Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are going to call the June 16th meeting of the Common Council to order. I will ask our clerk to take a roll.

Alderperson Grobe? Here. Haas?

Here.

Halverson? Here. Keene? Here. Novak?

Here.

Noling? Here. Roach?

Here.

Turner?

Here.

Weigle? Here. Grisham?

Here.

10 present.

We have a quorum. If you are able, please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led this evening by Alderwoman Grobe. Thank you, we will move on to part D of our agenda, public hearings. We have two this evening and I will ask the clerk to read out public hearing number one.

Conditional use permit for Palazzeria Yayo, a proposed food production use at 5900 West Burnham Street.

Thank you, and I'll turn it over to staff. Mr. Chair. Thanks, Mayor. My name is Steve Chair, Director of City Planning, and the first hearing this evening is for Palateria Yayo, which literally translates to a popsicle or ice cream shop. Yayo is a name. This was formerly a jewelry store, which received an occupancy permit back in 1955 and operated for some years, I think into the 70s, but then was empty thereafter, and we had an apartment upstairs. so it is a mixed-use building with a commercial ground floor of about 2 000 square feet with an apartment above it is it is zone c2 commercial and it does permit both food production uses as well as small you know restaurant cafe types of uses which palateria yayo will will become The space will be modified and converted to the palateria, and then I'll have hours of operation Monday through Sunday, 12 p.m. to 12 up to midnight. and food production begins in early in the morning at seven a.m. prior to opening for business seven days a week. They will have four employees, two of which will be operating within the production area and then two at the front handling customers and selling ice pops. So. This is a view of the building, probably in the nineteen seventies. look at that station wagon parked on burnham street and then down below is a more recent picture of the storefront the jewelry store was on the on the lower level and you have an apartment above there are the primary scope of the work is going to be internal modifications the exterior of the buildings are going to remain largely same as it looks currently with some signage updates possibly some lighting there is the possibility for future outdoor seating which would take place within the city right away somewhere along the sidewalks possibly some small little bistro tables or maybe a petal along 59th street in the future, but that would be a future plan coming forward before the city at a future date. Floor plan, this is a look inside the building currently. It was sold at auction last year and Brené and his business partner purchased the building and they're gonna be remodeling the building with basically a large portion of the front of the building Burnham Avenue, Burnham Street is on the bottom and then 59th is on the right hand side of that floor plan. A large portion of the building is going to be converted to retail space with roughly about 18 seats within the building and then another seven or so seats at the Popsicle bar. And there will be an updated restroom. They're going to be removing some of those old jewelry display. It's along the Burnham Street storefront. And then just clearing out that space for a little bit more usage for people and the public to enjoy the ice pops. There will be a small stage also within the building for just small performances, whether it's poetry readings or cultural events or just music. They intend to open in the fall of 2026. The site is really just minor modifications. taking a look at either reusing the existing refuse area or possibly relocating it to the south side of the building. And then also a new bike rack will be added within the city right away in the terrace area between the street curb and the sidewalk. And again, that future potential for outdoor patio seating either along Burnham or 59th Street. The Planning Commission has recommended approval, and it's been published twice within the official paper. Property owners within 200 feet have also been notified. I haven't received any public comments or objections to date, and that concludes my public hearing.

Thank you for the presentation, Mr. Chair. Are there any questions from the members of the council on public hearing number one?

Mayor Devine. Alderman Helmers. It helps if I have the mic on Steve. There's no changes to the apartments on the second floor. Are they going to rent those out? Or is it just going to be empty space for now?

My understanding is it'll be rented out. It'll be renovated and rented out for use. It's actually one apartment upstairs. So it's a fairly large apartment, about 1,800 or so square feet. Cool.

That's all I had. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? there are no questions from the council are there any questions on this public hearing from members of our studio audience okay seeing none we will close public hearing number one and we will move on to public hearing number two conditional use permit for forks farm a proposed production use at 6601 west national avenue

