11-24-25 Village Board Meeting — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes November 24, 2025 On November 24, 2025, President Mike Brusberg called the Village Board meeting of the Village of Brooklyn to order at 6:34 p.m. Trustees present were Mike Gehrmann, Dan Olson, David Berland, Todd Klahn, and Christian Allen. Trustee Jacob Bachim was absent. Also present were Kathy Pennington, Green County Supervisor; and Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. Pledge of Allegiance. Brusberg opened the public hearing on the budget at 6:35 p.m. There were no comments in person and no written comments. Klahn made a motion at 6:36 p.m. to close the public hearing. Berland seconded. Motion carried. There were no public comments. President report – Brusberg stated we presented an updated developer agreement to the buyer’s lawyer, and all edits have been captured from the board’s last meeting. The goal is to have the closing no later than the second full week of January, and was verbally agreed upon at previous meeting with the buyers. Brandon Loncaric from the Oregon Youth Center couldn’t be present. He sent a letter with updates. Kathy Pennington – Pennington introduced herself as chair for Town of Brooklyn and supervisor for Green County portion of the village. Green County continues to struggle with increases on items in the budget including the creation of a new administrator position, new jail, and healthcare costs. The county has low debt so they can get competitive rates. They will be borrowing $9.4 million for the jail, and the total project could be up to $85 million, but the county will borrow as needed to keep taxes low. Impact on the county levy is an increase of 3.2% with a net tax levy at $19,661,565. Biggest thing impacting the levy is equalized values. The county’s equalized value went up 7.39% and the village’s portion of the county went up 5%. The portion of the village in Green County is less than 1% of the total county equalized value. They don’t expect taxes are going to go up, except maybe a slight increase. They will be borrowing more for the jail, so it will change over the next few years. Last year they talked about their strategic plan, and one action was to hire an administrator. The administrator will be overseeing departments, and they are looking for somebody outside to come in and not internally. The person will be predominantly in charge of long-term capital assets, critical infrastructure, modernizing through technology while keeping employee wages competitive. They did a wage study a few years ago and brought up wages, and they’re continuing to look at that. They are considering moving people around into different jobs in the county. The highway department is responsible for maintaining Highways 92 and 104, and they face a lot of reduced state funding. We may not see the service levels as in the past. She worked with highway commissioner, senators and representatives, the DOT, and county sheriff about safety concerns on Highway 104. There are no shoulders, faster speeds, etc. Highway safety improvement program said they will make improvements in 2028. They will address some of those safety features. County highway department has gone through an equipment review and they’re reducing the fleet. They’re changing to buying versatile vehicles that can be used all year round. Because of jail new facility, highway department lost some land, so they have temporarily taken on some parcels around the nursing home. Green County preliminarily was awarded federal funding for broadband. They granted fixed wireless and low earth orbit for the underserved and unserved areas of the county, including Brooklyn. The approval is at the NTIA, the federal government. After approval they can reach out to Bug Tussle and Starlink. Frontier has some fiber nodes and trunks through this area, and they have a project in 2026 replacing copper wires with fiber. In 2026 they plan to do the strip from Belleville to Brodhead, 92 to 104, and change copper to fiber. So there will be a fiber solution to homes, but we don’t know the cost. TDS got a grant in 2016 and they’re coming up through Albany to cover southwestern portion of Brooklyn, and Frontier fiber is coming from the north, so she’s hoping it will cover the gap. She is running again for county supervisor and looking for support from Brooklyn residents. The board had no questions for her. Board thanked Kathy Pennington for coming. Olson had a quick question on public comments from November 10 meeting. The first sentence says someone crashed. Kuhlman said that’s how it was phrased. Olson made a motion to approve minutes of November 10. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Clerk’s report – Elections are coming up in April, with a possible primary in February. Olson, Gehrmann, and Allen are up for reelection. They have all received paperwork. If not running, return the non-candidacy form by around December 20, and if want to re-run, you can start getting signatures of village residents after December 1, and paperwork will be due back by January 6 at 5:00 p.m. Ad went into the newsletter and website, if anyone is interested in running. We received an email from DSPS who did a routine audit of General Engineering Company, our building inspectors. The state had some questions for GEC. We heard from GEC, and they are working with the state. They were mostly small issues. All Star Homes, who wants to build east on Highway 92, is still interested, and they’re exploring options including TID options. She informed them that they still need to get board approval. Santa Day and Methodist Church regifting is on December 6, and we’re still looking for a Santa. Fire/EMS light parade is Sunday, December 7, and during the route, we will light the gazebo. Council on Aging had a meeting. Kuhlman filed the PSC