6-8-26 Village Board Meeting — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes June 8, 2026 On June 8, 2026, President Mike Brusberg called the Village Board meeting of the Village of Brooklyn to order at 6:30 p.m. Trustees present were Frank Seitler, Christian Allen, Jacob Bachim, Todd Klahn, and David Berland. Trustee Mike Gehrmann was absent. Also present were Joseph Pechauer and Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. No public comments President’s report – Brusberg stated we closed last week Monday on the business park lands. Hotel Street sidewalk, there’s no update other than he tried to contact Jason Marshall but hasn’t heard back. Bachim made a motion to approve minutes of May 11. Seitler seconded. Motion carried. Berland and Klahn abstained. Klahn made a motion to approve minutes of May 19. Berland seconded. Motion carried. Kuhlman stated alcohol license applications are here for review. Laura Bambrough needs to provide driver’s license before she can be approved. Klahn made a motion to approve consent agenda with the exception of operator license for Laura Bambrough. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Schmudlach extra-territorial zoning -- Pechauer is the realtor. Kuhlman stated it’s the same property as we approved at the last meeting. Pechauer said they were at the Town of Rutland meeting on May 22 and got conditional approval, as long as it’s approved through Dane County. Bachim asked why so many agencies are involved in joining land. Pechauer said it’s separating one parcel to two, but it’s getting everybody’s approval and that takes time. They’re trying to separate the bracket and cutting 14 acres to two 7-acre parcels. Bachim and Berland see no issues. Allen made a motion to approve. Berland seconded. Motion carried. Pechauer thanked the board. Kuhlman will send to the county tomorrow. Anchor Club II Party in the Alley – Berland asked if there were any issues from any Hotel Street people. Seitler said there were some that never made it past the police department. Kuhlman hasn’t received complaints in the clerk’s office. Klahn made a motion to approve the application for special event permit and extending the liquor license to the back lot for one day. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Seitler opposed. Klahn made a motion to approve the amplification permit for Anchor Club. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Broker for business park – Brusberg talked a little bit about this being a relevant next step. We have two parcels remaining. One is about 2 acres and the other is directly south of O&A, who has the right of first refusal, and there’s a right of second refusal. He thinks in lieu of us fielding calls, we can take advantage of the park being marketed and work with a broker as a liaison. We haven’t had anyone contact recently. The board discussed all three proposals from Acres, McMahon, and Anderson. Berland would recommend Acres Realty, as it reads most fairly balanced for both sides. Kuhlman stated Acres is familiar with the property since they were the ones who helped originally. Brusberg would like to know how well connected they are with potential buyers. Bachim has an issue with line 141. He usually used line 139. Berland recommended that if the agent represents buyer and seller, the commission is a flat 3%, maybe 4%. Does he have a partner in the firm? Brusberg said Acres did a good job before. The board will postpone to next meeting after getting additional answers. Resolution 2026-04 Transportation –Kuhlman explained the League asked municipalities to approve resolutions and send to legislators to ask them to increase transportation aids to municipalities. Klahn made a motion to approve Resolution 2026-04 Transportation Resolution. Seitler seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg made a motion to approve bills as presented. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Clerk’s report – Financials for month of May - $371,651.89 in deposits, which included $266,689.35 loan proceeds coming from the final Fischer pay application for the Business Park completion. We came in a little lower for costs for the project than anticipated. We had withdrawals of $438,662.20, and ended May with a total of $2,403,386.12 in all accounts. Kuhlman will be talking to Ehlers next week about the investment accounts. Public wifi project has had its issues but is now worked out and moving forward. We had a resident ask about ordinances for ebikes. We don’t have one, but looking at state statutes, they are treated like bicycles and there are certain rules. They can’t be driven on sidewalks, is one. Discussion about ebikes and the need for an ordinance. Board asked her to check other communities and take it to the ordinance committee. We received a letter from T-Mobile, which is also Sprint and now US Cellular. They will be removing the antennas on the Legion