7-27-26 Village Board — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes July 27, 2026 On July 27, 2026, Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman called the Village Board meeting of the Village of Brooklyn to order at 6:30 p.m. Trustees present were Todd Klahn, Jake Bachim, Frank Seitler, Christian Allen, Mike Gehrmann, and David Berland. President Mike Brusberg was not present. There were no public comments. Allen made a motion for Berland to chair the meeting. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Bachim made a motion to approve minutes from July 13. Seitler seconded Motion carried. Klahn abstained. Kuhlman added one invoice for accident insurance payment. Gehrmann made a motion to approve bills as presented with one additional bill for Securian for accident insurance. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Sidewalk survey questions – Berland put the questions together for a survey at the November general election to allow residents to comment on sidewalk maintenance. Allen confirmed this is entirely about whether the homeowner pays or tax base. He would be interested in resident opinions on whether or not Brooklyn should pursue more sidewalks in areas that don’t have them or actively pursue replacing sidewalks in the village where they need it, whether we need to be more aggressive or not. Berland was not opposed. He thinks the answer might be on who pays for it. Discussion. Klahn said for him, who doesn’t have sidewalks, he’d never have to pay, and in new developments, the developer paid for them. Berland added also there are people who have already paid. We want to be fair, but if the community thinks it should be a shared thing, it doesn’t mean continue the previous way. Gehrmann said there are sidewalks by the school that are small and in bad shape, and then on N. Kerch that don’t have any. Berland said the question needs to be who pays for it, first. If homeowners pay, it’s a different discussion, and if village pays, we have to budget it in over the next 10 years and here’s what it would cost on your taxes to repair and add new. In his mind, we need to determine who pays. Klahn asked if it comes back on questionnaire and everyone wants the village to pay but no for taxes going up, what happens. Berland said we’ll have to deal with that if it happens. If 75% want but don’t want it on the taxes, that would be a no. Discussion. Klahn if village pays, are they in charge of maintenance now, and if it’s repaid, who decides on maintenance, does the village. Berland said normal wear and tear. Allen said the first question is if the homeowner remains responsible for costs associated for repairing and replacing. Seitler asked if the village decides to cover cost and maintenance and it’s on taxes to cover said costs, but that increase is never going to go away; therefore, the homeowners might say the village is in charge, the village owns them, and they need to clear them, it’s no longer my job. Allen said we have an ordinance. Discussion on both sides. Klahn said replacing blocks is the sole responsibility of the homeowner, like repairing roads and sidewalks and curb, and there’s a charge. Allen is there an option to do half and half payment. Berland likes adding splitting costs onto survey. Allen thinks the main question is fix existing. Berland said we can come back to putting in later, but we need to fix current sidewalks. Berland suggested taking no action tonight. We’ll fix a few questions and produce a new survey. Klahn made a motion to postpone to a later date. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Ordinances – Bachim said the snow removal using vehicles was talked about in public works. They didn’t like the suggestion, so it will be talked about in Ordinance Committee. Kuhlman stated Chapter 24 Public Nuisances is not done yet. Klahn made a motion to approve updating ordinances as presented, except for Chapter 24. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Clerk’s report – Food Truck night last week was pretty busy. Next one is August 18, which is also Brooklyn Night Out. Red Cross blood drive had about 22 people come in. They asked if we would do it again October 15. It worked out well. Tomorrow starts in-person voting for August 11 partisan primary. We had a meeting with Dane County Clerk today about upgrading election machines. They are putting into their budget for the county to buy the new election machines at an 80-20 or 70-30 split with the municipalities. So the cost for us goes from about $12,500 to about $4,000. Klahn asked if they’re built by American companies. Kuhlman confirmed that yes, they are. They will purchase to receive at the beginning of this year. All machines will be stored at the new County office that is being remodeled on the east side of Madison, because they’re county owned and the area will be more secure there. We have a PZ meeting Monday night and Recreation is on August 12, and an ordinance meeting needs to be set up. There are some marks and grooves on the new pavement on Hotel Street. Spilde met with Strand and the paving company, and they did some borings to test the quality of the mix. If there are fixes needed, it is on them under warranty. Council on Aging report was handed out. Kuhlman is still doing research on credit card companies. There are some that can integrate with our utility billing software so residents could log in and see their bills and pay. Is it something the board wants to look at getting. There will be an extra cost for the software, from about $600- $1200 per year. Discussion. There are other options to get bills, including email from the village. The Village can already direct collect from residents at no charge. We also have an option with our new water meter reading system that allows residents to log in and see their water usage. Public Works –Bachim said they met last week. Highway 104/S Rutland, they’re waiting on the state, but they voted to move forward with engineering on our side. Community building, they briefly discussed the ad hoc committee. Their only thought is if people on that committee start to do work themselves, there’s limitations. Berland said we were thinking more evaluations and what needs to be done, and if someone local bids it and they’re insured, we will consider it. Berland said we’d have to be clear that their role is to evaluate and tell us. Talked about Park and Recreation Committee is funded as one. Sidewalks was the same discussion as today. New loader – Public Works Committee voted to bring to the board a new loader purchase. Two bids came in: Miller Bradford was $135,653, which includes a $85,000 trade-in.. Brooks, which is John Deere, was $140,500, which includes a $95,000 trade-in. They voted to go with Miller Bradford on the Case. We currently have a Case, and the attachments will fit. Gehrmann asked about the John Deere would not fit attachments. Klahn said on the machine there’s an alteration to make it work. The committee also discussed maybe selling on Wisconsin Surplus but they decided to go with the trade-in. Gehrmann asked if they’re happy with Miller Bradford. Bachim and Klahn said that’s who parts are from now. Bachim made a motion to purchase the Case loader from Miller Bradford at a cost of $135,653. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Community building air conditioning repair – Public Works reached out to four contractors, and only one gave a price back at $10,500. Klahn thinks it’s because of the heat and everyone is way too busy. It sounded like even if they bid it, they wouldn’t be able to do it for awhile. Only ones who will really suffer now for the smaller rooms is Historical Society; the rest can wait. Bachim we could give it another meeting and reach out again. Klahn would recommend holding off and getting more quotes. Bachim said the three are pretty reputable. Bachim made a motion to postpone the community building AC project. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Allen made a motion at 7:17 p.m. to adjourn. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried . Linda Kuhlman, WCMC, CMTW Clerk-Treasurer