I’m thinking maybe its time to develop a more innovative Website. There are a couple of website solutions available on the market, designed specifically for smaller municipalities. These turnkey solutions allow cities, villages and towns to maintain a professional website and a user friendly Content Management System.
The site should feature:
1. One Sub Domain (ex: wi-lake mills.ci.lake-mills.wi.us.gov)
2. Site setup – the new website should be up and running in just a few short weeks, ready for training and modifying the site content.
3. Personalized Banner – Banner will include the name of the city, city seal and logo.
4. Slideshow setup for the homepage – up to 6 slides
5. Pre-populated menus and pages--all the content need to get started with a new website that is already included. After training it is easy to begin making modifications to that content to best suit the city’s purposes and needs.
6. 15 Hours of Online Phone Training– Using the train-the-trainer approach, there will receive in depth training and consulting on the following: Basic Page Administration, Basic System Administration, Basic Module Administration & Use, and Advanced Module Administration & Use.
7. Unlimited Access to the Training Library, which includes videos, online training courses, webinars, step-by-step manuals and more.
8. Hosting, Backup, Disaster Recovery, Maintenance and Upgrades is included with the ongoing service package. PLUS, unlimited access to a support team from 7AM to 7PM for one point of contact.
9. Modules included – Newsflash, Event Calendar, Staff Directory, Notify Me, FAQs, QuickLinks, Opinion Poll, Document Center, and Archive Center.
*Please see the Modules document for descriptions of these features.
These systems will have a cost – but I think it’s time we took the leap.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Da Council
John Nalbandian states that the idea of council-manager government is that political and administrative realms can be in partnership and not dependent on the system of checks and balances that characterize our state and federal governments, where separation of legislative and executive powers is valued. The relationship between the manager and the elected officials sets a tone for the entire local government. Although some elected officials shy away from acknowledging a team or partner relationship between and among members of council and between the council and the staff, it is critical that the professional manager prepares the council for its work.
Unfortunately, substantial real impediments frequently exist which diminish effective city council involvement in all stages of a decision. These include, among others, departments, agencies or semi-independent agencies financed and/or sanctioned by state and federal laws. In addition, there is almost always a large time span over which projects or issues may extend, resulting in numerous changes in the composition of the decision-making body or a change in attitude of the citizenry or even a change in need for the project or service itself which can hamper effective decision-making.
The city’s citizen culture is relative to the general national culture of individual independence and this tends to hamper cooperation. The “organizational” culture originally seemed to have been defined by a City Manager who had also served as the Clerk-Treasurer in the 80’s and 90’s. The manager felt all staff were incompetent and that they should not spend a penny or make a decision unless approved by the manager. It seems that this led staff from the top of the organization to the bottom to treat the public as if they are out to rip-off the city and they had to defend every penny to the death. The council also seemed to expect staff to unrealistically deliver high levels of service to the citizenry while spending less money. Staff became paranoid and tried to avoid doing anything other than minimal maintenance. This did and in some cases still does dominate the interactions between the council, staff and the public. The city infrastructure deteriorated substantially in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s because of these dysfunction organizational interactions. One of the other ways this manifested itself was that copying of all agenda participants with information rather than just council members and senior staff was considered an unnecessary expense.
Still, one of the biggest problems is the difference in perspective between council and staff—differences that are often difficult to understand because while council and the staff are using the same words, they speak different languages. This means that staff can only help prepare the council for its work, but the council is responsible for providing overall leadership for the local government by enacting laws and providing policy for allocating resources for programs, services, and activities, and the council bears the main responsibility for building its own knowledge capacity and communication channels. The council goal should be a partnership with each other and staff. The city manager must work to provide a cooperative and friendly organizational culture that desires to work with the council.[1]
1 Julia Novak and John Nalbandian, Preparing Councils for Their Work. PM Magazine. August 2009.
Unfortunately, substantial real impediments frequently exist which diminish effective city council involvement in all stages of a decision. These include, among others, departments, agencies or semi-independent agencies financed and/or sanctioned by state and federal laws. In addition, there is almost always a large time span over which projects or issues may extend, resulting in numerous changes in the composition of the decision-making body or a change in attitude of the citizenry or even a change in need for the project or service itself which can hamper effective decision-making.
The city’s citizen culture is relative to the general national culture of individual independence and this tends to hamper cooperation. The “organizational” culture originally seemed to have been defined by a City Manager who had also served as the Clerk-Treasurer in the 80’s and 90’s. The manager felt all staff were incompetent and that they should not spend a penny or make a decision unless approved by the manager. It seems that this led staff from the top of the organization to the bottom to treat the public as if they are out to rip-off the city and they had to defend every penny to the death. The council also seemed to expect staff to unrealistically deliver high levels of service to the citizenry while spending less money. Staff became paranoid and tried to avoid doing anything other than minimal maintenance. This did and in some cases still does dominate the interactions between the council, staff and the public. The city infrastructure deteriorated substantially in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s because of these dysfunction organizational interactions. One of the other ways this manifested itself was that copying of all agenda participants with information rather than just council members and senior staff was considered an unnecessary expense.
Still, one of the biggest problems is the difference in perspective between council and staff—differences that are often difficult to understand because while council and the staff are using the same words, they speak different languages. This means that staff can only help prepare the council for its work, but the council is responsible for providing overall leadership for the local government by enacting laws and providing policy for allocating resources for programs, services, and activities, and the council bears the main responsibility for building its own knowledge capacity and communication channels. The council goal should be a partnership with each other and staff. The city manager must work to provide a cooperative and friendly organizational culture that desires to work with the council.[1]
1 Julia Novak and John Nalbandian, Preparing Councils for Their Work. PM Magazine. August 2009.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Council Actions Reflect Attitude
All Council Members should:
· Demonstrate honesty and integrity in every action and statement
· Serve as a model of leadership and civility to the community
· Inspire public confidence in government
· Work for the common good, not personal interest
· Prepare in advance of Council meetings and be familiar with issues on the agenda
· Fully participate in City Council meetings and other public forums while demonstrating respect, kindness, consideration, and courtesy to others
· Participate in scheduled activities to increase Council effectiveness
· Review Council procedures, such as these Council Protocols, at least annually
· Be responsible for the highest standards of respect, civility and honesty in ensuring the effective maintenance of intergovernmental relations
· Respect the proper roles of elected officials and City staff in ensuring open and effective government
· Provide contact information to the City Clerk in case an emergency or urgent situation arises while the Council Member is out of town
· Demonstrate honesty and integrity in every action and statement
· Serve as a model of leadership and civility to the community
· Inspire public confidence in government
· Work for the common good, not personal interest
· Prepare in advance of Council meetings and be familiar with issues on the agenda
· Fully participate in City Council meetings and other public forums while demonstrating respect, kindness, consideration, and courtesy to others
· Participate in scheduled activities to increase Council effectiveness
· Review Council procedures, such as these Council Protocols, at least annually
· Be responsible for the highest standards of respect, civility and honesty in ensuring the effective maintenance of intergovernmental relations
· Respect the proper roles of elected officials and City staff in ensuring open and effective government
· Provide contact information to the City Clerk in case an emergency or urgent situation arises while the Council Member is out of town
Monday, July 27, 2009
PERCEIVED OR REVEALED REALITY
People have difficulty differentiating between perceived reality and revealed reality. Perceived reality differs from revealed reality for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that perceived reality relies on what people say or feel and revealed reality relies on scientific fact. The life of Galileo is a prime case of people selecting a perceived reality over a revealed reality.
In 1609, Galileo heard about the invention of the spyglass, a device which made distant objects appear closer. Galileo used his mathematics knowledge and technical skills to improve upon the spyglass and build a telescope. Later that same year, he became the first person to look at the moon through a telescope and make his first astronomy discovery. He found that the moon was not smooth, but mountainous and pitted. He used his recently invented telescope to discover four of the moons circling Jupiter, to study Saturn, to observe the phases of Venus, and to study sunspots on the Sun.
Galileo's observations strengthened his belief in Copernicus' theory that Earth and all other planets revolve around the sun. Most people in Galileo's time believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and that the sun and planets revolved around it.
In December of 1613, Galileo received a letter from Father Castelli, a close friend of his and a fellow astronomer. Castelli had recently dined with the royal family of Tuscany, and he reported how the Grand Duchess Christina had criticized the heliocentric theory for its repudiation of Holy Scripture. Galileo fired back a letter to his friend that would later be published, with the author's permission, across Italy. In it, he declared that scriptural literalism had no place in scientific inquiry. "Inasmuch as the Bible calls for an interpretation differing from the immediate sense of the words," he wrote, "it seems to me that as an authority in mathematical controversy it has very little standing... I believe that natural processes which we perceive by careful observation or deduce by cogent demonstration cannot be refuted by passages from the Bible."
The Catholic Church, which was very powerful and influential in Galileo's day, strongly supported the theory of a geocentric, or Earth-centered, Universe. After Galileo began publishing papers about his astronomy discoveries and his belief in a heliocentric, or sun-centered, Universe, he was called to Rome to answer charges brought against him by the Inquisition (the legal body of the Catholic Church). Early in 1616, Galileo was accused of being a heretic, a person who opposed Church teachings. Heresy was a crime for which people were sometimes sentenced to death. Galileo was cleared of charges of heresy, but was told that he should no longer publicly state his belief that the Earth moved around the sun. Galileo continued his study of astronomy and became more and more convinced that all planets revolved around the Sun. In 1632, he published a book that stated, among other things, that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was correct. Galileo was once again called before the Inquisition and this time was found guilty of heresy. Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1633. His books, together with those of Copernicus and Kepler, were banned.
People were selecting the idea of a geocentric universe over a heliocentric universe or their perceived reality over Galileo’s revealed reality. They were using their perceived reality which was achieved through their common sense or by becoming aware of, knowing, or identifying by means of the senses. The earth was clearly not moving and daily you could see the sun revolved around the earth. Their interpretation of the Bible also re-enforced their knowledge.
Revealed reality used scientific methods to investigating the phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It used knowledge based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.
The discussion between perceived reality and revealed reality still occurs everyday regarding some issue.
In 1609, Galileo heard about the invention of the spyglass, a device which made distant objects appear closer. Galileo used his mathematics knowledge and technical skills to improve upon the spyglass and build a telescope. Later that same year, he became the first person to look at the moon through a telescope and make his first astronomy discovery. He found that the moon was not smooth, but mountainous and pitted. He used his recently invented telescope to discover four of the moons circling Jupiter, to study Saturn, to observe the phases of Venus, and to study sunspots on the Sun.