turn it over to staff again thank you mayor fork farms is a hydroponic farming use which is in green bay and interested in establishing its headquarters here in west alice for the milwaukee milwaukee metro area the whole idea behind this would be for this use that this location would be production based Half of the 5,000 square feet would be utilized for indoor farming, basically nine foot long by nine foot tall, three foot wide hydroponic systems that are powered with electricity and have water systems running through them. They're connected. to be able to produce consistently a fairly decent amount of food on an annual or monthly basis, indicating here just based on the number that they're gonna have about 34,000 pounds of greens, for instance, per year, and then just locally produced here where it can be eaten. And West Dallas would be the headquarters for the Milwaukee area. and then just supporting Wisconsin-based food production and food-focused business. It could also be educational-focused, which is part of their business plan, bringing this, spreading the word through various schools, which are doing it within Wisconsin currently, also nonprofits, chefs, restaurants, entrepreneurs, and healthcare providers. so this would be a job creator as well as an educational component within our city located in maker's row which is at 66th and national avenue just west of our farmers market so there's also an opportunity to potentially partner with the farmers market as well for some some sale of food that's produced locally So this is just a look at the Maker's Row campus at 66 and National. National Avenue would be in the top of the screen. The Farmer's Market would be on the right-hand side, that floor plan. And last month, on May 19th, there were two public hearings for the Black Rose, which is a small plate cafe. and the tennison which is an event space those two uses are shown in the grayed out areas there's a loading dock in between which would also be utilized by potentially all three tenants but also by fork farms and then the area that you see you can see the cursor here but these are the hydroponic farms which are sort of interconnected powered with electricity and then also water systems And then within those areas, they can produce leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, and so on. Just an aerial view of the overall Maker's Row area in its context with respect to National Avenue, the farmer's market, and some of the nearby neighborhoods. And as part of the Maker's Row and the overall campus here, it's been part of a redevelopment area. There are actually 70 parking stalls within this area, which can be used for all of the uses within this area, especially the farmer's market, as well as Maker's Row and the Sona development. The operations would operate Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with some potential work on the weekends and the evenings. For the purposes of this special use, staff presented to the planning commission hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. The staffing of four people within the farm area and then up to 15 people. uh within the office area and that that's not typically 15 people all at once they are working on that like a hybrid model looking at the office and conference area as somewhat of a docking area for hybrid work the the trucking will consist of basically up to two smaller box trucks per week utilizing the existing loading dock on the

is going to be a grocery store for me.

production and educational offering with some office to support the business side of the hydropotting farming. They also don't anticipate opening the farm to the public. There is a potential for prearranged tours and again, as mentioned, maybe partnership with the farmer's market or selling food to the local neighborhood via the farmer's market. and then from their website i just thought this was sort of an interesting stat this is sort of the the flex acre unit there's going to be 24 of these within that production area and you can kind of see what it what it will yield in terms of the number of plants it can create annually the pounds of fresh fruit every month. And then in terms of the economy of the scale, the amount of energy savings, water savings, miles saved in terms of not needing to transport food from point A to point B. Things can be grown locally. and um you know there's just there is some economy to um you know the scale of this smaller print farm within within a city so that concludes my presentation and plan commission has recommended approval it's been published twice the property owner is notified within 200 feet i've received no public comments or objections to date thanks thank you mr chair are there any questions from the members of the common council on public hearing number two

Seeing none, are there any questions from the audience on public hearing number two? All right, we will close our second and final public hearing, and we will now go on to public participation. This is where the council may receive information from members of the public during this 30 minute period. Each speaker must sign in at the podium, state their name and address, and limit their comments to one statement of no more than five minutes. The council may not act on topics raised by the speakers and will not go into discussion on the topics with the speakers. It is just a chance to listen. Does anybody wish to address the council under public participation? Please approach the podium.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Neil Stefik. I'll make this short and sweet. The other week, we had an incident in West Dallas. I'm sure a lot of people know about it. I'm just asking why there isn't fairness, why everybody gets the same benefit of doubt or the same shake. Why does one business get to make national news the other year, and another business, everything's Don't say a word, we have to protect them. Don't say a word. We have to keep these new guys in business. Very weird, don't you think? So, the one question I have, I've been asking this for over a year, and no one gave me a straight answer. Who handles the city's social media? Anybody? I know you can't answer, but feel free to give me a text or an email. Who, who does it? Is it a City Hall employee? Mayor Torrey's a third party company, no one at City Hall, no employees do it? Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. Every time I ask somebody, no one will give me an answer. No one will give me an answer. Very weird that just a simple request is ignored. Does anybody here even know? Any of our common council members? Chair doesn't know? No, no? Are you guys maybe worried about a lawsuit? Is that it? Could be, possibly. National news has kind of said this has never been done before. I definitely agree with that. All right, have a good day.

I'm gonna try that again. Does anybody else wish to address the council under public participation this evening? If you could turn on the microphone too, just push the button on the base. And please remember to give us your name and address.

Thank you. My name is Gail Splat and my address is 1-3-3-3-A-2. south 76th street what i would like to talk about just for a few minutes excuse me is the incident that happened at the emerald approximately at the end of may i think that was like the 30th of may um i live directly across the street from them and i noticed that at about 11 o'clock in the evening it was getting really really loud and obnoxious so i went outside and what i observed from approximately 11 15 p.m saturday night until 1 15 a.m sunday morning was a lot of people involved in physical fights uh outside of the emerald people engaged in extremely loud colorful conversations um people urinating in the alley against trees and one of the worst um somebody decided to use 76th street north and south as their speedway ending up at the intersection of 76 and greenfield where they were doing donuts to the point where they burned so much rubber you couldn't even see the gas station i understand that this is it's good for business to see that there's more businesses moving into west allis and I'm all for people having fun, but when the fun starts disturbing the peace and being quite frankly dangerous, it's not fun anymore. All we're asking or all I'm asking for is that you respect our neighborhood. And I think that's it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Does anybody else wish to address the council under public participation this evening?

City officials, evening.

Sorry, Dean, I know we know you, but can you give us your name and address for our official record, please?

