Welcome to the June 28 edition of HEADS UP OSHKOSH, where you get a preview of the news you’ll be hearing and talking about this week. This is our 25th issue of 2021.
TOP ITEMS THIS WEEK:
- Cannabis decriminalization effort moves forward
- Council starts work on capital improvement plan
- County exec’s reorganization plan up for review
Cannabis decriminalization effort moves forward
When the Common Council’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee meets Monday, one of the topics it will consider is whether to push forward with an effort to decriminalize cannabis in Oshkosh.
Newly elected Council Member Aaron Wojciechowski, who ran on a promise to change current policy, said the starting point for discussion will be Madison’s ordinance. This law includes these provisions (with some exceptions):
- A person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older may possess cannabis or cannabis derivatives in an amount not to exceed twenty-eight (28) grams on public property with the permission of the property owner, landlord or tenant or on private property.
- A person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older may consume cannabis or cannabis derivatives on private property with the permission of a person who is lawfully on the property or on public property with permission of the owner, landlord or tenant.
Wojciechowski said he expects next steps to include a workshop session with the council where the actual wording of a possible ordinance would be drafted.
Council starts work on capital improvement plan
The council will review the proposed capital projects for next year at a workshop Tuesday that will also focus on the city’s borrowing program.
The city got some good news recently from the Department of Revenue, which estimates that the equalized value of Oshkosh property has gone up by 8%. This increase means that the city is closer than expected to meeting its goal of reducing the amount of borrowing capacity that it is using.
Still Finance Director Russ Van Gompel told the council last week that some capital projects may have to be postponed. “There are a lot of competing interests from streets to parks to community development to fire and police,” he said. Putting together a list of recommended projects for 2021 has “been a tough process,” he said.
The city is in line to get $20.5 million under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), but City Manager Mark Rohloff warned that this money will go fast. One capital project on the horizon is the reconstruction of Algoma Boulevard between Wisconsin Street and Congress Avenue.
That 1-mile stretch “will cost us $10 million,” Rohloff said, because it involves significant underground work on sewer and water lines. The city has a total of 53 miles of roads that are rated in fair or poor condition.
“Ten million buys us 1 mile,” he said. “We could use all the ARPA money on two miles of streets, and we’d still have 51 miles of streets to do.”
County exec’s reorganization plan up for review
The county’s powerful Personnel & Finance Committee plans to go into closed session at its meeting Thursday to talk about staff in the office of County Executive Jon Doemel.
When it comes out of closed session, it is scheduled to take up Doemel’s proposal to hire a chief of staff and a communications specialist and make some other adjustments that would cost a total of $144,000.
Doemel came under fire from supervisors after he hired Ethan Hollenberger into a “chief of staff” position on a temporary basis without consulting with the P&F panel. Doemel said in a Facebook post Friday that Hollenberger, who has been using the title “transition director,” would have his last day on Wednesday.
The committee will also consider proposals to extend a project grant program coordinator position for the district attorney and to reclassify five part-time corrections officers to full-time.
Headlines of note–week of June 21