The Meeting of the Common Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m. on
Tuesday, March 11, 2008. It was noted
that the meeting had been announced and a notice posted at City Hall.
Roll call was taken, with the following members present: Mayor Jim Bialecki, Ald. Mike Giese. Ald. Bob
Muth, Ald. Tim Miller, Ald. Jim Olson, Ald. Kim Smith, and Ald. Clarence
Stellner.
Also Present: City Clerk Cari
Burmaster, Finance Director Fred Buehler, City Engineer Jarrod Holter, Land Use
& Development Director Jason Gilman, and City Attorney Sean O’Flaherty.
Brad Viegut with Robert W. Baird & Company was also present for a
presentation.
Item 2 - Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance was declared.
Item 3 - Approval of minutes from previous meeting.
Motion by Ald. Giese, second by Ald. Olson, to approve the minutes from
the previous meeting as printed and on file in the City Clerk’s Office.
On voice vote, motion carried.
Item 4 - PUBLIC INPUT: (limited to 3 minutes/individual)
Mayor Bialecki turned the agenda item over to anyone wishing to provide
input.
Sheryl Horman
“Our business is at
We ask that you reconsider the recommendation of the Board of Public
Works concerning the parking on the south side of
In 1995 the City Council approved our location, and the number of parking
spaces that were required for the space we utilize in the building. Parking on the north side of
We use three parking spaces in the front of our office building. Never has anyone from our office ever parked
in the neighbors’ driveway. Some people
prefer to park on the street so they don’t get their vehicles banged up from
people opening their doors. During the winter,
due to snowfalls, we lose up to possibly 3 parking stalls from the snow plows
just like all other parking lots. We
asked our renters’ employees not to park in the parking lot on the busy days of
the week to allow our clients to have parking spots in the parking lot.
Today we drove down
If your problem is Sunday, and it sounds like that is the case, the
neighbors should have talked to the church leaders and they could have informed
the parishioners of the problem. Also,
the church members could use our parking lot on Sunday to eliminate the problem.”
Mayor Bialecki called three times for anyone wishing to address the
council.
Item 5 - REPORT FROM THE MAYOR.
A. Proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention
Month.
(See Below Proclamation)

Motion by Ald. Miller, second by Ald. Olson, to approve the Proclamation
for Child Abuse Prevention Month for April.
On voice vote, motion carried.
B. Appointments to Technology Committee – Janice
Ward, 2214 Craig Lane West, Onalaska and Trevor Jones, 966 8th
Avenue North, Onalaska to replace Chris Muller and Andy Gartner.
Motion by Ald. Miller, second by Ald. Muth, to appoint Janice Ward,
On voice vote, motion carried.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR APPROVAL
AND/OR POSSIBLE ACTION FROM THE FOLLOWING COMMITTEES/COMMISSIONS/BOARDS:
Item 6 – FINANCE COMMITTEE:
A. Resolution
16-2008 – Resolution
authorizing the
Motion by Ald. Olson, second by Ald. Muth, upon recommendation of the
Finance and Personnel Committee, to approve Resolution 16-2008 – Resolution authorizing the sale of $3,280,000
General Obligation Corporate Purpose Bonds.
Fred Buehler introduced Brad Viegut from Robert W. Baird & Company to
present the sale of the General Obligation Corporate Purpose Bonds.
Brad reported, “I’ve handed out a packet just before the meeting started
that has a summary of the sale bid results as well as the underwriting of the
note anticipation note, and that encompasses the overall capital improvement
program financing plan for the city for 2008, and I can walk through that.
The first page after the cover is a summary of the resolutions and there
are 2 resolutions you’ll be considering on this borrowing this evening. The first is a General Obligation Corporate
Purpose Bond – that’s the longer term financing for city related projects. That’s in the amount of $3,280,000. That’s going to mature between October 1,
2009, through October 1, 2027, and the first interest will be budgeted for next
April, April 1, 2009 interest. Moody’s
affirmed the city’s AA-3 Credit Rating, and this issue was qualified for bond
insurance by FSA. You may have heard
there is some concern in the market about insurance agencies – recently many
were downgraded. There’s really 2
primary agencies left that are in the business of insuring municipal bonds with
the AAA Rating, and they’ve been more and more selective, as you can imagine –
they have a much greater volume of work and they just don’t have the staff
really to evaluate the credits of all the municipalities that are seeking bond
insurance. So it is nice to see that the
city was qualified for the insurance at a reasonable fee. And the winning bidder on this was Stifel,
Nicolaus & Company, with the interest rate of 3.8895%. The note anticipation note is the $220,000
piece of the overall financing for the city.
