Every year I have the pleasure of reviewing a number of rice supplements. I dedicate a video to discussing how you can most effectively tell your story with rice. Thank you for joining me on my channel. This is Write Your Acceptance. I'm Dr. Josie. Make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss a video. So this is a promise for all students. Prompt one, please explain why you wish to study in the academic areas you selected. The first few are very short at 150 words. Actually just filming a Columbia video and the last couple of their supplements, this would fit nicely. A nice recycle by the way. So this is 150 as to why the academic areas that you selected, right? So you can think kind of two parts, very efficient because it's a very short supplement. The first one could be a mini story asked to you engaging in the discipline. The example I gave was an engineering student who loves to make kind of bridges out of popsicle sticks and then they test them with, you know, using various weights. And so they can describe in story form how they kind of, you know, put one weight after another after another until it collapses and that kind of weird feeling of satisfaction that they get when the bridge collapses.  I've also seen students that are interested in philosophy and English and writing communications kind of talk about a presentation that they give a five minute kind of presentation and with kind of their fear of public speaking, kind of how that mixed up into the content and delivery, but how they love the research and the argumentation and all that stuff. So then the first half is you kind of directly engaging in the discipline in some way. And then the second half could be why that major, why that academic area at Rice specifically. So you can mention a course and that would be an interesting way of really showing very rice specific detail. So prompt two, based upon your exploration of Rice University, what elements of the rice experience appeal to you? This is your why us essay. I have a couple of videos where I give you examples of why us essays or the kind of roadmap that you need to kind of think about what types of research you need. So I'll link up my typical like general why us video up top so you can have that there 150 words. This is kind of like a I'm getting in and get out, right? So like you want to be very, very efficient. You want to mention very evidence based information of rice. So like if you mentioned a course at the end of the first supplement, you don't necessarily need to mention a course here, but you can mention a discussion panel that they have annual kind of workshop or conference. You can mention kind of professional development opportunities in the, you know, business school or like resume developing. If you're interested in, you know, a type of internships that you are interested in within the undergraduate experience, you can mention a professor that you want to learn from. You can mention community service activity that you'd like to do in the broader community. So it's a why rice, but definitely don't kind of borrow from anything that you would have mentioned at the kind of tail end of the first supplement. Prompt three is 500 words. So it is rice is lauded for creating a collaborative atmosphere that enhances a quality of life for all members of our campus community. The residential college system and undergraduate life are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What life perspectives would you contribute to the rice community? So this prompt can be considered kind of like your identity essay. You want to showcase what you are hoping to bring yourself to rice and many students kind of forget that. So you definitely want to add that in at the end, but you want to show kind of you taking charge, taking initiative, being kind of engaged in community. Essentially you are vying to be part of their community, right? And they're talking about this prompt as being a kind of community oriented community building essay, right? So examples from previous students. They, one student spoke functional French, not completely fluent, but they spoke enough, right? And one time they went to Paris for the first time and we're really excited. They were taking a tour of a museum. I forget which one and their tour guide kind of just looked blue in the face and got sick right at the beginning and she took over and she was basically kind of conducting the tour in French, in her functional French. It wasn't perfect, but like, you know, so she would sometimes kind of swap into an English word here and there, but it was amazing and the rest of the tourists really kind of appreciated it. And she made strangers instant friends and that was just such a great and kind of stepping out of a vulnerable experience into kind of like a very small leadership role, but fun. And she shows how important she built community around vulnerability, right? And about putting herself out there. Another one, I have a couple students who have taken jujitsu and who then have taught jujitsu to like the first crop of like the younger kids, six, seven year olds in the very place that they would take jujitsu themselves. So, so it's kind of, you know, you start with a mini story of like you in the middle of things, right? And kind of show you kind of building this community in some way, engaging with people, an interest surrounding an interest for you, and then kind of explain how that was of value to you and what you learned. And then don't forget those last couple lines to Rice, I would bring this sense of adventure or this kind of joyous openness for new experiences. So what about, what's that kind of elevator pitch? How does the experience boil down to one or two lines? That's where you're going to bring to Rice. That's ideally how you would want to end that essay, in my opinion. Okay, so the rice box. One of Rice's long standing traditions is the box. A question on our application, where we ask all of our applicants to share an image of something that appeals to them. The box gives you the opportunity to present us with an image that shares something about yourself, your interests or what is meaningful to you. This image is not used for evaluative purposes in the application, but allows you to put your stamp on the application about who you are, aside from what you have achieved. Be sure to choose an image that speaks for itself and does not need an explanation. That is super, super important. The box must be a two dimensional image that is uploaded in the Common Application or the Coalition or uploaded to the Rice Admission Student Portal. Okay, so I love the box. I'm question. Technically, it's not an essay, I know, but I wanted to talk about it because I feel like they say it's not for evaluative purposes, so it's not going to kind of factor into their application decision for you. But it's still a nice way of adding kind of some visual rhetoric, right, to your application. So it could continue a conversation of community story that you mentioned in the previous essay, in the previous supplement. It could be a picture of that or it could be kind of, it could be complimentary in a visual format, and that's very, it could be powerful. So I've had students that do community service by a soccer clinic every summer, and they talked about that in their main essay, in their Common App essay, and then they show a picture of them with like all of the kids around another one who donated soccer cleats. This one for some reason is very heavy in soccer. And so then they show their kind of like a visual image of their kind of foundation. I've also seen students kind of, you know, they talked about the jujitsu experience, they would be like in their jujitsu kind of uniform. I don't know what that's called, I'm sorry. So make it personal. The most important thing from a supplemental perspective are the essays because that is where you are kind of mic and hand talking directly to them. This is important though too, because it's complimentary and it's a fun way to kind of visually, like they say, add a stamp, put a stamp onto your application. Do you have an image that you're not sure if to add to the box or not? Comment below or any questions on the supplements. I'd love to help you out. Okay, so here we're going to talk about kind of school specific essays that are extra essays fun. So if you are applying to the School of Architecture, you have a couple more. Architecture applicants are not required to enter prompt three. So you would skip the third prompt of the previous supplement, but you'll enter one and two here. So prompt one. Why do you want to study architecture? What research have you done, experiences have you had or anything else you would like to expound on to explain this decision? So this is 250 words. Because you have the 150 of the why school, like why us, right? You want to think about this 250 as new information that you'd like to give. So figure out another story, another experience within your major, within the kind of subject matter that you can kind of start with or end with. You want to kind of take a step back and think about your supplements holistically. When you have like four or five supplements that you need to get through for any one specific school, don't only start with like story, then explanation, story, then explanation, kind of switch it up, right? Sometimes you'll do an explanation or define kind of the buzzword of the prompt and then do a story and then go into explanation. So kind of flip it around, but know that you want to kind of balance between creative elements and critical thinking and reflection. So this why architecture, you want to essentially kind of give more information as to why this is your professional passion calling, but I would anchor it in an experience that you can kind of like draw upon and then reflect on prompt to please expand on relevant experiences and motivations outside of your academic trajectory that have inspired you to study architecture, focusing on aspects that are not accommodated by other prompts in the application, more on why architecture 250 words, but this one is completely different. If you really spend time lingering on the words of this prompt, it says outside of your academic trajectory, right? So it should not be within a classroom, it shouldn't be a classroom project. I really kind of urge students to kind of push their philosophical mojo here a little bit. Architecture is a very multidisciplinary subject, right? You have urban planning and design and engineering, like there's so many kind of subjects that infiltrate or that combine to create architecture, right? And there's so many kind of creative and academic elements. So you can kind of really think about different aspects that you've engaged with thoughtfully and kind of use that, for example, student examples that I've had in the past. One of my favorite essays that a student wrote about is like this nearby park by their house that nobody would go to, like it was kind of run down and it was just this like dead space that nobody would engage in. They took it to the association of their house kind of compound and then nearby other ones, the ones surrounding the park. And the student actually with a couple of friends started a coalition of fundraising to refurbish the park. So it started with kind of like the eerie kind of sound of like swings, like park swings kind of swinging by themselves, kind of like Halloweeny. And then it went into what they did. And then it came back to a many story about kids like playing and laughing and you hear them accessing the space in a different way that they weren't using completely before. And then they go into how that that is the beauty of architecture. You are kind of reimagining what's possible with any given space. You are re-inviting and creating belonging for people. So notice how kind of completely different that is from like building a bridge or like a class project. It has community, it has engagement, it has leadership, and it has kind of the philosophical ideals of what architecture is to that student. All right, so if you are applying to the Rice-Baler medical program, here are your prompts. What aspirations, experiences, or relationships have motivated you to study in the eight-year Rice-Baler medical scholars program. So this is 500 words. This is your kind of typical medical school personal statement, but like not on steroids, right?  