Village Board — Minutes

3774 MISHICOT VILLAGE BOARD Regular Meeting March 17, 2026 CALL TO ORDER President Samz called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL Present: Trustees Theresa Becker, Al Beranek, Terri Brouchoud, Judy Ferry, John Franz, Ryan Rezek and Bernie Samz. Ryan Rezek left at 7 p.m. Absent: None Officials Present: DPW Director John Tulachka, Clerk Kathy Reissmann, Chief Paul Granger Others Present: Brian & Kay Benzinger, Tony Junk, Kyle Junk, Zach Schacht, Owen Schacht, Tamara Schacht, Ari Schacht, and Brian Reif APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES Trustees Becker/Beranek moved to approve the February 17, 2026 meeting minutes as presented. Motion carried. VISITORS AND GUESTS – Brian Benzinger updated the board on the VFW Memorial Day parade & celebration and coordinate with the police and EMT’s to have police and EMT’s available for the parade. COMMITTEE REPORTS Chief Paul Granger • Due to upcoming school district construction, enforcement of the two-hour parking limit on Washington Street has been temporarily suspended. This measure is intended to assist with staff and student parking shortages. Information was shared with students and faculty through the school newsletter and additional communications, reminding them to park at least four feet from driveways and to avoid blocking mailboxes. • A reminder was provided regarding the Sextortion Awareness Community Event scheduled for March 18. Chief Granger encouraged attendance from elected officials and noted that a large turnout is expected due to regional outreach efforts. Promotional efforts have included a news interview, a billboard in Manitowoc secured by the Yindra family, and media coverage from Channel 5, which will be present at the event. • The Mishicot Public Safety Cadets have received an award from MAGIC. Community members are encouraged to attend the annual banquet on April 12, where the cadets will be formally recognized. 3775 • A special bulletin notification meeting was held at the end of February, with another scheduled for the first week of April. At this time, none of the referenced sex offenders are expected to reside in Mishicot. • Secured a $2,500 grant to assist with administrative costs. • Upcoming Presentations and Meetings: o March 20: Chief Granger will present on online safety to 8th grade health classes. o April 1: Attendance at the Manitowoc County Highway Commission meeting. o April 2: Meeting with LTC regarding a potential new law enforcement- related program. o April 7: Attendance at the Joint Dispatch Committee quarterly meeting in his role as Chairman. o Detective Brooks and Officer Ladwig will participate in the Manitowoc Police Department’s two-day in-service training, which includes active shooter training. DPW Director John Tulachka – nothing to report Trustee Theresa Becker • Went to the MBA meeting last week. • There was a meeting after the MCA meeting with Progress Lakeshore and the Connect Communities committee to discuss their roles going forward on this committee for improving Main Street. Trustee Al Beranek • Went to the MCAC meeting last week. • MCAC has $162,000 for construction projects. • They are getting bids for the lighting. • Discussed finding an association to run the ball park. Trustee Ryan Rezek • The junk pile by Fox Hills is getting bigger. President Bernie Samz • Lee Engelbrecht gave him an update from the county executive that he passed around to everyone. Clerk Kathy Reissmann • There is a training on June 3rd in Wrightstown being put on by the League of WI Municipalities for any board member at attend for free. • Received a letter from Mishicot School District in regards to the traffic adjustments due to the construction at the school. This was in the packets. 3776 UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. MAIN STREET PROPERTY OWNERS LETTER/SURVEY The Clerk noted that she revised the letter to include the exact quotes from WPS to bury the power lines and answered the questions from the previous meeting. She also received a rough estimate from an electrician for the inside work at the properties noting that each property will be different based on their needs. She also stated that this is just a start to get some information out on the project and ask the property owners for feedback. No decisions have been made. Discussion was held and Trustee Brouchoud suggested to change the response date on the survey to April 30th. Trustees Brouchoud/Becker moved to approve sending the letters with the revised date on the survey to the Main Street property owners from State Street to Washington Street. Motion carried. NEW BUSINESS A. LICENSE APPLICATIONS APPROVAL Approval of operator’s licenses #2025-122, Daniella K. Fuller and #2025-123, Kevin J Stoer and Class “B” Picnic License #6 for the Kettle Range Snow Riders. Trustees Becker/Brouchoud moved to approve as presented. Motion carried. B. LIST OF CLAIMS APPROVAL President Samz presented general fund claims in the amount of $48,869.23, TID 2 claims in the amount of $150.00, water utility claims in the amount of $9,664.70 and sewer utility claims in the amount of $10,218.69 for approval. Trustees Ferry/Beranek moved to approve the list of claims as presented totaling $68,902.62. Roll call: Ayes-7, Nays-0, Absent-0. Motion carried. C. PROCLAMATION FOR THE MISHICOT LIONS CLUB President Samz presented the Mishicot Lions Club a proclamation in honor of their 80th anniversary noting all their accomplishments over the years since 1946. The week of March 16 - March 22, 2026 is proclaimed as Mishicot Lions Club Week. D. PROCLAMATION FOR OWEN SCHACHT, MISHICOT WRESTLING President Samz presented Owen Schacht a proclamation for his outstanding accomplishments as a junior wrestler and winning 1st place in the conference competition and 1st place at sectionals. E. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF INSTALLATION OF LIGHTS AT THE PULL TRACK (FFA ALUMNI, TONY JUNK) Tony Junk updated the board on costs it took to upgrade the pull track. They received a $15,000 grant from the West Foundation and have about $3,000 left that they’d like to use to put lights up at the pull track. He’s hoping to have the work done by May 30th, weather dependent. Brian Benzinger noted that he has two more lights going up in the north parking lot that were donated by the Hoffmann family. Trustees 3777 Ferry/Brouchoud moved to allow the FFA Alumni to contract to install 4 lights and receptacles at the pull track. Motion carried. F. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE REQUESTS-MCAC CONSTRUCTION (KAY BENZINGER) This item was removed from the agenda as it was placed on by mistake and should be for the next Park/MCAC committee meeting. G. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF MCAC CONSTRUCTION ENDORSEMENT INSURANCE COSTS (KAY BENZINGER) This item was removed from the agenda as it was placed on by mistake and should be for the next Park/MCAC committee meeting. H. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF VOLUNTEER WAIVER FORM Discussion was held on the volunteer waiver form prepared by the attorney with input from the insurance company, for volunteers doing any work on village property. It was asked that the description be more generic so that it can cover all the work and not just specific tasks for the MCAC facility. The clerk will get this revised. This item is tabled until the next meeting. I. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL MISHICOT PARK BUILDING UTILITIES Brian Benzinger had questioned the costs of the utilities at the old park. He had asked the clerk for the utility costs and noted that the rentals are not covering those costs. He suggested shutting off all the utilities at the old park and use the savings to go towards the costs at the new park. He also suggested dozing the building and possibly doing away with one of the ball diamonds and possibly putting in a soccer or flag football field in its place. Porta potties were also discussed as a solution to the high water/sewer costs at the park. This item has been tabled until the next meeting. J. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF MCAC PARK RENTAL FEES Two fee schedules were presented. One didn’t charge residents for the use and the other does. Kay Benzinger explained the fees presented. Discussion was held on the various fees and costs for the new park. Brian Reif also commented. Further discussion was held. It was discussed to offer an option to rent just the bathrooms and the covered shelter only for $300. Trustee Becker suggested to relook at the fees every year and reevaluate whether the fees are covering the costs. It was also suggested that the village run the park. Brian Benzinger suggested making a change to the rules to address the garbage removal after use as well. Trustees Brouchoud/Franz moved to accept the MCAC rental fees for all as presented with the addition of adding a separate rental for the bathrooms/covered shelter only at $300. Roll call: Ayes-6, Nays-0, Absent-1. Motion carried. K. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF ACCEPTING CREDIT CARDS FOR TAX PAYMENTS The clerk stated her and Tina both had a hand full of requests as to whether we could take credit cards for tax payments. She looked into it and is asking if the board would approve it at a cost of $350/year to add that function to our tax program. We 3778 already use the credit card company that is used with the tax program so there will not be a cost to the village to accept cards from the credit card company. Trustees Becker/Ferry moved to accept credit cards for tax payments at a cost of $350/year. Roll call: Ayes-6, Nays-0, Absent-1. Motion carried. L. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF 635 WILLOW DRIVE LOT SURVEY/SPLIT The clerk stated she received a call from someone inquiring on the Willow Drive lots, which are now sold. There is still another lot that the village stills owns on Willow Drive that could be split. John stated that that lot was already planned to be two lots as there are services already installed for two lots. The village would just need to get a survey to split the lot in two. There are some environmental concerns that need to be checked out but one lot has already been remediated. The clerk received two quotes on the survey/split. Discussion was held. Trustees Beranek/Brouchoud moved to approve the survey for $2,000 by Jeff DeZeeuw to split the lot into 2 lots. Roll call: Ayes-6, Nays-0, Absent-1. Motion carried. M. DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF CONSULTANT FOR FIRE DEPARTMENT CONTRACT The clerk explained that the village and the fire department will need to start negotiating the next years contract due to the fact that the current contract formula based on equalized value does not work any longer in the village budget. The towns have the same issue. In speaking with a few different consultants, they explained that this is happening across the state so we are not alone in this issue. Discussion was held. Options were discussed. It was decided not to move forward with a consultant at this time. President Samz asked the Clerk to set up a meeting between the Budget Committee and the Fire Department to begin negotiations. No action taken. ADJOURN Trustees Ferry/Beranek moved to adjourn at 7:45 pm. Motion carried. Minutes submitted by Kathy Reissmann, Village Clerk-Treasurer