Village Board meeting — Minutes

MEETING MINUTES Village of Palmyra REGULAR VILLAGE BOARD MEETING Monday June 15, 2026 100 W. Taft St. Village Hall 6:00 P.M. The meeting was called to order by President Gorsegner at 6:00 pm. Roll call: Ball, Gorsegner, Pfahler, McAllister, Smith, Tucker, Wallace-present. Pledge of Allegiance Communications President Gorsegner mentioned the high points from an MSA memo update on the Westfield development. The wording for the Blue Spring Lake force main agreement has reached an agreement by all parties. Upcoming events were mentioned. Public Forum: Ken Dooley 405 northwest St. He is here as chairman of the Police & Fire Commission. He stated that this board harbors animosity over the PFC. Dooley feels that the village board wants to dissolve the PFC because they refused to be a rubber stamp a recent candidate. This is a sever disservice. If the Village Board goes into closed session, it will be illegal. Dooley mentioned an email and Public Safety Director Blount called point of order due. He told the Village President that Dooley is talking publicly about personnel matters. Dooley went on about negotiations that they and the Village Board had, and Blount calls point of order again. Blount said Dooley’s comments can affect his credibility. Dooley stopped those comments. Dooley is urging the village board to stop this overreach. Alissa Simmons 702 Main St.-said as long as the village board is going through the process of eliminating ordinances and putting new ones in place, they should seriously be considering an ordinance regarding the legalization of marijuana and get this in place now before a shop comes into the village and starts selling. Simmons encourages the board to be proactive. Rebecca Blouin 507 E Main St.: wants the board to seriously consider this sex offender ordinance. Chuck Wilson W914 County Road CI- he is in support of the sex offender ordinance. Ashley Bentel 402 Maple St- in support of the Village passing a sex offender ordinance. Tyler Schultz-402 Maple St is also in support of such an ordinance. Old Business: Discussion and Possible Action on the Following Item 1. Tucker/Smith motion to approve the appointment of William Ousley to the Zoning Board of Appeal. All ayes- motion carried. New Business: Discussion and Possible Action on the Following Items Item #3, Closed Session was moved to the end of the agenda. 1. Ball/Wallace motion to approve the meeting minutes from June 1, 2026 Village Board meeting and June 8, 2026 Special Village Board meeting and May 28, 2 026 Budget Committee meeting. With corrections to the June 1 st meeting where it shows Trustee Ball voting, he was absent. All ayes - motion carried. 2. Eliminating by ordinance, the Police and Fire Commission. The Village of Palmyra has gotten a memo from Village Attorney with the steps they need to follow if they vote to abolish the Police & Fire Commission. The village has a population under 5,000 so it is not a requirement that we have a PFC. Trustee Tucker said that she did a lot of research on the subj ect. She contacted the League of WI Municipalities legal counsel multiple times on this, and the village board has not done anything wrong. Tucker read what the rules are regarding having a police and fire commission and what their duties are. Tucker said that the Village holds the purse strings and the PFC is making demands that is costing the Village money. Trustee Ball says that state statute reads if the PFC is not going in the direction the V illage Board wants then the V illage Board can eliminate them. Tucker says she appreciates what the PFC has done but we are at a point with budget and staffing constraints that the village board needs to take control. Ball says the Village Board holds the purse strings, and the PFC has spent funds on legal counsel without asking the board’s permission. President Gorsegner points out the issues with what the P FC recommended and they did not accept the boards compromise . Gorsegner says it was an o verreach by the PFC when they mentioned in their letter that they were going to search for another police chief. Smith/Wallace motion to proceed with the steps to abolish the Police and Fire Commission, go with a single person who is not an elected or appointed official or an employee of the village for any suspension, reduction, or removal proceedings that may arise. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Pfahler, Smith, Tucker, Wallace -aye. McAllister – nay. Motion carried. 5. Establishing an Ordinance Establishing Sex Offender Residency, Prohibited Activities, and Loitering Restrictions. President Gorsegner stated that the village board attempted an ordinance 20 years ago but at that time these types of ordinances were very new and due to the size of the village it would have made it too restrictive, an offender would have nowhere within the village to reside. gives a history on this. Looked at this in 2007, dept of justice was releasing low risk individuals Trustee Tucker said that Pleasant Prairie adopted an ord inance in 2017 and the F ederal court said it was unconstitutional and this could be a possible road block for us so we need to be careful but we want it to protect our children but it has to be legal. Trustee Wallace has looked at many diff erent municipalities and has put a draft ordinance together that will be presented to the village Board at our next meeting and then will go off to legal for their review. Trustee McAllister said that she feels this should be between the new owner of the ap artments on Maple St. and the tenant. Sgt. LePak- recapped how the Police Dept was n otified of the most recent offender that moved to these apartments. Wallace/Smith motion to proceed to try to establish a sex offender residency, prohibited activities and loitering restriction ordinance. All ayes-motion carried. 