City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everybody. You are at a common council meeting, city of Wasa. It is Tuesday, March 10th. It is 6:40 p.m. Council chambers have called the meeting to order. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I'm going to ask the clerk to call the role, please. There are 11 voting members present. All right. And there are no proclamations in the packet tonight. Item number three is consideration of the minutes from February 24th, a regular common council meeting. Would entertain a motion from Watson. Second from Grryer. questions, changes, comments. Seeing none, you may vote. Motion passes 11 to zero. [cough] Okay, we do have a few pre-registered tonight for public comment. The city of Wasau recognizes the value of public comment on local issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on city matters. Please identify yourself by name and state your address. Each statement made by a participant should be limited to three minutes. Direct all comments to the chair, not to members, staff or other participants. People addressing the council shall not disturb the orderly course of business. The chair values civil discourse and may interrupt, terminate, or prohibit public comment that do not adhere to these rules. Up first is Rebecca Bourke. Good evening. My name is Rebecca Bori and I live in the fifth district here in

Wasau. I am the pastor of First United Methodist Church and also I volunteer as the president of New Beginnings for Refugees and I also know and deeply trust our collaborative partners at Ola, Healthy Opportunities for Latin Americans. And together we educate, empower, and connect with some of the hardest working, most resilient, and yet often overlooked families in this country and in our community, our refugee, M, and Hispanic neighbors. And we are all witnesses to how immigrants have enriched our community both socially and economically. And our immigrant neighbors often live in older homes that contain lead paint hazards. The health consequences of lead poisoning is permanent. Developmental delays, learning disabilities, and lifelong cognitive harm. Children are at risk, but many families have not learned about the dangers and toxicity of lead. So, we have an opportunity to change that through this lead hazard education grant. And the funding exists specifically to reach communities that are still learning our language and our culture. And that can take decades. But this grant must be completed within the next 18 months. And our neighbors health cannot afford our hesitation. Some we may wonder why we need nonprofit organizations involved. Many of our immigrant neighbors have had their trust poisoned by institutions that promised help and delivered harm, by language barriers that made them feel invisible, and by systems that didn't see them as equal partners. Our M neighbors carry memories of displacement and broken promises. Our Hispanic families navigate real threats that keep them from opening the door to strangers. Our refugee

community members are still learning what information and systems and people in this country are safe to trust. New Beginnings and OLA have staff and volunteers who have already been doing the work for years to build that trust, speaking and sharing the languages and sharing and understanding cultures. Well, let me address two other concerns that I have heard. First is well many of these families won't participate. I believe that is false. They engage when we take time that is needed to build rapport and trust, treat people with dignity, and connect with their minds and their hearts. Both New Beginnings and OLA do exactly that. The second concern is these families are just renting. So what can they change about a home they don't earn or they don't own? Well, the grant does include funding to remediate lead paint hazards and is available to both homeowners and landlords. Helping older, often neglected housing in Wasa become safer to live in is a long-term benefit to our whole city. If we pass on this grant or if we delay its implementation, we don't just lose funding, we lose an opportunity to build a stronger and healthier community. lead exposure rates in immigrant communities remain elevated precisely because general outreach does not reach them. So this grant is a chance to effectively prevent children from being poisoned by lead now and in the future. There are no doovers for children being poisoned because of unnecessary delays. I am thankful for the council's decision two weeks ago to move forward with this grant and tonight I ask the council to vote against the motion to reconsider that is on the agenda. We must move forward today in implementing the lead hazard education and authorize new beginnings and OLA to move forward to reach M Hispanic and

refugee families with respect, education, remediation and the urgency that they deserve. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Borgie. Up next, Aaron Andrews. Good evening. My name is Aaron Andrews. I reside at 1310 Macko Street in District 4 in the city of Wasau. I am here tonight to ask the city council to uphold your February 24th approval and not reconsider theou with new beginnings in Ola for the HUD le hazard capacity building grant. I serve on the board of new beginnings for refugees and one reason I was asked to serve on this board is my professional background in leading and strengthening nonprofit organizations as well as overseeing grant applications at the community foundation in Portage County. In the grant-making world, there is an old adage that says, "Well, we fund programs but not salaries or operations." However, funders are coming to realize that nonprofits, just like businesses, require staff time to accomplish their goals. You cannot run a program without utilizing utilizing staff time and operating expenses. It takes time and resources to implement successful programs. HUD's guidelines for the lead education grant allows for funding to be used to cover operating costs. The city of Wasau issued an RFP seeking help to accomplish the grant deliverables and New Beginnings responded because we are able to help the city meet the grant requirements. It is that simple. to reconsider this RFP based on funding operating costs or salaries contradicts the nature of the HUD funding that the prov that was provided to the city of Wasau and it sends a completely inaccurate message that New Beginnings is somehow doing something inappropriate by asking to be reimbursed for the work our staff does. As a growing nonprofit, New Beginnings seeks funding