That piece, again, as a reminder, is for projects that were not eligible
for bonding – bonding meaning that there are more than 10 years of
repayment. So what we’ve done is we
carved out the first 2 years of repayment of the shorter term obligation,
funded those projects not eligible for bonding in an effort to keep the overall
bond size attractive to the greatest number of investors – the greater the bond
size, the greater the interest from underwriters. So, that’s why there’s such a difference
between the issue size on those two pieces.
The note anticipation note is going to mature in 2010 and 2011, and the
first interest for that will also be April 1, 2009, and Moody’s also assigned
the AA-3 rating for that note anticipation note. Now with the note anticipation note there
weren’t public bids taken – this issue was underwritten directly by Baird where
Baird went out to investors and secured the best interest rates that we could
find, the best market rates available.
The recommendation for that method of selling this issue is because of
its small size – at $220,000, you probably wouldn’t see much interest from any
underwriters to come in and submit a bid in a competitive basis, so we felt
that the city would get the most attractive overall financing package by going
with a public sale on the bond issue, which is your past practice for your
General Obligations, the negotiated method on the note anticipation note.
I put together on the next page a summary of the bids that were received
for the bond issue and you can see there were 5 bids that came in with Stifel
Nicolaus being the lowest bid in terms of the interest cost – and I just want
to point out how close these bids are together.
The second place bid submitted by Baird is 3.89% compared to 3.88% for
the interest rate submitted by Stifel Nicolaus.
And even the last bid, the highest bid at 3.99% is just 11 basis points,
or .11% higher than the winning bidder – so a very condensed set of bids that
came in. I’m confident – what this tells
me that this is a good indication that this is where the market interest rates
are, when you have 5 bids this close together, you can feel confident that
you’re getting market rates on that competitive sale.
And then I’ve updated on the following page the overall long-term
financing plan of the city and this gives the detailed repayment
schedules. But what I really want to
point out here is as we carved apart the $220,000 piece from that larger bond
issue, which was initially set at $3.5 million, part of the reason we did that
again was to minimize the overall costs – minimize issuance costs and total
repayment cost. When we had first
started budgeting for this financing plan back in November, as you started
developing your capital improvement program budget, the estimate for the
interest repayment was $1,819,000, compared to how the rates came in with this
final set of bids after we carved these 2 issues out, interest repayment is $1,632,000,
so $187,000 less than what was initially anticipated when we had one combined
issue, and that includes the impact of the issuance cost as well.
So overall a very successful financing program that’s come together –
it’s meeting the expectations that were laid out from a budgeting perspective
and the presentation made back to the Finance committee and finally I did
attach on the last two pages Moody’s updated report of the city’s credit. AA-3 credit, again, is a very high credit
quality rating. Some of the factors they
site on assigning that rating is the historically strong financial operations
of the city which is expected to remain solid, your rapid rate of tax base
growth here in the city, an average debt burden is sited in the first paragraph. Towards the end of the report they talk about
your debt burden being slightly above average.
I’m going to continue to work with Moody’s and investigate exactly what
they’re getting at there. My hunch is
they’re including some of the CDA debt that was done for a separate project
outside the city’s normal capital borrowing, but I will report back to Mr.
Buehler for more information on that.
Overall though, a very good bond sale; I’m very satisfied with these
results, and I think it reflects the quality of the city’s credit rating and
its access to the market.”
Mayor Bialecki thanked Brad along with Fred and others at City Hall for
their efforts this past year and said, “This will assist us in going in the
right direction and maintaining that bond rating.”
On roll call vote: Ald. Clarence
Stellner – aye, Ald. Bob Muth – aye, Ald. Tim Miller- aye, Ald. Mike Giese –
aye, Ald. Kim Smith – aye, Ald. Jim Olson – aye.