Dean Barney at 1334 South 76th Street. Thank you. Right over here. As a 33-year resident of the 76th and Greenfield neighborhood, I am writing to formally protest the disruption caused by the newly opened Emerald Nightclub. Our community already suffers from excessive noise and speeding on 76th Street. It's a veritable racetrack. And the addition of this venue 50 feet from our homes has made the situation untenable. The recent disturbances are well documented involving public intoxication, loud music, illegal parking, and street closures until 2 a.m. Despite a $800 increase in my taxes this year, thank you very much, we are now faced with decreased safety and decreased property value. Please be advised that we will continue to record these incidents, call the police a lot, and file formal petitions until this matter is resolved. In my opinion, well, you know what I think, Dan. We expect our local government to protect its homeowners rather than prioritizing a business that disregards our neighborhood's peace and safety. All right, I AI'd this down from about two pages to take the emotion out of it. But there's a lot of emotion here. These are our homes. We live here. We've raised our kids here. And to have it kind of violated the way it was violated, it's unacceptable. We already got a ridiculous gas station on one corner. We got a bearded pole on the other corner. And now we got this. I mean, what's next? A circus? We already got one. And I've told about the traffic. Not much you can do about that. But we don't need more. We don't wanna move. We like our house. We've been here a long time. My wife was like a pillar of your community. If we move, you lose her. I'm just a guy that shovels and paints. But when you lose homeowners, I think that We're your best customers, you need us. We're getting pushed out. It feels like we're being pushed out. And this race you had here, this banger race, if you'd have listened to the noise for like four hours, I think it was Friday and Saturday, do you know what drifting is? I don't know if any of you know what it is. I know what it is. It's a race where they use the handbrake to turn, squealing tires at a nonstop pace for hours at end. You're gonna get another note on that one from me, but we'll do what we can. I don't know, you'll do what you wanna do. For me, this is a bit of a deal breaker. I've been here a long time, and my wife's been here all her life, all 29 years, and that's kinda where I am with this. I'm kinda at a loss, it's kinda heartbreaking. You know, I've worked on my house, made it a great home with my own two hands, and I may have to just leave it and go somewhere else, but I'm gonna go where somebody or a city takes care of me and protects me. Thank you.

Thanks for your comments.

Good evening, Amy Rose Murphy, 1520 South 76th Street. The Emerald, so when we purchased our home, we've lived in West Allis eight years, but we purchased that house in particular three years ago. We bought it knowing full well that the state fair is right there, we know what goes on, we know there's no parking, we know we're downtown, we know these factors, we know the surrounding area. But when the Emerald was first proposed, and it looks beautiful, and I'm glad to see something there, okay? and I know that the owner spent a lot of money, but the reality is not one person spoke in favor of the Emerald at this Common Council. Everyone spoke against it going where it is with all the concerns that people have mentioned, and there's more people here, because I asked who was here about the Emerald, and I don't know if people realize they're not gonna be able to talk at the divided committee meetings. So three, two weekends, it's just been insane. You hear the donuts, you see the riffraff, they're coming down past Orchard, they're running back and forth. I thought the one weekend, and it wasn't even that first weekend, there was another weekend and I had to we later walked out there and it's like yeah there's an event going on over there there's people like running down the street attacking people like a full brawl that started in one location ending right at the church in front of our house these are all the concerns people had and i don't understand how it my understanding if my recollection is right and it may be off and you can correct me but it failed the first time and there was a second vote is that what had happened with that and then oh i thought there was a second vote Okay, sorry. So I know there was something kind of like not everybody was on board with the Emerald for whatever reason. but it ultimately passed due to a tiebreaker. So my question is, now what? Now we're going to use taxpayer money. We're already taxed enough to, what, pay for extra police to sit there every time they have an event? I'm all about small business and big business, but what are we going to do? It seems like I had a concern of what is going to be set in place should a venue be there, mainly because of parking and everything else. was there a plan put in place because i don't know about it and i know that i've inquired what are we going to do now because it's like state it's like state uh fair every weekend and worse so something needs to change thank you thank you does anybody else wish to address the council under public participation

You might have to turn your mic on.

