Last night after attending the School Board Annual Meeting of the Electors (which I will be doing a short report on shortly) I stopped over at City Hall to catch the end of the Technology Commission meeting.  I have quite an interest in technology and our city website, and especially was looking forward to the discussion of audio streaming.

Unfortunately I missed most of the website presentation but did hear enough of the end discussion, including when money was being discussed.  There are some things that are just worth the money.  I don’t know if you have ever come across an item in the store that was being sold for just a few bucks and you picked it up with a smile and said boy, how the heck did they make this product for that price; unbelievable.  Sometimes when you think about what you pay for some products, compared to others, it’s a no brainer.

To me, spending $40,000 on upgrading our technology is a no brainer.  As a Franklin citizen who values technology I believe it would be a mistake for our Technology Commission to not send a proposal to the Common Council to upgrade our website to the best and most up-to-date site it can be.  And I believe it would be a mistake if our Common Council did not approve the $40,000.

That said, to my apology.

Later in the meeting District 1 Alderman Steve Olson once again made me a target of his bloviating (that’s the kindest word I can use).  Once again I was just sitting in the audience as a citizen of Franklin observing.  As he gave his presentation about how he believes Franklin is not up-to-date with the taping of meetings (I think I have heard that before…oh, yeah, from me and first from John Michlig) all of a sudden he turns and looks toward me and makes a reference to the fact that Mrs. Evans has embarrassed the City of Franklin.

Well, about 14 sets of eyes all turn to me….

And I’m thinking…(well, me being a lady and all I won’t tell you what I’m thinking) (Actually, I’m not really all that much of a lady so maybe on my Righty blog I may tell you some time).

Anyway…slip of the tongue that he phrased it that way?  I believe he was attempting to say that my pod casts of the Common Council meetings, which I, a peon of the universe (my characterization), am able to do, are better than the antiquated cassette tapes that the meetings held at City Hall are forced to fumble with; that we, the citizens of Franklin are forced to go to City Hall and request and pay for, and then find a cassette player for, if we no longer own such a thing. 

He had some other things to say, as usual…but I’ll let you go to City Hall and request an antiquated cassette tape to listen to the conversation…after all…I’m just a blogger.

But, once again, I do apologize for embarrassing the City of Franklin by going out and learning how to do a pod cast.  I guess for some, ignorance is bliss.

I'm not posting the entire meeting...once again, I believe our city government should be broadcasting these meetings on the web.  I shouldn't have to be doing it.  We're behind in the times.  But speaking of being behind in the times...besides using a cassette tape for recording their meetings, it appears that the offices are an organizational mess.  It first sounds like lack of staffing.  If our city is dealing with complaints and violations from the 70s that aren't resolved yet, there's a problem. 

In the second podcast you'll hear Mr. Luberda says he just had a complaint that existed of 100 items, and he had to make the decision as to what items were important, and he pared it down to what he alone believed were 14 valid items to act upon.  That seems to me to be quite a bit of micro-managing.  If Mr. Luberda has to go through every complaint in the city and troubleshoot it besides all the other duties he has, no wonder nothing is getting done.

I also have to question his prioritization.  I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since there has been some turnaround in employment.  Then again, these problems have been going on for quite some time.  Somewhere some of this is going to have to be put in the lap of administration.  It can't be thrown in the faces of bottom level office staff.

Lastly, do I hear correctly (yes, I know I do hear it correctly) on the tape Alderman Sohns saying Mr. Rhiner has the Fox file/information on and off again?  Why is that?  Why would Mr. Rhiner, a volunteer of the community have any files related to this case?  If you are on the 27th Street Steering Committee or the Economic Development Commission as an unelected member, or not an employee of the city, does this entitle you to have official paperwork related to violations?  That....is the question of the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Common Council wrapped up discussion on this issue talking about problems in the offices of City Hall with paperwork, keeping up on complaints, and the Fox's court appearance and whether it was in fact scheduled for today, August 20, or cancelled/postponed (it was).  Also a Citizen Comment from the Fox's.

Listen to the podcasts at my Righty Blog


HERE

Alderman Sohn's responds that he will not resign....as expected.  he says the Mayor violated City ordinances and State law.

He believes it is a disservice to the Fox' s that the city sat on the complaint for over a year.

