Prairie du Chien council indecisive on new city attorney
By Correne Martin
The Prairie du Chien Common Council was unable to decide upon its next city attorney following closed session discussion Tuesday night. Three separate motions were made naming three different individuals who could replace the retiring Tom Peterson, but each motion failed, resulting in the council postponing the hiring decision until its July 7 regular meeting.
After closed session, Alderwoman Karen Solomon motioned to approve entering into negotiations with Lara Czajkowski-Higgins for the city attorney position. Nate Gilberts seconded the motion, which eventually failed, 4-3, for not receiving the required five affirmative council member votes. Aldermen Ron Leys, Todd Myers and Mike Jones were opposed. The next motion was made by Jones to enter into negotiations with Mychal Peterson for the city attorney position; however, his motion failed as no second was made. The third motion, made by Myers and seconded by Leys, was to enter into negotiations with Ben Wood for the position, but again, the motion failed on a 2-5 vote, with Jean Titlbach, Solomon, Edward Hayes-Hall, Gilberts and Jones opposed.
The person selected for the job will likely fill a term covering Aug. 1, 2015 through Dec. 31, 2016, with a probationary period through Feb. 1, 2016.
While the decision to name the next city attorney was a contentious one, the council was able to agree, for the most part, on the city’s next municipal court attorney. Chelsey Ritter was selected for a term covering Aug. 1, 2015 through Dec. 31, 2016, with a probationary period through Aug. 1, 2016. Leys was the only alderman opposed.
Other business
The council also:
•approved a bond refinancing plan and $180,000 in roof repairs for Hoffman Hall. According to Brian Della, a senior managing consultant with Public Financial Management, the city acquired notes three years ago for the Hoffman Hall project. Now, as they’ve matured, refinancing is necessary, Della said. No tax dollars will be spent on the project as the interest on the notes will be paid out of pledges from the capital campaign. Even after the $180,000 is subtracted from the $340,000 account, $160,000 will remain. City Administrator Aaron Kramer said, thus far, no one has defaulted on their pledges to the campaign. Della explained that, on July 7, the council will hear results of the sale of the bonds.
“The roof came up in discussions last year,” Kramer said. “It didn’t make the cut in 2014 (for the initial phase of construction at Hoffman Hall), but it can’t wait until the next capital borrowing in 2017.
Parks and Rec Director Mike Ulrich added, “It’s a 14-year-old roof in real sad shape. We’ve tried to bandage it so it doesn’t leak but structural problems could become a real concern if we don’t fix it.”
•approved issuing a request for proposals for replacing the roof at the Wacouta Aquatic Park. The 2014-2016 capital budget has $42,000 allocated for this project.
•approved claims, including $18,000 to be paid for work on the Hoffman Hall tennis courts. Kramer reminded the council that an anonymous donor has covered that cost.
•awarded a bid to Thompson Truck for the purchase of a new dump truck. The truck will cost $100,5335, which is well under the $120,000 budgeted for the equipment.
•showed support for the second time to increase the St. Feriole Island tariffs and streamline some of the revenue toward a newly created St. Feriole Island Improvement Fund. Kramer said staff will draft a new tariff agreement and bring an ordinance back to the council for approval.
•approved a long-term capital improvements project list, which, Kramer said, should help the city to obtain more grants in the future. He said it’s a list of $14.5 million in projects (i.e. mills and overlays as well as complete reconstructions of streets) that won’t all be done in the near future, obviously. But, he said, it gives the city a schedule and prioritization of how it hopes to accomplish such projects. “And if we have extra funds from a surplus somewhere, we’d know what we want to do,” Kramer said.
•authorized the redevelopment authority (RDA) to proceed with a blight determination of the Parker’s Repair property on Beaumont Road. The lot, which owner Dave Parker recently sold to the city’s RDA, is slated to become parking for the library, sometime after 2016.