Galileo's observations strengthened his belief in Copernicus' theory that Earth and all other planets revolve around the sun. Most people in Galileo's time believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and that the sun and planets revolved around it.
In December of 1613, Galileo received a letter from Father Castelli, a close friend of his and a fellow astronomer. Castelli had recently dined with the royal family of Tuscany, and he reported how the Grand Duchess Christina had criticized the heliocentric theory for its repudiation of Holy Scripture. Galileo fired back a letter to his friend that would later be published, with the author's permission, across Italy. In it, he declared that scriptural literalism had no place in scientific inquiry. "Inasmuch as the Bible calls for an interpretation differing from the immediate sense of the words," he wrote, "it seems to me that as an authority in mathematical controversy it has very little standing... I believe that natural processes which we perceive by careful observation or deduce by cogent demonstration cannot be refuted by passages from the Bible."
The Catholic Church, which was very powerful and influential in Galileo's day, strongly supported the theory of a geocentric, or Earth-centered, Universe. After Galileo began publishing papers about his astronomy discoveries and his belief in a heliocentric, or sun-centered, Universe, he was called to Rome to answer charges brought against him by the Inquisition (the legal body of the Catholic Church). Early in 1616, Galileo was accused of being a heretic, a person who opposed Church teachings. Heresy was a crime for which people were sometimes sentenced to death. Galileo was cleared of charges of heresy, but was told that he should no longer publicly state his belief that the Earth moved around the sun. Galileo continued his study of astronomy and became more and more convinced that all planets revolved around the Sun. In 1632, he published a book that stated, among other things, that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was correct. Galileo was once again called before the Inquisition and this time was found guilty of heresy. Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1633. His books, together with those of Copernicus and Kepler, were banned.
People were selecting the idea of a geocentric universe over a heliocentric universe or their perceived reality over Galileo’s revealed reality. They were using their perceived reality which was achieved through their common sense or by becoming aware of, knowing, or identifying by means of the senses. The earth was clearly not moving and daily you could see the sun revolved around the earth. Their interpretation of the Bible also re-enforced their knowledge.
Revealed reality used scientific methods to investigating the phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It used knowledge based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.
The discussion between perceived reality and revealed reality still occurs everyday regarding some issue.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Changing Code?
Small wind energy conversion system (SWECS) means a wind energy conversion system consisting of a wind turbine, a tower, and associated control or conversion electronics, which has a rated capacity of not more than 10 kW and which is intended to primarily reduce on-site consumption of utility power. This equipment includes any base, blade, foundation, generator, nacelle, rotor, tower, transformer, vane, wire, inverter, batteries or other component used in the system. The City of Lake Mills may soon modify the code in the following fashion.
(a) A SWECS shall be permitted as a conditional use in all zoning districts subject to the following requirements:
(1) Number. Only one (1) SWECS shall be permitted per property regardless of the number of dwelling units or tenants.
(2) Location.
a. A SWECS shall be prohibited from being located in front of the building setback line or in front of the principal building on a property.
b. SWECS setback shall comply with the yard areas established for principal structures for each zoning district.
c. The SWECS shall be located such that its fall zone plus five (5) feet will be located entirely on the permitted property in the event of collapse or other structural failure.
(3) Tower Construction. All towers for a SWECS shall be a single monopole type constructed without guy wires or ground anchors. Guyed towers and lattice towers are expressly prohibited. All towers shall be structurally designed to withstand 100mph winds and handle loads imparted. (4) Height, Blade Length, Turbine Capacity. The total height of a SWECS shall be measured as the vertical distance from ground level to the tip of a wind generator blade when the tip is at its highest point.
(5) Blades and Clearance. Protected blades shall be used if a SWECS is installed on a rooftop or if located within twelve (12) feet of a structure. A minimum vertical blade clearance of fifteen (15) feet shall be required from grade or rooftops.
(6) Access. All ground mounted electrical and control equipment shall be labeled or secured to prevent unauthorized access. The tower shall be designed and installed so as to not provide step bolts or a ladder readily accessible to the public for a minimum height of eight (8) feet above the ground.
(7) Electrical Wires. SWECS including tower shall comply with all applicable state construction and electrical codes, and the National Electrical Code. All electrical wires associated with a SWECS, other than wires necessary to connect the wind generator to the tower wiring, the tower wiring to the disconnect junction box, and the grounding wires shall be located underground. All wires and connections shall be wholly located on the subjects property, and in no case shall connections to multiple detached structures be permitted.
(8) Lighting. A wind tower and generator shall not be artificially illuminated unless such lighting is required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
(9) Appearance, Color, and Finish. The wind generator and tower shall remain painted or finished the color or finish that was originally applied by the manufacturer, unless approved in the building permit. Generally acceptable colors shall be muted or understated colors that are unobtrusive to surrounding properties, such as galvanized metal or earth tones.
(10)Signs. All signs, other than the manufacturer’s or installer’s identification, appropriate warning signs, or owner identification on a wind generator, tower, building, or other structure associated with a small wind energy system visible from any public road shall be prohibited.
(11)Noise And Shadow Flicker
a. Audible sound from a Wind Energy Facility shall not exceed twenty-five (25) dBA in residential districts or fifty (50) dBA in all other districts, as measured at the exterior of any occupied building on an adjacent or neighboring property. Methods for measuring and reporting acoustic emissions from Wind Turbines and the Wind Energy Facility shall be equal to or exceed the minimum standards for precision described in American Wind Energy Association Standard 2.1 - 1989 titled Procedures for the Measurement and Reporting of Acoustic Emissions from Wind Turbine Generation Systems Volume I: First Tier.
b. Low Frequency Harmonics. The SWECS shall be designed to avoid emitting low frequency harmonics that can be disruptive to neighboring properties.
c. The property owner and operator shall make reasonable efforts to minimize shadow flicker to any occupied building on an adjacent or neighboring property.
(12)Utility notification and interconnection. SWECS that connect to the electric utility shall comply with the Illinois Distributed Generation Interconnection Standard.
(13)Compliance with FAA Regulations: SWECS must comply with applicable FAA regulations, including any necessary approvals for installations close to airports/airstrips. If lighting is required by the FAA, a dual mode fixture/lamp shall be installed.
(14)Required Safety Features
a. All SWECS shall be designed with an automatic overspeed control to render the system inoperable when winds are blowing in excess of the speeds for which the machine is designed.
b. All SWECS shall have a manually operable method to render the system inoperable in the event of a structural or mechanical failure of any part of the system including the automatic overspeed control.
c. All SWECS shall be designed with an automatic control to render the system inoperable in case of loss of utility power to prevent the SWECS from supplying power to a de-energized electrical distribution system.
d. Any SWECS thereof declared to be unsafe by the Code Enforcement Department by reason of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation, obsolescence, fire hazard, disaster, damage or abandonment is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and shall be abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal in accordance with the procedures set forth in the City of Lake Mills Code of Ordinances.
(a) A SWECS shall be permitted as a conditional use in all zoning districts subject to the following requirements:
(1) Number. Only one (1) SWECS shall be permitted per property regardless of the number of dwelling units or tenants.
(2) Location.
a. A SWECS shall be prohibited from being located in front of the building setback line or in front of the principal building on a property.
b. SWECS setback shall comply with the yard areas established for principal structures for each zoning district.
c. The SWECS shall be located such that its fall zone plus five (5) feet will be located entirely on the permitted property in the event of collapse or other structural failure.
(3) Tower Construction. All towers for a SWECS shall be a single monopole type constructed without guy wires or ground anchors. Guyed towers and lattice towers are expressly prohibited. All towers shall be structurally designed to withstand 100mph winds and handle loads imparted. (4) Height, Blade Length, Turbine Capacity. The total height of a SWECS shall be measured as the vertical distance from ground level to the tip of a wind generator blade when the tip is at its highest point.
(5) Blades and Clearance. Protected blades shall be used if a SWECS is installed on a rooftop or if located within twelve (12) feet of a structure. A minimum vertical blade clearance of fifteen (15) feet shall be required from grade or rooftops.
(6) Access. All ground mounted electrical and control equipment shall be labeled or secured to prevent unauthorized access. The tower shall be designed and installed so as to not provide step bolts or a ladder readily accessible to the public for a minimum height of eight (8) feet above the ground.
(7) Electrical Wires. SWECS including tower shall comply with all applicable state construction and electrical codes, and the National Electrical Code. All electrical wires associated with a SWECS, other than wires necessary to connect the wind generator to the tower wiring, the tower wiring to the disconnect junction box, and the grounding wires shall be located underground. All wires and connections shall be wholly located on the subjects property, and in no case shall connections to multiple detached structures be permitted.
(8) Lighting. A wind tower and generator shall not be artificially illuminated unless such lighting is required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
(9) Appearance, Color, and Finish. The wind generator and tower shall remain painted or finished the color or finish that was originally applied by the manufacturer, unless approved in the building permit. Generally acceptable colors shall be muted or understated colors that are unobtrusive to surrounding properties, such as galvanized metal or earth tones.
(10)Signs. All signs, other than the manufacturer’s or installer’s identification, appropriate warning signs, or owner identification on a wind generator, tower, building, or other structure associated with a small wind energy system visible from any public road shall be prohibited.
(11)Noise And Shadow Flicker
a. Audible sound from a Wind Energy Facility shall not exceed twenty-five (25) dBA in residential districts or fifty (50) dBA in all other districts, as measured at the exterior of any occupied building on an adjacent or neighboring property. Methods for measuring and reporting acoustic emissions from Wind Turbines and the Wind Energy Facility shall be equal to or exceed the minimum standards for precision described in American Wind Energy Association Standard 2.1 - 1989 titled Procedures for the Measurement and Reporting of Acoustic Emissions from Wind Turbine Generation Systems Volume I: First Tier.
b. Low Frequency Harmonics. The SWECS shall be designed to avoid emitting low frequency harmonics that can be disruptive to neighboring properties.
c. The property owner and operator shall make reasonable efforts to minimize shadow flicker to any occupied building on an adjacent or neighboring property.
(12)Utility notification and interconnection. SWECS that connect to the electric utility shall comply with the Illinois Distributed Generation Interconnection Standard.
