Town Board — Minutes

Town of Phelps Minutes – Special Town Board Meeting Budget Workshop Wednesday August 20, 2025 Phelps Town Hall Page 1 of 3 Present: Town Board Chairman Steve Doyen, Town Board Supervisors – Maureen Robinson, Jeremy Ryan and Steve Waier. Excused Absence: Dave Selby. Others Present: Clerk/Treasurer – Sheryl J Ward, Deputy Cler/Treasurer – Kathleen R Ray, Shop Foreman – Josh Hedberg and 1 citizen 1. Call Meeting to Order Chairman Doyen called the meeting to order at 3:00 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 the agenda has been posted at the Phelps Town Hall/Community Center, Phelps Post Office, Phelps Convenience Center, and emailed to the Vilas County News Review August 18, 2025. 4. Correspondence and Communications: Selby stated that Gayle from REL will submit the STP Grant at a cost of $1,500 - $2,000. We will need to find the money from somewhere. Doyen approved moving forward with this. He and Sheryl will review the budget and find the money. Waier gave an update on the FLAP grant and stated it is ready to go. It was emailed to the Forest Service for their review and signing. Also waiting for letters of support to attach to the application before submitting it. The Board invited Geno Wendt to help them understand the operation of the Phelps Recycling Center and how the Town would operate it after Republic Service stops providing that service. Geno explained it could be similar to how it’s run now. The town could offset costs for having a part -time employee operating the site by using punch cards. You determine the cost. Currently it is $40.00 for 10 punches. Also, the town could be open more days or longer hours to generate more revenue. Geno stated they average about 96 punches in three hours on Tuesday and anywhere from 100 – 150 punches on a Saturday generating about $1,000 per week in revenue. Geno suggested the town might want to require businesses to have their own dumpsters and service, o therwise, the dumpsters will fill up fast. The Board thanked Geno for his time. The Board also discussed continuing to subcontract with someone else and what that would look like. Waier suggested an agreement be written up that would allow the subcontractor to have control of the site completely and keep all revenue but that the Town put exceptions in the agreement that gi ve the Town some control over the hours open and the cost for our residents. Selby suggested for now, budgeting $15,000 until we can figure out what we want to do and how this might look in 2026. Discussion/Action on the Following Agenda Items: 5. Consider/Approve Re-Routing private road Oak Ridge Lane and begin the process of renaming the current Oak Ridge Lane private road: Sheryl explained she talked to Kyle at Land Information Office at the Courthouse and he stated that they are planning to reroute Oak Ridge Lane to a new access for the Oak Ridge Resort and are working on changing the name of the current Oak Ridge Lane private road. Motion by Ryan to allow Kyle at Vilas County Land Information Office to rename their private roads. Second by Waier. All voting aye. Motion carried. Town of Phelps Minutes – Special Town Board Meeting Budget Workshop Wednesday August 20, 2025 Phelps Town Hall Page 2 of 3 6. 2026 Budget Preparation – Highway and any/all other previously submitted preliminary budgets. Highway – Josh presented the budget and highlighted the changes as follows: From To o Hwy Employees Wages $176,690.18 $183,757.79 (4% increase) o Hwy/Park Employee Wages $51,484.16 $53,543.53 (4% increase) o Hwy Supplies $11,000.00 $18,000.00 o Hwy Water & Sewer $800.00 $0.00 o Hwy Gas & Oil $50,000.00 $45,000.00 o Tree / Snow Fence $500.00 $0.00 o Highway-Equip Rental & Tools $12,000.00 $10,000.00 o Highway-Culverts $1,239.00 $2,000.00 o Sewer Catch Clean-out $3,000.00 $2,500.00 o Highway Roads Signs $7,000.00 $5,000.00 Josh also proposed three (3) new purchases as follows: o ¾ Ton Chevy Pickup with Plow $71,501.50 o Plow for Cat Loader $30,950.00 o Flail Mower for John Deer Tractor $16,200.00 Total Highway Expenses $322,851.50 Road Projects – Josh proposed budgeting for the following: o Crack and Patch $25,000.00 o West Shore Road – Tentative STP-Local Grant $900,000.00 o Volkmann Road – LRIP money $250,000.00 o Petersen Trail - back up plan $115,000.00 o Briggs Lane – back up plan $150,000.00 Total Highway Budget for 2026 $1,497,851.50 Revenue – Proposed in Highway Budget for 2026 o Unknown o West Shore Road – STP-Local Grant - $800,000.00 o Volkmann Road – LRIP $150,000.00 o Loan – 2025 Western Star Dump Truck Sheryl will start plugging numbers in using revenue from last year and then review. 7. Move into closed session Pursuant to Wis. State Statutes 19.85(1)(c) for purposes of considering employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility – Budget preparation regarding Employee Health Insurance and Wages for 2026. Did not move into closed session. Town of Phelps Minutes – Special Town Board Meeting Budget Workshop Wednesday August 20, 2025 Phelps Town Hall Page 3 of 3 8. Adjourn closed session pursuant to Wis. State Statutes 19.85(1)(c) and Return to Open Session. Not applicable. 9. Board May Consider Any Action Taken in Closed Session. Not applicable. 10. Adjournment – The Board scheduled the next budget workshop for September 10th starting at 4:00 p.m. and adjourned at 6:11 p.m. ____________________________________ Kathleen R Ray, Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Minutes are subject to approval at the next Regular Town Board Meeting