We'll do real call, older person Decker, older person Akley, older person Donahue, older person Feldy. All right, we got everybody. For those in attendance, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge 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. All right, approve of the minutes from July 15th. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? Motion to approve. There's been a motion by Dean. Is there a second? Second. Second by Mary Lynn. Any discussion on the minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor, please state aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? The minutes are approved.  Chief. Thank you. So some of the highlights from the second quarter, we had about an 8% decrease in call volume obviously due to our COVID issues going on throughout the country. Our EMS calls were down by 15% and surprisingly enough though, even though we had a decrease overall in our call volume, we were up 11% in our non EMS related incidents from a year ago at this time. We had our total fire loss volume. Our cost was roughly 4% lower than last year, which is good. Even though our fire losses, the calls themselves were down 12%, 12.5%. We did find a few non compliant occupancies that didn't have working smoke detectors. So we replaced those and installed about 18 new smoke detectors during this period. One thing that you'll notice for public education events, obviously with everything being closed during this period, we didn't do a lot of pub ed. However, we kind of made a kind of a unique drive by for birthdays, you know, when people would call and request it for the fire department, we'd drive by because everybody was confined to their homes and staying inside. So it was good for the kids. We did about 36 of those. Again, it was just one of those temporary kind of things because of the crisis. But if you have any questions on the report? Any questions for the fire chief? All right. Seeing none. Is there a motion to accept the report? Motion to accept. Motion by Bogg and second by Dean. Any further comments or questions for the chief? Seeing none. All those in favor of accepting the report, please state aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Chair votes aye. That's approved. Thank you. Chief. 3.3 quarterly reports for the police department. Is someone on the PD on the phone? Sergeant Yeager is here. All right. Sergeant Yeager, how's it going? Can you hear me all right? Yep. We got you. For the first quarter here, some of the highlights are the part one crime. There's reduction in violent crime. Here to date comparison to the same period in 2019. And property crime remained flat. We didn't have much of a change there. Basically our calls in general remained about the same. The most notable was our reduction in traffic crashes. Likely due to people staying home and practicing social distancing. The traffic accidents here to date. We're at 611 versus 805 for last year. And during the period, the pandemic impacted all areas of our operation. But our community outreach has probably hit the hardest. The department also spent a lot of time during this period recruiting and evaluating several candidates for. Filling planned and unplanned vacancies. I think it's really all I have for, for the first quarter here for the police department. Anybody has any questions? I'm here. Any questions for Sergeant Yeager? All right. Hearing none. Is there most to accept the report? Motion to accept. Motion by Barb. Second. Second by Dean. Any further comments on the police department's report? All those in favor of accepting the report, please stay die. Hi. Anyone opposed? Chair votes aye. That's approved. All right. Quarterly reports for building inspection. Chad. Thank you, chair. So on the report, we're about a hundred thousand behind in revenues. Where we were in 2019 of all the classifications, but we have a couple larger ones that we're waiting for coming in. We're starting on September 1st be on the Oscar development to 31 million dollar apartments complex on the former Vandervaard. We'll be starting, we'll be starting the issue of building permits for that project within the next couple of weeks. So that should help our revenues substantially. And that's one of them that we had budgeted. There's also some workout at a cutie that has some additional permitting coming in. I think we lost Chad there. Chad, can you hear us? I guess not really then. Okay. That's discussion only. So we don't have to vote on anything in particular. So I guess we'll just move along. City attorney Chuck. Yeah. So I'm sorry. So I did provide our report. You'll note that there's a couple of new workload measurements that we've included on there. But if you have any questions about it, I can certainly answer them. All right. Any questions for Chuck? Seeing none, we'll move along. 3.5 general ordinance number 9-20-21. Mending the municipal code, relating to classifications of licensing and registration fees. We discussed this last week, I believe, or last meeting. Is Chad back on? Yeah. Okay. So, Barb, did you want to chime in at all? I know that you were doing some research on this and you had conversations with the city planner. You want to add anything, Barb? Yes. I did talk to the city planner and the building inspector and told him what my concerns were and why I asked to have it held over for a little bit of time so I could get some more information. They have assured me that they are not downgrading any of the carpenter contract criteria. What they're doing is they're creating a group for those people that maybe retired contractors, carpenters. And according to the building inspector, they're looking at maybe seven or eight people. I can live with seven or eight people as long as they're not bringing down from the higher group to the lower group. So, I did ask about, you know, how many people this, how many people we have as contractors right now. And I'll just keep an eye on it for another year and, you know, see if that number remains small down there or what changes. So, at this time, I'm okay with passing it on. Okay. Is there a motion to approve? I'll make a motion to approve. All right. There's been a motion by Dean. And