B. Resolution
17-2008 – Resolution authorizing the Issuance
of $220,000 General Obligation Promissory Notes and the Issuance and
Motion by Ald. Olson, second by Ald. Muth, upon recommendation of the
Finance and Personnel Committee to approve Resolution
17-2008 – Resolution authorizing the issuance of $220,000 General
Obligation Promissory Notes and the Issuance and Sale of $220,000 Note
Anticipation in Anticipation Thereof.
On roll call vote: Ald. Jim Olson
– aye, Ald. Mike Giese – aye, Ald. Kim Smith – aye, Ald. Clarence Stellner – aye,
Ald. Bob Muth – aye, Ald. Tim Miller – aye.
Resolution passes.
C. Vouchers.
Motion by Ald. Olson, second by Ald. Stellner, upon recommendation of the
Finance and Personnel Committee to approve Vouchers No. 405 through No. 638,
expended since the last Common Council meeting of February 12, 2008, in the
amount of $1,332,109.33.
On voice vote, motion carried.
D. Authorization to lease space in the Old City Shop
to Running, Inc., LaCrosse County Aging Unit Strap Grant vehicles.
Motion by Ald. Olson, second by Ald. Muth, upon recommendation of the
Finance and Personnel Committee to approve authorization to lease space in the
Old City Shop to Running, Inc., LaCrosse County Aging Unit Strap Grant
vehicles.
On voice vote, motion carried.
E. Authorization to purchase an OHD Fit Tester 3000
Quantitative Respirator fit test analyzer – not to exceed $7,222.
Motion by Ald. Olson, second by Ald. Smith, upon recommendation of the
Finance and Personnel Committee to approve authorization to purchase an OHD Fit
Tester 3000 Quantitative Respirator fit test analyzer not to exceed $7,222 as
presented in the budget for the Fire Department.
On voice vote, motion carried.
Item 7 – PERSONNEL COMMITTEE:
A. EAP (Employee Assistance Program) Contract.
Motion by Ald. Olson, second by Ald. Smith, upon recommendation of the
Finance and Personnel Committee to approve the continuing EAP (Employee
Assistance Program) Contract.
On voice vote, motion carried.
B. Post and advertise and
1.
Motion by Ald. Olson, second by Ald. Muth, upon recommendation of the
Finance and Personnel Committee to approve the posting and advertising of the
Commercial Building Inspector with a salary range of $41,200 to $46,200.
On voice vote, motion carried.
2. Residential/UDC (Uniform Dwelling Code)
Inspector.
Motion by Ald. Olson, second by Ald. Stellner, upon recommendation of the
Finance and Personnel Committee to approve the posting and advertising of the
Residential/UDC (Uniform Dwelling Code) Inspector with a salary range of
$35,341 to $37,300.
Under discussion, Ald. Smith noted that this position will only be posted
if this becomes necessary.
On voice vote, motion carried.
Item 8 - ADMINISTRATIVE
COMMITTEE:
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Giese, upon recommendation of the
Administrative Committee to approve the Operator’s Licenses as printed and on
file in the city clerk’s office.
On voice vote, motion carried.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Smith, upon recommendation of the
Administrative Committee to approve the City of
Under discussion, Ald. Giese noted that this item is in the preliminary
stages being approved in concept and the details have yet to be finalized.
On voice vote, motion carried.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Smith, upon recommendation of the
Administrative Committee to submit the Operation of Neighborhood Electric
Vehicles to City Attorney Sean O’Flaherty for clarification as the state has
now regulated the licensing of these vehicles.
Under discussion, Ald. Stellner indicated that this has been an ongoing
discussion for quite some time. Ald.
Stellner said, “We realize people are interested in having these motorized
electric vehicles in their community; however, before we can do that we must
protect the city’s interests and by having our city attorney clarify the
ordinance, this is our protection.”
On voice vote, motion carried.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Smith, upon recommendation of the
Administrative Committee to give tentative approval of the Onalaska Boys
Booster Club Helicopter Rides at Sunfish Days, LaCrosse Helicopter Service,
LLC, Owner – Larry Johnson. This is
contingent upon final approval which is anticipated to be at the next
Administrative & Judiciary Committee meeting.
Ald. Olson asked if this does include proper insurance.
Ald. Stellner said, “Yes, all licensing, proper insurance, use of the
school board properties, and also approval of the Sunfish Festival Committee.”
