Annual Meeting — Minutes

Town of Exeter Annual Meeting – 2024 Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 7 PM Called to order, legally posted. Ted Fahey, Mark Gundlach, Kent Brauer and Clerk Sass Town members: Tara Bast from Johnson Block, Marc Peterson, Ricky and Bruce Kiesling, Anne Colville and Ken Roberts, Jeremy Biermeier, Rick Diaz, Diane Zwiefel, (14 - see list) Minutes: MOTION to approve April 19, 2023, minutes (MP/MG), all in favor, approved. Financial report: Tara Bast presented the financial report for the year ending December 31, 2023. She states the requirements for Annual meeting and goes over the overview sheet that was provided as a handout. Rick - What category is Fire/EMS? Diane – What is an Air Pack? Bruce – Where is Belleville Senior Center listed? MOTION to accept the Annual Report for year ending 2023 from Johnson Block (KR/SK), all in favor, approved. Any comments/discussion: Ted – Only three new houses were built last year. Projects – redo the last half of Exeter Crossing Rd (Panorama to Hwy CC) $260,000.00, Airport Rd. Bridge is being replaced with a giant culvert in the next few weeks $60,000.00. Fire/EMS official full audit being done this year. EMS 95% paid staff. New chief, Chris Backes – paramedic lives in township. EMS is also looking at a new ambulance – about $350,000.00. A new pumper truck is coming in late 2025. Ken Roberts – cost? Roughly $300,000.00 will be Exeter’s share. The current truck is only 13 years old, and they cannot find parts. The big election in November investigated the old church in Belleville. The old library would be another option, but it is also up for sale. The largest place in Exeter is the golf course. Anne – any interest in the library? What about the old depot? Anne – what about renting the former Corner Café? Ken – why can’t people wait in the garage? Ricky – garage is not beautiful but would do for one day. What about the former elementary school? It is now a daycare. Fully used but the gym would be large enough for the election. Ted – plan commission and board met at the former St. Mary’s. Anne – could we use the current church? Ricky – what about the new library? Jeremy – should we start thinking about a new town hall. Ted – current hall was built when we had seven hundred residents. In 2008, 53% to 47% were the vote (defeated). We did explore buying the property next to the building a few years ago but that fell through. Jeremy – where would you have built? The park was just being developed, and we were going to build there (11 plus acres). Kellor Construction - $300 – $350 per square foot ($2 million plus). Kellor could come down for $2,500.00 and talk about what we want, input into computers, and produce an estimated price for a new building. Mark – building for only elections, build a small building at the park which could also be rented out (with water/septic). Anne – keep the building in Exeter Township. Dave – what type of building is at the park now? An open building might be the cheapest option that could be used for other events besides the elections. A building on the SW corner of the park would be a decent size, septic and well, out of the flood plain. Anne – ponder hiring Kellor for $2,500.00 to estimate a new building. Bruce – how do you cover your shortfalls? Anne – future growth? Ted – only three houses per year. Infrastructure must be in before subdivisions are built. Shawn K. – I want to make a Motion to hire a lawyer to work with Green County to get the Brad Zwiefel property into “compliance.” Ted – he is not in violation of any Exeter codes. We cannot enforce the Green County codes, and we cannot make them enforce the zoning codes. He advertises online – Yellow pages, Google – Adam has been informed of this. Zwiefel would have to get a conditional use permit. Anne - is it lawful to allow people to live in cars? What about animals with no shelter or water? Tough snowplowing year – ground never froze, apologize if your lawn was ripped up. Next Annual Meeting: Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 7:00PM – MOTION to schedule 2025 meeting on Wednesday, April 16 at 7:00PM (AC/DZ), all in favor, approved. Adjourn: MOTION to adjourn (AC/RK), all in favor, approved, adjournment at 8:16 PM. Respectfully Submitted, Dawn Marie Sass, Clerk/Deputy Treasurer