opportunities align with our mission, our strategic plan, and allows us to meet the needs of the refugee and immigrant community. Our mission at New Beginnings is to educate, empower, and connect refugees and immigrants as they build new lives in the greater Wasau community. When New Beginnings makes decisions about programs, what new programs and we might offer, and what funding opportunities we may seek, we are careful to ask if a program aligns with our mission, aligns with our strategic plan, and if we have the capacity to meet those grant requirements. The lead education RFP allows us to educate our immigrant and refugee population on the dangers of lead paint and connect them to resources available to them in the community. As highlighted by my f fellow New Beginnings team here tonight, New Beginnings is uniquely positioned to provide the connections and information that the city of Wasa needs to fulfill this grant due to our access and our relationships with populations who may have limited English skills. To reconsider this already approved sends the wrong message to the community about the appropriate use of the HUD funds and the nonprofits who want to work with the city to meet the HUD's grant requirements. I respectfully ask you to stand by your February 24th vote in support of theou. Thank you.

Thank you. Up next, Robert Robert Walsh. Good evening. My name is Robert Walsh. I live at 11:01 Grand Avenue in District 2. Uh I serve as the um I'm the board of directors of New Beginnings for Refugees as the board treasurer. And as my friends have conveyed, uh we have one more representative to go. From a financial perspective, our pursuit of this service opportunity is because it aligns with our mission, vision, strategy, and goals. It's not because there was a grant available. Much like on the forprofit side, when firms consider an investment in a new product line or a new service offering, the evaluation of those opportunities is carried out in consideration of whether it's an effective investment and does it align with what the organization's objectives are. Hopefully, you're hearing tonight a unified presentation that we do things very similarly. We evaluate these opportunities based on the opportunity to provide services to the community, not because there's funding available. So, it's neither in my nature nor in the organization's present interest to address any other aspects of this conversation that might be out there socially. Uh, you know, there's been conversations. We're not in a position to address any of those other than to convey to you as a city council that our interest is providing services to the needy residents of this or of this community. Thank you. Thank you.

And up next is Tufu Jang. Good evening. Um, Tufu Jang, uh, 1103 Sherman Street. Um, [clears throat] I'm here to uh talk about the uh in regards to the HUD capacity uh building grant. I understand there's concerns that [clears throat] some of the from some of the council regarding that these funds uh about the funds being used for employee salaries. This grant is designed to support education and lead hazard awareness specifically aimed at high-risisk and underserved communities. In managing programs for new beginnings, I have seen firsthand that effectively reaching specific PO populations requires specialized and professional expertise. When you allow funds for compensation, you are paying for a highly specific qualification. We are paying for proven federal compliance with HUD grant funds. Federal grants demand rigorous compliance, meticulous uh data tracking, and precise uh performance [clears throat] metrics. Our executive director and operations manager have uh management experience with HUD and community development block grants. They have successfully managed diverse funding streams, including federal funds without compensating experienced professionals to oversee this initiative. the city risks non-compliance and mismanagement of grant allocations. [clears throat] We are paying for lead uh hazard experience. Our project management brings background from the equipul project which involved large-scale project uh management and federal funding compliance. Uh this includes on the ground experience in lead risk communication

with the residents and identifying lead uh service lines. Uh we are paying for established community trust effectively reaching these uh populations is far more than simply translating a flyer. We are highly skilled professionals who act as a cultural bridge for high-risisk and underserved families and successfully navigate uh sensitive health uh topics. We build trust through advocacy, connecting our families to essential uh local resources and providing crucial ELLL education. Our team knows how to navigate complex social landscapes, manage bilingual teams, and act as trusted messengers for a uh for sensitive public health initiatives. We are paying for operational capacity. The successful execution of this grant hinges on grassroot efforts primarily through door-to-door and in-home visitation engagements to ensure families genuinely understand the risk of lead exposure. We have a proven track record of maintaining high pro uh productivity and meeting deadlines even under tight uh time constraints. To maintain this high level of uh capability required to meet the grants expectations, it is only appropriate to provide compensation for uh personnel. This will allow us to establish new outreach channels while leveraging our existing community out outreach expertise. To further m maximize uh taxpayer value, we utilize strategic uh alliances such as collaboration with OLA and other organizations to share resources, prevent redundancy, and increase cost efficiency. Funding salaries is an investment into our city and is the very mechanism that makes this grant function. If we want highly effective, legally

compliant programs that genuinely protect uh WASA families, we must compensate the professionals executing the work. Thank you.

