4-14-25 Village Board Meeting — Minutes

Village Board Meeting Minutes April 14, 2025 On April 14, 2025, President Mark Bruner called the Village Board meeting of the Village of Brooklyn to order at 6:30 p.m. Trustees present were David Berland, Mike Gehrmann, Mike Brusberg, Dan Olson, Chris Groenier, and Christian Allen. Also present were Tom Eithun, Nate and Jordan Compton, Madelyn Buell, Public Works Director Leif Spilde, Deputy Merrick Grumke, and Clerk-Treasurer Linda Kuhlman. Pledge of Allegiance. Bruner convened public hearing to discuss Ordinance 117-1013 temporary dwelling structure. No comments. Berland made a motion at 6:31 p.m. to close public hearing. Groenier seconded. Motion carried. Public Comments – Tom Eithun lives at 100 Lincoln. He has a fence next to the new parking lot area, and the parking lot will be within 3 feet of that and we’re not putting a fence up there. He wants a fence up against there. He has a 100-pound german shephard. He doesn’t want people throwing things into his yard. He wants his dog and fence protected. He talked to Seitler, who said they’re putting a fence on his side, and he talked to people working there, and there is no fence on the backside. It’s going to be open. He doesn’t want people throwing things up against and over his fence. If anybody is going to destroy the fence or anything, he would charge the village to fix. Allen asked how high his fence is. Eithun said it’s 6 foot. He put it in. Bruner said we appreciate the input, and the board will take it under advisement to discuss at the next meeting. Board thanked Eithun for bringing it to our attention. No other comments. President report – Bruner said it’s bittersweet. He thanked everyone. It’s been a pleasure working with everyone. He thanked Leif and public works and Deputy Grumke and the clerk’s office. He said it’s been a great board to work with. Olson made a motion to approve minutes of March 24. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Chicken request – Nate and Jordan Compton on Bowman Street have lived there for 4 years. They would like to have more than the 4 chickens per ordinance. Madison has an 8 limit, Stoughton is 6 and Belleville is 6, Oregon upped theirs to 10. With higher egg prices, most places are okay with a larger number of chickens in town. It would be strictly hens. Berland asked how many they want to have. They are asking for 8. Jordan said they have their application with the state. Allen said they need to go through the permit process. Gehrmann said when they did the ordinance, they picked 4 because it was reasonable at the time, and given Brooklyn is a unique spot, with big and little yards, and the coop so far away from property line and certain size. Grumke doesn’t recall any complaints. Nate said his coop is enough for 8. Buell said Madison has up to 120 square feet for 8. Berland would like to do exceptions first by address until we update the ordinance. Buehl said she has a plastic coop on wheels to move around the yard. Allen asked if she has capacity for more. Buehl has capacity for 10 and would like 10. They want a certain kind that you can’t get except in a bunch. Allen thinks 8 is a reasonable number and we can look at the ordinance. Groenier suggested moving to ordinance committee to rewrite the actual ordinance, but do we want to do exceptions now. Berland made a motion to allow up to 8 chickens at 102 Bowman and 203 S. Kerch. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Board thanked them for coming to the board. Buehl said they did a whole review in Oregon with all kinds of information Olson said they will look at it through the ordinance committee. Brusberg made a motion to approve Resolution 2025-06, amending the 2025 budget. Berland seconded. Ayes – Allen, Brusberg, Gehrmann, Bruner, Olson, Berland, and Groenier. Motion carried. Hotel Street alley – Kuhlman said the attorney and Combs have suggested doing an assessor survey of the whole block and have property lines established. It is a process that will involve a public hearing, and all property owners need to sign off on the property lines. Berland made a motion to adopt Resolution 2025- 07, assessor’s plot for Hotel Street block. Groenier seconded. Motion carried. Ordinance Chapter 12, Fire protection enforcement ordinance - Berland made a motion to approve amendment to Ordinance Section 12-3 to include “or law enforcement” in the first sentence. