Minutes

Regular Board Meeting Tuesday, January 9, 2024 Townsend Town Hall 6:00pm Chairperson Monica Zeller called the meeting to order at 6:00pm Roll Call: Chairperson Monica Zeller, Supervisor Chuck DeMoulin, Supervisor Willie Evans, Treasurer Beth Hartman, Clerk Linda Ziegler. 35 Citizens Verification of proper agenda notice: Ziegler posted the agenda on January 2, 2024, at the Townsend Post Office, Townsend Town Hall, Laona State Bank, Townsend branch, and www.townsendwisconsin.org Evans made the motion to approve the agenda, 2nd by DeMoulin– M/A Motion made by Evans to accept the minutes of December 13, 2023, 2nd by DeMoulin– M/A Treasurer’s Report – Hartman gave a P&L budget performance report. Taxes have been coming in steadily. The town received a recycling grant of $2700.00. Motion made by Evans to approve the report and pay all the bills, 2nd by DeMoulin – M/A Ambulance Report – Steve Harkema said there were 12 ambulance calls in December and no calls during the Christmas and New Years week. Discussion between the two towns and the ambulance board have started and are working on being open and transparent. In 2023 the two towns paid roughly 30% of the ambulance budget. The rest comes from insurance billing and other means. Fire Department – report on file. Zeller gave a brief outline of Chief Herlache’s monthly report. The new fire truck is still set for delivery in April and the ice rink will be flooded at the end of this week. Townsend Events Committee – Linda Adamczyk said the lighting contest was a huge success, with Nineteen entries and 119 people voting. The winners were: The Olive Pit and Pam & Steve Kuczynski Lake Country Library – report on file. Jim Adamczyk said the three-year audit has started; the book sale was a success. The building addition is coming along very well. January 15 is a meeting with the towns and county boards regarding the county library system. Next meeting is Thursday, January 18 @ 8am. NOCCO – report on file. Reminder from the sheriff’s office that there is no parking at the boat landings, and this will be enforced. Planning & Zoning Committee – Tim McQuire reported on the meeting of December 19, 2023, regarding a rezone application by Steven Schnasse on Turtle Trail, to rezone the southern portion of his property near Stumpf Lake from residential single family, forest and rural residential to Rural Residential. The Committee heard from Jess Smith of Northeast Surveying. There are adequate public facilities to serve the proposed land use. The burdens on the local government for providing services are reasonable. The proposal agrees with the Town Vision Statement as found in the Town Comprehensive Plan. The proposal agrees with the town’s goals, objectives and development strategies as found in the town comprehensive plan. Planning & Zoning is recommending the board approve the rezone for parcel #042-343401324A1. The committee also asked Mr. Smith about the parceling off .66 acres of town parcel #042- 151500211A (Hummingbird Hill area). Smith said the cost would be over $2500.00. McGuire and the committee think that sectioning off part of this property would devalue the land and do not recommend proceeding. The committee has been reviewing options for the town hall project. They have considered 4 options and voted 4 yea, 1 abstain, to recommend going with the 30x50 addition and renovation, to the town board. Permits/Licenses –There are eight applications for Short-Term Rental license. DeMoulin made the motion to accept all applications, 2nd by Evans, M/A. There is one application for operator’s license, motion made by Evans to accept operators license application, 2nd by DeMoulin – M/A Business: 1) Rezone Application Parcel #042-343401324A1, Schnasse on Turtle Trail: Zeller made the motion to approve the rezone, 2nd by DeMoulin – M/A 2) Town hall recommendation: Motion was made by Evans to accept the Planning & Zoning recommendation. DeMoulin said he would like to table this motion until the town has a thorough and official POWTS inspection done. The motion was withdrawn and tabled until the February board meeting. 3) Ambulance Lease: The Towns of Townsend and Lakewood are the owners of the Ambulance building on Hwy 32. This lease is in consideration of the mutual promises exchanged between the “landlord” and the “Tenant”. Evans made the motion to approve the commercial property lease, 2nd by DeMoulin – M/A. 4) Ambulance Payroll request: The board had been notified by the Community Ambulance that they would be short on payroll for 2023 and requested $12000.00 from each town. The Townsend town board met December 26th with Janet Opiela and voted no to paying the additional money. The town will continue to meet with the ambulance service to discuss their needs and improve their budgeting process. 5) Wake Boat Situation: The town board is reviewing the Town of Doty and Town of Riverview approved ordinances to limit the activity of wake boats. The board will continue to consider local and state regulations and try to have an ordinance by May 2024. 6) Library & TEDCOR appointments: The town will be looking for a representative for these committees in April. Descriptions of duties will be available soon. 7) Calendar of Events: the Sheriff’s office asked the town to collect the events that occur during the year. Ziegler emailed the businesses and has gotten many dates. She will be listing on the website to keep everyone informed. 8) Committees: Townsend has many committees that people can volunteer for. The festival committee focuses on the July 4th events and the ball field activities, the Events committee has numerous activities for the public throughout the year and the new Friends of Townsend Fire has the July 4th picnic as well as other events. 9) Additional agenda items: the fire number signage for Whippoorwill on the corner of Nicole and Horn Lake Public Comment: Roger Wight does not like the public comment after business if he opposes something the board will be discussing. He also stated that the electors should have options on the town hall when it comes to voting. Mike Malueg asked what the guarantee is the current town hall could withstand a renovation. Correspondence: Townsend received the chipping grant for $18,9965.74. Jason Boor, Horn Lake Rd, is running for school board Announcements: Zeller will be out of town for one month. The board will attend the library meeting Monday, January 15 @ 5pm The board will have a work session, Tuesday, January 16 @ 10am 7-towns meeting is Wednesday January 17 @ 6:30 at the Lakewood Town Hall. Evans made the motion to adjourn at 6:56pm, 2nd by DeMoulin– M/A Minutes approved February 13, 2024 Linda Ziegler, Clerk