They know that you don't have the, you know, four or six years of experience that a student coming from an undergrad or post-bac experience would have, right? But if you are committing to eight years and medicine is your calling, ideally you've had experiences, clinical experiences of some sort, volunteering experiences that have allowed you to have some patient contact that have allowed you to or you've already shadowed physicians, medical conferences. So these types of medically related experiences that have reinforced this big commitment because it's a huge commitment to do right out of high school, right? So you want to talk about kind of those formative experiences and relate them to why they've clarified your conviction for this program so early on. I have a few medical school personal statement essay samples and videos on this channel actually because I also work with students getting into medical and dental school. So if you want to see those for this prompt specifically, that would give you more kind of actual material that you can look at and think about. So prompt two, outside of academics, what do you enjoy doing most? 300 words. So here you want to essentially show that you're not a robot, right? So that you kind of enjoy doing other activities, that it's not just kind of medical and kind of STEM related experiences. So all right, I guess it can be a STEM related experience, but it's not like strictly academic school. I need to study for this. I need to pass this AP test and I'm going to volunteer at this one, you know, place that you've already mentioned in the previous essay. So think about all of these essays as holistically offering different aspects of who you are. What do you enjoy? What do you find joy in, right? So like kind of give him any story, explain, and that'll kind of be great complementary material to the previous essays. Prompt three, describe the most difficult adversity you have faced and describe how you dealt with it. 300 words. I don't know if this is a necessary supplement prompt, but I think it's a very interesting and productive prompt because I really want to see that you are resilient, that you have, that you've navigated obstacles. It's really not this kind of opportunity for you to kind of low ball yourself or come hard down on yourself, right? You don't want to focus too much on anything negative. What you want to do is kind of state the adversity, state the issue, the problem, and then focus most of the essay on how you shifted courses, how you adapted, how you essentially were able to overcome whatever said obstacle in adversity because you were able to be adaptable to the change that you needed to.  If you found this helpful, please give us a like, make sure you subscribe, share with all your friends, and I'll see you soon. Thank you so much.


Order the 23rd regular meeting of the 2016-2017 Common Council. Would the clerk please read the quote for the evening? People with good intentions make promises. People with good character keep them. Thank you very much. And then would you please call the roll? There are 16 present this evening. Thank you very much. Next, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. To 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. Next item on the agenda is approval of our minutes from our last meeting. Alderperson Donahue. Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve. Second. Thank you for the motion and support. Is there any discussion on the minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. There's no resignation or mayor's appointments this evening. So the next item is the public forum, City Clerk. Thank you. This evening, we have two people on public forum. First would be Alan Brotz. Alan, if you'd like to come up. And Alan, I just need your home address, please. OK. And you will have five minutes. And just make sure the mic is up so people can hear. You can go ahead whenever. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak on behalf of my reimbursement of my damaged mailbox. When I returned from vacation last December 16th and found my mailbox and parts of the post in my garage, I was told by my neighbor that a snow plow driver who, per his observation, appeared generally inexperienced and hit my mailbox. He said my son then put the pieces into the garage when he came to check on the house. The next day after we returned, I went to the City Clerk's Office to submit a claim for the cost of the replacement of the mailbox, post, and labor for installation, or giving the city an opportunity to install it. I was surprised to be offered just a mailbox, in fact, one that is quite an inexpensive version compared to mine, and no post or installation. My mailbox was previously hit by a snow plow roughly 10 years ago. At that time, a city worker went to Home Depot to purchase the exact mailbox and post and then install it himself. To my knowledge, the placement from the curb was the exact distance the city would want. I don't understand why the city of Sheboygan would not assume the same responsibility as they did 10 years ago. Being offered a cheaper version of mailbox felt like a slap in the face. To me, it's like saying you drive a Cadillac and I hit it, but I only have to replace your Cadillac with a small Chevy. I pay considerable taxes to the city and feel it should include appropriate coverage for damage done to my property. I have a hard time thinking the city would accept only partial replacement if I damage a city-owned property. I can still purchase the exact same mailbox and post as seen in the copies already provided for online purchases. At this time, I am asking the city to pay for a replacement of the mailbox and post that is identical to what the plow driver damaged and cover the installation. If you'd like me to install the mailbox myself, my fee is included. That includes materials, and my time is also included in the paperwork already provided. Thank you. Thank you, Ellen. And next on the list would be Jason Gordon. Is Jason here? Jason, if you'd like to come up, please. And Jason, can I have your home address? Yes, 1023 North 29th Street. OK, you'll have five minutes. Thank you. How are you doing today? First of all, I want to thank you all for giving me an opportunity to speak before you. Some of you may know me. I've been here for quite a few years. I served in Desert Storm some years ago. And I came home. I ended up running out of the money that I had saved up in the military and ended up finding myself homeless and penniless. I started on a journey to try to figure out, what am I going to do here? Am I going to lay down and just let myself go in Birmingham, Alabama? Or am I going to pack my stuff and start heading north and maybe possibly running to some people I served with that could maybe help me get on my right path? I was not a bad person. I didn't do anything that really led me to this, except for I just fell in hard times. And as I made this journey up here, the first leg of the journey was over 300 miles, or roughly somewhere close to that. I got so weak to the point to where, when I called my friend, when I first arrived to his neighborhood, I just asked him if I could stay by him for a couple of days so I could get on my feet. But then I found myself, I lost the strength I'd given up because I'd walked as far as I could and I lay down on my duffel bags until he arrived. Now when he came up to me and I was laying on the duffel bags, I could not get up.  He picked me up and he put me in his car. And that changed my life forever. And the reason I'm bringing this up is because it's really important. I do a lot of work for veterans. I don't know if you've seen the Yellow Ribbons going up and down A Street a couple of times, a couple years back, me and my wife and some other people did that to show the support of the troops. But through the process of working for veterans, nowadays I also work with the Sheboygan Veterans Court. And every day I see soldiers and sailors and Marines and airmen that are suffering from the same kind of thing that what I went through. And they're really hard to see because they don't like to show this type of pain that they felt in their lives in public because it fills them like it's a thing of weakness. So what I'm asking right now basically is for us as a city to recognize the fact that these people are out amongst us everywhere. And as we go through our daily lives, we're losing 22 a day. And these are great people that went and fought for our country for no other reason because they believed in the American way of life. And I understand that the Sheboygan Army has scheduled to possibly be voted on to be demolished. Well, there's an organization down in Milwaukee I've been working with called Dry Hooch. They've done some absolutely amazing things and wonderful things for our soldiers. And as we see people going through Sheboygan court, with those few of them in particular that we thought we're never gonna make it, that their lives were just basically in turmoil and we weren't gonna be able to turn it around. And they started going to Dry Hooch and we started seeing miraculous turnarounds. It saved their lives. Just like my brother, when he picked me up and he says, this ain't happened to you. Excuse me. I just don't want this to happen to anybody else. And right now we have that organization that's very interested and very motivated to come up here to Sheboygan and set up something for these people. And I mean, we're not just talking to Sheboygan but any veteran that ever served around here could use the services. And at Army, they're willing to come forward and do what needs to be to try to procure the building. I've talked to a lot of people, a lot of veterans groups and they're all behind this. And all I'm asking for right now is I know that you're planning on voting for this tonight and whether or not you're gonna demolish the building. But with Dry Hooch expressing that kind of interest, I have a meeting set up with the mayor and the president tomorrow and they're gonna be coming up and basically lay out what they were possibly able to do. And I'm just asking that maybe we could hold off on voting to have it demolished because I think it's an absolutely wonderful building. It was a specialist, Chuck Kaiser, that served for his country and ended up losing his life over there. When he came home, we held a funeral at the Armory and it was one of the saddest things I ever saw in my entire life but it was such an amazing event. I did a welcome home for the 330th Military Police which there was a female that came home for just a short period of lead that said she wasn't a hero. She didn't believe she was but we decorated the city, we came together and we showed her that she was a hero right there at that building. You know, the 121st that was deploying to replace the 127th deployed over there and what we did with the city came together again and we decorated yellow ribbons and flags and everything. We had that ceremony down there and it was beautiful. We said goodbye to those soldiers and four of them never came home. Well, now we're still living in society where they're everywhere and they're amongst us and they need places to go.  