Special Town Board Mtg — Minutes

Town of Phelps Special Town Board Meeting Minutes Tuesday, December 30, 2025 Phelps Town Hall Page 1 of 3 Present: Town Board Chairman Steve Doyen, Town Board Supervisors – Jeremy Ryan, M aureen Robinson and Steve Waier. Supervisor Dave Selby joined remotely. Others Present: Clerk/Treasurer – Sheryl Ward, Deputy Clerk/Treasurer – Kathleen R Ray, Mak Holcomb, Rollie Alger, Dorothy Kimmerling and Steve Ray. 1. C all Meeting to Order: Chairman Doyen called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call/Quorum Call: A quorum of board members was present. 3. Verification of Public Notice by Town Board: Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Ray verified this agenda was posted at the Phelps Town Hall/Community Center, Phelps Post Office, Phelps Convenience C enter, Town Website, and emailed to the Vilas County News Review on December 26, 2025. 4. Correspondence and Communications: Waier stated he needs to resubmit the application for the Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) by January 15, 2026. Selby stated Hoeft would like the Environmental Inspection Report on the existing town hall by March 31, 2026. Selby will reach out to North Star to do the inspection. Selby stated move-in date for the new community center is projected to be June 1st with full completion by end of August. Doyen read a thank you letter from Vilas County Economic Development Corporation (VCEDC) for the Town’s donation. Discussion/Action on the Following Agenda Items (Public Comment will be Allowed on Each Agenda Item): 5. Consider/Approve purchase of truck from Plach Auto. Waier stated, with the approval from the board to purchase a truck back in September, he received a quote for a ¾ -ton and a 1 -ton t ruck for price comparison. The 1-ton truck was only $700 more, and he is recommending we opt for the 1 -ton. Waier also stated he had them add a plow attachment for reference. Plach Aut o r ecommended adding the beacon light now at ½ price what it will be if we installed one later. Waier is working with Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) to secure a 3-yr loan at a 5.5% interest rate. Supervisor Ryan stated we need to shop for a plow now. I think we can shop for one less expensive than Plach is quoting. The Hwy LGIP Reserve has $38,000 carry-over to buy the pl ow outright. Motion by Robinson to approve the purchase of a 1-ton truck with a beacon light from Plach Auto and to purchase a plow attachment using Hwy LGIP Reserve money . Second by Ryan. All voting aye. Motion carried. 6. Consider/Approve furniture bid. Mak Holcomb stated we are not ready yet. Rollie Alger stated they are still waiting for guidance on whether we can take the higher more responsible bid. The lowest bid was incomplete, not quoting all items asked for, not quoting the correct quantity in som e c ases, and the quality is not acceptable. Mak stated the higher bid only had one mistake in quoting more than we needed of 1 item. Doyen stated that it does not make sense that we would have to take the lowest bid if it is incomplete. Doyen asked what is the worse-case scenario? Waier stated we’d have to pay for it. Doyen stated, we have a good case that the lowest bidder submitted an incomplete bid. We can ask EBI to amend their bid with the correct quantity and accept it. Motion by Waier to accept the furniture bid from EBI with the specified quantities at a cost not to exceed $145,208.21. Second by Ryan. All voting aye. Motion carried. 7. Consider/Approve Resolution 2025-08 to approve borrowing from Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) for the purchase of a plow truck. Waier stated this is the final paperwork to sign for the loan from BCPL for the plow truck the Board previously approved. Town of Phelps Special Town Board Meeting Minutes Tuesday, December 30, 2025 Phelps Town Hall Page 2 of 3 Dorothy Kimmerling asked what the terms of the loan are. Waier stated it is a 10- year loan at a 5.5% interest rate. The first payment will be due in 2027, annually for 10 years. Motion by Ryan to approve Resolution 2025- 08 to approve a 10-year loan at a 5.5% interest rate from Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) for the purchase of a plow truck at a cost of $221,893.00. Second by Robinson. All voting aye. Motion carried. 8. Consider/Approve 2025 Budget Resolution 2025- 09. Dorothy Kimmerling asked what the budget resolution was for. Sheryl explained it is a list of all the budget amendments throughout the year that were approved each month. Motion by Ryan to approve Resolution 2025- 09 2025 Budget Amendments. Second by Robinson. All voting aye. Motion carried. 9. Consider/Approve purchase of a new Multi-Purpose Fire Vehicle . Ryan summarized the request by stating this multi-purpose vehicle would take the place of the rescue unit and Engine 1 which are out of NFPA compliance and would cost $1.7 million to replace. The concept, Ryan said, is to combine two of our existing vehicles into one and eliminate the need to replace a separate rescue unit every 15 years. Ryan stated he estimated the cost of this new vehicle to be between 950,000-$1 million however, a unique and time- sensitive opportunity has arisen with a manufacturer, KME, who has a newly delivered truck on hand that a Wisconsin community has since backed out of the order. This truck is extremely close to our needs, and they are offering it to us for a total cost of $700,000. Ryan stated he would like to borrow a total of $717,919. We have $83,000 in Reserve, we are adding $25,000 carry-over from 2025, we budgeted $100,000 in 2026, and we plan to sell the 2 existing vehicles hopefully for $80,000. Then we would take the $80,000 and whatever is left in Reserve to hopefully pay down 2 years of the loan. Motion by Waier to approve the purchase of a new Multi- Purpose Fire Vehicle from KME for $7 00,000. Second by Robinson. All voting aye. Motion carried. Motion by Waier to approve a 9-year loan at a 5.5% interest rate from Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) for the purchase of the new Multi -Purpose Fire Vehicle at a cost of $717,919.00. Second by Robinson. All voting aye. Motion carried. 10. Discussion/Action on handling unsolicited Developers’ pitches for the Nursing Home property. Doyen explained he met with a Realtor and Developer interested in the property to build 2 retail stores in front and condominiums and storage units in the back. Doyen stated he didn’t know how we were going to handle this. Ryan stated the Vilas County Economic Development Corporation will be sending out a “letter of interest” to solicitors. It will be open- ended, just to see who might be interested. Ryan asked that all inquiries be sent to him. 11. Discussion/Action on Republic Services Contract Agreement. Waier summed up the final contract by stating the Town had concern with not being able to add an addendum to the contract , i f necessary, and we also wanted to go with flat rates. Flat rates were added to the contract, and they also added language that both parties would negotiate in good faith and can be modified. Republic does want to have their legal team review it however they are all gone for 2 weeks over the holidays. Town of Phelps Special Town Board Meeting Minutes Tuesday, December 30, 2025 Phelps Town Hall Page 3 of 3 Mot ion by Robinson to approve the Drop-Site Convenience Center Agreement with Republic Services. Second by Ryan. All voting aye. Motion carried. 12. Discussion/Action on the Landfill Venture Group (LVG) Exit Decision. Doyen stated he attended the last meeting held on Friday, December 19th. LVG is considering changing the property to a transfer station rather than expanding the cell and keeping it a landfill. LVG did accept the Town of Phelps and the Town of Conover’s letters to exit the group. So the 120 days for LVG to give a written response started on December 19th. Selby stated the Town is still responsible for the liability for everything that has happened thus far, i.e. maintenance cost, rehabilitation/monitoring fees, etc. however would not be responsible for anything moving forward. Ryan stated he believes we should exit regardless of what they decide to do in the future. 13. Adjournment at 5:10 p.m. __________________________________ Kathleen R Ray, Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Minutes are subject to approval at the next Regular Town Board meeting