Alderman Wilhelm and Alderman Taylor both state complaints must be investigated and ordinances enforced.

Alderman Wilhelm is concerned that the Aldermen are not being kept informed.

Listen to their comments at Righty Blog

HERE

Before I attended the Common Council meeting tonight, I attended the License Committee meeting.

This is the second License Committee meeting I have attended, and I have been told I am the only observer, citizen or elected official, who has attended since the new committee has been in place.  I do not know if anyone ever observed in the past.

It is a very uneventful process, and, for me, at times uncomfortable, as I feel I am intruding  in the personal business of people.  But in reality,  I know it is not "personal business," because if someone is being called before the Committee to discuss whether they should be entitled to a license to be a bartender, and they have had past issues with the law, then it becomes public. 

The first time I attended was basically to see what these meetings were all about.  Tonight I wanted to ask a couple questions.

The committee consists of  the following:

The License Committee is comprised of 3 Aldermen appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council, each to serve a one-year term commencing May 1.

Powers and Duties:  It is the duty of this Committee to review applications for business licenses in the City of Franklin and submit their recommendations to the Common Council.

Members		Term/Expiration
Alderman Tim Solomon		1 Year/4-30-09
Alderman Kristen Wilhelm		1 Year/4-30-09
Alderman Steve F. Taylor		1 Year/4-30-09
Ex Officio Non-Voting Member: Sandra Wesolowski, City Clerk

Alderman Solomon is very knowledgeable on this Committee, as Aldermen Wilhelm and Taylor are new this year.

Before I had the chance to ask my questions, Alderman Taylor brought up one of them himself to Alderman Solomon.  He mentioned that the Buckhorn has been an isssue on the blogs and citizens are concerned.  He asked what the status was. 

Alderman Solomon said he has just been in contact with the City Attorney and was told that the License Committee should take no action until they hear from the Special Prosecutor.  The License Committee is the jury in the Buckhorn case.

I asked whether there was a time limit regarding how long the Special Prosecutor may take to submit his findings.  Alderman Solomon said no, he cold take as long as he needed. 

In closing...due process regarding the Buckhorn looks like it can take until hell freezes over...if the Special Prosecutor delays, then the License Committee takes the time they need to be the "jury," before presenting this issue to the full Council, who knows...maybe all of the bartenders will be working somewhere else by then.  Maybe the Buckhorn will finally be sold by then.  Who knows.

Tomorrow there will be a regular Common Council Meeting at Franklin City Hall at 6:30 P.M.

Some of you may already know that one item on the Agenda is Item F.  Letter from Alderman Sohns to Mayor Taylor regarding property at 5510 W. Rawson Ave.

While I am in support of Alderman Sohn's, I am wondering why I will be attending yet another Common Council Meeting where the "Due Process" regarding the Buckhorn will not be discussed.  Why is this not on the Agenda?

I updated you on the trial and sentencing  of Eddie Lynn Keck this past week.  It's time to hear from our Common Council on this matter.

Franklin Blogger Fred Keller has a good take on this over at BULLSEYE.  Please take the time to pay him a visit.

He also has an ongoing piece on  Ted Grintjes/Boomgaard/27th St. Steering Committee in case you haven't seen it.

  

For your information, from the city website, here is a list of members of the Economic Development Commission (EDC).  I really am not familiar at all with the Commission.  This was the first meeting I have attended.   You can only go to so many meetings.  

Regular Economic Development Commission Meetings are held at City Hall the fourth Monday of each month at 6 p.m.

Members		Term/Expiration
Alderman Ken Skowronski, Chair		3 Years/4-19-11
Alderman Steve Olson		3 Years/4-19-11
Sharon Moulds		3 Years/7-30-08
Joe Haselow		3 Years/7-30-08
Jim Rhiner		3 Years/7-30-08
Mary Karolewicz		3 Years/7-30-09
Rosanne Burac-Englert		3 Years/7-30-09
Diane Oleson		2 Years/7-30-09
Vacancy		3 Years/7-30-10
James Kerr		3 Years/7-30-10
Norman Hintz		3 Years/7-30-08
Ruzica Bartoshevich		3 Years/7-30-10
Staff Support:  Mark Luberda, Director of Administration

It looks like it is not easy to get a quorum together for meetings...or there is some other problem since there have been several cancellations of meetings.  I can't say what the problem is, but I can say, even on the February 25th meeting that has minutes, it began at 6:00 p.m. and was adjourned at 6:30 because there was no quorum. What's up with that?  The EDC does not appear to be a very productive Commission.  Yet, the South 27th Street Steering Committee is a Sub-Committee of the EDC and it has members on it from the EDC.  Sounds like the blind leading the blind to me. 

