Hudson residents can view City Council documents online

Talk about it

Hudson citizens now have access to much of the same background material that City Council members peruse at their meetings.

The documents are available on the city’s Web site, www.ci.hudson.wi.us.

To access them, click on “Council Agendas/ Minutes” under the News and Meetings column on the home page.

That will bring you to a page displaying a link to the next City Council meeting agenda, as well as links to minutes of past council meetings.

Clicking on highlighted words within the meeting agenda brings up background information on agenda items.

Mayor Dean Knudson highlighted the availability of the documents at the start of the City Council’s Jan. 18 meeting.

He said the Internet documents will make city government more transparent to citizens and save paper.

The digital records already had saved four reams of office paper, Knudson reported. The savings, he said, came from e-mailing agendas with the hyperlinks to people who normally would have been gotten packets of paper documents prior the City Council meeting.

He said the system is in step with a resolution the council adopted last year committing the city to more sustainable practices.

People watching the council meeting live on Hudson/ North Hudson Cable Access TV Channel 15 could view much of the same material council members were looking at if they had a laptop computer with Internet access, Knudson noted.

Park user fees

Among the documents available online were 2010 fee schedules for use of city park facilities, sailboat moorings and the Lakefront Park boat launch.

The council approved an average increase of 4.5 percent for the use of park pavilions, the Lakefront Park band shell, softball fields and other facilities. Fees were rounded off to the next whole dollar.

The bigger fees were to cover increases in insurance costs and city employee wages and benefits, City Administrator Devin Willi reported.

Rent for Grandview Park fields for adult softball league games was increased to $27, including sales tax.

The new rate for renting the Lakefront Park band shell, tax included, is $366. City residents can rent the band shell for weddings for $183.

The fee for weddings elsewhere in city parks is $53 for city residents and $79 for non-residents.

The rental fee for the large pavilion at Prospect Park is $74 for city residents and $170 for non-residents.

Security deposits also are required for the rental of most park facilities.

The council kept the fee for use of the Lakefront Park boat launch at $3 for city residents and $10 for non-Wisconsin residents.

The price for Wisconsin residents who live outside the city was raised to $7. It had been $5.

The 2010 fee for a sailboat mooring will be $560. It was $550 last year.

Other action

In other business, the council: