City of Mequon Weekly Bulletin - January 11, 2019
Upcoming Meetings
Planning Commission: January 14 – 6:00 P.M. (Agenda)
Festivals Committee: January 14 – 6:00 P.M. (Agenda)
Architectural Board: January 14 – 6:30 P.M. (Agenda)
Economic Development Board: January 22 – 7:30 A.M.
New Board of Police & Fire Commissioners Holds First Meeting
On Wednesday, January 9, the reconstituted Board of Police and Fire Commissioners (PFC) held their first meeting since the resignation of three Commission members in late 2018. At the meeting, the PFC elected former Mequon Mayor and Alderwoman Connie Pukaite to serve as the PFC’s new President. The Commission also addressed a number of pending items that had been put on hold since the resignations.
The Commission voted to move forward on the consideration of 12 applications received for the Deputy Fire Chief position, and placed an additional lieutenant on the eligibility list for Fire Captain. Additionally, the PFC approved a three-person eligibility list for the position of Police Officer, which will allow the City to address one existing officer vacancy in the Police Department. Lastly, the Commission discussed the process for moving forward on the suspended search for a new police chief. After deliberating between continuing forward with the current process and restarting the search, the Commission approved a motion to re-interview the three remaining finalists by a vote of 3-2. Schedules permitting, it is expected that the Commission will reconvene over the next several weeks to continue the process of selecting both a new Police Chief, and a Deputy Fire Chief.
Sewer Service Area Boundary Amendment (SSA) Moves Forward
A public information meeting was held on Wednesday night for property owners that are impacted by the Sewer Utility Tax District Exemption and the proposed Sewer Service Area (SSA) boundary amendment to remove parcels from the sewer service area. Approximately 40-50 people attended the meeting. Feedback was mixed, as many owners recognize that public sewer is not available to them for various reasons, such as being at a bottom of a hill that makes it not feasible to extend gravity sewer. Many owners are also satisfied with continuing to use their private collection system. Some owners in attendance were concerned about having to pay to remain in the sewer service area even though the City does not currently have a plan to extend sewer to those parcels.
Staff is continuing to perform public outreach, which includes surveys to impacted property owners, to gauge their interest in continuing to use private collection systems or if there is a preference to remain in the sewer service area. Currently staff received responses from approximately half of the 128 property owners slated to be removed from the service area and only a few have initially requested to remain in the sewer service area. The public information meeting and survey is the first part of the process for the SSA amendment, and additional neighborhood meetings will be scheduled based on the outcome of the surveys.
The deadline for survey responses is next week, January 16th. The findings of the survey will be presented at an upcoming Sewer Utility District Commission meeting so a plan for the amendment can be developed prior to issuing the next cycle of tax bills. Please click here for more information.
City of Mequon Ranked One of Best Places to Live in Wisconsin
After analyzing 141 places in Wisconsin, HomeSnacks.com named the City of Mequon the 6th best place to live in the state. To determine the ranking, HomeSnacks.com looked at a number of criteria including home values, median income, crime, education levels, health care, and much more. Click here to view the ranking.
Properly Dispose of Wreaths, Trees or Greenery Due to Elongate Hemlock Scale
This holiday season, Wisconsin was the inadvertent recipient of wreaths, swags, roping, select trees and other holiday greenery infested with an invasive species, elongate hemlock scale (EHS). EHS is native to Asia and poses a threat to hemlock forests. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) inspectors detected EHS and required stores to return or destroy infested greenery, but some had already been sold by several large chain stores.
DATCP and DNR staff are asking the public to dispose of infested greenery by bagging and landfilling (or burning, where allowed) to prevent EHS from surviving to potentially establish here in WI. Look for brown spots (the “scale”) on the underside of the needles to determine if your greenery is infested with EHS. Please click here to learn more.
Ozaukee County Board Minutes Published
Please click here to view the County Board’s January 2 meeting minutes.