Mayor Bialecki noted that Jay Trite is present tonight who is also a part
of that group as an advocate. They will
also be discussing this with the CDA Board as well as the School Board.
On voice vote, motion carried.
Item 9 - BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS:
A. Proposed no parking on 1100 block of
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to eliminate parking entirely on
the south side of
On voice vote, motion carried.
B. Proposed striping of
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve the striping of
On voice vote, motion carried.
C. Reimbursement to Savannah Development and
Intrust Development, LLC for
Ald. Stellner turned this item over to City Engineer
Jarrod Holter.
Jarrod reported that he is reviewing this with City
Attorney Sean O’Flaherty in terms of consideration of the phrase ‘Reasonable
Costs Incurred for Construction’. Jarrod
said that staff is recommending to reimburse Savannah Development and Intrust
Development, LLC, for $192,002.66, which does not include the undercut costs
for that street.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to reimburse Savannah Development
and Intrust Development, LLC, for
On voice vote, motion carried.
D. Review and accept bids for 2008 Utility
Project.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to award the bid for the 2008
Utility Project to Harry Viner, Inc., in the amount of $616,597.10.
On voice vote, motion carried.
E. Authorization to bid
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve the authorization to bid
On voice vote, motion carried.
F. Authorize “Revised” State/Municipal Agreement
for Highway Improvements Project with the Wisconsin Department of
Transportation for the Sand Lake Road project.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve the “Revised”
State/Municipal Agreement for Highway Improvements Project with the Wisconsin
Department of Transportation for the
For the record, Ald. Giese questioned the amount of this.
Jarrod indicated that the city will be receiving the
actual agreement for the grant, which is slightly more than $1 million in grant
funding. Jarrod said, “The total project
cost is approximately $1.3 million. We’re receiving 80% of the design cost with
the state grant in the amount of $156,000.”
On voice vote, motion carried.
G. Request for sanitary sewer and storm sewer
extension, including dedication to the City of Onalaska, for the Meier Farm
Traditional Neighborhood Development along Sand Lake Road by Elmwood Partners.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Giese, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve the request for sanitary
sewer and storm sewer extension, including dedication to the City of
On voice vote, motion carried.
H. Review and approve bids for storm sewer work
under Valley View Mall with cost split with the City of
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve bids for storm sewer
work under Valley View Mall with cost split with the City of
On voice vote, motion carried.
I. Review and approve 2008 Annual Report under
Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) General Permit No WI-S050075-1.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve 2008 Annual Report under
Municipal separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) General Permit No. WI-S050075-1.
On voice vote, motion carried.
J. Consideration of dedication of Utilities at
Gundersen Clinic Onalaska Campus.
Ald. Stellner referred this item to Jarrod.
Jarrod reported that staff has been reviewing some
financial figures since the Board of Public Works meeting regarding taxes for
the water main easement and discussing the easement with the city
attorney. Pursuant to this discussion, it
is the recommendation of staff to take over the 2 storm sewer easements that
have outfalls attached to them, the storm sewer line that actually drains the
parking ramp. It is further the
recommendation to not take over the storm sewer in front of the building, the
sanitary sewer, or the water main easement for this parcel.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve dedication of the 2
storm sewer easements that have outfalls attached to them, which is the storm sewer that actually drains
the parking ramp. It is further
recommended to not take over the storm sewer in front of the building, the
sanitary sewer, or the water main easement for this parcel.
On voice vote, motion carried.
K. Review and accept bids received on Tandem
Axle Truck.
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Miller, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve the bid for
International Tandem Axle Truck from DeBauche Truck & Diesel in the amount
of $68,120.25.
On voice vote, motion carried.
L. Authorization to apply for 2009-2011
Wisconsin Department of Transportation Statewide Multi-Modal Improvement
Program (SMIP) for off street bicycle and pedestrian facility along
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Giese, upon
recommendation of the Board of Public Works to approve authorization to apply
for the 2009-2011 Wisconsin Department of Transportation Statewide Multi-Modal
Improvement Program (SMIP) for off street bicycle and pedestrian facility along
State Highway 16.
On voice vote, motion carried.
M. Review and approve
Motion by Ald. Stellner, second by Ald. Smith, upon recommendation of the
Board of Public Works to approve the French Valley Neighborhood Utility Plans.