My name is Wally Holtz. I'm the owner of the Emerald. There's a couple concerning things. First and foremost, I have my... my number plastered all over my event spaces, the Deco and the Emerald, in bold print, and I encourage any neighbors that are having any problems whatsoever to call me. I've never received one phone call from one neighbor. And after the incident happened, I want to let the committee know that this gentleman that hosted this event, it went from 9.30 to 1.30. There was noises coming from kids that were being disrespectful outside at 1 a.m. My bar manager immediately shut this event down after three hours. They had eight security, which is unheard of for this event. We had four people of personnel and they had another five personnel. We had 17 people on, which normally on an event this size will have three or four. So we had adequate security, adequate people on staff. It was just unfortunate, even though this gentleman has hosted stuff with us in the past at the DECO, we've had success with them, we didn't this time. Before morning got to 9 a.m., I sent him a text message and an email that we are returning all of his deposits. We are no longer doing business with him anymore due to our neighbors. On May 30th, after the event, the gentleman that was up here earlier, Dean, was sitting in the event space that was being held by a gentleman who was having a baseball card show. And we encourage anybody to call me, show up. He was swearing. He was spitting. He was yelling. He had his finger in my face. You effing mother this. You're ruining your business. I don't think these couple neighbors understand that my... investment to this neighborhood is as big if not bigger than yours so any concerns from a plastic cup on their driveway or or anything to that respect is a concern for me so i would ask moving forward that if there's a concern reach out to me i'll be happy to do any means that i can to rectify it and also we have posted on all of the doors at the emerald to upon leaving to please respect our neighbors uh our neighborhood and west dallas and west house as a community is uh not only a big time investment for us it's it's a it's a community that we've fell in love with what a lot of people don't know is i just live blocks from there so any concern with neighborhoods or anything like that for a concern of theirs is a concern of mine also as far as these i i think probably everybody on this committee and everybody in the audience here will attest to the These street takeovers and these burnouts have absolutely positively nothing to do with us. The week before, we had 300 people from West Dallas Central. The week before, we had Eisenhower Prom. No problem, no problem. We had Marquette Law School there. We had two weddings there. We had quinceaneras there. 95% of all of our events, with the exception of a baseball card show that we hold once a month where people come from all over, from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, are suit and tie events. These are not a bunch of hoodlums fighting and doing these things of nature. And what I would also ask is if the woman saw this type of activity happening at 11 o'clock or 11.15, did she call the police? And if she didn't, she should because we don't encourage this type of behavior. um the emerald is a very upscale business we have a huge huge not only financially um investment in the neighborhood we're on the first name basis in the downtown community and if if anything whatsoever moving forward is a concern i i definitely would like to hear about it personally instead of certain individuals one in particular that's in this room uh instead of running off on social media and and making false allegations that we were serving underage kids which was not true i will tell you that that night was our lowest amount of revenue in the deco or the emerald's history we had 250 to 270. i just want to let you know you got 30 seconds okay we had about 250 to 270 guests there and we did less than 600 in sales that night so and every each person that was served an alcohol beverage was carded. So there was no underage drinking at this event. Thank you. Thank you.

If you could please give us your name and address.

My name is Amy Johnson. My address is 7210 West Greenfield. Also, I am at Inkwell Tattoo Company, one of the owners there. So I also border, I border the Deco, also border the Emerald. So I'm there 24-7 almost. So I remember during the first hearings about the Emerald, we raised concerns about parking which there was a proposed plan for which renting the city hall parking lot um supposed to have sandwich board signs directing that there's no parking in our parking lot directing parking that way i haven't seen those sandwich board signs um I haven't seen anybody directing where to park. And there have been, I think it was two proms and the DJ party, all of which used our parking lot as a drop zone, used the city bus lane as a drop zone. There's no Uber drop zone. So all of those were supposed to be provided. Also, we raised concerns about the type of people that would be showing up to these events and then how they leave at 2 a.m. or whenever they've been drinking. And all of our concerns have become realized within the first three events that the Emerald has had. The first real issue, like public safety issue, other than using the city bus lane as a drop-off zone, was watching teenagers actively open carry in our parking lot on our security cameras, which we have on camera still. I just can't post them because they're underage. So yeah, the reason why you had the lowest revenue is because they were drinking outside of our business. and outside of yours, which I have evidence of. Open bottles of New Amsterdam, passing weed around. So I call non-emergency, right? Say, hey, there's a group of underage kids drinking outside of my business. Oh, how many is it? Four or five? No, 40. Oh, we'll send somebody right away. Officer rolls past, doesn't even stop to cart anybody, just rolls by. I see them make a U-turn, roll by again. Nobody was stopped. This is the same night that that takeover in the intersection happened. And if anything could have been prevented ahead of time, that probably would have been the moment because I was the first to call. Every single time something happens, I call non-emergency from my business so that there is a public record of every single time there's an incident. Another issue that I have, we all know we have rats here. Your trash is not... like adequate for the amount of events you have going on. You have one like two yard dumpster and it gets overflowed by Friday. I have pictures of it on my phone. And then you've been using, our Papa John's people next to us have said that they need to get the locks on our dumpsters now because your people, since the overflow, have started putting it into ours, which we also have evidence of. You can shake your head all you want.

Can you address the council and not the crowd?

Definitely. What I would like here is follow up on public safety when there is a call to non-emergency. And I say there's underage people drinking in front of my business to card them, to stop the open drinking, which is illegal, to stop the weed smoking that happens in front of my business. I have patrons coming in and out. It can't be like that. And all of this was on camera. So I don't see how there's any room for dispute or anything. And then the manager of the business was throwing up signs in front of a passed out patron that could have used an ambulance, which there's all evidence of everything. So I'm not the only one with these concerns. I just see it every day because I'm next to it every single day. It's not just a concern of mine now, the concerns that I brought forward last year, now all the neighbors have seen. I'm glad that it's not just me, that now the rest of the neighbors are upset too, because now maybe some more, I'm not saying close the business, but there needs to be stronger parameters and enforcements of what was promised. the parking rules the safety all of that is a concern revenue great for the city but at what cost thanks does anybody else wish to address the council under public participation

