3-9-26 Village Board Meeting — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes March 9, 2026 On March 9, 2026, President Mike Brusberg called the Village Board meeting of the Village of Brooklyn to order at 6:32 p.m. Trustees present were Mike Gehrmann, Christian Allen, Dan Olson and Todd Klahn. Trustees Jacob Bachim and David Berland were absent. Also present was Kaylynn Norman and Abriel Norman and Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. Pledge of Allegiance. Public Comments – Kaylynn Norman lives on Commercial and Lincoln, and they’ve been discussing how fast everyone goes with their neighbor. They race down Lincoln, stop at the stop sign and peel out, and there’s lots of kids in the neighborhood. She’s lived here 3-4 years and it’s always bothered her. Every time people on Lincoln park on the road by the corner she thinks the car will be hit because of speed. They’ve had mailboxes taken out before. There’s a lot of kids in the neighborhood. She’s concerned. A neighbor said he can’t be the only one to complain. Anyone who lives in this area know they go fast. She’s okay with the sound but it happens during the day. People walk up and down the street all day every day. She wants to put it out she’s concerned and has been for years. She doesn’t think lowering the speed limit will do anything, but she thinks something needs to be in place to help in the long run. Brusberg introduced the board members and said the board can listen to public concerns but can’t make a decision tonight, and there’s a lot of speeding across the village. It's definitely something they know is an issue. They will take the information and they will put it on the agenda to talk about at a later day. They will have discussions and see what actions they can take. Is there a speed limit sign on the street? She didn’t think so. He knows there’s bus pickup there also which is a concern. They’ll flag it for the sheriff’s deputy to watch. The intention is to have a discussion and determine what actions can be taken. Klahn said the rumor is we’re changing out police officers, and when we get the new one, we can put that up front and foremost. Gehrmann said he lives on the east side of town and when there’s an officer there people go slow and when the officer goes, they’re speeding again. It’s a tough one. Brusberg asked if we still have the mobile speed board. Kuhlman said yes, we do. Brusberg said he’ll see where the mobile one is and it does record. That can be part of our discussion. Board thanked her for coming. K. Norman thanked the board for listening. Brusberg said if she has any concerns, don’t hesitate to contact clerk’s office. We’ll let her know when it’s on a future discussion, and the board contact info is on the website. President’s report – Brusberg stated many have seen social media posts that the new sign is up at the fire station. It was nice of the association members to do that. There has been a discussion at fire/EMS where the district has been invited to meetings where Fitchburg, Oregon and others are collaborating, so the district is now participating in those meetings. In addition, through dialogue with Spilde, Kuhlman and himself, there’s potential in the innovation grant to partner for public works items and other items, to look into partnership with Oregon’s public works. The committee will look at other things to think outside the box to tap into them and they into us. Special thank you to the Chamber for coordinating the easter egg hunt and their effort to do that for the village. Kuhlman stated she changed that Klahn was not present at the last meeting. Olson made a motion to approve minutes of February 23 with correction of Klahn being absent from board meeting. Allen seconded. Motion carried. Klahn abstained. Kuhlman stated public works and the school will celebrate Arbor Day on April 23. Klahn made a motion to approve Resolution 2026-02 Arbor Day Proclamation. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg stated as of this point there’s about $3,900 set aside from his president salary donation, and at the end of the year it should be about $7,500. The thought is let’s get something done so the community can enjoy. In working with Hollis on estimates for basketball hoops and backboards at the park and community building, there’s two views. The Smithfield estimate is $3,185 and the other of $3,490 is the community building. The thought for Smithfield would be a metal style backboard, so it’s durable, and breakaway basketball rims. For the community building it will be a little bit more because of the glass backboards and breakaway rims and padding surrounding the backboard as well. What’s not reflected here are additional brackets and bushings needed for install of about $182, so all in across the project about $6,857. He’d plan for around $7,000 in case more is needed for install. It will be funded