3-23-26 Village Board Agenda — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes March 23, 2026 On March 23, 2026, President Mike Brusberg called the Village Board meeting of the Village of Brooklyn to order at 6:30 p.m. Trustees present were Dan Olson, David Berland, Mike Gehrmann, Christian Allen, and Todd Klahn. Trustee absent was Jacob Bachim. Also present were Jim Brown, Ray McAllister, Jason Marshall, Caleb Bush, Deputy Haven Crecelius, Deputy Merrick Grumke, and Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. Pledge of Allegiance. Public Comments -- Jim Brown and Ray McAllister from American Legion. They’re seeking to get on agenda for next month, and they’re seeking approval to talk about a plan to put some kind of American Legion recognition in the park, perhaps on the front of the utility building in the corner of the park, and it would look like something with the flag, some signage relating to the history of the American Legion with the park. Kuhlman stated they can’t put anything on the utility building. Brusberg said next month the board can hear more and go from there. Board thanked them for coming. President report – Brusberg shook Deputy Grumke’s hand and thanked him for all the time and effort he put in the village for the last five years. He’s been an asset to the community, and it’s sad to see him go but great promotion for him. Deputy Grumke stated it was a hard decision to leave, and he appreciates his time in Brooklyn. The board thanked him. Berland stated we will be lucky to get someone half as good as him. Brusberg also updated the board that he spoke with Mortensen on the developer’s agreement for the Business Park. There was a lot of good work with our attorney and the board. There’s nothing on the surface to create angst. It’s been presented to their lawyer. We’re close on finishing the right of secondary refusal document. A draft version has been shared with our lawyer. The goal is to get that in their hands this week, and so they have both to make edits. Klahn made a motion to approve minutes from March 9 as presented. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Berland abstained. Klahn made a motion to approve minutes from March 16. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Olson abstained. Hotel Street project/Anchor Club sidewalk – Brusberg stated this was discussed at public works committee meeting also. Brusberg asked Marshall what he would like to see done. Marshall said to redo the section so it drains properly. There’s a little pool of water. They went back that far and were supposed to pitch towards the drain that drains to the street. When they took it out, they poured it exactly like they took it off. Eavestroughs are on but drain is not big enough to support it, and it fills up and overflows. Klahn was told that’s designed that way. It’s supposed to do that. Marshall said they are hoping the section between buildings and next two to the street can be pitched so it drains. The picture he gave the board was taken a couple days after the rain, so you can imagine what it was like. They paid for that sidewalk and curb and it’s wrong. He paid Ronek to look at it, and they said this is wrong. He doesn’t know where to go next. There’s enough pitch to repour that to get it to drain right. He thinks there should be a wider trench drain and get it to pitch toward the trench drain. What they took out between two buildings was wasted. Klahn said the engineer will not approve going wider because we run into trouble with ADA compliance with the grates. He doesn’t know how wide. Marshall said a lot of places in Madison have flat plates. Klahn said he likes the idea of wider or they talked about taking out on other side of the fence and putting in a grate that flows into the existing grate. Gehrmann said it looks like water comes out from the alley, so if we put a grate across that, would that help Marshall said if that doesn’t get redone, will putting a grate across help. Klahn said it will help with moisture off the roof and down. Allen shows water coming out of the alley. Marshall said it’s rain and it’s shaded, but there’s an open space between those two buildings, but it’s not pitched and can’t come out to the road. Brusberg asked if it is flat between the buildings. Discussion. Marshall thinks they just didn’t pour it with pitch. He had a different cement company check each square, and each is different. It should be poured as one pour and out to the curb. Klahn agrees, but as a board and him, he has a hard time going back against the contractor because it wasn’t poured as one pour because we took out next to the building and poured a second time. They did it the best they can and followed that. It’s hard to go back on them because we changed midstream on the pour. Marshall asked why did they do it. Klahn said it was poured against the building