I'm Jean Barney. My address is 1334 South 76th Street. And I am talking about the Emerald and the fact that this venue is okay for downtown Milwaukee, but for downtown West Ellis, this is a residential neighborhood primarily, and it is the people that own the homes that really are the value in the city itself. They're the people that work here, play here, be a part of the community. So we are the more important part of this community. Businesses come and go, but the residents are here long standing. And that night that that happened, I came home at 10 o'clock at night and they were first letting people into the Emerald and people were pushing each other and screaming and yelling and This went on until way after midnight. Now, when I come home, this world is such a crazy world right now. When I come home, I wanna feel I'm coming home to a safe place, my home. Well, that night, my home did not feel safe. to see these people screaming and yelling, stopping traffic on 76th Street, doing the donuts in the intersection, that did not make me feel safe. And I think in order to have a good community, you have to have a safe community. Your residents have to feel safe and protected. And I don't know why that had to be open so late. The bars further down the block are only open until 10 o'clock. Why are you first letting people in at 10 o'clock? I want all the people there feeling safe. There's children there and that. And then the next day when there was the card show, there is too much business for the area. They need to find some other place that's more apt for them. And I feel like you don't like the fact that we don't like it, Have that happen on your property where people are peeing and people are drinking and yelling and screaming.

Ms. Barney, please address the council and not the members of the audience. Oh, I'm sorry. It's okay, thank you.

I'm sorry, Dan. But feel like if it was in your home on your block, how would that make you feel? Would it make you feel safe or would it make you feel unsafe? And so all I'm doing is just, like I said, this is primarily a residential area, not a business area, even though it is downtown West Allis, it's not downtown Milwaukee. And so I just wanna know when I go out, I come home, I'm safe at home. And from all the neighbors, they were all upset. People told me their renters are leaving because they don't feel safe and they don't want that. So all I'm asking is that we're safe. That there's, if you have little parties, fine. But if you have things like this, that is not fine. Because you are gonna have people causing trouble regardless of whether or not you thought there would be, or wouldn't be, there will be. You have a party like that, you're gonna have trouble. And you have to think about that when you're saying yes. Like I said, if it's your home, it would be a different story for all the people that don't think it's bad. But if it happened on your block by your home, you would not be happy and would not feel safe. So I just ask that you think about that.

Thank you. We have probably time for one more speaker, if there's somebody else that wishes to address the council. Again, please give us your name and address for our record.

My name is John Johnson, 7210 West Greenfield. I've been here before, in fact, I was here before this proposal for the Emerald, and I warned that this would be a problem. And almost immediately after it was brought

I'm sorry is your microphone on? Can you not hear me?

Yeah, it was a problem almost immediately after that Common Council meeting. The contractors from the Emerald constantly parked in my parking lot. I don't have a lot of space. My parking lot is a private parking lot, which means I pay for it. Which means if somebody gets hurt, I have to pay for that, right? So this has been the issue since the beginning. I said it'd be an issue. Here we are. All the residents of West Allis know we have a parking problem. We don't have a lot of spaces to park. Regardless of that, the emerald was still able to open at full capacity. So now, we go back a couple weeks to this teenager event. My wife and I called the police about our concerns. Kids out front, 50 at a time, smoking, drinking, walking across the lot, just having their way. If a minor was to hurt themselves in my parking lot due to drinking, excessive drinking, that would become my problem right away. I heard that somebody said that their number is plastered all over the place and they can be talked to. I called that person. That person called the police on me because that person dropped a dumpster in my backyard. I'm very, I can speak to anybody. I can speak to myself, I can do these things, I'm a business owner, I'm a grown man, I'm all these things. But one thing I am not, is I'm not the type of guy who's gonna sit here and lie on somebody. I have evidence of everything I say, from passed out minors, to minors smoking weed, to minors drinking, all this stuff, because my business is filled with cameras everywhere. When we drove off that night, I said to myself, this is bad. But before it becomes an issue, it has to get worse. And crazy enough, it got worse that night. Like to the point to where there was donut tire or tire barks, people doing donuts in the lot. Police calls, I heard police siren, like it was crazy. And we were at our house like, wow, that can't be down the street. And sure enough, you wake up and it was. Gets to the point to where we have Facebook groups about the residents in West Dallas and what they care about. People on their full-fledged getting into arguments over something that has nothing to do with them. because of this issue. This is right next door to me. I live next door to the DECO as well. We have our issues with that as well. Trash, copious amounts of trash on the ground, far past the event, right? Just dumpsters being placed in just random places. It's almost as if nobody cares. And I don't know who I need to speak to, but my aldermens have done nothing for me. They say, you should sit down, you should talk to this guy. I've tried that. Very politely, may I add, I've been hung up on. I've been cussed at. I've had the police call to me for making a phone call. And if the police ain't there to at least mediate something, the least they can do is just assure me that the law attains to this person as well. I pay my taxes. I've crossed all my T's, dotted all my I's. I have a clean record my whole life. And I've never been involved in a business to where my concerns do not matter. And my concerns in the last comment council, wake up, everything is vetoed in some private meeting. I am so disappointed with West Allis. And I pay all my taxes. I do everything I'm supposed to. I pick up trash. I do everything because I want to represent this place to the best of my ability. And I feel like this place only sticks up its middle finger when I turn my back. I'm very disappointed. I don't know what can be done. I hope something can be done. I don't know if somebody up here can do something or... Maybe think about it at least. But this is a travesty. And I'm not even a homeowner. I'm a business owner. And I see homeowners are very upset about this because this is a very scary thing to look out your window and see just kids just running rampant. And, yeah, you could say these are kids of my business, but it has nothing to do with us. Now, if you serve alcohol to minors, they will run them up. Black, white, Mexican.