So what I'm asking the city to do right now was to recognize that there is a group that is interested in this that may possibly be able to do whatever you guys need to save this building and in return we could provide a safe haven for these people that are just trying to get back on their feet. I don't mean to talk about my story, I don't talk about it too much but you know, like I say, if it wasn't for my friend to pick me up that one time to tell me, hey, we're not gonna let this happen to you. I lost so much weight, I ended up in a hospital suffering from malnutrition and dehydration but without my brother I wouldn't have even made it that far and there's plenty of other ones out there we could save just by providing a safe place. I'm not gonna talk a lot about the dry hooch right the second I'd rather them talk about what they do but I'm telling you, they're an amazing group. It's a mentor support program, veterans helping other veterans. I know we have the VA and all kinds of other programs but this is one of the few that actually has veterans that served standing right beside other veterans and it seems that you show them a little bit of comfort. Excuse me, Jason. Sorry. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for your time. Thank you. That's it for this evening. Thank you very much. Our next item on the agenda is a report on our citizen incident reporting program. David Augusten, our IT director has got a program for us this evening. David, please step forward. Is that a good song? We're gonna use a good band. Watch Netflix. Not interested in the hunch. And then you get to see it. When that comes back, basically what I'm gonna be demoing is is two new portals that our software company that we partner with, MUTIS and Tyler Technologies came out with two new portals for people to report. Incidents, non-emergency incidents out in the public using mobile devices as well as a new web portal that we can use. It's much easier. So I heard that shiming go a ways. While that's going one of the directions that Tyler is taking, or MUTIS while we're partnering with it, is they are starting to go more down the mobile device road as far as making it easier for the system to report. So first one I'm gonna start to demo is the actual web portal. Peace. That should have come up, yes it did. And this you'll be able to get right from our website if you want to report through a regular browser which right now is just my Android tablet as well as a regular PC or whatever. But when it comes up to the home screen along the side, along the side you can see the latest incidents have been on what the status is and even on the map it has the dots on where they're located. So what we can do is click on one for the information and then it'll pop up with the information on it. Kind of a history of what's going on out in the city. As far as that goes. The next tab is where actually new incidents can be submitted. So it brings us to a portal map and we can then key in an address. So I'm just gonna do like eight, two, eight. Center Avenue and then it remembers, except my keyboard's in the way, there we go. So that way then we can put in, here's the information that has the location. We can hear the different types of things that are going on that people can put on like DPW has theirs, city development, building inspection, et cetera, where you can select one of these. Let's just say it's a code enforcement. You can then enter in a description and it'll even give you similar incidents we're reported near here. If you have a picture, you know, that say there's a POTC holder, whatever you're reporting on, there's a picture. You even have the option then to upload the picture either to take the picture through your camera or other examples you may have with files. And then you can put in your information first, last, your phone number and email. And where that is important is anything that's submitted will not show up anybody's name out on the portal. So it's still anonymous, but what's nice to have is the information if we have to contact you back to follow up on something. So then basically then you would just hit the submit. As far as that, the next thing that it also does is it'll give you a list of you can search by what incidents are out there based on date ranges. And a couple other little portals is the dashboards or what we're referring to as citizen transparency. So it's kind of a report card on how the city is doing and responding to requests, which is kind of nice as well. So it's a little bit of a report card. And it's taken a little bit longer because it's crunching through the data, obviously. Give it a little bit. There it is. So this way you can see here top five incidents, categories, snow removal, obviously with winter, there's three incident count. And then it goes average days to close these things. So it kind of gives a report card of the different things. The other thing it gives up there is number of incidents opened. So far this year, 61. This month, 12, and a number of incidents completed. So far this year, and the count is nine this month. So it gives you a nice way to report non-emergency type issues into the city. And this way then it also, so things don't fall through the cracks. What happens is when you submit something, it goes right to the person who's designated to be in charge of that type or subject matter. So if it's DPW, it'll roll out to them, they get a notification of it. If it's building inspection, Shad's inspectors are all set up to respond to the different types of injury as well. So that's the web version or the portal. We also have the other thing called click to report. And this is the actual mobile app. So if you wanna use it on your phones, you can install it on your phones, tablets or whatever, but it's basically mobile app that it has Android and the iOS or iPhone iPad that you can get right from either the Google Play Store or the iTunes for the respective thing. But they both work very much the same. One little difference is you can set your contact information up in this app so you always don't have to put your information in for putting in an incident. If you wanna do a new request, it works very much the same way. Here's the request so I could pick one. So it's pulling in the information and what it tries to do is the last location you were at it will pull in the address, but you can obviously change it and edit the address. Same thing, you can do a description and it pulls your name and contact information and which again, remains anonymous. The other way you can add a new request as if we go to, let's see, this one has the map, I believe. I'm cheating, no, recent request. There we go. Here again, the same thing, it will give you for recent requests, it'll give you the list of the items that are out there if you wanna display on one. It'll bring it up with the picture and again, you can see there's no personal information on there but if you wanna leave a comment on it, you can leave a comment on it or if you wanna share it with somebody else via email or Twitter, you can share it that way. There's a map feature. I was zoomed in a little too close before. And here you can see the same type of thing happens as it'll mark where there are incidents or what I can do is what's my location, it'll take me to it. Your market is my location which then I can use for additionally adding new incidents. Also, if there's requests you wanna keep track of, you can follow it, I don't have any setup but like you have favorites in internet or something, you can do the same type of thing. So if you wanna keep track on the request of it. The other thing is if I go to Twitter, I can set myself up on Twitter and do tweets. It takes us to the city website automatically. And again, if I go here, Twitter, these are all geared to all the tweets or entries that the city of Sheboygan has sent out as well for information. So it's a nice tool for people to report things in a more easily manner using mobile devices.  So that's what we put in. And this is ready to go now. There's no cost to download the app or use it. It's all free for the public, anybody, employees, whoever to use. So that's what I have. Cool. Any questions? Seeing none, David, thank you very much for the presentation and thanks for getting all this up and running. And if you just stay in the chambers until the mayor's announcements, I'd appreciate it. Okay, our next presentation is gonna be on our strategic plan that will cover the 2017 action items and critical measures. Reviewing those items, Darrell Hoffman, our administrator will be making this presentation. In January of this year, the city council approved the city's strategic plan 2017 to 2021. This effort was kicked off in summer of last year. Included in the process was a community survey. Many of you participated in a retreat. And then there was an open house at the senior center. Critical part of the strategic plan were six focus areas, which were up on the screen. Quality life, infrastructure and public facilities, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, governing and fiscal management and communication. The next slide identifies just one of those areas which is the quality of life. The sheet that was distributed tonight has all six of those focus areas. And again, it's broken out on each page by action item and by critical measures. Action items are self-explanatory in that their items that staff is working on your behalf. Oftentimes committee commissions or boards of the council are involved, but oftentimes it is staff initiated. You can see the columns assigned department. And then the start date, either it's already started or in some cases projected start date or initiation. And then actual target or completion date. And then there's additional information such as percentage of completion. And then some notes, footnotes that the department's felt might be helpful for you. My goal is for this to be updated on a quarterly basis so you can keep track of how staff is progressing in meeting the action items and as far as benchmarking, making progress, where we're at in meeting those benchmarks or tracking those benchmarks. Again, up on the screen, we have quality of life action items and then quality of life critical measures. In some cases, if you compare some of the critical measures in this document to what was distributed tonight, we have tweaked or fine-tuned some of the critical measures to make them more meaningful to you. I hope that many of the department heads will in fact be able to provide you an update on a monthly basis. So as an example, public protection and safety committee when they meet, oftentimes some of these measures will be given to you on a monthly basis. But at minimum, we're looking for quarterly updates will be provided to you within a month or two of that quarter being completed. I wanted to keep it short tonight but wanted to let you know that this document has not been put on the shelf by staff, gathering dust. City is actively working to identify ways in which we can improve our communication with you as to progress that we're making both