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CITY OF GILLETT COMMON COUNCIL Council Chambers – Municipal Building 150 N McKenzie Ave – Gillett, WI 54124 THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2026 AT 6:00 PM MINUTES 1. Mayor Blaskowski called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. 2. Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Roll Call Present: Mayor Jon Blaskowski, Clerk Treasurer Chelsea Anderson, Alderpersons Nanette Mohr, Keri Hicks, Jerry Luther, Ashley VanStraten, and Matt Young, City Attorney Robert Gagan, Utility Operator Matt Wickman, Public Works Department Head Tim Via, Police Chief Shane Breitenbach , Fire Chief Kurt Hicks, Librarian Shannon Stoner, and Public Kevin Smith. Excused: Alderperson David Bunker is excused. 3. Clerk Treasurer informs the Council that the Open Meeting Law has been complied with. 4. Public Input: None 5. Discussion and possible action on July 7, 2026 Minutes MOTION: Luther/Mohr Motion to approve minutes from July 7, 2026. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 6. Library Report: Alderperson Hicks- Library Director Report- Librarian Shannon Stoner stated community center is back open! August 2026 1. Programming 1. Wednesday, August 12 a. 3-4 pm: Little Hands, Big Plans Financial Planning program for kids in the Community Center b. 6-7 pm: Dinosaur Dimensions: Come meet some dinosaurs at GPL! 2. Wednesday, August 19, 10 am-2 pm: Vega/Catalog Launch Day: Librarian available to help with app/catalog setup 3. Thursday, August 20, 5-6 pm:Carol Mertens and the Copper Culture Museum 4. September we are going to play Book Battleship at GPL! Check out book (s) and choose a coordinate on our board. Will it be a hit or miss? One choice per family per day. Sink a ship and win a prize! 2. Polaris Migration 1. August 10-15: Our library system's software will be completely offline. The ONLY transactions we will be able to complete are checkouts of items in our building. To checkout materials, you will need to have a physical library card or a screenshot of your digital card from before the InfoSoup app went down. 2. August 19: We return to business as usual. 3. Thursday, August 13: GPL will open at 1 pm. Staff will be training for Polaris in Lakewood in the morning. 4. Libby App is available throughout this process and is not affected. Don’t know how to use the app or curious to learn more? Come to the library. We’ll be happy to help you find your next favorite book! 2 7. Tourism & Marketing Commission/Gillett Area Chamber of Commerce: The Chamber of Commerce is currently planning a ceremony for the road opening and park opening. Asking to work together with Tourism and Marketing. Will be starting the planning process now to get a date set. Chamber said they have 9 applications for the Forever Fund Application, will vote for 2 businesses to receive five thousand dollar grants. They have also sponsored radio ad spots to promote Gillett is open and pass on current construction information. Passport to Gillett and harvest days will be planned. 8. Financial Report: Clerk Treasurer -Updated Check Register presented for City/Utility Accounts a. Discussion and possible action on Updated Monthly Check Registers MOTION: Luther/VanStraten Motion to approve July Check Registers. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 9. Police Department Report: Police Chief Breitenbach From the Chief’s Desk; Gillett Police Department \ 250 incidents \ July 2026 Officer Braun continues to address ordinance issues throughout the city. 11 new cases were started this month. We are seeing measurable improvement with several of the trouble properties. If anyone has any further questions or concerns, please contact me at the police department. Officer Lannoye’s field training is going very well and he continues building relationships throughout the city. I am expecting Officer Lannoye to complete his field training sometime in September. SRO Hull has returned to active duty and has jumped right back in where she left off. SRO hull has been working on securing several grants for computer and radio upgrades. SRO Hull has also been working closely with school staff on developing a new active incident response model to be implemented in the schools this year. We have received a response from WI DOT in reference to UTV/ATV access on STH 22/32 from McKenzie to the Wildfire Bar. David Nielsen, an engineer with WI DOT, reviewed our request with their traffic, maintenance and planning sections and have determined that this is not something the WI DOT Northeast Region will support. It was mentioned that this portion of STH 22/32 already has a lot of decisions being made by the drivers with the split in the highway and higher speed limits. Adding an UTV/ATV route would create more issues. Nielsen noted that the people creating the problem are visiting either the Motel or the bar and the owner may need to help in educating their patrons on the risk of losing UTV/ATV access if they don’t follow existing restrictions. The National Night Out 2026 event was a success! We had an incredible amount of community support this year and I would like to acknowledge the supporting organizations that made this year’s event possible! Gillett Police Department, Gillett Public Works and Utility Departments, Gillett City Public Library, Oconto County Sheriff’s Office, Gillett City Fire Department, Gillett Area Ambulance, Gillett Lion’s Club, Oconto Health and Human Services, Gillett School District and their buildings and grounds department, Seneca Foods Corporation, University of Wisconsin Regional Outreach Program, HSHS St. Clare Hospital, Saputo Cheese, and Homegrown. Also, a special thank you to Katie Herman for the assistance with the corn roasting! We are looking forward to seeing everyone next year for NNO 2027! If anyone is interested in donating to or assisting with planning for next year’s event, please let us know! A lot of people helped not only up front but behind the scenes. This event cannot be put on by one person, and I greatly appreciate all the help and support! Thank You!!!! 3 10. Fire Department Report: Fire Chief Hicks- 5 calls; 7-10 Auto Aid lost on kayaks. Recovered safe. 7-16 fire call juvenile locked in bathroom. 