Mobil Open

The purpose of this item is to consider issuing a liquor license to Harjinder Samra. The sale of alcohol-containing beverages in Wisconsin is subject to different kinds of licensing. Class “A” (beer) licenses and “Class A” (liquor) licenses are issued for the sale of beverages for consumption off the premises, Class “B” (beer) and “Class B” (liquor) licenses are for sale for on-premises consumption. A “Class C” license allows restaurants to sell wine for on-premises consumption.
The city has adopted the provisions of chapter 125 and sections 66.053(2) and 66.054, Wis. Stats., relating to the sale of intoxicating liquor and fermented malt beverages, except sections 125.66(3), 125.04(5), 125.09(6), 125.69, 125.11(1), 125.12(2)(a) and 125.14(4), exclusive of any provisions thereof relating to the penalty to be imposed or the punishment for violation of said Statutes. (1971 Code, sec. 8.01; amd. 1984 Code)
The code determines that no person shall sell, barter, exchange, offer for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, deal or traffic in any fermented malt beverage or intoxicating liquor, unless licenses as provided by the City Council of the City, nor without complying with all the provisions of city code and all applicable regulations of the State of Wisconsin. (1984 Code)
The license is being requested for use at Lake Mills Mobil Station, 219 S. Main Street, at the southeast corner of the intersection of S. Main Street and Veterans Lane. The site previously had a liquor license issued for Roman’s Quick Stop in 2001 and reissued in 2007.
The applicant is required to submit a license application and a site plan to be considered for a license. The applicant has submitted a site plan that shows how access to the area where the Class “A” Liquor sales will occur. The sales will occur along the north wall of the building. The service counter is situated along the north wall and the liquor is located along the wall behind the counter. A door is in the southeast corner of the building; it appears to be an emergency exit only with an alarm when the door is opened.
The Lake Mills Comprehensive Plan designates the Lake Mills Mobil site for commercial development within the current growth period. The area has immediate access to sanitary sewer, water, electric and emergency services. The site is currently zoned B-1, Central Business District.
The City Council of the City is authorized and empowered to make reasonable and general rules for the sanitation of all places of business possessing licenses under Chapter 3. Such rules or regulations may be classified and made applicable according to the class of business conducted.
All sales of beer shall take place in premises for which provisions have been designed, reviewed and approved by the Council, which minimize the ability of underage persons to handle, sell or purchase beer, unless those underage persons have an operator’s license and are employed by the licensee and are on duty at the licensed premises, and unless those persons so licensed are acting within the scope of their licenses.
Special conditions upon a license may be imposed by a majority vote of the City Council if those special conditions are not in conflict with the provisions of Chapter 125, Wisconsin Statutes. These special conditions shall be as determined by the Council on a case-by-case basis, given the unique aspects or characteristics of the premises or other business activities conducted on the premises. These special conditions may be imposed at the time the license is initially granted by the Council or upon application for renewal when the principal use of the premises is modified by the applicant.
A Class “A” intoxicating-liquor/beer license authorizes the retail sale of intoxicating liquor for consumption off the premises where sold and in original packages and containers. This is the type of license a typical liquor store must have.
Management has indicated through the site plan where the sales area will be located. The site plan also indicates that they only plan to sell beer and wine, although the license requested allows for the sale of liquor. The Council may want to add restrictions to the license, such as, beer and wine only or no sales may occur after 9:00 p.m. etc. In addition, a locked storage area is available inside the building to accommodate for extra inventory. All locked areas will be controlled by management personnel. The store’s existing security is higher than we normally see in a establishment selling alcohol.
The management has indicated that the management staff will become licensed by the State, and remaining sales staff will be trained in the proper techniques for selling alcohol—requiring identification, packaging, etc. Persons under 18 years of age will not be allowed to sell alcohol.It is my opinion that the proposed alcohol sales are in keeping with existing operations. It is not unusual for convenience store/gas station operations to sell alcohol for the ease of customers and it will allow the convenience store/gas station to become a viable local business.

The Process

The purpose of this item is to brief City Council on the request to seek Qualifications (RFQ) for General Engineering Services and seek direction on how to proceed. Strand and Associates has been providing general engineering services for the City since 1991. There is no contract with Strand for general engineering services and when they change fees they send us notification. As requested by a Council member at that meeting, staff has prepared a motion directing staff to seek Requests For Qualifications for General Engineering Services to be issued in March in order to have a contract in place by July of 2011.
Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) is a method of obtaining professional consulting services for a specific task based on the qualifications and competence of a consulting firm in relation to the scope and needs of the particular task rather than price factors alone. While initial task cost for consulting services is always a major concern, QBS focuses more on other factors such as qualifications of the engineer, compatibility with the City, and knowledge of and experience with the service requirements. Although the cost for consulting services represents only a fraction of the total service cost, the performance of the Consultant can influence the entire course of the project – financial feasibility, public response, appearance, functional efficiency, construction cost, as well as operation and maintenance costs during the project’s life.
If you needed major surgery would you seek out the least expensive doctor you could find? Or would you search for a doctor who had performed the procedure many times with a long list of healthy patient references? The answer here is clear and the field of engineering is no different. Engineers (and architects) should be selected the very same way: based on their qualifications and competence. The selection of an engineer is among the most important factors in the success of a building project.
Even though design fees are often only a small fraction of the total cost of a project, the design itself impacts every aspect of the cost of construction as well as the operation and maintenance costs for the life of the facility. Spending a relatively small amount of money in proper selection can save significant dollars over the life of the project.
Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) has been the procurement method of choice for architectural and engineering services for the better part of the last half century. QBS was adopted as federal law through passage of the Brooks Act in 1972, and since then most states have adopted laws and procurement rules based on the federal statute. Public owners understood that the private design sector was an essential partner for providing services for the public sector, and that a procurement system focused on qualifications – e.g. the ability to provide services that meets or exceeds the client’s goals, on time, and on budget – was critical to meeting those objectives.
The QBS process emphasizes design capability and experience, and the effect that these attributes can have on safety, function, performance, constructability and life cycle costs of facilities. The initial cost of design is outweighed by the final product performance that results from good design solutions.
Consulting firms do not sell a commodity. Instead, they provide technical expertise, innovation, and knowledge of the latest technology. For example, the process for selection of a firm to construct a project differs from that used in the selection of a design firm to design the same project. A construction contract can be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder because all major aspects of the project are defined, including the type and amount of construction materials required to complete the project. On the other hand, Design Consultants turn their undefined concept into a set of plans and specifications. The Consultants take an idea and give it definition. The contractor takes that definition and turns it into a physical reality.
This motion authorizes the City Manager to seek Requests For Qualifications.

Special Revenue Funds

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 54. This Statement clarifies the definitions of governmental fund types which may result in some of our funds, in particular-special revenue funds, becoming part of our general fund for external financial reporting unless the City takes specific action. These changes will affect the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011.
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue confirmed that they do not have the authority under Wisconsin Statutes to change how a municipality qualifies for the ERP. The city must follow generally accepted accounting principles, as set by the GASB.
With the Wisconsin Department of Revenue distributing close to $60M from its expenditure restraint program (ERP) each year and the City receiving $110,000 of these funds last year and having budgeted for them in 2011, it becomes important to meet the requirements of GASB. The unrestricted aid is paid to qualifying municipalities that limit growth in spending. Staff recommends allowing the reclas­sifying of the special revenue funds into the general fund as a result of GASB 54, because we would exceed the allowable increase, thereby disqualifying the city from receiving the ERP payment.
Staff is requesting the Council take the appropriate action by approving a resolution restricting/committing the special revenue funds. By analyzing all of the special revenue funds, we have determined that they meet the GASB new definition’s three basic features.
The first is that the funds must be either restricted or committed. Restricted means constraints are placed on the revenue by external factors (creditors, grantors, contributors, or laws/regulations of other governments, or local ordinance). Committed means the revenue can only be used for specified purposes, and this constraint must be set by the Council by approving a resolution or a motion. It could also be done by formally adopting a budget policy, financial policy, or separate policy committing these funds. Including these funds as an item in the government’s budget does not automatically qualify as a commitment according to GASB 54. If the funds are not restricted or committed, they may have to become part of the general fund. Staff has always treated the special revenue funds as restricted/committed, but there is no official policy statement by the Council.
GASB 54 also requires that a specific revenue source make up a substantial portion of the resources of the special revenue fund. Transfers in from another fund are allowed, but may not be part of the specific revenue sources. Lastly, the restriction or commitment discussed above must be for expenditures of a specific program. Items such as “contingencies” or “emergencies” would not qualify.
This resolution provides the official statement of restriction/commitment needed to meet GASB requirements.