Thank you. Up next is Karina Norbomb. Hi there. My name is Corey Norbam. I live at 2025000 Dubet Drive, Mosin, Wisconsin. Uh I'm a family physician and I teach at the medical college of Wisconsin central Wisconsin and I see patients at the Wasa free clinic. Tonight I am here as a board member of Ola, a sub awardee of the HUD grant. There's no known safe blood level in children or adults. Even small amounts can cause health problems. Once exposed, there's no reversal. Children under 6 years old are the most vulnerable. Lead pipes and plumbing fixtures are one source of potential lead exposure, but lead based paint is an even greater source of household lead exposure for children. Lead service lines are being replaced around WASA through the Aquaflow project. And now there is funding available to work toward removing lead paint hazards in homes. Having a lead service line is a strong predictor that there may be lead based paint in a home. We have a unique opportunity to get into homes and talk with residents. Ola has been collaborating on the Equiflow project since the first season. Community health workers have been assisting with community outreach about the health hazards of lead and opportunities for lead service line replacement through canvasing at homes and connecting with WA was residents at community events. All community health workers speak English and/or are bilingual and they do outreach with anyone. The OLA team has been recognized by the mayor and the governor as being part of Equiflow's success getting over 2100 service lines replaced in two years. The community health workers plan to use Equiflow follow-up visits to not only make sure that families have retested their water and understand flushing and filtering recommendations, but to also discuss

lead paint and find households that could qualify for lead abatement through HUD or potential other funding sources. The HUD grant is a capacity building grant with three buckets of work. community education about lead and partnership building, contractor training, and abating homes in WASA with three to five homes targeted in the last 6 months of the project per HUD. The goal with this grant is to build capacity and prove that the city of Wasa is a great fit for a next step HUD grant focused on abatement by having a list of homes that qualify and having the contractors to do the work. OLA will assist the city in finding as many qualifying households as possible and educating residents about the program so that they can decide if they would like to be put on the abatement list. There are strict criteria related to income and having a child under 6 years old when work begins and the prospect of lead mitigation and abatement might be daunting. Conversations take time and multiple touch points might be needed. Community health workers are trusted messengers that build relationships in the communities they serve and are a perfect fit for this type of work. Much of the grant period is already over and the next Equiflow season will soon be here. So it is important to move forward with grant grant activities as soon as possible. And regarding budget, a lump sum is not given to subawwardies of this grant. It is paid through a reimbursement model only for work that has been carried out and tracked strictly. budget amounts that were awarded are the maximum that can be spent.

Thank you. Thank you. Up next, Tony Gonzalez.

Thank you. I wasn't able to clean up my thing here, but uh first of all, I think it's very important to understand that uh uh when they're talking about immigrant communities, they don't not all have the same status as like pastor said, you got refugees, they have a status in the country. Uh while illegal or uh non-citizens or undocumented do not have a status and that's where I'm going with this situation. This is the protection for them because if they receive any benefit from federal money, they get put on the radar of immigration and we know the problems that we have today with that. Okay. So,

excuse me, just point of order just for a moment. Um, could you just um I don't know if you read it, but that just relate that um comments are supposed to be made to the council, not about others. You know, that part of it. Hang on a second. I guess I missed where where you're going with that. Just the public comment statement about referring not referring to other people just speaking to the council. Do you know what I'm saying? Okay, we'll keep an eye on it. Go ahead. Okay. I didn't catch it, so [clears throat] I think she still has a question.

Okay. Okay. So, so it's very important to understand that that this is who I'm trying I I I want money for my community. I want money for my uh undocumented people here. I work on that. People know that the problem is exactly that. That if by some accident they go onto people's houses that do not have documents, now they're on the radar. And also one thing that is very clear, especially for my friend Tufu here, is that uh when I'm talking about this, I'm referring only to the Hispanic community. Nothing to do with New Beginnings. I don't know their activities, what they do, when they do it, how they do it, and they do a great job. So, I have no problem with that. And uh just some points of order, you know, M Stratz car was trying to characterize to this board before, you know, that they were going to hand checks to people. I never in none of my comments ever said anything like that.

Okay. I'm saying about order one more time, please. Could you just read the public comment statement, please, mayor? I think it's very I don't see anything out of order here, please. Could you read the public comment statement because I don't think you did. Did you? I read comments. Okay. Well, aren't comments supposed to be made to the council and not about employees? Correct. The coun the I thought that's what Am I wrong? Stand by. Address the chair. Okay. The comments should be made to the mayor. If you have comments about what a particular staff member said, you can certainly say that, but address them to me and and not the audience.