and there was an inch drop to 3/4 inch drop going into the building. Marshall said it was supposed to be and it wasn’t compliant. Klahn said they took it out. Marshall said that has nothing to do with this section. Marshall talked to concrete companies who said they usually start at the building and pour out. They did each section hodgepodge. Brusberg said the public works committee reviewed this and asked what options did they come up with. Olson said the option they had was to go with what the engineer said, and that was an option to put the curb ramp in to get the water to drain. Marshall said neither one of them wanted that. There’s enough pitch to get it out there; it just has to be repoured. Klahn said it falls within the error for ADA and falls within specifications. It doesn’t mean there’s not a low spot; it means it’s plus or minus whatever and falls within the tolerance, but unfortunately, that doesn’t help us here. Marshall said you can be up to 2% on cross slope. Allen said you can be up to 5% with direction of travel. Marshall said some of this is zero to 2%. Allen said he shot elevations, and he didn’t see anything sloping the wrong way and he did each slab separate and used a laser all the way to the road. He shot elevation at each cross joint. Brusberg asked if the biggest issue is basically the one slab by the fence, is that one to focus on. Marshall said the one between the two buildings, and the next one from there out to the curb. The next two steps out is a yard of concrete. It’s not huge. There’s enough if you pull as one pour. Brusberg said the other one is the single slab coming out from the fence. Marshall thinks they need to do the whole works. Allen said one suggestion was to do a ramp cut. Marshall said as property owner he doesn’t want that. Allen asked why he doesn’t want the curb cut. Marshall said he doesn’t want a ramp, and it’s a place where snow or slush builds up. Discussion on slope and shaving the curb. There’s a potential trip hazard with one section shorter. Gehrmann said we’re trying to find a fix, and the board will deal with how it’s handled, but they don’t want to do something and come back and have a different problem. Marshall said they’re against having a ramp there. Discussion on possible reject curb, ADA compliance, putting in opening like the sidewalk intersections on Highway 92. Allen said the board will talk and see what they decide to end up doing. They wanted to get his opinion. Brusberg they want to see it right. We can talk with Strand and Spilde about how do we want to best approach this, or get a separate concrete company to get a free estimate, that gives another data point. Gehrmann said the curb cut and ramp everyone feels confident will work. If we take out panels and shave, will that work. We need to talk to the engineer and see if it’s compliant. Marshall said if they get someone to come in and say we can repour and pitch and get it to go in that sidewalk drain and maybe another drain at the gate, the cement guys stand behind their work, without the curb cut, and the engineer comes back and says no, then what. Gehrmann would say they can’t do it because this grade doesn’t make it. He’s going to look at here’s the grades, here are the other grades and this meets ADA compliance, the work would get done. Klahn said our engineer said it meets ADA complaint specs. Allen would like to get the concrete specs for the project. Allen suggested a perpendicular drain that goes into the existing drain, but maybe a bigger plate drain. Brusberg recapped that we need to look at minimum slope, drainage and potentially that ramp to get away from the buildings. Allen said he can look at the specs and come up with an idea. Brusberg for purposes of time, is there anything further. Marshall asked if the board wants someone different than Ronek or someone different. He’s probably got the best reputation. Klahn asked if he will guarantee it will drain. Marshall said yes. Brusberg we’ll get the concrete division specs on our end from the project and see what’s occurring and if it’s falling within standards, and we’ll reach back out and likely get a secondary opinion and get some type of quote. Allen said even if he has them come out and not do work but give an estimate on what it would cost to repour and remove three rows all the way to the curb, and see what he would charge. Marshall said it would be different if it weren’t on the north side of the building. Allen said we’ll hopefully make an acceptable offer. Olson looked over bills and talked with Kuhlman about the US Cellular bill, because it always has the reoccurring charge. We’re looking at doing ACH. He found no other issues. Olson made a motion to approve bills as presented. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Public Works/Utilities/Emergency Management update by Olson. Consumer confidence report is done. Audit information was done. All the lab equipment, flow meter, gas monitor has been recalibrated. There’s a few that need to be replaced. SCADA computer is using the cloud now for backups. Emergency management - Dane County all hazard mitigation plans will be updated. Cleaned out police department and are getting it ready for historical society. Roberts took a CTMI DNR arborist class. One of the projects he will be working on for the community, which is required by the DNR, is that they will do a community fruit tree grove. Brusberg said if he needs volunteers, he will help and so will his daughter. Olson said Lincoln Street pond, the stormwater inlets got damaged. They will have to take a section and replace it and will work with Kranig. There were five trees removed; two or three on First Street and two on 92. We’ve been charged to get rid of waste oil in the past, but they were contacted by a company that takes the waste oil at no charge and is able to give the proper paperwork for DNR. Sidewalk plan – Olson said we need to look at getting Highway 104 and down replaced. That’s the worst sidewalk in town. The only issue is we have to make sure with the state they would agree with where it’s placed before they come in and do main roadwork. The stretch from 92 down is over $90,000 just for sidewalk, and the biggest thing is where do we get the funding. Brusberg said that excludes engineering, etc. Klahn if we do the sidewalk stuff and our borrowing is limited, do we do a referendum for the spring for sidewalk issues, so we can borrow the whole amount and charge residents half of the cost, or how do we fund this sidewalk project. We have to figure that out before we do the sidewalks. It could be roughly $1 million. Brusberg thinks we need the public involved as well. Olson said there are a lot more sidewalks with issues; closer to the school there are problems and they’re not ADA. Brusberg asked how hard would it be to get more information on when they will do Highway 92. Klahn stated they’re saying ’30 to ’33. It’s on the plan for ’28, but they’re doing some upgrades, and if they do upgrades, there’s no way it will be in’28. Klahn said when they do that, we’ll have to do all the infrastructure. Kuhlman made a suggestion to have the finance committee talk about all capital projects and get an idea on funding from Ehlers. Gehrmann said we’ve talked about some sections going to a blacktop path and are there other options. Brusberg said we’ll look at week after first May board meeting for a finance meeting. Clerk’s report – Kuhlman attended Green County Development Corporation dinner last week, and Klitzman Seed was recognized as Business of the Year. She has the GCDC annual report for the last year, and a few highlights were they helped 96 businesses, secured over $1.3 million in grants, invested about $3 million through their programs, deployed about $1.17 million in loans, held 14 events and raised $368,330 in private and philanthropic funds, and attended 853 stakeholder meetings. Also, Olivia Otte, their director, has been recognized internationally for her work. Brusberg would like to meet with Olivia after the finance meeting. Kuhlman mentioned she will also be at the Chamber Business Fair. Election is April 7, and in-person absentee voting starts tomorrow. Most things are removed from the old police department. She met with historical society reps last week and they marked a few things they would like to keepPublic Works will replace the lights with LEDs, and the door has been rekeyed. Council on Aging updates were handed out. Brusberg reminded everyone of the Easter Egg Hunt at the gazebo on Saturday. On May 5 is the Chamber Business Fair at the community building, and if there are any businesses that want to attend, please let her know. The public can come and meet local businesses; there are door prizes and food. Fire/EMS District Commission - Brusberg stated they had a meeting last week. There were conflicts for Chief Barber and Chief Wicik. The meeting was relatively brief. Finances has nothing worrisome. They asked for Sarah to provide an update of one-time expenses. There was a larger insurance payment early in the year and boiler projects. They’re looking into potentially doing repair on the front entry posts. They need to get more information on the repair work. Tender had no action taken. Right now there’s a grant that’s been applied for. They will see. Town of Brooklyn perspective is to get the best deal they can get. They’ll get more defined estimates. John Marx provided update on meetings about the RFP for consolidation. They have about six municipalities. Our district is sitting in. More to come likely next month. No closed session. Klahn made a motion at 7:46 p.m. to adjourn. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Linda Kuhlman, WCPC, CMTW; Clerk-Treasurer