I just want to let you know you've got 30 seconds left.

Okay, I'm about to wrap it up. Thank you. also online uh because of certain people turned into a race issue they thought these kids came from the north side if you look at the the videos that we have these kids came from all over they were all colors mostly white so what happened you get the thinly veiled casual racism in these in these groups and and i'm i'm sick of it I'm sick of it. I'm a great representative of the north side. I come from the north side to start a business here. We've never had any issues. Ask your police. The only time you ever call the police is over situations to do with the Emerald. That's a problem. And it shouldn't only just be a problem for me, because I warned you guys before, but this is going to be another problem if he is not reprimanded or at least something is set in stone. All right.

Thanks very much. we're going to conclude public participation this evening and we are going to move on to item f um presentation from our marketing director

Hello, everyone.

Okay, let's let the clerk read out the item real quick.

West Dallas Senior Center Rebrand. Thank you.

Ms. Grom.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Amy Grom, the Director of Marketing and Engagement, and I just wanted to give a brief overview of a recent rebrand we did for the West Dallas Senior Center. So the reason for the rebrand was because we wanted to, we want to increase membership for the Senior Center. So it is purely a marketing campaign rebrand. So we decided that initially we were going to define the brand, understand, do the research of what the West Allis Senior Center is part of. And then, create a new brand image for the senior center, and then create a campaign revolving around it. So at first, we did the research. We defined who is coming to the West Dallas Senior Center. Anyone ages 55 and over are welcome to be members there. And they do not just need to live in West Dallas. They can live pretty much anywhere and come for a free membership. People looking for community activities, fitness. And so we wanted to convey the energy and just kind of youthful, vibrant, community-based programs that they have that anyone can participate in ages 55 and over. So initially we created a mood board. What we wanted the senior center rebrand to represent kind of that youthful, energetic look and define the persona of who attends the senior center. So some of the traits of those people, adventurous, energetic, welcoming, empowering, and modern. The tone of what we wanted to accomplish for the rebrand was upbeat and positive, conversational and friendly, respectful and empowering, and inclusive and inviting. So we created, the first thing we did was create a new tagline. We did not rename the West Dallas Senior Center. It's a great name, and everyone knows exactly what it is right when you say it, so no reason to change that. But the tagline we decided on was Life's Next Adventure Starts Here. The West Dallas Senior Center is not a place to slow down. It is a launch pad for new experiences, friendships, and personal growth. We celebrate age as a vibrant, active, and fulfilling stage of life. And then the brand mission is to empower seniors to thrive through all the vibrant programs that the Senior Center offers. And the vision is to enrich lives through vibrant programs and a supportive community. So some of the key messaging that you will see as we move forward with the campaign in various avenues and platforms, adventure awaits, thriving together, wellness for life, keep growing and you belong here. So we created a campaign brand for the Senior Center. And we needed to remember, moving into this, that the West Dallas Senior Center is a department of the city of West Dallas. So it should be branded in a way that reflects the branding of the city. Meaning we stay with the same colors and look and feel of the city of West Dallas. And that this is a marketing rebrand. The purpose of the rebrand is to find ways to increase membership. So there's a new look and feel to the marketing and promotions of the center. That was our main priority. So the logo that we created for the West Dallas Senior Center is made up of five individuals in an uplifting community resembling a flower to symbolize growth and the hidden shape of a starburst made in the negative space. Bold organic lines help convey comfort, energy, and strength. The symbolism is multiple individuals, the flower, the starburst, and the circular shape. So here is the new logo, the new rebrand logo.

I don't know how fast everyone saw that.