Outdoor Storage

The petitioners are requesting approval of a temporary waiver of zoning requirements to allow outdoor storage of industrial forms and molds on a lot under separate ownership. The industrial forms and molds are associated with Fiberdome at 865 Stony Road. The subject corner lot at the intersection of CP and Jefferson Streets is currently used as a mini warehouse and is zoned I-4 Industrial Business Park.
The I-4 District states that outdoor storage of materials or manufactured products, trucks trailers and equipment accessory to the principal use. Such outdoor storage shall be screened from view from any public right-of-way using opaque fencing, berms, dense landscaping, or any combination thereof. Outdoor storage may not be placed in any front or corner side yard. This motion authorizes the City Manager to sign the agreement.
It is typical to provide a waiver for temporary structures and outdoor storage incidental to construction activities subject to site plan approval, such as construction trailers, portable garbage bins, portable sanitation facilities, etc. from standard zoning requirements. These temporary structures and outdoor storage are required to be removed upon the issuance of a final certificate of occupancy or abandonment of the work. The City Manager provided Fiberdome with a temporary waiver for the outdoor storage of industrial forms and molds at 730 Jefferson Street under this standard.
The current request would extend this waiver until spring. This clearly violates the zoning code requirements. The building Inspector would have to hold off on issuing the final certificate of occupancy until the spring to sidestep zoning requirements.

Public Works

The importance of public works is diminished only to the extent that expected service levels are maintained. Not many would care to debate the importance of snow removal when failure to efficiently accomplish that function could prevent citizens from getting to their places of employment, emergency equipment from reaching the site of the emergency, or commercial and industrial operations from conducting their daily business. The efficient provision of utility service to residential, commercial, or industrial customers is critical to quality of life and safety of a community. Economic development is made more difficult if inefficient utility operations or degraded transportation systems are typical in a community.
Currently, four different departments are responsible for ensuring that the City plans, develops and uses its infrastructure resources in the most effective way: Executive Department, Street Department, Wastewater Utility and Light and Water Utility. The City’s infrastructure and community planning are managed through the Executive Office with contracted consultants and this increases the opportunities for coordination required for “Growth and Infrastructure” because effective communication can occur across department lines. At the same time, cross departmental coordination can be limited by department designed projects, resulting in a lack of overall department responsiveness to potential opportunities and stakeholder needs.
The city has twenty four utility and street line employees. The street department structure has a superintendent, working foreman, mechanic, heavy equipment operators, semi skilled laborers and general laborers. The number of street department employees is structured or determined by emergency snow removal operations critical path modeling. The heavy snow removal operation of the city has nine (9) employees plus supervisory staff as required by the level of service the resident’s desires. The department has labor and equipment to support regular maintenance of infrastructure and complete emergency operations. The city street department has fewer employees currently then in 1990 even though the population served and street miles maintained has increased. Better equipment would also contribute to any crew’s ability to perform its tasks in an effective and efficient manner.

We Have A Strategy?

Good judgment and decision making are necessary in identifying appropriate plan strategies across multi-period settings in which one period’s choice affects the value of future outcomes. The plan must consider the impact of the current period’s decision on future outcomes in order to choose the pattern of effort that would maximize total results. However, when faced with this sort of multi-period decision problem, organizations often ignore the “internality” (that is, the impact of current decisions on the utility of future decisions), and instead choose actions that maximize the payoff in the current period at the expense of the overall outcome across periods. This behavior is referred to as “melioration.”

Who's Going to Do It?

The act of managing a Street Department can be a multifaceted and challenging experience. Street Department managers are tasked with managing under varied and often less than ideal conditions. Managers must contend with weather and the changing seasons, traffic pattern extremes, resource availability, and public pressure to name but a few of the variables.
The process of management is not a series of separate functions; rather it is a composite process made up of the individual functions: Planning, Organizing, Directing, and Controlling. Not one of these functions can be performed without involving the others.
Every manager must, to some extent, make plans for the future. Plans may vary from the operational to strategic and from the simple to the involved. Planning is not a function reserved exclusively for upper management. Every manager, regardless of organizational level, must plan and this is certainly true for the management of a Street Department. For successful managers, planning is part of every day.
All managerial acts are laced with varying degrees of planning. When one considers the level of service required of the Street Department in general and particularly the maintenance work area, along with the many variables and often complex nature of the required tasks, one can readily understand the need to plan. Without proper planning, the operations become confused, ineffective and more often than not, cost prohibitive. It is a fact, that careful, well thought planning can advance an organization from a level of mediocre existence to one of leadership.
Managers must constantly organize - organize personnel, organize materials, organize time, organize activities. Organizing brings order out of chaos and introduces system into the environment. Organizing consists of: 1. determining what activities or tasks need to be done to reach the organizational goal/plan; 2. grouping and assigning the activities to subordinates, and 3. delegating the required authority to the subordinates to carry out the assigned tasks.
Like planning, organizing is an inseparable part of the management cycle. A manager must plan prior to organizing, but generally in a composite manner - such that neither function is separately discernable, but both intermixed in the whole management function. Organizing the Street Department activities is a daily requirement of the Street Superintendent. Each day's planned activities must be organized to insure the optimum efficiency and use of resources.
Directing is the managerial function that relates to those activities that deal directly with influencing, guiding, and supervising subordinates. The single most important ingredient of directing is communication. The Superintendent's communicative skills (all forms) will dictate the success that manager has with directing.
A manager cannot knowingly direct without also planning and organizing. An unplanned, disorganized directive is certainly a meaningless accumulation of words. Street Department supervisors, at each level, from the Superintendent to the Foreman are involved in directing. Like planning and organizing, directing cannot stand alone and is performed in conjunction with the other management functions.
Whenever people are joined together in a common undertaking or task, some form of control is always necessary. The control function of management consists of those activities which are undertaken to force events to conform to the prearranged plans. Thus we see that planning is necessary for control. Whenever planned objectives are not reached, the manager must implement a control action to remedy the situation.
Managers must often direct subordinates to follow a planned and necessary action. This is the control function of management and like the functions of planning, organizing, and directing, control cannot exist alone. The Superintendent utilizes the control function daily and each level of management implements control to varying degrees.
Applying management principles to Street Department operations recognizes that many street activities can be planned, scheduled and accomplished in a defined manner. Maintenance management provides a framework for developing maintenance plans, tracking work accomplishment and preparing reports that compare planned and actual performance. Beginning with a basic framework for management which includes planning, organizing, directing and controlling, an overview of maintenance management can be presented as:
Planning – determining the organization’s goals and deciding how best to achieve them. Planning involves choosing tasks that must be performed and how and when they will be performed. Planning outlines how to be successful. It takes time, coordination, expertise, and objectivity. Effective planning takes much effort and the ability to take a broad objective view. Decision making is also included with planning because it involves selecting the best course of action to achieve success.
Planning maintenance activities based upon the street features to be maintained, the resources (labor, equipment & materials) needed to provide maintenance and the level of service to be provided by the maintenance. This includes preparing budgets based upon maintenance performance standards to define the specific types and amounts of maintenance work.
Organizing - assigning tasks to various individuals or groups; puts plan into action. People are given work assignments that contribute to achieving the goals. Organizing involves using your resources appropriately to reach the organization’s goals. Organizing is the primary way managers activate their plans. Organizing involves knowing your organization and your people. Some identify five steps in the organizing process: 1) reflect on plans and objectives; you must keep these plans and objectives in mind at all times. They guide you through the entire management process; 2) establish major tasks; determine what are the major responsibilities or tasks; 3) divide major tasks into subtasks; this is a critical step to help you get to the details; 4) allocate resources; determine how many people and other resources must be devoted to each area; you may have to form work groups, committees, or teams to accomplish the tasks; make sure they have the proper resources to be successful; and 5) evaluate the results of your strategy; take a critical and objective look at the results.
Street Department organizing coordinates the people, organizations, material, equipment, facilities, and information resources to ensure that planned maintenance activities can be accomplished with the budget available. Coordinating activities and efforts are crucial to your efficiency and effectiveness as a manager. This helps you organize and manage your resources better. Encouraging initiative and responsibility, while maintaining discipline and defined duties are important aspects of organizing.
Of all the resources already mentioned, the hardest to manage might be the people aspect. It is a known fact that most project problems are caused by people, not technology. This is why the “people” aspect of management is key to the success of a manager.
Directing – guiding the activities of the organization’s members. Over the years, directing has been referred to as motivating, leading, or influencing. Leading seems to be the term used most frequently these days. Regardless of the term you use, they all mean the same as applied to the management process. The ultimate goal for directing people is to achieve the organization’s goals. Whether those goals are to increase productivity, or to make more money, or to safe lives, a manager must lead employees to accomplish the goals and missions of the organization.
One way to direct people is through effective communication. Your skill as an effective communicator is a great tool for accomplishing your organization’s goals. If you agree that communicating is the sharing of information then you realize that both verbal and written communications are vital to leading your employees. Good managers realize that employees need information to do their jobs and good managers aren’t afraid to share that information. Good managers also realize that everything they do communicates, whether it is verbal or non-verbal. Good managers also know the value of feedback. Keep a door open and allow for feedback from your employees.
Controlling – within the context of management, is making things happen as planned. Controlling is the continuing process of monitoring the progress being made by your workers. Managers must make sure that the organization is performing as planned and will accomplish its goals. Controlling involves gathering information and measuring performance. The performance must be measured against some standard and then managers must be willing and ready to take corrective action as necessary to get back on track. When thinking about controlling managers must realize that there are many, many different activities within their responsibility. A manager not only has employees, but also a physical plant or building, inventory, and finances to consider. There are many variables involved with controlling. And, of course controlling is certainly a continuing process.
Controlling is a vital part of being an effective manager. Circumstances seem to change more frequently than ever before. Systems are more complex and turbulent and that impacts on organizations. Good managers will have planned and be ready when changes occur. However, sometimes circumstances are beyond a manager’s control and the manager must still be ready to make quick, good decisions.
If a manager has established standards and has measured performance then that manager is ready to evaluate and act. One area where managers must have strength of conviction is in the area of taking corrective action. These changing circumstances are going to happen and a manager must control what must be done. Indecision can ruin an organization. Flexibility and objectivity are important here. A manager must look at his or her resources objectively and then realize that the control system must be flexible enough to handle the changes.
Two principles need to be singled out because of their relevance to small local governments. These are important concepts in any organization, but especially in an organization like the City. Span of Control has been a concern of organizations for many years. It refers to the number of individuals a manager supervises. It also implies how many a manager can supervise effectively. If a manager has too many people working for them they can lose their effectiveness and this definitely hurts the organization. Productivity would be decreased as well as interpersonal relationships. There is no magic number for the exact amount of people one manager can supervise, but years ago six was the average number and more recently 3-9 has been used, but again that depends on both the workers and the manager. The importance of this concept is that it is a crucial factor in structuring an organization and has huge impact on the organization.
Unity of Command means that an individual should only have one boss. Unity of Command can keep responsibilities from overlapping and thus hold down confusion. Additionally, too many bosses giving orders can be very frustrating and confusing for a worker. This would certainly cause inefficiencies and ineffectiveness.

