City Council Meeting – Feb 17, 2025

Topics for this post:

• Town Hall on Wednesday
• Election Primary on Tuesday
• Widening Harbor Street
• Snow Removal

Town Hall on Wednesday

The city’s first Town Hall (a.k.a. “Listening Session”) is on Wednesday, February 19th at 6 pm. It’s at Lester Library.

• Facebook invite (if you click “interested,” it’ll remind you)
• iCal calendar file

This is a really important milestone in bridging the communication gap between city leaders and residents. It’s probably the most positive and exciting thing I’ve seen in my time here.

And it’s absolutely critical that you try to attend on Wednesday. Please make an effort to share the invite with friends of yours that live in Two Rivers, and call or text a few people to personally ask them to go. We really want to show city leaders that we want to be heard and engaged with, and they need to see us at this event as proof.

This Town Hall is your chance to talk directly with city council members about what matters most to you. No formal procedures, no speeches… Just a real conversation driven by you, the residents.

If you’ve been frustrated that the city doesn’t listen, now’s your chance to be heard. Your presence matters! Don’t assume someone else will say what’s on your mind.

Not Sure What to Bring Up? Here are some topics I’ve heard people talk about:

1. Sidewalk clearing, snow plowing side streets, and snow emergency parking bans.
2. City’s plans to address speeding, crime, and drug houses.
3. Rising property taxes and why some Airbnbs are assessed so low, like the Red Barn at $114,000.
4. What the city is doing to attract businesses and living-wage jobs.
5. This summer’s lead laterals replacements and the DNR inventory problem.
6. High utility bills and how full-time residents shoulder most costs because of 500 vacation homes and Airbnbs.
7. Why the city focuses so much on tourism and Neshotah while neglecting other parks.

Election Primary on Tuesday

Depending on where you are in Two Rivers, you have one or two primary elections on Tuesday, February 18th.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction (pick one)

• JeffWright
• Brittany Kinser
• Jill Underly

Manitowoc School Board (pick up to three)

Seehafer News asked the seven candidates running for a seat on the Manitowoc Public School Board three questions, which you can read here.

• Ann Holsen
• Mary Lofy Blahnik
• Chrystal Myer
• Brayden Myer
• Lisa Anne Krueger
• David Bowman
• Michael Retzinger

Bullet Voting

Bullet voting is when you vote for only one candidate, even if you’re allowed to pick multiple. This strategy increases your favorite candidate’s chances by not boosting their opponents with your additional votes.

For example, if you can vote for three people but choose only one, your entire voting power stays with your top choice. People use it when they strongly support one candidate and want to avoid helping their competition.

City Council Meeting – Monday February 17th

Widening Harbor Street

A public informational meeting was held, presumably with people on that street. There is no information in the minutes about how many people or who was at the meeting.

Most of the two-hour discussion revolved around pavement configuration and bicycle accommodations on Harbor Street. There was very little discussion relative to the sanitary, water or storm improvements. Concerns centered around vehicles not obeying the one-way on Harbor Street west of Pilon Court and East Street north of Harbor Street.

Engineering will proceed with a 28-foot wide street with two-way traffic and bicycle sharrows marked on the pavement. Existing Harbor Street is 24’ wide with parking on south side only.

Snow Removal

In the DPW presentation is the following information. Personally I think most of the snow removal is fine, but the response does seem dismissive about genuine concerns like leaving median crosswalks uncleared or city-owned sidewalks uncleared. That said, I’ll just paste the city’s response verbatim…

The beginning of the 2025 snow season has been challenging dealing with the minimal, nuisance snow events and the complaints pertaining to the present policy that DPW does not plow the streets when there is less than a 2-inch snow fall.

We are also observing the lack of compliance with private properties not removing snow from adjacent sidewalks. In discussions with other Public Works colleagues, they provided insight to better explain why sidewalks are required to be cleared and the streets are not.

1. The City could plow all roads after every snow event. HOWEVER, residents pay a much higher property tax to cover this cost. If residents are willing to pay a higher property tax, then the City Council and City Manager could consider changing City policy. That is not entirely a DPW decision.
2. DPW can plow anything – just show me the money! Nobody wants higher taxes for minimal services related to nuisance snows.
3. Motor vehicles are designed and built to navigate snow/ice covered streets much better than pedestrians, which is why there are different snow/ice removal standards for vehicular transportation facilities versus pedestrian transportation facilities. In addition, motorists need to adjust driving habits when roads are not 100% dry and clear. They must reduce speed and increase stopping distance to compensate for slippery conditions caused by rain, snow, ice, or other things that may be on the roadway surface.
4. Roads can still be considered safe for driving with nuisance snows, sidewalks or pedestrian walkways cannot. Slips, trips, and falls are one of the biggest insurance claims in America, if not the biggest.
5. Keeping sidewalks clear of snow/ice is a City ordinance (Sec. 4-1-6) and state statute (66.0907(5)), which is enforceable by law. DPW is merely doing its job when enforcing the winter snow/ice sidewalk ordinance and State Statute.
6. And what about consideration for your disabled neighbors? Can they navigate a nuisance snow? Yes, but clear pavement would be easier for them. Also, do these noncompliant individuals prefer their elderly parent, child, grandchild, or neighbor walk in the snow? I would guess if they looked at it from that perspective, their angle might change.

Director Heckenlaible also noted that the cost that the City is paying for salt brine has significantly increased. We were previously charged approximately $0.35/gallon and were recently invoiced for brine at $1.95 /gallon which is over a 550% (5.5 times) increase. DPW will look at other options for acquiring brine for the 2025-26 winter season.

Meeting Agenda Packet

You can read the full packet that council members get here:
https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/tworivrswi-pubu/MEET-Packet-fee71fed0ac4495b883128fa9e46cb01.pdf