(13)Compliance with FAA Regulations: SWECS must comply with applicable FAA regulations, including any necessary approvals for installations close to airports/airstrips. If lighting is required by the FAA, a dual mode fixture/lamp shall be installed.
(14)Required Safety Features
a. All SWECS shall be designed with an automatic overspeed control to render the system inoperable when winds are blowing in excess of the speeds for which the machine is designed.
b. All SWECS shall have a manually operable method to render the system inoperable in the event of a structural or mechanical failure of any part of the system including the automatic overspeed control.
c. All SWECS shall be designed with an automatic control to render the system inoperable in case of loss of utility power to prevent the SWECS from supplying power to a de-energized electrical distribution system.
d. Any SWECS thereof declared to be unsafe by the Code Enforcement Department by reason of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation, obsolescence, fire hazard, disaster, damage or abandonment is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and shall be abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal in accordance with the procedures set forth in the City of Lake Mills Code of Ordinances.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Alternative Energy and the Code Rewrite
There is a growing interest in the use of small scale wind power on residential properties nationwide. The City has now received several inquiries from property owners related to wind turbines, the City is in the process of reviewing our zoning codes regarding alternate energy. Staff had reviewed the issue with the hope of developing a city-wide perspective for appropriate amendments to the zoning code regarding the placement and use of alternative energy systems. The State and Courts keep the target moving and any codes will have to be flexible and easily changed.
Alternative energy is usually associated with renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectricity, earth and biomass and often has the co-benefit of producing electricity or thermal energy without depleting valuable natural resources.
Given rising energy costs in comparison to personal income, the City is seeing increasing interest in renewable energy sources by residential, commercial and industrial uses within the corporate limits. The City needs to consider alternative energy development accommodations where the technology is viable and the environmental, economic and social impacts can be mitigated. Ultimately, our local plans and ordinances should help promote and encourage development of alternative energy sources in a manner that is consistent with our other goals and plans. The City will need to consider how to balance the conflicting environmental and economic issues of our zoning process when evaluating specific alternative energy proposals. These small-scale projects can provide a valuable contribution to the energy and environmental needs of our community and should not be rejected just because their outputs are small. The community needs to be engaged now in the planning process so that alternative energy development impacts can be minimized through careful consideration of location, scale, design and other measures.
The City’s ability to regulate alternative energy is set in Wis. Stat. §§66.0401, §§66.032 and Wis. Stat. §§66.0403 which addresses the authority of municipalities to regulate solar and wind energy systems. It limits the usual reach of the City’s authority to regulate for the health, safety, and public welfare by specifying three situations where regulation is allowed - when the regulation is to preserve or protect public health or safety, when it does not significantly impact the efficiency or cost of the solar or wind energy system, or when an alternative system of comparable cost and efficiency is available. At a minimum, several existing provisions of the City’s zoning code need to be amended to be consistent with state law and there also are other City ordinances that should be amended to better reflect current solar and wind energy technology.
Alternative energy is usually associated with renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectricity, earth and biomass and often has the co-benefit of producing electricity or thermal energy without depleting valuable natural resources.
Given rising energy costs in comparison to personal income, the City is seeing increasing interest in renewable energy sources by residential, commercial and industrial uses within the corporate limits. The City needs to consider alternative energy development accommodations where the technology is viable and the environmental, economic and social impacts can be mitigated. Ultimately, our local plans and ordinances should help promote and encourage development of alternative energy sources in a manner that is consistent with our other goals and plans. The City will need to consider how to balance the conflicting environmental and economic issues of our zoning process when evaluating specific alternative energy proposals. These small-scale projects can provide a valuable contribution to the energy and environmental needs of our community and should not be rejected just because their outputs are small. The community needs to be engaged now in the planning process so that alternative energy development impacts can be minimized through careful consideration of location, scale, design and other measures.
The City’s ability to regulate alternative energy is set in Wis. Stat. §§66.0401, §§66.032 and Wis. Stat. §§66.0403 which addresses the authority of municipalities to regulate solar and wind energy systems. It limits the usual reach of the City’s authority to regulate for the health, safety, and public welfare by specifying three situations where regulation is allowed - when the regulation is to preserve or protect public health or safety, when it does not significantly impact the efficiency or cost of the solar or wind energy system, or when an alternative system of comparable cost and efficiency is available. At a minimum, several existing provisions of the City’s zoning code need to be amended to be consistent with state law and there also are other City ordinances that should be amended to better reflect current solar and wind energy technology.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Rock Lake Dam
Rock Lake is a natural drainage lake – there are a few inlets and one outlet. In 1865, a mill dam was constructed for the purposes of hydraulic power production. This mill ceased operation in 1933 and the mill property was sold to the City of Lake Mills in 1935. In 1945, the location of the dam was moved to the outlet of the millpond where it remains today. Over the years, there were some minor changes made to minimum and maximum water levels for different times of the year. The water levels were determined by the Department of Natural Resources who took into account fish management, recreation, and shoreline erosion.
The dam consists of 7 boards that are each about 4 feet long and 6 inches wide. The bottom board has never been taken out because it is too hard to extract due to the force of the water. That bottom board sits in a concrete base so that about 3 inches of the board is in the water path. Besides the dam, the other water flow confinement is the culvert that is just downstream from the dam. This culvert is 4 feet in diameter.
The dam consists of 7 boards that are each about 4 feet long and 6 inches wide. The bottom board has never been taken out because it is too hard to extract due to the force of the water. That bottom board sits in a concrete base so that about 3 inches of the board is in the water path. Besides the dam, the other water flow confinement is the culvert that is just downstream from the dam. This culvert is 4 feet in diameter.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Decision-Making
The fundamental job of a governing body member is to make policy decisions for his or her municipality. Unless decisions are based on full, relevant and accurate information and with a clear objective in view, the results are likely to be mediocre at best and meaningless at worst. In fact, in view of the part-time, temporary involvement of most local governing body officials in Wisconsin, the political pressures under which local decisions must be made and the frequent lack of up-to-date, accurate, verifiable information available to these decision-makers, the process has worked surprisingly well.
Decisions of local governing bodies generally fall into three categories: 1) those regarding projects or facilities; 2) those with respect to services, and 3) those relating to the need for regulations affecting the health, safety or welfare of the municipality’s residents. See Wright, J. Ward, and Benson, Virginia, “Your Local Economy: Does City Hall Play a Role?”, Nation’s Cities, September 1972, p. 45.
The process of making decisions with respect to any of these three principal areas of municipal activity can be divided into six stages:
1. “Need. The process whereby it is determined that something needs to be done. Such determination is usually based on an awareness of community conditions.
2. “Solutions. The process of determining which government is responsible, what resources are available, what the scope of responsibility is, and the manner in which an answer to the problem should be formulated.
3. “Projects. The development of plans for specific allocations of resources to specified agencies to undertake given actions for specified purposes.
4. “Approval. The official act by which action is authorized and resources are allocated.
5. “Administration. The action of management in issuing directives, supervising activities, reviewing results, and making required adjustments.
6. “Evaluation. The process of reporting and reviewing, whereby the policy-makers may determine the success or failure of the programs, in whole or in part, in meeting the needs defined in the first stage.”
Unfortunately, substantial impediments frequently exist which diminish effective city council or village board involvement in all stages of a decision. These include, among others, the existence of semi-independent agencies financed and/or sanctioned by state and federal largess and laws which may have progressed to the fourth stage of the process before bringing a project to the council or board for consideration and approval. In addition, there may be a large time span over which projects or issues may extend, resulting in numerous changes in the composition of the decision-making body or a change in attitude of the citizenry or even a change in need for the project or service itself which can hamper effective decision-making.
Perhaps, in view of these impediments, governing body officials may have to console themselves with the satisfaction of having made informed and intelligent decisions after thorough study and deliberation even if in retrospect the particular project, service or rule fails to achieve its anticipated goal.
Decisions of local governing bodies generally fall into three categories: 1) those regarding projects or facilities; 2) those with respect to services, and 3) those relating to the need for regulations affecting the health, safety or welfare of the municipality’s residents. See Wright, J. Ward, and Benson, Virginia, “Your Local Economy: Does City Hall Play a Role?”, Nation’s Cities, September 1972, p. 45.
The process of making decisions with respect to any of these three principal areas of municipal activity can be divided into six stages:
1. “Need. The process whereby it is determined that something needs to be done. Such determination is usually based on an awareness of community conditions.
2. “Solutions. The process of determining which government is responsible, what resources are available, what the scope of responsibility is, and the manner in which an answer to the problem should be formulated.
3. “Projects. The development of plans for specific allocations of resources to specified agencies to undertake given actions for specified purposes.
4. “Approval. The official act by which action is authorized and resources are allocated.
5. “Administration. The action of management in issuing directives, supervising activities, reviewing results, and making required adjustments.
6. “Evaluation. The process of reporting and reviewing, whereby the policy-makers may determine the success or failure of the programs, in whole or in part, in meeting the needs defined in the first stage.”
Unfortunately, substantial impediments frequently exist which diminish effective city council or village board involvement in all stages of a decision. These include, among others, the existence of semi-independent agencies financed and/or sanctioned by state and federal largess and laws which may have progressed to the fourth stage of the process before bringing a project to the council or board for consideration and approval. In addition, there may be a large time span over which projects or issues may extend, resulting in numerous changes in the composition of the decision-making body or a change in attitude of the citizenry or even a change in need for the project or service itself which can hamper effective decision-making.
Perhaps, in view of these impediments, governing body officials may have to console themselves with the satisfaction of having made informed and intelligent decisions after thorough study and deliberation even if in retrospect the particular project, service or rule fails to achieve its anticipated goal.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Positive Environment
Every now and then a City Council gets a chronic complainer. I’m not saying that a little complaining isn’t justified, but working around the chronic complainers makes me generally unhappy at work. It’s a fact that negative people are highly contagious and one chronic complainer can easily get an entire city down. I believe councils can have three types of members; the peacebraker, peacefaker and peacemaker.
The peacebraker thrives on conflict and will create conflict where there should be none. I’ve worked with councilors like this in the past. If you say the pavement is black, they say it is gray. This councilor sees every city employee as another excellent opportunity to complain.