 

January 28, 2008
February 25, 2008
March 24, 2008 (Cancelled)
April 28, 2008 (Cancelled)
May 27, 2008
June 23, 2008 (Cancelled)
July 28, 2008 (Cancelled)

Economic Development Commission Meetings and Minutes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The special meeting began with Alderman Skowronski stating that Ted Grintjes resigned and that a replacement needed to be appointed.  He said the South 27th Street Steering Committee began with six members and ended up with only two...Grintjes and Jim Rhiner. 

Next Jim Rhiner took the floor and discussed, in great length, how much time the new replacement would need to put into the job.  Because the meetings are normally held during the working day, you need someone who is in a position to be able to arrange their schedule.  This person would be putting in many hours in this position, especially in dealing with the D.O.T.  He then immediately nominated Alderman Steve Olson for the job. 

Chairman Skowronski interjected that he was not calling for nominations at this time, but he had one in mind.

Rhiner said he still thought Olson needed to be on the committee.

He said some day this wouldn't be just a committee, but would end up being a "Management Team.

Alderman Wilhelm, in the audience, spoke to say that she thought the 27th Street Steering Committee should have Policies and Procedures in place so that if something like this (losing committee members) should happen again, there wouldn't be the issues that there are now.

Alderman Taylor, in the audience, spoke to say he felt that since the 27th Street Corridor was part of District's 3 and 4, it might be wise for he and/or Alderman Wilhelm to be on the Committee.  He said when he started getting calls about 27th Street, he would start sending them to Steve Olson.

Alderman Olson thanked Jim Rhiner for his confidence in him and said he would be honored to be on the committee.  He said, "the train had left the station a while ago."  Steve Taylor responded with,"   Alderman Wilhelm and I will be two of the drivers of that train for the next 2 1/2 plus years."

Mary Karolewicz questioned Alderman Taylor as to whether he could be impartial if he represented his District while on the Steering Committee.  I thought that was out of line.  You've got Pete Kosovich on the Plan Commission but he is a small business owner in the Corridor.  You have Rhiner and had Grintjes on the EDC and on the Steering Committee....dual roles...You have the Mayor running the city but he chairs the Plan Commission.  City officials have dual roles all of the time from what I see.  It seems to be the norm.

James Kerr seemed to support having one of the Aldermen from District 3 or 4 on the Steering Committee.  What I thought was bizarre was that he had no clue that there was a 27th Street Corridor website.  Rhiner had mentioned the site and its functions and Kerr was in the dark.  How can the EDC not know what their sub-committee is doing?  A group that is spending so much of the taxpayer’s money?  I wonder if they are even aware of the "Boomgaard" issue?  It was acknowledged that there is a lack of communication between the EDC and the 27th Street Steering Committee.

Jim Rhiner explained the S. 27th Street Corridor website to James Kerr and then it was also mentioned that there were two-person sub-committee meetings held with Wheaton and NML executives that were not Posted/Given Notice.  This brings into question  the open meetings regulations.  There may be some issues that need to be looked at in this area. 

Rosanne Burac-Englert and Ruzica Bartoshevich both seemed in support of having an Alderman from District 3 or 4 on the committee also.

So what was the outcome? 

Skowronski calls for nominations.

Rhiner nominated Olson.

Bartoshevich has said she supported one of the Aldermen...but she seconds the nomination for Olson.

Skowronski asks if there is any other nomination....dead silence.

Silence after Kerr and Burac-Englert had shown support for the Aldermen.  Go figure.

And it was stated earlier that there was no limit as to only having one replacement...there was nothing stopping the Commission from putting two Committee members out there.

There was no talk of a citizen member except for Skowronski saying once that a citizen could be on the committee.  No citizen name was brought up.

So that's it...Alderman Steve Olson is the new S. 27th Street Corridor Committee Member.

Common Council President Steve Taylor brought forward Item G8 Ordinance to amend the Unified Development Ordinance to provide for Plan Commission review and recommendation and Common Council review and approval of site plans.