Then my mistake. I'm sorry. I apologize.

Okay. So um I'll try to start here again. Uh also you know like I had mentioned about the RFP and just point I don't I have no interest on the RFP. The whole thing is the situation with the community. Um I lost my train of thought though. Yeah. So yes uh that that is the situation right there. Uh they're not all refugees. There are people the the Hispanic population in Wasa is 4.1% equivalent to about 1,600 people. At the end of the day, maybe 150 households will be addressed with over $200,000. There's I don't know how they're going to use that if they're pay if the city is paying that much for interpreting. Wow. I got it's way too much for that because and uh Miss Rasmmanson I don't know if I can say her name had said uh on the last meeting that this was just for a bridge of language with people and uh however you know on uh August 20 24 August 2024 on an article for the WASA Paladin Review it says that in earlier discussion city staff told that the grant could not be used that could only be used for lead detection in homes. But on Monday, the council learned that a grant could be used for remediation efforts. Alder Lisa Rasmusson requested that the item be reconsidered in light of the new information. So, one time it is, one time it isn't. Last time it was okay that they build a bridge. When it was just build a bridge, it they didn't want to do it because it didn't call for remediation. So, I don't know which one it is. So uh in essence I have presented everything in the past. I don't think I need to repeat it. I think I've brought it in a document to each one of you. Uh this is about protecting that community that they may not inadvertently receive a benefit which will put them on the

radar. And HUD requires strict uh enforcement of that. And it says that the prime recipient of the award is responsible for confirming all applicants are income eligible before proceeding with any activities. So that would include going and talking to people at first. Ola serves a population that is primarily undocumented. HUD's notice of financial opportunity and an OFO requires strict verifiable income documentation for all beneficiaries because a group a large group of these people are undocumented often they lack the standard documentation required by HUD such as tax forms or payubs they do have an IT toon number but that does not allow people to work and that also falls into the mclassification there's been of employees right there as contractors when they not they are not contractors I've given this board uh plenty of information in the past. I probably don't have to repeat anything. If they read it, they understand where I'm going to. And uh I think public public comment is very important. That's why you guys are serving us. So sometimes the dismissal of public comment as unimportant. Uh it is not. That's why we're here for because we care and because you are representing us. So, I appreciate your time and uh the rest I'll send it in a letter so [clears throat] we don't infringe upon anything. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next item up is the con consent agenda. Item six would entertain a motion. Watson Hanky second. You may vote. [cough and clears throat] motion passed 11 to zero. All right. First up under ordinance and resolutions is item seven, reconsideration of the resolution from finance committee authorizing entering into memorandum of understanding with both healthy opportunities for Latin Americans, OLA and New Beginnings, Inc. through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD lead hazard reduction capacity building grant.

Motion from Larson, second from Neil. Just a point of order. This is the original back to us. This is we're not voting on reconsidering it. We're vote we we're re voting again on the mo on the on correct. So, it's it's we're reconsidering it. There's not a vote to reconsider. So, it'll be just as if you had first seen it.

Okay, looks like I have Alder Rasmmanson first to speak.

Thank you. Um, I guess I want to clarify um some of the things that I heard in public comment. there was a reference to our actions that we took in 2024. Um after that grant was received. You'll recall that um under our prior um community development director, our community development staff had some concern about their ability to manage the depth and breadth of the grant and the compliance alone. Um based on the fact, and I'm glad Dr. Norbomb was here tonight to talk about the three different purposes and the three different um purpose pots that that money can be used for. First, identification, outreach, and capacity building, contractor training, and then some abatement and removal. Those things are important working together. Um, and so when there was concern about their ability as an internal city staff to manage all of the grant requirements and the timelines, that was when we saw it or we were asked to consider um returning that grant. And you'll recall we had discussion in here as far as what that meant. Since that time and at that time, the health department stepped up to partner with us and they are managing that capacity grant with us and for us, which really then took a lot of the weight off of our community development staff in managing that grant. So, our entire discussion in 2024 about potentially giving the grant back, what it meant, and managing that was because we didn't have the bandwidth within our in-house staff here to go it alone. And I think we can ask Tammy to confirm that if we need to. Um, once that partnership blossomed though through the health department, they were then better able to manage that. And their goal, which has existed since the dawn of time in getting lead out of homes. The city has always, our community development team has always assisted homeowners with getting lead abaded out of homes with grant funding that they have had all along. This just increases the possibility that we could do more of that as we go forward. So, also my comments in our last meeting about