You may have already seen it on the building. We have signage up already. Just to give some examples of how we're using the logo, the West Dallas Senior Center has never had any social media attached to it. We just started a Facebook page for the West Dallas Senior Center, which has been great and many followers already. So here's the look and feel incorporating the colors. there's also been t-shirts you might have seen them around a lot of the volunteers for the senior center wear them it's actually mint green instead of black but same logo as i mentioned we incorporated the city logos into the branding there's only difference in this and it's the accent color that we're using specifically for the senior center and for this rebrand it's the warm coral so the one person up on top of the main logo that's the color accent that we're using specifically for the senior center with the new rebrand and then we move forward and are continuing to move forward in content creation spreading the word through marketing campaigns digital social and print so we started this campaign on may 11th um so it's only um baby campaign it's only a month old so we are still in process of it the first phase is coming up with messaging about revolving around the approach that we're taking the energetic youthful vibrant approach and incorporating that into the social media messaging into any of the messaging that we move forward with related to the to the senior center so our campaign goal is to increase membership three to 7% over three months. So that would be about 18 or more members. Right now, the West Dallas Senior Center currently has 590 members. So we're not only encouraging new members, we're also encouraging members who may have lapsed for a period of time to reconsider. I'm just gonna quickly go through, if you do follow the West Dallas Senior Center already on Facebook, you may have seen some of this messaging so we've taken different approaches adventure of the week there's so many programs at the senior center that you can that can be come involved in if you attend there and this is just an example right here try something new tuesday again just really focusing on the programming of the senior center and then a membership spotlight. So I actually went in and did multiple testimonials of some of the members, long time members who've been there and have incorporated it, not only into the social media, but also onto their new website. They have a new sub-site, the West Dallas Senior Center, and if you go on that new website you would see testimonials and blogs that are all about some of the people who just love the senior center and want you to love it as well and new members to love it as well also we share a lot of the upcoming events so people can save the date and attend And then just regular did you know's, why is it important to become part of a community as a senior? Like for this one, for example, staying socially active can boost your brain health and happiness. Just some general reminders of why it's important to engage as you grow older. so our campaign strategy as i mentioned social media the senior center has a print newsletter that we rebranded we also do local press and community boards we have had flyers and posters there's multiple interior and exterior signage updates in and around the senior center and we will be doing open houses as we move forward The newsletter was originally titled Forever Young. It has really great content, but it just needed a rebrand and a refresh. So June was the first rebrand issue of the newsletter, and the new title is called The Adventure Ahead. And just to give some examples thus far, we, on the right hand side here, you'll see that is the new website. That's the homepage of the new website. And looking below where you see Meet Veda, Meet Mary, those are some of the blogs that I was talking about to read more about some of the membership, as well as one of the main pages to become a member, Life's Next Adventure Starts Here. Right now on Facebook, in just one month, we have 92 followers, which is pretty good for a short period of time. Feel free to follow along with us. And we're definitely adding new content to the website, adding new content to the social media on a regular basis. So here are also the adventure ahead the newsletter rebrand refreshes on the right. And then just some examples of the exterior signage Rodney sitting outside the bench and then interior signage that's inside their cafeteria space. So I just wanted to kind of give an update, if you see that, to take advantage of encouraging people to participate in the campaign. And I also just wanted to share, since at some point this might also be something that I would share in more depth, and I brought some copies of it along. not um the marketing and engagement team is also working on something called the taste of stalus it's a new event that we'll be hosting this november first through second um and i can put some print copies there and also give some to the older people um but it's kind of like a city dining week with special offers and deals that we'll be hosting so just wanted to give you a heads up in advance on that as well thank you

Got to remember to turn this on. Thank you very much, Ms. Grau. Are there any questions from the council on this presentation?

Mayor Devine.

Alderman Grisham.

Well done. Thank you. Love it from start to finish. Love this for the team, everybody who's worked for it, but more importantly for our seniors, not just this generation, but the upcoming generations of seniors who I can see the enthusiasm within the community. um i'm in the area for work every day and today when i went in the blocks were filled with cars smiles galore going in the building i'm not quite sure what may have been happening today but i just want to give you good props here and the whole team you've done a fantastic job thank you thank you any other questions from the council alderman nolan i just wanted to say thank you for the presentation um and thank you for letting us see the mood board that was maybe my favorite part but this is fantastic

you must be a creative thank you any other questions from the council all right then we will close that particip presentation up sorry and we will go to part g our standing committees will be meeting during recess those room numbers are listed on the top of page two of your agendas if you are here for a specific agenda item When we break for recess and you're not sure what room to go to, please stop one of us and we will make sure to get you into the right room. Item H is the mayor's report. I just want to do an early happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there in our world. That is all I got for the mayor's report. Are there any reports from the older persons?

Mayor Devine.

Alderwoman Keene.

Just a couple of items. One, just a reminder that the 4th of July parade is July 2nd. So if you're not out of town, make sure to go on Greenfield Avenue and enjoy the parade. For D3 residents, just a reminder that on Tuesday, June 23rd at 6 p.m., Mount Hope is hosting a community kind of workshop talk to talk about the potential of a possible warming shelter being there um and that would be uh from like november to march with certain hours there this is a point for them to talk about it nothing has been approved by the city they would still have to get certain permits but this is going to be the community outreach this is your time to give insight to weigh in to hear some of the details that will go into this they'll explain a little bit further what their thoughts are on the shelter being predominantly around women and children but this is your time as a community to go give your insight if you live around there to hear what they have to say and again that's june 23rd at mount hope 8633 west beecher

Thank you very much. Any other alder person's reports?