During Citizen Comment Period, two citizens, Jon Zawacki and Ed Holpfer, commented on this item.  Zawacki was in favor and Holpfer was against.

I have included their comments in the first Podcasts.

These are followed by Council President Taylor introducing Item G8 to amend the UDO and his concern that the Plan Commission does not understand the quality of development that should be coming into Franklin and possibly the Council should be more responsible and then Alderman Olson with a comment regarding architecture.

Next, Mayor Taylor's comment on the issue where he voices opposition and believes this would be a disservice to the Plan Commission and closing with Council President Taylor withdrawing his motion, with some additional comment by Alderman Olson.

As you may have heard, there are plans in the works for a policy review meeting with the Plan Commission to discuss improving the current situation.

Listen to the Podcasts Here.

* Alderman Wilhelm's Podcast has been updated*


At the Franklin Common Council meeting this past Tuesday, our senior citizens filled the audience.  When agenda items are of great concern to the seniors, I've got to applaud them in being organized and getting out in droves.  And not only do they attend the meetings, they stand up and speak their minds.

For some reason there seemed to be a "rumor" circulating among the seniors that funds would be reduced for them because Item G3...City of Franklin's Community Development Block Grant projects for 2009 and reallocation of unspent, prior years funds was on the agenda.  Therefore, many seniors spoke during the Citizen Comment Period.  The majority of those speaking were from the regular senior group; those who participate in the Walking Program, etc.  They all had very nice comments as to why they felt money should be allocated to their group, and not reduced.  I heard a lot of those who say they benefited from the monies...but I only heard about one who gives back; a man spoke of a senior female who volunteers in the school district.  That doesn't mean that there aren't those seniors volunteering...I know there are...and I hope there are many.

But, there is another group of seniors in Franklin who need aid.  A group we do not hear from as they are not able to come to meetings on their own.  Some were brought to this meeting to speak out.  They came in support of the Southwest Interfaith Outreach Program.

I have a series of Podcasts regarding Item G3 tonight.

First, two Citizen Comments regarding Southwest Interfaith program.

The first is from the director, explaining the program and why they need funding; followed by a citizen of Franklin who benefits from the program.  She is visually impaired and had a very heartfelt comment.

After that, a Podcast with Mark Luberda...who while giving his proposal to the Common Council for item G3, determines that Southwest Interfaith is not as important as the regular senior group.  HUD is imposing cuts...and the regular group has a "history." 

It is my opinion that Mr. Luberda needs to get more in touch with the citizens of Franklin before he makes these decisions.  I'm really happy Southwest Interfaith showed up to the Common Council meeting.  One reason is because Kristen Wilhelm was able to hear them speak.  Alderman Wilhelm's Podcast follows Mr. Luberda's, followed by Alderman Sohn's.

The decision?  The entire Council determined that some of the monies originally meant to go the the regular senior group would go to Southwest Interfaith.  The right move.

Listen to the Podcasts HERE

If you are ever tired of giving to the larger charities...and want to give to one that supports local residents, you've just found one.  And they need personal help too, such as drivers.


Southwest Interfaith Outreach Program.

I attended the Common Council meeting yesterday, Tuesday, July 22^nd.

Several interesting items were on the agenda.  I’m going to present those items through short podcasts, in no particular order, and as I have time to go through the tape.

I’ll be starting tonight with Item G5, which was:

Resolution accepting Declaration of Restrictions, Covenants and Easements for Sendik’s West, 5320-5430 W. Rawson Avenue.

This discussion began with Alderman Wilhelm bringing to the attention of the Council and the Mayor that the Development Agreement was a mess.  She had meticulously gone through it and, in the end, this item is being sent back to City Staff to be corrected

The first podcast is Alderman Wilhelm discussing her findings.

The second podcast is an email from Greg Devorkin to Mayor Taylor, explaining what he is responsible for regarding landscaping and maintenance, etc.

One last note, at the last few meetings it has been noticed that the equipment in the Common Council meeting room is on the fritz.  Two meetings in a row the camera that allows you to view documents on television screens wasn’t working, but that has been repaired.  And now the last two meetings, the microphones haven’t been working properly. 

