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Council tables changes to charter ordinance

JANESVILLE — The Janesville City Council will delay a vote that would change its charter ordinances until all seven council members are present.

On Monday, the council considered a change that would have shifted the power to appoint residents to several city committees from the city manager to the council president.

The charter ordinance requires that the manager choose members of the plan commission, board of review, library board of trustees and the zoning board of appeals.

The council late last year agreed that the council president would recommend members of committees after receiving nominations from a newly created citizens board. The council still would have to approve the president's recommendations.

Staff, though, misunderstood the council's direction and thought the council was creating a citizens committee to make recommendations to the manager.

The council last year did not realize that the process of appointing some committee members is regulated by charter ordinance.

On Monday, two council members, Russ Steeber and Kathy Voskuil, said they were uneasy changing a charter ordinance.

That means changing the style and essence of Janesville's government, Steeber said. He said that should be up to the residents, not the council.

The charter ordinance was meant to take away some of the powers of the council president, Steeber said.

Councilman Tom McDonald said the change is a minor one, even though it is a charter ordinance.

"The council president is going to have to have a pretty good reason not to follow the advice of the citizen's advisory committee," he said.

"Any time we change a charter ordinance, we need to … make sure it's in the best interest for the citizens of Janesville," McDonald said. "To me, the purpose of these committees is to help get the citizens involved." Since the council president is the highest elected official, it is appropriate that he or she make the recommendations.

"Every municipality adjusts and makes changes," Councilman Yuri Rashkin said. "It's wiser for us to make incremental changes rather than hold off until bigger changes are needed or demanded. I do feel this is a matter of changing with the times and meeting the needs of today's citizenry. I do not feel we're threatening the way the city is designed."

A change in a charter ordinance requires five votes.

When it became apparent that the five votes were not there, Rashkin and McDonald asked that the vote be tabled until all seven council members could be present. Bill Truman and Amy Loasching were absent Monday, and Loasching is a strong supporter of shifting the power from the manager, McDonald said.

The council will take the matter up again Feb. 9.

The council did change a regular ordinance that allows the council president, with the recommendations of the citizens advisory committee, to name appointments for the historic commission. And it changed policy to allow the same for the alcohol licensing committee, the leisure services advisory committee, Sustainable Janesville Commitee and the transportation committee.

The council must approval all appointments.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business, the Janesville City Council on Monday:

-- Voted against setting time limits for outdoor sound coming through speakers at Buffalo Wild Wings, scheduled to open May 11. Council members Russ Steeber and Tom McDonald worried that the location at the former Wal-Mart site near the intersection of Highway 14 and Milton Avenue is too near apartment buildings. Steeber made a motion to cut off all outdoor noise, including that from televised sports events, at midnight.

Council members George Brunner, Kathy Voskuil and Yuri Rashkin disagreed. "What we're really talking about is the volume," Voskuil said. "There's no point for us to be proactive in trying to create restrictions when there is no issue I'm aware of at this point," Rashkin said. The council will reconsider the issue if neighbors complain about the noise.

A restaurant representative said the restaurant typically closes at 11 p.m. during the week and midnight on weekends. The sports-themed, wing-and-burger restaurant will occupy about 5,860 square feet.

Council members Amy Loasching and Bill Truman were absent.

-- Voted unanimously to forgo a council primary. Nine candidates are seeking four, two-year seats. "I see no reason to eliminate one person," McDonald said. "Even though it wouldn't cost much money, it seems kind of ridiculous."

A primary would cost the candidates money and force them to start campaigning earlier, he said. The council has held only one primary in recent memory.

-- Adopted Forward Janesville's 2009-10 legislative priorities, one of which is the expansion of Interstate 39/90.

-- Reduced the size of the Sustainable Janesville Committee from nine to seven voting residents and also staggered the terms.

-- Voted to apply for $2 million from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program funded by the federal Department of Commerce. The money must used to buy foreclosed or abandoned homes and to rehabilitate, resell or redevelop homes. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 created the program, under which states will receive $3.92 billion. The Department of Housing and Urban Development made $38.78 million available to Wisconsin and $9.2 million available to the city of Milwaukee.

Jennifer Petruzzello, neighborhood services director, said 17 projects could be funded with the money, some of which would partner with Habitat for Humanity and Community Action. The projects would serve low-income residents. The city could have the funding as early as March and would have to designate the projects within 18 months.

The money cannot be used to prevent foreclosures.