At the suggestion of Ward 4 Alderman Fred Daues, the Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen formed a new steering committee at its July 14 meeting. The steering committee will consist of four aldermen who will work with Mayor Pat Fribis and city staff to decide how to spend revenue acquired by the stormwater and parks sales tax.

“I think it’s important for this board, looking at the amount of money that is going to be coming our way … that we be, as a board, proactive,” Daues said. “That is not to say we want to take any input away from the mayor or staff, but I think it’s important as elected officials that our board also have a voice in this.”

According to Daues, the steering committee would interact with the Sunset Hills Finance Committee. The committee would put together potential options for the usage of the tax revenue, presenting those options to the staff and mayor to consider; the steering committee would also receive concepts from the staff and mayor, giving feedback on those concepts.

“This is not designed to circumvent input from anybody, but to give us, as a board, direct opportunity to have a vision of where we’d like this money to be spent,” Daues said.

Daues suggested that one alderman from each ward volunteer for the committee; he then nominated Ward 4 Alderman Cathy Friedmann to participate in the steering committee on behalf of their ward. Ward 1 Alderman Natalie Akins and Ward 2 Alderman Mark Schwarz requested to be on the committee to represent their wards.

Ward 3 aldermen Angie Weigel and Greg Colombo both expressed an interest in serving on the steering committee, and at first, it was suggested that they both serve. City Attorney Erin Seeley advised against this, since having five aldermen on the committee would make it a quorum of the Board of Aldermen. It has not yet been decided who will serve, as of The Call’s press time.

The sales tax in question was passed in April as Proposition P: a sales tax of one-half of one percent (1/2 of 1%) for stormwater control or local parks, or both. The tax passed with 77.53% approval. The sales tax had existed previously with a sunset date; when it was passed again this year, it did not have a sunset date in place.

“I think it’s important, as we look forward, to see what we can afford, not just one time, but on an ongoing basis,” Daues said.