Another ?

Beginning in 2010, a municipality must spend each year for emergency services funded from shared revenue payments no less than the amount it spent in 2009, not counting capital expenditures and one-time expenses. Based on the language in the budget, at a minimum, the term means that portion of police and fire department expenditures that are funded by shared revenue. A municipality may decrease the amount it spends for emergency services below its 2009 amount, with the department of revenue’s approval, if the decrease in expenditures is a result of operating more efficiently, as determined by the department.
Under Wisconsin Statutes 43.15 (4)(c), local libraries must meet several requirements of system membership, including that the local library be funded at a level that is not lower than the average funding for the previous three years.
General Transportation Aid funds are distributed to all Wisconsin counties, cities, villages and towns based on a six-year spending average or a statutorily set rate-per-mile. The City of Lake Mills currently receives $294,000 in GTA.
Substantial changes in any of these programs will have negative budget impacts.

No More

Chapter 178 of the Wisconsin Laws of 1977 (MED/ARB Law) extended compulsory binding arbitration of bargaining impasses to nearly all municipal employees in Wisconsin. This means there are no strikes.
In 1978, the compulsory binding arbitration amendments went into effect for most public employees, significant changes in the bargaining and contract administration processes were made. It provided compulsory binding interest arbitration as a final means to settle disputes involving municipal employees.
Compulsory Final and Binding Interest Arbitration is where the parties submit their final offer to the investigator appointed by the WERC. The MED/ARB process is initiated by either party's filing of a petition with the WERC. If a dispute has not been settled after a reasonable period of negotiations and the parties continue deadlocked with respect to any dispute concerning wages, hours and conditions of employment, the MED/ARB process may be commenced. Upon receipt of the petition for MED/ARB, the WERC is required to make an investigation to determine whether an impasse exists and whether there has been statutory compliance. Prior to the close of the investigation, each party is required to submit in writing a single final offer containing its final proposals on all unresolved issues and disputes. Final offers will only be accepted by the investigator where an impasse does in fact exist. The investigator will allow the parties to modify their final offers until he determines that the offers are final. The arbitrator thereafter selects one of the two final offers as the final award.

This Answers That Question

10-1-4: BUILDING INSPECTOR: The Building Inspector of the City and such deputies or assistants that have been, or shall be, duly appointed by the City Council shall enforce this title, and in addition thereto, and in furtherance of such authority shall:
A. Issue all zoning certificates and make and maintain records thereof;
B. Issue all certificates of occupancy, and make and maintain records thereof;
C. Conduct inspections of buildings, structures, and use of land to determine compliance with the terms of this Title;
D. Maintain permanent and current records of this Title, including, but not limited to, all maps, amendments, conditional uses, variances, appeals, and applications therefore;
E. Provide and maintain a public information bureau relative to all matters arising out of this Title;
F. Forward to the City Plan Commission all applications for conditional uses and for amendments to this Title that are initially filed with the office of the Building Inspector;
G. Forward to the Board of appeals application for appeals, variances, or other matters on which the Board of Appeals is required to pass under this Title;
H. Issue permits regulating the erection and use of tents for a period not to exceed ten (10) days fro specific purposes such as: temporary carnivals, churches, charities, and revival meetings which are not detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, comfort, convenience, or general welfare; provided, however, that said tents or operations are in conformance with all other ordinances and codes of the City;
10-1-4 10-1-5
I. Allow parking lots in residence districts to be illuminated between the hours of ten o’clock (10:00) P.M. and seven o’clock (7:00) A.M. when necessary for the public safety or welfare;
J. Initiate, direct, and review, from time to time, a study of the provisions of this Title, and to make reports of its recommendations to the City Plan Commission not less frequently than once a year; and
K. Issue building permits only after verifying that storm water management rules (Administrative Rule 02-01) have been followed.

The Point of Conflict

Code Enforcement is the commitment to provide safe, healthy and attractive living conditions for all of the residents of Lake Mills by ensuring the community's maintenance and integrity through the enforcement of City Codes. Code Enforcement is responsible for implementing all city ordinances.
City Code is a set of minimum standards that strive to balance the rights of the individual with the needs and rights of other citizens as determined by the City Council.
When a Code Enforcement Officer receives a complaint or notices a violation, it is investigated to determine if a violation notice, or some immediate corrective action, is needed to correct the problem. If immediate actions become necessary, it is usually because the violation involves an eminent hazard or threat to life, health or safety. When such a situation does not exist, a Notice of Violation is generally mailed to the responsible party, informing them that an alleged violation has been reported. Since voluntary compliance is a top priority, you should contact the Code Enforcement Division immediately after the receipt of a Notice of Violation so that the information can be verified. A Code Enforcement Officer will help you to understand the reasons for the notice and advise you of what options exist in order to resolve the violation. During the course of investigating a complaint, a Code Enforcement Officer may conduct an on-site inspection or coordinate one or more visits to your property. Formal legal and/or corrective actions may be required in the event that cooperative attempts to resolve a violation are exhausted.
In most instances, the City formally notifies the property owner and starts working with them to resolve the violation. Typically, after conducting an on-site inspection, the City will notify the owner that a complaint has been received alleging that certain violations of the City Code exists on his or her property. The property owner is requested to provide a response indicating that they will resolve the violation in an acceptable time frame, that the violation has been resolved, or that the property was not in violation. If the owner chooses not to work with the City to cooperatively resolve the violation, a more formal legal process will be initiated which may take an extended time to fully resolve. Unless other arrangements are made with a Code Enforcement Officer, it is requested that in nonhazardous situations you wait a minimum of 30 days after filing the complaint before checking on the its status, This will allow adequate time to investigate the matter, visit the site, contact the property owner, and attempt resolution of the violation.
Codes generally provide an appeal process for parties facing code enforcement. The notice of violation will state what code is being violated. The code is on the city’s website and information regarding the violation and appeal process will be in the code.

Simple Decision

The City of Lake Mills has many policies and practices followed to provide fair and equal treatment to each person whether rich or poor, man or woman, liberal or conservative. Groups of people move in and out of the policy development and implementation processes of the City without substantial tax changes.

New Council members generally fail to initially see that changes in policy on one issue can have different effects on varying sections of the population. Small cities can have a constant policy primeval soup cooking all the time without ever mentioning policy. In one meeting here, the entire history of requiring property owners to provide their own on-site improvements to match upgrades to city facilities is now out the door by having one small influential group pressure a divided council.

The ripples into special assessments, sump pump disconnections and related privately required improvements will now need to be revisited with every program and project. Policy implications now must be applied consistently to all similarly situated residents and programs. Tax costs will rise for all residents of the city and expenses to the individual property owner will be reduced. Theoretically, this is a more socialistic practice inconsistent with the Council members' overall political motivations – which is alright if it is practiced consistently regardless of political influence. Historically, the poor have had less influence on policy decisions than the rich. Will the Council decide not to provide similar options in poorer neighborhoods? Historically, the city has treated people the same – whether rich or poor; residential, commercial or industrial – private or public. Now the soup is going to take on new dimensions that I don’t think was deeply thought about when the decision was made.

Hopefully, we judge the merits of each case as well as the power, influence, pressure and strategy of the situation.

Opportunity Knocks

Eventually the opportunity comes where wealth and honesty meet.