in the action items and the critical measures. Thank you. Thank you very much, Darryl. Next, we'll go on to the mayor's announcements. I'd like to have D. Augustine again approach the front of the room. This is David's last week here at Sheboygan County. He's worked for the city of Sheboygan from January of 2011 through March of 2017. He gave us six years of dedicated service and we really appreciated that. During this time, David managed all the city's IT needs. Kept all departments connected. When the city purchased the Munis program, David held each department to migrate their activities to this new platform. The presentation tonight is just another example of Dave's efforts to get the full use of the Munis software for the city and its residents. He was also involved with the county as we put the ring of fiber in around the city to make sure that we had ample volume of broadband to use for all of our needs. Dave was also responsible for WSCS and was a regular on city desk in his own program, a closer look. Now, while David's moving to the North Woods, you can still see him on the WSCS video on demand. So you can catch his reruns there. But David, I'd like to present you the certificate of appreciation for your six years of dedicated service. Thank you so much. Just one correction on your speech. It's quality of life, not a closer look. That's the only difference, but anyway. Reruns are available. So as we had our staff meetings this morning for department heads, I'm going to borrow a quote that Chief Romus always uses when he's in our meetings. And he's always says it's an honor and privilege to be here. And I have to echo that, but add to it, it is an honor and privilege to be here, but it also has been an honor and a privilege to work with everybody and work together and bring our city forward. As I said, I think the next couple of years are gonna be really breakout years, both in the terms of where we're going, services and our organizational structure as well as technology. So it's been wonderful. And the other thing I just wanted to say is because I'm leaving, it's not because I am disgruntled or unhappy or anything because if this opportunity would not have come, I would be retiring here at the city. As far as that goes, I would finish it out here. But my goal is to retire in northern Wisconsin. We have property up there and a place to stay and this just came out of the sky and boom, there it was. So I'm actually gonna be moving up there, which is 10 years ahead of my goal to being up there. So plus the kind of rounds of my career, I started in manufacturing, then I went to healthcare and now I'm in government and I'll be going to the gaming commission working at the casino. So I wanna thank you all for working with you. So. Wow. That's a good, that's a good amount later than thank you. That's what I know about. Next, I'd like to ask Sam Gatmire to approach the front of the room. Sam is the executive director of the John Michael Kohler Art Center and this is a special proclamation for Youth Art Month. A proclamation declaring March of 2017 is Youth Art Month. To all whom these presents may come, greetings. Whereas an education contributes powerful educational benefits to all elementary and secondary students and whereas art education develops creative problem solving and critical thinking abilities and whereas art education teaches sensitivity to beauty, order and other expressive qualities and whereas art education gives students a deeper understanding of multicultural values and beliefs and whereas art education reinforces and brings to life what students learn in other subjects whereas art education interrelates student learning and art production, art history and art criticism and aesthetics and whereas our national leaders have acknowledged the necessity of including art experiences and a student's education. Therefore be it resolved that support should be given to our teachers as they attempt to strengthen the art education in their schools and communities. Now therefore, I'm Mike Van der Steen, mayor of the city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. You're hereby proclaim March of 2017 is Youth Art Month. All citizens urge to take interest and give full support to quality school art programs for children and youth and I'd like to present this to Sam and wish him all the best in the art activities that they have planned out to John Michael Kohler Art Center. Would you like to say anything? On Sunday we opened a wonderful exhibit of art from K through 12 students throughout the county and really had an amazing turnout. 1,250 people came to see the students. When you have time come by the art center and take a look, I'm sure it'll be worth your while. So thank you and thank you Mr. Mayor for your support. Thank you much. And the last time I'd like to bring up is the second issue of our city newsletter. Our e-newsletter is available on the website. We also have a new name for the newsletter. It's called the Sheboygan Insider. I'd like to thank Chad Pellechik for coming up with the name which was voted on by our employees. And I hope everybody enjoys that. Thank you very much. Next item on the agenda is a hearing. Item 2.1 is a hearing number 16 dash of 1617 to propose an amendment to the city of Sheboygan's Fiscal Year 2016-2017 community block grant annual action plan for the five year consolidated plan. Is there anyone wishing to be heard? Is there anyone wishing to be heard? Is there anyone wishing to be heard? All the person, Donahue? Thank you, Mayor, I would move to close the hearing. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing is closed. Next, we'll move on to the consent agenda. This will include items 3.2 through 3.25. All the person, Donahue? Thank you, Mayor. I move to accept and file all reports of officers, accept and adopt all reports of committees and pass all resolutions and ordinances. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Under discussion, all the person borne. Thank you, Mayor. I was wondering if we could bring forward item number 3.7 for a separate vote. I need to abstain on that one, please. Okay, 3.7 is before us. Is there any discussion on 3.7? Seeing none, would the clerk please call the roll for passage? 15 ayes and one abstention. Motion passes. All the person, Jose? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I actually have six items I would like broken out. They are 3.8, 3.9, 3.13, 3.14, 3.17, and 3.20. Can you repeat those again, Alderman Jose? Certainly, 3.8, 3.9, 13, 14, 17, and 20. And you'd like a separate vote on each one or any of them tied together? They all seem to have a common theme, if that helps. So I would like to have discussion on them. On the group or each individual one? On the group, it could be on the group. Okay, so the 1.7 I've identified are on the floor for discussion. Please proceed with discussion, Alderman Jose. All right, thank you, Mr. Mayor. As I was reviewing these, it seems that a large number of these happen to do with city plow trucks that have either struck down a mailbox part of me as the gentleman who spoke at the open forum here. I think there were at least two or three mailboxes that have been struck down, some cars that have been damaged, and things of that nature by city plow trucks. And it's my opinion that if we've got somebody out there that is damaging private property while working for the city, maybe we should explore suspending their driving privileges. I don't know if we need to put something like we require of drunk drivers. We have to blow into something before you operate a city vehicle. But I think it's not responsible on the part of the city to be denying these claims when there seems to be a common theme here that somebody at the Department of Public Works is striking mailboxes and cars and things of that nature. And if I as a private citizen, outside of my capacity as an alderman, if I ran into somebody's car or their mailbox or something like that, I would be required to pay. And if the city is negligent, I think they should pay. And maybe we need to do an investigation into if there's a common theme, is this the same neighbor? Do all these people live in the same neighborhood? What's going on? That there is all this damage to mailboxes and other private property by the city blow trucks. Thank you for those comments. Alderperson Schneider. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was just about to repeat on alderman who says comments on 313 and 314 to be referred back to finance for further discussion. Is there any objection to a motion to refer those two back to finance? No objection. Okay, we'll take items 3.13 and 3.14. Is there a second to that motion to refer back to finance? I second it. We have a second. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all those voice vote. All those in favor of referring those back to finance please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. The motion passes. Okay, Alderperson Holschew. That would have been sent back so my question's been answered but I'm wondering about 39 if there's some. City Attorney, could you respond? 3.9, this was alleged damages to an apartment door and lock. What happened in this particular case is that the fire department went into a building where there was an emergency and were unable at that point in the dark to get to the Knox box. Knox box was blocked by some foliage and so they weren't able to see it and so they had to break the door down. In this case, as in all of these there was an investigation done and no negligence by the city. Thank you. Okay, Alderperson Donahue. Thank you Mayor. Sometimes on the face of it these determinations particularly when there are just these brief recitals of facts seem unfair. It has been my experience that the city attorney and staff really do very thoroughly investigate these matters. City needs to be negligent in order for it to be required to pay and sometimes the city is negligent and sometimes at finance and I'm not even sure. I think there were some claims that I'm quite sure there were a couple of claims where the recommendation was for the city to accept responsibility and pay. Couple of different things. One, there is a full discussion at the finance department. If anyone is interested to come to listen to all of the facts, Attorney Adams really presents this I think with a fairly full picture of what happened. The second thing is this concept of negligence I think is real important. We cannot pay every claim that comes into us just because it is a claim. In other words, the person making the claim needs to prove some kind of negligence. I would ask Alderman Jose to attend a finance committee meeting. I think any allegations that somehow city staff is either drunk or wildly negligent or unable to drive a snow plow is probably untrue and I don't want anyone leaving this meeting with some sort of sense that wildly negligent behavior on the part of city employees is happening. So for those matters which are referred back to the finance committee, please come to the committee meeting. We can't redo these. I mean, we could finance could do it and then we could go through the same thing at this meeting. But again, the committee structures is for us to look at it as a committee to bring it to the council and then hopefully have a resolution that way. But by all means, come to the finance committee meetings and listen to what the negligence arguments are. Thank you for those comments. Alderperson Bellinger. Thank you, mayor. Well, I agree with most of what Alderman Donahue you just stated. I would