Town Board Meeting — Minutes

Town of Liberty Grove Minutes of the Town Board meeting on August 5, 2026 (this meeting was correctly posted) Agenda: 1. Call to order 2. Declaration of quorum followed by the Pledge of Allegiance 3. Approve Agenda 4. Approve minutes from 7/15/26 5. Public input 6. Committee Reports 7. Payment of bills a. LGUD#1 bills b. Town bills 8. Administrator Report 9. Recommendation from Plan Commission Re: Conditional Use Permit –1110 Wagon Trail Cir 10. Consider Community Development Committee outreach to Non-profit & for profit developers for affordable housing options on former Val-A property 11. Discussion of the pound boat Joy at Mariner Park 12. Consider using Ordinance compliance monitoring company 13. Temporary Liquor License application 14. Operator License applications 15. Short Term Rental license applications 16. Correspondence 17. Future meeting(s) 18. Adjourn Chairman Goss called the meeting to order at 6:00pm. Supervisors Janet Johnson, Sylvann Welcome, Cathy Ward, and Dan Watts were present. Administrator Buckingham was also in attendance along with Clerk/Treasurer Pamela Donart-Welcome, and 6 members of the public. Johnson moved, Ward seconded to approve the agenda as posted. Carried 5 – 0 Watts moved, Ward seconded to approve the 7/15/26 minutes as presented. Carried 5 – 0 Public input: Dan Watts shared that the number of fire and EMS calls in the area have increased steadily from year to year, and so far this year, the calls have exceeded last year’s record numbers. He stressed the great need to recruit responders, and suggested offering an paid on-call option to incentivize coverage during overnight hours to prevent burnout. Committee Reports: none Johnson moved, Goss seconded to approve the payment of LGUD#1 bills totaling $59,306.85. Carried 5 – 0 Goss moved, Welcome seconded to approve the payment of Town bills totaling $192,877.83. Carried 5 – 0 Administrator’s Report: Administrator Buckingham reported that the 2026 paving and shouldering is now completed, including North Bay Road; the 2026 chip-sealing is slated to begin later this summer; the Town Maintenance Crew has poured the concrete slab for the equipment lean-to project that will be going in on the east side of the cold storage building, and the foundations for the Disc Golf baskets; the Maintenance Crew has been mowing on a weekly basis to keep up with growth; WPS has replaced three lights that were out at the Ellison Bay Marina; regarding the sewer rate litigation, the PSC met on July 30th and we are awaiting a final written decision, although their discussion seemed to indicate they felt the Town did not meet the burden of establishing that the Village’s sewer rates were unreasonable; there has been a higher rate of activity than normal in the county and Liberty grove resulting in an increase in calls to the office for various requests and complaints; the office staff has been working diligently on election activities leading up to the August 11 Primary; while waiting for the federal BEAD Grant funds to be distributed for the Town-Wide Broadband Project, Administrator Buckingham submitted a state grant application for funds that might be used in the project; the company in charge of demolition the former Rowley’s Bay Resort property plans to bring in a portable crusher for the large pieces of foundation that remain; the new shutters have been installed on the Women’s Club building at the Ellison Bay Community Park. Ward summarized the Conditional Use Permit –1110 Wagon Trail Cir that was brought before the Plan Commission at their July 22, 2026 meeting, and how they unanimously recommended it be approved. Goss moved, Johnson seconded recommend that the Board send a note of approval for the conditional use permit at 1110 Wagon Trail Circle. Carried 5 – 0 Public input regarding affordable housing options on former Val-A property, Gary Wesa of 11935 STH-42 questioned why the Town declined to sell the property to him in the past, to be developed into four to six small, seasonal retail stores with studio apartments above for the shop owners to live in. Welcome summarized how the Community Development Committee has been working on securing affordable home options on the former Val-A property, and how local contractors are having difficulty keeping construction costs down. She asked the Board to consider allowing the Committee to continue talks with representatives of Habitat for Humanity, NeighborWorks, and Housing Partnership to see if their programs can help with more affordable building options. The Board encouraged the Committee to continue their efforts. Regarding the pound boat Joy at Mariner Park, Mike Kahr spoke again on his desire that the Town accept the boat to preserve & promote the history of the local fishing history at Mariner Park. Goss noted that the Town cannot accept the boat in its current condition, due to its environmental hazards. Watts connected the Administrator to a company that offered to remove the