I'll second. And a second by Barb. Any further discussion on this ordinance? Seeing none. All those in favor, please state aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Sergeant Yeager is was he going to be coming over or? Oh, he's in the background there. Okay. I I didn't realize we were going to do this remotely, okay? So We do have Ms. Garcia here Your Ms. Garcia is that correct? Why don't you come up to the podium up here and the mic will be on for you? And this is somewhat of a formal hearing and what's going to happen is the police department is going to Present their testimony first. You'll have the opportunity to Respond to that testimony or ask questions and then you'll have the opportunity to give any testimony that that you'd like Before we get started, I just want to make sure so you you understand that this is a hearing on the The non-renewal of your alcohol beverage license you understand that yes And you understand that the the allegation basically is that you engaged in activity that Was illegal and led to an allegation of a disorderly house at the place that you worked. Is that correct? Yes, and you're denying that allegation. I have a pending court case. So there's not a whole lot I can say Because I'm retaining an attorney and I think I say here can be used against me or my criminal case That is true. So now you have a cup you have a couple of options you certainly May choose not to testify today if that is your choice if you do that and There is a hearing the committee can still make a decision based on the information that's presented by the police department if You're concerned that that is a problem for you and that you want to be able to have You know your opportunity to appear on the the non-renewal of the license this matter can be adjourned But you're not going to have the license until you actually have the hearing. Do you understand that? Yes not working because of it because They only have one bartender on at a time Do you wish for the hearing to proceed today despite the fact that you may not be able to answer all of the questions? um Yes, all I can really say is I'm on bail and the judge could approve me working at the bar or not and he approved me That's all I can say other than that. I won't be answering any questions. Okay, so we'll we'll proceed with at least the We'll start with the police department side of things and you will have the opportunity to ask them questions in any case Thank you Yes Older than you before we before we get started Is the pending charge of felony or misdemeanor It is charged as a misdemeanor I'm not sure who starts here understands that what she says in the courtroom If I have it correct, I may not but could potentially be used against her Yeah, in any court proceeding. Yeah, that's what that's what she she did indicate that here And you do understand that that anything you say here today could be used against you in the court proceeding You understand that? Yeah, that's what I said And did she talk to her lawyer about doing this today? I'm actually in the process of retaining an attorney Okay I Mean I want to make sure that she understands that if she says certain things here today potentially those things could be brought up in court Yes, I know them and so for that reason she may not want to go ahead with the hearing or she may I mean that would be perfectly fine, too Right. Well either way. I'm not working. So right now doesn't make a difference So, you know you do you can postpone the hearing today if you so choose If you wish to just postpone it two weeks to allow yourself to contact the attorney you're trying to retain you can do that But we can also go ahead with the hearing today that it's it's really your choice It's totally up to you. I would like to go forward with it without saying anything because For my attorney to come to this will also be additional money and my criminal case is gonna cost me plenty her Eddie So if I understand it what you're saying is you'd like to go ahead with the hearing today. Yes, okay I'm just one final thing is that Garcia could get a little closer to the microphone. Sorry. I'm having a little trouble hearing her If that would be okay. Yep, sorry Okay So then if the alders are ready to proceed We will begin If there's questions first, I'll I'm looking to see if there's any response Okay, so then officer post We need to have you sworn in are you prepared to swear I'm in okay, so if you post please raise your right hand Do you sort of tell the whole truth nothing but the truth so help you God? I do. All right, please proceed Okay, officer post you are a city of Sheboygan police officer. Is that correct? so employed and on duty on March 7th, 2020 at about 1 37 a.m. and Did you end up responding to a tavern in the city of Sheboygan on that night at that time? Yeah, what tavern was that? That's 1502 South 13th Street in the city of Sheboygan is that correct so why don't you describe for us? What what happened as you initially arrived on scene? Officer barber he was sent there for an anonymous complaint The bartender being our needing assistance upon arriving he located the door to the bar locked However, he's able to see what he believed to be a bartender and two patrons inside Upon him and other officers trying to make contact The individuals inside of the bar walked out of view into an area later determined to be a bathroom Due to that additional officers were requested down there because we were not sure what was going on and The legitimacy of whether or not the bartender there was actually in need And the fact that they had walked away and refused to respond and communicate with officers Caused this concern that there was something going on that needs to be addressed for that people possibly needed assistance inside So Prior to your arrival were you aware at least of the nature of the call at the tavern? Yes about the anonymous complaint about the bartender needing assistance and then People being located inside but refusing to make contact and eventually walking away from officers where they were no longer able to be viewed And that information came to you and I'm just gonna ask you because of the Because the limb of the limitations