like to take 3.20 separately. Okay, we'll pull 3.2 out from the batch of four and so that's on the floor for discussion. Okay, I'm a member of the finance committee. I attended the meeting. I heard the explanation from the city attorney and what appears to happen, there's no facts in dispute, a plow dislodged and hit a manhole cover, the manhole cover became airborne and was propelled into a vehicle and there was some damage sustained. Well, it was in the normal operation of a plow truck and there was no negligence deemed. There was a cause and effect. Manhole covers don't just spontaneously levitate and propel themselves into cars. There was a reason that this happened in a causation to it and I put myself in the shoes of this individual who all of a sudden got hit by a flying manhole cover and there was a cause to it. The plow driver acknowledged and stopped and was very conscientious and noticed something happened and there was some damage obviously that was done but I think for the city just to ignore this and just say, you know what, sometimes manhole covers fly and hit cars and I think that's irresponsible and the city should take some responsibility here and pay something towards the damage. Thank you for those comments. So we're discussing item 3.2 exclusively right now. Two zero. Other person, Jose? Two zero. 3.20, I'm sorry. Right, on 3.9, I agree with the city. I understand that. We're just 3.20 right now. 3.20 right now? Yes, please. Well, I agree with Alderman Belliger. I would make a motion to refer it back to finance. Second. We have a motion to refer back to finance. Any other discussion on the referral? Other person, Donahue? Just so we understand that there are consequences to our action here. Causation is one issue and then negligence is the second issue and so our legal staff has determined that the city was not negligent in this respect. We have insurance to pay for these claims. Yes. And if we start paying claims for which we are not legally responsible, more and more people will be coming in and saying, gee, it just doesn't seem fair and that negligence link will be lost and our insurance rates will start to go up. I'm happy to have this come back to committee but whoever votes in favor of referring it to the committee, it would be great if you could come to the committee meeting and listen to the reasoning so that it's crystal clear. So I'm just saying, it may seem like a nice thing to do but it has ongoing impact for the financial condition of the city. Probably not huge, but if we start paying claims for which we are not negligent, there will be many more to follow, I can guarantee. Thank you very much for those comments. I had two other lights on Alderperson Wolfe. Did you have any comments on this one? No, I'm done. Thank you. Okay, and Alderperson Jose. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again, I think that I agree with the city attorneys comments on 3.9, so I'm withdrawing any discussion on that. However, I want to make, first I want to make a comment and then I want to make a motion. My comment is that I am willing to attend any city finance committee meeting that occurs after 5.30 or 6 o'clock when most people are done with the working day. If the city wants to have committee meetings before, a normal person who holds a job in this world, they should have scheduled them after the work day has ended. I can't attend meetings at two o'clock, therefore it's gratuitous to suggest I tend to attend a city finance committee meeting that would cause me to lose time from work. I would like to make that we've discussed most of them. Are we still, well, do we still need to vote on 3.2? Yes, we need to vote on the referral back to committee. Is there any other discussion on the referral? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Okay, we need to take a vote. I'm sorry. The floor is yours. Thank you. Your voting should open. So an aye vote is to send it to. To send it to finance. It's okay, thank you. You're welcome. Got it, Susie? Got it. 12 ayes, four nos. Motion passes. So Alderperson Jose did you say you wanted to retract your separating 3.9? That's correct. And then I would make a motion on 3.8 and 3.17 to refer back to finance. Is there a second? Is there a second? Is there a second? No second, motion dies for lack of a second. So we're voting then on the passage of these items that have been separated 3.8, 3.17 and 3.2. And the motion that was made originally on the consent agenda was to approve all those. So that motion is on the floor. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll? Mayor, can I just say, didn't we just vote on 3.20 to refer to finance? Yes. You're correct. I'm sorry, yep. So it's just 3.8 and 3.17. Okay.  I'm gonna have to reverse some things. Under discussion, Alderperson Holschew? No. Alderman Jose, who seconded the motion to refer to finance? There was no second. There was no second, I think because we broke them out where we either have to vote, we can either vote aye or no, or we can put them back in with the rest. This was the original motion to separate these items. Right, but I don't have a second. No, that was made earlier in the meeting. I know. So just those items were on the floor and they're still on the floor. Pardon? You're asking who? City attorney? Where are we? 1313. I don't know who seconded the motion That's my question. I've got that one, but I don't have it. Mr. Mayor, I believe with no second, those items can be just put back in with the consent agenda. All right, if there's no objection to that suggestion, that's what we'll do. So the next vote will be for the entire consent agenda, except for the ones we've already dealt with, 3.13, 3.14 and 3.2. Zero. Oh. And is there any other discussion on those remaining items? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll? Sure. Okay, hold on. Okay, this is for the entire consent, other than the ones we've dealt with. 16 ayes. Motion passes. Next move on to reports of officers. Item 4.1 is RO number 233 of 1617 by the Transit Commission, who met and discussed resolution number 191 of 1617 by Alderperson Wolfe, authorizing entering into a contract for the provision and performance of a parking study for downtown Sheboygan, recommends that the resolution be passed. Alderperson Wolfe. Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to accept and file and pass resolution. Is there a second? Second. Thank you for that. The motion is on the floor. Is there any discussion on the motion? Alderperson Halshu. Chad, can you please educate us on that? This was an item that was budgeted in the 2017 capital improvements program. It's the funding's coming from the Tiff district number 16, the downtown district, and the cost is $42,000. And what the consultant will be doing is analyzing our current parking situation downtown determining if there's a need for as many lots, looking at our on-street parking and interviewing all our business owners and getting their interest in what our parking situation should look like and coming forward and making third-party recommendations on how we should deal with parking in the downtown. Under discussion, Alderperson Donahue. And I would just point out that Sheboygan squared is kicking in $3,600 of the cost of the study as reflected in the resolution if I understood it properly. Thank you for that information. Alderperson Wolfe. Thank you, Mayor. I was gonna ask if Chad could tell us when the last review was done. Thank you, Chad. Last time we completed the parking study was, I believe, 1979. So we're a little due for looking at our current situation. Okay, Alderperson Bellinger. If it makes you feel better, I was one-year-old at that time. Oh, I was gradually applause-ing, so. Sorry, information, thank you. Chad, I wonder if you could tell us, what is the annual parking revenue for the city? The parking meters bring in about 180,000, I believe. 140, 180 somewhere in there. We have a number of downtown parking assessment districts. So whatever we bring in from revenues on the meters, that goes into defraying the costs of the money that then is assessed out to the businesses. So then they get a monthly, a yearly parking assessment bill for that. But it's just not as easy as taking out the parking meters because we have to pick up that revenue somewhere. And it's gonna, if we take out parking meters, I don't know if this is where your question is going. But if we take out the parking meters and look at that whole side of things, we're gonna be faced with our businesses paying some pretty high parking assessments. So it's really kind of balancing act here to figure out the best way to handle that. And it's, in our mind, the best way to hire a third-party consultant to work with our businesses and get an outside opinion on how to deal with parking. That's, I appreciate the answer. That's not where I was going. I was going more in line with, when we wanted to do a parking study, it was 59, or a fire study, it was $59,000 for an $8 million annual budgeted item. And this is 100 to 300,000 and we're spending 42,000 for this. You know, I'm gonna support it because I do not believe like some other people do that our directors and are the subject matter experts on every subject that comes before this body. And we do need some outside expertise in certain instances. So I'm gonna support this.  So it's just frustrating to me. Thank you for those comments, Alderperson Bellinger. Any other discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll. 10 ayes, six noes. Motion passes. Items 4.2 through 4.12 will be referred to various committees under resolutions. Item 5.1 will lie over till our next meeting. Items 5.2 through 5.4 will again be referred to various committees under reports of committees. Item 6.1 is RC number 342 of 1617 by the Law and Licensing Committee. Whom was referred, RO number 200 of 1617 by the city clerk submitting various license applications and recommends the nine beverage operators license number 1498 based upon his record of violations related to the license to activity and failure to cooperate with the committee. Alderperson Holschew. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that the reported committee be accepted and adopted. Second. Under discussion. Is Dustin Tvieten here? Dustin is not here. He did not attend our meeting as well after being requested on two different opportunities. So he was denied based on his failure to cooperate with our committee. Thank you for that information. Any other discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll. 16 ayes. Motion passes. Item 6.2 is RC number 343 of 1617 by the Law and Licensing Committee. Whom was referred, RO number 223 of 1617 by the city clerk submitting various license application and recommends the nine transient merchant license number applications 1650 based upon his failure to accurate review all relevant convictions on his application and his record of violations related to the license activity and his record as a repeat law offender. Alderperson Holschew. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that the reported committee be accepted and adopted. Second. Thank you for that motion and support under discussion. Yes, is Mitchell Williams here. Mr. Williams is not here today. He did come and did appear before us in our committee meeting and do the information that we had gotten from city attorney and referenced from the city clerk's office. We denied him a transient merchant license. He was working for the company Kirby and had a number of issues that we were really uncomfortable with to include some burglaries, et cetera, that were dismissed without prejudice, which means they can be open at any time. So everyone on the committee agreed that we should deny this license. Thank you for that report. Is there any other discussion on the motion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll. 16 ayes. Motion passes. Moving on to item 6.3 is RC number 344 of 1617 by the Law and Licensing Committee. To whom is referred, RO number 223 of 1617 by the city clerk submitting various licensed applications and recommends denying taxicab driver's license application number 1151. Based upon his failure to accurate reveal all relevant convictions on his application, his record of violations related to the license activity and his record as a repeat law offender. All the person whole shoe. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that the report of committee be accepted and adopted. Second. Thanks for that motion and support under discussion. This is Marcos Marina Casas here. He is not here tonight, but he did appear at our committee meeting. He was looking to get a taxicab driver's license and unfortunately there were a number of different traffic violations as well as not having insurance, no valid driver's license to which he said he currently did have a driver's license. We did ask, did he have insurance? And he said, no, and I did ask him, did you drive to our committee meeting today? And he said, yes. So apparently following the laws of our city aren't in his repertoire. So our committee all agreed to deny his license. Thank you for that report. Is there any other discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll. 16 ayes. Motion passes. Item 6.4 is RC number 346 of 1617 by finance to whom was referred resolution number 195 of 1617 by Alderperson Wolff authorizing a transfer of appropriations in the 2017 budget to establish an appropriation for environmental remediation costs related to the sportscape apartment project and recommends the resolution. Alderperson Wolff. Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to accept and adopt and pass resolution second. Thank you for that motion and support under discussion. Seeing no discussion, will the clerk please call the roll. 14 ayes. Two nos. Motion passes. 6.5 is RC number 347 of 1617 by the finance committee to whom was referred resolution number 198 of 1617 by Alderperson Donahue authorizing the purchasing agent to prepare an issue or request for bids for demolition and request for proposals for the redevelopment of the armory property located at one excuse me at 516 Broughton Drive and recommends that the resolution be passed. Alderperson Wolff. Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to accept and adopt and pass resolution second. Thank you for that motion and support under discussion. Alderperson Jose. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Before hearing the speaker that spoke here tonight, I was gonna make a motion to instead of spending money on another city study on the cost for this demolition, I was to suggest that the city put out a contract with a realtor to try and sell this property. Because it seems very amazing to me that for a couple of years, this property was worthless. And then all of a sudden when the Milwaukee Bucks had an interest in the property, magically the property was no longer worthless. And there was a great deal with saving the building and saving the armory and even improving it. And now that the Bucks have passed on the Chewigan Armory as an opportunity, amazingly, magically the property is worthless again. And I think that there might be others interested in this property. I was originally gonna suggest that we just forego this study for the demolition and contract with a realtor. But I am interested in the speaker we had and the veterans group that he mentioned having interest in the property. So I'd instead like to just make a motion to hold this resolution. Okay, we have a motion to hold. Is there a second? We have a second. Is that debatable? A motion to hold, you can debate it. Any discussion on holding older person down to you? This is actually a proposal to allow Bernie Romer to put out bids for the cost of demolishing the armory. We're not sure what the cost is. It's going to be expensive. Again, just so there's no question that there's somehow unsavory or inappropriate motivation going on here. The city has spent very considerable time starting I think in 2014, Chad. Really spending a lot of time with developers. We did actually have two proposals for developing apartments on the site. And none of those worked. We did have an offer on the building to demolish and build the seas, the Sheboygan Education Association for Sailing and Boat Storage. Unfortunately, the Historical Preservation Committee voted to put that proposal on hold for 90 days. And after the end of 90 days, unfortunately the potential buyer was no longer interested. It's not that we suddenly value or devalue the building. The building is in very, very, very, very bad shape. There's just no getting around it. I've walked through it step by step and I think Chad would be happy to take any older here who would like to go through it. Just make sure you got boots on, okay? And there are a lot of wet parts that you'll have to walk through and you don't want to slip and fall. It's a pretty fascinating building and I have been on that tour. I am overwhelmed by what it would take to get it up and running. I think it's 52,000 square feet. And I was just interested, I found out from Bernie that the daily cost to keep the heat on in the building just above freezing is $150. And that's just above freezing. So when the bucks were here, as I understood it, I didn't have firsthand information. The rehab costs are in the range of three to five million but you're rehabbing a 52,000 square foot building. So if you're having a small nonprofit that is interested in being in the building, that's great. But I think where this work would require a substantial consortium of either business interests or nonprofit organizations who have really, really deep, deep, deep pockets. It's sad, it's a nice old building. A lot of us have memories there. I do. Unlike Chad who was born in 1979, I was... 78. Yeah, exactly. But the plain fact is that all we're trying to do here is get some bids to figure out how much it's gonna cost to take it down. I think once it's down, there's gonna be interest in developing the land which I think is quite valuable. But I think we really just do need to authorize Bernie just to go ahead, put out the bids or the request for bids and see what kind of response we get and then we can figure out where we wanna go from there. I can guarantee you, I can affirm that the city has turned itself inside out for the last four years really trying to figure out a good use for the building. Thank you for those comments, Alderperson Trester. I guess I'm just wondering that if we couldn't just hold it to find out if this group really would be interested in it and then if they're not, we're in the same boat we're in now. So I don't think it would hurt for us to put it off a month or two months before we make any decisions on tearing it down or even getting bids on it. Okay, thank you. Next is Alderperson Holschew. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I agree with Mary Lynn. I don't think putting out to get bids 30 days from now or 60 days from now is gonna matter to her point, but I understand her point. The weather's getting warmer. The heat doesn't need to be turned on to keep it warm. Soon it will be changing. I think if a Veterans Association is going to be backing this group, which by the way is a fabulous group, federal government and the veterans have very, very deep pockets, I think we need to afford them the opportunity to make a request. And if the armory doesn't work for them, perhaps there's another area in Sheboygan that might. So if we postpone this, they are meeting with the mayor tomorrow, I understand. If we postpone this for 30 days, I don't think anything terrible will happen. Thank you for those comments. Alderperson Jose. Thank you again, Mr. Mayor. I wanna echo the comments of Alderperson Trester and Holschew and I just wanna say that I'm gonna have to very soon tour this building because I've heard a half a dozen people tell me that the building is great and it's not in poor condition. One person can look at a building, if they live in a building that is less than 10 years old and everything is pristine and brand new and fantastic and new age even, they go to a building that's dilapidated or has a leaking roof or needs a few repairs, their opinion may be entirely different. If you take a homeless person that goes there and they're like, this building is fantastic. This building has so much potential or an investor or a person that's into rehabbing or flipping properties might think this is great. I'm not convinced that I don't think that these entrepreneurs were willing to invest $3 to $5 million in putting forth this box project without seeing some potential in the building and for that reason and more importantly, the veterans group having interest, I'm gonna be voting in favor of my motion to hold the study. Thank you for those comments. Alderperson Lewandowski. Yes, I mentioned this at the finance committee meeting last week, but I talked to somebody that does have interest in the armory. They feel that it would be a very good building for themselves, but they aren't quite ready to announce their plans for it yet. I also know of somebody that is willing to donate the manpower and materials to patch the roof for now so that there's not more damage occurring inside the armory from the leaking roof. Thank you for those comments. Alderperson Donahue, did you have anything else? Blanke. Just briefly, all this resolution does is authorize Bernie to send out requests for bids. It does not pledge us to any action. It is an important piece of the information that we'll have, I am looking forward to the people who are going to come forward with deep pockets to repair the building and I think we would all be open to that. We're looking at $3 to $5 million is the thought, but there may be people out there who want to do that and have a business plan for 52,000 square feet that will make a great deal of sense to us. All we're trying to do though is figure out if that doesn't work, how much is it gonna cost to tear the building down? And that's information that we get and there's nothing wrong with having information. So I think we should just go ahead, ask Bernie to get this done for us and then we can weigh in balance and I am looking forward to this person who can come forward because it is a neat old building. It really is, I mean it's in ghastly shape but it has memories and if somebody can figure out a way to use 52,000 square feet and invest an extraordinary amount of money in refurbishing the place and then also the operating costs. If you think about $150 a day to get up to 40 degrees for heating and so forth, I mean those are all the things that we can take a look at. And I don't have any problem with us spending a lot of time. We have spent a lot of time on this already. There's nothing wrong with that and we can continue to do that but we should have all the information we can. This really commits us to just hearing from people who could tear it down to say how much it's gonna cost. Thank you for those comments. Alderperson Boren. Thank you, Mayor. It was my understanding when we talked about this at finance that the utilities have been off down there for a couple of years. Am I correct on that? I don't even think we're heating it anymore. Is that correct, Chad? And I have not personally taken the tour but from the photographs that Chad presented and the utilities being off for a couple of years, it's terrible, the condition it's in. And just to expand a little bit on Alderperson Donahue, not only is it coming up with somebody that has the deep pockets for the revitalization of the building, three to five million dollars, but just to have an organization that's gonna be able to afford the utilities as an ongoing expense in there, gas, electric, that type of thing, besides the deep pockets to rejuvenate it, it's gonna be awfully, awfully expensive to run. And I would agree, I see nothing wrong with going ahead and at least getting the bids on this. It's not gonna cost us anything to get the bids and we'll have the bids. And then if these other development opportunities do not come through fruition, then we're set to go. Thank you. Thank you for those comments.  