What is A Public Sector Decision

Any decision-making process involves value conflicts, social constructs, and stakeholders. In divided societies, where social homogeneity is limited and power is unequally distributed, people have conflicting interests and ends, and thus will tend to start from disparate particular judgments. Decision-making is shaped by recognition of competing values, ideas and judgments as well as by our bounded rational tools. We try to systematize and explain particular judgments about what is just by appealing to widely shared principles, "going back and forth," changing the judgments or the principles to satisfy similarly revisable methodological constraints, such as consistency, simplicity, and explanatory power. The task is to find a stable basis for cooperation that does not abstract from actual interests.
Management Review states, "public sector decisions are the result of compromise, bargaining and politics. The process of making a decision is often more important than the decision itself. The result may not be the most cost-effective, but it is the result of a consensus developed to satisfy most of the constituents' interests." Conversely, "private sector decision-making is based on identifying the problem, constructing alternatives, and choosing the most cost effective outcome. Private sector decision makers are judged by the outcome of the decision."'
Consequently, the Council and the Manager must be aware that balancing many different conflicting opinions and building a consensus is an essential part of the decision-making process in the public sector and that this fundamentally differs from private sector decision-making.

Luck Of the City

We are all aware of Wisconsin’s economic climate. For years, Lake Mills’ had been dependent on a very large company to provide the majority of jobs to workers in our city. When that company experienced hard times, the economy of the City changed. Today, we are uniquely positioned because we had been gardening for jobs before we even knew the term. The strategy wasn’t a carefully planned approach to economic development, more a probing for opportunities.
Lake Mills could have been like most cities and put an unusual amount of effort into attracting large manufacturing firms, but the strategy has consistently failed to achieve the hoped-for levels of success. Thus, the economic development strategy of cities has simply not had the focus to cope with the transition from the old economy to the future economy. The city has continued efforts to hunt for large firms, but it hasn’t consumed our efforts because we know how to garden for small local businesses.

Lift Me Up

The Lake Mills Wastewater Utility has determined that to serve the customers in the Lake Street Alleyway area, because of the topography, the physical features of the earth, and the current design standards require that grinder pumps be installed at seven properties on Lake Street to be able pump sewage into the pipe of the downstream gravity pipeline.
Sewage lift/pump stations are used for pumping wastewater or sewage from a lower to higher elevation, particularly where the elevation of the source is not sufficient for gravity flow and/or when the use of gravity conveyance will result in excessive excavation and higher construction costs.
Four alternatives are available for the design of a wastewater collection system to serve the alleyway. The four alternatives are described as follows:
1. Gravity sewers with several private grinder pumps.
2. Gravity sewers with one public lift pump station.
3. Raising in-building plumbing to gravity flow; or
4. No action
The Utility's policy has been to construct gravity sewer line unless there is no other option. Where there are twenty or less users and gravity is not an option, individual Low Pressure Sewer Systems are the recommended option. Studies consistently show that cost analysis of Low Pressure Sewer Systems is the preferred option to lift stations in small service areas. One study reviewed four completed subdivisions to determine if grinder pumps would have been a realistic alternative. One of these was a 12 lot project where a lift station was installed. The comparative costs were:-
Lift Station and Gravity Sewer Cost for 12 Lots
$144,100.00
Cost Per Lot
$ 12,008.00
Pressure Sewer Cost For 12 Lots
$ 75,900.00
Cost Per Lot
$ 6,325.00
The cost of the pressure sewer system is only 53 per cent of the cost of the gravity system. The report concludes that any development of twenty homes or less where a lift station is required will find pressure sewers and grinder pumps to be a cost- effective alternative.
Key disadvantages of public lift stations include the high cost to construct, maintenance and the potential for odors and noise. Odors and corrosion are a problem in small service areas because the wastewater in the lift station goes septic because the pump does not pump often enough. The wet well of a lift station should be as small as possible in order to minimize detention time of the sewage. Should the wastewater remain too long in the wet well, septic action may occur. Although, the wet well should be large enough so excessive starting and stopping of the lift station pump will not take place.
The lift station would take up two parking spaces in the area and might be viewed as a negative appearance. Lift stations also require a significant amount of power, are sometimes expensive to upgrade, and may create public concerns and negative public reaction.

CONDUCTING CONSULTANT STUDY

The City Manager recommends that the Council hire a consultant to perform a job evaluation which will be used to establish the basis for assessing the time contribution of the job. To avoid insufficient cooperation between the clerk, judge and other constitutional officers, I recommend that a consultant be used to provide an impartial review and analysis of the employee pay change request by conducting a study and classification analysis, write a job description, and make recommendations.
Job evaluation is not based on the credentials of, or contribution made by the person holding the position, but is seen as the systematic process of assessing the value of each job in relation to other jobs within an organization. The goal is to establish a ranking or hierarchy of worth within the organization. Job evaluation involves four steps: Job analysis, job documentation, job rating and creating a job hierarchy.
Job analysis is very important because it provides context to the organization in understanding the job duties that should be included in the position. The job duties provide the basis for determining the appropriate salary level for the position. It provides a legal basis for the minimum requirements (education and/or experience) for screening applicants. It provides the basis for Interview questions and related selection tests/instruments (e.g., written tests; oral tests; job simulations). It provides a legal basis for applicant appraisal/evaluation and related orientation materials for applicants/new hires.
The Court Clerk has presented a job summary in her memo to the Judge which indicates the essential duties of a court clerk.
The municipal court clerk is responsible for performing a variety of essential clerical and administrative support duties for the Municipal Court. The work involves pre-court, courtroom and post court activities; preparing the adult and juvenile court calendars and coordinating court matters with the municipal judge, defendant, defense counsel, prosecutor and police department; attending court sessions and recording pleas and sentences, recording trials and collecting forfeitures; taking appropriate followup actions - including completing citations, issuing pretrial notices or notices to appear, maintaining case files and payment records.
The position is currently a part time, salaried and exempt employee that is regularly scheduled to work sixteen (16) hours per week. Part-time employees receive no benefits, except legally mandated benefits, but are subject to all of the expectations and regulations expressed in the Employee Handbook. “Salary” is a regularly paid amount of money, constituting all or part of an employee’s wages, paid on a weekly or less frequent basis that is not subject to reduction due to the quality or quantity of work performed. This is the general definition in federal law (29 CFR 541.118). Since Wisconsin’s overtime law does not define “salary,” and since Wisconsin’s overtime exemptions are interpreted in a manner consistent with federal interpretation, this is the applicable definition. Exempt Employees are employees who are not required, in accordance with applicable federal wage and hours laws, to be paid overtime for work performed beyond forty (40) hours in a work week.
The current salary for the position is $11,315.20 and the total with benefits is $17,886.12. Based on a sixteen hour work week, the hourly pay rate is roughly $13.60 and would become $13.74 based on the budgeted adjustment. The City currently pays social security, retirement and a percentage of the health insurance plan. The proposed change would be from $17,886.12 to $22,342.74 and would add $4,456.62 to this year’s budget. The base salary would increase in 2011 if the budgeted increase is approved to $18,266.19 and the proposed change would increase that amount to $30,484.90 for a budget increase of $12,218.71 in the 2011 budget. The most significant cost increases coming from health insurance related to the change in employment status. The Court Clerk status will change to a part-time regular employee that is regularly scheduled to work twenty (20) or more hours per week, but less than forty (40) hours per week. Part-time Regular employees, depending on the number of hours they are regularly scheduled to work, may accrue prorated benefits (sick days, holidays, and vacation) and may also be covered by health insurance paid in part by the City.
The Municipal Court website indicates that the Office is open on Mondays and Thursdays from 8 am to 12 pm and 1 pm 4:30 pm.
The Council may direct the solicitation of quotes or direct the preparation and advertisement of a Request for Proposals. The estimated cost is $3,500 to $5,000 and this would be paid from the Council contingency fund. The consultants would do a workload analysis and a comparison with other like municipal courts based on volume of tickets, the number of court sessions per month, the use of “in-take” versus trial nights, etc. to determine a realistic range of hours to keep up with current workloads.

