Halverson’s Last Council Meeting to Approve Budget, Future City Plans
Negotiations with potential UWSP purchase of former MSTC building on Monday’s docket
By Brandi Makuski
Mayor Andrew Halverson will preside over his last Common Council meeting on Monday, with a full agenda and big decisions expected.
The Council will hold a special meeting at 6:30 inside the courthouse to hear public comment on the 2015 city budget prior to its formal adoption. City leaders will also determine the 2014 tax levy and special charges. The regular monthly Council meeting will follow at 7 PM.
City leaders are expected to approve the final lease agreement with Portage County with the main branch of the downtown library. The lease renewal has been in the works for two years and was formally approved by the County Board of Supervisors last week.
The Council will also hold several public hearings- a time for the public to address the city on a specific topic prior to a vote- during the meeting. The Council also allows a specific time for residents to voice their opinion on any topic.
The public hearings include rezoning 4943 State Highway 66, a Town of Hull property which is expected to be annexed into the city at the owner’s request; a new Boys and Girls Club Youth Center, which is slated for a construction addition to the city’s rec center; relocating Indulgence Wine Bar to the corner of Main St. and Strongs Ave., and a large-scale rezoning of 34 properties on Church, Park and Depot streets near the South Side Square.
City leaders are also expected to vote on the long-debate chronic nuisance ordinance, as well as an ordinance prohibiting parking along Northpoint Drive, formally changing the roadway between Second St. North and Division St. into a four-lane street.
Halverson is also expected to reappoint several department heads.
The meeting will end with the Council entering into closed session to privately discuss the potential sale of the former Mid-State Technical College building, 933 Michigan Ave., to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
The regular monthly meeting begins at 7 PM in the Council Chambers of the courthouse. The public is encouraged to attend.
Halverson announced in October he would be leaving office early for a job in the private sector. Former Mayor Gary Wescott was unanimously elected by the Council as interim mayor until the April election.