of the The audio if you can just slow down a little bit in my my elderly ears are Having a little difficulty hearing the audio So when you arrived you had been provided that information Already by the dispatch is that correct? the anonymous Complaint information was provided by dispatch Over the remainder of the information was provided by officers on scene about locating people inside and I'm walking into a An area out of view was provided by officers as I was arriving Okay Had you previously Were you familiar with this location? Had you previously responded there or been at this location? so So you get this information that that there's at least uncooperative Folks inside did you know how many people at this point were inside? I believe officer barber had indicated that he had seen three however was unknown if more people were inside So what happens next additional officers including myself responded there We continually tried to make contact at both the front and the back door Announcing ourselves and asking people to come to the door to let us in or to just make us aware that they were there We also sent officers down to the residents of the owners of the bar as well as attempting phone contact and making contact with the apartment Renters which are attached to the bar all trying to determine what if anything was incurred Occurring inside and if police assistance was needed. However, all those avenues were unsuccessful or did not provide any additional information Were you and the other officers able to see inside the bar at this time and determine whether You know that whether the people inside the bar were Patrons or employees or anything like that at this point at this point. No So what happens next? Given the unknown as to what was occurring inside we decided that there was exigent circumstance to start making our Attempting entry into the business to ensure that nobody was in danger and every phone one was okay we were able to Make way into the back hallway and into the basement area where we cleared that and didn't locate anyone As we were doing that we located a ladder outside of the business And we were able to use that to get a view inside of the bar from the east side through the large windows and You were aware that this was a licensed premise that was open to the public. Is that correct? Yeah So Went whence you're able to see into the bar by the use of this ladder What did you observe? I? Observe that there was a hallway boat the middle of the West side of the tavern Down the hallway. It appears that there was a bathroom. I was able to observe a female That was appeared to be standing up in that area as I began knocking on the glass and shining my flashlight in as well as announcing the females Layed down on the ground and tried to act like she was sleeping There was another female that I had observed walk out of the room That was at the end of the hallway and then walk back in as I was announcing Then what happens? We are eventually able to Get them to come out of the bathroom at that point We identified that there were three people two females and a male one of the females later Identified as the bartender Stephanie Garcia began yelling and screaming at officers cursing swearing As well as telling the two other patrons not to or the two other individuals who are later determined to be patrons To not open the door despite us continually Pleading with them to simply let us in so we can ensure everyone was safe But she continued to direct them not to do so She then went behind the bar started smoking inside of the bar She also began drinking directly out of bottles of liquor as well as throwing property as well as money All over the place behind the bar from the cash register She also turned up the music To the point where she was trying to or that we are being drowned out Eventually she came to the door and opened it at which point we went inside again She was still being disorderly throwing items She at one point was on the phone saying that she's going to be arrested and she's going to leave or lose her license doing due to the way that she was acting she's placed in a handcuff and then it was made it or Determination was made that she'd be arrested for disorderly conduct So how was it that you were able to determine that she was the bartender on duty that evening? Okay, and how did you determine that the other two parties were patrons in the tavern? I believe they had spoken to another officer and advice that in the course of the Behavior that you've described by Ms. Garcia Did that have an impact on how on the behavior of the patrons? Yeah patrons seem like they're going to cooperate and open the door As we were trying to get them to come to the door and open it I believe the female patron even had her hand on the lock at which point Stephanie began yelling for her to not open the door At which point the patron apologized and said that she was told not to once you were able to get inside what was the Describe the scene inside the tavern the results of the behavior that you had seen There was money all over the place on the bar as well as behind the bar I believe there's also numerous personal property belonging to Stephanie That have been thrown a bar about Additionally, as I said, she had been drinking directly out of alcohol bottles And then smoking as well behind the bar and inside the tavern which was evident Additionally while we completed a search or as we did our inspection After her arrest we also located a marijuana pipe That was in the same bathroom that all three individuals have been located in Before they came out of it. So you did then place Ms. Garcia under arrest. Is that correct? Yes, and you were able to were you able to shut down the bar or what what happened at this point? Given that she was the only employee on duty that you've identified that point We are advised to complete an inspection of the bar Based on what had occurred So then myself and I believe two or three other officers remained on scene and completed a tavern inspection And once you completed that tavern inspection What was there anything additional that that you were able to determine as a result of that and You were able to close