The peacefaker wants peace at any cost. They generally will let stronger members dominate them and not express their concerns at the cost of creating conflict. They tend to feel alienated and can create distrust and suspicion within the council and with the public. These councilors tend to accommodate the peacebrakers and eventually become negative or depressed.
The peacemaker tells the truth, communicates their concerns and hopes. They respect the people they are dealing with and work towards producing the best outcome for the city. They are not afraid of conflict, but they do not prolong it. Cooperation is the key word rather then I got what I wanted. These councilors find peacebreakers to be grandstanders and timewasters
I believe that Councils that work together in a positive and cooperative manner are taking the first step in gaining the public’s trust. Understanding your role within the structure and working as a team to improve the community builds trust.
The peacebraker thrives on conflict and will create conflict where there should be none. I’ve worked with councilors like this in the past. If you say the pavement is black, they say it is gray. This councilor sees every city employee as another excellent opportunity to complain.
The peacefaker wants peace at any cost. They generally will let stronger members dominate them and not express their concerns at the cost of creating conflict. They tend to feel alienated and can create distrust and suspicion within the council and with the public. These councilors tend to accommodate the peacebrakers and eventually become negative or depressed.
The peacemaker tells the truth, communicates their concerns and hopes. They respect the people they are dealing with and work towards producing the best outcome for the city. They are not afraid of conflict, but they do not prolong it. Cooperation is the key word rather then I got what I wanted. These councilors find peacebreakers to be grandstanders and timewasters
I believe that Councils that work together in a positive and cooperative manner are taking the first step in gaining the public’s trust. Understanding your role within the structure and working as a team to improve the community builds trust.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Budget Comments
Ahhh, the annual budget season is upon us. The jockeying for position as the toughest council member on the city staff has already begun. The concerns over this year's budget are unwarranted because we adequately prepared for the state’s action by not filling a retirement position this spring. This means we have not had to take any further action to adjust this year's budget. The overall city financial position is really quite good and does not justify any radical action at this time.
The city has never received a great deal of state aid, so a 7.6% cut is relatively small. We have always been heavily property tax dependent and the inelastic nature of the property tax cushions the city from severe revenue swings. The city as of June 30th has 73% of revenues budgeted and 43% of expenses budgeted. This is actually slightly better than our historical trends. The numbers can be a little deceiving because the city receives the vast majority of their revenue in January from property tax collections and the city’s expenses are mainly generated during the summer (except for snowy winters).
The overall design of the state’s revenue limits appears to allow enough increase for the city to maintain existing levels of service for next year. The real budget battles this year are going to be over philosophic issues of budget growth and learning the nature of city processes.
The city has never received a great deal of state aid, so a 7.6% cut is relatively small. We have always been heavily property tax dependent and the inelastic nature of the property tax cushions the city from severe revenue swings. The city as of June 30th has 73% of revenues budgeted and 43% of expenses budgeted. This is actually slightly better than our historical trends. The numbers can be a little deceiving because the city receives the vast majority of their revenue in January from property tax collections and the city’s expenses are mainly generated during the summer (except for snowy winters).
The overall design of the state’s revenue limits appears to allow enough increase for the city to maintain existing levels of service for next year. The real budget battles this year are going to be over philosophic issues of budget growth and learning the nature of city processes.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Alley Vacation
The vacation of public right of way requires review by City Plan Commission and Public Works Board and approval by the City Council. Notice is also forwarded to all public utility companies.
Because all public streets are designed so as to provide a safe, convenient and functional system for vehicular traffic, and having such width, gradient, location and structural quality as to accommodate prospective traffic as determined by existing and probable future land and building uses. Probable traffic includes fire trucks, ambulances and other vehicles of substantial width, length and weight that need streets built to the city standards.
A right-of-way is a strip of land acquired by reservation, forced dedication, or condemnation for the place of streets, alleys and public appurtenances. It is intended for traffic movement, utilities, and similar public uses such as roads, clear zones for traffic safety, sidewalks and pathways for pedestrian safety, utility services above, at, and below ground. A right-of-way may extend anywhere from 25 to 50 feet in both directions from the centerline of the road onto the lawn area. Rights-of-way vary in width, with most being 60 to 80 feet wide.
Assets within the right of way may include the pavement, curb, gutter, sidewalks, vegetation, stormwater drainage systems and/or ditches, sewer and water lines, telephone, power, gas and cable TV.
During the winter season, the right-of-way behind the roadway is reserved for snow storage to expedite snow removal. This area may extend seven feet or more beyond the road edge. Landscaping in these areas is limited to city standards only.
Minor streets make up the great majority of Lake Mill’s street system. These streets serve local circulation needs – auto, bicycle, and pedestrian – and provide access to land uses located along the street. Local service streets should not carry significant volumes of through traffic. Many reported neighborhood traffic problems are concerned with the interactions of autos and residential livability on local service streets.
Collectors are intended to be the links between the local service streets and major city traffic streets. Shorter trips and access to commercial uses should also be emphasized in the design of neighborhood collectors.
Standard Arterial streets are similar to neighborhood collectors, except they serve larger geographical areas and/or more concentrated development.
Primary Arterial streets are designed to serve trip movements between different districts of the City and to allow access to abutting properties without disrupting traffic flow.
Principal Arterials are intended to serve heavy volumes of regional traffic and are access-restricted facilities, such as the Beltline in Madison.
The vacation of a public right of way must be considered very carefully because of the health, safety and welfare reasons for the original dedication. The following is the state law regarding vacations.
RIGHT OF WAY VACATION PROCESS
If the council initiates a platted street or road alteration or discontinuance:
• A public hearing on the passage of the resolution must be set not less than 40 days after the introduction of the resolution; and
• The notice of the public hearing must state when and where the resolution will be acted upon and what platted street or road, or part thereof, is proposed to be altered or discontinued; and
• This notice must be published as a "Class 3 Notice" as per Ch. 985, Wis. Stats. (see example this section); and • The owners must be served with a notice in the manner required for the service of a summons in the circuit court at least 30 days prior to the public hearing.
PROCESS
In addition, the procedure in s. 840.11, Wis. Stats., must also be followed:
• A notice of pendency (notice of lis pendens) must be filed in the register of deeds office at or prior to the time the application to vacate (by court action), or alter or discontinue (by resolution) a street or road must be filed with the proper officer.
• The notice of pendency must contain the persons name, a brief statement of the object thereof and a map and description of the land that is affected.
• Failure to comply with the provisions of s. 840.11, Wis. Stats., shall render all proceedings based on the application void.
REVERSION
Wis. Stats. Upon discontinuance, a platted street or road right-of-way reverts:
• To the original owner(s) if that can be ascertained.
-OR-
• The land is equally divided between the owners on either side of the centerline of the discontinued street or road.
Because all public streets are designed so as to provide a safe, convenient and functional system for vehicular traffic, and having such width, gradient, location and structural quality as to accommodate prospective traffic as determined by existing and probable future land and building uses. Probable traffic includes fire trucks, ambulances and other vehicles of substantial width, length and weight that need streets built to the city standards.
A right-of-way is a strip of land acquired by reservation, forced dedication, or condemnation for the place of streets, alleys and public appurtenances. It is intended for traffic movement, utilities, and similar public uses such as roads, clear zones for traffic safety, sidewalks and pathways for pedestrian safety, utility services above, at, and below ground. A right-of-way may extend anywhere from 25 to 50 feet in both directions from the centerline of the road onto the lawn area. Rights-of-way vary in width, with most being 60 to 80 feet wide.
Assets within the right of way may include the pavement, curb, gutter, sidewalks, vegetation, stormwater drainage systems and/or ditches, sewer and water lines, telephone, power, gas and cable TV.
During the winter season, the right-of-way behind the roadway is reserved for snow storage to expedite snow removal. This area may extend seven feet or more beyond the road edge. Landscaping in these areas is limited to city standards only.
Minor streets make up the great majority of Lake Mill’s street system. These streets serve local circulation needs – auto, bicycle, and pedestrian – and provide access to land uses located along the street. Local service streets should not carry significant volumes of through traffic. Many reported neighborhood traffic problems are concerned with the interactions of autos and residential livability on local service streets.
Collectors are intended to be the links between the local service streets and major city traffic streets. Shorter trips and access to commercial uses should also be emphasized in the design of neighborhood collectors.
Standard Arterial streets are similar to neighborhood collectors, except they serve larger geographical areas and/or more concentrated development.
Primary Arterial streets are designed to serve trip movements between different districts of the City and to allow access to abutting properties without disrupting traffic flow.
Principal Arterials are intended to serve heavy volumes of regional traffic and are access-restricted facilities, such as the Beltline in Madison.
The vacation of a public right of way must be considered very carefully because of the health, safety and welfare reasons for the original dedication. The following is the state law regarding vacations.
RIGHT OF WAY VACATION PROCESS
If the council initiates a platted street or road alteration or discontinuance:
• A public hearing on the passage of the resolution must be set not less than 40 days after the introduction of the resolution; and
• The notice of the public hearing must state when and where the resolution will be acted upon and what platted street or road, or part thereof, is proposed to be altered or discontinued; and
• This notice must be published as a "Class 3 Notice" as per Ch. 985, Wis. Stats. (see example this section); and • The owners must be served with a notice in the manner required for the service of a summons in the circuit court at least 30 days prior to the public hearing.
PROCESS
In addition, the procedure in s. 840.11, Wis. Stats., must also be followed:
• A notice of pendency (notice of lis pendens) must be filed in the register of deeds office at or prior to the time the application to vacate (by court action), or alter or discontinue (by resolution) a street or road must be filed with the proper officer.
• The notice of pendency must contain the persons name, a brief statement of the object thereof and a map and description of the land that is affected.
• Failure to comply with the provisions of s. 840.11, Wis. Stats., shall render all proceedings based on the application void.
REVERSION
Wis. Stats. Upon discontinuance, a platted street or road right-of-way reverts:
• To the original owner(s) if that can be ascertained.
-OR-
• The land is equally divided between the owners on either side of the centerline of the discontinued street or road.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Business Opportunity in Lake Mills?
The State of Wisconsin has implemented a new Economic Development Tax Credit which replaces five former Wisconsin tax credit programs - the Airport Development Zone, Agricultural Development Zone, Community Development Zone, Enterprise Development Zone and Technology Zone programs. The new tax credit program eliminates all former zone boundaries, as well as creating new ways in which existing Wisconsin businesses or businesses relocating to Wisconsin can earn tax credits.
