Council Meeting 1/28/2021

• Council approved the site plan for a new recording studio in Ward 2 which will be built between the Speedway and Jungle Animal Pet Shop on Fishcreek Road.  This will be a small building with a small parking lot and will keep some trees around the building as well.  The sidewalks will also be connected from Speedway to the small plaza to the northwest which will also provide an improvement in this area.  I am happy to see a business wanting to expand into Ward 2 and look forward to welcoming them once they complete their project.
• Chief Film also provided an update of the Regional Dispatch, in the past few days he had provided the answer to many questions I had asked and also a draft of the by-laws to Council that would apply to the project.  Council agreed to review these items and the law department updated that there will be a legal meeting in March on the by-laws and that they also have several changes they would like to see made.  This discussion topic was also moved on to the Committee of the Whole for future meetings.
• Mr. Hailer provided an update on discussions regarding SKiP Park and the importance of having this playground rebuilt.  Mr. Hailer said he felt that Council just needs a little more information and details on the project to move it forward and that Council wants the details of this project to be handled by the administration with approval and recommendation to Council by the Parks and Recreation Board.  Council and the Administration are both hoping to have more information on this project when we get through the budget process and are aiming for the 2^nd Council meeting in March.
• Our City Engineer gave us an update on the stormwater projects going on in the city, right now they are working on the bridge replacement at Silver Lake Tower, looking to go to bid on the Greentree project however there is hold on plans related to the County sanitary sewer line that needs the approval of the County first, they will also be meeting with the schools in the next several weeks to discuss a retention pond at Highland/Lakeview, and will have initial discussions on several other projects that could be coming in 2022.
• There was approval of a tax abetment agreement for Fogg Development for building of an additional industrial building on Seasons Road to the west side of Route 8.  This would be the first building on the west side of Route 8.  There was much discussion about this development and the stormwater management issues as it relates to the surrounding wetlands and residential areas.  While I understand there is always concerns for new development in new areas that were not previously developed, there is always a lot of thought and engineering that goes into these developments and the stormwater an environmental impact hurdles are high for developers around wetlands. The initial configuration of development of the west side of Route 8 was previously approved in 2017, this is just the first building to take place on that side.
• It was discussed that the City revenue in 2021 will likely be slightly down over 2020 therefore the City will need to use some of our carry forward balances for 2020 to make sure we can cover any short falls.  It is likely that Income Tax, Local Government Fund Revenue (funds from the state), Municipal Court Revenue, Lodging Tax, and funding from gas tax and motor vehicle licenses taxes will be down.  While we do not know exactly how much yet these funds will be impacted, we will need to be conservative in our 2021 budget to keep these financial impacts in mind.  The Administration is now going to focus on gathering the expected expenses to finalize the 2021 budget and Council looks forward to reviewing this information over the next several meetings to approve our budget.
• Council will meet again on February 11, 2021 with a public hearing on allowing crematories in I-2 Industrial Districts followed by committees and the Council meeting.