6. Tucker/Ball motion to adopt Resolution 2026 -07 appointing a new Judge for the Lake Country Court. All ayes- motion carried. 7. Ball/Wallace motion to approve the payment of bills totaling $42,008.05 from the bill list with extras presented tonight to AFLAC, State of WI Dept. of Administration for email filtering, Von Briesen labor attorney , C intas, WI Dept of Transportation for 2026 H wy construction to be paid to Fort Atkinson. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Pfahler, McAllister, Smith, Tucker, Wallace -aye. Motion carried. 8. Sale of the 2006 Ford E -450 Horton Ambulance. Chief Gartzke said that the recent online bids for the ambulance came in just shy of $10,000 so he wants permission to use a different site to sell the ambulance and list the power lift cot separately. Tucker/Smith motion to allow Chief Gartzke to list the ambulance for sale on the “Garage” website for $25,000, list the cot separately for $5,000 and allow him a $1,000 leeway either way. Chief Gartzke just shy of $10,000 on the auction he recommends putting it on a for sale site that goes nationwide, he says sell the cot separately and lower the price of the ambo by $5000. Bring the sale of ambo to $25,000 and cot to $5000. And $1,000 flexibility either way to approve the sale. Keep on the site until it is sold. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Pfahler, McAllister, Smith, Tucker, Wallace-aye. Motion carried. 9. Updates on the public safety building repairs. Chief Gartzke said that the w ater is still leaking into the basement, they have not gotten any more bids back. There is a public safety meeting scheduled for June 22nd. 10. Tucker/Wallace motion to approve a Temporary Alcohol Beverage License for the Palmyra Lions Club for their event on July 18, 2026 at the Village Park . Background is clean. All ayes -motion carried. 11. The Following Liquor Licenses: Class “A” Beer License- Grocery Store Wallace/Ball motion to approve the license for Judith Semrad, S69W25155 Longview Drive, Waukesha, WI for the premises located at 117 W. Taft Street, DBA Jim & Judy's’ Foods Inc., Village of Palmyra. Judith Semrad – Agent. All ayes-motion carried. Class “A” Beer and “Class A Liquor” Retail License- Gas/convenience/liquor store Virendra Verma 16225 Cumberland Trail Brookfield, WI for the premises located at 162 E. Main Street, DBA Lower Spring Lake BP, Inc., Village of Palmyra. Virendra Verma- Agent Hank F. Yee, 4445 N. 161st St. Brookfield WI. for the premises located at 102 E. Main Street, DBA Palmyra Mobil, Village of Palmyra. Hank Yee – Agent Dolgencorp, LLC, 100 Mission Ridge, Goodlettsville, TN dba: Dollar General 126 E. Main St. Palmyra, WI. 53156 Brian Hartshor- Agent Wallace/Tucker motion to approve the above-mentioned licenses except for Dollar General. Deny their application as they are within close proximity to 2 other licensed establishments, one on each side of Dollar General. All ayes-motion carried. “Class B Beer” and Liquor License - Bars Denys Domres Wambold, S109 W34780 Jacks Bay Road Mukwonago WI. for the premises located at 102 N. Second Street, Squidy’s 2 LLC, DBA Squidy’s 2, Village of Palmyra. Denys Domres-Wambold - Agent Virendra Verma, 16225 Cumberland Trail, Brookfield WI. for the premises located at 162 E. Main Street, V’s Bourbon Tasting Center, LLC, Village of Palmyra. Virendra Verma - Agent Jennifer Halverson, W174 S6986 Hiawatha Dr. Muskego, WI. For the premises located at 200 W. Main St., Hot Rod’s LLC, DBA Hot Rod’s, Village of Palmyra. Jennifer Halverson-Agent Christopher and Sarah Siebeneich, N7177 Woodfield Ln, Whitewater, WI. 53190, Seven oak Hospitality Group LLC, dba Seven Oak Public House, Palmyra Bowl, Fin & Louie’s Pizzeria at 300 W. Main St. Palmyra, WI. 53156 Sarah Seibeneich - Agent Miguel Linares 8309 N. 95th St. Milwaukee, WI for the premises located at 227 S. 3rd Street, DBA as Nite Cap Inn, Village of Palmyra. Erika Linares, 8309 N. 95th St. Milw., WI – Agent. Tucker/Pfahler motion to approve the above-mentioned licenses. All ayes – motion carried. 12. Tucker/Wallace motion to approve the following Operators Licenses for the period July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027. Sgt. Lepak did backgrounds, all were good. All ayes-motion carried. Denys Wambold, Hank Yee, Mark Martin, Katie Sourile, Heather Smith, Eileen Baranowski, Don Rutkowski, Mary Baranowski, Pamela Tubbs, Shannon Jensen, Ashlee Crigger, Alonna Leszynski, William Lean, Peggy Lean, Sydney Lean, Nicole Briggs, Josephine Valdez, Emily Eartley, Tricia Harmon, Kari Umland. 3. Smith/Wallace motion to convene, upon passage of the proper motion, into closed session at 7:12 pm with staff, pursuant to §19.85(1)(c) Considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Specifically, the Interim Police Chief and Public Safety Director contract. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Pfahler, McAllister, Smith, Tucker, Wallace- aye. -motion carried. 4. Ball/Smith motion to reconvene into Open Session at 7:38 pm for purposes of potential additional discussion and/or action on matters discussed in closed session and adjournment. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Pfahler, McAllister, Smith, Tucker, Wallace-aye. -motion carried. Wallace/McAllister motion to adjourn at 7:39 pm. All ayes-motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Laurie Mueller, Village Clerk/Treasurer Minutes approved without corrections on July 6, 2026