building a bridge is about reaching out where we have language barriers with our residents and communicating with them in an environment of trust. I certainly hope that there is not some assertion that we would use that opportunity to engage with citizens as an opportunity to trigger or aid ICE enforcement. That has nothing to do with this. Now, I get that there are times that um if undocumented citizens would receive funding from a federal program that that could raise red flags. That is something that is going to have to be managed with that outreach component. That is not something that should influence our decision here. But what I was hearing was that, you know, at our last meeting, we had public comments saying, "This thing is going to hurt a lot of people." That is a 100% not our intention here. It's to outreach and really get older home stock, older housing stock to be safe and to communicate with people effectively when our staff can't do it. And that's what I saw this as. So, you know, if this item is before us for action, again, um we also have different fund sources. is there's a capacity building grant which allows for this training and this increased outreach. There are other pots of money available to remediate lead in homes even separate from the water pipe grants. And so I guess if we have questions for Tammy about that, we need to bring her up and talk to her about how we first identify the hazard and then how we get it out. And that may be two separate steps, but I think we need to recognize, you know, what our real intention is here and really what we are supporting. And it really is our ability to communicate more effectively and do more of the good work. That's how I saw this when I voted for it last time and I intend to support it again. Thank you.

Thank you, Alder Lukans.

Thank you, Mayor Denny. Um, Mayor Dinie and council members and to the public um, commenter, I just I just want to apologize. Um, I think maybe I was I didn't mean to confuse anyone and certainly always my uh, I did not in any way mean to shut down public comment. I want to make that very clear. I think I was getting it mixed up with the public school statement. So, and and you're not allowed to you to say other people's names or or that. So, I anyway, I just wanted to clear clarify that for all of you. I did not mean to cause any confusion or shut down any comment. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, Alder Tyranny. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Tammy, could you please come up to the podium? Mr. Stratz. Thank you, Mr. Stratz. Um, do we know how many houses approximately that uh we're going to have to go in and build this bridge, talk to these people? Um, any idea?

I just thought maybe from the lead service line we might have an idea of how many we have to go into. The the good news is is that we have the back data of those homes that we were able to get into through um the lead service line. So now we can go back to them and talk to them again because there is that relationship. Um the city of Wasau has I believe over 15,000 um households and when we did a survey a few years back because we were trying to apply for a lead abatement grant through HUD and we were denied because we did not have capacity. Okay.

Um but when we did that survey we looked and it was like 72% of the city of Wasa homes were built prior to 1978 which is the threshold of lead base paint. So Wasa is old city. There's a lot of properties. Do I have a number? I I don't. But at least we have a um a starting point of where to approach because these properties had older lines. Chances are they're going to have lead paint and that's the best place to start. I'm thinking maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand. I might be a little bit high. I might be a little bit low. I don't know.

Oh, I'm I'm thinking it's going to be more than that. when you have both both of these agencies working hand in hand, I think they're going to be able to push out a lot of our problem is is that our window of opportunity is short and also the um number of households that could qualify is small because with HUD the house has to be pilled prior to 1978 and and have lead hazards. The family has to be under a certain income bracket and they have to have children under the age of six. So you take all these properties and you whittle them down. We don't know. We don't have know who lives where, what the household comp looks like until we get there.

Okay. Okay. Well, as far as the time is short, we've known that we've had this for quite some time. So, you know, that's neither here nor there. But what I'm saying is that, you know, if there's a sense of urgency right now, that's our own fault because we've known that we've had this grant for quite some time. We have had this grant for some time. Um we've also been doing portions of the grant of getting people um as risk assessors. We've had the health department hired several employees to help with this grant as they promised they would. They had to get their risk assessment um certifications. We just held our first contractor certification class of which we had 15 contractors go through it. I'm not holding my breath that all of them get certified because it is a scary certification, but if I get one or two, hallelujah. Um, and we're looking to do another training in probably another year. We're hoping that these agencies actually get out and that maybe we can get some contractors that are bilingual that we can get them certified, maybe start a new business with them, get new contractors to help with um getting additional work done. We are not allowed to do the actual construction through HUD. They say within the last six month months. I'm trying to push that that we can maybe start in 8 months. Right now, we need to get those houses. We need to prove that we know which houses need abatement and in order to have a list of 100 150 houses that could qualify now it makes us eligible to get additional funds.

Okay. So, that was my next question. Basically, uh, we go through this. When I had talked to you, we had, um, I asked you about abatement. Mhm. And you said maybe five, hopefully a few more from this grant. From this grant, correct? So, um, how do we get these abated? What how do we pay for that? Because we have to have these five that we're talking about. No. or talking about if we're going to go out to a thousand homes or more and u we find out, yep, there's lead. Yep, there's children in there under the age of six and and we've got to do something to get this out because again, we're talking about low income.

