Town Board Meeting — Minutes

TOWN OF ROME BOARD MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 5:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order Chairman Carl Hasdal called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call Present: Chairman Carl Hasdal; Supervisors Cyndee Lewis, Vito Giardino, Mark Samelstad and Tim Reppen; also present Clerk Wendy Newsom and Finance Director/Treasurer/Interim Administrator Robbie Schaub-Ruemler 3. Certify Posting of Meeting Wendy Newsom certified that on, Monday, August 31, 2026, the Agenda for the Town of Rome Board meeting for Thursday, September 3, 2026 was posted at: Posted at the Rome Town Hall 3:30 p.m. Posted at Kwik Trip, LLC 3:55 p.m. Posted at Nekoosa Port Edwards State Bank 3:45 p.m. Emailed to the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune 3:15 p.m. 4. Approve the Agenda Motion by Giardino/Reppen to approve the agenda. Motion carried. 5. Pledge of Allegiance 6. Citizen Comments – During the Citizen Comment period of the agenda the Town Board welcomes comments from any town resident, not a member of the Town Board, on any item not on the agenda. Please know that pursuant to State law the Board cannot engage in conversation with you but may ask questions. The Board may refer the item to staff, a standing committee or a future board agenda for discussion and action. Each person wishing to speak will have up to 3 minutes to speak. Speakers are asked to submit a card to the Clerk providing their name, address and topic for discussion The board will also take comment from the public on agenda items as called by the Chair, but not during Citizen Comment. Please note that once the board begins discussion on an agenda item no further comment will be allowed from the public on that issue Jeff Weingart, 245 County Rd Z, spoke regarding changing the speed limit on Alpine Drive to 45 mph. Town of Rome Nekoosa, WI 54457 www.romewi.gov Chairman Hasdal asked the Director of Public Works to look into it. NO ACTION CONTEMPLATED EXCEPT POSSIBLE REFERRAL TO FUTURE AGENDA: 7. Information Updates, Meeting Recaps, Recent Correspondence, Current Events, Announcements Lewis: Visit Rome is currently working on a new website and the 2027 Visit Rome brochure. The 2026 fall brush pickup schedule came out today. Please see the website and/or Town Facebook for the information. Samelstad: Spoke regarding Zoning Ordinance changes that go to the County. He wanted to let the Board know that he spoke with the County Administrator and the Zoning Administrator and told them that the Town is not going to change the way the Town handles their Zoning ordinances. Reppen: Last weekend he met the gentleman who set up our Channel 300 in the Town and he has offered to come and help us with some of the features of Channel 300. Hasdal: Thanked staff for getting the parking lot done and striped. If you have questions about the blue green algae please contact Tri-Lakes Management or Health and Human Services in Adams County. The Tri-Lakes annual meeting is this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. DISCUSS AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING ITEMS: 8. Discussion and possible action – Approval of the August 20, 2026 meeting minutes Motion by Lewis/Giardino to approve the August 20, 2026 meeting minutes. Motion carried. 9. Discussion and possible action – Tanya Burrows, Adams-Friendship Times newspaper to discuss Town of Rome section in the newspaper Tanya Burrows from the Adams-Friendship Times newspaper gave a presentation on how the paper could help with communications in the Town. 10. Discussion and possible action – Solar Farm update Chairman Hasdal gave an update on the status of the Solar Farm. 11. Discussion and possible action – Update on ADA parking compliance Supervisor Giardino spoke regarding this and stated that Robbie did her due diligence to find out what the rules are and found out that anything prior to 2012 is grandfathered in unless they do a renovation or alteration to the property. Would still like a letter sent to the businesses to ask them to comply with the ADA rule. 12. Discussion only – on a 9-hole par 3 golf course in the Rome Town Center Zoning Administrator Emily Zeddies presented the idea of turning part of the Rome Town Center into a recreation area with a lit 9-hole par 3 golf course, walking/running paths, possible snowshoeing in the winter and a bird city themed disc golf course as well. The developer has a number of resources in Town to help design it and ideas to help find grants and funding. Mark Lewis, 991 Wellington Ct, stated that it seems that this would get the Town of Rome into the golf course business. While he thinks the intentions are good, there are some unrealistic expectations that go along with this. Stated that he does not agree with the idea and does not think that it will be an affordable thing for the Town of Rome in the long run. 13. Discussion and possible action – Clarification on short-term rental ordinances Zoning Administrator Emily Arndt spoke to the original intent on assigning the number of cars and occupancy for short-term rentals. 14. Discussion and possible action – Rome Town Center parking lot Chairman Hasdal spoke regarding a letter from a resident regarding the space that is being proposed that children use that area as a playground. He would like the Director of Public Works to keep working on this. Discussion was had regarding where/if the parking area should go. Tabled to next agenda. 15. Discussion and possible action – Approval of road bids as recommended by Public Works Director Cody Knoblock for the following roads: Mansfield Ct Cul-de-sac Chatham Ct. Cul-de-sac Abington Ct Cul-de-sac Alston Ct Cul-de-sac Manchester Ct Cul-de-sac Norwich Ct – entire length of 3,000’ Motion by Reppen/Lewis to approve the paving of the roads/cul-de-sacs as presented. Motion carried. 16. Discussion and possible action - Approval of a Temporary Class “B” Beer and “Class B” Wine license for the American Legion Auxiliary, Ryan Larson Unit 65 for their October 3, 2026 Luncheon/Fashion Show in the Town of Rome Community Room from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Motion by Samelstad/Giardino to approve a Temporary Class “B” Beer and “Class B” Wine license for the American Legion Auxiliary, Ryan Larson Unit 65 for their October 3, 2026 Luncheon/Fashion Show in the Town of Rome Community Room from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Motion carried. 17. Discussion and possible action – The Board may go into closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 19.85(1)(c) for the purpose of considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility, to discuss Town Administrator candidates Motion at 6:02 p.m. by Samelstad/Lewis to go into closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 19.85(1)(c) for the purpose of considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility, to discuss Town Administrator candidates. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. The Board exited closed session at 6:11 p.m. 18. Discussion and possible action – The Board reserves the right to come out of closed session and go into open session authorized by Wisconsin Statutes 19.85(2) to possibly take action from the closed session and continue with the agenda Motion at 6:12 p.m. by Giardino/Samelstad to come out of closed session and go into open session authorized by Wisconsin Statutes 19.85(2) to possibly take action from the closed session and continue with the agenda. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. Motion by Samelstad/Giardino to proceed as discussed in closed session with the Administrator Position. Motion carried. DATES AND ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDA/MEETINGS 19. Next agenda items ➢ Amber Danielski, Clifton Larson Allen for final audit approval ➢ Approval of the Aspirus Employee Assistance Service Program contract renewal ➢ Set 2027 budget meeting dates ➢ Set 2027 employee wage increase rate ➢ Discussion regarding the Town’s legal paper ➢ Parking lot in the Rome Town Center ➢ Parking in the cul-de-sacs ➢ Speed limit on Alpine ➢ Farmer’s Market – contact Carley 20. Next meeting date and time September 17, 2026 – 5:00 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Giardino/Samelstad to adjourn the meeting at 6:17 p.m. Motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Wendy Newsom Wendy Newsom Clerk