It would be nice to have all Common Council meetings done as a webcast.  New Berlin does it with their School Board meetings.  This is something I suggested tonight at our Franklin School Board meeting.  Wishful thinking, I know….but it wasn’t that long ago that I remember viewing our School Board meetings on Public Access T.V.  We’ve gone backwards.


Listen to Podcasts HERE

 

Did you see it?

Greg Kowalski’s post… Franklin citizens:  Your community's destiny is in your hands

But first…

Remember Boomgaard, Franklin?

Bloggers here in Franklin have been known to stick together when it matters.

When it’s for the good of the taxpayer…you, me…us.

I know, those 120 days aren’t up yet, but it’s getting close…Our blogging did help to make a difference.  We brought a story to you and then your input also let our city officials know something wasn’t right.  Something needed to be changed.

Back to Kowalski’s post… we need to do it again.  It’s synergy…working together for a common goal....community.

 I hope you’ll read the post and contact your city officials. 

After considering this information, I have to ask these two questions….

1. Why is the mayor allowing his staff to drag their feet on this matter.

2. Does the city lose credibility if it picks and chooses who they prosecute? 

Hopefully some of my fellow bloggers, and Franklin citizens can help answer those questions. 

Synergy....

Now that the Oak Creek Common Council has officially sent the name Boomgaard packing, (yes, they actually took a vote) it appears the Boomgaard District will be no more. 

The power of the blogs….

 

As for Franklin, maybe it has something to do with "B" issues....

Boomgaard...Buckhorn...Budget (tax pledge)....





With the domain name “www.boomgaarddistrict.com” being of no use to the Franklin-Oak Creek Steering Committee, nor the cities of Franklin and Oak Creek, I was wondering what will now become it?  It is registered under the Zizzo Group. 

Most domain names cost only $9.95 for registration, but we have paid a pretty penny for the entire fiasco and will still be paying as a new name is sought.  Perhaps some of the money could be recouped by selling the now infamous domain name.

You never know who might want www.boomgaarddistrict.com.  Perhaps a real orchard may want to use it.  Or a blogger.  Actually, the possibilities are endless.  May the highest bidder win…..if the committee/city is willing to sell.

Actually…I would place the first bid if they want to get something going.  They’re auctioning off a house on the city website, why not a domain?

I would start bidding at let me think……$10.00!

That should start the ball rolling.  So, let’s make a deal!

Boomgaard!

Before I get to the reason of writing this blog let me first say a few things about the recent flooding in the City of Franklin.  I, along with many others had water damage to my home.  I visited a half a dozen homes this weekend and offered my support and assistance.  I spent some time with Mayor Taylor on Sunday assessing some of the damage and he kept me abreast of the City’s efforts during the storm.  We had many city employees working around the clock this weekend and I appreciate all of their efforts.  I want to single out Fire Chief Jim Martins, Assistant City Engineer Ron Romeis and Public Works Superintendent Jerry Schaefer for their dedication to the City.

This storm wreaked havoc on our residents and many are without flood insurance.  Even if they do, the deductible is not what they wanted to spend their hard earned money on.  Don’t forget to call the Milwaukee County Disaster Hotline at 414-278-3000 to report your damage.  Please feel free to contact me if you need additional assistance.    

 

Now, to the reason of this blog……….

 

Last week I met with Zizzo Group Advertising & Public Relations.  This meeting came about after a phone call I received from Anne Zizzo in response to some questions I had about the South 27^th Street Corridor project.  At this meeting, we discussed what the future holds for this project and for our community.  I shared with them my desire to see the project move forward in a positive way.  Zizzo Group agrees, and we brainstormed ideas for more significant public input on the future of the South 27^th Street Corridor.

I am excited to work with our partners in this unprecedented opportunity for our communities.  In fact, the economic impact of this project to our two cities is estimated to be as much as $2 billion.  I am committed to helping bring quality developments, family-supporting jobs, and positive attention to the South 27^th Street Corridor.  The South 27^th Street Corridor plan will grow our tax base, improve our local economy, and serve as a model for other cities nation wide.

I encourage the public to continue giving input into this project and to contact me with any questions or concerns.  Forging ahead together, we will make the Corridor a community-friendly economic development opportunity with tremendous potential.  I hope to hear from you on this issue.

