The city's Personnel and Finance Committee voted this week to cut the fees the city charges Kiwanis baseball to use Horlick Field. The league would be charged $36 per game, or $55 if the lights are needed. Both are down from the standard fee of $176 to use the field.
Ald. Sandy Weidner and Ald. Ron Hart appeared before the committee on behalf of Kiwanis. They said there should be no charge for youth to play baseball in Racine. They argued the $176 fee would drive people away from Horlick Field, and even Racine.
The reduced fee now goes to the full City Council for final approval.
Showing posts with label Finance Committee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finance Committee. Show all posts
Jun 26, 2008
Committee votes to cut fees for Kiwanis baseball
May 14, 2008
City moves to eliminate treasurer, give job to city clerk
City Clerk Janice Johnson-Martin may be getting a new title - and a bump in pay.
At a Finance Commitee meeting this week, Finance Director David Brown proposed merging the city's clerk and treasurer positions into a single position. Under the proposal, Johnson-Martin would become City Clerk/Treasury Manager and a new position, assistant city clerk/treasury manager would be created.
Johnson-Martin's pay level would be bumped from NR14 to NR15 (NR stands for non-represented) in recognition of the additional work she'll be taking on. That amounts to about a $2 per hour raise, Brown said. The new assistant position would replace the treasurer and be knocked down from NR12 to NR11. Because the treasurer position is being eliminated, the change should save the city money, Brown said.
The Finance Committee unanimously approved the change, which goes to the full council for final approval.
Johnson-Martin is the second-highest ranked minority in city government behind Donnie Snow, who heads the parks, recreation and cultural services department.
State Street business damaged by city contractor
Adam and Jessie Modrow are trying to make a go of their small restaurant at 1949 State St. They didn't get much help from the city last June when a street contractor dug into the ground and cracked the foundation of their building.
Mann Brothers was doing excavating work for the city near the Modrows' shop, a former Dairy Queen, when the incident occurred on June 25, 2007. The shops walls were also damaged by the contractor, according to city officials.
The Modrows filed an $82,500 claim with the city asking for the building to be razed and rebuilt to fix the damage. Mann Brothers has denied responsibility for the accident.
The Finance Committee reluctantly denied the claim Tuesday. Committee members noted the claim was a procedural step for the Modrows to sue Mann Brothers and the city.
"They were told to put the documentation to the city, so the city could lean on Mann Brothers," said Alderman Jim Spangenberg, who was representing the district after Pete Karas resigned from the council last year.
Spangenberg said he met with the Modrows. They said they had received no response from Mann Brothers, and had hired a lawyer, he told the Finance Committee.
"I feel bad for them," he said. "They're really trying hard (to make their business work). The foundation is in bad shape, the walls are in bad shape. They know they did it, but they refuse to do anything about it."
Alderman objects to paying JT to publish legal notices
Alderman David Maack reiterated his disagreement with the city having to pay The Journal Times to publish its legal notices throughout the year.
The JT was the lone bidder on the contract to publish the notices, which include minutes and agendas for city meetings. Maack argues that the city already publishes its minutes online.
But state law requires that the legal notices be published on a printed paper with enough circulation to reach the community, said Tom Friedel, chairman of the committee. Smaller papers, like the Insider News or the Labor Paper, are not eligible to bid on the contract.
The state has petitioned to change the law, but the effort has yet to pass the state Legislature.
Friedel jokingly asked Maack if he would like to introduce the motion to grant the contract to the JT. Maack declined, and then voted against the proposal.
"Alderman Maack would rather have us break the law," said Friedel, who also noted during the meeting that websites like Racine Post are not eligible to be the official site of record for the official announcements.
Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen ruled that counties with populations under 250,000 people (Racine County has about 196,000 people) do not have to declare an official newspaper and can print official proceedings on their website.
Counties do, however, have to print legal notices in a newspaper, Van Hollen ruled.
We're checking on how much the city spent on legal notices in the JT last year. As a starting point, Clark County (population: 33,000; located in central Wisconsin) paid $11,000 last year publishing legal notices.
May 12, 2008
Police department taking back parking ticket collections
Six years ago, the Racine Police Department handed over its parking ticket collection system to a Milwaukee company. Six years later, the department is taking the system back.
The City Council’s Finance Committee unanimously voted Monday to allow the Police Department to renegotiate its contract with Citation Management.
The company was hired in 2001 to manage Racine’s parking system, and to allow the police department to eliminate three positions. Complaints about the system appeared in recent years.
One problem: the company has nine people answering its “convenience phones” for 170 contractors, Deputy Chief Art Howell told the finance committee.
“‘Convenience phone’ is not a very accurate name,” Howell said.
City officials also got complaints about parking ticket payments being lost and had their own questions about how much money they were getting back from the company.
After reviewing the arrangement, the police department concluded it could take back control of its parking ticket transactions without adding new employees, Howell said.
“We’re operating on less staff through technology,” he said. “We now have a software system in place to enable us to do the same job with less people.”
The department will continue paying Citation Management to use its proprietary software, he added. It will still save at least $100,000 per year by collecting its own parking fine.
Alderman Tom Friedel, chairman of the finance committee, said he supported the change.
“The parts that bother us, you’re getting rid of,” Friedel said. “The parts that were working, you’re keeping.”
The Finance Committee voted to allow the police department to alter its contract with Citation Management. The proposal now moves to the full City Council for final approval.
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