Management Style

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”
Theodore Roosevelt
Managers do things right; leaders do the right thing (Warren Bennis). My primary goal is to be a good leader and a good manager. Managing is about efficiency. Leading is about effectiveness. Managing is about how. Leading is about what and why. Management is about systems, controls, procedures, policies, and structure. Leadership is about trust — about people.
Both managers and leaders may know an organization well. But the leader desires to grasp the essential facts and the underlying forces that determine the trends in the organization, so that they can generate a vision to bring about its future. One telling sign of a good leader is an honest attitude towards the facts, towards objective truth. A subjective leader obscures the facts for the sake of narrow self-interest, partisan interest or prejudice. A good manager can accomplish only what has been defined and documented for him or her, yet a good leader constantly questions why things are done the way they are and is able to recognize the value and potential of doing things differently. A good leader is passionate about excellence and must therefore strive for continuous improvements and change. In other words, a good leader knows that insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.
I have always tried to establish an organizational culture by providing a defining set of shared values and expectations that act to guide the decision-making process within my organization. I have historically used modified principles of Management by Objectives (MBO) which is to attempt to have everybody within the organization clearly understand the aims, or objectives, of the organization, as well as awareness of their own roles and responsibilities in achieving those aims. The complete MBO system is to get managers and employees acting to implement and achieve their plans, which automatically achieve those of the organization.
MBO leaders focus on the result, not the activity. They delegate tasks by "communicating the goals" with their subordinates while not being directive in the implementation. I modified MBO with Situational Leadership. The fundamental underpinning of Situational Leadership is there is no single “best” style of leadership. Every organization has manager’s at different levels of maturity (“the capacity to goal set, willingness and ability to take responsibility for the task, and relevant education and/or experience). Leadership must be person/task-relevant and I believe successful leaders are those that adapt their leadership style to the maturity of the individual being led/influenced. Leadership varies, not only with the person that is being influenced, but also with the task, job or function that needs to be accomplished
Management by Objectives (MBO) is about setting objectives and then breaking them down into results. Results can be defined as performance measurements that monitor the implementation and effectiveness of an organization's strategies, determine the gap between actual and targeted performance and determine organization effectiveness and operational efficiency. Process evaluation assesses the extent to which a program is operating as it was intended. It typically assesses program activities’ conformance to statutory and regulatory requirements, program design, and professional standards or customer expectations. Outcome evaluation assesses the extent to which a program achieves its outcome-oriented objectives. It focuses on outputs and outcomes (including unintended effects) to judge program effectiveness but may also assess program process to understand how outcomes are produced. Cost/Benefit analyses compare a program’s outputs or outcomes with the costs (resources expended) to produce them. Cost-effectiveness analysis assesses the cost of meeting a single goal or objective, and can be used to identify the least costly alternative to meet that goal. Cost-benefit analysis aims to identify all relevant costs and benefits, usually expressed in dollar terms.
The set of common understandings around which action is organized within an organization also play a strong role in MBO. When an organization’s culture is strong – there is less need for a strong structure. All organizations attempt to maintain equilibrium and maximize autonomy. Culture provides the coping, growth, and survival guidelines for maintaining the integrity of the organization environment. Evolution of culture is a way a group preserves its integrity and autonomy, differentiates itself from environment, and provides itself with identity.

Another Budget

For the eleventh year, transmitted herewith is my City Manager’s Proposed Budget. The 2011 budget has been prepared in accordance with state budget laws, city policies and practices.
For example, last year the average home in the City of Lake Mills had a fair market value of approximately $175,600, and the homeowner would pay $3,445.44 in property taxes. The City’s portion of that tax bill was $1,247.63 minus the credit equals $1,184.47 Spread over 12 months, the projected cost to the owner of a $175,600 home was $98.70 per month in 2010 for municipal services. The 2011 budget is projected to increase the property tax levy on a $175,000 home to $1,310.02 minus the credit equals $1,247 or $103.91 per month. There are households in Lake Mills that pay about the same amount for cable TV, phone and internet service as they pay to the City for providing, police, fire, ambulance, financial, legislative, legal services, parks, cemetery, streets, animal control, library, records management, bookkeeping, and a host of other services. Last year, a home with a gross value of $150,098 would have an equalized value of $175,000. The same home this year will have an approximate value of $169,986. If you take $169,986 times the equalized tax rate of .00749 – you get a tax bill of $1,273.20 minus the credits results in a tax bill of $1,211.
The City’s General Fund Budget is proposed to be $4,619,900, up from $4,533,100. This is a 1.92% increase. The General Fund Debt Service was 1,059,100 and is increasing to $1,144,400. This is an 8.1% increase.
The City’s equalized assessed value for 2010 without TID is $459,000,000 and 2009 was $472,688,700 without TID. That is a 3% decrease over 2009. The equalized assessed value for 2008 with TID was $487,638,100 and the City’s equalized assessed value for 2009 was $490,186,900 and 2010 is $475,600,000. The state levy cap this year is 3% or net new construction, whichever is greater. Net new construction for this year is 1.34%. The Levy Limit Law allows for the carrying forward of unused levy from previous years. The city has $299,189 of used levy from available for 2010.
The proposed General Fund budget subject to the cap is at 1.92% - a decrease from last year’s 1.99%. The state determines an equalization ratio for balancing assessed values to market value and across jurisdictions statewide. Last year our ratio was 85.77% and this year I estimate it to be 88.3%. The State needs to do this so that school districts and other multi-jurisdictional agencies can fairly tax across jurisdictional lines and debt ratios can be determined.
The City Manager’s proposed equalized tax rate is $7.49 per thousand dollars of assessed value and is a 5.35% increase in the rate from the previous year. The gross rate is $8.49 and is a 2.34% increase in the rate from the previous year. This is an increase in total levy of $81,100 from the previous year. The City’s rate increase will raise the amount the City collects annually on a $175,000 home by $68.03.
The State Expenditure Restraint Program is based on the information being generated in this document. The State Expenditure Restraint formula is based on inflation and has generally been allowing the City about a 4.0% increase in these categories to qualify for an additional $110,000 in State aid. The State is allowing the City 3% increase this year and the city appears to be well under the line (1.92%) to qualify for expenditure restraint funds.
The Utility Budgets are run like businesses with cash flows and balances. I have not included balances or reserves in the budgets to try to plan around maintenance and capital requirements. The Utility Funds either have positive cash flows or have more than adequate balances to cover any shortfall in current year revenues and no contingency funds.
The City Manager initiates the budget process. The City Manager sets the expenditures of the budget and establishes the revenue estimates to finance the budget. The City Council may increase, decrease, or delete individual items in the proposed budget except for Debt Service expenditures. The City Manager must propose, and the City Council must adopt, a balanced budget.

Lake Street Alley Project

The Lake Mills Wastewater Utility has determined that to serve the customers in this particular area, because of the topography, the physical features of the earth, and the current design standards required that grinder pumps be installed at seven properties on Lake Street to be able pump sewage into the pipe of the downstream gravity pipeline.
The properties will be served by a low pressure system, which uses a grinder pump to grind the sewage from the building (much like a garbage disposal in a kitchen) and pumps the sewage through small plastic pipes to the larger pipes in the street (alley).
Low pressure systems are used in areas which cannot be served by gravity pipes. However, a grinder pump system does require the property owner to take a more active role than required by a property owner served by a gravity system.
The grinder pump can handle any wastewater that is normally discharged to the sewer from a kitchen, bathroom or laundry. A sewage holding tank will need to be installed and a sewage grinder pump installed in the tank. All of the wastewater from a building flows into the tank. When the tank fills to a pre-set level, the grinder pump automatically turns on, grinds the waste, and pumps it out of the tank via the sewer service pipe and into the public sewer system. The grinder pump normally will run for one or two minutes and automatically turns off when the tank is emptied. During a typical day the pump may turn on and turn off 20 to 30 times. The pump is powered by electricity and is connected to a control panel on the property. The property owner is responsible for the plumbing and electricity from the property to the public sewer system.
A property owner will be expected to install a grinder pump and hook up to the new system and this may cost them up to $6,000. The proposal is that the City provide for a 50% grant to help mitigate the costs to these properties. The motion authorizes staff to offer the grants.

Today's Definition

A spoiled brat is characterized by "excessive, self-centered, and immature behavior". It includes lack of consideration for other people, recurrent temper tantrums, an inability to handle the delay of gratification, demands for having one's own way, obstructiveness, and manipulation.

All Those Little Purchases

A method for centralized procurement and materials management to ensure the availability of materials, supplies, equipment, and services to meet the City’s capital equipment and operational needs may be of value. Possibly contracting with a firm to manage the awarding of contracts for professional and general services that are necessary to support the City’s operational and administrative functions may provide some financial benefits.

State EAV notice

Wow, a 3% drop in EAV, 490 to 475. I expected maybe a 0% growth or at worst a 1% drop. The debt levy number is going to look huge.

Ah The Budget

Because cities are site-specific, they respond to changing paces and patterns of development and decline in their area. They may, through their taxing and regulatory powers, try to influence the location decisions of firms and individuals as the latter navigate the constantly changing waters of economic activity and social change. Cities provide services within their borders to residents, businesses, and those vacationing there, doing business or simply passing through. Many cities must work harder to provide these services because they have smaller tax bases, larger dependent populations, less income and wealth, or because of their natural features (like harsh weather or sparse populations).

Budget Issues

This year we need to concentrate on outcomes. Outcomes define the purpose of the City's existence. They drive the manager’s planning and controlling of the delivery of services to the community. An Outcome is the ultimate result you are trying to achieve through your goods or service delivery. It is the degree of accomplishment and it focuses on the critical end product, rather than process, requiring a high level of accountability for achieving that stated purpose. Most of the conflicting expectations are the result of process rather than outcome. Most processes are the result of planning decisions related to the system capacity.
When we consider the city system from the perspective of a physical system, the product of that system probably is most appropriately considered as the delivery of things -- services or objects -- from one provider to an appropriate recipient. Thus, at the microscopic level of a service delivery by a provider of a single service, such as brush pickup, the product of the city system would be a change in how the individual’s brush is picked up. This policy helps reduce the consumption of gas, labor spent searching for brush piles and wear on vehicles by reducing vehicle travel time. Each pickup day has a route with the specific locations of requested pickups rather than traveling every street in the city to find possible brush piles. Along with these changes came a number of concomitant changes. An, example is that residents must schedule appointments by the Monday prior to the collection date to be placed on the schedule. Thus there occurred changes in the conditions of the service as a result of the government policy. The outcome still results in brush removal and produces other beneficial outcomes, like saving gas, vehicle condition, reallocated labor costs and reduced ozone issues.