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Ordinance Chapter 8, Business licensing and regulation to remove coin operated machines - Berland made a motion to approve amendment to Section 8-3 of the code. Groenier seconded. Motion carried. Ordinance 117-1013, Temporary Dwelling Structures – Suggestion was made to change language after dwelling unit to “for no longer than 7 days per month unless approved by the village board.” Berland made a motion to approve Ordinance 117-1013 with the amendment types per request. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Gehrmann made a motion to approve the fee schedule as presented. Allen seconded. Motion carried. Refinancing loan – Kuhlman said we will need to decide by the first meeting in May about refinancing. She hasn’t received all the information yet. Olson made a motion to postpone the refinancing of the loan due June 18 until the next meeting. Berland seconded. Motion carried. Brusberg asked if we can get a quote from Summit. Kuhlman said Summit and UW Credit Union don’t loan to governments. Berland said at least we asked. US cellular tower lease – Berland made a motion to reassign the lease to USCC Wireless Holdings pursuant to this letter. Gehrmann seconded. Motion carried. Extra-territorial request on Country Meadow Road in Town of Oregon – Berland said it’s within a mile and half of village limits. Olson sees no concern. Olson made a motion that the board has no concerns on the extra-territorial land division in the Town of Oregon on Country Meadow Road. Groenier seconded. Motion carried. Fireworks – Bruner got packet from Spielbauer with pricing. Does the board want to continue the fireworks this year. Allen said yes. Brusberg asked if we have a committee. Last year they talked about a committee being formed. Bruner said recreation doesn’t want to do it. Gehrmann said we need someone to run it and take care of it. Brusberg is not allowed to do any fundraising due to his main job. Olson said if we want to continue to have fireworks, they need to plan in advance. Brusberg asked if any interest from anyone in village. Allen said the best way to get it out there is by Facebook or other means. Gehrmann suggested sending something out, and would Bruner be willing to be point of contact. Bruner said a down payment would have to be made first or second week of June. Allen said he’s enjoyed the fireworks, not sure of cost versus reward. He would be happy to be on committee. Bruner said people who come comment on great show. Groenier it’s a good thing. Gehrmann said he would be point person, if we send something out to see how many people are interested and have time. Berland doesn’t like fireworks. He thinks they’re a fire hazard and not particularly fun. Olson doesn’t see them because of being with the dog. Brusberg suggested a form letter to prior sponsors. Board is entertaining the idea of doing fireworks but need volunteers. If we don’t get volunteers, it won’t happen. Bruner will write posts and will put Gehrmann as contact. Olson reviewed invoices. On page 8 Speedee delivery, it’s only down twice but there are three invoices. 3 rd one needs to be put in register. Olson made a motion to approve the bills with the correction to the Speedee delivery from $86.02 to $129.03. Brusberg seconded. Motion carried. Strand Traffic Study for Business Complex – Kuhlman said original quote was $15,000. The state is making us do an additional reporting from Highway 92/14, so it’s an additional $3,000. Brusberg made a motion to approve doing the traffic study and to get done as soon as possible. Groenier seconded. Motion carried. Public Works – Spilde thanked Bruner from public works and fire/EMS, and as a resident. His support as a village president is top notch. Water -- shut running water off March 21. Sewer – lift station in business park is in waiting for electronic components, and it’s pretty normal. Had a couple rodents in wastewater lines but it’s taken care of. Sewer machine repair wasn’t as financially bad as he thought. March 15 power outage at treatment plant. They found the problem. WET test was done March 31 and passed. It’s a very complex, very expensive test, and only 2 labs in country do it. Per state, all lab equipment is tested. O&A has their own permit through DNR for wastewater, so they compare results. Gehrmann asked what the permit is for. Spilde said zinc, but they’re required to test monthly for BOD, etc. We’re watching for zinc. The state is watching for everything else. They’re noticing it at their sample but not at the plant. No issues with them. If community is under 10,000, DNR does the enforcement. New nitrate test started this month. No comments on it