Steve F. Taylor      

Common Council President
      


                                                           

Definition of “futility” 

1. The quality of having no useful result; uselessness. 
2. Lack of importance or purpose; frivolousness.
3. A futile act.

“ an exercise in futility”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




City of Franklin Common Council Meeting Tuesday May 20, 2008

      G. Reports & Recommendations

           7.  Discussion of 5-year history of City of Franklin property taxes (Ald. Sohns).




Mayor Taylor:  Alderman Sohns has requested a discussion of the 5-year history of the property taxes. 

Alderman Sohns: 

I did put a packet, actually two packets of information.  One’s the city of Franklin the other one says Franklin Public Schools.  Not long after you made your pledge one of two of the blogger’s contacted me and almost all of the Alderman to take this pledge and I decided before I would consider it I wanted to look at just what it is. […] In terms of what our  ... 

Mayor Taylor:  Are we on the issue? 

Unidentified:  I think Alderman Sohns is leading up to it.

Laughter from one of the Councilmen and cross-talk.

Mayor Taylor:  The reason I did Alderman is because the City Attorney has permission to beat me up if I’m getting off track.

Unidentified Alderman:  Not me bro.

Alderman Sohns: I went to the Assessor’s Office and I pulled the assessed valuation of the seven members of  Council at the time; that would include Kosovich and Hammelman.  Alderman Wilhelm and Taylor were not part of this.  So you see the Council members identified as…

Taylor:  Alderman Sohns, the Clerk is asking that you speak into the microphone

Sohns:  O.K.  I also pulled the assessment records for six of the bloggers.  And if you look at these sheets I ran them up to what the property taxes bills would have been, this is City of Franklin taxes now, for three years and five years, and the results are summarized on the first sheet.  There’s a couple of outliers, and by that I mean, we have a couple of folks who saw changes in their assessments because they made improvement to their property, one of my colleagues made significant improvements to their property in 2006, his assessment was approximately double what the average was for the city.  Councilman number 7, is me.  My wife and I remodeled our home and so our home was reassessed as a consequence saw an increase last year.  The last one is blogger number 4 and that was a home that was not fully assessed in 2006 and so you can’t a 3-5 year history given the short lifespan of the history.  If you remove those outliers and you look at the average of the rest, the average three year increase of these folks who I studied here was $63.38, a little better than twenty bucks a year.  The percent increase 4.3 about half the consumer point price index.  This is in a period of time when the City’s total assessed value increased almost 40%.  Our expenditures increased 27.6 % and our tax levy went up 15.8%.  We’ve actually done a pretty darn good job managing our finances; I make no apologies for the tax levies that I voted for.  This last tax levy I had reservations about whether or not as a matter of politics to demand a small decrease but when I did the arithmetic I said great on my $5,400 tax bill I’m going to reduce it ten bucks.  So I voted for the budget I admit I voted for every budget since I’ve been in office.  I make no apologies for it.  I think we’ve been doing a great job.  And I will say as a taxpayer, not as an Alderman, if my choice is to see police protection diminish, or response time by the fire department diminish, or the library have to be closed, or spend an extra twenty bucks here.  I’ll spend the extra twenty bucks.  How it turns out will determine what we determine at the end of the year when we have a budget when we put it together.  The levy limit, 3% is less than $600,000 last year on costs for an increased payroll and the payroll related expenses was a million dollars.  Alderman Solomon was […] finance Committee for a lot of years, he’s nodding his head up and down.  I don’t know how you’re going to pull this 3% rabbit out of a hat.  For three years in a row.  We’ll see.  As Alderman Olson pointed out, we’ve got the history in front of us.  History will tell us a little something about the future.  We’re going to have to decide.  We’re either going to uphold your pledge or we’re not.  Scott Walker put it […] 

Taylor:  Thank you for the compliment.  Just to mention that Scott Walker got 80% of the vote.

Sohns:  The other one is the School District.

Taylor  Alderman Solomon.

Alderman Solomon:

Again, thank you for the information, it’s the first I’ve seen it.  I will peruse through it at length.  Along with that goes the 5-year history that I assume was provided by staff.  Most of the people don’t realize this but throughout the last five years folks, we not only kept the taxes , what’s the average, Cal, Three over five year? 

