Committee of the Whole meeting — Minutes

MEETING MINUTES Village of Palmyra Committee of the Whole Meeting Monday January 19, 2026 6:00 pm Village Hall 100 W. Taft St. Palmyra, WI. The m eeting was called to order by Gorse gner at 6:00 p.m. Roll call: Ball, Petruska, Smith, Deichl, Gorsegner-present. Tucker is available by phone. Wallace excused. Also present: Public Safety Director Paul Blount, Fire Chief Mike Gartzke, Scott Halbrucker. Pledge of Allegiance Communications: President Gorsegner mentioned the Jan. 29th informational meeting that will be held at the High School Community Center at 6 pm., Department Reports: Building Inspection - none Clerk / Treasurer-typed report Library- Trustee Petruska said the library board and Director are still trying to solve the gutter/ice problem. Petruska has spent a lot of time on this project. They are also working on a capital improvement plan and should have a written plan next month. Parks & Recreation- The Rec. Director’s job opening has been posted. Trustee Smith says it is ok to extend it longer than 3 wks. Public Safety – Chief Gartzke says they had their end of year recognition party. Thanks to the Legion for letting us use their building, Fisheree is coming up and they will have staff staged at a tent on the ice . Last month the ladder on the tender failed its test, it is 20+ yrs. old but will be over $1000 to replace. The Dept received a $1,000 g rant from Kellman Cares, also First Citizens State Bank, for the same amount. There were 13 EMS calls and 1 fire call. On Jan 29 th at 1 pm there will be a zoom meeting with 5 Bugels for an update on the building. Chief Blount said that he attended the new chiefs conference last week, he has one other class this Thurs. Call volume is continued steady, 33 calls for the month already. Public Works- Public Works Superintendent Halbrucker said he has discussing the PFAS project with MSA regarding it going out for bids. He is working on prices for streetlights for the Westfield properties . They have been filling potholes but this time of year there is so much freezing and thawing that the cold patch doesn’t work. Jefferson County should be repaving Main St. this summer. He is working on y ear end DNR reports and information for the PSC report for the auditors. He signed up for a cyber risk assessment class through the DNR. Committee Reports: Building Permits: New Business: 1. Entire Committee of the Whole A. Smith/Ball motion to approve the Dec. 29th Special Village Board meeting minutes, the Jan. 5, 2026 Village Board meeting minutes, and the Jan. 12, 2026, Recreation Committee meeting minutes as presented. All ayes-motion carried. B. Discussion/possible action on an inter-agency agreement for fire/EMS coverage with the Kettle Moraine Fire District. Chief Gartzke wanted to get this in writing so KMFD can take it to their board instead of just word of mouth. Trustee Smith asked if we need to add anything for a catastrophic call. Gartzke explains this is to supply our people with their equipment. Trustee Tucker asked if we know if this is enough money to cover any overtime? Gartzke said yes and they will use their best effort to use PT personnel or FT that are not on overtime. Tucker asked if there is any way to get a cost sheet so we can track what it is actually costing us. We will NOT be hiring more staff and yes, Gartzke says we can track the costs. Once he hears back from KMFD, we will have legal take a look at this. There would be no interruption to the Village and Town of Palmyra services to do this. Paul says they will take a look at this in 3 months to see if it is working. Smith/Ball motion approving the wording in the agreement and once Kettle Moraine approves it we will have legal review. C. Petruska/Deichl motion to approve Ordinance 2026-01, to become a contracted member of the Lake Country Municipal Court. Chief Blount said we were unanimously approved by Lake Country court at their meeting. They are a very efficient and professional court. All ayes- motion carried. D. Petruska/Smith motion to approve the successor agreement with the Lake Country Municipal Court. All ayes-motion carried. 2. Budget & Finance Committee: Wallace A. Smith/Ball motion to approve the payment of bills totaling $1,073,685.59 with extras to the State of WI for email filtering, First Citizens State Bank loan payment for the Marsh Road property, AFLAC, and mileage to L. Mueller. Roll call vote: Ball, Petruska, Smith, Deichl, Tucker, Gorsegner-aye. Motion carried. B. Petruska/Smith motion to approve Resolution 2026-03, budget amendment putting the loan proceeds into the 2025 TID 4 budget. The Village auditor recommended this. Roll call vote: Ball, Petruska, Smith, Deichl, Tucker, Gorsegner-aye. Motion carried. 3. Administration & Planning: Chairperson Deichl A. Smith/Deichl motion to approve a Temporary Operators license for Kristy Westenberg for the Fisheree event on Jan. 31st. All ayes-motion carried. B. Smith/Petruska motion to approve a temporary operator’s license for Gloria Redders for the Fisheree event on Jan. 31st. All ayes-motion carried. C. Discussion/possible action on an operator’s application for Kari Umland. AP/SD 4. Recreation Committee: Chairperson Smith A. Discussion/possible action on an updated Recreation Director job description. Trustee Tucker says she created updated job descriptions so we should look at those first. Other Board members and the Village Clerk do not recall getting those from Tucker. Petruska/Smith motion to table this item until the job descriptions are presented. All ayes-motion carried. 5. Entire Committee of the Whole: Smith/Petruska motion to convene into closed session at 6:45 pm pursuant to State Statute 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 Public Safety Departments organizational structure and employee contracts. Roll call vote: Ball, Petruska, Smith, Deichl, Tucker, Gorsegner-aye. Motion carried. Chief Blount remained in closed session. Smith/Petruska motion to reconvene into open session at 7:25 pm pursuant to §19.85(2), Stats., for possible additional discussion and action concerning any matter discussed. Roll call vote: Ball, Petruska, Smith, Deichl, Tucker, Gorsegner-aye. Motion carried. Petruska/Smith motion to adjourn at 7:25 pm. All ayes-motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Laurie Mueller Village Clerk/Treasurer Minutes approved without corrections Feb. 2, 2026