The tax credits, which are nonrefundable and nontransferable, must be applied against a certified business's Wisconsin income tax liability. In the case of an S-Corporation, LLC or other pass-through entity, tax credits flow through to the owners in the same way as the income. The tax credits have a 15-year carryforward.
Eligible Activities:
Job Creation – Tax credits can be earned through the creation of new, full-time positions that pay at least $10.88 per hour. Businesses must create the jobs within three years and maintain them for at least two additional years. Tax credits will be released on an annual basis, in direct proportion to the number of jobs created.
Capital investment – Tax credits may be earned through capital investment for property and equipment. Expenditures for working capital, employment costs, moving costs, intellectual property and unrelated fees and permits are not eligible. Tax credits will be released on an annual basis, as eligible expenditures take place. Businesses whose primary activity includes such things as retail, commercial development, recreation, entertainment or direct health care are not eligible to earn tax credits through capital investment.
Employee Training – Tax credits may be earned through many types of training provided to existing and new employees in full-time positions. Training must be related to a specific project. Eligible training costs include trainee wages, trainer costs and trainer materials. Tax credits will be released on an annual basis, as eligible training costs are incurred.
Corporate Headquarters – Tax credits may be earned by businesses locating global, national divisional or regional headquarters operations to Wisconsin or by businesses whose existing Wisconsin headquarters are at risk of leaving the state. Credits will be allocated on a per-job basis.
Allocation of Tax Credits
Commerce will certify applicants that have met the eligibility criteria and will allocate tax credits. In determining the allocation of tax credits, the Department will consider the following:
Whether the project will serve a public purpose;
Whether the project might not occur without the allocation of tax credits;
The extent to which the project will be financed with funds not provided by the State of Wisconsin;
Whether the project will displace workers in Wisconsin;
The extent to which the project will retain or increase employment in Wisconsin;
The extent to which the project will contribute to the economic growth of Wisconsin and to the well-being of Wisconsin residents;
Whether the project will be located in an economically distressed area;
Whether the project will be located in a rural area;
The extent to which the project will increase the geographic diversity of available tax benefits throughout Wisconsin;
The financial soundness of the business;
The ability of the business to utilize Wisconsin income tax credits; and
Any previous financial assistance that the business received from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.
Application materials can be obtained by contacting the Department of Commerce's Area Development Managers.
The tax credits, which are nonrefundable and nontransferable, must be applied against a certified business's Wisconsin income tax liability. In the case of an S-Corporation, LLC or other pass-through entity, tax credits flow through to the owners in the same way as the income. The tax credits have a 15-year carryforward.
Eligible Activities:
Job Creation – Tax credits can be earned through the creation of new, full-time positions that pay at least $10.88 per hour. Businesses must create the jobs within three years and maintain them for at least two additional years. Tax credits will be released on an annual basis, in direct proportion to the number of jobs created.
Capital investment – Tax credits may be earned through capital investment for property and equipment. Expenditures for working capital, employment costs, moving costs, intellectual property and unrelated fees and permits are not eligible. Tax credits will be released on an annual basis, as eligible expenditures take place. Businesses whose primary activity includes such things as retail, commercial development, recreation, entertainment or direct health care are not eligible to earn tax credits through capital investment.
Employee Training – Tax credits may be earned through many types of training provided to existing and new employees in full-time positions. Training must be related to a specific project. Eligible training costs include trainee wages, trainer costs and trainer materials. Tax credits will be released on an annual basis, as eligible training costs are incurred.
Corporate Headquarters – Tax credits may be earned by businesses locating global, national divisional or regional headquarters operations to Wisconsin or by businesses whose existing Wisconsin headquarters are at risk of leaving the state. Credits will be allocated on a per-job basis.
Allocation of Tax Credits
Commerce will certify applicants that have met the eligibility criteria and will allocate tax credits. In determining the allocation of tax credits, the Department will consider the following:
Whether the project will serve a public purpose;
Whether the project might not occur without the allocation of tax credits;
The extent to which the project will be financed with funds not provided by the State of Wisconsin;
Whether the project will displace workers in Wisconsin;
The extent to which the project will retain or increase employment in Wisconsin;
The extent to which the project will contribute to the economic growth of Wisconsin and to the well-being of Wisconsin residents;
Whether the project will be located in an economically distressed area;
Whether the project will be located in a rural area;
The extent to which the project will increase the geographic diversity of available tax benefits throughout Wisconsin;
The financial soundness of the business;
The ability of the business to utilize Wisconsin income tax credits; and
Any previous financial assistance that the business received from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.
Application materials can be obtained by contacting the Department of Commerce's Area Development Managers.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Federal Climate Change Legislation Moves Forward. By Roy Thilly
At the end of June, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a massive energy bill that focuses on climate change. The bill would establish a federal cap and trade system to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases, including CO2 from power plants. Under a cap and trade program, a cap on total emissions from covered sectors (transportation, industry and utilities) would be set and the cap would decline each year. Allowances to emit one metric ton of CO2 would be created up to the cap amount. Emitters would have to surrender an allowance for each metric ton emitted. The proposed legislation would lower emissions by 2020 to a level 17% below 2005 emissions. The utility sector is responsible for approximately 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions that would be covered by the program, with a substantial portion coming from coal-fired power plants.
Many were surprised that the House was able to muster sufficient votes to pass this legislation. Many tradeoffs are involved in the final bill, which is over 1,400 pages long. Purportedly, 300 pages were introduced at 3:00 a.m. of the morning that the bill passed! The issue now moves to the U.S. Senate where passage is likely to be more difficult. Coal-dependent states like Wisconsin will be disproportionately affected by this legislation. We expect Senators from the Midwest to push hard for greater cost protections for the region.
Key issues for Lake Mills and WPPI in this debate are insuring that allowances are allocated at little or no cost to utilities rather than auctioned. An allocation system will substantially lessen the cost of the program. Some have proposed that all allowances be auctioned instead. We are very concerned that an auction could lead to high prices requiring significant rate increases, as well as allowance price volatility.
Many were surprised that the House was able to muster sufficient votes to pass this legislation. Many tradeoffs are involved in the final bill, which is over 1,400 pages long. Purportedly, 300 pages were introduced at 3:00 a.m. of the morning that the bill passed! The issue now moves to the U.S. Senate where passage is likely to be more difficult. Coal-dependent states like Wisconsin will be disproportionately affected by this legislation. We expect Senators from the Midwest to push hard for greater cost protections for the region.
Key issues for Lake Mills and WPPI in this debate are insuring that allowances are allocated at little or no cost to utilities rather than auctioned. An allocation system will substantially lessen the cost of the program. Some have proposed that all allowances be auctioned instead. We are very concerned that an auction could lead to high prices requiring significant rate increases, as well as allowance price volatility.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Street Department
The Public Works Street Department is very versatile in its day-to-day operations using its employees to their fullest potential. The Street Department is responsible for maintaining all city streets, alleys and parking facilities. The work involves 20% construction, 40% maintenance and 40% repairs. The Street Department staff constructs, maintains and repairs the following components of the City’s infrastructure:
· Streets and alleys
· Catch basins and storm sewers
· Sidewalks and curb and gutter
· Stop signs, street signs, informational signs, etc.
· Equipment Maintenance
· Leaf, brush and branch Collection
· Mowing public property
· City-owned public parking facilities
· Snow plowing, snow removal, sanding
· Reviews impacts of development projects
Reconstruction
Street reconstruction consists of rebuilding a street. Water mains, sanitary sewers, and storm sewers are improved if necessary as a part of this type of project. Street reconstruction includes new aggregate base, concrete curb and gutter, pavement, driveway approaches, and boulevard sod.
The purpose of the Comprehensive Pavement Management Strategies are to optimize the useful life of a street by scheduling Routine Maintenance, Preservation, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction activities at the appropriate times during the life of a street.
Rehabilitation
Strategies include bituminous edge mill and overlays, adding concrete curb and gutter and overlaying streets that do not have concrete curb and gutter, and a type of project that includes replacement of concrete curb and gutter followed by an overlay. All three of these projects provide the pavement with a structural improvement.
Preservation
This group includes surface treatments such as seal coats. Seal coats consist of applying an asphalt emulsion to an existing bituminous street and then applying an aggregate material on top of the emulsion. Seal coats help rejuvenate pavements that have become hard and brittle along with helping to provide a waterproof layer.
Routine Maintenance
This category includes most normal maintenance activities such as crack filling or joint sealing, and localized patching. Crews work throughout the year patching potholes, replacing street signs, sweeping streets; cleaning catch basins and storm sewer; striping streets; removing leaves and brush; replacing curbs; mowing of right-of-ways, detention ponds and other properties; clearing snow and ice and providing a variety of other services.
Reviews
Public Works also works with the City's civil engineering services for review, plan check and construction inspection of all subdivisions, review and approval of grading plans and inspections, plan check and construction inspection of all private and utility work in the public right of way and review of tree removal requests and permits.
· Streets and alleys
· Catch basins and storm sewers
· Sidewalks and curb and gutter
· Stop signs, street signs, informational signs, etc.
· Equipment Maintenance
· Leaf, brush and branch Collection
· Mowing public property
· City-owned public parking facilities
· Snow plowing, snow removal, sanding
· Reviews impacts of development projects
Reconstruction
Street reconstruction consists of rebuilding a street. Water mains, sanitary sewers, and storm sewers are improved if necessary as a part of this type of project. Street reconstruction includes new aggregate base, concrete curb and gutter, pavement, driveway approaches, and boulevard sod.
The purpose of the Comprehensive Pavement Management Strategies are to optimize the useful life of a street by scheduling Routine Maintenance, Preservation, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction activities at the appropriate times during the life of a street.
Rehabilitation
Strategies include bituminous edge mill and overlays, adding concrete curb and gutter and overlaying streets that do not have concrete curb and gutter, and a type of project that includes replacement of concrete curb and gutter followed by an overlay. All three of these projects provide the pavement with a structural improvement.
Preservation
This group includes surface treatments such as seal coats. Seal coats consist of applying an asphalt emulsion to an existing bituminous street and then applying an aggregate material on top of the emulsion. Seal coats help rejuvenate pavements that have become hard and brittle along with helping to provide a waterproof layer.
