March 17, 2006

To The Mayor and City Council:

For all of you with Irish blood, Happy St. Patrick's Day! For those of you without Irish
blood, I'm sure everyone is celebrating the Irish today with the wearing of the green!
Hopefully, no one is over-indulging on corned beef and cabbage.
As I had mentioned in last week's Newsletter, I am actually out of the office on Thursday
afternoon and Friday, traveling to Milwaukee for an Alliance of Cities meeting. One of the
main topics on our agenda is the Taxpayer Protection Amendment, which is now being
discussed by our State Legislature. All of us in local government hope that this legislation
does not see the light of day and that our friends in Madison understand the tremendous
impact this would have on local government across the state. I find it continually difficult
to understand why the state feels they know how to legislate at the local level better than
locally elected officials. We can only hope that this is properly defeated, as it should be.
Since we have no Council Meeting or Workshop scheduled for next week, I have no Agenda
to discuss, so this Newsletter will be quite short.
Items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include a notice for a meeting that is scheduled
for next Monday evening, March 20th, at 7:00 p.m., at the Pollock House on the University
of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus to discuss new lights at the Oshkosh Sports Complex for
their baseball and softball fields. This is a neighborhood meeting and Council Members are
invited, so I'm also enclosing an official notice from City Clerk Pam Ubrig.
Insofar as minutes are concerned, I'm enclosing the following:
1. Minutes of the March 7th Plan Commission meeting.
2. Minutes of the March 8th Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.
3. Minutes of the February 21st Downtown BID Board meeting.
The last item I'm enclosing is a news release received from the Wisconsin of Transportation,
announcing a highway improvement in our area. This is for Highway #21, between the
west county line and the City of Omro, which is scheduled for this summer. Even though
this is not immediately adjacent to Oshkosh, it certainly will have an impact on those who
travel to the west using Highway #21. It appears that this will be a major upgrade with an
asphalt overlay.
The big news in Oshkosh this week has been the success of the high school basketball
teams, with Oshkosh West and Lourdes High School both making the state basketball
tournament in Madison. I'm sure many people traveled the road to Madison to see the
teams. It is certainly an exciting time for those who have March Madness fever with two
Weekly Newsletter
March 17, 2006
Page 2
local high school teams representing our great city in the tournament.
Looking at my calendar for next week, on Monday morning, I have a number of meetings.
At 12:00 noon, I have a meeting of the Conflict Resolution Board.
On Wednesday morning, at 7:30 a.m., I'll be attending a meeting of the Oshkosh Economic
Development Committee at the Chamber of Commerce. At 9:00 a.m., we will have our
weekly staff meeting to discuss and plan the Agenda for the March 28th Council Meeting.
On Thursday morning, I will be meeting with our Health Department for a tabletop exercise
for the potential of an influenza outbreak.
On Friday afternoon, I have an appointment out of the office.
That looks like my week so far. I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend. Remember, if
you haven't visited the Titantic exhibit, the time is almost half-way through that it will be
on display at the Public Museum. In talking with Museum Director Brad Larson, the
attendance numbers are still very strong, which is great news for all those involved with the
exhibit.
Respectfully submitted,
Richard A. Wollangk
City Manager
RAW/jdc