Village Board Meeting — Minutes

VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 3, 2026, PAGE 1 The Friendship Village Board meeting was called to order followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by all present. President Robert Berry called the meeting to order and roll call was taken. Present were Trustees Brad Oberbeck, Ernie Klicko, Nadine Ashworth, Melvin Waller, Justin Hutter, Antone Sindelar and President Berry. Also present were Attorney Joseph Hasler , Public Works Director Beth Schultz, Treasurer Sandy Shawback and Clerk Rebecca Reuter. APPROVAL OF JULY 6, 2026, BOARD MEETING MINUTES MOTION by Oberbeck, second by Ashworth to approve July 6, 2026, Village Board minutes, motion carried. TREASURER REPORT General Water Sewer June 1, 2026, Balance 84,629.40 438,334.40 14,918.49 June Receipts 57,263.74 13,431.89 18,444.52 June Disbursements 61,540.29 56,545.15 16,649.94 June 30, 2026, Balance 80,352.85 395,221.14 16,713.07 LGIP #1 TIF $925,652.60 – LGIP #9 ARPA $0.45 – Capital Project Checking $34,421.65 - Building Fund $ 75,000.00 – Money Market $1,646.91 – CDBG Working Fund $13, 857.48 - LGIP #6 Park/Beach $46,845.12 – Tax Checking $10,000.02 – TIF Checking $95.00 -Street Equipment Fund $41,416.50 – Court Order Proceeds $3,808.03 – Water LGIP #3 Special Redemption Fund $203,406.33 - LGIP #4 Water Replacement Fund $ 414,001.94 – LGIP #8 Water Debt Reserve Fund $ 72,406.57 – Sewer LGIP#2 Special Redemption Fund $ 64,774.85 - LGIP#5 Sewer Replacement Fund $57,747.75 – LGIP#7 Sewer Debt Reserve Fund $58,862.39 MOTION by Klicko, second by Ashworth to approve treasurer report, motion carried. PAYING OF BILLS MOTION by Klicko, second by Oberbeck to approve July vouchers 28230-28376 in the amount of $197,895.14, motion carried. CITIZEN INPUT Berry thanked Reuter for her work on the Village Facebook page. He noted that the page is reaching more residents and that he has received many compliments on it. Pam Zander introduced herself, along with her husband Bruce and Lowell and Susan Holt, as representatives from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church next door. They informed the Village Board that the church is in the early planning stages of developing a childcare facility on the church grounds. Zander noted that there are currently no licensed daycare facilities in Adams County. She stated that there are three in-home daycares, but each is limited to serving up to eight children. The group attended a childcare alliance meeting at the library earlier that day and is gathering information on the requirements for the proposed facility. They understand that the facility must provide 35 square feet of indoor space per child and 75 square feet of outdoor space per child. Zander stated that the project is still in the beginning stages and that the church wanted to make the Village aware that the childcare facility is being considered. ROPORT FROM COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE RICK PEASE IF IN ATTENDANCE Not in attendance. DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON ADOPTING ATV/UTV ORDINANCES Reuter reviewed an email from the City of Adams Clerk regarding the proposed adoption timeline for the ATV/UTV ordinance. She explained that, if the Village wishes to adopt the ordinance on the same schedule as the City of Adams, the city plans to adopt its ATV/UTV ordinance at the August 17 council meeting. The ordinance would then be submitted to the newspaper on August 19, published on August 26, and would take effect on August 27. Ashworth asked what age can someone drive an ATV? Klicko stated that it was 16, but they have to take a class. MOTION by Waller, second by Klicko to repeal the existing ordinance, and replace it with a new ordinance along the lines of chapter 347 as shown in the county ordinance, motion carried. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 3, 2026, PAGE 2 PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT BY CHAIRMAN SINDELAR - DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON: a) Citizen input There were concerns over 600 Main St. We had a good turnout of the owner and residents of 600 Main St. , along with a neighbor and business owner . There were concerns on the property and concerns about all the material on the property around the different units. Concerns about the animals going to the neighbors’ yard and using it to do their business. Each of the residents spoke on their behalf, on their concerns about a few of the bad examples that were there. They plead their case on their means, and they are willing to help to get it cleaned up. The owner made commitments, and the residents also made commitments to cleaning up their portions of the property, and also to take means of controlling their animals from going on the neighbor’s yard. With that was brought up about a drug bust from one of the residents, and that violated the agreement of residents, so the property owner is in the prosses of having him evicted. The Committee talk about since they are willing to verbally agree to clean up the area, they would keep an eye on it. Schultz met with the owner to go over parking on any of the neighbors, and the funeral homes properties. All dogs are to be kept off others property. They need to pick up trash, and if the dumpster isn’t big enough then the owner needs to supply a bigger