City Council

OFFICIAL COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Menomonie, Dunn County, Wisconsin, was held in open session on March 21st, 2022, and called to order by Council Mayor Knaack at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The following members were present: Chase, Traxler, Sutherland, Beech, McCullough, Schwebs, Merrill, Solberg, Schlough, Erdman, and Sommerfeld. SPECIAL RECOGNITION – Dan Ostermann gave an overview of the 2021 activities provided by the Greater Menomonie Development Corporation on behalf of the City of Menomonie. MOTION was made by Erdman, seconded by Beech, and carried to approve the minutes of the March 7th, 2022 council meeting. PUBLIC HEARING – None PUBLIC COMMENTS – Andrew Mercil spoke on behalf of the Mabel Tainter Theater’s special event request for the Mabel’s Community Celebration on May 21, 2022. Charlotte Hamilton spoke on behalf of the agenda item proposing an election worker hourly rate adjustment and asked for the council’s consideration of the request. Nita Fitzgerald spoke as an election inspector in support of the election worker hourly rate adjustment and for strong infrastructure for the city clerk. MOTION was made by Erdman, seconded by McCullough, and carried unanimously to approve the special events requests from the Mabel Tainter Theater for the Mabel’s Community Celebration and Downtown Menomonie’s Paint the Town event. MOTION was made by McCullough, seconded by Erdman, and carried unanimously to waive the rules to allow Charlie Jones to answer questions regarding some of the specifics of the Downtown Menomonie’s Paint the Town event. MOTION was passed on a roll call vote with Chase abstaining. MOTION was made by Schwebs, seconded by Solberg, and carried unanimously on a roll call vote to approve the 2022 Water Utility Rate study with Ehlers for $10,500. MOTION was made by Erdman, seconded by McCullough, and carried unanimously to wave the rules to allow Sean Lentz to speak to the creation of an affordable housing fund. MOTION was made by Erdman, seconded by McCullough and carried on a roll call vote to adopt the TID #11 resolution authorizing the creation of an affordable housing fund. Schlough voted no. MOTION was made by Schwebs, seconded by Solberg, and carried unanimously on roll call vote to adopt the resolution terminating the TID #11 district. MOTION was made by Beech, seconded by McCullough, and carried unanimously on roll call vote to approve the Dunn County Housing Study agreement for $1,500. MOTION made by Solberg, seconded by Chase, and carried unanimously on roll call vote to approve the Menomonie Police Department’s request to purchase a Motorola squad car and body camera system for $173,758. MOTION made by Schwebs, seconded by Erdman and carried unanimously on roll call vote to approve the hourly rate adjustment for election workers to $12 for Election Inspectors and $15 for Chief Election Inspectors. BUDGET TRANSFERS – None. MAYOR’S REPORT – The city and council received a thank you letter from Stepping Stones of Dunn County for its support of the funding grant received by the state towards emergency support of homeless persons in our community. The Mayor recently attended the Tourism Commission Convention in Madison, met with the governor and other dignitaries. The Mayor mentioned opening up council meetings to the public again, with in-person council meetings starting April 19th, 2022. Ellsworth Creamery is almost up and running! COMMUNICATIONS AND MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS – LCIP Annual Meeting notice, being held in City Hall Council Chambers. Chief Atkinson reported that the Governor’s office is releasing funds to support law enforcement and Menomonie will receive approximately $47,000 for training and other law enforcement needs and the Department of Administration will be facilitating the grant funding. CLAIMS - MOTION was made by Schlough, seconded by McCullough, and carried unanimously on roll call vote to approve payment of the following claims: March 21st, 2022 Claims Fastenal $642.39 Tri-State Bobcat $171.12 Total $813.51 2022 Parking Utility Claims Total Invoice Total $0.00 NO Normal license list. MOTION to adjourn was made by Merrill, seconded by Beech, and carried unanimously. Kate Martin, City Clerk