Council eyes office hours, OKs borrowing
By Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 12:59 PM CST
The Watertown Common Council Tuesday took the first step in reducing the hours of the city hall office in the Watertown Municipal Building.
Council members approved the first reading of the ordinance cutting back the office hours by 30 minutes by a vote of 8-1, with Alderman Ron Krueger in opposition.
The ordinance changes the hours of the city hall office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Under this ordinance employees at city hall would have their lunch break reduced from one hour to 30 minutes.
The ordinance only includes the city hall office and not the other departments in the Watertown Municipal Building.
Krueger said he was skeptical about the proposal because there are many people who work outside the city and some residents may not be able to visit city hall until after 4:30 p.m.
“I just feel that we are here for the convenience of the people who pay our wages and things like that, and more and more people are working outside the city and they are not able to get here,” Krueger said. “I just think it is going to be a real inconvenience for a section of the population.”
City Clerk Mike Hoppenrath said last summer the employees at city hall found that very few people stop at city hall after 4:30 p.m. He added residents will always want the office hours to be longer than what they are.
“Honestly, if we stayed open until 6 o'clock people would want us open until 6:30,” Hoppenrath said. “We are here a lot of times at night. We are here a lot of times on Saturday and they expect us to be here, so regardless of when we close, people are still going to want us to be open more than what we are.”
Hoppenrath added that offices at Dodge and Jefferson counties have closed at 4:30 p.m. for many years, and residents will still be able to use the night drop box when the city hall office is closed.
Alderman Ken Berg said any of the actions of the council are subject to review and the hours can always be changed back if it does inconvenience enough people.
“If the repercussions and comments from people and the feedback we get is critical and negative, then we reserve the right to re-evaluate this at any point in time,” Berg said. “We don't want to inconvenience people by changing the hours in the way we are doing it.”
During the tax season the city hall office will remain open until 5 p.m., Hoppenrath said.
In other action Tuesday, aldermen approved the first reading of an ordinance that gives city hall employees floating holidays on certain occasions.
When Veterans Day or the Fourth of July falls on a Saturday or Sunday, city hall employees will be given a floating holiday instead of the office being closed on a Friday or Monday.
Council members also approved several resolutions authorizing city officials to borrow around $10 million for various future projects.
These resolutions call for $1,395,000 in general obligation bonds for street improvement projects, $115,000 in general obligation bonds for a garbage truck, $1.51 million in general obligation bonds for storm sewer projects, $3.02 million in general obligation corporate purpose bonds for various street projects and storm water improvements to Welsh Road and South Twelfth Street, $3.58 million in note anticipation notes for interim financing of the new public works facility and $2.15 million in water system revenue bonds for financing capital expenditures for the water utility.
A resolution authorizing city officials to sign the state/municipal agreement with the Department of Transportation for the South Third Street reconstruction project was approved by the council.
Under this agreement, the city will be responsible for paying $907,200 for the project while nearly $1.2 million will be covered with federal and state funds. The water and wastewater utility will also have to pay an additional $347,000 for the replacement of water mains and sanitary sewer.
The South Third Street improvement project extends from Main Street to Western Avenue and is approximately 0.35 miles in length. The reconstruction of Wisconsin Street, Spring Street, Dodge Street, Jefferson Street and Market Street from South Third Street to South Fourth Street is also included in the plans.
The reconstruction of the entire project is expected to start in 2008.
Aldermen approved the final reading of an ordinance changing the city's zoning code regarding the dimension of hangar lots at Watertown Municipal Airport.
The zoning code will now permit hangars at the airport to be built 20 feet apart from each other and 10 feet from each lot line, as opposed to the previous requirement of 30 feet apart and 15 feet from each lot line.
No one spoke at the public hearing for a request from Wisconsin Lutheran Senior Housing to combine two properties on Welsh Road and construct a community based residential facility for seniors.
Along with combining the lots at 700 and 700R Welsh Road, Wisconsin Lutheran Senior Housing is looking to rezone the entire parcel from rural holding to senior residential. The zoning change will allow the company to attach the proposed community based residential facility to the existing Heritage Homes Senior Apartments.
Aldermen approved resolutions authorizing city officials to sign contracts with Ptaschinski Construction Co. in Beaver Dam for the replacement of curb and gutter in 2007 and Crowley Construction Corp. in Wauwatosa for the 2007 pavement marking program.
The agreement with Ptaschinski is for $104,620 and the contract with Crowley Construction is for $35,260.
Council members also approved various purchases Tuesday night. Those purchases include:
- Two dump bodies with hoists, hydraulics and spreaders from Madison Truck and Equipment for $47,305.
- Sanitary and storm sewer castings from Neenah Foundry for $47,132.
- A Kohler generator for the city's step van from Total Energy Systems LLC for $11,869.
- A concrete breaker attachment for the city's skid loader from Mid-State Equipment in Watertown for about $5,000.
The first readings of several ordinances dealing with parking on city streets was approved by the council.
Two of the ordinances call for parking to be prohibited on the west side of Hoffmann Drive, from the entrance of the wastewater treatment plant to the north 415 feet, and around the island in Pine Ridge Court. One of the ordinances requires that parking on the east side of South First Street near East Milwaukee Street is prohibited on Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to noon.
Council members approved the first and second reading of an ordinance removing the disabled parking space on the east side of South Washington Street near Frederick Street.
Krueger asked the council to suspend the rules and approve the second reading the same night because the handicapped person who used to use the space no longer lives at the nearby home. He added the woman who now lives at the house is pregnant and would benefit from having the stall available as soon as possible.
The council also approved resolutions authorizing city officials to apply for a recycling program grant from the state Department of Natural Resources and increasing the bond schedule for anyone over the age of 17 who possesses drug paraphernalia from $25 to $100.
Fire Chief Henry Butts spoke at the public hearing at the meeting and told the council members the fire department has received the new ladder truck. The new unit will replace the ladder truck that the fire department has been using for almost 30 years.
“This unit will improve safety of operations and improve efficiency by allowing our firefighters to be able to perform various fire-fighting and rescue operations that previously we were unable to perform due to the limitations of Ladder No. 3,” Butts said. “In addition, due to the modern design and various improvements in Ladder No. 1, our efficiency will be increased by cutting the time required to place this unit in operation.”
On behalf of every Watertown firefighter, Butts thanked the council members for helping replace all of the front-line units in the fire department.
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