Routine Maintenance
This category includes most normal maintenance activities such as crack filling or joint sealing, and localized patching. Crews work throughout the year patching potholes, replacing street signs, sweeping streets; cleaning catch basins and storm sewer; striping streets; removing leaves and brush; replacing curbs; mowing of right-of-ways, detention ponds and other properties; clearing snow and ice and providing a variety of other services.
Reviews
Public Works also works with the City's civil engineering services for review, plan check and construction inspection of all subdivisions, review and approval of grading plans and inspections, plan check and construction inspection of all private and utility work in the public right of way and review of tree removal requests and permits.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tyranena Substation Activity
1. The majority of the foundations have been installed. The remaining foundations will be completed in the coming weeks.
2. Conduit and grounding should be installed in the next two weeks,
3. The first of the two transformers was delivered on June 30th. The other transformer is expected to be delivered in late July or early August.
4. The majority of the equipment needed for the substation has been delivered and will be installed in the next two months.
5. The crushed stone surface for the substation will be placed during the week of July 27th.
6. Fence work is anticipated to begin the week of August 3rd.
7. The substation control building is scheduled to arrive in late August.
2. Conduit and grounding should be installed in the next two weeks,
3. The first of the two transformers was delivered on June 30th. The other transformer is expected to be delivered in late July or early August.
4. The majority of the equipment needed for the substation has been delivered and will be installed in the next two months.
5. The crushed stone surface for the substation will be placed during the week of July 27th.
6. Fence work is anticipated to begin the week of August 3rd.
7. The substation control building is scheduled to arrive in late August.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Construction This Week
TOPEKA DRIVE PROJECT, Strand Report
Curb and gutter was started by Yeske Construction on July 3rd and completed on July 7th. Concrete breaks on the work from July 3rd shows that the concrete is already above 3000 PSI.
BR Amon will start fine grading the base course July 8th.
The sequence going forward is expected to be binder paving, then sidewalk excavation and installation, then driveway aprons, then surface asphalt. BR Amon will be completing the sidewalk excavation. Yeske Construction will be installing the sidewalks and driveway aprons. BR Amon will be installing the asphalt pavement.
All sanitary sewer, water main, and storm sewer has been installed.
The project is currently on schedule and on budget.
This project has a completion date of July 31st.
PRAIRIE/OWEN/CP INTERCEPTOR RECONSTRUCTION, Strand Report
This project will replace an existing 10-inch clay sanitary pipe that is undersized for current and ultimate flows. New pipe, manholes, laterals, and pavement will be installed.
Project was advertised on July 2nd, and will be advertised on July 9th in the Leader.
Bid opening will be July 16th.
Expect to be under construction by the first half of August. The assumed sequence for the contractor is starting at the manhole near Stony Road and CP Avenue, and working north along CP to Owen Street. Then east along Owen to Prairie Avenue. Then north along Prairie to Mulberry Street.
The project has a base bid of 2,087 feet of 15-inch pipe and 813 feet of 18-inch pipe on CP Avenue, Owen Street, and Prairie Avenue to Mulberry Street.
The project has an alternative bid of an additional 1,070 feet of 15-inch pipe past Mulberry on Prairie Avenue.
This project has a completion date of October 16th for the base bid, and a completion date of November 13th if the alternative bid is accepted.
Curb and gutter was started by Yeske Construction on July 3rd and completed on July 7th. Concrete breaks on the work from July 3rd shows that the concrete is already above 3000 PSI.
BR Amon will start fine grading the base course July 8th.
The sequence going forward is expected to be binder paving, then sidewalk excavation and installation, then driveway aprons, then surface asphalt. BR Amon will be completing the sidewalk excavation. Yeske Construction will be installing the sidewalks and driveway aprons. BR Amon will be installing the asphalt pavement.
All sanitary sewer, water main, and storm sewer has been installed.
The project is currently on schedule and on budget.
This project has a completion date of July 31st.
PRAIRIE/OWEN/CP INTERCEPTOR RECONSTRUCTION, Strand Report
This project will replace an existing 10-inch clay sanitary pipe that is undersized for current and ultimate flows. New pipe, manholes, laterals, and pavement will be installed.
Project was advertised on July 2nd, and will be advertised on July 9th in the Leader.
Bid opening will be July 16th.
Expect to be under construction by the first half of August. The assumed sequence for the contractor is starting at the manhole near Stony Road and CP Avenue, and working north along CP to Owen Street. Then east along Owen to Prairie Avenue. Then north along Prairie to Mulberry Street.
The project has a base bid of 2,087 feet of 15-inch pipe and 813 feet of 18-inch pipe on CP Avenue, Owen Street, and Prairie Avenue to Mulberry Street.
The project has an alternative bid of an additional 1,070 feet of 15-inch pipe past Mulberry on Prairie Avenue.
This project has a completion date of October 16th for the base bid, and a completion date of November 13th if the alternative bid is accepted.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Traffic Calming
Transportation is a service that contributes substantially to the well being of our economies. Personal mobility, whether by bicycle, car, bus or aircraft, occupies a significant part of almost every citizen’s day. And virtually all household goods—furniture, food, appliances and clothing—are the result of often complex chains of supply, production and distribution in which transportation plays a critical part.
The resource requirements and byproducts of transportation also pose sobering environmental challenges for society. Landscape, noise, energy dependence, air and water quality, and perhaps even global climate are all profoundly affected by society’s choices about transportation. The safety and security of the transportation system is also tremendously important to quality of life and economic efficiency.
Traditionally, streets were designed to include sidewalks with sharp, relatively square corners, a canopy of trees planted fairly close together in the terrace between the curb and sidewalk, and slightly narrower streets than those we typically build today. In contrast, post-WWII streets have tended toward wider streets with rounder corners at intersections and other features that give the motorist a sense of relatively greater space. Originally driven by a concern with motorist safety, all of these features have effectively raised what engineers call the design speed on many of our streets. Ironically, these higher design speeds can often lead to literally higher driving speeds that then prompt neighborhood residents to complain to their local governments about the need for more police enforcement, stop signs, and traffic signals.
The response in the U.S. is a version of traffic calming that was practiced as early as the late 1960s and early 1970s in such places as Berkeley, CA, Seattle, WA and Eugene, OR. The first national study of traffic calming was completed circa 1980. It explored residential preferences related to traffic, collected performance data on speed humps, and reviewed legal issues. Almost 20 years later, with a track record in place, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded another study in 1998 which led to the ITE report, Traffic Calming: State of the Practice, by Reid Ewing. As compared to the 1980 study, this report goes beyond residential streets to major thoroughfares, beyond speed humps to a toolbox of calming measures, and beyond legal issues to policy, procedural, and political challenges.
Nationally, police departments are quick to point out that the typical methods of constant speed limit enforcement can be a prohibitively expensive proposition and, regardless, often fail to reduce average speeds except for those times when the enforcement is conspicuously present. Similarly, as traffic engineers often tell us, stop signs and signals can increase congestion and, perhaps surprisingly, an intersections accident rate, including injuries to pedestrians. The general intent of traffic calming is to make the motorists aware that they are traveling through areas where there are potential conflicts with pedestrians and bicyclist and to encourage them to drive through the area respectfully.
To address these issues, cities have employed the observable relationship between street designs, motorist’s perceptions, and vehicular speed to generate a toolbox of street elements designed to calm traffic. Definitions of traffic calming vary, but they all share the goal of reducing vehicle speeds, improving safety, and enhancing quality of life. Some include all three "Es," traffic education, enforcement, and engineering. Most definitions focus on engineering measures to change driver behavior. Some focus on engineering measures that compel drivers to slow down, excluding those that use barriers to divert traffic. This include such traditional strategies as sharper corner radii as well as newer approaches, including chicanes, traffic circles, and corners that bulb out slightly into an intersection to shorten crosswalks.
Given the complexities of the factors that create unsafe road conditions and the fact that compliance rates to traffic laws are very low when unaccompanied by suitable designs, there is a need for investments in designs that resolve these problems. Researchers, practitioners, and community activists in Europe, Canada, and the United States after conducting before and after studies for the past two decades, have concurred in the success of traffic-calming designs in mitigating these problems. On the surface, the costs for retrofitting these designs may seem quite high, but a deeper analysis shows that the benefits accrued by these designs far outweigh the costs. Additionally, accidents caused by unsafe roads could lead to filing of expensive law suits.
The choker and pillars installed on E. Lake Street are designed to take a dangerous mid-block crosswalk and improve its safety through a design that encourages drivers to respect the rights of pedestrians. If the right of way is only for motorist, then the choker should be removed. If the right of way is for multiple forms of transportation, the choker and pillars are doing their job. The driver is identifying a hazard that requires them to slow down, all the time, and makes this intersection safer for pedestrians. They would be required to slow down for the pedestrians by law, but we know they rarely do. Now they are slowing down for the choker and pillars and the result is that the pedestrians are safer.
The resource requirements and byproducts of transportation also pose sobering environmental challenges for society. Landscape, noise, energy dependence, air and water quality, and perhaps even global climate are all profoundly affected by society’s choices about transportation. The safety and security of the transportation system is also tremendously important to quality of life and economic efficiency.
Traditionally, streets were designed to include sidewalks with sharp, relatively square corners, a canopy of trees planted fairly close together in the terrace between the curb and sidewalk, and slightly narrower streets than those we typically build today. In contrast, post-WWII streets have tended toward wider streets with rounder corners at intersections and other features that give the motorist a sense of relatively greater space. Originally driven by a concern with motorist safety, all of these features have effectively raised what engineers call the design speed on many of our streets. Ironically, these higher design speeds can often lead to literally higher driving speeds that then prompt neighborhood residents to complain to their local governments about the need for more police enforcement, stop signs, and traffic signals.
The response in the U.S. is a version of traffic calming that was practiced as early as the late 1960s and early 1970s in such places as Berkeley, CA, Seattle, WA and Eugene, OR. The first national study of traffic calming was completed circa 1980. It explored residential preferences related to traffic, collected performance data on speed humps, and reviewed legal issues. Almost 20 years later, with a track record in place, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded another study in 1998 which led to the ITE report, Traffic Calming: State of the Practice, by Reid Ewing. As compared to the 1980 study, this report goes beyond residential streets to major thoroughfares, beyond speed humps to a toolbox of calming measures, and beyond legal issues to policy, procedural, and political challenges.
