Town Board Meeting — Minutes

TOWN OF ROME BOARD MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 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 3, 2026, the Agenda for the Town of Rome Board meeting for Thursday, August 6, 2026 was posted at: Posted at the Rome Town Hall 1:55 p.m. Posted at Kwik Trip, LLC 2:01 p.m. Posted at Nekoosa Port Edwards State Bank 2:09 p.m. Emailed to the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune 2:30 p.m. 4. Approve the Agenda Motion by Giardino/Lewis 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 No citizen comments Town of Rome Nekoosa, WI 54457 www.romewi.gov NO ACTION CONTEMPLATED EXCEPT POSSIBLE REFERRAL TO FUTURE AGENDA: 7. Information Updates, Meeting Recaps, Recent Correspondence, Current Events, Announcements Lewis: The Comprehensive Plan sub-committee has met two times now to update the Plan and they are using AI to help with the wording and it is working very well. They will create the goals and objectives but will use AI to help write the Plan. Giardino: He has taken it upon himself to contact the restaurants in the area to see if they would participate in a Taste of Rome event and is waiting to see what the response is with them. The Rome Town Center Sub-Committee met this week and they are not in favor of using land in the Rome Town Center for a parking lot. Would like the traffic safety issues discussed on the next agenda. Reppen: Gave an update on the ADA pier, it will be located at the County Park off of 10th Avenue and the County is going to apply for a grant to pay for it and hopes to get this done next year. August 15th is the Lake Camelot Frolics. Hasdal: Reminder that Tuesday is the Primary Election. DISCUSS AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING ITEMS: 8. Discussion and possible action – Approval of the July 16, 2026 and July 23, 2026 meeting minutes Motion by Samelstad/Reppen to approve the July 16, 2026 and July 23, 2026 meeting minutes. Motion carried. 9. Discussion only – Solar Farm update Chairman Hasdal gave an update on the status of the Solar Farm. 10. Discussion and possible action – Town Hall Kitchen renovation/design plan to send out for bids Public Works Director Cody Knoblock explained the plans for the kitchen design. Motion by Reppen/Samelstad to approve the kitchen design with the conference room and a warming kitchen and to allow the Director of Public Works to go out for bid on doing the construction work for the kitchen. Motion carried. 11. Discussion and possible action – Update costs for mailing the proposed Community Newsletter for the Town of Rome Supervisor Giardino updated that the newsletter would cost about $0.37 – $0.40 cents per quarter. LPI will pay the first quarter for the newsletter and the advertising should pay for the postage. Supervisor Reppen stated that he spoke with the City Times and they are willing to put information in the paper for the Town. That paper gets mailed to every resident in the Town. She would like to come to a board meeting to discuss this with the Town Board. Tabled to another board meeting. 12. Discussion and possible action – Approve sending changes to Chapter 137-4(A) and Chapter 137- 4(B) to the DNR for their approval Clerk Newsom explained that because these changes have to do with the lakes and they are not part of State Statute we have to send them to the DNR for approval prior to adoption of the ordinance. Motion by Lewis/Reppen to allow the Clerk to send the changes to Chapter 137-4(A) and Chapter 137-4(B) to the DNR for their approval. Motion carried. 13. Discussion and possible action – Discussion regarding handicap signage Supervisor Giardino stated that several members of the Board were alerted to the fact that there are some businesses in the Town that do not have handicap signage in their parking lots. He proposed that the non-resident buildings be notified about the statute and give them a compliance date to come into compliance with the State Statute. He would like to see this included in the Findings of Facts at Plan Commission going to forward. Motion by Reppen/Giardino to direct the Police Chief and/or the Zoning Administrator to send a certified letter to the businesses in Town giving them until October 1, 2026 to come into compliance with the State Statute. Motion carried. DATES AND ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDA/MEETINGS 14. Next agenda items ➢ Temp Class “B” License for Visit Rome for the rescheduled concert on August 22, 2026 ➢ Appointments to Community Development Authority and Board of Appeals ➢ City Times representative to discuss space in the newspaper ➢ Rome Town Center parking ➢ Closed Session regarding Town Administrator 15. Next meeting date and time ➢ August 20, 2026 – 5:00 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Giardino/Lewis to adjourn the meeting at 5:30 p.m. Motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Wendy Newsom Wendy Newsom Town of Rome Clerk