The Onalaska Common Council on Oct. 14 approved a set of ordinances and resolutions, including annexations conditioned on state review, changes to animal-control holding periods, amendment of cemetery rules that removed a firearms clause, and motioned several scheduling and budget items.

Key votes and actions

- Annexation ordinance 18-36-2025: Council approved annexing specified land in Section 29, Township 17 North, Range 7 West from the Town of Onalaska to the City of Onalaska, conditioned on receiving an affirmative determination and findings letter from the Wisconsin Department of Administration. The ordinance was moved by Alder Steven Knott, seconded and amended on the floor to add the DOA condition; the amendment and final ordinance passed 4-0.

- Annexation petition (item Q): The council approved the annexation petition to annex about 16.7 acres (41 lots) from the Town of Onalaska, tax parcels listed in the packet (10-1021-15 through 10-1021-88), conditioned on an affirmative DOA determination. Motion by Alder Mike Milke, seconded by Alder Larry Jurasic. Motion passed unanimously.

- Ordinance 18-38-2025 (pet-owner duties): The council amended the code to replace multiple references to a fixed “7 day” animal-hold period with the “statutorily applicable hold period” after meeting with animal-control staff and the Humane Society. The amendment was moved by Alder Steven Knott and passed; the ordinance passed 5-0.

- Ordinance 18-35-2025 (city cemetery rules): Council members voted to remove subsection (e) of the cemetery rules (the section referencing firearms) after legal discussion about enforceability; the amendment to remove subsection (e) passed on a 3-2 roll call and the ordinance as amended passed 3-2.

- Resolution 22-2025 (vacate Johns Court): The council approved the final resolution to vacate and discontinue Johns Court (Section 29, Township 17 North, Range 7 West); vote was unanimous.

- Resolution 23-2025 (shared-ride taxi contract): The council approved the shared-ride taxi contract extension for Onalaska; the roll-call vote was 4-0 with one council member temporarily out of the room; staff said the city will go out for RFP in 2026.

- Finance: Council approved vouchers totaling $3,671,406.98 and approved moving forward with a purchase of two squad cars and a charging station (see separate article). The voucher motion passed unanimously.

Budget and hearing dates

Council set several budget and capital-improvement hearing dates: the Board of Public Works capital-improvement budget public hearing is set for Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 4 p.m.; the citywide budget public hearing is set for Monday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m.; and the Administrative & Finance committee special budget meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. with a backup on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 5:30 p.m.

What staff will do next

For the annexations, staff will await the Department of Administration’s findings letter before the annexations become effective. For animal-control and cemetery code changes, staff will update ordinance language and the city clerk will publish the amended code. For budgeting, staff will present a budget amendment at the next meeting reflecting the squad-car purchase and will publish hearing notices for the dates set by council.