Nationally, police departments are quick to point out that the typical methods of constant speed limit enforcement can be a prohibitively expensive proposition and, regardless, often fail to reduce average speeds except for those times when the enforcement is conspicuously present. Similarly, as traffic engineers often tell us, stop signs and signals can increase congestion and, perhaps surprisingly, an intersections accident rate, including injuries to pedestrians. The general intent of traffic calming is to make the motorists aware that they are traveling through areas where there are potential conflicts with pedestrians and bicyclist and to encourage them to drive through the area respectfully.
To address these issues, cities have employed the observable relationship between street designs, motorist’s perceptions, and vehicular speed to generate a toolbox of street elements designed to calm traffic. Definitions of traffic calming vary, but they all share the goal of reducing vehicle speeds, improving safety, and enhancing quality of life. Some include all three "Es," traffic education, enforcement, and engineering. Most definitions focus on engineering measures to change driver behavior. Some focus on engineering measures that compel drivers to slow down, excluding those that use barriers to divert traffic. This include such traditional strategies as sharper corner radii as well as newer approaches, including chicanes, traffic circles, and corners that bulb out slightly into an intersection to shorten crosswalks.
Given the complexities of the factors that create unsafe road conditions and the fact that compliance rates to traffic laws are very low when unaccompanied by suitable designs, there is a need for investments in designs that resolve these problems. Researchers, practitioners, and community activists in Europe, Canada, and the United States after conducting before and after studies for the past two decades, have concurred in the success of traffic-calming designs in mitigating these problems. On the surface, the costs for retrofitting these designs may seem quite high, but a deeper analysis shows that the benefits accrued by these designs far outweigh the costs. Additionally, accidents caused by unsafe roads could lead to filing of expensive law suits.
The choker and pillars installed on E. Lake Street are designed to take a dangerous mid-block crosswalk and improve its safety through a design that encourages drivers to respect the rights of pedestrians. If the right of way is only for motorist, then the choker should be removed. If the right of way is for multiple forms of transportation, the choker and pillars are doing their job. The driver is identifying a hazard that requires them to slow down, all the time, and makes this intersection safer for pedestrians. They would be required to slow down for the pedestrians by law, but we know they rarely do. Now they are slowing down for the choker and pillars and the result is that the pedestrians are safer.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Public Works Board and CIP
The Lake Mills Capital Improvement Plan is a tool to assess the long-term capital project requirements of the city and to establish funding of high-priority projects in a timely and cost-effective fashion. Development of the Capital Improvement Plan is intended to ensure that policy makers are responsible to residents and businesses of the community with respect to the expenditure of public funds. A Capital Improvement Plan also promotes the provision of continuous efficient services. The written plan identifies and describes capital projects, the years in which funding each project is to occur and the method of funding. While a Capital Improvement Plan may be designed to forecast any period of time, it generally extends beyond the current operating cycle and usually covers a three to five year time frame.
The Lake Mills Public Works Board prepares the Capital Improvement Plan and makes a recommendation regarding the Capital Improvement Plan to the City Council. The first step the PWB uses in the capital planning process is to have the city manager organize, direct and assist all other parties involved in the capital planning process. In addition, the city manager determines the content of the plan and oversees drafting of the plan. The other parties involved in the capital planning process are typically department heads and consultants.
The information included in the Capital Improvement Plan facilitates the prioritizing of projects. Accordingly, the requests include the following information:
Project Description: A description of the proposed construction project.
Existing Condition: A description of the existing condition to be alleviated by the project.
Goals And Benefits: The goals and benefits to be derived through the construction project.
Funding Schedule: The estimated cost of the project and the timing for funding are set forth. Project timing is based on the assessment of need by the department manager and may be changed through the prioritizing process.
The Public Works Board will be working on the 2010 CIP at their next meeting.
The Lake Mills Public Works Board prepares the Capital Improvement Plan and makes a recommendation regarding the Capital Improvement Plan to the City Council. The first step the PWB uses in the capital planning process is to have the city manager organize, direct and assist all other parties involved in the capital planning process. In addition, the city manager determines the content of the plan and oversees drafting of the plan. The other parties involved in the capital planning process are typically department heads and consultants.
The information included in the Capital Improvement Plan facilitates the prioritizing of projects. Accordingly, the requests include the following information:
Project Description: A description of the proposed construction project.
Existing Condition: A description of the existing condition to be alleviated by the project.
Goals And Benefits: The goals and benefits to be derived through the construction project.
Funding Schedule: The estimated cost of the project and the timing for funding are set forth. Project timing is based on the assessment of need by the department manager and may be changed through the prioritizing process.
The Public Works Board will be working on the 2010 CIP at their next meeting.
Monday, July 6, 2009
City Assets and Liabilities
“For profit” corporations are interested in monitoring and managing liquidity which refers to how quickly an asset can be converted to cash (a three-month treasury note is probably more liquid than a water tower but less liquid than money in a checking account), solvency (refers to ability of a corporation to meet its long-term fixed expenses and to accomplish long-term expansion and growth) and profitability which refers to the residual assets after liabilities have been paid and is referred to as net worth. Corporations use an accounting equation to monitor the performance of these areas. The accounting equation A=L+E, where A stands for assets, L for liabilities, and E for equity, is a simple algebraic equation and a great technique for describing an economic unit and keeping track of its financial performance. This equation can be used at the beginning and end of an accounting cycle to show the business’s financial status and change in financial performance.
This equation communicates the central elements of an economic operation. In the equation, assets represents the resources of the unit (cash, buildings), liabilities are resources received from others that must be repaid (notes payable, accounts payable), and equity exhibits the contributions and distributions of owners (retained earnings, dividends).
Equity is a complex concept in that it includes results of operations and contributions and withdrawals of owners. The results of operations address whether revenues exceed or do not exceed expenses. Contributions are what the owners put in, hoping for a good return. Withdrawals are what the owners take out for themselves. The word equity is usually associated with business activities in that it connotes ownership. For example, the accounting equation can be rearranged in the form of:
A - L = E
Equity is a residual interest after all the liabilities have been taken out or paid by existing assets. The residual equity belongs to the owners. Equity is sometimes called net worth or how much a business is worth (on the books, not on the market) after paying all the liabilities. All private sector businesses set out to increase equity and profit/net income.
Most municipal activities, however, function quite differently than private sector businesses. First, municipal activities are not undertaken to achieve a profit. They provide needed services that are not effectively provided by the private sector because the optimal quality and quantity are difficult to measure. Second, the activities provided have no direct relationship between the benefits received and the taxes paid. Finally, participation in municipal activities and taxes is involuntary.[1]
Generally, municipal accounts are organized on the basis of funds and account groups, each of which is considered a separate entity. The operations of each fund are accounted for with a separate set of self-balancing accounts that comprise its assets, liabilities, fund equity, revenue, and expenditures, or expenses, as appropriate. The various funds are grouped into five generic fund types and three broad fund categories. These broad fund categories consist of governmental funds, proprietary funds and fiduciary funds. This report will focus on the governmental funds.
Municipal governmental funds are divided into three categories.[2] The General Fund is the general operating fund of the municipal. It is used to account for all the financial resources except those required to be accounted for in another fund. Special Revenue Funds (Special Assessment, CableTV, etc) are used to account for the proceeds of specific revenue sources (other than expendable trusts or major capital projects) that are legally restricted to expenditures for specific purposes. Capital Project Funds (TID) are used to account for financial resources to be used for the acquisition or construction of major capital facilities (other than those financed by proprietary funds and trust funds). Most funds are established by governing bodies (such as state legislatures, municipal councils, or school boards) to show restrictions on the planned use of resources or to measure, in the short term, the inflows and outflows arising from certain activities.
The municipal governmental fund method of accounting designates any generated municipal equity as a fund balance. With governmental fund accounting, the accounting equation is somewhat different from that used in business. For governmental funds, the equation takes the form: CA = CL + FB Current assets = Current liabilities + Fund balance[3]
Essentially the equation is comparable to that of the equation for businesses, although two changes are made. (1) Equity is changed to fund balance. Equity connotes ownership and, in government, citizens do not own any of the excess that might accumulate. Thus, fund balance is used to measure inflows over or under outflows. The balance, if positive, is what can be appropriated for later spending. The term fund is used since the equation relates to each individual governmental fund, not the government as a whole. As noted, if the inflows are greater than the outflows, then the fund has a surplus for the period and the legislature can authorize how it is to be used in the next period. Inflows and outflows are used instead of just revenues and expenditures since fund balances can actually be increased by borrowing, whereas equity in business cannot be increased by borrowing. (2) Notice also, the focus of the equation for governmental funds is on current assets and current liabilities since governmental funds revolve around annual budgets or annual appropriations. In governmental funds, items that go beyond a year are placed outside the funds, in account groups.
Assets have been divided into two main groups, expendable and capital. Expendable assets are cash, investments, supplies, and accounts payable that are all short term. Capital assets are land, buildings, and equipment which is all items not expected to become available for spending in the short term. When accountants are reporting both short and long term assets, they call it the economic resources measurement focus. When they are reporting only the current assets and liabilities, they call it the current financial measurement focus. When municipal accountants are using the economic resources measurement focus, they will report net assets (A – L = NA) and when they refer to the current financial measurement focus they will report the fund balance (CA – CL = FB).
[1] Gauthier, Stephen J. Government Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Reporting. Chicago, IL: Government Finance Officers Association, 2001.
[2] City of Lake Mills Financial Reports, Hawkins, Ash, Baptie and Company, 2006.
[3] Definitions and Elements of Financial Reporting. Sacco, John Dr. 29/04/1999. George Mason University. 11/10/2007..
This equation communicates the central elements of an economic operation. In the equation, assets represents the resources of the unit (cash, buildings), liabilities are resources received from others that must be repaid (notes payable, accounts payable), and equity exhibits the contributions and distributions of owners (retained earnings, dividends).
Equity is a complex concept in that it includes results of operations and contributions and withdrawals of owners. The results of operations address whether revenues exceed or do not exceed expenses. Contributions are what the owners put in, hoping for a good return. Withdrawals are what the owners take out for themselves. The word equity is usually associated with business activities in that it connotes ownership. For example, the accounting equation can be rearranged in the form of:
A - L = E
Equity is a residual interest after all the liabilities have been taken out or paid by existing assets. The residual equity belongs to the owners. Equity is sometimes called net worth or how much a business is worth (on the books, not on the market) after paying all the liabilities. All private sector businesses set out to increase equity and profit/net income.
