ADA plan needed for sewer plant funding
By Bert Lehman
The city of Clintonville has completed an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) study on all its city buildings, and is working on a transition plan to correct any infractions.
One of the stipulations the city needed to meet in order to receive federal funds from Rural Development for the Clintonville Wastewater Treatment Facility project was to have the ADA study and transition plan on file.
Clintonville City Administrator Chuck Kell told the council at its July 12 meeting that the city hired Scott Nordeen, a structural engineer and ADA expert, to analyze the city’s facilities.
“There are a lot of things, but they are relatively minor things,” Kell said.
Some of the minor things included the height of toilet paper and paper towel holders, as well as no ADA parking by the city’s shelters.
“They’re things that should be relatively easy to address,” Kell said.
The Clintonville Public Works building is a bigger area of concern because the office and restrooms are not ADA accessible, Kell said. The Rec Center building also has many ADA infractions.
“I would propose the major issues, like Public Works and the Rec Center, I think we’ll be indicating those will be addressed when a newer, expanded facility is addressed by the city, nothing in the short-term,” Kell said. “All we have to do as far as the federal government is concerned is make accommodations for people.”
Kell said the city will meet with department heads to discuss the budget implications of fixing some of the ADA infractions.
“It’s kind of an interested thing. Once I tell the federal government that we’ve certified, that we’ve had the plan done, and have the transition plan in place, they really don’t care what it says,” Kell said. “It’s not the type of thing that’s going to hold a project up because of a date or need to implement this. But I have to certify that we’ve had it done. That we’ve considered the transition plan and we’re going to try to do it, and that we’re working towards that.”
2017 Main Street
Kell informed the council that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has accepted the bids for the second phase of Main Street reconstruction scheduled for 2017. The contractor will be Peters Construction, the same company that did the first phase of the Main Street reconstruction in 2015.
Of the $4.4 million project, the city will be responsible for $280,092 for water main replacement, while the sanitary sewer portion came in at $535,866. Kell said the water main total came in $119,908 under what the city had budgeted for. The sanitary sewer portion came in $85,866 over what the city had budgeted.
Kell said that based on his review, there will be add-ons required for the project.
“We’ll get appropriated a certain amount of cost on the stripping and the digging and everything that goes on out there,” Kell said. “This is all I could glean directly from the bid package that I know is sewer and water related.”
Pigeon River Dam
Kell shared with the council the findings on what repair work needs to be made to the Pigeon River Dam. Visit www.clintonvilletribunegazette.com or see the July 14 issue of the Clintonville Tribune Gazette for the list of repairs needed and costs associated with those repairs.
Kell said low-end estimates for all the repairs will be $150,000, while high-end estimates will be $350,000 depending on the shape of the dam once work begins on it and if the city decides to have a slide gate installed.
The city will apply for a DNR grant that will cover up to 50 percent of the dam project costs. The grant application is due the fall of 2017. Work would take place in 2018.
Audit
Kell told the council that each alderperson should have received a copy of the 2015 city audit created by Schenck. He also told the council he can invite representatives from Schenck to a future council meeting if the council would like to have Schenck present the findings.
He also told the council that the city had intended to create a request for proposal (RFP) to research potentially changing auditors. He added that since the city has had this auditor for a long time, it is good to request proposals from other auditors.
Kell said he changed his opinion about seeking proposals from other auditors because of the financial requirements for the Clintonville Wastewater Treatment Facility project.
“I don’t want to have to call the federal government and tell them we’re changing auditors because I think it’s going to be a problem,” Kell said. “I would suggest we stick with the folks we have until that project is done. Then if you want to consider going with someone else, do it at that point.”
A new mayor and city attorney has already caused some issues regarding the project.
Tax Incremental Districts
The council unanimously approved not closing Tax Increment Districts 3, 5, and 7 until at least May 2017, as advised by Ehlers.
“If we keep district 3 open there is going to be enough revenue generated, residual increment, that will allow the city to cover the deficit in TID 5 that we’ve been talking about from the Angelus project, and also have a net gain of about $113,000 that the city can do what it wants with,” Kell said.
Kell added that when the council closes the TIDs, new TIDs can be created the next day, but the values revert back to Jan. 1.
“We can start working on new TIF districts this fall already if we have projects or needs to do that,” Kell said.
The council also unanimously agreed to not create a sharing agreement between TID 5 and TID 3.
Aster update
The agenda included an item indicating the council would “confer with legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to be involved.” The council met in closed session for several minutes regarding that issue.
After reconvening in open session, Mayor Lois Bressette stated no action was taken in closed session, so there was no action required for open session.