Mhm. Because they have income guidelines that they have to meet.

So now we've gone and they're we've told them, "Yep, you qualify. Yep, you've got lead. How do we help them get this out?" That's where we show HUD that we have the capacity that we need money. Um we can we can get, you know, a couple of million dollars to do projects and through our lead safe homes program, which is through the state, we've been showing that we have the ability and and can do these projects. However, their qualifications and the HUD qualifications are two different things. But what I would love to see is that we get both pots of money and now we can tap into both of them and we can help. We this this family might not qualify for this grant, but it could qualify for that grant and vice versa. Um so I'm hoping we'll be able to do more. There's no guarantees. We might not get the grant. I don't know. Um but if if we don't show that we can do something, we'll definitely it'll definitely be a no.

Okay. And that's why I brought this back for reconsideration. It had nothing to do with going into people's homes and talking to them about the dangers of lead paint and the um if you leave the lead paint in there, what the outcome could be uh the irreversible damage that could be done. Nothing to do with that. I believe in that wholeheartedly. Um, my reason for bringing this back is what I feel is an extraordinarily extraordinary cost

for the administration. We've got a little over $400,000 and we're talking about possibly be being able to abate five, six homes, but we're spending $400,000 on administrative services. That's where I have a problem. Well, you also have to remember we have anou with Marathon County and their portion is over $400,000 for three years of work.

Um, so they it's it's about the same, but they're also um having put in policies, they've been doing a lot of things, too. So it's taking kind of the amount of money that the health department got dividing it between other a agencies. So now we can get out into the homes. The last year and a half wasn't about getting into the homes. Wasn't getting into um doing the education as much. They started doing it, but we know that we can't do it by ourselves. We can't do it three people. That's why we're we want to work with the nonprofits that can get out there. They have the expertise. Um, and we have to pay for it. I mean, you can't ask somebody to do a job without getting without paying for it. The grant pays for my salary. It's I have to do my time sheets just like the health department to show this today. I worked two hours on the grant. I worked eight hours. Whatever it is, for us to be reimbursed. So, it's not just cutting a check to the organization and saying, "Hey, here's $200,000. Let's hope we can do some good things. They have to document um they're talking about not just getting into homes either they have to get their certification. That money costs for their education of getting their certification for um a risk assessment or a lead paint investigator because they need the knowledge to educate and if they don't have that knowledge, how can they educate? So that costs money. Um it's it's going to do media hoping to get on their um [clears throat] TV stations, their radio stations to start doing some education. So that money just isn't for salaries. It's probably a good portion of it because they have to put together the time and effort to get out there. It it takes work to get out there and and trust those with my homeowner rehab. They're I'm I'm

working with them six, eight months. So, it's not just, "Hi, I'm so and so. I'm in their house. I'm reassuring them. I'm working with them." So, it's not just a five minute conversation. And I get that. But when I saw the costs breakdown that we saw, the vast majority and the capacity and when I when I see a CEO getting $183,000 out of this, I have an issue with that because that to me looks like we are placing more importance on administrative to me. Sure.

That we are placing more importance on administrative salaries and less importance on abatement. Well, I could probably guarantee that the person whoever is making that kind of money is not going to be the person we're paying because they're not going to be boots on the ground. It's going to be the employees like me and my counterpart that is boots on the ground that is going to get reimbured by these grants because that person's salary is in there. Oh, just like we have to report to HUD all of our salaries.

So, I'm okay with boots on the ground. I'm not okay with $183,000 for a CEO sitting in an office. That's and this is why I brought it back for reconsideration. It's not that I don't see the importance of this. Quite the opposite. What I want to see is less money on administrative services and more money for education and abatement. I want I don't want to just tell them about the dangers of the lead paint in their home. I want to see some of that money get to them to get that out of their home. I would love that too. But we we h we can only do we can't get the money until we can prove that we have the capacity to do that.

Right? And that's why I wanted to bring this forward for another RFP because I want to see if there are contractors out there that can do that for less so that we can spend more money on the abatement because the timing of this RFP did stink over the Christmas holidays. It it did. You yourself said that. Um

there's a lot of things that stink in life. Yeah. [laughter] But my my my deal is is that we known about this for a year. We put the RFP out over the holidays and there may have been other contractors that were equally qualified that could do this for less so that we can spend more money on abatement. That was my reason for this. It had nothing to do with people um coming up here and saying they didn't have a fair shot. It has absolutely nothing to do with that. What it has is the extraordinary cost of administration and the minimal amount of money that we're putting toward what I feel is what should where the money should actually be and that's on abatement. That is the reason why I brought this forward. Not that I don't care about this, but I care immensely about spending as much as we can to get that poison out of homes.

