2-23-26 Village Board Meeting — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes February 23, 2026 On February 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 Mike Gehrmann, David Berland, Christian Allen, Jacob Bachim, Dan Olson. Trustee Todd Klahn was absent. Also present were Tom Eithun and Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. Pledge of Allegiance. Public Comments – Tom Eithun had a map. Everything is 25 miles per hour now, and he proposes to make everything shown in red 15 miles per hour. He lives on Lincoln Street, and he’s talked to other people on the block, and he’s talked to other residents and the woman who owns restaurant next door. People don’t make a complete stop at the sign when coming around the corner, and they’re going 25-30 going around the corner, and also when they come off MM they’re not going 25. In the first house there’s a one-year and two-year-old and middle of the block has a two-year-old and five-year-old and he has five and three-year-old grandkids, and if they go chasing a ball in middle of the street, there’s no way a car would stop. And they’re not stopping at the stop sign, and also on Hotel Street, they get out the cars parking on the street and people are getting too close to the cars. It’s a mess where the four-way stop is where 92 and 104 cross, and they should have lights. He’s making a judgment, but down on Lincoln Street they would like that to be 15 and all the houses agree. They would like something done. Bachim said it’s a short stretch, and it’s hard to believe they can get to 25. Eithun said they don’t stop at the stop sign. There’s been someone on a motorcycle that comes around forever, and he had an encounter with that person about speeding. He’s tired of the speeding. Brusberg said they can flag it to the village sheriff’s deputy and make sure he’s aware of it. Eithun would like the speed limit dropped. Summer is coming up and there’s more traffic that cuts through there all the time. Brusberg said during public comments, they can’t take action tonight. They have to go back and go through the process to get feedback from the sheriff’s deputy and then address through the board. Because it’s not an agenda item, they can’t make a decision tonight. There are speeding problems throughout the village, which is on our radar as well. They will let him know when it will be on a future agenda. Eithun has been paying more attention lately. Brusberg said we’ll have it on a future agenda and let him know when that will be. Board thanked him for coming. President’s report – we won’t need closed session tonight. The update from Mortensen on purchase of property in Business Park is that on the surface there’s no questions they have on the development agreement. Their bank has a meeting on March 12. Their attorney is working on the development agreement and right of second refusal documents and will put together an amendment to the option to purchase. They anticipate a closing date of no later than April 15. There could be the potential need of a special board meeting in March. Gehrmann made a motion to approve minutes from February 9. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Easter Egg Hunt on March 28 – Kuhlman explained the Chamber would like to hold an Easter egg hunt at the gazebo on March 28. The board has the event application and the Chamber has insurance. Berland made a motion to approve Chamber Easter Egg Hunt on March 28 th. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Kuhlman said public works would like to hire Abby Hollis again for summer help at a rate of $14 per hour. Bachim made a motion to hire summer public works employee. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Gehrmann made a motion to approve the bills as presented. Olson seconded. Olson can’t okay the training for Vicki Olson; otherwise everything looked good, and he saw the notation for taxes for Spectrum. Motion carried. Public Works/Utilities/Emergency Management – Olson reported on updates on the monthly report. They had cold weather issues, 4 broken water mains, one was replaced at 12 feet of water main on Railroad/104 under blacktop. The infrastructure is over 70 years old. With the four breaks, we’re up to 27 bandaids in this section. Allen asked if we’re looking to replace the whole thing. Olson said yes, they’re going to look at It at capital projects. We’re on 20 years of borrowed time on those. Well #1 the backup generator had a bad carburetor. Had two race wires at sewer plant that had to be replaced due to cold weather. The 2026 sampling requirements, we have to keep doing the $1000 for PFAS. We’re way below the limits, but we still have to sample. WET test passed. Starting in 2026 we have new testing requirements for ammonia and nitrogen testing, so more lab costs. Goes through state lab and LV Labs. Gehrmann asked if we have any idea how we’ll test. Olson said it will depend, because we haven’t tested a lot for those. The cold weather issues in sewer were two heat race tapes and sampler went down and something with the aerator, but everything is up and going. Emergency Management had a meeting on 2-9-26 and updated the manual. In streets they plowed 9 times, salted 4, had two graves, two cremations. They put safety fencing around the sculpture. Furnace repairs were done at village hall and community building. Light pole on Church Street was replaced through insurance. We received the wrong base, but public works was able to fix it. Had CPR training and passed. Damage to wall at community building, the plaster was coming down. They put a piece of plywood over the spot. Flag pole rope broke and was down for a week, and it was noticed through the community, and it was fixed. Public Works moved all the filing cabinets out of old police department and to village hall. Weekly checkoff sheet, they’re working on a spreadsheet sign-off on the cloud. LED sign north of the village, they’re still waiting on more pricing. They have a price for both sides, but they were looking at replacing with aluminum. It’s not a matter of replacing the whole sign completely. They’re still waiting for pricing. Hoping by the March meeting. Brusberg made a motion to postpone action on replacement of vinyl on the LED sign to the March 9 meeting. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Olson reported we received a letter from Strand that we didn’t pass our cooling temperatures, which we find hard to believe. The temp of the effluent keeps the pipe warm and warms the dirt around it, not allowing temp of effluent to drop over the mile run to the creek. Strand and DNR do not have a fix. They have no idea. They’re requiring us to do it, but no action to take for it. Olson said we have to monitor it until DNR says what we need to do. We’re the first people really getting into it. He would think they won’t fine us because they don’t have any solutions. Bachim said he has a hard time thinking we’re the only ones in the state that have this. Kuhlman said we’re the first ones doing the testing, because it’s a new requirement. Ordinance committee – The meeting was cancelled because we didn’t have quorum. Will meet before March 9 at 5:30 p.m. Clerk’s report – Kuhlman reported auditors were here today and will be here through Wednesday. GCDC’s annual dinner is March 19. Brusberg suggested requesting two tickets for GCDC and some combination of board and clerk will go. Talked with Hawkey and Roberts about park equipment and other improvements, and talked about redoing tennis court/pickleball court, which could be about $100,000. Roberts will get pricing, and we might have to look at donations to fund. There’s about $46,000 in park funds right now, which need to be used by 2032. We received letter from state about assessments, and we’re three years out of compliance for assessment ratio. We’re doing revaluation this year, because if we’re not in compliance this year, the state will come in and do a revaluation next year and charge for it, which is a significant amount. Kuhlman received a phone call from property owner east of the village asking questions about proposed subdivision. She answered his questions. Public works brought file cabinets over from police department, and Kuhlman has been going through the rest of the items. There’s boxes for shredding and destruction. Then the Historical Society can look at the furniture to see if they need any of it. Fire/EMS Commission – Brusberg reported they had a meeting last week. They will use FAP rollover funds to pay for the defibrillator. They have two existing copy machines that work fine, so they’re not getting a new copy machine. One of the current ones is going without support. Andy Meyer was at the fire department and they looked at the four entry posts which are starting to show age. He provided a quote, but they want to get a secondary quote before making a decision. Station sign is still in progress but should be done soon, which is being donated through the association. Boiler project started in January, and there’s been a few service calls but it’s now working good. One of the furnaces went out due to a failed heat exchanger, but one of the members was able to fix it. The old ambulance was sold for $65,000, which was more than they hoped for. They need to look at the standby generator, which is having some issues. The building is over 20 years old, and they will encounter more issues in the future. Gehrmann asked what generator is used for. Bachim said it’s the building backup generator, to get the garage doors open, if it has to be an extra shelter in a disaster, it’s able to heat water, for example. District Secretary gave year-end financial statements. Had $38,000 more revenue on fire side, and also had expenses track favorably by $18,000. When we remove memorial fund dollars on fire side, which is the CD and dollars for funeral expenses, they’re trying to exhaust that balance. They ended $21,499 favorability on expenses. Total carryover was $38,359, and the 30% reserve and carrying over the accountant fees, we had $30,841 that went to unallocated balance on fire. They have $167,000 in the unallocated account. The EMS budget has been increasing each year. Last year year-end revenues were $145,560 favorable, and some is due to how they recognize revenue tied to Luke Bryan farm tour, which offset those expenses, and FAP income of $44,928. They saw significant overage of $39,000 in run revenue, which was $114,000. Budget in 2026 is $85,000 in runs, but they are tracking higher in that run revenue. Expenses for 2025 were about $99,000 unfavorable, and there were some one-time items like $18,000 for the defibrillator and $26,000 for Luke Bryan. That leaves about $30,000, where LTEs and volunteer wages are two biggest things to watch for. Other piece was similar to village but ongoing talks about capital item needs and trying to prioritize. One thing discussed was to update the cot system, but in the near term it’s not that urgent. The tender had a lot of discussion, but the direction the district gave to Chief Barber was get more specific estimates. They only had ranges so far. They would like to get estimates on all-in costs, financing terms, and also understand what is the duration to get delivery, to be more informed on the new costs. He will look at used and get a better feel on what those are going for. Because of the unallocated balance and 2% dues, there’s the unlikelihood they can finance with the balance and will probably need some financing from each municipality. This board talked about new versus used; other municipalities are talking about that as well. The village wants to be cost effective, but the village has hydrants so we need to be mindful of that; so they need to look at something used that’s cost effective. Olson said that’s fine as long as prices aren’t close to new prices, because why spend $400,000 on used when get a new for $550,000. Brusberg said some manufacturers provide a discount based on what you pay up front. Gehrmann asked if there is more than one place buying used fire equipment and refurbishing it with some type of warranty. Bachim said there’s one and it’s grown quite large as a brokerage. They’re not refurbing them, though. Because of our NFPA standards, there’s issues with dates of trucks, so they try to keep it more current. Discussion on specs to refurbish. Brusberg said they asked the chief to talk to other municipalities as well. Also had a discussion on the Oregon-Fitchburg RFP, which has been in the news. They are looking for a consultant to consolidate services, and they’re talking with Stoughton, Verona, McFarland also. Berland asked if it includes municipal services. Brusberg said no, it’s specifically for fire-ems. Part of Brusberg’s frustration is that fire-ems should never be a political topic. They should find a way to manage, but not political The RFP is not done through the Oregon district, but through the village president of Oregon, the mayor of Fitchburg, and other leaders, and minimal discussion throughout the other district members. He’s talked with Rutland president and Oregon village president, and the district board, and it behooves them to have a seat at the table to see where it’s going, but not necessarily to participate. It’s in the district’s best interest to get the district boards together. Brusberg wants to be clear, we’re supportive of the district, but because of the way the times are evolving, we need to hear where this goes. There’s always opportunities for improvement, but we need to appreciate what makes others successful. Gehrmann asked if there is a way for someone to make money but cost us more. His guess is this has a six-figure price tag, and the pricing is based off of population size and each municipality’s portion. Bachim said we should just gather more information. Olson thanked Brusberg for the update. Bachim made a motion at 7:34 p.m. to adjourn. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Linda Kuhlman, WCPC, CMTW; Clerk-Treasurer