Four Hour Long Village Board Meeting; the Public Part Anyhow.
Bringing You Your Germantown Entertainment District!
CALENDAR HERE FOR UPCOMING BUDGET MEETINGS.
9-18-2023 village board meeting.
Agenda Packet here.
Recording here.
5:07 Meeting starts.
6:27 President’s report. The president reads an oped from a local paper which is promoting county shared services instead of giving sales tax back to the municipalities, even though most people voted for it to be returned on the last referendum. The county has wanted Germantown to give up their police dispatch operations up to the join with the county’s system. The problem with that is Germantown’s dispatchers do multiple tasks besides manning the calls coming in. The reading of this oped was done to put that train of thought into the zeitgeist. Where is the evidence and real time information? And, the county can’t take it all on yet.
11:35 Citizen’s comments lasted for 34 minutes.
Lady with a tree problem asks for help. Cites state statutes, says the village attorney is incorrect. He talks about public versus private nuisances.
2022 annual report not available on website. $6.5m in engineering fees over 3.5 years, glad an engineer has been found. What other outsource contracts can be self-performed by the village staff? Budget incomplete. Water utility rates going up.
Inquiring about the village purchasing property in secret. Was told it was not information that will be provided to the people footing the bill. Oh really.
Support for a local developer at Donges Bay and Fond du Lac, a restaurant and townhouse project.
Debt levels are high, why are monies being spent on real estate? Even if loan is received, that adds to the debt.
Shared revenue from the state should go to public safety per the law, not the general administration, nor to fill a budget gap.
Bio Research president who filed for a conditional use permit (CUP) needed for his business use, to purchase the old Exit Realty office, asks for his CUP filing money back. The village appears to have purchased property out from under him.
Various email comments in support of bike trail from Mequon to Germantown along Donges Bay.
Kinderberg Park problems and additional, apparent driving infractions are related, per an emailed in comment.
(Missing comment brought to president’s attention. Then read in.) Budget concerns, like 2008. Where is the money coming from? Budget definition. Sharpen your pencils.
44:55 Consent agenda.
52:28 Village engineer discussion, pay ranges. Discussion of review process. No public works director candidates came forward who were qualified. The director recruitment process needs a do-over, another 30 days.
1:05:10 Baker Tilly on the Webex system. The 2022 Annual report is not finished.
General fund decreased by $1.14m compared to previous year, due to public safety needs. Unassigned, decreased $705,000, funds to be used in the future.
Over last 5 years, unassigned vs general fund is 36%. General obligation debt, bond ratings, allowance is limited to 5% of village equalized value.
$50m of debt issued last year, and we are at 50% of debt capacity. Not too extended at 50%, but this does not take into account anything in 2023, and that is the redline.
Annual debt payments compared to expenditures, 21% of annual expenditures. Will go up as repayments come up in next two years. Where will these funds come from? TIDs and utilities, but what does that mean for future debt and repayments?
Audit staff does not have all the information from the village to complete it. It will be after the budget that this is being discussed now. Missing information described.
Usually want to start these reports in November to complete in April.
1:21:00 Christmas tree sale by VFW post at Latitudes coffee shop ok’d.
1:22:20 Kuhberg Property discussion. Very interesting discussion showing that the planning director appears to influence the plan commission when he does not like certain development proposals.
Over the last two years, there have been multiple observations by several people that outside developers are favored over local people who want to do something in the village.
This is an example of the committee process not working.
One trustee had to recuse himself.
2:21:10 New engineer is approved. Hooray!
2:23:20 Donges Bay trail addition. The board sends it back to be further reviewed and more engineering fees expended. These fees will go into the TID 9 and/or relevant debt. The final assessed value of the TID goes up, we pay more when the TID closes. (If we are still alive and here.) But the trail will be done right, hopefully.
Another example of the issue not being properly vetted at the committee level.
2:57:50 Break for five minutes.
3:06:40 Superintendent raises discussed. Adjustments apparent when an outside person looked at how the staff are paid. No study done, why not? This is done piecemeal, always. We only do surveys. Need a comprehensive study to be included in the budget process.
Example of incomplete information from staff.
3:16:20 Municipal bond cases.
3:17:10 Budget and tax levy. Posted on the Germantownwi.gov website. If you want a full budget, you have to request a copy. Contact the finance director here.
Levy is going up. No surprise. A list of cuts in services was discussed, roughly 10%. President gets a little testy towards the end.
3:42:00 Committee of the Whole meeting schedule and public listing sessions, which are optional for trustees and have not been announced.
3:50:50 They go into secret meetings to discuss property purchase for sewer lift station near Buffalo Wild Wings.
So there you have it.
A marathon.
(Can’t wait for Karaoke night.)