7-14-25 Village Board — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes July 14, 2025 On July 14, 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, and Christian Allen. Trustee Jacob Bachim was absent. Also present was Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. Pledge of Allegiance. Public comment – Klahn commented that he would like to make Hotel Street two-way. President’s report – Brusberg stated our thoughts and prayers are with Deputy Grumke, as he is working through a difficult time. Congratulations to Trustee Bachim and his wife on the birth of their two children. Brusberg thanked everyone for letting him be gone at the last board meeting. Food truck night is tomorrow. Brusberg spoke with Mark Mortensen regarding the TID sale. It is sitting with the lawyers to tweak some of the language. Mortensen was on vacation for the last week and a half. He will talk with his attorney to make sure they connect in the next few days. Nothing else material with the sale, just clarifying language. Olson made a motion to approve minutes of June 23. Berland seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg and Klahn abstained. A joint Personnel and Finance meeting will take place on August 25 starting at 5:30 p.m. before the board meeting. Trustee wages, health insurance, and employee wages, etc., will be discussed. Deputy Grumke stated he didn’t need tinted windows in the new PD office at Village Hall. Olson made a motion not to tint the windows per Deputy Grumke’s comment. Allen seconded. Motion carried. Olson reviewed invoices, and other than noted tax comments, he didn’t see anything. Olson asked about the Public Works truck. When Public Works went to pick it up, it was white instead of red. The dealer is looking for a red truck, but there are negotiations happening between the dealers. He thinks since the dealer cashed the check, they should refund money if it doesn’t arrive soon. Berland said if we don’t have the truck by Friday, we want our money back until it arrives. Kuhlman will speak with Spilde. Brusberg reviewed invoices also. Olson made a motion to approve bills as presented. Brusberg seconded. Motion carried. Clerk’s Report – Financials for June – Total deposits of $104,276.50, total withdrawals of $552,085.92, which included first payment to Speedway for the Hotel Street project. Ending total in all accounts at June 30 is $2,754,309.24. Included with financials were spreadsheets showing total fund balance and expenses for inside Village Hall. We ended up using $2,152 more than the pre-set aside funds. These will be taken from total fund balance. The other spreadsheet shows the Hotel Street project, with the loan amount of $920,000 minus the Speedway costs and engineering costs to date. Discussion on remaining balance and change orders on the project. Klahn said there will be a meeting on the 21 st about what’s left to do, and one owner complaining about drainage. Brusberg said he spoke with Klahn, and Public Works will meet with the engineer. Klahn also said there is also a spot on the blacktop that needs to be fixed, and not sure where those came from. Kuhlman said Deputy Grumke informed us the county is working on our new squad. The squad we have now is ours. It’s been on order for about two years, and it is budgeted for this year. Cemetery questions from public comments at the last meeting were resolved. The weed trimming is done every other week, so it might have been a timing issue. The flatstone that was brought in, there wasn’t much we could do, but she was okay and had talked with someone about fixing it. The headstone next to her relatives was too close, so they fixed that. As far as planting peonies, those are the rules, and ones there already have been grandfathered in. The citizen was fine with the responses. Green County is expanding their jail starting next year, so there will be a possible increase on their taxes. There’s another innovation grant coming from the state. There aren’t any programs right now that we can do with other communities. Youth Center director will come at the end of September with an update for the year. Board was given update of Legislative budget approvals. Funds were transferred to One Community Bank, and current budgets were handed out. Brusberg asked if any issues. Kuhlman said nothing yet, but she and Spilde will continue to monitor. Received a thank you card from Spilde’s family for the plant sent. Brusberg said we should also look ahead to how to be transparent regarding our revaluation coming up next year. Kuhlman said we’ve been putting information on social media all year to help educate people. The current company we have for email backups is coming up for renewal. Kuhlman has been speaking with Computer Know How. They’re recommending a new program. We were paying $2300 per year, and the new program is less than that. Brusberg asked what we’re paying for Webroot program. It is included with their maintenance. Brusberg said all in we’re about $1,082 increase. Kuhlman agreed and said most comes from the changes to additional cybersecurity software. Gehrmann asked if there’s insurance for backups. Kuhlman explained all the network information is backed up off site, and Computer Know How tests that once a month. Emails we can see, because they’re backed up to the cloud through DropSuite, and we will back up for 7 years. Brusberg asked if we would keep Webroot if we didn’t go with SentinelOne. Brusberg asked if it would cover public works. Kuhlman said the SCADA would not be backed up through these programs, but their individual computers are. Brusberg asked about the age of the laptops, Brusberg would like to make sure there are no performance issues with the computers before we upgrade. Klahn made a motion to move forward with everything contingent on confirming computers can handle upgrades without an issue. Brusberg seconded. Motion carried. Discussion regarding 217 W. Main Street solar. It was approved by the zoning administrator. Gehrmann asked if it’s their own personal use. Kuhlman confirmed. Gehrmann confirmed that the ordinance talked about how large the panels can be on the ground, etc., and if the zoning administrator approved, it should be fine. Discussion regarding setbacks and if land use changes in the future, would future neighbors be able to complain. Discussion on angles and reflection to neighbors. Klahn made a motion to approve the ground mounted solar installation at 217 W. Main. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Open house for inside and outside Village Hall will be held from 4-6 p.m. before the board meeting on September 8. Planning & Zoning Commission – Brusberg stated they had a meeting on July 9. Talked about approving the flood plain ordinance. PZ recommends approval/adoption of this ordinance. Allen said they decided there wasn’t a major flood plain in Brooklyn, so the things DNR talked about didn’t need to be included, and if we annex in the future, there would be further discussions and changes. Kuhlman stated the ordinance goes back to DNR for final approval and then the board can approve the ordinance. Brusberg stated there is an open citizen position on Planning & Zoning, but Mark Bruner is willing to be on PZ. They recommend to the board that Mark Bruner join as a citizen member on PZ. Brusberg made a motion to have Mark Bruner join PZ as a citizen member. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Fire/EMS – Brusberg said they have a meeting this Wednesday. Their last meeting was on June 18. There is still no decision made on the ambulance sale. There are multiple communities still interested. Chief Barber is to reach out and see what they will pay and get more information to come back to the board. New sign for station was discussed, but no action occurred on that from chief, so no decision. They will talk with the association about recommendations and bring it back to the board. The board approved amended holiday pay policy, which will be considered for 8 days of major holidays. They reviewed all the pay scales – EMT basic, EMR, AEMT, and there hasn’t been adjustments for some time. They will change per call to $25/call versus $20 across all types. Also changed basic EMT going to $4/hour, which is $1 increase. And AEMT stays at $5/hour. Fire paid on call, they’re taking from $15/call to $18/call. It’s about $7,500 of impact expected to come from this. There were some line items to budget to bring it down, so it will be resolved without budgetary increase. Gehrmann asked if there is any equipment coming up needing replacement. Brusberg said the tender is up for the replacement, but minimal discussion. Oregon and Brooklyn officers talked in May about partnering on some items, but no updates on that. The biggest item is the simulation taking place on the 24th at the school. There were other things on policies and procedures to collaborate on. They also talked about collaborating on small equipment, and sharing of big equipment was also discussed. Olson asked, as far as going back to pay scale, as far as advanced EMTs running, he noticed they’re doing more intercepts with other communities. Are we being paid accordingly for run charges. If we’re providing that service, should we charge more. Brusberg said there’s still a level between AEMT and paramedic, but they bumped up all charges as well. Klahn made a motion at 7:28 p.m. to adjourn. Olson seconded. Motion carried. 7:28 p.m. Linda Kuhlman, WCPC, CMTW Clerk-Treasurer