up the bar and lock it up. Is that correct? Yes, we were able to secure it and I wonder if we can Move the camera at least so that it that the it's visible to the podium Officer post are you able to see in the monitor the person who is standing at the podium and Can you identify who that person is? She's wearing a mask, but I believe it to be Stephanie Garcia. I have no further questions at this point Ms. Garcia, do you have any questions that you wish to ask of officer post? And so then That's the that's all of the city's case then and so the city rests Miss miss Garcia, do you wish to provide any kind of testimony either other persons to testify or you yourself? No, I didn't know I could provide other people to testify for me, but either way with my pending case There's only not a whole lot I can do so Okay, thanks. And so you You rest your case at this point as well. Is that fair to say? Okay? All right, so At this point, it's really up to the Alders to make a determination the you know the recommendation of The staff is denial of the license based on the you know her failure to cooperate with the police and her actions on that evening, I don't know Miss Garcia, do you want to give any statement and you don't have to as to why you believe that the? The Alders should take any particular action with regard to your license Well, the the bar was not open when this all happened is one thing I'd like to see the people that were in the bar were helping me clean up but I Don't know really know what to say I had my liquor license for quite a long time. I know I'm not perfect person. I try to learn from my mistakes and It's a job and you guys don't approve me. I got to find a different job then I guess Not a whole lot I can do Okay Are there any questions for many alders? All they're down to you If I could just ask officer post Was there a bar closing issue? The bar was the bar supposed to have been closed it by 137 No, I can't remember if it was a weekday or a weekend, but I believe Regardless, it would have been two o'clock would have been the requirement And you can because somebody complained that people I think I missed that You you came or a number of officers came because there was a concern that people were in trouble inside the bar Yes, our dispatch center had received an anonymous complaint that the bartender at Caddyshack was in need of assistance okay, and Did you talk to Ms. Garcia that evening? Did she give any explanation for why she had such dramatic behavior? she did not To my recollection provide Statement as to why she was acting that way the only thing that she informed me was that She believes that her sister was the one that had called Because her sister was mad at her because she had kicked her out of the bar earlier the day and that was the reason why she had locked The door so her kid her sister could not come back inside Okay They said you you were one of the officers personally saw her drinking from you know various Bottles of alcohol Yes, I observed that okay, and Was mr. Cia like really drunk During the booking process she did consent to a preliminary breath test which had a result of point one zero three okay When when you came into the bar did she seem to be intoxicated if you know She was she was upset and acting Possibly be intoxicated. However, it could also be just being upset and frustrated and other emotions got it and this is then Sure, if I can just ask Attorney Adams a question or two go for it Or maybe officer post would be Then she have prior disorderlies or other convictions It would bear on her ability to be a bartender So what I'll answer in that regard is that we are not making that allegation for the purposes of this hearing We're relying solely on In other words if I understand you It was the behavior at the tavern that night that is the basis for the termination of the or the non renewal of the license, right? Okay, and if we do that Chuck if we non-renew When can she reapply Technically she could reapply the next day typically what happens in these cases is The committee will often recommend To the applicant, you know that perhaps they would like to come back after a certain amount of time But they are not bound by that nor are you bound to give her the license at that time And you may not be able to answer this or may not be comfortable answering it I mean clearly the behavior was disorderly, but clearly the tavern was box So it wasn't part of the operations of being a bartender If we were to determine not to renew the license Can you give me just kind of like a ballpark as to when you think And again, I don't know her other her other record, but just assuming that this is the only thing we're talking about Say let's say after she gets the criminal charge taken care of Would this be a likely case where you would favorably Not saying the very succinctly story that you would consider Renewing the license that that's how she makes her living Yeah, so based on You know how this committee has previously Handled these situations I think it's fair to say and I can only speak for myself as opposed to the other members of the Staff group that needs to review these things I would expect that staying out of trouble for for a period of a year Would would you know make it such that the committee would that the staff would recommend? Granting a license application perhaps a year from now And If we were to Let me just sketch out a scenario where we determined that we would not renew the license But we would urge your staff to consider again depending on the Resolution of criminal matter in six months Yeah, we would Can suggest to you or is that out of order it is not out of order We would certainly take that suggestion In bringing it to you and realistically anyone who applies even if the committee the staff group Were not to agree. They always have the ability to come to you you in the end have that final decision in any case And again my concern is that This was not activity while she was being a bartender it was disorderly conduct after the bar was closed and Not good behavior to be sure So I mean that's what I'm kind of noodling around if I'm trying to figure out, you know, what I'd be thinking here I think