Before, did you have some other clarification to offer? I think Alderman Donahue kind of addressed it, but I just wanna say that any contract that's over $15,000 has to come back the policy before you guys. So as she, as Alderman Donahue said, this is really about just finding out what this cost is gonna be so we can then figure out how we're gonna finance this and move forward and develop a financing plan on our end. So I think to hold it tonight, when the meeting is tomorrow with these people and we take them through the facility, if they haven't been in for a number of years, they'll see the current condition of it. I think we're just gathering data as Alderman Donahue said. So I would encourage you to vote for this tonight and move this forward. And any contract that we are gonna try to get under contract with is gonna come back before this body anyway. So I don't, I think we're at the point where there's a lot of, after the rain last week, Bernie and I were in there and we walked through, literally my feet were soaked by the time we walked through because it's not just a small little section of the roof that's leaking, that whole quonset area is leaking. So there's some major leaking happening in there. There was at least two to three inches of water through the whole gym floor. So there's, it's getting to the point where we need to make some significant decisions as we move forward with this facility. Thank you, Chad. Alderperson Wolfe. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to also point out the fact that this is just to get bids, just to get things going. It'll give us information so that we understand what it's gonna cost us in the future. I also wanted to point out that if you think about it, we've got, we've heard about some great opportunities with organizations that may be considering this opportunity to, of the, of the center by continuing this process and path, it may also help them to get energy to move forward faster instead of waiting and waiting. We've been working on this for years. We, you know, it's unfortunate. We have an old building that's in very bad shape, but just, just to reconnect the utilities in that is gonna cost a significant amount of money just to be able to turn the gas on, turn the electric back on. And when we talk about a leaky roof and how much water damage and things like that, and we've all seen the pictures, just think about the mold when the heat kicks back in. Those are things that anybody trying to reoccupy a building is gonna have to think about. Mold, rot, and things like that, besides just getting things turned back on. So even though it's a great opportunity, let's think about the fact that we're trying to communicate, follow along, get information, put our ducks in order, as some people would say, and then at least we have information to understand what we're up against moving forward in the future. It also shows anybody that's a potential interest, assuming that the armory was to be torn down, they would also see that we're moving forward in entertaining that and maybe come forward. Thank you. Thank you for those comments. All the person, Ballinger. Thank you, Mayor. I think everything's just been about said here. I just want to clarify one thing from Chad. Don't we already know how it's going to be paid for and don't we already have 500,000 set aside in the 2017 budget for this project? Yes, but we have to determine what the cost is gonna be and whether or not it's sufficient. Right, but we know. We have some money set aside for this purpose, but we know how we're gonna pay for it. Yes, that's, if we would have to have your permission to use it for that purpose. Alderperson Robby. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If we know that we want to go out and get bids for free for demolition, when's the last time we've actually acquired an RFP on it? And if so, how long ago? Because that's free as well. Chad, sit in the corner. In 2014, we went out on RFP for the adaptive reuse of the building. At that time, over a thousand RFPs were sent out between the city's channels, the EDC's channels and any other channel that we had to get information out, particularly to the Milwaukee, Green Bay and Fox Valley markets. And at that stage, as Alderman Donahue said earlier, two proposals came forward. One was C's and one was an outside developer where they wanted us to demolish the property. So we've been out there and I guess what I would say is if there really is that much of an interest in this community to move this forward, then those people that are out there should come and talk to the city planning department and we'll be happy to share the materials and take you on a tour and show you what the facility is like because in the last three years, there has been very little interest other than Joe Wolf and the Bucs thing bringing in here. That's been the only entity in the last three years that has really come forward with a proposal to do a project. So if there's people out there that are interested, it now is the time we wanna hear from you because we started this process back in 2014 and really sent out a very detailed RFP which we'll be happy to share with the council if you guys wanna see what that was and it really said we have no preconceived notion as to what this building is gonna be and if you have a project, submit it. So I don't know what else we can send that whole RFP process out again and see if we get different results but at this stage, there just hasn't been the interest. Thank you, Chad. Alderperson Robbie, you wanna follow up? Yes, thank you. The markets that you've identified are very small markets. I think you should resubmit the RFP but to bigger markets. I know of investors on the western part of the state even outside of the state of Wisconsin that would jump on an opportunity like this. So if you're staying within an hour of Sheboygan, those are the wrong markets that you're actually pursuing for a project of this size. We sent it out to CARSW, which is the statewide organization for commercial real estate brokers for the entire state and it went out to all of their, that's where the 1,000 leads came from from the CARSW organization that represents a fairly large area. If you have developers that you think are interested by all means, send them my way. I'll be happy to get in contact with them and see if they're interested. These are the types of leads that we need on the building. Okay, the motion on the floor is to hold this item. Do you want to call the roll, please? Thank you. Rosemary, seven ayes, nine noes. Motion is defeated. The motion is back on the floor and the motion is to accept and adopt and pass the resolution. Is there any further discussion on the motion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll? Should it open? No. Yes, no. There it is. There it is. Oh, there it is. Got it. It's tired. Seven ayes, nine noes. Motion's defeated. Know how they were voting? Except. That didn't sound right. Make some other motions. Did people know how they were voting? To hold it and then people voted no. Is there any other motions that someone would like to make on this document? All the person, Jose. No, I think Mr. Mayor, what it may mean is some people just wanted it to be over with so they didn't vote to hold it. They were just gonna let it come to the floor and then vote no on it to defeat the resolution. All the person down here. Just a point of order for Attorney Adams. Is there a way that we can reconsider this vote at this point? I'm not sure it was completely clear to everyone. Yes, someone who's lost, so in this case, one of the ayes on the motion to accept and adopt and pass could make a, actually in this case because it was, it would have to be one of the nays. One of the nays. One of the nays, one of the nine nays would have to make a motion to reconsider. And then what would happen on the motion to reconsider? They would make the motion to reconsider. There would be a vote to reconsider the vote. And if that vote passed, you would be able to again vote on the final resolution to accept and adopt. If I could just continue. I think just because of the wording, and maybe I misunderstand this, but all we are requesting at this point is an aye vote would allow Bernie to put out bids, I'm sorry, request for proposals to give us a sense of what it would cost to tear the armory down. And so if someone may have misinterpreted that, who voted nay, it would be helpful to have that person move for reconsideration at this point. Otherwise we won't have the information that we need to know how much it's going to cost to tear down the building. I would also put out there that if someone who voted no would like to amend the motion to eliminate the part about requests for proposals and only take care of the bid document, that would be another way to handle it. And that's dealing with just part of the resolution. Under discussion, Alderperson Jose. My question is to the city attorney. Mr. city attorney, wouldn't it, aren't we just talking about a delay of two weeks if this proposal has to be put back forward again? Well, in essence, if nothing happens, it just sits there. So it's not that there would be a delay of two weeks. There would have to be a new motion. Somebody would have to propose it. Probably end up being more than two weeks. It could be two weeks. Okay, Alderperson Halshew. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In retrospect to Alderman Donahue, I then say what the difference would be to wait 30 days to have this done. So those who voted against that, if someone would reconsider and vote for it and reopen that to the floor, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Any other discussion? Yes, you voted. You have to. You voted in a second one. That's what we're talking about. That's what we're talking about. You can make the motion. So I can make the motion to hold this. No, we consider. I'm not interested in passing it. Okay. Then the document will remain on committee and will proceed with the remainder of the council agenda. Item 6.6 is RC number 351 of 1617 by finance to whom was referred resolution number 204 of 1617 by Alderperson Wolff authorizing the transfer of appropriations in the 2017 budget to establish revenue and appropriation for contracted services for the fire station number two architectural and engineering services associated with the reconstruction of the roof structure and recommends passing the resolution. Alderperson Wolff. Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to accept and adopt and pass resolution. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll. 16 ayes. Motion passes. Item 6.7 is RC number 353 of 1617 by finance to whom was referred resolution number 207 of 1617 by direct referral by Alderperson Wolff approving the terms and conditions of the development agreement between the founders club LLC and the city of Sheboygan and recommends approving the resolution. Alderperson Wolff. Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to accept and adopt and pass resolution. Second. Thank you for that motion and support under discussion. Alderperson Holschew. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm wondering if we could just get some clarity again because I think this is the first time it's been on the agenda as to the particulars of this deal. How much we're borrowing to them, where the money is coming from, what will we not be able to spend the money on? And a little bit further discussion about a bridge loan my concern falls in the fact that I maybe don't have clear understanding on it, but if we're doing a bridge loan and their financing can't do the bridge loan and their bank isn't doing it, is this a good deal for the city to get involved? And so if you would just explain those questions that I just asked and then I reserve the right to ask another question after my question is answered. Thank you. Well, Chad sense that he was gonna be needed. So he's up in front here to answer that question. So it helped be along with your questions, but just as a summary, the what it is is it's a $390,000 loan at 3.01% for 10 years that money is coming out of the capital projects fund that is a loan that will be given basically upfront if you will in phase one after the, for phase two improvements, but it's really the first part of the incentive of payment. The second part of the incentive payment is 390,000, which will be given as a forgivable loan out of the TIF district. And the reason it's broken up as such is really a timing issue. So we have to amend TIF 13 to accommodate the incentive. And so the second phase, the second part of it, the second 390,000 will happen after the joint review board and the council adopts the proposal to amend TIF 13 to put this development's incentive into it. The 390,000 is coming from the unreserved balance of the capital unreserved capital projects fund. At this stage, I don't think there's any project that's maybe on hold. I think there's a balance in there. Daryl would have to confirm that, but I, you know, it shouldn't affect our operations. And it was, this is looked at as a good project and a good project for the community. And the feeling was to move forward out of the finance committee with an unanimous recommendation. Anything else? All the person holds you. Well, I'd like to get confirmation on the capital if we're taking money from another program. And I understand that city staff has done an incredible amount of work with this, the Founders Club, I believe this is times three that they're presenting yet another offer. And I believe that it's a little above normal that what we normally do. So I have to continue to say that I'm not real comfortable with it. But where we're taking the money out of what else would this city have used that money for if we're not donating it or not donating it loaning it to the Founders Club? I'd like to know. Administrator Huffland? Yeah. As part of the 2007 capital projects fund budget, this money is not earmarked for any specific street or any other capital projects. The staff is in the process right now of updating its five year capital improvement plan. And ultimately that will be presented to the different committee commission and boards. So it's possible that there may be an earmark for some of that fund balance. But at this point in time, there is no earmark to use at 390 for any currently identified project. Thank you for those comments. Anything else, Alderman Halshaw? I guess the clarity if we wanted to do a project like street repairs or what projects could this money be spent on. It's not earmarked right now. Correct. It seems to me there's the funds to be able to give it as a loan. I'd like to know how much money, that much money could we could do to be used in our city. It's my understanding that the current adopted five year capital improvement plan does not earmark any of the fund balance in the capital projects fund associated with the 390,000 that would be used to underwrite this loan. I understand it's not earmarked. I'm asking what we could use that money for instead of this. It's up to the wishes of the common council if they want to add a project to the fiber cap improvement and use a 390,000 of unallocated fund balance. Thank you. Alderperson Boren. Thank you, Mayor. In preparation for the last finance meeting, I spent some time on the Sunday before the meeting and went through this agreement line by line like I usually do on these agreements. And I think this is a very, very good deal for the city in partnering with the developers. I also think it's a very unique idea. I think when nursing homes become vacant, it's the type of building where coming up with a unique lease like this is very beneficial for the community.  I think it's a great thing for the city and one part of the agreement that while I was reading it that I found very interesting is the city went out of its way in the agreement to see that this development stays on the tax rules for years to come. That if there's a declaration to make this a non-profit in the future where it would go off the property tax rules, this agreement is iron clad in that regard. And I was very glad to see that. So I'm in full support of this and I think it's a great deal for the city. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. All the person Bellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I too support this wholeheartedly in 100%. We've gone back and forth with this as it's been mentioned numerous times. There's been, it's the agreement's been worked and reworked and reworked again. I think this is a good deal both for the city and the Schmidt brothers, as well as the entire community, the city of Sheboygan and the county. There's employers that are relying on this project in a very tight timeline for the Schmitz to get this work completed by May so that they can house the interns and the seasonal work that's gonna be coming to Sheboygan to provide work and services for these employers. So one of the main issues that we talk about is attracting young people to the downtown and what we can do for employers to help them assist with their workforce and their labor force. And this is an outstanding creative and genius idea that has come about and I wholeheartedly support it and wish the Schmitz nothing but success with this and hopefully they can build upon it and continue it someplace else. Thank you for those comments. All the person trusted. It's my understanding that we did vote as a council to give them up to a certain amount of money for this project. And now you're coming back and you're saying that we need to give more to this project. The original request in closed session and it was for $780,000 up to $780,000. So we're giving it 390 and two different processes, if you will. Okay, and what happens if this project is a failure? What happens two years down the road if the project is a failure? Do we lose that money? The loan part will be paid back because that's a loan with personal guarantees. The forgivable part is strictly based on whatever new tax increment that they create. So they'll get that forgiven. So let's just say the project fails in two years, that forgivable piece then won't be forgiven at that full rate. Thank you for those comments. All the person, Wolff. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to also point out the fact I'm 100% for this project. And one of the things that city leadership needs to remember and the council obviously is the city leadership is that the roads are very important, the infrastructure is very important. And that's why we're trying to repair things with the money that we have. But there is money that we need to also put towards projects that our constituents work on. And this Founders Club is another good example of it where we've worked very diligently with them, partnering with them, coming up with creative ways to find opportunities to help them get this started. So like Alderman Bellinger had pointed out, this is a great opportunity. It's gonna bring a lot of interns and young adults into the area. It's gonna vitalize the downtown. It's gonna bring people that may wanna actually turn around and stay and live here. And if you think about all the apartments that are going up and the population you're gonna have there compared to the Founders Club, this is a great opportunity where you're gonna have a population coming in pretty much year over year, month over month continuously because of our area businesses that help make Sheboygan great need this. So this is an extension of our businesses and we need to support them as much as support the Founders Club and support this development. Thank you for those comments. So you know other discussion? I'd ask the clerk to call the roll. 14 ayes, two nos. Motion passes. Thanks to everyone who worked on that project. It looks like it's gonna be a good one for our downtown. Next we'll move on to ordinances. Items 7.1 through 7.3 will be referred to various committees. Under matters laid over, 8.1 is resolution number 196 of 1617 by Alderperson Donahue authorizing the submittal of a substantial amendment to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD Community Development Black Grant CDVG program for the 2016 program year and recommends passing the resolution. Alderperson Donahue. Thank you, Mayor. I move to put the resolution upon its passage. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. That motion is before you. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll. 14 ayes, two nos. Motion passes. Next we'll move on to other matters, City Attorney. Thank you, 9.1 is an RO by the City Clerk submitting a communication from Bradley J. Kerler requesting a waiver from the sex offender residency restrictions in order to live at 1630 Blocky Court. That'll be referred to the Public Protection and Safety Committee. 9.2 is an RO by the City Clerk submitting a communication from Anthony Curtis McDaniel requesting a waiver from the sex offender residency restrictions in order to live at 828B Lincoln Avenue. That'll also be referred to the Public Protection and Safety Committee. 9.3 is a preliminary resolution by Alderperson Bellinger declaring intent to exercise the police power to levy special assessments for the 2017 Batumanus resurfacing program. That'll be referred to the Public Works Committee. 9.4 is a resolution by Alderperson Bellinger authorizing the purchasing agent to enter into contract for professional services related to the design and project management of the replacement of the main electrical switch gear for the Sheboygan Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility. That'll be referred to the Public Works Committee. 9.5 is an RO by the City Clerk submitting various license applications for the period ending June 30, 2017, December 31, 2017 and June 30, 2018. That'll be referred to the Law and Licensing Committee. Alderperson Donahue. Thank you, Mayor. I move to adjourn. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. All those in favor of adjournment, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? We stand adjourned. Thank you for your time tonight.