city so. Right. And what I was trying to refer to was, you know, there's 12 residents for instance and he's the thirteenth but he doesn't have the same access points. That's the clarity that I was looking for.

Yeah. The other residents are on Oxbow Drive that are city residents and city properties and use the city street and have had access to it for some time. I would just say that those kinds of matters are really not part of what we're talking about here tonight. There will be plenty to discuss about the merits of the arguments both ways. But it is my firm conviction at least that there is no claim for a taking here in the amount that we should be considering allowing a claim of $600,000 against the city tonight.

So we'll get into all of those other matters eventually, but we really do need to disallow this claim this evening.

Thank you for the clarity.

Are there any other questions? Alright. And to be clear, a yes vote would be to disallow this claim. So please vote when it is before you or voice vote as necessary.

Aye.

Alright, that motion does pass, 15 to zero.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next up, we have transit commission report. Alex?

No meeting, no report, but we do have a meeting on Thursday 05/21.

Excellent. Water utility, Alderson Matthews.

Thank you, madam mayor. Next meeting is Thursday, 06:00. All of them are welcome to attend.

Excellent. IT board, Alderson Mannion.

All of our business items were approved on consent agenda, end of report.

Excellent. Landmarks Commission, Alderson Cousin.

Thank you, mayor. Our next meeting is Wednesday the third. If you can't make the IT meeting, please stop by. Landmarks, it'd probably be a little bit more fun than IT. But our last meeting, we had, three people, before us that needed some, some funds for their upkeep of their historic property, and we had a long discussion on a city water utility property that's being divested that they would like to tear down, but it is listed on the national, not local, the national historic registry.

So that was our our discussion on what to do with that, but we're waiting for more city input on the history and what actually is under the property.

Thank you. Redevelopment Authority, Alderson Lemke.

No meeting, no report.

Thank you. Parks, Rec, and Forestry, Alderson Wells.

We met last night and acknowledged the gift of an 80 foot flagpole by the Parks Foundation Waukesha 'll be placed at Lowell Park and hopefully installed prior to the fourth of July celebrations. We also reviewed revisions to our departmental financial assistance program and elected board officers.

Excellent. Library board report. Eric, since you were there, Alderperson Algastead.

Yep. We met and the board, we had some really good staff education, went through education on the pickup and drop off there. We went over also updates to the city program inventory, which I believe other departments are going through as well. So library director, Bruce gave us an update on that. We approved the minimum to exempt, which after the pass at the County, the Act 150 adjustments for the next couple of years that was approved by the board.

And also want to tell you all that there is a new pass in addition to the other passes at the library. This one is to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. So if you want to go see the cobia with your family, I encourage you to go to the library and go pick up that pass. It'll be a hot one.

Thank you. Excellent. Thank you. Next up, Cemetery Commission Report. Alderson Cousin.

Thank you, mayor. Our meeting this month was canceled, but our next one, we're looking forward to Monday the eighth, 05:30 in the community room.

Excellent. Thank you. Waukesha Housing Authority report. Alderson Piper?

Thank you. At our last meeting, mayor joined to introduce herself to the housing authority. We received a report from our auditor, which was another clean audit for the housing authority for the last fiscal year. And the other highlight is we renewed a contract with State Farm for our overall property and casualty insurance. That is the end of report.

Excellent. Community development block grant. Jennifer, anything?

No report.

Alright. Public art committee report. Alderson Molson? No report. Alright. Plan commission report? No report. No report. Alright. Finance committee.

No report this evening.

No reports. Jeez. Alright. Building grounds, Alderson Molson. All items on consent. Excellent. Alright. Ordinance and Licensing Committee. I know you've got a lot for us. Alderson Wacheska, I'll let you take it.

Yeah. I'll ruin the trend here. A couple of things that I hope are more procedural just didn't make it

in

time for O and L or required some clarification. First up, we have discussion and recommendation on AB105 submitted by Raysgreen Brewing for Blockshot twenty twenty six Lowell Park Fireworks Show on 07/03/2026 from four to ten. Brian, I honestly don't recall why we just ended up on this one. Sorry.

The application that came in from Ray's Grain listed or described the licensed premises as the entirety of Lowell Park. We asked them to revise that description so that it only included an area near their serving area for many reasons. But number one, if the entire park were the licensed premises, they would have card everybody that entered into the park. So and they did make that amendment. So there's I have no opposition to it. I don't think there was any other issue raised at o one l.

Yes. Thank you. That as soon as I said that, I remembered what it was. So the map is attached if anyone has any questions. The AB-one 105 is just the state version of a license to sell Raised Grain as a manufacturer, blah, blah, blah. Fairly new process to us, so we're all kind of working through it. So I will make a motion to approve the application, and hopefully someone seconds it. And if there's any questions, Brian can answer otherwise.

Alderperson Matthews?

I'll second

Are there any other questions? Alright. Then please vote. Again, this is to approve the AB one zero five submitted by Raised Grain for the fourth of July fireworks on July 3 from four to ten, with the amended map. So please vote when that's before you, or voice vote if you must.

Aye. Aye.

Alderman Everett.

Aye.

Alright.

That motion does pass, 15 to zero. Next up, it looks like Salty Toad.

Yep. Similar situation, just trying to get this done in time. As the weather's getting nicer, it would have delayed it. No concerns from anybody. The packet's in front of you if you wanna see it. So I'll make a motion to approve the the sidewalk cafe permit for salty toad.

K. Alderson Camacho? Second? Second. Thank you. Are there any questions or comments? Alright. Then the motion is to approve the salty toad sidewalk cafe. Please vote when it is before you or voice vote as necessary.

Aye. Aye.

Alright. That motion does pass, 15 to zero. On to BB's on Main.

Same thing. We had some questions about this one that came up at the ONL committee around BB's shares of Friday night live stage with Magellan's. There were some questions around the extension of premise that I pulled off a consent that we'll talk about in hopefully about a minute And the sidewalk cafe, both permits have been filed and there are no concerns. So I will make a motion to approve the sidewalk cafe permit for BB's on Main. And if you have any questions, Brooke is here if you'd like to speak with her.

Alderperson Camacho? I will second. Alright. Are there any questions on the sidewalk cafe permit? Yeah. Alderperson Manion?

Brian, I think I asked this question when we had this at O and L and I don't think we addressed it that night, so I'm gonna re ask it. My question was related to the requirement around food service for the sidewalk cafe. Is that I see it's crossed out on the application. Is that something that we changed or something we're waiving in this case or

No. Sidewalk Cafe does not require the service of

food. Okay.

It can be removed for solely beverages also.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Are there any other questions? Alright. Then the motion is to approve the sidewalk cafe application for BB's on Main. Please vote when it is before you or voice vote.

Aye.

Rick Lumpke, aye.

Alright. That motion does pass 15 to zero. And then there's a part two for BB's on Main. So Paul, if you wanna go to that next.

Yep. Part two is the extension of premise relating to the same thing, Friday Night Live for BB's on Main attached with the Sidewalk Cafe. So I will make a motion to approve the extension of premise for BB's on Main.

I'll second.