Grant "No Parking"

The intersections of Norton and Birch Streets with Grant Street are offset by approximately 145 feet creating two relatively close “T” intersections. The crosswalk across Grant Street is located on the west side of Birch Street and crosses from north to south. With setbacks for the intersections, crosswalk and driveways – there is still enough parking for approximately three vehicles.
During school hours, this has become a popular drop-off location for parents wanting to avoid the congestion at Prospect and Birch. The number of small children using this crosswalk has become significant. The traffic count in this area during school hours is relatively high and the parking between Norton and the crosswalk creates visibility problems for traffic approaching the crosswalk from the west.
The intent of the “No Parking” is to improve visibility for the traffic approaching the intersection from the west and improve safety for the children using the crosswalk. The “during school hours” portion of the parking restriction allows residents of the area to have guest parking during none school hours.
This ordinance was sponsored by Councilmember Joe Van Tassel at the request of the Police Department and Street Department.

FINDING THE TRUTH

The first basic, before any argument should begin, is to agree on the definitions and on the parameters of the argument. If a person does not understand objective versus subjective information, you cannot argue with them, especially when they want to use subjective information as objective information.
Objective Evidence is physical evidence that someone, when reviewing a statement, can inspect and evaluate for themselves. It provides compelling evidence that the statement actually represents the information which can be proven true, based on facts that substantiate the charge being made. The evidence must not be circumstantial but must be obtained through observation, measurement, test or other means. Another words, can we have the evidence this person is using to make this statement please?
Objective information is to subjective information as "matters of fact" is to "matters of taste." You can only really argue about matters of fact. Matters of taste are "subjective" in the proper sense of that term ("I like ice cream," "I think classical music is for the birds").
SUBJECTIVE EVIDENCE is evidence that you cannot evaluate -- you have to simply accept what the person says or reject it. Subjectivity basically is a ‘personal opinion’ which can also be considered as ‘personal feeling’ or ‘personal conclusion’ which is based on ‘personal information’. Self-deception is the process or fact of misleading ourselves to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid. Self-deception, in short, is a way we justify false beliefs to ourselves. Believing in something false doesn't make it true! If I believe I can fly and I jump out a window, I'm still gonna fall.
When philosophers and psychologists discuss self-deception, they usually focus on unconscious motivations and intentions. They also usually consider self-deception as a bad thing, something to guard against. To explain how self-deception works, they focus on self-interest, prejudice, desire, insecurity, and other psychological factors unconsciously affecting in a negative way the will to believe. A common example would be that of a parent who believes his child is telling the truth even though the objective evidence strongly supports the claim that the child is lying. The parent, it is said, deceives him or herself into believing the child because the parent desires that the child tell the truth. A belief so motivated is usually considered more flawed than one due to lack of ability to evaluate evidence properly. The former is considered to be a kind of moral flaw, a kind of dishonesty, and irrational. The latter is considered to be a matter of fate: some people are just not gifted enough to make proper inferences from the data of perception and experience.
However, it is possible that the parent in the above example believes the child because he or she has intimate and extensive experience with the child but not with the child's accusers. The parent may be unaffected by unconscious desires and be reasoning on the basis of what he or she knows about the child but does not know about the others involved. The parent may have very good reasons for trusting the child and not trusting the accusers. In short, an apparent act of self-deception may be explicable in purely cognitive terms without any reference to unconscious motivations or irrationality. The self-deception may be neither a moral nor an intellectual flaw. It may be the inevitable existential outcome of a basically honest and intelligent person who has extremely good knowledge of his or her child, knows that things are not always as they appear to be, has little or no knowledge of the child's accusers, and thus has not sufficient reason for doubting the child. It may be the case that an independent party could examine the situation and agree that the evidence is overwhelming that the child is lying, but if he or she were wrong we would say that he or she was mistaken, not self-deceived. We consider the parent to be self-deceived because we assume that he or she is not simply mistaken, but is being irrational. How can we be sure? I will allow some slack to the accuser.
OBJECTIVE EVIDENCE is evidence you can examine and evaluate for yourself.
In the case of objectivity, we have an external and independent ‘object’, which can ‘verify’ the truth-value of the objective information or statement. In the case of ’subjectivity’, the contents of personal information, on which the subjective opinion was based, were known only to the person who held that subjective opinion whereas in the case of objectivity, the ‘external object’ (or event) on which the objective information is based, can be known to everyone whoever himself wants to verify the objective statement. In the case of an objective statement, there is an underlying assumption about the existence of some ‘external object’ that can verify the truth-value of that objective statement and vice versa that in a false objective statement there is a lack of any ‘external objects’ to verify the statement. Whoever is interested in knowing the truth-value of an objective statement, can resort to that ‘external object’ or the lack of any ‘external objects’ for this purpose.

The Truth

What's with the beating up staff for having opposing views. Then there's the stating things that aren't the truth without opportunities to correct. May be I'll call DWD. Oh, sorry, I meant I already knew what DWD was going to do.

Bond Sale

The recent Lake Mills GO Promissory Note sale was phenomenal for the City and should be celebrated. The City reached far below what the rating indicates in terms of an interest rate –Lake Mills’ interest rates beat the those of a higher rated Village (Moody’s Aa2) by a significant margin on the same day.

How I am Suppose to do That

There are some council members who function on a belief system rather than a rational decision process. If they believe there are too many employees, no amount of data will influence their belief and their resulting decision. Sidewalk engineers rarely have the full financial and resource capacity issues to grapple with when informing the council member of the problems. They also rarely see the full picture of plans for achieving the goal.
Trust is a resource that is very important in the council-manager relationship and it can become hard to maintain when the lines between policy determination and policy implementation become blurred.
The elected and appointed officials in our community who can listen to all the participants while analyzing the past as they contemplate the future and make decisions based on a balanced system of scientific rationalism will become the leaders or groups of leaders regardless of position or organization.

Where Too Today

Your behavior follows your beliefs no matter how insightful, unstructured or bewildered your comprehension of the issue may be.

Will We Actually do This?

A component of the Comprehensive Plan is the City of Lake Mills Transportation Plan which includes the Sidewalk Plan adopted in August 2004 and updated in January 2005. This plan calls for the repair of existing sidewalks and retrofitting of new sidewalks in older parts of the community where sidewalks were never installed. The City’s subdivision regulation requires sidewalks in all public rights-of-way serving new residential and commercial developments, and has provisions ensuring pedestrian access to industrially zoned areas as well.

Efficient or Optimal

Although on paper the larger governments seem orderly and efficient, voters have distrusted recommendations of planners and political scientists who traditionally have postulated that "fragmentation" of local government is not economically rational. Still, the voters have instinctively sided with smaller, perceived more accountable, decentralized governments instead of metropolitan government or major consolidations.
What reasons and data may be offered to justify smaller governments instead of moving toward centralized local government? The optimum allocation of resources, or economic efficiency, could be the underlying principle. The true level and mixture of local services taxpayers wish to purchase (police and fire protection, parks, sanitation services, and sidewalks, for example) is more likely to be reflected when different packages of goods are offered by competing local jurisdictions. Since people have the opportunity to vote with their feet, they can move to the jurisdiction offering the combination and level of local services at a price (or level of taxes) that best suits them. Some may deem backyard garbage collection so important that they wish to pay for it. Others may opt for a less costly method, but highly value police cruising through their neighborhoods. When only one level of local service is available, as offered by one centralized government, people have no choice. Thus there is no competition, and taxes are likely to be higher. The local government is invariably under pressure to provide the best possible service at the lowest possible cost. Local officials must deal with the difficult and contradictory tasks of providing quality and efficiency of service, as well as a decent working environment at an acceptable cost level. An extremely efficient service might eliminate lines, but costs are likely to be very high. On the other hand, poor service by keeping people waiting in a stressful environment is not compatible with sound customer service and certainly does not provide a positive working condition. The key is to find the correct balance between the service offered and the cost of providing that service.

Just The Basics

As most municipal governments in Wisconsin have long started down the road to isomorphism because of financial and statutory conditions in the State/Nation. The ideas of the Wisconsin Way or Badger Basics now leading the discussion, one has to wonder what it will take to for municipals to break the mold and provide the set of services designed around the local population's preferences?
Is there a level of economic recovery or some level of social decline needed to again allow municipal governments to be the transformer of ideas?