Mr. Patterson:  2%

Solomon:  2% over five years.  We also took 200,000 per year out of the operation budget from landfill revenue out of the operation budget and put that on the tax rolls because what’s happened to our landfill revenue?  There isn’t any.  We anticipated that , the finance committee did five years ago, to get a million dollars off he tax rolls, that’s about 1.2% per year.  Per year!  For five years.  That’s another 6% reduction.  In other words your tax levy for property taxes has gone down over the last five years. 

Olson:  Two things. One is, I've taken a couple of implied hits here for my vote on the Finance Committee against the budget last year... I think it's our place to be a little more efficient, with all due respect to the staff who does a great job.  And then when it came time to vote at the Council level, each of us faces a decision.  We can be a part of a team, show support and move forward, which is what I chose to do, in light of the relative cost of a decision like that.  Or you can continue to be a rebel.  Well, I chose to go that route.  I don’t know if there is any benefit to me but we’ll see about that won't we.

 

Olson:  Mr. Sohns, as usual when you do things in a hurry, there’s a mistake.  The detailed spread sheets are the same in the both.  Which means when you look at the city of Franklin for your assessed value and all this and that…that all stays the same on both spread sheets, but the tax rate is always the city tax rate as opposed to the school tax rate. 

Mayor Taylor:  As long as you’re talking about the history here ….tax increases and tax increase is primarily tied to the growth of the city.  And that’s the equalized value  which I think is in one of these charts.  This year, I’m sure anyone who owns a home is wondering if they can sell their home for the same price they were able to sell it for last year.  We’re going to be having a Board of Review shortly, and my guess is there’s going to be a line all the way out the door of people saying that they’re going to want to have their assessed values reduced because the market value has fallen significantly. 

And our members that sit on the Board of Review are going to have to listen to the Assessors and their going to have to listen to the people .  It’s almost every day that you turn on the news and you hear the price of gas went from $350 to $3.75 to $3.80 to $4.00 a gallon and now we’re hearing that it will go to somewhere around $8.00 a gallon.  All of our constituents are getting hit by this.  Their all getting hit with major increases in health care and out of pocket costs and the price of bread has gone up the price of flour everything has gone up.  They will be coming to you because there’s a few people that were just elected like me that went out there and talked to all of the, well a lot of people of the community; the only thing I heard really, there was  a lot of things, but the only thing I really heard was taxes.  And while we have based our budgets on the growth and we say well O.K. we’ve got this much this year and we’ve got that much this next year, every community in Wisconsin, every community across the United States, is going to be tightening their belt, every business is going to be wondering how they’re going to service.  And your constituents are going to be calling you, our constituents are going to be calling us, and saying, “Do not raise my taxes needlessly”.  They’re going to be saying, “Well, maybe we don’t need that service.” 

I think some of you know, that I used to represent a lot of public employees and I was also management.  The Parks Department if I can from the Scott Walker play book used to have over 900 full time staff in the department.  I think they’re down to less than 200 […] and it’s all seasonal work force.  And you know what, there are certain areas that could look a lot better, but they’re almost getting the job done.  And the public has yet to say, we want you to increase the work force.  And it’s going to have a trickle down effect to us, if it hasn’t already.  And I’ll leave it open for the other people that just ran for office because that’s the only thing that I was hearing when I was running for office.  Alderman Taylor.

Alderman Taylor:  Well I campaigned.  When I was campaigning obviously taxes, taxes, taxes, it was what I heard all the time.  And you go to the little old lady, that cost of gas, the cost of groceries, the cost to heat her house, and they see 5.7... or 24% or 22% for 4 years.  This is ridiculous.  This is not what we should be doing.  And my thought, is I didn’t sign a tax pledge but I’m not going to vote on a budget that’s over 3%.  The Mayor can send one to us and we can do what we want, but at a committee level I won’t vote for it.  And if I won’t vote for it at the Finance Committee I’m not going to come to the Common Council meeting and vote for it just to go along.  Maybe I'll be the one rebel.

Mayor Taylor: Alright no motion was requested on this information.  Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Patterson:  Just a couple pieces of information.  The item that you’ve got labeled G-7, the top part of is on the web site.  The bottom part of it is tax levy units calculation. […]  Second point, this big document is a reference document I put it together so that we could get it to the Finance Committee in May.

Mayor Taylor: The City Attorney is reminding me that we are getting a little bit off of the Agenda since your talking about the future. 

