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Community
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Written by Kristyn Halbig Ziehm
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Wednesday, 14 April 2010 18:05 |
 Damage from vandalism prompt city to consider closing route west of plant
Visitors to Port Washington’s north beach may find themselves with one less way to get there this summer.
The Board of Public Works on Tuesday tabled for one month a recommendation that the city close the beach path that leads around the west side of the wastewater treatment plant.
“I hate to make it less convenient to get to the beach,” Ald. Mike Ehrlich, a member of the board, said.
Wastewater Supt. Dan Buehler recommended the city close the path because of damage and vandalism to the plant. Over the last couple years, he said, a handrail has been “ripped out,” the air conditioner damaged and graffiti scribbled.
Perhaps most serious, he said, was that someone threw paper onto a gas flare, starting a small fire that left a 6-by-6-foot area charred and could have been much more serious.
“Next to that was a whole hillside of dry grass,” Buehler said. “It all could have gone up.”
Board Chairman Tom Veale noted that a fence separates the path from the plant, but it’s still easy for vandals to damage the facility.
“The proximity of the building to the fence is so close that if someone has it in their mind to vandalize it, there’s little to stop them,” he said.
Ehrlich added, “This is a case of a few people are wrecking it for everyone else.”
Even if the city closes the west path around the plant, Buehler said, people heading to the beach still have two ways to access it — through the path on the east side of the plant, which is handicapped accessible, and via the staircase from Upper Lake Park.
“I’m on the fence,” Ald. Jim Vollmar, a member of the board, said. “I think it’s used more than the (east) walkway and is a popular way for people to get to the beach.”
Buehler estimated that about twice as many people use the western path, noting it is about 150 feet shorter than the east walkway.
The path is also easily accessed by people parking in the Yacht Club parking lot, Vollmar said.
However, Vollmar also expressed concern about the safety of a retaining wall adjacent to the path that is leaning and may need repairs.
Buehler said he’s been told the wall hasn’t changed its angle in 20 years, but Dave Ewig, the city’s water superintendant and street commissioner, said he believes the wall is in need of work.
“The issue you’re having with the wall bowing out is similar to the problems you’re having north of the stairs,” he said, noting the bluff in that area is “very unstable” and prone to mudslides.
The board decided to table the matter for a month so members could look at the situation before making a decision.
The path is currently blocked from the public. Buehler said it is typically closed from the end of October until May.
A LOCKED GATE prevents people heading to Port Washington’s north beach from using a walkway that traverses the west side of the wastewater treatment plant. Although the gate is traditionally opened on May 1, officials are considering leaving it locked this year because of vandalism and safety concerns. Photo by Bill Schanen IV |
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Community
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Written by Kristyn Halbig Ziehm
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Wednesday, 07 April 2010 19:20 |
County poised to follow requirement giving crews prevailing hourly rates on jobs done for municipalities
Ozaukee County Highway Department workers could be paid more than their union salaries when they do work for townships and municipalities beginning this year.
The County Board on Wednesday was poised to allow the increased wage scale to conform with a state law requiring that it pay the prevailing wage to employees when they do work for other governmental units.
“We’re not happy about it. We think it’s a step backwards,” County Administrator Tom Meaux said. “The whole issue will have a significant impact on local government.
“Really, all it’s doing is driving up the cost to taxpayers.”
The impact won’t be on the county as much as it will be on the townships and municipalities, he said, because the county charges these governmental units the actual cost of the work, including labor and materials.
The increase in wages paid to meet the prevailing wage requirement will be passed on to these governmental units, Meaux said.
Townships will also find they have to do additional paperwork to comply with the prevailing wage requirement, said Mark Banton, the county’s construction superintendent and surveyor.
“I feel bad for the towns to have to take on this extra burden,” he said, noting many townships have small, part-time staffs. “It’s difficult now to make budgets work. This will just make it worse.”
