Westside Association Meeting Minutes-June 3-2010

Meeting called to order by President Connie Drexler @12:00

Approval of May minutes  

Treasurer’s Report-

• Not much activity for the month
• Balance of $7891.20
• Dues billed earlier in the year
  • 36 paid= $5400.00 in dues
  • 16 outstanding yet- sending 2^nd request

Chamber Report:

• Waterfest 25^th season begins on June 3
• June 16- Live at Lunch begins in Opera House Square on Wednesdays
• Rob is back from the International Shopping Center Conference
  • Reconnected with past connections
  • Retail/development still down
  • Not many deals being made yet
• Morton’s opened in their new location
• AccuCom scheduled for a mid June opening
• New brand for Oshkosh will be unveiled on August 19 @ 5:00PM at the Convention Center
• Sonic under construction
• Cobblestone Hotel in the Hwy 26 area
• Manhattan opening in the old St John’s location
• Business after hours
  • June 16- Buffalo Wild Wings
  • July 13- Citizens First (Hwy 44 location)

Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau

• Cabala’s Fishing Tournament- June 5-6 (expecting 400-500 boats)
• Deerfest at Sunnyview
• Country USA – June
• Volleyball Tournament – July
• New coupon book is out

New Business:

• Executive committee met
  • Decided to work on the Inspection Department project
  • Help to resolve issues
  • Open to ideas and suggestions

Guest Speakers:  Alan Davis-Director of Community Development- City of Oshkosh

• Began with the city 2 months ago
• Worked for the city of Janesville for a couple of years
• Private firm- planning for small communities
• Hired as Community Director for Grand Chute- was there 12 years
  • Planning/zoning
  • Assessments
  • Inspections
  • Economic development
  • 1000 homes built/500 commercial buildings
• collaboration- big factor in his work in Grand Chute- was able to get plans reviewed and permits issued within a week
• will eventually put together a development process for Oshkosh
  • wants input from Businesses
  • from Westside Association
• heard stories about building in Oshkosh while employed in Grand Chute
• Priorities
  • Address:
    • Doesn’t see collaboration between city and developers
    • Improve process for coordination between city departments
  • Interviewing for chief inspector- narrowed to one candidate- may start in July
  • #1 priority- customer service and creating a process
    • compartmentalized here- each depart has own time lines/response time- wants to breakdown the that mentality
• Goals
  • Improving development process
    • Work collaboratively with city developers
    • Comprehensive plan update
    • Near East neighborhood Revitalization
• Public works-
  • Hired 2 or 3 engineers to help with work load
  • May help with plan review
• Inspection Dept
  • Want to change
  • Needs performance standards/measures
• Complaint system
  • Form to fill out- start investigation process
  • Call Allan first to discuss and get the wheels in motion

Meeting adjourned at 1PM