Response to Chamber Questions

The Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce recently asked Common Council candidates to respond in writing to 7 questions. Below are the questions and my responses.

Question #1: What is your hightest priority for economic development? What would you suggest the city do to achieve your priority?

My highest priority of economic development is attracting living wage jobs to the city. To achieve this priority, the city should (a.) compose a new request for proposals for the Marion Road/Pearl Ave. redevelopment area, explicitly to recruit living wage employers not already in Oshkosh; (b.) develop a point system for the use of Tax Incremental Financing so that projects for developments that pay living wages will be given highest TIF priority; (c.) develop a “NO BRAIN DRAIN” partnership with UW Oshkosh designed to come up with incentives for keeping young entrepreneurs in Oshkosh after they graduate from the university.

Questions #2: Issue has been raised with the manner in which the City's Inspection Department interprets the State Building Code. Many times, this interpretation results in increased construction costs. If elected, how would you propose to address this situation?

The City Council should hire an outside auditor to determine if the City’s Inspection Department is in fact interpreting the State Building Code in a manner that is arbitrary, overly harsh, and/or out of line with the manner in which the Code is interpreted in other Fox Valley or comparable cities. If the audit finds that our Inspection Department is out of line, then City Manager Rohloff must intervene to fix the situation. If at that point Mr. Rohloff failed or refused to make changes in the Department, then the Council should fire him and hire someone who will make the necessary changes.

Question #3: Recently, the City adopted a 29% Storm Water Utility rate increase that was needed to address storm water management issues, both quantity and quality. Many commercial and industrial property owners have addressed runoff issues to reduce storm water runoff to pre-development levels. In cases such as this, what is the appropriate storm water credit these property owners should receive?

According to current city policy, the current maximum peak flow control credit available for commercial and industrial properties is 40%. That strikes me as appropriate, though I am open to hearing arguments as to why the credit should be higher. I will not support additional credits for non-residential properties unless residential property owners are offered similar credits.

Question #4: Define the role of the City Council within the current City Council/City Manager form of government. Do you support the current separation of duties and accountability under the current form of government?

Under the current City Council/City Manager form of government, the Council’s role is similar to the Board of Directors of a corporation. As such, the Council should provide direction to the CEO (i.e. the City Manager) and provide the stockholders (i.e. taxpayers) with a suitable return on their investment. In a municipal context, suitable return on investment means wise and responsible use of tax dollars to protect core services like police and fire, rebuild and maintain infrastructure, stimulate economic development, and support quality of life items like parks and the public library.

The Council/Manager form of government works best in cities where there is a high degree of consensus on key issues related to how we should best use tax dollars. In Oshkosh we do not have such consensus, resulting in a frequently divided Council and a City Manager who is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. The form of government in Oshkosh clearly is not working, but that can only be changed by a citizen led referendum movement. I am not interested in changing the form of government on the basis of a vote of 7 Council members.

Question #5: Do you support the City's use of Tax Incremental Financing to assist in development and/or redevelopment of areas within Oshkosh? Why or why not?

I support Tax Incremental Financing for projects that clearly meet the purpose of TIF as identified in state statutes, that have public support, and that would not be done “but for” the existence of the TIF. I supported the TIF for Brian Burns’ apartment development on Main St. because I was persuaded that the project met those criteria. What we need is for the City Manager to develop a point system to help in determining which projects are worthy of TIF support. So for example, a project that comes with the promise of living wage jobs would get more points than a retail project that doesn’t.

Question #6: How do you propose to bring City employees' benefit packages in line with that of the private sector?

City of Oshkosh employees’ benefit packages should be comparable with our peer cities. If our bargaining position as regards bringing employee benefits packages more in-line with the private sector is significantly out of line with the position of our peer cities, we will end up in a costly arbitration process and lose. It would be irresponsible to get us to that position in the first place. What we need to do is end the city’s current practice of paying an outside negotiator tens of thousands of dollars to handle our collective bargaining negotiations. Hiring the outside negotiator is costly, usually prolongs negotiations without getting a better deal for the city, and creates long-term resentment among the represented workers. Ending that outside negotiator practice would “clear the air” and allow for more open, collegial discussions of how to reform benefit packages in tight budget years.

Question #7: Oshkosh has traditionally relied on a strong public-private partnership for economic development programming. What would you do to enhance this partnership?

Public-private partnerships can be enhanced via greater transparency. Most citizens currently are not aware of the various ways in which the public sector assists the private and vice-versa. The public also suspects—rightly or wrongly—that much partnering takes place in secret. Lack of awareness and suspicion of secrecy breeds cynicism, and cynicism makes it more difficult to develop support even for worthwhile partnership projects like the Convention Center renovation. Consequently, the best thing I or any Councilor can do to enhance public-private partnerships is to demand that government is as open and transparent as possible according to both the letter and spirit of the law.