Finance Committee Meeting – May 5, 2026
Finance Committee Meeting – May 5, 2026
The Finance Committee of the City of Manitowoc met on Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 5:30 PM in Council Chambers and via Zoom. Members present: Alderpersons Sitkiewitz (Chair), Reckelberg, Dunbar, and Brey. Alderperson Schlei was excused. The committee approved consent agenda items, accepted the first quarter budget exception report, approved a liquor license transfer and a capital asset working group appointment, discussed future meeting schedules, and after closed session recommended approval of a two-year operator's license.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes of the April 9, 2026 Finance Committee meeting.
- Accepted and placed on file minutes of Manitowoc Public Utilities Commission meetings from December 8, 2025, January 26, 2026, and March 9, 2026.
- Approved and placed on file the First Quarter 2026 Investment Report.
- All consent items were approved unanimously (4-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Brian Ploederl (241 West Main Street, Mishicot) addressed the committee regarding his two-year operator's license application (#260009). He acknowledged a past infraction but stated he believes he deserves the license. The Chair noted the matter would be taken up in closed session.
Discussion Items
- First Quarter 2026 Budget Exception Report (26-0400): Director Sean presented the report, noting it is now a non-consent item per auditor advice. Alderperson Reckelberg questioned a $6,200 snowblower expense against a $2,500 budget. Staff explained it may be a snowblower for clearing bus shelters on transit property, with 50% state reimbursement, and will follow up on details. Alderperson Brey asked about an unanticipated unemployment compensation claim for a seasonal employee with no budget; staff will investigate. Alderperson Brey also requested that future reports include total quarterly overages. The report was accepted and placed on file (4-0).
- Class B Liquor License Transfer (26-0401): Application from Harbor Petroleum LLC dba Spices Restaurant and Bar, 2328 N Rapids Rd. Staff noted it is a change in LLC for an existing licensed establishment. The committee approved the license (4-0).
- Capital Asset Working Group Appointment (26-0402): Committee approved the membership appointments for the term June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2028 as presented (4-0).
- Future Meeting Date and Time (26-0403): The committee discussed a proposal to hold Finance Committee meetings on the first Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m. or immediately following the Personnel Committee meeting, beginning June 1, 2026. Personnel will start earlier (5:00 or 5:15 p.m.). Concerns were raised about holidays affecting Monday meetings, but the committee agreed to proceed and will coordinate with staff to adjust scheduling as needed.
Key Outcomes
- Approved all consent agenda items (4-0).
- Accepted the Q1 Budget Exception Report (4-0).
- Approved the Class B liquor license transfer (4-0).
- Approved the CAWG membership appointments (4-0).
- Closed Session: Moved into closed session (4-0) to discuss operator's license application #260009 for B. Ploederl pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.85(1)(a). Reconvened and recommended approval of the two-year operator's license under Wis. Stat. § 111.335 (motion by Dunbar, second by Brey, vote 4-0). The license will be forwarded to the Common Council for final consideration on May 18, 2026.
- Established future Finance Committee meetings: first Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m. or immediately following Personnel Committee, effective June 1, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
He may have told me. All right. It is 5 30. I will call the finance committee to order. First up is roll call. The entire committee is here without all their slide, and I believe he is excused this evening. Next on the agenda is public comment. Any member of the public wish to address the finance committee this evening? Yes. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record. Hi, my name's Brian Playdrell. I live at 241 West Main Street, Michigott. I'm here for my bartender's license. I know I've got in trouble a long, long time ago. And I do think I deserve this bartender's license. Okay. And I did explain the process that we're going to go into closed session later on. So we have the opportunity. All right. With that, I will close public comment. We will move on to the consent agenda. Is there any item that the member wishes to have removed from the consent agenda? Mr. Chairman, hearing nothing, I would move to uh approve the agenda as presented. There's a there's a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. There is no discussion on a consent. So all those in favor? Aye. Aye. And opposed. All right, consent passes. We'll move on to our discussion and action items this evening. Uh first up is 26-040. First quarter 2026 budget exception report. Yeah, uh, this is uh historically we've had this on the not uh consent agenda. We have been advised by our auditors that based on how it reads, because it's a budget exception, we'll just have it on the non-consent going forward. But to remind those who haven't seen it before, um, and every quarter we look at uh the departments are to look at what they budgeted versus their actual and expenses, and then if they are already over, meaning over budget, they need to provide um the cause and then hopefully a resolution, whether it be a uh reduction of another budgeted area or some other um compensating control that would uh hopefully end up into budget neutral. We will see this again in quarter two, quarter three, and then the final one in quarter after quarter four as well. Quarter one is a lot uh smaller and lighter, um, but then some of these might get more elaborated as it goes on, but just this is the first quarter and is um uh fairly normal as far as size and from prior years. Any discussion from the committee? Yes, all the Recklerberg. Yeah, just one question. One of the items has to do with a uh snowblower, which was two and a half times roughly what was budgeted, like $2,500 budgeted and what six, seven thousand dollars almost spent. What kind of snowblower or whatever are we getting that did it change from a snowblower to uh yeah, we're putting that on a pickup truck, and that you know that's why the big price difference or I would have to I can do some research for you, but judging by the cost, I I pretty sure if I remember when looking into this, it was a snowblower that was the kind of one residential ones that you and I would have for our driveways, and it's used to clear out around the bus shelters. Yeah, so all the ones on there, so we don't I mean uh 810 porsk polar snowblower. Well, no, I mean I I'd even to fifteen hundred or you know when I saw twenty five hundred dollars for a snowblower. I'm going, okay, they're getting a pretty good size one. But then when I see the actual cost is what sixty sixty-two sixty-two hundred dollars. I'm going. Do we buy more than one or two clarify?
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