that's a thank you. Yeah, I think that's a factual determination that you need to make based on the facts I you know I Think there's probably multiple conclusions you can come to in that regard, but that's one of them I do I have a question either for officer post or for city attorney Adams. Have we had any other calls? This location with for any other issues We have but they you know not in the past year. Okay. Yeah That at least that have led to the committee that the staff committee having to review this. Okay. Thank you I have a question Attorney Adams You would ask miss Garcia if she wanted to hold this over Is there a length of time that? She could request a holdover or could the committee request some kind of a holdover I'm a lot. I'm going along with Mary Lynn that you know, it was not good behavior, but I think her behavior whether she's a bartender or not warrants She's an employee of that business and I think The business owner needs to deal with with that part of what she did in the business And I'm not saying that I don't also feel that the police have had the right They did have the right for the disorderly conduct, but again, it was after she was done working. So I'm kind of asking is there a certain amount of length of time that we could look at a holdover So the issue here is that this is she does have an application And she has a right to the hearing at a determination And we did ask her if she wanted to hold the hearing And we did hold the hearing today. So she does have a right for you to make a decision today now, I think what's what's tied up in it is the fact that this is a This is just a non-renewal and she could apply for a new license at some later date And so as Alder Donahue has indicated it is certainly within your authority to basically provide guidance to both Ms. Garcia and To the staff committee that reviews these matters That you would be open to her applying for and obtaining the license, you know after whatever it is six months a year Whatever whatever you choose That that you would be open to considering that application at that time Obviously, you can't Bind anybody on that and the in the end the committee will have that decision at the time that she makes that new application And she can even if you recommend it She can choose to make application earlier if she feels that that would be in her best interest Well, they're probably I think I think what Chuck is telling us is that we already asked if she wanted to delay the hearing And she said no and we have the hearing so From my perspective is probably our job to make a decision agree, so if I can I would move to Denign this Garcia's license But to Indicate that Staff should review any future applications Well, I don't know quite how to word this Her Check what I'm trying to get at is to put a timeline on here, and I don't think I can do that She has the ability to apply to the license whenever And what I'm trying to say is that you folks should look on this favorably all things being equal You know that there's not other stuff going on and so forth Say within a three to six months period of time Okay, so I think We don't know her prior record right, and we shouldn't I mean that's that's not for us to consider but I I'm sorry for being so Not precise on this but that's what I'm trying to I Think I think What you're what you're doing and the appropriate way to handle that would be you you made the motion to non renew And then that would be the vote but then what we're hearing both Ms. Garcia and Myself and the other representatives of the Staff Committee that's assigned with these is that at least in in your case And the others all theirs can certainly chime in that you would be inclined to All else being equal Consider an application from her three to six months down the line should she stay out of trouble So Julie can put that into the form of emotion. That is what I saw move All right, there's been a motion second that there's been a motion and a second any further discussion on this motion Yeah, I guess my concern with You know A three month I would almost recommend to be six because only the fact that you know that that's her word saying that the bar was closed If you had two patrons in there that doesn't mean that they're you know that there may not have been that it was considered open That's that that's her word saying that the bar was closed that You know that that wasn't we don't have the testimony of the Bar owner or anything like that to say that the bar was closed But that what that it you know that it was under the and you know, it could have been under the The Under the duties of her while she was working as a bartender over down here You know get your point. I think what I'm trying to do is just make this a matter of flexibility That I mean we don't know Mr.. CMA wisely decided not to be a bartender Or she comes back after three months and there are a lot of issues, you know She may not get it. It's just this is just a guidance It doesn't say after three months. She gets her license. It's just that after three months Staff can consider her applications Right and the and the the guidance Would be open to considering the application because she can apply anytime, right? Yeah, the guidance won't actually be part of the motion But the guidance, you know and the other Alders thoughts on this is certainly appreciated because I think it'll be helpful both to the Staff as well as to miss Garcia and you know making a determination as to what comes next There's been a motion in a second in the further discussion Seeing none all those in favor of denying the motion or denying the application, please state aye Anyone opposed chair votes aye That application has been denied can I get my money back? I paid the whole amount. You only need to pay 17 to file So the other 43 then you don't because that those funds are actually What is expended in order to do the background check and all that stuff did happen actually the application says it's $17 to do with the background check because you only have to pay $17 to file and get the background check and get in front of the committee and then when you pick up your license You pay the other 43 for the total of $60, right that entire fee though goes to those costs So well because I paid it all at once That's what you're telling me no, but someone else could have got denied for $17, but I got to get denied for $60 You actually if you don't pay the entire fee that you can't get you can't get the application am I right or am I wrong 17 to file 60 total so you can pay 17 to file and get in front of you and when you get approved you go downstairs and you come a pick it up And then you pay the other 43 correct my suggestion would my suggestion would be if you have any further questions Because that issue isn't in front of the committee So they can't really deal with that if you have further questions You can either contact the clerk's office or my office after the meeting All right, moving along 3.7 RO number 39 20 21 So any various license applications for the period ending December 31st 2020 June 30, 2021 June 30, 2022 So I will divide this up a little bit just because there's a number of different actions that we're taking So first we are recommending that the following Beverage opera operator license be held for investigation It's Dylan Gilbertson Is there such motion? Second all right motion by Maryland second by Betty any further discussions seeing none all those in favor of holding the license for Investigation, please stay die Anyone opposed chair votes aye The then we have a beverage operator license that we are recommending be granted, but the RO does need to be corrected And that is for Joshi bashoot of they just the names were his first and last names were reversed on the RO And we need to correct that Motion to grant with the corrections motion to grant Motion in a second any further discussion Seeing none all those in favor, please stay die. Hi. Hi. Anyone opposed chair votes aye And then another beverage operator license We are recommending be granted with a warning to further to avoid further unlawful activity related to the licensed activity This person has pending charges that we do not deem sufficient to deny but Sufficient to be warned and that is Emily P. Schmidt Is there such motion? Motion motion by Barb Second second by Dean and you further discussion all those in favor, please stay die Anyone opposed chair votes aye We are recommending the following taxi cab driver's licenses be held for investigation Eric Rowland and Jessica shave Is there a motion to hold for the investigation? Is there a second Second motion by Dean second by Barb me further discussion Seeing none all those in favor of pulling for an investigation, please stay die Anyone opposed chair votes aye, that's a that one's held and then we have one class a beer license that We're recommending be granted but with corrections and that's for kesturi marketing LLC who needs to correct their premises description Is there a motion to grant with the corrections? Motion by Mary Lynn second by Betty any further discussion Seeing none all those in favor, please stay die Anyone opposed chair votes aye, and then the remainder of the licenses on the application should be approved Second all any further discussion Seeing none all those in favor of granting the remaining licenses, please stay die Hi, hi Anyone opposed chair votes aye That's approved All right three point eight our number forty twenty twenty one There is just one item on this direct referral. We're recommending that the application be granted.  Thank you everybody


felly guided kingdom, the United States,'ve long had a special relationship. This is the story of a special relationship between graphic design students across Atlantic. Similarly different is visual collaboration between graphic design students at Portland State University and London College of Communication. It's an annual project and we've been running it since 2013 and it experiments with the notion of cultural points of view of view through the mediums of letterpress screen printing, isograph and digital reproduction. And at the end of the process the students exhibit in both London and Portland. So why is a project like this worth exploring? And I think we all know that the internet has had this homogenizing effect of design and you see a lot of similarities. But there are still a lot of regional differences that persist and perhaps the quickest window yr unigodion that is through educational experiences, and I've been lucky to experience both education in the U.S. and the U.K., and got a sort of front seat to that myself. Generally speaking, design education in the U.S. Focuses on a more commercial-ly driven subject matter and skills-based whereas the UK focus is more on, I would say, concept rather regardless of medium and with less of a concern of commercial output, at least in the educational sphere. I haven't found either one to be better than the other, but I think each one sort of serves the students of their region for where they will be graduating. I'm really happy that I got to experience both. There's our little Venn diagram to show you, not to scale. Of course, the students benefit from travel itself. Outside of workshop time with our program, they get to experience language, architecture, fashion, and of course typography throughout the city, which definitely does have these slight differences. They're exposed to new cultures that bring with them new ways of seeing, thinking, and doing. But back to where it all started, Oswin and I met at grad school in London at Central St. Martins, and I realized during my time there that there was definitely some similar differences to the way that the two design cultures, UK and US, are. And when I became a tenure track professor here in Portland, I wanted to find a way to give some of that experience to my own students. And so I reached out to Oswin to try to make that a reality. So Oswin was teaching at UCA Farnham, which is a school just outside of London. And we decided we would attempt a remote collaboration. And so this is one of the, you can see some of the results here from that remote collaboration. We gave each student a partner across the Atlantic, and we asked them to supply each other with information, stories, histories, and visual reference material about their own hometowns. And their