6-9-25 Village Board Meeting — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes June 9, 2025 On June 9. 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, Jake Bachim, Todd Klahn, and Christian Allen. Also present were Donovan Johnson, Sue McCallum, Jeff Groenier, Mark Mortensen, Clerk- Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. Pledge of Allegiance. No public comments. President’s report – Brusberg stated it’s the first time in the new space of village hall. It’s nice to be in a different room that doesn’t have paneling. He thanked the employees who helped make it happen. Olson made a motion to approve minutes of May 5 and May 12. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Council on Aging – Sue McCallum talked about the March and May meetings. They held their annual election at the May 21 meeting for the executive board offices of vice president is Anne Dellemann, treasurer is Marilyn Rebman, and member at large is Ann Benedict. She presented the $500 scholarship to Oregon seniors, which was given out on May 14. Current fundraisers – pancake breakfast at beginning of March. They noticed fewer people eating but the bake sale was huge. Most recent fundraiser was the brat bash on May 9, which had a $200 higher profit over 2024. Part of that came from nice donations from Hyvee and a $250 gift card from Thrivent Mutual, which bought the chips. Their next one is an ice cream social on July 10. That’s more of a social event than a money-maker. Financial report - they have taken the legal fees out of their budget, which was about $600 in the previous year. Those are now being done by the executive director. A new program at the senior center will begin on June 27, and is help with Android phones. It’s conducted by the reference assistant from the Oregon Library. The Senior Center also hands out free hearing aid batteries, which are donated by community members. Village of Oregon update – where the nursing home was, the people that own the nursing home are rehabbing it for Main Street Senior Living. They’re taking all the rooms from the nursing home and have added showers and making a total of 40 rooms. All will have showers, limited services, three meals per day and light housekeeping but no medications, no personal care. There will be no age limit. She thinks they will take anybody. It was not filled up at the time of the report. Rent will be $2,300-2,500/month. The big apartments where Methodist Church sat are all income based. One of Council on Aging member did research on demographics, and 2025 will be largest cascading of retirements – 11,400 retiring/month. The board thanked her for her report. Dane County Urban County Consortium – Brusberg said there’s no cost to participate, and it allows access to CDBG or home programs through Dane County. One downfall is it potentially precludes us from participating in state run programs. Berland made a motion to renew membership. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Extra-territorial CSM in Town of Oregon – Johnson stated he lives on the home farm. He bought a lot 7 years ago and got the opportunity to buy an additional 20 acres in front and will divide that into 4 lots. Berland asked how will they be zoned. Johnson said R-4. There were no concerns from the board. Klahn made a motion to approve CSM for the 4 lots. Olson seconded. Motion carried. 6 pm siren – Brusberg mentioned this has been on the agenda a couple times. Dane County Emergency Management has asked us to eliminate the 6 pm siren due to wear and tear on the siren and costs associated with maintenance. If we continue it, maintenance costs will be borne by the village. Klahn doesn’t want to lose it but doesn’t want to pay for maintenance. Olson agreed, if we have to pay for maintenance. He hopes the siren works when we need it. Gehrmann would like to see spreadsheet on costs but doesn’t want to get stuck paying for it. Berland would stop for different reasons, but he’s glad this came up. Brusberg said there’s a nostalgic aspect. Berland made a motion to discontinue the daily 6 pm siren. Gehrmann seconded. Gehrmann added to make sure when it’s posted in the newsletter, it was at the request of Dane County. Brusberg agreed. Berland amended his motion to be no later than July 1. Gehrmann seconded amendment. Motion carried. Invoices - Kuhlman mentioned there are new bills. We needed to rewrite a check to Brian Johnson and add the first payment to Speedway Sand & Gravel for the Hotel Street project in the amount of $370,999.43. Olson also mentioned there are several instances where we paid tax on a few items -- one was village hall supplies of $18.64 in tax and village hall supplies of $3.86 tax, and another one for public works office/shop of $4.91. Kuhlman said they would be for Wayfair and Lowes, which were one-time purchases online. The public works invoice from Autumn Supply is refunding the tax amount. Klahn made a motion to approve bills as submitted. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Consent Agenda – Alcohol Licenses for 2025-2026 – Berland made a motion to approve all of the annual 2025-2026 license applications as presented. Klahn seconded. Motion carried Clerk’s report – Financials for April and May were handed out. Kuhlman stated there were total deposits in May of $1,033,602.32, and $920,000 were loan proceeds for the Hotel Street project. We had withdrawals of $281,652.72. The ending balance for all accounts at the end of May was $3,202,118.66. We sold the antenna from village hall for $1,337. Board received the TID 2 annual report, and the joint review board meeting will be in September. Dane County Cities and Villages did a wage report, and that was emailed to the board members. It includes all different employee categories, including trustee numbers. It can be brought up again at budget time. Berland said DCCVA will do it annually. Dumpster Days information was passed out. Green County Development Corporation May agenda and minutes were emailed to board members. The Town of Cottage Grove comp plan is being reviewed by the county. Clerk’s office started using VOIP for phone instead of Charter. We are waiting for sheriff’s department to set up internet to move into the clerk’s office. Village Hall is now remodeled. She received Green County Extension meeting information on renewal energy projects and large-scale solar projects in Green County. She asked the board to allow the clerk and deputy clerk to attend the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association annual conference from August 19 through 22 in LaCrosse, and the office will need to be closed during that week. Bachim made a motion to allow clerk and deputy clerk to attend the conference. Berland seconded. Brusberg added the office will be closed on those dates. Olson abstained. Motion carried. One Community Bank – Brusberg stated we received a letter from the bank basically getting us to the rate we were looking for of $4.65%. Berland made a motion to invest funds at One Community Bank at the aforementioned rate. Klahn seconded. Motion carried. Berland made a motion to accept Resolution 2025-10 Investing of Public Funds. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Recreation Committee – Gehrmann does not have a rec update. He was unable to attend the last meeting. He will contact Hardy. Klahn said food trucks are next Tuesday. Fire/EMS District update – Brusberg stated they had a meeting on May 28. Discussion was around the old ambulance. Direction provided was to reach out to local fire/EMS districts to see if any partners are looking for potential replacement and look on various websites and do some research. They will make a decision at the June meeting. It’s the shell. Bachim said mileage is low 50,000. Brusberg said they did a review of all compensation for all employees, and they will possibly be making an adjustment for fire/EMS calls and shifting that slightly. Materially, it would be less than $2,000 for EMS and less than $1,500 on the fire side. No rate changes for some time. Fire went to $17/call versus $15/call and it’s $12/hour paid. For EMS they’re looking to make adjustments for basic and AEMT per call. No decisions have been made yet. They are doing a review of the billing company with some of the volumes they saw for ALS versus BLS. It could equate to additional revenue for the district. Rest of details were handed out in the packet. Looking down the road at potential sign options. One is to sand and repaint the existing outdoor sign, another is a zip channel board, and the last is an LED sign, but that’s over $35,000. Zip channel is $5,000-7,000. Barber will talk to the membership. HVAC is getting old there and could be one of those projects that comes down the pipe. They will look at funds through the district, but the initial quote is $30,000. Allen asked about heat and AC. Bachim said boilers run the bay area, and just the boilers need to be replaced. Bachim said the building was built in 2006- 2007, and it’s been repaired a number of years. Klahn motion at 7:07 p.m. to go into closed session. Bachim seconded. Ayes – Bachim, Olson, Gehrmann, Brusberg, Berland, Klahn, Allen. Noes – none. Klahn made a motion at 8:38 p.m. to convene back into open session. Bachim seconded. Ayes – Bachim, Olson, Gehrmann, Brusberg, Berland, Klahn, Allen. Noes – none. Allen made a motion to give the offer back to the attorney with terms discussed. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Klahn made a motion at 8:39 p.m. to adjourn. Bachim seconded. Motion carried. Linda Kuhlman, WCPC, CMTW Clerk-Treasurer