Town Board — Minutes

Town of Phelps Special Town Board Meeting Minutes Monday, July 7, 2025 Phelps Town Hall Present: Town Board Chair Steve Doyen, Town Board Supervisors – Dave Selby, Steve Waier, Maureen Robinson and Jeremy Ryan. Also Present: Clerk/Treasurer – Sheryl J Ward, Deputy Clerk/Treasurer – Kathleen R Ray, Town Foreman – Josh Hedberg, JH Hassinger - Joe Czajka, Gene Hojan, and Dick Ryan. 1. Call the Meeting to Order: Chairman Doyen called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.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, Town Website, and emailed to the Vilas County News Review on Thursday July 3, 2025. Discussion/Action on the Following Agenda Items: 4. Address additional costs due to weather complications at the new Department of Public Works construction site located at 2064 Strong Road Steve Doyen stated with all the rain we received lately it caused problems at the construction site at 2064 Strong Road which is going to add additional costs to the project. The Board questioned why the soil boring wouldn’t have shown this to be an issue t hat could have been addressed in the original bids. Joe Czajka explained that after disturbing the ground, removing all the stumps and grubbing the area we had rain events. With an open site, the rain compromised the area causing the soil conditions. Joe explained, as soon as we knew the site was flooded and unworkable, he stopped all activity and sheeted the area to dry out the soil. To keep this project moving forward we needed to add a site access drive for access to the building pad and 3” clean stone under the footings. This additional cost of $16,557 w as approved by using the allotment of $35,480 of allowances. The remaining allotment is now $18,923.00 Joe stated that to continue moving forward we will need to haul out the bad materials at a cost of $33,613 and bring in sand material for foundation backfill at a cost of $48,506.00. There is not enough allotment money to cover these additional costs. Jeremy Ryan stated the parcel is a 40- acre parcel. Why would we pay to have those materials hauled out? Just put them on the property somewhere out of the way of construction. Josh Hedberg stated the town crew can help in relocating the bad soils. Joe agreed they can cut the cost of hauling it off site. Next, Joe stated that another expense that was suggested but can be evaluated when we are ready to backfill is the additional expense to install drain tile and stone at the foundation wall. This cost would be $17,279.00. Jeremy stated, we are building a 3- million dollar building so do we really want to eliminate placing drain tile? Waier asked why the drain tile wasn’t part of the bid. Doyen stated trying to cut costs is what got us in this situation to begin with, so no, we are not eliminating the drain tile. Move forward with installing it. Joe stated another potential additional expense will be parking lot modifications at a cost of $72,260.00. This is something that needs to be on our radar but will need to be evaluated once the parking area dries out. This will help us to know if the area that needs to be addressed is only a portion or the entire parking area. Joe stated all these costs are worse case scenarios. Another additional cost will be the septic system. Howard Brothers bid the system as a conventional system at a rate of .7. However, the soil test that was performed after the bid was Town of Phelps Special Town Board Meeting Minutes Monday, July 7, 2025 Phelps Town Hall accepted showed a rate of .4 which meant a conventional system could not be installed at this site. Howard Brothers presented 2 options. A mound system at an additional cost of $11,845 or a 2,500 gallon Holding Tank at a deducted cost from the original bid by $5,570.00. The holding tank, however, would require pumping every 3-4 months. However, after about 6 years you would have paid for the cost of a mound which is a much more long-term system. The Board questioned why the soil borings didn’t show a .4 rating. Is there a soil tester that should be held accountable. Joe stated he will find out more information on the septic system issue. Selby stated the root cause is the fact that we reduced the allotment to save on costs where we should have increased our reserve to $100,000 or more. Doyen stated we are unable to borrow on the current loan; however, this loan will accrue about $55,000 in interest. After talking with Elhers Financial they assured us we have a healthy budget and will be able to cover the additional costs. Motion by Ryan to approve all the items as presented with the understanding that Hassinger will work hard to be diligent in reducing the amount based on the suggestions we discussed today . Second by Waier. All voting aye Motion carried. 5. Adjourned at 10:40 a.m. _____________________________________ Kathleen R Ray, Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Minutes are subject to approval at the next Regular Town Board meeting