rate case today. It was published in the paper. The PSC will approve, and our effective date we’re asking for is February 1, so the first affected bill will be March 1. GCDC had a meeting and documents were given to the board. Northern Metal has plans to build next year, and after building new, they will sell their old building, and they have a possible interested buyer. The Governor declared November 3 as election hero day. Deputy Grumke had a conversation with a gentleman doing research on the railroad. Apparently they are exploring if Madison gets passenger rail, the feasibility of opening the tracks again. However, it would be 10-20 years in the future. Gehrmann asked about new nitrogen tank in the business park. It has a big sign on the tank. He asked if we have rules on that signage on tanks. Kuhlman said she can talk to them, or it can go on Planning & Zoning meeting. Brusberg looked at bills and all looked good. Olson had a question on page 2, Charter Communication, the charge for the internet. Kuhlman said that it is $130 per internet line. Brusberg asked if we will be billing back to Prairie Homes the Strand invoice for discussion with them. Kuhlman said she is keeping track of costs, which will be billed to them. Gehrmann asked if we still use Zoom. Kuhlman said we really don’t use it anymore, but it automatically renewed. She will cancel it. Klahn made a motion to approve bills as presented. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Kuhlman stated the Hotel Street Block 2 assessor’s plat has been approved by the state, and notice was published in the paper for three weeks. Anyone opposing had 30 days to file suit against it. We have received no comments from any of the property owners. Klahn made a motion to approve the assessor’s plat. Olson seconded. Brusberg added thanks to Kuhlman and Spilde and Planning & Zoning. It took a lot of work to get to this point. Olson added it’s nice to have it cleaned up. Motion carried. Gehrmann made a motion to approve the Tree City USA application. Allen seconded. Motion carried. Kuhlman asked the board to review and approve the League insurance premiums for 2026. There is a little over $1000 increase in premiums next year. The auto went down slightly because we don’t have the squad anymore. Brusberg was surprised cyber coverage stayed the same. Kuhlman added we have increased our cyber security. Klahn made a motion to approve the 2026 insurance. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Fire/EMS Commission – Brusberg stated there was a meeting last week on November 19 th. The runs saw year to date of roughly 287 as of 11/19, which is down from last year. EMS side had 25 in October. Out of service hours for month was 12 ½ hours, and year to date is 130.5 out of service hours. Runs are at 239 on year to date as of end of October compared to 279 for October 2024. This makes a difference because we get revenue on EMS calls. Financials are a little high on expenses for EMS. Some is due to how the farm tour was handled, but they’re watching closely. It also has costs for the defibrillator and boiler. When we adjust out those one-time events, we’re at $297,000 versus $332,000 budgeted. Fire will be favorable on budget. At end of October it was at $159,337 versus $239,240 budgeted, so $79,903 favorable. We pulled the fire budget down in 2026. Gehrmann asked if we were reimbursed for everything with the farm tour. Brusberg confirmed, and we got a little bit more for use of equipment. The farm tour was quick to pay. They had discussion around an innovation grant and cooperative services taking place across the area. There was a meeting in Fitchburg to discuss it. The grant allows, instead of having service directly, sharing services and then a grant opportunity. Ambulance still has no traction and no updates. Dane County has expressed a strong interest. We have no desire to keep it. We will either sell or send to surplus. Discussion around tender project for 2026; the feasibility and pricing of $400,000-600,000 for a new tender, or $450,000-500,000 for used. They’re just starting discussions. We’re still waiting on the new sign from Wisconsin Sign. Brusberg gave kudos to the association that bought new Class A dressing for all the members. Budget approval consent agenda – Kuhlman added the line item other buildings and property which now has the $17,844.88 discussed at the last meeting. In the debt schedule she added $10,000.34 coming from debt fund balance so all debt doesn’t have to be added to the levy. She made some adjustments in sewer and water budgets. We have all the county figures in now, so the levy is $1,063,304. Overall that’s an 11.24% increase from last year. Overall millrate went up about 48 cents. Dane County levy went down 1 cent, the Village’s went up 80 cents, Oregon School District went up 45 cents and MATC went down a penny. Subtracting the school aid, the Dane County mill rate is $27.74/1000, which is an increase from last year of $1.30. Green County mill rate went up 7 cents, Brooklyn went up 86 cents, Oregon School District went up 55 cents, and MATC stayed the same. After subtracting the school aid, we have a mill rate in Green County of $29.17/1000, which is an increase of $1.36 from last year. The first dollar credit and lottery credit are decreased from last year. Brusberg asked about the difference from the combined mill rate to the individual. Kuhlman said if you add up the total assessments for both counties and divide by total equalized value, that’s what the rate comes to. Brusberg determined the difference is due to the TID. There will be an increase of about $100/100,000 assessment. Klahn made a motion to approve the consent agenda. Olson seconded. Moton carried. Klahn made a motion at 7:25 p.m. to adjourn. Allen seconded. Motion carried. Linda Kuhlman, WCPC, CMTW Clerk-Treasurer