through his contribution back to the village in lieu of wages. Allen made a motion to approve up to $7,000 of expense for basketball hoops for community building and Smithfield park. Klahn seconded. Olson thanked Brusberg for his contribution. Hopefully it’s something the community will appreciate. Motion carried. Olson made a motion to approve the Public Works Committee minutes from September 15, 2025. Brusberg seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg stated Deputy Grumke is being promoted to sergeant, which means the village will lose him here effective April 4. We will go through posting and work to get the position filled as fast as possible. We will leverage overtime hours during the time in between. We met with Lt. Vandivier, and he has other open positions with other communities but will get it posted. They will pare it down to 3-5 candidates. The intention is to have interviews with a small panel instead of the whole board. It will be Kuhlman, Spilde and a member of personnel to comprise the panel, and we’d like to get it scheduled soon and get through the interview process. Lt. Vandivier has stock questions to go through for the interviews. Deputy Grumke thinks there will be a decent candidate pool. Gehrmann asked who can apply. Brusberg said it could be anyone. In terms of interview timeline, we’re looking to do them the second week of April. We asked to start later in the afternoon for the interviews. Board is okay with small panel and personnel committee. Gehrmann would like 3-4 people. Gehrmann would volunteer, if no one else can. Klahn could probably be free in April. Allen is flexible also. We did add some information to have communication with the school. We’re disappointed to see Deputy Grumke go but congratulations on his promotion. Olson didn’t see issues with the bills. Gehrmann also. Olson made a motion to approve bills as presented. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. LED sign – Board discussed laminate with our logo, which lasts 5-7 years, and the burgundy translucent vinyl, which lasts 7-15 years. Wisconsin Sign picked the burgundy because it matches the outline of the sign. Klahn made a motion to approve the bid for both sides of the burgundy sign and out of capital project account. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg wanted to get perspective from everyone on thoughts for tender for the fire department. The district meeting in March should have more information to make a more educated decision. New is $400,000-600,000, and used could be less but you’re getting someone else’s used stuff. Klahn said we don’t put that many miles on it. Rutland noticed there’s a grant for this, and a quick application was put together on Friday to see if we can get grant funding for some or all funded via the grant. Klahn said if we get a new one, he would vote for putting a pump on it, not just gravity flow. We would want to have all current capabilities. The existing is 2000-2100 and new is 2500-3000 gallon capacity. Gehrmann said the problem with getting used is we could run into problems with current standards. He asked about expected life. Klahn said the current is 25-30 years, but current is a metal instead of stainless so it could rust. Olson’s biggest concern is to make sure everything is included and we’re not surprised in the end; make sure everything is completed in the bid. Brusberg asked which way is the board skewed. Klahn said it depends on year and condition. Olson said see where grant goes. Brusberg asked the board to keep thinking about it, and he’ll get more information at the next meeting. Gehrmann asked about justifying needing a new tanker, what happens if it doesn’t start up or has a leak. Klahn for the village nothing happens because we have hydrants, but outside townships is where it’s necessary. So the village has bulk of cost and very little use. You can get mutual aid for a short period. Olson said we have two tankers, so it’s a backup. Gehrmann is two tankers something we should have. Klahn doesn’t know. Gehrmann doesn’t want to short change public safety, but what’s the appropriate amount, and do we have staff to run all the equipment if needed. Olson said we won’t have all staff outside the door for every occurrence. Ordinance Committee – Gehrmann stated we got through most of the ordinances, but several were passed on to the engineer and attorney, including public nuisance, to have input on changes. What direction do we want to give the attorney on how we would like these written. Right now it’s complaint driven, and we’re looking for a cleanup, but is there something specific we want to change or modify? Klahn likes them complaint driven. The idea was to have attorney look over these and find duplicate and conflicting verbiage and bring back to ordinance committee for review. Kuhlman said there’s no real process in the ordinance. Olson said the biggest thing is there is no fee schedule for some of the ordinances. Allen said we were working on the fee schedule tonight and there’s a couple that need more work. The other ordinance for the attorney was impact fees, if we need that anymore. Kuhlman added also for Strand for the water, sewer and stormwater and grading. Allen said we had made recommendation to the board to push these to Strand and the attorney. Allen made a motion to recommend these ordinances to the attorney and Strand to review. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Clerk’s report – Financials for February - $207,114.73 in deposits, which included $101,755.78 for final taxes that came in. We had withdrawals of $1,442,620.99, which included $1,002,966.84 for February tax settlement to the counties and school districts and $302,738.59 in loan payments. We ended February with a total in all accounts of $3,052,474.38. Board has rest of financials. We received email from Ehlers on investment accounts. In the general fund there is $800,000, which are in several vehicles. $200,000 of that is up for renewal right now and they’re recommending a two-year CD at 3.8%. The other is the sewer equipment replacement fund, which has about $500,000, and that amount is up for renewal. They are recommending a one-year CD at 3.8% or a two-year CD at 3.8%. A two-year should be okay, but we will be using some of that when we upgrade the plant in a few years. We do have sewer equipment funds in other accounts, but the board should consider putting this all in a two-year CD, to make sure we have funds available. Klahn made a motion to put sewer replacement fund $200,000 in a one-year and the remainder of $300,000 in two-year CD and put the $200,000 of general funds in a two-year CD. Allen seconded. Motion carried. Kuhlman stated the auditors were here a week ago and had scheduled to be here three days but were done in a day and a half. They will come April 27 to give the final audit report to the board. The GCDC annual dinner is March 19, and we have two tickets. Election is coming up April 7. Next week absentees get sent out and in a couple weeks starts in-person absentee. The League Insurance conference is the first week in May. Kuhlman will go, and the League pays for one village member to attend. The Robert’s Rules parliamentarian procedures that were discussed a few meetings ago, Berland was correct, and there’s a portion that refers to small boards, which would apply to us. The extra-territorial jurisdiction proposed legislation was dropped. Kuhlman asked if the board wants to discuss Lincoln Street at the next meeting. Klahn said we should get the speed board up on both sides of the road and get some information on what the speed is, and also we’ll have a new officer. Board decided to wait until end of April to look at data. Brusberg would also like to know if there’s a speed limit sign on the street. The Consumer Confidence Report has been posted at the community building, on the website and in the newsletter, and we’ll put a notice on next bill. She had someone ask about using the conference room at village hall for mindfulness classes to a group of 5-10 people. It’s quieter than the community building. It would be during normal business hours. Verizon started last week at the park putting antennas on the tower. Reminder that there is a public works meeting next Monday. We have a contract with Municode for $2,300 annual to update ordinances. We have submitted updates totalling more than that over the last few years, so they have reviewed and sent out a contract for $4,100 for next year. After speaking with them, and due to the fact that we’ll have quite a bit this year at the $2,300 rate, it is more cost effective to do the $4,100 contract for next year, and then Municode will reevaluate after that. Klahn made a motion to renew Municode contact for $4,105 for next year. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg made a motion to approve closing the clerk’s office from April 29-May 1 for treasurer conference. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Klahn made a motion at 7:46 p.m. to go in closed session. Gehrmann second. Ayes – Klahn, Allen, Brusberg, Gehrmann, Olson. Noes – none. Klahn made a motion at 8:39 p.m. to reconvene into open session. Allen seconded. Ayes – Klahn, Allen, Brusberg, Gehrmann, Olson. Noes – none. Klahn made a motion to set a closing date of no later than April 15, 2026 and sign the amended purchase agreement. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg made a motion to carry on additional discussion between our attorney and their attorney to better understand some of the redline adjustments provided to us on Friday. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Klahn made a motion at 8:41 p.m. to adjourn. Olson seconded Motion carried. Linda Kuhlman, WCPC, CMTW Clerk-Treasurer