7-17 structure fire. 7-30 call to help in Oconto Falls, Assistance on missing person. Auto aid Underhill. Training last Tuesday in Suring- brought aerial truck, dropped down on roof, practiced many drills, this house will be burned down later for training. National Night Out was a success, brought many fire trucks, coloring books, and showed the trucks and equipment. Golf outing is Saturday, come enjoy the event! New truck is almost ready; needs graphics and radios installed. 11. Health, Protection and License Committee Report: Alderperson VanStraten stated National Night Out was great, awesome to see all the officers involved. 12. Utility Committee Report: Alderperson Young- Utility Operator Matt Wickman reported that new hire Aiden Patza is working hard to learn and is willing to work hard, shows up on time, and is very dependable, the Department is much more efficient with two. The Highway project is going good; curb stops are high and have been adjusting them to be even with the lawn or driveway. Moved a lot of dirt in the park for the playground, helping out Public Works. Finished paperwork, now I am officially the wastewater operator, passed all classes. Council congratulated him. Working on new wastewater permit. Seneca factory is running in full swing; wells are working great. 13. Board of Public Works Committee Report: Alderperson Hicks- a. Discussion and possible action on Cold Storage Building Cost- the groundwork was quoted at $12,000 due to needing breaker rock and a studier pad because of soft ground underneath. MOTION: Luther/Mohr Motion to approve $10,000 for groundwork for the cold storage building. Roll Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED The Fair Board owns the lot buy power station on Richmond, when we redid the road, we did not place a driveway opening. Will work the fair to open the curb. Public Works Monthly Council Report Department Head Tim Via Date: 08/06/2026 Park • Tree Removals: Cut down two silver maples for a sewer tie-in, plus a large cottonwood by the pickleball courts. The contractor could not safely dig a 14-foot storm catch basin hole within two feet of the cottonwood. • MSA: Worked with the MSA engineer on-site to monitor water, sewer, and storm pipe installations. Learned a lot and was able to answer the many questions that the contractor had. • Cost-Saving Dirt Work: The dirt contractor scraped and set depths while city crews loaded and hauled the material away, saving costs of using their trucks. • Site Restoration: Graded the sewer and water lines and planted fast-growing winter rye. We will pull the erosion fences once green grass shows. This should then be wide open for the fair! New Cold Storage Building • Site Ready: Dug out, hauled dirt, and completed final grading for the new foundation. The site is turned over to the contractor to form and pour concrete. Street Maintenance • Pothole Repair: Sourced 7,300 pounds of cold patch from the county. Fixed 2nd Street and Pulcifer Avenue first, then patched the rest of the city. Generator & Network Infrastructure 4 • Testing: Installed the generator yesterday and completed the mandatory 10-hour engine break-in run today. • Power Lag Issue: Identified a slight power blip when the AC kicks on before the generator catches the load, which was dropping network connectivity. • Battery Backup Fix: Swapped the server rack over to a new battery backup (UPS). It currently runs at 25% load and provides 45 minutes of runtime, successfully bridging the 10-to-15 second gap it takes for the generator to kick in. 14. Finance and Personnel Committee Report: Alderperson Mohr a. Discussion and possible action on proclamation form, publicly endorse the principle of fair housing and of adherence to the fair housing law in the form of a proclamation, resolution, or similar publicized statement of importance. MOTION: Luther/Hicks Motion to approve City of Gillett Proclamation Fair Housing Month August 2026. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED b. Discussion and possible action Approval of Updated Citizen Participation Plan for the Community Development Block Grant Program MOTION: Luther/Hicks Motion to approve the Updated Citizen Participation Plan for the Community Development Block Grant Program Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 15. Park and Cemetery Committee Report: Alderperson Luther reported utilities are complete under the playground and bathroom, set up for a splash pad in the future. Working on sidewalks then construction will take a break until the Fair event is done. 16. Planning Committee Report: Alderperson Bunker – no report. 17. Clerk Treasurers Report: City Clerk Treasurer Chelsea Anderson stated the Public Service Commission is nearing the end of their review to help the Utility Department raise the water rates to reach the needs of the department. The public meeting has been planned for August 20, 2026 at 1:00. Board of Review is planned for August 17, 2026. Election day is August 11, 2026 from 7a-8p. All of City Hall ran on newly installed generator all day today. 18. Attorneys Report: Conway, Olejniczak, and Jerry S.C. Attorneys at Law- Attorney Robert Gagon said there were various small projects throughout the month, including making a new Ash Tree and Wildlife Ordinance. 19. Public Input: None 20. Mayor's Report: Mayor Blaskowski stated we had a meeting with Oconto County Youth Fair board, and we have discussed the fair and the Zippel Park Project and worked together to make sure the event has enough space. He asked the Department Heads to start thinking about budgets, have a draft by September and we will approve by November. 21. Adjourn at 7:20 PM MOTION: Mohr/Luther Motion to adjourn. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED Respectfully submitted by Clerk Treasurer Chelsea Anderson