[…]

Mayor Taylor:  Alright let’s turn to Item 8 Request from Board of Health to appear at July 8, 2008 Committee of the Whole

Alderman Wilhelm:  So Moved.

 

 

Definition for "thorn"
	irritant: something that causes irritation and annoyance; "he's a thorn in my flesh"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Note:  Alderman Sohns at many times does not speak into the microphone, which is in front of him, and rather, he turns his head toward the Mayor when speaking, and therefore, some of his words are unintelligible.  You will see [...] in those areas.  He was not asked to speak into the microphone until item G7.  




City of Franklin Common Council Meeting Tuesday May 20, 2008

G. Reports & Recommendations

           4.  Resolution to manage vacant staff positions by the City of Franklin
               Common Council (Ald. Sohns)

 

Mayor Taylor: 

Contained in all of these resolutions you submitted Thursday afternoon or night you had the language that said, “Whereas Mayor Taylor has publicly pledged to limit growth of the city’s property tax levy for the next three years; and then it goes on next sentence absent a significant source of new revenue.  I do have a problem with that, given that what I pledged was, I pledged that if elected to another term as Mayor of the City of Franklin that I will not recommend an annual budget to the city’s finance committee that exceeds 3% in tax levy increase.  This pledge is related to years 2008-2011.  And while it’s semantics, if we’re going to talk about my pledge, I would hope that, I would ask that you put in the precise language.  With that, it’s yours.

Alderman Sohns:

The first sentence of the resolution says Mayor Taylor has publicly pledged to limit growth on the city’s property tax levy for the next three years.  I think that’s what it says.

 

Taylor:  No, this is what it says.”

Sohns:  We will not recommend an annual budget to the city’s finance committee that we  for two years, 2008-2009.

 

Sohns:  The second sentence is not part of your pledge, it is a statement of fact on my part which is absolute balancing the budget increase is likely to be difficult.  If anyone here wants to argue that we can certainly do that.

 

Taylor:  Well, I will.

Sohns:  O.K.

 

Taylor:  And that is you put in the words, “ will have.”  That is a statement of fact and your saying the Common Council there are some Common Council members that may not even be happy with the 3% tax levy increase and may want to have a reduction in the tax levy and so the words Common Council “won’t have” is more of an opinion.

Sohns:  I guess I should point out that the City Attorney and I had a conversation about his […] You did issue a memo on April 11^th and now announcing that you were freezing vacant positions. […] 

Taylor:  We might.  I think I have the memo in front of me.  I think I have a 2 %  I do have it ?  I didn’t get this…I just got this tonight. 

Sohns:  I’ll read the first sentence.

Taylor: I don’t have it in front of me. 

Sohns:  You wrote it

Taylor: I may have [written] it but I think this was just passed out just before the meeting.  Alright and your question to me was?

Sohns: […]  April 14^th, the personnel committee received a staffing report and I’m going to take this to […] there are the 15 seasonal positions which you exempt from your….

Taylor: Is this something I have in front of me?

Sohns: Yes.

Taylor: You mind if I get to it?  And that’s in the packet that you?  The staffing report and data as of April 14^th

Sohns: Correct.  15 seasonal positions were by your memo were exempt from a hiring freeze.  A library assistant which this body has no control over once the library has their budget they can choose to hire at their discretion and two police officer vacancies so I ask the obvious question.  You ‘ve had a vacant position since February 13^th obviously this was part of the hiring freeze; no that position was going to be filled.  The job offer has already been made.  I’ve since discovered that the offer was made to the sole candidate on the police department and it turned out to be a person who couldn’t be hired for whatever reason, I don’t know what that reason is.  The Police and Fire commission is reloading their list of qualified applicants.  What we have left is a police officer who is likely to retire or to announce he is to retire in June. 

Taylor:  Did you say the position was offered?

Sohns:  I was told the police officer position was offered.

Taylor:  O.K. If I signed off on that position...

Sohns:  I don’t know.

Taylor:  Then it wouldn’t be filled.

[…]

Sohns:  I would like Mr. Patterson and the City Attorney […] to write a ordinance that would take the salary and the related benefits out of the budget from the fund balance and it stays there until we can justify where we will find the other cuts to restore those dollars.

Olson:  Seconded

Taylor: Alright it’s