On voice vote, motion carried.
Item 10 - PLAN COMMISSION:
A. Regarding
Motion by Ald. Giese, second by Ald. Muth, upon recommendation of the
Plan Commission to approve the Official City Map amendments.
On voice vote, motion carried.
B. Regarding Floodplain Ordinance
Amendments – new FEMA – FIRM map effective dates.
Motion by Ald. Giese, second by Ald. Olson, upon recommendation of the
Plan Commission to approve the Floodplain Ordinance Amendments – new FEMA –
FIRM map effective dates.
On voice vote, motion carried.
C. Regarding a Traditional
Neighborhood Development Rezoning proposal submitted by Elmwood Partners
Limited Partnership, 2700 National Drive, Suite 103, Onalaska, for the
properties on Sand Lake Road, north of Rolling Oak Drive, currently zoning R-1,
R-2-3, and TC (Tax ID#’s 18-4519-0, 18-5790-0, 18-5822-0 and 18-4517-0).
Motion by Ald. Giese, second by Ald. Muth, upon recommendation of the
Plan Commission to approve with 24 conditions the Traditional Neighborhood
Development Rezoning proposal submitted by Elmwood Partners Limited
Partnership, 2700 National Drive, Suite 103, Onalaska, for the properties on
Sand Lake Road, north of Rolling Oak Drive, currently zoning R-1, R-2-3, and TC.
On voice vote, motion carried.
D. Regarding a Rezoning request
filed by Mike Tooke, Tarco South, Inc., 960 Oak Avenue North, Onalaska, from
Interim R-1 to R-4 for the purpose of building a multi-family development at
2201 Abbey Road, and 455 Hilltop Drive (Tax ID#’s 18-4511-301 &
18-4511-302).
Motion by Ald. Giese, second by Ald. Stellner, upon recommendation of the
Plan Commission to table for 30 days the Rezoning request filed by Mike Tooke,
Tarco South, Inc., 960 Oak Avenue North, Onalaska, from Interim R-1 to R-4 for
the purpose of building a multi-family development at 2201 Abbey Road, and 455
Hilltop Drive.
On voice vote, motion carried.
E. Regarding a Rezoning
application filed by Mike Tooke, Tarco South, Inc. 960 Oak Avenue North,
Onalaska, from Interim R-1 to B-2 Community Business District for the property
located at 455 Hilltop Drive, Onalaska (Tax ID# 18-4511-302).
Ald. Giese turned this item over to Land Use & Development Director
Jason Gilman.
Jason reported that this item has also been tabled for 30 days and is
actually part of the same project in the previous Item D for which a Master
Plan was requested.
Motion by Ald. Giese, second by Ald. Olson, upon recommendation of the
Plan Commission to table for 30 days the Rezoning application filed by Mike
Tooke, Tarco South, Inc.
On voice vote, motion carried.
F. Final Implementation Plan
submitted by Elmwood Partners, 2700 National Drive, Suite 103, Onalaska, for a
Traditional Neighborhood Development located on Sand Lake Road, North of
Rolling Oaks Drive (Tax ID# 18-4519-0).
Motion by Ald. Giese, second by Ald. Stellner, upon recommendation of the
Plan Commission to approve with 7 conditions the Final Implementation Plan
submitted by Elmwood Partners, 2700 National Drive, Suite 103, Onalaska, for a
Traditional Neighborhood Development located on Sand Lake Road, North of
Rolling Oaks Drive.
On voice vote, motion carried.
G. Final Implementation Plan
submitted by Leo Bronston, French Valley LLC, for the French Valley
Neighborhood Development PUD north of French Road (Tax ID#’s 18-4480-0,
18-4480-1, 18-4481-0, 18-4482-1 & 18-4485-0).
Motion by Ald. Giese, second by Ald. Stellner, upon recommendation of the
Plan Commission to approve with 5 conditions the Final Implementation Plan
submitted by Leo Bronston, French Valley LLC, for the French Valley
Neighborhood Development PUD north of
On voice vote, motion carried.
H. Preliminary Plat application
submitted by Leo Bronston, French Valley LLC, for the French Valley
Neighborhood Development (Tax ID#’s 18-4480-0, 18-4480-1, 18-4481-0, 18-4482-1
& 18-4485-0).