Town Board — Minutes

1 REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES DATE: May 14, 2024 Chairman Fred Stoll called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM. Supervisors Myron Olson and Kevin Mackie, Diane Nelson, Clerk, Amy Eliot, Treasurer, Mark Johnson, Streets Dept, Keith Kesler, Fire Chief, Patrick Weimer, Billy Cockerham, and Gene Germano, Trusty Trucking, also attended. Minutes: Myron motioned, seconded by Kevin to approve the minutes of last month ’s board meeting, motion passed. Financial Report : The financial report showed: $26,260.05 in checking, $373,128.72 in the general money market account which includes $196,112.92 in a sub-account dedicated to the town garage, $19,202.82 in real estate tax account, $ 12,397.76 in personal property tax account, $51,890.26 in equipment account, and $69,999.69 in the ARPA Grant account. Myron motioned, seconded by Kevin to accept the financial report, and authorize paying the bills, motion passed. County Supervisor’s Report: Scott emailed the following information: The county supervisors were issued new tablets replacing our current iPad s. The county board had their reorganization meeting following the April election. Mark Liebert was elected chair, Alan Jaques was elected first vice chair, I was elected second vice chair and Rose Mary Lear was elected third vice chair. At our next county board meeting on May 16th committee appointments will be made by the chair. The Douglas County Highway Department 5-year plan is out, I will get a copy over along with the counties 2024 work list. Highway H is still in the design stage along with Hwy C and Hwy U. Highway UU is being worked on at the present time. Town Officers Reports: Myron mentioned Fred Fabian is unable to mow this year, we will have Brent do it with Mike Sims as a backup. He is meeting with Jon H umburg to get an estimate on Park and High Landing Roads, and he will then get in touch with Dan Kephart/DNR for funding opportunities. Fred discussed removing the ballot box from the wall. Diane mentioned the use of one is again in front of the WI Supreme Court and is currently locked out so can’t be used. Another option for the box if it can’t be used for ballots in the future is to order new stickers and use it as a drop box for Sanitary District payments . Diane heard from the DNR; property sale should go through in 1-2 months. Mark indicated he will stay full-time through 2024 then go part time. Joe will be leaving soon so we will need to hire someone. Myron suggested a closed meeting to discuss staffing issues, it will be scheduled for $;30 pm on May 28 th. Road Report: Mark has been placing gravel on River Rd, this is a DNR funded project (80/20) . He has been fixing equipment and serviced the mower. Fire Chief Report: They have had 3 medical, 1 landing zone, 2 mutual aid, 1 structure fire, and 1 good intent calls since the last meeting. He mentioned how much mutual aid support we received from neighboring communities during the structure fire. T here is a controlled burn in Iron River causing a large amount of smoke and has received several calls . He requested gravel be placed at water points to improve access. 2 New Business: Zoning: Nothing needed approval. Road inspections: The Town Board will meet on May 28th at the town hall at 5:00 pm and May 29th at the town garage at 4:30 pm. They will then proceed to travel the town roads, conducting the annual road inspections. Scrap Metal and Brush: The scrap metal and brush site has been closed since the brush fire. The scrap metal has been cleaned up. However, many unacceptable items had to be disposed of at the town’s expense including 11 refrigerators and many electronics . Options were discussed, including discontinuing the offer this service if violations of the rules continue. The board opted to try opening it up again, but with the scrap metal being disposed of by throwing it over the side of the concrete barrier and only opening the lower area to brush disposal access. This will enable the dump attendant to better view what is being disposed of and hopefully stop any disposal of unacceptable items. This will be revisited at next month’s meeting. Mini-classes: South Range Defense is interested in hosting a free public event on either the Legal Use of Force or Building a Personal and Home Protection Plan. They are certified USCCA instructors (United States Concealed Carry Association) . Each mini class is approximately an hour in length, and they would like to hold the class on a weekday evening in June, July, or August. The board had no objections. Old Business: Fire Dept. Water Source: Tim has been unable to come up to put in the test well as he’s been inundated with well issues related to spring thaw. He did indicate he would bring his rig that can handle the 12” pipe and leave it here if sufficient water is found during the test. This will save us a second mobilization fee. Keith will contact the board when he comes to do the test well so one of them will be present. Playground Equipment: Jessica showed picture s of the book nook and the location was chosen near the town hall. The playground equipment and grant project ended up being more than they could handle as the leadership program is a one-year program ending in June. Town correspondence was reviewed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM. Respectfully submitted, Diane Nelson, Clerk