CITY OF RIVER FALLS: 12/11/12 COMMON COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS

December 11, 2012

Mayor Dan Toland called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers located in City Hall.

City Council Members Present: Tom Caflisch, David Cronk, Christopher Gagne, Randy Kusilek, Scott Morrissette, Jim Nordgren, David Reese

City Council Members Absent: None

Staff Present: Scot Simpson, City Administrator; Bill Thiel, City Attorney; Julie Bergstrom, Finance Director/Assistant City Administrator; Roger Leque, Police Chief; Reid Wronski, Director of Public Works/City Engineer; Carl Gaulke, Utility General Manager; Ken Thatcher, Library Aide; Buddy Lucero, Community Development Director; Tony Steiner, City Planner; Caitlin Stene, Management Analyst

Others Present: Professor Juliet Tomkins, Rachel Miles, Travis Dehnel, Tyler Stehr, William Litzer, Gina Haas, Justin Gillis

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

November 27, 2012, Regular Meeting Minutes and November 13, 2012, Workshop Minutes

MSC Cronk/Morrissette move to approve minutes as submitted. Unanimous.

APPROVAL OF BILLS:

City Bills - $1,456,976.57

MSC Caflisch/Nordgren to approve bills subject to the comptroller. Unanimous.

PUBLIC COMMENT, PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS:

Mayor Dan Toland read a proclamation recognizing Sergeant Janis Bock for 22+ years of service for the City of River Falls. The Mayor then read a proclamation recognizing Carl Gaulke for 41 years of service for the City of River Falls. He thanked them for their service.

Alderperson Nordgren said he and Alderpersons Gagne and Morrissette recently attended the UWRF Student Senate meeting. He noted they started their meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and felt that Council should do the same. The consensus of the Council was to add the Pledge of the Allegiance to the agenda for the next Council meeting.

CONSENT AGENDA:

Acknowledgement of the following minutes:

Fire Department – 10/1/12; Library – 11/5/12; Police, Fire and Ambulance Commission – special meeting 10/1/12; regular meeting 11/5/12; River Falls Housing Authority – 11/13/12

Resolution No. 5655 - Approving Request for Qualifications – Legal Services

Resolution No. 5656 - Authorizing Sale of 0.31 Acres of City Owned Property Adjacent to Chapman Drive to WisDOT for the Radio Road Interchange Project

Resolution No. 5657 - Regarding Write Off of Uncollectible Accounts

Resolution No. 5658 - Appointing City Staff to Kinnickinnic Boundary Committee

Resolution No. 5659 - Appointing City Representative as WPPI Director

Resolution No. 5660 - Appointing City Representatives to West Central Wisconsin Biosolids Facility

Resolution No. 5661 - Approving Amendment to Tower Rental Agreement (AT&T Cingular Wireless)

Resolution No. 5662 - Approving Professional Services – Website Update -- Pulled by Kusilek

MSC Caflisch/Morrissette move to approve the remainder of the Consent Agenda. Unanimous.

Alderperson Kusilek asked about the transmission of Council packets. He asked if the public can see the information the Council receives. City Administrator Simpson said yes; the packet is available on the City’s website except for Closed Session information.

MS Kusilek/Cronk move to approve the resolution. There was further discussion about the Council packet and the process of getting it on the website. At the conclusion of the discussion, the Mayor asked for a vote. The resolution passed unanimously.

ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS:

Resolution No. 5663 - Regarding 2012 Budget Adjustment

Finance Director/Assistant City Administrator Bergstrom noted the major item of this adjustment was a transfer which was included in the budget but is not being made this year so both expenses and revenues were down this year. MS Cronk/Gagne move to approve the resolution. The Mayor asked for a roll call vote. The resolution passed unanimously with all voting in favor.

Resolution No. 5664 - Regarding 2012 Financing: Public Works Roof, Storm Water-Cascade

Bergstrom clarified that financing was not included for the River Street purchase. She said this resolution included financing for the stormwater portion of Cascade and the Public Works roof replacement. Quotes were solicited from local banks with Security National having the lowest quote of 1.89 percent for five years. She recommended passing the resolution. MSC Nordgren/Kusilek move to approve resolution. Unanimous.

REPORTS:

Experiential Learning Project – River Falls Taxi Service

Dr. Juliet Tomkins, Professor from UW-River Falls gave a brief introduction of the project. She said Julie Bergstrom had submitted a feasibility study for the taxi service as a project. Tyler Stehr introduced the students: Rachel, Travis, Justin, Gina and Will. Rachel provided an introduction to the project. Tyler and Travis talked about comparable cities in the study. Travis talked about the cost of the fares and local shares. He also talked about reducing the local share including increasing ridership and fares. Tyler talked about some ideas they had for marketing options including marketing the taxi service to a younger crowd. At the conclusion, he asked for questions from Council.

The Mayor asked about college student usage of taxi service. Rachel said a lot of students do not know about the service. The Mayor asked more about fares and rate increases. Reese and Kusilek asked questions about formula they used. Gagne thanked the students for their work. Reese asked about the subsidies the taxi service received. Caflisch was impressed with the project and thanked the professors and students for their work. The Mayor concurred.

Administrator’s Report

City Administrator Simpson reminded Council about upcoming City staff retirement parties. He noted upcoming dates that the City will be closed and also the payment of tax bills to the counties. Simpson also mentioned an upcoming meeting.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Mayor’s Appointment

HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE

Reappointment of Kirby Symes through January 2016

MSC Morrissette/Nordgren move to approve appointment. Unanimous.

CLOSED SESSION:

MS Caflisch/Morrissette move to recess at 7:02 p.m. into Closed Session per Wisconsin State Statutes § 19.85 (1)(e) and (g) for the following purposes:

“Deliberating or negotiating the purchase of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session; to-wit: CWA/AFSCME negotiation strategy” and “conferring with legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to be become involved; to-wit: Timberwood.”

The roll call vote to recess into Closed Session was unanimous.

Discussion had on topics of CWA, Public Works and AFSCME collective bargaining agreements

MSC Morrissette/Gagne to authorize Administrator Simpson to make offer to the labor unions in accord with the discussion and Simpson's recommendations. Unanimous.

Discussion had on Timberwood lawsuit with directives to obtain more information about settlement proposal.

MSC Kusilek/Cronk to move into Open Session. Unanimous.

Motion by Cronk to adjourn meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Kristi McKahan, Deputy City Clerk

(Pub. 02/14/13) WNAXLP

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