Special Village Board Meeting — Minutes

1 VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES 2 Tuesday, April 27, 2026 3 (Approve as Amended) 4 5 1. Call to Order & Roll Call 6 President Bell called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, April 27, 2026. 7 8 Present: President Nate Bell, Patrice Champeau, Skip Heidler, Louise Howson, Terry Kelly, Brigid 9 White and Steve Bacsi. 10 11 Staff: Administrator Benjamin Andrews, Village Clerk Julie Thyssen, Attorney Randy Nesbitt 12 13 Others: Nick Deviley 14 15 2. Approve Agenda 16 Motion to approve the agenda was made by Bell and seconded by Bacsi. Motion carried — all ayes. 17 18 3. Discussion/Action Items 19 a. Discussion on Culture 20 Bell introduced the topic of board cohesion, communication, and strategic planning. The Board 21 reached consensus on the following: 22 23 Board Culture/Elected Official Training: An outside facilitator should lead a single session covering 24 trustee conduct, communication expectations, and board cohesion. The League of Wisconsin 25 Municipalities or a comparable provider should be explored. Cost-effectiveness was emphasized by 26 multiple members. 27 28 Strategic Plan: The Board reached consensus to pursue a formal strategic plan for the Village, 29 facilitated by an outside party for the initial development. Subsequent annual reviews may be 30 conducted in-house. The plan should establish a shared vision, mission, core values, goals, and 31 objectives, and serve as a framework for board decisions and committee agendas. 32 33 Action Items: 34 • Andrews to research and present multiple options and cost estimates for elected 35 official/culture training, including the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and other 36 providers. 37 • Andrews to research and present multiple outside facilitator options for strategic plan 38 development, including sample work products and cost estimates. Individual consultants as 39 well as firms to be considered. 40 41 b. Village Appointments 42 Bell reviewed the full slate of committee appointments as amended. Champeau requested removal 43 from the Housing Committee. The Parks and Sewer/Water Utilities Committees will each carry a 44 vacant seat to allow for the future addition of a citizen/stakeholder member. Bjorn Johnson was 45 noted as agreeing to serve as Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals. 46 A discussion arose regarding the use of "stakeholder" versus "citizen" designations in committee 47 bylaws. It was noted that stakeholder appointments are subject to Board approval and that bylaw 48 language would be revisited in a future discussion. 49 50 Minutes of the April 27, 2026 Meeting of the Village Board of Trustees - Unapproved 2 Howson raised a concern regarding stakeholder members currently appointed to committees who 1 have not been attending meetings. It was noted that the chair of the relevant committee should 2 bring this to the Board's attention and that non-attending members may be removed or invited to 3 submit a resignation. 4 5 Action Items: 6 • Andrews to follow up on non-attending stakeholder committee members and bring the 7 matter to the Board for action as appropriate. 8 • Stakeholder vs. citizen bylaw language to be placed on a future agenda for discussion. 9 10 Motion to approve the village committee appointments as amended was made by Bacsi and 11 seconded by Bell. Motion carried — all ayes. 12 13 4. Executive Session 14 a. Wisc. Stats. 19.85(1)(g) to Confer with Legal Counsel 15 Bell announced the items to be discussed in Executive Session: (i) Fiber Optic Discussion, (ii) 16 Telecommunications Contract, (iii) PSC Rate Case Hearing, (iv) 5 Bedroom Litigation, and (v) Legal 17 Counsel; Potential Litigation. 18 19 Motion to convene into Executive Session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(g) was made by Bell and 20 seconded by Champeau. Roll call vote: Champeau — aye; Kelly — aye; White — aye; Howson — aye; 21 Bell — aye. Bacsi — aye; dMotion carried — all ayes. 22 23 b. Motion to Reconvene into Open Session 24 The Board reconvened into Open Session. 25 26 c. Motion for Action, if Appropriate 27 Following Executive Session, the Board took the following actions: 28 Motion to authorize Village Attorney Randy Nesbitt to make an offer consistent with discussions held 29 in Executive Session, including termination of the virtual agreement and installation of the conduit on 30 Sullivan Mill Road, was made by White and seconded by Kelly. Motion carried — all ayes. 31 32 Motion to approve the telecommunications contract with Spectrum retroactively from June 2025, in 33 the total amount of $75,003.95, was made by Bell and seconded by Howson. Motion carried — all 34 ayes. 35 36 5. Adjourn 37 Motion to adjourn was made by Bell and seconded by Champeau. Motion carried — all ayes. 38 The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m.. 39 40 Minutes submitted by Julie Thyssen, Village Clerk 41