Park tower as of the end of June. We have the same companies on the water tower. She sent a notification that according to their contract, they pay for one month after termination and clear out their ground equipment. Allen asked if Verizon is working on the tower yet. Kuhlman hasn’t heard but recently sent a notification that they need to finish the restoration work in the park. We had a hard time getting food trucks this year, and we had to cancel last month because we only had one. Next week we have three – Jolly Frog, Curd Girls and a wood-fired pizza truck. The trucks from last year, some were busy, Sista’s opened a brick and mortar store, another retired. Starting in July the Optimist Club will be doing Bingo as well during food truck nights. Assessment letters will be going out in the next week or two. Open Book is July 13 and 14, and Board of Review is the end of August. Brusberg asked if anyone has called with concerns because we’ve been posting on social media, and Kuhlman stated no. We got an email that Northern Metal is starting the process for their new builder. Public Works Committee meeting next Monday at 6 p.m. The League of Wisconsin Municipalities hired a new director. Kuhlman received a call from Representative Pocan’s office, and they would like to use our office for an open house day to meet with his staff. That’s set for July 14. Official Payments, one of our credit card companies, will be charging a fee starting January 1 of about $465 per month. We have cancelled that service and will put out notice to residents that we have discontinued that service. We are looking for a replacement for that. We still have AllPaid that can be used for credit cards. The companies we’re looking at can integrate with our Workhorse program and residents can log in and see their account information. Joe Reilly passed another sewer test. We need to set up an ordinance and finance committee meetings. Finance Committee – They talked about the Board of Commissioner of Public Lands loans for the Hotel Street project. There are funds left, so do we want to prepay and how much do we hold back for the sidewalk. Brusberg thinks we should prepay some. Bachim said $20,000 would be the high end to hold. Discussion on how much to hold back. Brusberg made a motion to prepay $80,000 to Board of Commissioner of Public Lands. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Water system study – Brusberg said their suggestion is to go forward and have a water system study. It’s $40,000 from the water fund balance. Discussion on study. Kuhlman explained that it is not a rate study, but it will review the complete water system, its condition, what might be needed for future growth, and can be used for our impact fee ordinance. Klahn made a motion to do the water study for up to $40,000. Allen seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg brought up other items that need to be discussed by finance, capital items that need priority ranking. We have dated water-sewer piping, sidewalks, three physical assets, and that all requires capital. Finance will try to priority rank all the items. Other items listed on the agenda will be discussed by the finance committee also. He would like the board members to think about the top three items that the board should consider. His are water-sewer pipes, physical assets, and sidewalks. Allen asked if there is a survey that the committee could put out on what residents would like to see. Brusberg thinks it’s worth considering. Seitler asked about a snail mail priority list to village residents with top 10 the board is thinking about. Fire/EMS District Commission – Allen sat in at the last meeting. The RFP with Oregon-Fitchburg, not much was talked about. The front entry posts, it was decided to go with masonry, wrap them and it will support the roof. That’s not an issue. They will do it so it doesn’t sit on the sidewalk and is sitting on the ground. Talked about the tender for a long time, what they want to get, how much. A grant has been applied for, but they’ve not heard back. How much do we pay out of pocket. Our percentage for the Village is about 32%. The old one would sell for $10,000-20,000. The grant could be the whole thing, but what are the rules. They talked about single-axle trailer, and they want to sell it for a dual axle for $4,000-5,000 to support that. Just a discussion, no motion. They talked about the SAP provider. Kuhlman stated she will be talking to the UBS representative tomorrow. They are meeting next week. Brusberg said he has a conflict and asked if anyone can go in his place. Seitler volunteered. Brusberg stated if there are any handouts, bring back and give to clerk to give to the board. Brusberg thanked the board members for their assistance with meetings. Klahn made a motion at 7:47 p.m. to adjourn. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Linda Kuhlman, WCMC, CMTW Clerk-Treasurer