I agree with you 100%. Thank you. Thank you, Vick. Alder Kellian.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um Tammy, um first of all, I I want to make it clear that I'm one who is happy this was brought forward for reconsideration. And after all the public feedback, I'm afraid you're going to throw shoes at me, but I'm going to say what I have to say anyway. Um I agree with Alder Tyranny. I have concerns about the administrative costs, but as a representative of the people, I have concerns. Even though Mr. Gonzalez said he didn't have concerns about the RFP, I do. I believe that our city has not only an obligation to have an appropriate RFP put out for something this important uh so that it can come to all people who are capable of providing our city with their services. I know I heard a staff person say timing wasn't great. Well, timing wasn't just not great, the timing was completely insufficient. And I too would like to see another RFP placed so that if we can get uh papers from uh other people who may be interested and capable of serving these obligations. I would like to see if there are any others out there and give us a little bit more time to find that out. Um, I do not question the abilities of New Beginnings. I do not question the abilities of OLA. I've heard wonderful things about both organizations, but I want to make sure that the city is

properly represented to our residents and anybody who may want to assist with this project. So, I would support another RFP being placed. And I did want to make it clear that I have no concerns about the capabilities. I do listen to uh public comment about is there any chance of putting anyone in a bad position by entering their home and connecting them to federal money. I I would hate to see that happen and I did listen to the commentaries about those. Um, but those are my concerns and that is why I was happy this was brought back uh for reconsideration because I feel another RFP may be appropriate. Thank you.

Thank you, Alder Hanky. Uh, I don't know who else is in the queue, but I was going to call a question. You're you're the last one.

I'll call a question. Any objections to calling the question? Then we can proceed to the vote. You may vote. We're voting on the main motion. Main motion.

We wait. [cough] Motion passes 9 to2. All right. Next item. Do we have a Are there appointments on this? Okay. Excuse me. Would entertain a motion to confirm appointments. Excuse me, Mr. Mayor.

Yes. So on that last vote, if we voted yes, my understanding was that the vote yes was to be able to revote. I thought it was the item, the actual item. That was the main motion to to pass the the the contract with two with Ola and with New Beginnings. I thought that the main motion was to see if we were going to do a reconsideration, reconsider the RFP.

I I see a lot of confusion, so I'll move to re uh reconsider the vote. That last vote stand, please describe the vote. Yes or no? Is it going to be a reconsideration or a no for not reconsideration?

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Should be reconsidered. No should be not to reconsider. I want this reconsidered agenda it took a second.

Okay. Okay. Under the council rules, a a request to reconsider is automatically put back on the agenda as as if it were the original item. So we're so when we get to that item, we do not have to vote to reconsider it. The vote is whether to pass it or to not pass it. So that was the vote. Uh and that was clear. No, it wasn't clear. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I mean, also anybody can request to alter their vote after after a vote is made.

I request to alter my vote. I request alter. So a vote change. A council member may change his or her vote on a matter up to the time the result of the vote is announced.

So how much confusion was out there? and we announce the vote. Mr. Mayor, um, if I may ask Larson, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I I guess m maybe the vote wasn't clear for all of our council members, but I voted appropriately thinking that uh um by Pat by by reconsidering uh a no vote was to not reconsider it and a yes vote was to reconsider it. Is that correct?

That is incorrect. That is incorrect. The vote was on the motion. The motion was do you want to read the motion?

So we we are working under a new software. I can understand some potential confusion here. there. The the normal rules on reconsideration is that the item comes back as if it had never been here before and we we discuss we take a motion and a second and we discuss it as if it were the original motion and then we vote on that. There's not a vote to cons reconsider. Alder Kellian.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, since there is so much confusion being expressed, I I understand what the rules say, but apparently there was confusion about what we were doing. And not that you didn't explain we were voting on the original motion, but just in order to ascertain that we had the accurate vote from every council person, I'm wondering if we could ask our parliamentarian if we can't reconsider and just vote. Thank you. Vote. Okay. Under Robert's rules, it says it cannot be redone. I was just looking it up.

I know because that's happened to me before. And under Robert's rules, it says a vote cannot be redone if the if council members misunderstood. Okay. I don't know. I mean, we'll leave it up to them, but I just Okay. So, maybe we have a loophole here. So any member who voted on the prevailing side may move for a reconsideration vote immediately after the vote or at the next succeeding regular meeting. So it looks like there's some conflict in the in our 16.2 rules. If a motion to reconsider is defeated, it may not be uh again be presented. So, how would you uh recommend here, Ann?

