The agenda for the March 16th Common Council Meeting is posted on the City's website.

Item #5 on the agenda is a resolution required prior to the City issuing promissory notes to raise about $4.75M. The money will be used both for street projects and in the Water and Sewer utility for two wells and the Ridgeview water tower.

On the topic of the Water utility, item #6 relates submitting an application to the PSC for a water rate study. Since 2005, the utility been operating at a loss. Please keep in mind that we do not set the water rates, the rate is set by the PSC. When we start operating at a loss, it is time to have the PSC review our rates and set the rate accordingly.

The ongoing dispute with ProHealth Care is also on the agenda. The have filed a claims with the city relating to unlawful taxes. They believe their facility on Riverwood Dr. to fit under the exemption in Statute 70.11 (4m), we do not. We are currently in litigation over this issue and item #9 is the payment of $3,600 to an expert witness in the case. Item #11 relates to the claim filed by them in January of this year protesting their 2008 taxes.

For those of you interested in the Peterson Drive paving projects from a few years back, we finally have the final engineering report. If you remember, there was an issue with the contractor and the City was awarded $21,400 in liquidated damages. Those damages are applied to offset the assessments levied against the property owners. Basically, it boils down to about $390 per property.

There are several items related to grant applications. Item #13 is application for 7 projects to address drainage problems identified during last years floods. Item #14 is an application to WISDOT for some paving projects and item #15 is an application to the DNR for funding through the Urban Nonpoint Source and Storm Water Grant programs.

Item #16 has to do with the 2010 Census. The Census Bureau would like a commitment from the City to create a committee charged with raising awareness of the importance of completing and returning information to the Bureau.