Town Board — Minutes

Town of Brussels Town Board Meeting Tuesday, April 15, 2025 Present: Chairman, Joe Wautier; Supervisors, Mark Marchant, Joel Daoust (outgoing) and Austin Vandertie (incoming); Treasurer, Lois Maedke (outgoing) and Penny Wautier (incoming); and Clerk, JoAnn Neinas (outgoing) and Sherri Dantoin (incoming). The meeting was called to order at 6:02pm at the Brussels Community Center by Chairman, Joe Wautier. All rose for the Pledge of Allegiance. Motion Vandertie/Marchant unanimously carried by voice vote to approve the agenda as presented Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to approve the Clerks’ minutes from the meeting of March 12, 2025. Treasurer’s report The CD at Capital Credit Union for $160,183 is coming due on May 5th. Renewal was discussed. With upcoming road work and the bathroom project, it was decided that these funds need to remain available for cash flow purposes and, therefore, the CD will not be renewed upon maturity. Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to move the CD back to Savings upon maturity on May 5, 2025 Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to accept the Treasurer’s report Presentation on Tourism by Destination Door County Representatives from Destination Door County were present to share information on Door County Tourism Zone and the 8% room tax. 70% of the room tax is distributed back to tourism-related promotion and development related activities through Destination Door County, 30% goes back to the Municipality it was collected in. The Community Investment Fund (Door County Community Fund) under Destination Door County, is a grant program that is available help fund community projects, like the one recently granted for the bathrooms. While the Town doesn’t currently have any short-term rentals to qualify for direct reimbursements, representatives encouraged exploration of the other funding vehicles and collaboration opportunities available for future needs. Citizen Input John Neinas asked for additional clarification on the allocation of the room tax funding for the Town, as tourism is still a driving factor behind the increased cost of living in this area. The Community Investment grant, through Jess Holland at the Door County Community is the contact for further exploration of funds available. Tim Jeanquart shared that he and a couple of other volunteers have been exploring options to further preserve and teach the Walloon language, native to this area, to the younger generation. They have been recording words and phrases, transcribing them to a phonetic format, creating flash cards, and currently are looking for a certified teacher to help develop a formal curriculum. They are asking the Town to consider a collaboration of space that they could use to teach the classes (offered to the public), which are planned to be weekly and one-hour in length. Since this was not an agenda item for the meeting, the Board could not act until the next meeting. It will be placed on that agenda. The school was also suggested as a viable location. Road Work Grass cutting bids were due by April 15th and opened at the meeting. The County was the only bid received at $19,350 (last years was $17,000+). Proposed plan would be for a 10’ cut in June and a 20’ cut in August. Due to increasing cost, some towns are now only doing a single cut mid-summer, however, this is not ideal as the longer grass leads to decreased sight and increased difficulty with deer. Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to accept the County’s bid for grass cutting for 2025 at a cost of $19,350. Town Supervisors completed road inspection in early April. It was decided that a bid will be published for hot oil seal coating with black granite stone for approximately 2 miles in the Town of Brussels. Roads included are Cedar Lane (.54 miles), Neinas Road (.08 miles), Renier Road (.98 miles), Norm’s Road (.06 miles), Low Road (.70 miles), and Snow Road (.2 miles). Bids will be due by May 7th to Joe Wautier, Chairman. Bids will be considered at the May meeting. Additionally, there is a ditch near Pagel’s Farm that needs to be cleaned out, and the farm is willing to pay half of the cost to do so. Another discussion with property owners will happen on Friday, with more detailed coming at the May meeting. Town Park Joe shared that the old 850 John Deere tractor is no longer being used for the park or elsewhere. It currently takes up valuable storage space and is costly to insure. Current resale value is estimated at $4,900-11,000, based on the number of hours, etc. Mark will contact Justin May to get a better idea of value and discuss potential sale. This will be placed back on the agenda next month. Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to move toward selling the John Deere 850 Tractor The bids for the new bathrooms at the park are due by May 7th.; this will be placed on next month’s meeting agenda. Replacement of Disposal Site Supervisor and site workers With Frank Dahms’ resignation as Disposal Site Supervisor, Dan Londo will move into that position and Jason Norton is interested in the site worker position Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to approve Dan Londo as Disposal Site Supervisor and add Jason Norton as site worker Liquor License Approvals The following Liquor License were submitted for approval, with no changes from last year: Beer and Liquor License: Dean Vandertie (Belgian Delight), Marchants Foods, Why-Lee’s II 6 month Beer License: Kolberg Athletic Club Picnic Beer & Wine: St Francis/St Mary’s church There are still 3 remaining licenses in-process (Dollar General, Brussels General, and Rouer’s) that should be coming to the Board next month. Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to approve Liquor License as stated above to Dean Vandertie, Marchants Foods, Why-Lee’s II, Kolberg Athletic Club, and St. Francis/St Mary’s Church. Zoning and Inspection Permits/Replacing Zoning Administrator Kyle Guilette was to present a contract to hire Inspection Specialists as Zoning Administrator, with JoAnn’s retirement. However, after consideration, Kyle shared that he would propose completing the work as a Town Employee (W-2 status) instead of a contracted employee under Inspection Specialists, for the offered $400/month salary. Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to approve the hiring of Kyle Guilette as Zoning Administrator, to replace JoAnn Neinas, effective immediately. Landline telephone discontinuance There may be an opportunity to discontinue the landline service at the community center, with election results being conveyed via cellphone in the future. Options for moving the fire alarm systems off the landline are being investigated to allow this service to end. Updates on this next month. Clerks Correspondence – Read for Information Only JoAnn reported that the Highway H/Stone Road work is scheduled to begin April 28th. There was a camper on County XC that has now been moved. There is an opportunity to hire out AYRES Paser Rating completion, however, Joe offered to do this again, as he did last year. Spring Workshops for Board Members are available, if any members are interested in attending. Incoming Clerk is planning to attend virtually. Joe Wautier completed the Board of Review Training, completed his Affidavit, and submitted to the clerk for filing. Payment of Bills, Monthly Salaries, Admin Expenses Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to approve the monthly bills, salaries, and administrative expenses as presented Board of Review Gary Maccoux shared that he is planning to hold Open Book in the first or second week of June and would like help from the Board on that night. Joe offered to help again this year. Based on assessments, current mill rate (per thousand) is $14.67, with taxing of $1.2 million. Anticipated mill rate will be about $9.50, however, values will be up. Recognition of outgoing Board members Joann, Lois, and Joel were recognized for their many years of time and talent dedicated to this Town. They were thanked with plaques, cake and flowers. They will be missed. Next Meeting The next meeting is scheduled for May 8th at 6:30pm. Agenda items to include: Consideration of space/Walloon Language request, Road work bids, Bathroom bids, Pagel Farm ditch work, tractor sale, remaining liquor license approvals, Landline discontinuance, Planning Commission appointments Motion Marchant/Vandertie unanimously carried by voice vote to adjourn, 7pm