Until this past year, he said, the prevailing wage requirement only applied to projects of $234,000 or more.
Now, state law calls for the prevailing wage to be paid on projects that cost $25,000 or more.
That’s most of the work the county does for other municipalities, Banton said, adding the county generally does at least one project each year for the townships.
The only projects not affected by the prevailing wage requirement is some maintenance work, such as chip sealing, cutting brush and ditching, he said.
In recent years, the county has been doing more and more work for other governmental bodies, Meaux said.
“We partner with local government a lot,” he said, noting the county provides a quality product at what is often a lower price. The county is also more flexible and able to respond to local concerns better than private contractors, he said. Although the county will pass on the added cost of wages to the townships, it will also find an increased amount of paperwork is needed to track the time employees spend on various jobs, officials said.
That’s because most county employees handle several different jobs on site, and different wage rates will apply depending on the job.
For example, the 40 county highway department workers affected by the law are paid anywhere from $29.02 to $38.80 an hour, depending on such things as their tenure, where they fall on the wage scale and insurance selection, Finance Director Andy Lamb said.
“In every case other than the kid who holds the signs and the person who drives the truck, the prevailing wage is higher than the county’s wage,” he said.
The prevailing wage for employees doing some of the most common jobs — grading, operating a backhoe or concrete grinder — is $46.65, Lamb said.
The prevailing wage for those operating an oiler, crusher or screener is $47.77 an hour, he said, and for general laborers is $34.79 an hour.
Truck drivers operating single or double-axle vehicles must be paid a prevailing wage of $35.49 an hour, while those operating larger vehicles with three or more axles must be paid at least $24.35 an hour, Lamb said.
The prevailing wage is reviewed and updated by the state once or twice a year, he added.
Workers will have to log how much time they spend on each duty so they are paid the prevailing wage for each job, Lamb said.
Even as the county complies with the law, it will continue to work with legislators to seek an exemption for intergovernmental work, Meaux said.
“All it’s doing is costing government and the taxpayers more,” he said.
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Community
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Written by Kristyn Halbig Ziehm
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Wednesday, 31 March 2010 18:17 |
Money intended to pay for city’s share of Hwy. 33 project, other road workPort Washington aldermen on Tuesday agreed to borrow a total of $6 million to finance road projects to be undertaken in the coming years.
The Common Council agreed to borrow $4 million this year to pay for its share of the Highway 33 reconstruction, the reconstruction of Division, Chestnut and South Wisconsin streets and work on Sunset Road and Portview Drive.
The city will borrow another $2 million in 2013 to pay for improvements to Holden, Milwaukee and Van Buren streets, aldermen agreed.
Aldermen rejected a proposal to borrow the same amount over three years, saying the city should take advantage of the historically low interest rates in effect now.
“Now’s the time to lock in those long-term rates,” said Carol Wirth, the city’s financial consultant and president of Wisconsin Public Finance Professionals.
Currently, long-term interest rates are about 3.7%, she said, a rate that in the past was typical for short-term loans.
The city’s interest rates could be even less, she said, because Moody’s is in the process of reviewing the bond ratings it has issued. The firm has said municipalities are likely to receive higher ratings because the risk of default is lower for government entities than private entities, she said.
“Hopefully that boils down to better news,” she said. “These are kind of exciting times.”
Ald. Tom Hudson, chairman of the Finance and License Committee, said the city decided against borrowing the full $6 million at once because of fears the Highway 33 project could be delayed by the state.
“If something takes priority, like the Zoo Interchange, we could be sitting with all this (borrowed) money and couldn’t spend it,” he said, noting the bonds that would be issued must be spent for the specific use the city lists.
The financing plan would allow the city to keep a stable debt service levy for the next 14 years, Hudson added.
Even after the $6 million borrowing, he said, the city will not be close to its borrowing limit.
“We’re in great shape that way,” he said, noting the city will be at 51% of its debt capacity.