hometowns may or may not have been Portland or Farnham, they may have come from different areas. And then each student would take that source material and create a piece of work about their partner's home. And so the works were then presented at both schools, and you can see the books there. We also had the work shown at larger scale. And Oswin and I were able to travel to each other's locations with some financial support from our institutions. So the previous slide was in the UK, and then here is at Portland State University. The following year, Oswin's colleague Craig Burston became the head of graphic and media design, the graphic and media design course at London College of Communication. So we quickly jumped on that bandwagon to get to London. And I tried to figure out, okay, now I really want to bring students to London. And luckily Portland State University has a great international office that helps professors create faculty-led trips. So I was really supported in the process of doing that. You should definitely, those of you teaching at universities, if you're curious about it, reach out to your international office. Faculty-led trips are often supported in universities. Oswin and I got busy working on new briefs for the students to collaborate on. Their first one was to design a letter form that would become a piece of the logo type. In this case they were creating, I think the original one was to create a letter form that sort of related to their neighborhood. So this was in I think in 2014. Over the years we have given them varying levels of restrictions for the logo type. So as you can see here we gave them a lot more restrictions on this one. And then of course this one we had a lot less restrictions given. And this is our most recent. We actually just returned from London I think two days ago, three days ago. So here's an example like Tinerary. The trip is now a three week period. The students wanted me to extend it from two and a half weeks because they wanted more time to explore and to make it. Workshops have included letter press, screen printing, typography, risograph and pinhole photography in addition to other things which I'll share. So the students start out with a short presentation which sounds a little bit scary. Students are at all levels so they could be a sophomore junior or senior generally speaking or second year or third year. And the idea here is just to get it all out there really quickly. And this is something we had to do in grad school and I thought it worked really well because basically you share something you're interested in, some of your own work. And I also asked them to share some of their preconceived notions about the other person's culture and usually some laughs ensue and it just sort of breaks the ice a little bit. Then we go to the pub afterwards because that's what you do. And then they have something already to talk about it. It's like oh you're the person who did that infographic on internet dating and oh you're the guy that really loves Gilbert and George and then they're already rolling. So we're really lucky to have the chance to get to work with the excellent technicians that work at London College of Communication. This is Barbara Salvedori who is demonstrating screen printing techniques. This year's screen printing required the students or we asked the students to create a flag for a nation or a community that was real or imagined and they worked in groups. And so we had students come up with a flag for colonizers of Mars. We had a flag for an international creative community. We had a flag that was about signifying welcoming of immigrants and then this one which had so many variations that the students decided to show quite a lot of those variations. This was for the generation Z. They were exploring that young generation Z. And one thing that I personally love about working with the letterpress technicians at London College of Communication is that it gives our students a chance, when I say our students I say our USA students, a chance to see how letterpress is being pushed into the future or not being held quite so in such a precious way as I feel like sometimes it is here in the U.S. The students ran across the street, got this newspaper, then ran it through the press with all these different colors. They just kept adding ink and then as you can see tried a bunch of different colors, ran it through at different angles. They allow a lot of experimentation in the letterpress workshop. The technicians who work there are always up for the kind of challenges that Oswin and I come up with. This particular year shown here we wanted the students to work modularly. The challenge was to create a piece of work that somehow communicated the relationship between the two cities of Portland and London. So this shows the students planning their design on grid paper and then working with a metal type and they're working with the underside of the printing material. And then there's one color of the design all locked up and the design is the two rivers of the two cities, the Thames and the Willamette. Here they are printing. And this happens in two days. I mean the students, again it's like they get an induction in I want to say a half an hour and then it's like you've got type in your hand which I love. And then here's the final piece. There's just a little bit of actual type on there to indicate the rivers. And this is just another example showing another piece from that same brief of all this type locked together completely created with the undersides of type material. One of my favorite briefs that we've done was this one in which I asked the students, I'd call it the Roundel remix. And this is a critique where the students are working on the project and I asked them to take the iconic underground mark and create their own interpretation of it which is, you know, the London, Transport for London does it all the time and it's such an iconic mark that it can stand up to just about any remix and it's a great little piece to work with. And I think some of the some of the works that the students made are just as good as stuff I've seen around in the underground. The piece on the left was made from