9-8-25 Village Board — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes September 8, 2025 On September 8, 2025, 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, Dan Olson, Todd Klahn, Jake Bachim, and Christian Allen. Also present were Stacey Hardy, Jim Brown, and Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. Pledge of Allegiance. Brusberg called to order at 6:31 p.m. the Public Hearing on Ordinance Chapter 108 Floodplain management. There were appearances in person, and Kuhlman reported no written comments were received. Olson made a motion at 6:32 p.m. to close the public hearing. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. There were no public comments. President’s report – Brusberg stated Saturday evening he went to the Badger Honor Flight to welcome the veterans home. There is a gentleman from Brooklyn who was involved. It was a wonderful experience. Brusberg wanted to say thank you to Bernie Clousing for his service to our country, and from a personal standpoint, being special to his kids being able to witness it. Brusberg also thanked everyone for all the effort they put into the board meetings. There is an event coming up soon, and he wants everyone to stay safe, and thank you to Klahn family for sponsoring. For people coming into the community, please frequent businesses and do so with respect throughout the day for the business owners. Brusberg noticed one thing in minutes from August 11 in president’s report, the sentence with “they deserve kudos” instead of “they do get a lot of,” it should be “we hear a lot of negatives.” Klahn made a motion to accept the village board minutes of August 11 and August 25 of 2025. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Bachim abstained. Brusberg called Stacey Hardy to the front. Brusberg stated many of you know Stacey from the Rec Committee or in general from the Anchor Club. Tonight we’re here to recognize all the things Stacey Hardy has done for the community over the last 14 years as part of the recreation committee. There were running movies, making popcorn, Christmas festivals, Brooklyn night out, pickleball, summer events, helping get food truck nights started and partnering with Brandon Arndt, Brooklyn rec with exercises, rec run, yoga, ballet, pilates, Zoomba. That’s a lot of effort and time you’ve devoted to this community, and we wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done. He presented her with a card and certificate to thank her for everything she’s done over the years. Hardy accepted and thanked the board. Jim Brown – He’s a 70-year resident of Brooklyn area, and he’s been a plumber and his first thing he enjoyed doing was working with metal, and 50 years ago he made his first big sculpture and that was in the kindergarten room at the elementary school and it made the state journal. He’s been doing plumbing for 45 years and always had an interest in unusual pieces of metal from scrap piles. He wanted to start a sculpture about 13 years ago when he retired. He started putting parts together in the form of pelicans. He made five and then was unable to weld anymore. He drew a larger picture of what it similarly looks like and has pictures on his cell phone. They’re situated on a tree over the water and pieces below are assembled to appear as water. So they’re sitting like you’d see over a seashore or water, perched and hunting for fish. He intended to have a larger photograph blown up but it didn’t happen. He has a photo on his phone. It’s about 6 feet high and weighs about 900 pounds. The base is a tractor wheel off of a C International tractor. It’s firmly anchored on the ground. Parts that form the pelicans were off of an old boiler, the burners. Many of the parts are from boilers, cast iron, etc. Brad Draheim on the corner of town, Brad’s Welding on Wheels, is the one he chose to do the welding and it’s at his place. He made it with the intent of donating this piece to the Village of Brooklyn, if they choose to accept it. He’d thought it could go on a site somewhere in the terrace on the opposite side of the street by the gazebo. He understands that belongs to the railway and understands we might have to get permission. It would need a cement pad, and it’s not meant to be climbed on. If the village would choose to accept, he would like to relieve himself of liability for that, for insurance purposes, and hand it over to the village. It’s for the board’s consideration. The board doesn’t need to make a move tonight. He wanted to present it to the board. It needs to be viewed from a distance away and that would remove it more from kids in a liability on it. Those are some of his concerns. Klahn asked about putting it in the area in between the buildings. Berland added right where the tower was. It’s a thick pad. Allen said it would be cool to have in business district. Bachim added there’s a lot of foot traffic. Allen suggested looking into some stakes and a decorative chain around it with signage to please stay off. Bachim said it will need an anchor system through the base to make it sturdy. Brown said it would make it kind of a little artsy area. Olson said there’s a nice sidewalk through the middle. Klahn made a motion to have public works review this and see if it’s something we can work on with the ability of accepting the art display. Brusberg asked to get measurements of the base. Klahn said public works can go to Brad’s. Allen seconded. Bachim said his company will donate time to help secure it and help fasten it. Brusberg thanked Jim Brown for doing it and having the village in mind. Brown said he’s the go-to guy for the American Legion for the cemetery. He’s been working with the clerks and Legion to identify some of the veterans. He’s located six unmarked graves so far, and when he gets more information, he’ll return. The main flag in the cemetery is in need of replacing. Brusberg thanked him. Motion carried. Olson talked with Spilde, and the roof leak on well 1 is getting worse and leaking into the well. It’s been out for bids and only one returned. Custofoam did the roof on village hall. Berland asked if we know why they only had one bid. Bachim said Spilde sent out to six companies, large and reputable. Olson didn’t know, other than roofing is busy right now. Klahn made a motion to accept the bid to fix the well roof on #1 from Custofoam for $11,409. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Kuhlman stated nothing has changed since the board last looked at the Ordinance except for numbering. Klahn made a motion to approve Ordinance Chapter 108 Floodplain Management. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg said Resolution 2025-16 for adjustment to municipal levy limit for fire/EMS increase is a procedural item in advance of the joint meeting. He thinks the budget is a 1% increase right now. Kuhlman explained the state added a levy limit increase for increases in fire and EMS budgets, and we’ve been doing it for a number of years. All the municipalities in the ordinance have to do the resolution to get the increase. The state adds both fire and EMS budgets together to get the total percentage increase or decrease. Brusberg corrected that it’s a $5,000 decrease. EMS is increased about $3,000 and fire is down about $8,000, so it’s a 1% decrease. Brusberg said fire is down 3.42%. EMS is about a 1.12% increase. Brusberg made a motion to approve Resolution 2025-16 for adjustment to the municipal levy. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Olson didn’t see anything wrong with the bills. Olson made a motion to approve the bills as presented. Brusberg seconded. Motion carried. Clerk’s report – Financials aren’t finished because we didn’t receive bank statements from Lake Ridge Bank until Friday of last week. Public Works Committee meeting set for Monday at 6 p.m. Joint Fire/EMS meeting is next Wednesday at 5:30 at the fire station. We need a quorum. Kathy Pennington called to inform us that Frontier for Green County did not get the broadband grant from the state. Bug Tussell received it in Green County and Bertram was approved in Dane County. DNR CMAR responses were received, and public works will discuss it further. Reminder of the Luke Bryan concert on the 18 th. Dumpster Days is Friday through Sunday. Villagewide garage sales is that weekend, and the Autumn Festival is also on the 20th at Legion Park. There are several local area farms that will be present. Next Tuesday is the last food truck night. We talked previously about Business Park road naming, but we don’t have a plat for where the roads will be and lots, etc., so it doesn’t make sense to discuss naming until we see what the final plat will look like. Development Agreement draft from our attorney was sent to Groenier and Mortensen. We will have to discuss the second right of first refusal they want on the properties south of Heritage, in conjunction with O&A’s right of first refusal. Municipal levy limit worksheets came out and we’re getting a 5.265% increase for net new constructions, which is about $40,000 increase. Because of that we probably won’t qualify for the expenditure restraint, which has to stay within CPI plus a certain percentage of budget to the next year. We will also have an increase in revenue for the Verizon contract, which is about $20,000/year, but we won’t add the whole amount next year because they haven’t started yet. Green County jail project has been approved by the Green Couty Board for a $9.5 million total, but they won’t borrow all at once, so it should help to minimize effects to Green County residents. The County is working on the budget, and Kathy Pennington will come back to us when that is completed. Olson asked about the highway garage. Kuhlman hasn’t heard anything about that. Fire/EMS agenda and budget sent out. Brusberg asked about how close we’ll be to a second officer. Kuhlman said we’ve been working toward that. Budgets – she will meet with Spilde on public works budget, and by next meeting we should have more figures. The ladies from the Methodist Church stopped and said the stove isn’t working real well anymore, and the refrigerator shelves are falling constantly. Recreation Committee – Gehrmann reported Stacey Hardy is moving out of the area and will no longer be chair, so they need to figure out who the chair is going forward. He doesn’t know how to approach. Klahn made a motion to accept Stacey Hardy’s resignation from the Rec Committee. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Gehrmann talked about other rec activities -- classes for ballet, yoga is Monday and Wednesday, there’s a sub for yoga. Concerns are tennis court resurfacing. They talked about skateboard park, and we’ve removed the ramps. One idea that could be used for is a pickleball court area. Another concern are all the ground bees in the sandboxes underneath the swings. Can we let it grow back to grass seed, do we need sand for insurance purposes, or can we put something in place of the sand. Brusberg said we looked into that a few years ago and landed on this was the better of the affordable options. Gehrmann said one of the Oregon parks has grass under their swings. Allen heard of multiple people getting stung at the tractor pulls. Bachim said they tilled the sand up to keep the sand moving and disturb the area, but we need to keep up on it. Brusberg looked at rubber mulch and it was pricey. Bachim thinks they should look into it. Klahn suggested to look at pea gravel. Gehrmann asked if public works can look for next year. Power at the park is hit and miss for the food truck nights, breakers are tripping. Klahn said we had a truck that sat for a while and had no power. He checked and it’s all good, but it was one by Genesis that was tripped. Olson said food trucks should be using their own power, instead of our power. Gehrmann said it’s maybe something to let them know to be self-sufficient. This is something Rec should look at. Summer rec program for kids, talked about getting information sooner, is it change of lifestyle, maybe offer something different, is it something we should continue to offer. He doesn’t have those answers. Klahn said people are working more, and if you’re paying for a daycare for even after school or summer, you have to pay for the whole summer whether there or not. Brusberg suggested offering sooner, or do a survey to gauge interest and put it on the village page and Brooklyn info page. Berland said we can ask the school to include a survey and what the Rec is trying to do, and get it out to the families newsletter. There were less vendors for this year’s craft show. That’s been the case, every year a few less people and vendors coming out. Klahn said one of the vendors volunteered to take that on, because they know a lot of the vendors. Olson suggested getting it out there earlier. Klahn made a motion at 7:24 p.m. to adjourn. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Linda Kuhlman, WCPC, CMTW Clerk-Treasurer