Minutes

The Martell Town Board Monthly Meeting was held on January 13th, 2026 at 7:00 PM at The Martell Town Hall, located at W5581 800 th Avenue, Spring Valley, WI 54767 MINUTES 1. Call to Order: Chairman Brathol called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm 2. Roll Call: all Board members present 3. Verification of Public Notice: Viewed in the Newspaper 4. Kidd made a motion to approve the Agenda, Kaminski 2nd, all in favor, motion carries 5. Kidd made a motion to approve minutes from the 12/16 meeting, Kaminski 2nd, all in favor, motion carries 6. Kidd made a motion to approve minutes from the 12/29 Working Meeting, Kaminski 2nd, all in favor, motion carries 7. Receive December Treasurer’s Report and December Treasurer’s Receipts Report: Dec 31. Total funds = $104,960.43. Receiving tax settlements now. Dog licenses seem slow this year. 8. Kidd made a motion to approve the December Disbursements, Kaminski 2nd, all in favor, motion carries 9. Discuss Nuisance Ordinance: Pierce County has this covered in Ordinance 841, Public Nuisances, 6/28/84. 10. Discuss Fee Schedule: Citation Ordinance requires a Cash Deposit (Fee) Schedule and Citation Form; however these items were never finalized. Drafts started but need to reference all ordinances for complete fee listing then consult with Loberg to draft the resolution. Kaminski made a motion to table the Fee Schedule and Citation drafts until next meeting, Kidd 2nd, all in favor, motion carries 11. Discuss plowing, sand/salting, and other township services for private properties: Due to liability and labor constraints, Martell will cease providing these services. Kaminski will draft an addition to the Town Policies and the Board will clarify the details for the township at the next meeting. 12. Discuss how to structure research around protecting our roads and township from large-scale operations (non-industry specific): Regardless of group title, all research group activities should be treated as a governmental body: Post the meetings, use agendas and minutes, and could hold public comment if they wish. The Board wants to ensure we have community involvement and engagement on a potentially impactful ordinance that should work fairly for all the people of Martell. Exploring best practices for deciding how this will look. 13. Discuss road work: LRIP/CITRC Meeting update - The CITRC committee increased the bottom line and approved sending our application for LRIP Supplemental funding to the state. If approved, we’ll have 5 years to use the funds or decline them. 14. Receive December Building Permits Report: Tyler Boles, W7231 730th Ave - Residential Add/Alt - $5,000 15. Update on 650th St. Unclassified Use: Determined use is not allowable under current zoning, so it will need to be rezoned. Waiting to hear back from the Land Management Committee on next steps. 16. Planning Commission: Establish a calendar for 2026 PC meetings, tune agendas to be standardized (i.e. Did we get any: new rezoning requests? new CUP requests? new DW permits? Other new topics.) to ensure funneling of standard work items and process clarity. 17. EAASOC Report - No report. Next meeting is next week. 18. Employee’s report: 178 hrs in Dec, Maint: fuel gauge on tractor. Requesting rake for the ditches while grading, accounted for in the 2026 budget. Kaminski made a motion to approve the purchase of the road rake attachment for the grader not to exceed $5,500, Kidd 2nd, all in favor, motion carries. Thanks Bob! 19. Maint & Repair: Pierce Pepin removed an unauthorized electric jumper from the power pole at the park. 20. Correspondence: Pierce County Land Conservation & Public Health Dept Nitrate Testing: June 16th 3-6 PM @ Town Hall, WI DOA 2026 Legal Notice & Ballot Rates, RFSD attend a meeting, Pierce County CDL Consortium Agreement, WTA District Meeting Registration, PC Clerk: No February Primary 21. Date(s) for next meeting(s): March: March 10th, April: April 14, Annual Town Meeting: April 21st 22. Public Comment: a. Wendy DiPeso from RF Township running for District 8 for Pierce County. Plans to start attending. b. Mary Brand from Ellsworth Township: Road ordinance work is very complicated, encourages us to talk to Salem, El Paso, and others along with proactive conversations with farmers. Suggests a collaborative process rather than coming down as heavy handed. c. Suzanne Loosemore: Commented about public notice about weight limits in the spring. 23. Discuss next meetings’ agenda items: Sand/Salt and private services policy, 24. Kidd made a motion to adjourn, Kaminski 2nd, all in favor, motion carries