Most municipal activities, however, function quite differently than private sector businesses. First, municipal activities are not undertaken to achieve a profit. They provide needed services that are not effectively provided by the private sector because the optimal quality and quantity are difficult to measure. Second, the activities provided have no direct relationship between the benefits received and the taxes paid. Finally, participation in municipal activities and taxes is involuntary.[1]
Generally, municipal accounts are organized on the basis of funds and account groups, each of which is considered a separate entity. The operations of each fund are accounted for with a separate set of self-balancing accounts that comprise its assets, liabilities, fund equity, revenue, and expenditures, or expenses, as appropriate. The various funds are grouped into five generic fund types and three broad fund categories. These broad fund categories consist of governmental funds, proprietary funds and fiduciary funds. This report will focus on the governmental funds.
Municipal governmental funds are divided into three categories.[2] The General Fund is the general operating fund of the municipal. It is used to account for all the financial resources except those required to be accounted for in another fund. Special Revenue Funds (Special Assessment, CableTV, etc) are used to account for the proceeds of specific revenue sources (other than expendable trusts or major capital projects) that are legally restricted to expenditures for specific purposes. Capital Project Funds (TID) are used to account for financial resources to be used for the acquisition or construction of major capital facilities (other than those financed by proprietary funds and trust funds). Most funds are established by governing bodies (such as state legislatures, municipal councils, or school boards) to show restrictions on the planned use of resources or to measure, in the short term, the inflows and outflows arising from certain activities.
The municipal governmental fund method of accounting designates any generated municipal equity as a fund balance. With governmental fund accounting, the accounting equation is somewhat different from that used in business. For governmental funds, the equation takes the form: CA = CL + FB Current assets = Current liabilities + Fund balance[3]
Essentially the equation is comparable to that of the equation for businesses, although two changes are made. (1) Equity is changed to fund balance. Equity connotes ownership and, in government, citizens do not own any of the excess that might accumulate. Thus, fund balance is used to measure inflows over or under outflows. The balance, if positive, is what can be appropriated for later spending. The term fund is used since the equation relates to each individual governmental fund, not the government as a whole. As noted, if the inflows are greater than the outflows, then the fund has a surplus for the period and the legislature can authorize how it is to be used in the next period. Inflows and outflows are used instead of just revenues and expenditures since fund balances can actually be increased by borrowing, whereas equity in business cannot be increased by borrowing. (2) Notice also, the focus of the equation for governmental funds is on current assets and current liabilities since governmental funds revolve around annual budgets or annual appropriations. In governmental funds, items that go beyond a year are placed outside the funds, in account groups.
Assets have been divided into two main groups, expendable and capital. Expendable assets are cash, investments, supplies, and accounts payable that are all short term. Capital assets are land, buildings, and equipment which is all items not expected to become available for spending in the short term. When accountants are reporting both short and long term assets, they call it the economic resources measurement focus. When they are reporting only the current assets and liabilities, they call it the current financial measurement focus. When municipal accountants are using the economic resources measurement focus, they will report net assets (A – L = NA) and when they refer to the current financial measurement focus they will report the fund balance (CA – CL = FB).
[1] Gauthier, Stephen J. Government Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Reporting. Chicago, IL: Government Finance Officers Association, 2001.
[2] City of Lake Mills Financial Reports, Hawkins, Ash, Baptie and Company, 2006.
[3] Definitions and Elements of Financial Reporting. Sacco, John Dr. 29/04/1999. George Mason University. 11/10/2007.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Mutual Respect
Understanding the role and scope of responsibility of the Council may sometimes appear to be a daunting task with the sometimes conflicting goals of properly representing the City, being concerned with the entire community, keeping the lines of communication open, being conscious of your relationship to the rest of the City Council and City staff, and establishing a good relationship with other members. Inappropriate actions at Council meetings will damage many relationships.
The Greek philosopher Theophrastus once noted that time is the most valuable thing a person can spend. Public meeting time is an exceptionally precious resource. Most local officials recognize this and avoid yielding to the temptation to grandstand.
The dictionary defines grandstanding as "playing or acting so as to impress on-lookers." Council meetings were not created as opportunities for council members to attempt to endear themselves to individuals or groups. The purpose of a council meeting is to accomplish the public's business as productively, efficiently and professionally as possible. Grandstanding is a subset of a larger category of problematic behavior which includes wasting meeting time with questions that would be unnecessary with advance preparation for the discussion or properly asked of staff before the meeting.
The individual council member cannot commit the City to positions without a vote or consent of the Council. Individual Council members should not attempt to direct staff themselves through these questions or imply Council positions to staff on issues without a Council vote. It is inappropriate to commit to things that the whole Council may not approve. Members should refer such matters to the administrative staff for review and either administrative or legislative action.
This also relates to bringing up citizen complaints at Council meetings… these should be handled as quickly and routinely as possible by proper referral to staff. Do not “invite” complaints to be dealt with at meetings. Council will not appreciate a “staged” show, and the complainant may not appreciate the delay involved. Many times these complaints require a change in City policy and should be handled through the correct policy development processes of the city.
Author John Updike observed, "A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience." Patience is the great lubricant of a civil society. To the extent that grandstanders and other meeting-time-wasters exhaust the public's and their colleagues' patience, the civility and health of our civic institutions is put at risk.
Governance of a City relies on the cooperative efforts of elected officials, who set policy, and City staff, who implement and administer the Council’s policies. Therefore, every effort should be made to be cooperative and show mutual respect for the contributions made by each individual for the good of the community.
The Greek philosopher Theophrastus once noted that time is the most valuable thing a person can spend. Public meeting time is an exceptionally precious resource. Most local officials recognize this and avoid yielding to the temptation to grandstand.
The dictionary defines grandstanding as "playing or acting so as to impress on-lookers." Council meetings were not created as opportunities for council members to attempt to endear themselves to individuals or groups. The purpose of a council meeting is to accomplish the public's business as productively, efficiently and professionally as possible. Grandstanding is a subset of a larger category of problematic behavior which includes wasting meeting time with questions that would be unnecessary with advance preparation for the discussion or properly asked of staff before the meeting.
The individual council member cannot commit the City to positions without a vote or consent of the Council. Individual Council members should not attempt to direct staff themselves through these questions or imply Council positions to staff on issues without a Council vote. It is inappropriate to commit to things that the whole Council may not approve. Members should refer such matters to the administrative staff for review and either administrative or legislative action.
This also relates to bringing up citizen complaints at Council meetings… these should be handled as quickly and routinely as possible by proper referral to staff. Do not “invite” complaints to be dealt with at meetings. Council will not appreciate a “staged” show, and the complainant may not appreciate the delay involved. Many times these complaints require a change in City policy and should be handled through the correct policy development processes of the city.
Author John Updike observed, "A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience." Patience is the great lubricant of a civil society. To the extent that grandstanders and other meeting-time-wasters exhaust the public's and their colleagues' patience, the civility and health of our civic institutions is put at risk.
Governance of a City relies on the cooperative efforts of elected officials, who set policy, and City staff, who implement and administer the Council’s policies. Therefore, every effort should be made to be cooperative and show mutual respect for the contributions made by each individual for the good of the community.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Municipal Building Project
Staff had an energy audit of the Lake Mills Municipal Building that was completed on 2/23/2009. Since construction, the building appeared to experienced above average utility bills, although there was no local comparison option. This winter, the sprinkler systems had numerous problems, and further maintenance exploration revealed large portions of non-conditioned air present in areas of sprinkler routing. The energy audit was requested to identify not only opportunities to reduce energy cost, but to reduce costly maintenance on building systems failures.
Built in 1999, the Municipal Building is a 30,000 sq. ft. brick and concrete masonry construction. The building houses municipal employees, the police department, a community center, and a council chamber. Because of the variety of departments, the operating hours vary throughout the building. The Police Department is utilized 24 hours a day. The municipal employees are generally present from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The community center and council chamber events are commonly in use during days, weekends and general off hours.
The Lake Mills Municipal Building has experienced high natural gas usage levels that appear to be related to the building envelope. Complaints about high gas bills and the questionable performance of the building envelope were illustrated in the bursting of fire sprinkler supply piping from freezing temperatures in early February. Repairs have been made to the sprinkler system but tiles in the suspended ceiling have been removed in many parts of the building to allow heat up into the areas where the sprinkler supply pipes are run to prevent another freezing.
Inspection of the attic, outside walls and areas above the suspended ceiling has revealed several areas that are open to outside non-conditioned air. The insulation levels and ventilation techniques do not appear to be completed as designed in the building plans. These areas of concern warrant closer investigation by a qualified independent contractor.
City staff is meeting next week with engineers and a contractor to develop solutions for the wall and insulation issues of the building. Hopefully, we will be able to develop specifications for correcting the problem. The City will take advantage of WPPI’s Member Loan program to finance this project, which offers up to a $500,000 zero interest 10 year loan for the completion of municipally owned energy efficiency projects.
Built in 1999, the Municipal Building is a 30,000 sq. ft. brick and concrete masonry construction. The building houses municipal employees, the police department, a community center, and a council chamber. Because of the variety of departments, the operating hours vary throughout the building. The Police Department is utilized 24 hours a day. The municipal employees are generally present from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The community center and council chamber events are commonly in use during days, weekends and general off hours.
The Lake Mills Municipal Building has experienced high natural gas usage levels that appear to be related to the building envelope. Complaints about high gas bills and the questionable performance of the building envelope were illustrated in the bursting of fire sprinkler supply piping from freezing temperatures in early February. Repairs have been made to the sprinkler system but tiles in the suspended ceiling have been removed in many parts of the building to allow heat up into the areas where the sprinkler supply pipes are run to prevent another freezing.
Inspection of the attic, outside walls and areas above the suspended ceiling has revealed several areas that are open to outside non-conditioned air. The insulation levels and ventilation techniques do not appear to be completed as designed in the building plans. These areas of concern warrant closer investigation by a qualified independent contractor.
City staff is meeting next week with engineers and a contractor to develop solutions for the wall and insulation issues of the building. Hopefully, we will be able to develop specifications for correcting the problem. The City will take advantage of WPPI’s Member Loan program to finance this project, which offers up to a $500,000 zero interest 10 year loan for the completion of municipally owned energy efficiency projects.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)