Lake Mills 2010 Promissory Notes

The City has decided to raise funds through the issuance of GO debt for public purposes, including paying the cost of street construction, sidewalk and storm sewer improvements, acquisition of municipal equipment and other 2010 capital projects. The issuance and sale includes the refinancing of previously issued debt.
The City Attorney acts as City’s legal counsel. Bond investors need assurance that the City has properly authorized the bonds. Each entity must comply with both state laws and local authorizations. Thus, it is important that the legal counsel understands authorization rules. It is also important that the City Attorney review bond documents to ensure accuracy and that any City commitments in the bond documents do not run afoul of the City’s other policies and rules.
The City’s Bond Counsel is Quarles and Brady. Bond Counsel is an important resource in the debt issuance process. Bond Counsel opines on the legality of the bond offering, thereby acting as legal advisor to the ultimate investor.
Bond Counsel serves two primary functions:
Counsel ensures the bonds are legally authorized and issued.
Counsel issues a legal opinion as to the tax‐exempt status of the bonds. The legal opinion must be unconditional and is essential for a bond issue to be marketable.
Because of market demands, only a law firm that is recognized as Bond Counsel through experience should act as Bond Counsel. A local attorney or law firm inexperienced in bond matters will rarely be acceptable to the market. Local attorneys may be, and often are, employed for other purposes to assist with debt issuance. Although Bond Counsel are not specially certified or licensed, they must command the confidence and respect of the investment community.
The services of Bond Counsel include:
Determining whether legal and binding authority exists to issue the bonds.
Drafting a bond ordinance, resolution, or a trust indenture (for revenue bonds).
Drafting the notice of sale.
Examining all or part of the Official Statement.
Examining transcripts of proceedings to determine that the bonds were legally advertised and sold.
Submitting a written legal opinion on the tax-exempt status of the offering.
Determining that the bonds were legally executed.
Answering questions of the issuer, investment banker, or public official.
The City’s Financial Advisor, Ehlers & Associates provides a wide range of services to the City. In general, they will coordinate all elements of the bond sale from inception to closing. They are very competent and thoroughly knowledgeable in areas of local government laws and practices, investor attitudes and preferences, rating considerations, and the bond and money markets.
Ehlers & Associates manages the sale process leading up to the sale of the bonds and advises the City on business terms and the sale process.
Ehlers & Associates prepares an overall financing plan, advises on marketing the bonds, assists with a presentation rating agencies, calculates the timing of a bond sale, determines the range of interest costs for different alternative means of financing, provides an estimate of the underwriters’ fees, helps decide on the bond structure and call provisions, sets bid requirements, participates in a negotiated sale, evaluates the sale when it is finished, and participates in the preparation of the Official Statement to satisfy the informational needs of the prospective investors.

Next Move

On the Tuesday after July 4th, it's worth remembering that independence does not come cheap, and that there are some things that are more important than independence.
One of those things is the public trust. There is a serious cost to our society when government officials place their privacy rights regarding ethics enforcement related information above the public trust, that is, when government officials insist that their privacy is more important then the public’s right to know. And there is a cost to officials, too: their trial not by a neutral body in a formal proceeding that the public can have trust in, but rather by partisan accusations and media coverage based on the manipulation of limited facts and a limited understanding of the issues involved.
To reduce conflict of interest problems: there is a necessity to identify and disclose potential conflicts and the importance of council members to recuse themselves from the decision-making process when an actual conflict arises. Therefore, it is an important part of the proposed ethics ordinance requiring disclosure of information by all senior employees and council members in addressing the issue of conflicts.

Policy Approach

The City shall establish a minimum unreserved fund balance to aid the City in responding to emergency situations, unforeseen economic opportunities, grant matches and temporary reductions in revenue. This reserve shall be maintained at an amount equal to at least twelve percent (12%) and not more than twenty percent (20%) of the prior year’s budgeted general fund revenues. This reserve will be part of the City’s undesignated fund balance and will be maintained in addition to any reserved or designated fund balance.
The City may withdraw funds from the unreserved fund balance to provide sufficient working capital to eliminate the need for short-term borrowing. The Council may withdraw funds from the unreserved fund balance after the current year contingency has been expended. The emergency reserve will only be used when emergency expenditures or an unexpected revenue reduction would result in net deficit in the fiscal year budget. Restoration of the unreserved fund balance should begin in the fiscal year following its use.

Today's Indicator

Personal income per capita is a measure that is widely accepted among economists and policy analysts as an indicator of economic well-being of residents of a city or a state. The level of per capita personal income can be used as a broad gauge for measuring the relative economic performance of two or more cities, regions or states. Also, growth in relative per capita personal income is used as evidence that cities are becoming more or less wealthy, as compared to a national or regional benchmark.
Fitch IBCA indicates that for a predominantly residential community’s tax base to constitute the basis of an above-average general obligation bond rating, per capita income levels are generally at or above average. A strong and diverse commercial component in the tax base (40% or higher), however, can bolster an otherwise average residential income base, supporting an above average rating. Standard & Poor’s considers median household or per capita income levels of <=75% the national average very low; 85% low; 100% average; 120% high; and >=140% very high.
Policymakers should be interested in using per capita income growth as an indicator to guide broadly defined policy measures, it is important to determine which factors are most likely to influence growth in per capita income. Such an analysis should also indicate whether these factors influence short-term or long-term growth, and whether they are amenable to local policy initiatives.

Meet Me At the Fish Hatchery

We start union negotiations again this month. The scope is limited to pay increases. As we prepare to meet again, I wonder about some issues.
Nearly every kind of management/union negotiation process relies on some form of ground rules. Ground rules are the standards of conduct for consensus building. Many of these rules are unspoken/unwritten and there can be a steep learning curve for new participants.
Ground rules usually cover the behavior of the negotiating teams, the role or behavior of any third party (e.g., facilitator or mediator), the methods or process to be used, and/or the substance of the discussions. The initial set of rules are generally negotiated before or during the first meeting and establish common rules of engagement regarding project organization, group decision-making, communication with constituents and the media, and the use of data and technical information. This being said, I have never been involved in negotiating ground rules. The Union negotiator and the City’s labor consultant who are negotiating in several cities show up and act like everyone already knows the rules and expectations. I’m pretty sure that the local union representatives have no better idea of the ground rules the Union negotiator and the City’s labor consultant are using then I do.
With the emphasis on ground rules stemming from a belief that all parties in a dispute resolution process should be treated equally and fairly, I would expect that knowledge would be a good thing. The fact appears to be that the rules spell out behavior and procedures that people consider fair, but tend to abandon when push comes to shove in the issues that really matter to people.
Example of rules that a generally well followed are behavioral ground rules that people must talk one at a time, that they must listen carefully to their opponents' statements, or that they must treat each other with dignity and respect. Typically parties agree that no one is permitted to dominate a discussion or claim special privileges unless the entire group agrees to grant them. Derogatory language or attacks on other people's values or culture are usually not permitted.
Here are some rules that apply to processes and procedures that have not made it into our negotiations as written or spoken agreements. For example, process ground rules might say that people are expected to be on time for meetings, that substitute representatives must be approved before the meeting occurs, and that observers are (or are not) allowed. Rules for managing participation may also be instituted. For example, should participants raise their hands and wait to be called on, or should they speak freely? Other process rules concern how draft documents will be circulated and reviewed and how to reschedule meetings if necessary. Obviously, there is some unspoken/unwritten understanding that is used because the negotiations are progressing.

Lake Street Alley 2

The City of Lake Mills is proposing to reconstruct the municipal alleyway which is located just west of Ford Court. This alley serves local businesses and a public parking lot. The alley has pavement failures in several areas which has made this area a maintenance concern for the City. The sanitary sewer and water main are also inadequately sized and in poor condition for the current development. Storm sewer upgrades are also planned for the area to improve overall drainage.

The project will include the removal and replacement of pavement, watermain, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer within the alley. Storm sewer improvements will be added, including new inlets in the alley and Water Street. One new outfall is proposed at Rock Creek just southwest of City Hall. The project will also abandon in-place two existing outfalls located east of the proposed outfall along Rock Creek.

The type of equipment to be used on this project will be determined by the contractor, but will most likely include the following: backhoe, dozer, compactor, skid loader, grader, work trucks, front end loader, dump trucks, and trench boxes.

The methods of construction used on this project will be determined by the contractor, but will most likely consist of open trench excavation for the utility work. Spoils from the trench excavation may be stored on site if they are suitable to go back into the trench as backfill, but the stockpiles will need their own erosion control measures. These measures include, but are not limited to: silt fence, temporary seeding, and stone check dams.

Unsuitable spoils generated from construction will be hauled away from the project site to a location determined by the contractor.

Topsoil will be salvaged for reuse on site. Seed restoration is scheduled for use on this project. There will be temporary and permanent erosion control measures installed with this project.


The erosion control requirements include, but are not limited to: inlet protection, silt fence, erosion mat, rip rap, and stone tracking pads. Additional measures may be requested as directed by the engineer, owner, or governing agency. The amount of rip rap planned for use on this project is approximately 30 square feet. This rip rap will be installed around the new outfall for bank slope stabilization and protection. Silt curtain will be installed at the end of the outfall excavation, as well as silt fence on the banks and upland areas. No other fill material is proposed to be installed within the banks of Rock Creek during this project.

The City plans on publicly bidding the project in July 2010. Construction is expected to begin sometime in August with a completion date in early November.

GIS Contract

Geographic Information Systems has proven to be an indispensable tool for conducting City business. Initially, it was used for high level analysis of infrastructure, and for generating maps and displays illustrating various aspects of the City.
The following information (data layers) is available:
Property data - acreage, zoning, ownership, building square footage and year built
Sewer lines, sewer laterals, lift stations, and manhole covers as well as digital scans of all sewer as-built drawings
Water lines, water laterals, water valves, and curb stops as well as digital scans of all water as-built drawings
Electric lines, electric services, transformers, and poles as well as digital scans of all electric as-built drawings
Aerial photos for any property in the City of Lake Mills
Streets centerlines, street right-of-ways, storm sewers and street signs
Elevation data per USGS digital elevation model
The City acquired digital aerial ortho-photos in 2004, which are a principal component of the City's GIS. The City cooperated with Jefferson County to get digital ortho-photos with a six inch pixel resolution. The digital aerials are used to underlay the map layers and help greatly to understand the relationships between the digital map information and the actual built environment. A number of houses and buildings have been constructed since 2004, as well as numerous room additions, patio covers, etc., which are not represented by the aerial photos. Because the aerial photos are so important to the GIS, the City will again work closely with Jefferson County on ordering the next set of aerials.
The initial software acquisition (ArcView, ArcInfo and ArcIMS) was purchased in 2005 by the Utilities. Annual maintenance has been paid for by the Utilities in order to keep technical support and to receive periodic upgrades and technical fixes to existing software. However, as with all technology, GIS software is constantly evolving and changing, and ESRI has extensively redesigned their software (ArcGIS) to include more tools and more features. The City is upgrading to current software in order to keep up with latest advances in GIS technology. Staff is working with ESRI to identify the most cost effective way to keep the City's GIS software current.
The Council approved a GIS Coordinator in the 2010 Budget. City Staff decided to evaluate the option of contracting for the continued maintenance rather then hiring a new employee. After reviewing several option and contractors, staff recommends approving the contract with Strand for GIS services which is included in the packet.

A Little Reading is Necessary

Wisconsin budget law requires the City to prepare an annual budget and hold a public hearing on it. The budget document should list anticipated revenues from all sources and the proposed appropriations for each department. The law also requires the budget to show, for comparative purposes, the actual revenues and expenditures for the preceding year and the estimated revenues and expenditures for the current year based on at least six months of actual experience. The budget document should also show any outstanding indebtedness as well as any anticipated surplus.
State budget law does not identify the content of the budget beyond that described above. Budgets for local governmental units may vary from a single page document consisting of summary listings of expenditures and revenues to a many-paged text providing detailed information on the proposed appropriation for each municipal agency. It is up to the local governing body and the citizens it represents to determine what information should be presented in the budget document.
The City of Lake Mills budget document is about 210 pages.

What's Your Story

I enjoyed reading the following characterization on this blog - http://www.criticalthinking.org/resources/k12/making-ct-intuitive.cfm. These personality types interact in government all the time. It makes for many dramatic stories within government. The question is who is paying attention to the stories.
Naive Nancy does not see much reason to think at all. She takes things as they come. She believes what she hears. She usually goes along with whatever her peers say. She intends no harm but also assumes that no one else is going to harm her. She is a ready victim for more sophisticated manipulators: adults or children. Naive Nancy will make a good student only insofar as thought is not required. She will literally, and thoughtlessly, do what she is told. She doesn’t question or try to understand her own motives. She will make mistakes because she doesn’t know how to listen closely and monitor what she hears for accuracy of interpretation.
Wherever mindless obedience succeeds, she will get by. What is more, much of the time her innocent “helplessness” will enable her to get others to do things for her. Rather than try to think her way through a difficulty, she is learning to say “I can’t do it!” after the first or second try. She is finding out that she can usually get by without much thinking. Her innocent likeability and perpetual “incompetence” is both her strength and her (ultimate) downfall. Her only real thinking skills are in the art of being helpless, in enticing others to do her thinking for her.
Selfish Sam contrasts well with Naive Nancy. Sam values thinking. And the more he does it, the more he values it. But only in a special sense. He thinks to gain advantage, to get what he wants, to successfully put his desires above the rights and needs of others. To put it briefly, Sam is discovering the power of con-artistry. Sam is discovering that you can best get what you want by focusing clearly on your own desires, figuring out what is standing in the way of your interests, and manipulating others into acting in your interest. Selfish Sam is becoming an egocentric problem solver. He defines his problems so as to center them around getting what he wants for himself. Sometimes this means figuring out how to get out of work. But unlike Nancy, Sam is learning the power of figuring things out for himself.
He is also learning how to impress both adults and kids by what he can do. Eventually Sam will come to appreciate the power there is in groups, the advantages one gains by becoming a leader and exercising control over others. He will use his thought to win others to his side, to defeat his “enemies” (whoever he doesn’t like), and extend his power and advantage over others. It isn’t that he doesn’t care at all about others, but rather that he cares only about those who serve him, those who are members of his group. Eventually, Sam could become an effective promoter of a vested interest, an excellent sales person, a politician, or a lawyer … any job that can “successfully” be performed without a well-developed sense of fairmindedness.
Fairminded Fran contrasts well with both Nancy and Sam. Like Sam, Fran is learning the power of thought. She is learning the value of figuring things out for herself. Unlike Nancy, she is not learning the art of “helplessness” because she is experiencing the pleasure and deep satisfaction that comes from successfully figuring things out for herself. She is discovering that she has a mind and can use it to solve problems, protect herself, do difficult jobs, learn complicated things, express herself well, and get along with others. But that is not all she’s learning. She is also learning that other people have minds, other people have desires and needs, other people have rights, and other people have a different way of looking at things. She is learning how to enter into the thinking of others, how to see things from other people’s point of view, how to learn from other people’s perspective. She is beginning to notice the need to protect herself from the “Sam’s” of the world. She is learning to test for herself what people say. She is learning to protect her interests without violating the rights of others.
Fran’s thinking is beginning to develop a richness that Sam’s will never develop (as long as he thinks selfishly), for she is learning how much one can learn from others. Eventually, Fran will gain many insights from the art of thinking within the perspective of others that she is developing. Fran’s early thinking is laying the foundation for later breadth of vision. Fran’s ability to think for herself in a skilled and fairminded way will enable her to pursue any career goal that she later takes on. She will be highly valued by those who value justice and fair play. But she will also be treated with suspicion by the “true believers”, by the people whose first allegiance is to a special group, to “our side”. Those given to group think will come to recognize that you can’t depend on Fran to always support the “right” side (our side). She sometimes agrees with the enemy, the opposition, the “other guys”.
The combinations in the politician/administrator roles of Nancy, Sam and Fran make for endless interactions. The key to this situation is to understand that lack of conflict in local governments doesn’t mean things are being done right. Citizens have an obligation to pay attention to the actions taken by their governments, regardless of the amount of conflict generated or lack thereof. I’m pretty sure that Politician Sam will hunt for and find Administrator Nancy to run a conflict free organization without any attention to justice or fair play.

RLF

The Lake Mills Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) provides low-cost financial assistance for new and established businesses in the City. The RLF is an accessible source of financing for projects that will create and retain private sector jobs, increase incomes, expand local tax base, and leverage bank financing.
The RLF seeks to minimize its financial participation in all projects. The RLF is not intended to compete with other public or private lenders. The RLF will collaborate with other lenders to provide the financial package necessary to help realize the project.

Public Safety

The Public Safety area covers the Fire Department, Police Department, Ambulance Service and Building Inspection. The city has direct provision of police and fire services and contracts for ambulance services and building inspection. The city provides fire services to four surrounding townships by contract.
The activities of the Fire Department include:
- fire suppression
- fire prevention programs
- open burning control and rescue
- auto extraction
- first responder
- training
- communications
- fire station maintenance
- equipment maintenance
- code compliance
- investigations
The Police Department performs policing activities including:
- patrol
- investigations
- traffic accidents
- first responder
- school liaison
- community engagement
- training
Both engage in mutual aid.
Analysis
Lake Mills is the median in comparison to the other cities for police services and the costs appear to be lower in the larger cities on a per capita basis. We provide police coverage twenty-four hours, seven days a week. This is may not be the case for all the cities in this comparison.

Data from "MunicipalFacts" by Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance

Police Expenses Per Capita
Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Municipality

Columbus $158.87 $167.20 $178.40 $201.86 $262.07
Edgerton $162.41 $170.12 $164.47 $172.00 $181.72
Lake Mills $136.31 $147.92 $151.76 $156.61 $157.70
Milton $113.51 $137.43 $129.07 $129.50 $129.35
Mount Horeb $103.61 $109.60 $115.31 $129.03 $145.86

Research indicates that basic activities such as police patrol, where there are no economies of scale, are most efficiently performed by small departments. However, specialized activities such as communications, homicide investigation, major crime laboratories, and training are most efficiently performed by organizations serving a large population. Small departments that do not have specialized activities available from larger organizations are not efficient and large departments often perform police patrol at higher cost than small departments.
The City contracts or has access to many of the specialized activities with other larger organizations to achieve the most efficient economies of scale available to a city of our size.