archival images from London Transport's website I think or somehow she found this archival material. So it's literally from their archival material. And this brief was a neighbourhoods one which we've actually run a couple of times with slightly different emphasis. And from the most recent trip we asked them to produce a type driven piece based on the neighbourhood. We gave them a list and they had to choose from them. So this is Overheard Conversations in Bloomsbury. And then this one, again the same brief, a student was exploring Whitechapel and the various immigrant communities. Many of whom no longer exist but have passed through and settled in Whitechapel. And towards the end of the three weeks, two and a half weeks, three weeks, the students put together a catalogue in order to document the whole process that also goes as part of the exhibition. The format and processes vary. This is from a couple of years ago a group of students. We had a budget to print offset lifo and so we managed to take all the students to a large printer on the outskirts of London so they could do a press pass and also as part of it see it on press being printed, ready for folding. But the printing varies so this was using riceograph and the students printed it and folded it themselves as well as designing it. And this was the offset one, the final one folded. And then this is the most recent one and that was just digitally printed. And it all culminates in an exhibition so that the students don't just produce this work and keep hold of it. It's actually shown so that other people at the university and my various contacts in London briars various contacts and also people that have undertaken this collaboration in previous years can come look at it and kind of celebrate the work that's been done. And sometimes we've done this in the university exhibition spaces themselves and sometimes we do them in various galleries across London. And outside of the actual making, the doing of the projects, the students do have time to unwind and go and explore London. Sometimes part of it is in a pub but also they go and kind of make the most of everything London's got to offer, all the fantastic museums and galleries. This one's in the London Transport Museum, I know it's one of briars favourites and they also eat. So Briar likes to start them off in an English pub with English food, which is a lot better than it used to be so that's fine. And we also have a kind of, not a last supper, a last meal I guess. This time it was in an Indian restaurant but we often, I think the most recent one was in a Turkish restaurant so we kind of like to make the most of all the different cultures within London. Not just it being kind of stereotypically English. I don't think anyone had had Turkish in our group. No, there were a lot of surprised faces. But that's good, that's good. And also this time around Briar took some of the Portland students to an external workshop for type tasting with Sarah Hindman. Where she took the students through the kind of history of type and a chance to try lettering styles as they go. As we're on this image a few of the students from this year and previous years are volunteering today so try and chat to them if you can. We also take them on studio visits. This is at Spin with Tony Brook. And I magazine with editor John Waters. And this is at MB Studio with, sorry, Nick Finney. And so reflecting on these there are obviously outcomes that some of them we want the students to have kind of developed but some are kind of almost accidental really. And some of it is apparent to them and to us at the time some of it doesn't happen until further down the line. But it gives them a greater understanding of typography and design and the context and differences. It helps them develop wider friendship circles and networks. Gives them career ambition. Gives them greater independence as well. And it helps develop their sense of cultural awareness. And also teamwork a lot of them struggle with working in groups and this kind of is a good way of just throwing them in at the deep end getting them to not be precious and work quite quickly in groups. And so the legacy of this project is still going so it's not dead yet. But the students have kept in touch with one another. They've also travelled independently since doing the project to see each other and some have looked at working in other countries. But it has also had an impact beyond the participating students. We've now, well we're in year two of a student exchange where two students from each university go and study for a term at the other one. And this is Jodie from the first year. She didn't do similarly different but the exchange has directly come out of that and is now embedded in both courses. And Chris Roberts a colleague who initially ran the foundation course at Farnham. For the last four years he's been running a collaboration with Paris College of Art and Central St Martin's. And he took similarly different as a kind of starting point as an inspiration for that. So the challenges. Funding is always a challenge. But the most difficulty comes in working within two different educational structures. So the PSU students get credits for taking part in this unit whereas at London College of Communication they don't. It's just an optional extra. And because it's not fully embedded yet at London College of Communication there are issues with funding not happening until the very last minute which can make planning a problem. And in the future we plan to well it's happening at the moment as part of a revalidation of the London College of Communications Graphics course. The project is being written in so it will now be more sustainable going forward I think. There should be more opportunity for growing it. We're also looking at extending it into other countries which we split. We want to do it but it's going to be a lot of extra work. And we're looking at Denmark and Germany at the moment. And there's also talk of extending the link beyond the graphics courses within the university so kind of cementing the links between the universities more fully. And all this just to keep it on the road really. And that's it. Thank you very much.