yet. Wastewater permit cycle, we owe DNR letter for plans and procedures for disinfection. There’s a lot of stuff coming from sewer plant. Emergency Management - nothing. Streets - had 24 events plowing and salting; normal is 31. Plowed 7 times and normal is 14. Hotel Street project will be here tomorrow doing prework for underground. They’re finding all sewer, water and gas mains before they start digging. The old bank driveway and everything will be at grade. On Wednesday plan on north side ripping concrete out. They have a couple bigger projects, so they want to really try to put emphasis on this project and get it done with two possibly three crews. Strand will have onsite inspector here all the time. It was made clear to go to contractor through Strand but there is already talk from property owners. Spilde talked fencing with contractor on Friday. Early on we talked about putting fence but there already is a fence and building, and at that spot there will be a dumpster. The stormwater swale will be there also. His fence is a really nice fence. Street sweeping was done. Smithfield and Legion bathrooms are both open. Smithfield has other work to be done. Brian is taking a six-day seminar to become a DNR community tree institute graduate to get a tree expert on staff. Stormwater inlet-outlet inspection was done. Doing work at Legion with pickleball players, and volleyball court is being taken out. Stormwater policy – Spilde said the recommendation from DNR is to have policy in place and procedures. They took photos of inlets and outlets to have on file. Brusberg made a motion to approve stormwater inspection policy. Olson seconded. Motion carried. Clerk’s report – Financials for March - we had $105,942.10 in deposits and $269,017.34 in withdrawals. $131,042.50 was for a loan payment. So we total in all accounts of $2,766,598.43. She’s still looking at taking a couple of accounts to One Community Bank. She’s keeping a fund balance on village hall remodel amounts. Handed out investment information. Election results from April election – 653 total voters, 466 in Dane and 187 in Green. 64% of village voted – 65% in Green and 61% in Dane. Village hall remodel has started. The initial destruction is done, and they’ll be mudding drywall and painting end of this week. The pillar is load- bearing so it has to stay. They’re a little ahead of schedule. The glass in the entryway is intact and the counter stays down, so we are keeping that and will do a little work inside to cover it up. Sergenians bid was for the Subtle style, which is the tighter weave and little thicker, the higher quality. So we went with them and picked out a carpet. We tested a few more spots in the carpet for asbestos, which were fine. But there is a small section that has 9x9 tiles and needs to be abated. She is getting quotes. Heard from Groenier and we should get an offer later in the week, so possibly we will need a meeting next week. Had another company interested in a couple acres. There is about 1.2 acres of the 2.3 acres of the area south of Northern Metal that are fine to develop on right now. Board of Commissioners of Public Lands has our request for loan. We haven’t heard back yet. We have all information to Wisconsin Surplus for auctioning furniture. She added safe doors in the basement. Railroad Street hearing date is set for July 25. June 4 is cutoff for the foreclosure, so we will wait. Copy of GEC report on 110 Hotel Street was handed out. She has called Alliant to look as well. Spilde said Speedway is going to set up vibration test along those properties also while they’re digging. The state approved Act 235 regarding judicial privacy. Any judicial officer can receive confidentiality on their home. A request has to go through the state if they want their information kept confidential. We would have to make sure their name isn’t listed and couldn’t give information on open records requests. Counties are working on it also. She has been discussing with computer company to go with voice-over IP to take phone calls through the phone. Clerk’s office will try it first. April 28 Kuhlman is not available, which would be second meeting date. If we get an offer from Groenier/Mortensen, can meet Monday or Wednesday and meet at 5 p.m. Kuhlman thanked Groenier and Bruner for being on the board and it was great working with them. Groenier made a motion at 8:03 p.m. to adjourn. Olson seconded. Bruner thanked everyone again. The board also thanked Groenier and Bruner for their service. Motion carried. Linda Kuhlman, WCPC, CMTW Clerk-Treasurer