Mayor Fein. Mayor Fein. thank you first off i wanted to say thank you to emily i don't see her here tonight and everyone from the bid a la carte was a huge success it was a gorgeous day um it was part of the setup crew i know some other people around up here were there for setup take down different things so thank you to everyone they do a really great job they changed some things with setup this year which was really nice um and then second obviously a lot of people have left the room but just in general i've been thinking this for months thank you to everybody who comes out and talks to us who gets up during public participation and speaks and just remember please everyone that social media is such a great tool but it is a tool for thoughts for opinions and if you have questions that you want factual answers for call your alders call the pd email your mayor email your council members show up here air your grievances whether you're a business owner or a homeowner but just remember that social media is great but it is just that and if you want answers there are so many people you can reach out to and i seen everybody up here on this guy is talking to people answering questions emailing so just try to keep that in mind and we appreciate you guys coming out thank you thank you alderman grisham

Thank you, I'm gonna keep it very light. Who doesn't like candy? Mary Ziegler has owned Half Nuts for many years, and she announced her retirement, which is gonna take place July 3rd, and I figured since the end of the month is here, we'll wish her well, but good news, Half Nuts is gonna be here for hopefully decades to come, and that will be still my favorite spot for candy raisins, so just wanna acknowledge her, and let you know that if you hear anything as far as for retirement, that it is not closing. It is just being passed along through family.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other reports from the Alderpersons? Okay, that will close Alderpersons reports.

Mayor Devine. Alderman Haas. I move for approval of the minutes of the May 15th and May 19th, 2026 Common Council meetings.

Second.

We have a motion, we have a second. If there are no corrections or changes to the minutes, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? The ayes have that and the minutes are approved. Standing committee reports, we have none this evening. So we will go on to item L. Mayor Devine.

Alderman Haas. Do any council members wish for separate action on any of the items in item L, our consent agenda? Then seeing none, I move for approval of item L, our consent agenda.

Second.

There is a motion and a second.

There is no discussion on the motion. I will ask our clerk to call the roll.

Alderperson Grove? Aye. Haas? Aye. Halverson?

Aye.

Keene?

Aye.

Novak? Aye. Noling? Aye. Rowe? Aye. Turner? Aye. Weibel? Aye. Grisham? Aye. 10 in favor, 0 opposed.

Motion carries. And Mayor Devine? Yes, Alderman Haas. I move that the Common Council stand in recess until the conclusion of our committee meetings.

Second.

There's a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed?

We are in recess. Good evening. Let us call the honorable common council back to order. And I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Alderperson Grove. Here. Haas. Here. Halverson. Here. Keene. Here. Novak. Here. Nolan. Here. Rote. Here. Turner.

Here.

Weigel.

Here.

Grisham. Here. Ten present.

We have a quorum. We will begin with the administration committee.

The administration committee recommends adoption of items 50 and 51, proceeding as directed in closed session of item 52, and directing the city attorney to appeal as discussed in closed session for item 53.

Mayor Devine, I move in accordance with the committee report.

Thank you, Alderman. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Alderperson Grove. Aye. Haas. Aye. Halverson. Aye. Keene. Aye. Novak. Aye. Noling. Aye. Rote.

Aye. Turner. Aye. Weigle. Aye.

Grisham. Aye. Ten in favor, zero opposed.

That motion carries. We will now go to the Public Works Committee.

The Public Works Committee recommends adoption of items 54, 55, and 56.

Mayor Devine, I move in accordance of the committee report. Thank you, Alderman. Is there any discussion on the Public Works Committee report? If not, I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Alderperson Grove. Aye. Hess.

Aye.

Halverson. Aye. Keene. Aye. Novak. Aye. Noling. Aye. Roach.

Aye.

Turner. Aye. Weigel. Aye. Grisham. Aye. Ten in favor, zero opposed.

That motion carries. We will move on to the Economic Development Committee.

The Economic Development Committee recommends approval of items 57, 58, 59, granting of item 60, placing on file of item 61, and adoption of item 62.

Mayor Devine, I move in accordance with the committee report.

Thank you, Alderwoman. Is there any discussion on the Economic Development Committee report? Okay, seeing none, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Alderperson Grove?

Aye.

Haas? Aye. Halverson? Aye. Keene? Aye. Novak? Aye. Noling? Aye. Roach? Aye. Turner? Aye. Weigel?

Aye.

Grisham? Aye. Ten in favor, zero opposed.

That motion carries. And now we will do the Public Safety Committee.

I'm going to read out item 64 separately. The Public Safety Committee recommends granting of item 63, granting of item 65, and approval of item 66. Okay.

Mayor Devine, I move for approval of the Public Safety Committee report.

Thank you very much. Any discussion? If not, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Alderperson Grove? Aye. Haas?

Aye.

Halverson? Aye. Keene? Aye. Novak? Aye. Noling? Aye. Grote?

Aye.

Turner? Aye. Weigel? Aye. Grisham? Aye. Ten in favor, zero opposed.

Motion carries.

And for item 64, the Public Safety Committee recommends granting. Mayor Devine, I move for approval of item 64.

Thank you very much. Madam Clerk call the roll. I just didn't know if anybody wanted to discuss. It was a four to one vote. We're done. Four to one vote out of committee. What's the point?

Hey, Alderperson Grove. Aye. Haas. Aye. Halverson. Aye. Keene. Aye. Novak. Aye. Noling. Aye. Roach. No. Turner. Aye. Weigel. Aye. Grisham. Aye. Nine in favor, one opposed.

That motion carries.

Mayor Devine. Alderman Haas. I move that the council stand adjourned until our next scheduled meeting Tuesday, July 21st, 2026.

Second.

There's a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We are adjourned.