Well, mayor, we did agendaize it because we have to even though you she asked for Alder Tierney asked for the reconsideration, it had to be agendaized to be considered obviously, but rule 10 reconsideration does require a motion for reconsideration be taken at the next regular meeting. Um, it's just that once a vote is taken and announced, you can't change your vote. But I think we need to dial back to the reconsideration rule in rule 10 that we did not take a vote on the whether we should reconsider it. So when Larsson and Neil made their motion in their second, was that to reconsider or was it to approve the resolution?

My motion was to approve the original motion as it last appeared before us. Okay, then maybe we start over and we take a motion from Tyranny to reconsider and get a second without objection. I think and we'll take another first and second on the resolution.

That feels appropriate. Uh so there's so there's the rule on whether you can change your vote after it's been announced which is stated that you can't. However, the the reconsideration rule signifies that we should vote to reconsider. So, we should have done that originally. I apologize. So, on the on the reconsideration of the resolution, the vote is for reconsideration. Would entertain a motion. Grinder. Thank you, Mayor. Tyranny. Yes, sir. move to reconsider the reconsideration of the resolution from the finance committee authorizing entering into a memorandum of understanding with both healthy opportunities for Latin Americans and New Beginnings Incorporated.

Thank you. And Alder Tierney would second that. All right. Do we need to tee that up so we can understand that? Oh, this this this vote is a yes or no to even bother to reconsider. Right. So, this this this is this we put the cart before the horse. So, we had the discussion, but we didn't vote to reconsider. So, we're reconsidering and this is your opportunity to reconsider.

And can you explain the vote? The vote is if you desire to reconsider the dis the main motion, you would vote yes. If you don't want it reconsidered, you would vote no. So yes, Alder Grainer.

Mayor, if I may, this vote would allow us, if my motion passes, it would allow us to vote again on the previous reconsideration. So for the people who voted I'm not going to say wrong people who it would allow you to revote on the reconsideration of the agreement between New Beginnings and Ola. That's correct. So if you vote yes and this motion passes we will again vote again on Alder Tierney's reconsideration. That is correct. On the main motion on the main motion. Correct. So we're

as it appeared to us last year. If you vote no, this goes away. If it if you vote yes, we talk about it some more.

We are ready to vote. Is everyone clear and ready to vote then? Okay, you may vote. Motion fails. Five to six.

Yeah. To reconsider. Yeah. It's okay. You don't even Okay. So, we are so the chatter we had is all for not we have no we know we're not reconsidering. Okay. So, unless it's brought back forth in a in a different format uh it's it fails. boy.

Okay. Status of the original motion, please. Yes, clerk. Please.

So, the resolution stands as passed at the previous council meeting. Correct. It's the council failed to vote to reconsider taking that up again. Correct. And once it's defeated, it can't be brought back. Thank you.

Now, are we clear? I see some confused faces. So we we voted to not reconsider which unfortunately we had spent a lot of time reconsidering it before we did that. Um so it didn't get reconsidered. The previous vote uh from two weeks ago stands and it passes. So it's dead. [laughter] It's done. Yeah. We're on to the next.

All right. Help me out here. Okay. So, we're we I would entertain a motion to confirm appointments of the mayor, Alder Watson. Second from Lukans.

You may vote. Alder Molini.

Motion passes 11 to zero. Okay. Up next, suspension of the rules under 12A for referral of resolution and 6B filing. We entertain a motion. Neil and Lucans,

you may vote. motion fails. 7 to four. All right. Up next is a opportunity for close session. Is that item and do you want to walk us through that?

That's also under suspension of the rules. Okay. Okay. So, we don't have a time deadline on that. We'll bring that back at the next regularly scheduled meeting. Hopefully, we've learned some Robert's rules tonight. All right, we have uh trying to get next here. I don't have an agenda.

All right, announcements from mayor and older persons. I'm not going to speak any further tonight. Anyone have an announcement? Alers? Alder Watson. Um, so those of you in district seven and eight probably got the postcard. It was lovely. Um, so everyone should remember to vote at the the West Oh crap. What's it called? East Hall. East Gate Hall in Marathon Park. So if you're District 7 or 8, um, make sure to go there on April 7th. Thanks. It was a great postcard.

Thank you. Anyone else? All right, we would open the floor for public comment. Who hasn't had a chance yet? I think I'm going to go have a drink. All right, seeing none, would entertain a motion to adjourn. Mr. Neil, Alder Tyranny. All in favor of journment. I I See you later.