The borrowings, however, do not include funds for the initial development of the coal dock or work on a senior center — projects that are expected to cost more than $1 million — or for a proposed downtown tax incremental financing district.
The city is unsure how much will be needed for these projects, officials said, noting some of the costs could be paid by grants.
Because the coal dock and senior center may be improvements to leased land, these notes will not be tax-exempt and must be borrowed separately, City Administrator Mark Grams said.
Those issued for the roadwork will be tax exempt, he said. |
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Community
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Written by Kristyn Halbig Ziehm
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Wednesday, 24 March 2010 19:35 |
Commission reviews merchants’ proposal calling for addition of trees, benches and other changes to attract shoppers Port Washington officials are planning to give East Grand Avenue in downtown a facelift this year, making the street as attractive an entrance to the shopping district as Franklin Street.
The facelift — one of many projects expected to be funded through a downtown tax incremental financing district and reviewed by the Plan Commission last week — was proposed by the Port Washington Main Street Program, and has long been sought by merchants whose shops line Grand Avenue.
“When you’re on Franklin Street, you feel like you’re in a really festive atmosphere,” Main Street Executive Director Sara Grover said. “Then you turn onto Grand Avenue and it changes completely. It’s especially noticeable during events.
“These changes will make it look more like a shopping district, with amenities that will cause people to pause and linger in the area.”
The project will add some of the same amenities as are found on Franklin Street — including trees, benches and bike racks. Instead of the decorative planters found on Franklin Street, brackets intended to hold hanging baskets will be fastened to light poles.
“We don’t have the space for large planters there,” Grover said. “I think it will give it a really nice punch.”
While the project will include sidewalk reconstruction between the Re/Max United office and the Pebble House that will make the walkway more level, the sidewalks along Grand Avenue won’t be rebuilt with pavers, officials said.
The work is expected to be kicked off this spring when the city plants 40 trees along not only along Grand Avenue east of Milwaukee Street but also on East Main and South Wisconsin streets, Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said.
Unlike the Franklin Street trees, he said, these will not be lit with twinkle lights.
Grover said shop owners instead will be asked to light any landscaping they might have.
The city is sympathetic to the merchants’ request, Vanden Noven said.
“We have a lot of successful businesses on Grand Avenue now and they want to feel included in the downtown district,” he said. “They feel they’re not getting as much attention as they deserve, and that people are not going down the street.”
Ultimately, the project will also include landscaping on East Grand Avenue between the Harborview Holiday Inn parking lot and the street, Vanden Noven said. However, he said, this work will not be done until at least 2011.
All of the Grand Avenue amenities may not may be put in place this year, Vanden Noven added. “It all depends on the TIF funding,” he said.
The financing district was originally proposed by the city last year, but officials delayed work to create it because of concerns about declining property assessments in the area.
Tax incremental financing districts use the taxes paid on the increasing value of properties within their boundaries to pay for public improvements, such as the Grand Avenue streetscaping, that benefit the area.
Among the projects expected to be funded through Port’s proposed downtown TIF district are improvements to area parking lots and alleys, signs directing people to city attractions, the conversion of Harborview Lane to a pedestrian way, some improvements to the coal dock property and a performance-based incentive program to lure developers to downtown.
Officials said the district could help promote downtown revitalization as potential developers see the community is willing to invest in the area.
“One thing our (financial) consultant is leery of is there are a lot of front-end costs proposed,” Planner Randy Tetzlaff told the Plan Commission last week. “There are a lot of things that need to be done.”
Commission member Earl Kelley noted that most of the proposed improvements will not directly affect developments downtown.
“Are we going to do the work first, then just sit back and wait for things to happen, or are we going to wait until we have somebody ready to do something downtown before we do the work?” he asked.
That decision is up to the Common Council, which has indicated that work needs to be done to “jump start” potential downtown redevelopment, Tetzlaff said. |
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