I'd ask Alders to please return to their seats.

We have a couple in the hallway.

Everyone can move over to their seats.

We can get going.

I know I just uh housekeeping here, Alder Pete is excused tonight.

Is it louder?

Or do we if the the folks doing the microphones can turn it up?

I think it's a little I can do my best to talk loud, but I also don't want to blow out the eardrums of people at home.

I was told that was like a speaker that that's what's that sound better?

Perfect.

Awesome.

Now we're really we're moving now.

Uh so with the the hour of six fifteen uh upon us, I'd call to order the Monday, May 11th, 2026 committee of the whole meeting.

Uh could we do a roll call, please?

Alder Fraser.

Alder Frazier.

All righty.

Here.

She is here, she was in the hall, but we'll mark her present when she comes in.

Thank you so much.

We have uh everyone here except for uh Alder Pete, who like I said was excused.

Uh we have one item tonight on our agenda.

That's item uh actually first we've got a we have the approval of the minutes.

So approval of the minutes for the March 9th, 2026 meeting.

I would entertain a motion.

We have a motion from Alder Mack, second from Alder Pabone.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

So now we have one item.

It's 036326.

Uh communication sponsored by Mayor Mason to give a presentation on redevelopment strategy and upcoming TID plans.

I'll just introduce this by saying I know there's a cue for other items for the committee of the whole.

One in particular, uh, we need the county.

A request has been sent for them to participate.

We have not heard back yet.

This item in particular, though, is very time sensitive, which you'll hear tonight.

But we will be scheduling another one to clear out that backlog that we had at the end there.

Um so with that, we'll start out um by going to Mayor Mason to start the presentation.

I know we have a couple staff members tonight to talk on this.

If anyone has any questions, we'll be looking for it.

The folks who are on um Zoom, we're gonna be looking to make sure, just know that some of the monitors up here aren't showing the hands, so we have somebody else watching the hands, but we will we will get to you though.

So, with that, Mayor Mason.

All right, good afternoon, and I guess good evening, everyone.

So, before you next week, the uh the full council will be asked to consider action taken by the planning commission uh in regards to the city's TID plans, which is probably one of our most important and powerful economic development tools that we have.

But given that we have several new members that are uh on the council, just wanted to give an overview of the development strategy that we have, why we do the things that we do, the tools that we use, and how the TID plan fits into that.

Uh I want to offer specific thanks to um Jeff Hints and the development department that put the bulk of this presentation together, but wanted to really go through some of the things.

Uh so what you'll hear is a uh discussion on sort of big picture what are some of our development strategies are and why we're doing the things that we do and and some of the things that have come to them, and then I'll turn it over to uh Jeff Hints and Kathleen Fisher to talk about the specifics of the amended TID plan that will come before you in a week.

When we go through all that, uh please take notes and whatnot when we get to the end.

I hope it leads to a larger conversation of uh specific uh questions on policies and some of the things that were there.

And while we may not be able to answer a specific question about a specific property or a specific development per se, it does allow us to give a larger conversation about the strategies and things that we try to use to improve the lives of our residents.

So, first is just to start with why.

Why do we do development or redevelopment in the city of Racine?

Uh, some of these might seem plainly obvious, but it bears mentioning part of it is just for the quality of life.

Uh, when we redevelop or develop parts of the city, it's intended to improve the quality of life for our residents.

Uh, the other is funding for public services, and uh Director Fisher will get into it in a bit.

But under Wisconsin law, uh our ability to fund public services uh is severely restricted by state law.

But the one way we're able to continue to invest in public services and the services we provide is by showing a growth in what is called net new construction, which is a fancy way of saying how much stuff did you build the year before.

Uh, your budget is really limited to growth in that space in terms of property taxes.