lead paint, and recoat with a primer to preserve the surfaces at a rough estimate of $20,000. Johnson moved, Goss seconded to move forward with hiring the remediation company that we've contacted to start moving forward with removal of the lead paint on the boat so that we can take ownership of it, and task the Finance Committee with finding the money to pay for this remediation. Carried 5 – 0 Mike Kahr then offered to relocate the boat to a safe location for the requested hazard mitigation and paint job and return it to Mariner Park once it’s in a cleaner, safer condition. Regarding using Ordinance compliance monitoring company in relation to Short-Term Rental activity in the Town, Goss and Ward briefly summarized the recent virtual “interview” meeting with representatives of Deckard Technologies which included Town office staff. Deckard offers several compliance modules, and after the meeting, Goss, Ward and the Town office staff asked the Board to consider implementing Deckard’s Rentalscape, plus their Registration portal, Complaint hotline, and Constituent portal for at least a year at a cost of $18,750, and budget for it to begin in January of 2027. Goss moved, Johnson seconded that the Town move forward with Deckard Technologies and RentalScape compliance monitoring for the year 2027 with all offered modules. Roll call: Ward, Watts, Johnson, Welcome, and Goss voted aye. There were no nays. Motion carried 5 – 0. Johnson moved, Ward seconded to approve the temporary Class B wine and Class B beer applications for Ellison Bay Door County Secret Santa. Carried 5 – 0. Goss moved, Ward seconded to approve the Operator Licenses presented 8/5/2026 for White Pine Supper Club, Blue Bear/Della Porta, and Blue Bear/Della Porta. Carried 5 – 0. Goss moved, Ward seconded to approve the STR applications presented on 8/5/2026 for properties at 11935 State Highway 42 - Units 1 & 2, and 11243 Bayview Road. Carried 5 - 0. Correspondence: Administrator Buckingham shared a letter from WPS requesting notice from us on any potential road projects, and a reminder about the change to their utility pole holding process; a letter from Roland Mchinery Company notifying us of a recent cybersecurity incident that may have involved information recently provided in a transaction or credit application, although this company is not familiar to the Town office staff; a letter from Destination Door County asking the Town to reaffirm Door County North as their designation Community Business Association to represents its local tourism marketing efforts; an email form Julie Roenigk in appreciation of the reposted speed sign on Appleport Road, and of the tree trimming done on South Appleport Lane; an e-mail from Sandra Jicha expressing disappointment about Mariner Park in Gills Rock with both the “old fishing boat” that was placed in the park and all the trucks with boat trailers recently parked on the lawn in the park; a notice from the Wisconsin Towns Association for the August 13 Door County Unit meeting taking place in Baileys Harbor; an e-mail from Ken Phipps in support of overlaying pickleball courts on the present tennis courts at Ellison Bay Community Park, and asking the Town to go forward with converting the basketball court/skating area at Fitzgerald Park into a pickleball court; another email from Ken Phipps expressing concern about permitting the use of ATVs and UTVs on Sylvan Lane; a website request from Mark Anderko Sr asking that Robin Lane have the potholes repaired again “ASAP,” and that “Robin Lane be blacktopped due to the increase in traffic and public safety concerns due to the Heritage Road designation;” an email from Todd , our former Frontier liaison for Broadband asking if we'd be interested in exploring how his consulting partner and he can audit the Town's bills from WPS, Frontier, etc. with the goal of securing utility bill refunds at no cost to the Town for our services above a percentage of any utility refunds discovered for the Town; an email from Ellen Brousil expressing concern over potential allowed ATV usage on Sylvan Lane , and requesting the posting of sign designating either dead end or no thru street and prohibiting the usage of ATVs; an email from Wendy Cooper asking the Town to consider “the ecological carrying capacity of this peninsula” when considering approval of any application for more development, and to “lead with a long-term vision that values both people and the natural systems that make life here possible;” an email from Wendy Kogler sharing an announcement she clipped from the Peninsula Pulse regarding the Nature Conservancy’s plan treat the Mink River Estuary for “invasive plant control,” and expressing her concern over introducing “toxic herbicides” into the estuary. Future Meeting: The next regular Town Board meeting was scheduled for August 19, 2026 at 6:00pm. Ward moved, Goss seconded to adjourn at 7:39pm. Carried 5 – 0 Respectfully submitted, Pamela Donart-Welcome, Clerk/Treasurer Approved on 8/19/26