dumpster. Sindelar stated that driving past it every so often it does look like they are making increments and picking stuff up. At this point the Committee would recommend to just keep monitoring them. Schultz will be doing a weekly drive through to make sure they keep progress going. Oberbeck asked, Do we have a contingency there ? Was there any discussion brought forward on other than we’re going to monitor it, is there a certain time limit? He only brings this up because he has seen the petition circulating around online. Schultz said it is 30 days. Oberbeck stated that if they violate past these 30 days then we move forward , he just wanted to make sure he understood that correctly. Sindelar stated that all the residents understood that as well. Sindelar stated that the next citizen input was from John Amell at the discount grocery store. He wanted to know about the two-hour parking signs. The owner has now given agreement to place the signs on the building , so we can now move forward in getting the signs ordered. b) Discussion & Possible Action Regarding Multiple Nuisance Property Concerns Sindelar stated that letters were sent out to other properties and Schultz has said that all of those who received letters did make corrections right away. Hutter stated that he prepared a letter in regard to the hotel, and motel. They all have to be licensed just like his business. They should all have yearly health inspections, fire inspections. All of these companies should be doing the exact same thing. Klicko stated that by state statue you have to be a place of employment before they can inspect you. Hutter stated that they inspect him all the time. Klicko said that is because you are a place of employment. Hutter said he doesn’t have any actual employees and he gets inspected yearly. He has to keep all of his certifications up, so all of these places should have to do the same thing. Even if the hotel is empty, they should still have to follow this too. He feels that we should look into it. If they are commercial business, then they all fall into the same license that he has. Even if it is vacant, it’s still a commercial business. Klicko stated th at the fire department doesn’t inspect it because it’s not a place of employment. The hotel isn’t running a business. Sindelar stated that it might appley to the yellow motel. That should be under the fire department inspection regardless. Hutter said that his point is that they should have up to date certifications that we should ask for. But that would be something that we should have the right to ask for. Wood County health department comes to his place every year, he is inspected every year , with certification. They should have to have the same thing. If it applies to him then it applies to them as well. We are licensed the same. They do long-term rental but should still have the same licenses and inspections. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 3, 2026, PAGE 3 Oberbeck said that his concern about this is if they weren’t compliant with the state, how would they be allowed that to continue. Where are they at in compliance with the state , because the state is not going to allow a business to operate without being in compliance. Especially if any of their tenants are on second 8 or any of that kind of benefit . So that’s where this comes in for him. How can anybody operate without complying with state statutory obligations. And if that oversite falls on the state, then where does the Village Board come into that. I guess that would be a question for council in his opinion. Where do we sit as far as our obligations Hasler stated that he doesn’t believe that the Village of Friendship regulates hotels or establishments like that. They are regulated by the State of Wisconsin and people who operate overnight facilities like that are wise to have the required inspection in order to get the state license. The Village of Friendship doesn’t regulate that. That is a state function not a village function. Hutter said he has never handed over any of his inspections over to the state. He pays them for his license, and then the inspectors show up. He communicates with them because he is proactive. His whole point is that if we have their license, we can use it going forward. Oberbeck stated that we can’t sidestep obligations, everyone has rights even those who we don’t agree with. So, whatever we choose as a board in whatever avenue those people have the same right to rebut all of that at the same time. So just in a comparison, on East Lake St. and the process that we had to go through for that. We went through multiple court filings; we had to go through all those steps before we could actually have someone come in and do that final inspection to find that it was uninhabitable. That process went on because those people in question followed through up to a certain point of what they said they were going to do, and what they were obligated to do. So, no matter how many pictures we took, no matter how many people we had stand and talk at citizen input we still had to follow the proper channels; there was no circumventing any of it. Hutter replied that was a privet resident, this is commercial. They have to have it regardless. He feels this is a way to get the insides of the buildings clean, because the health inspector will be going through them, just like they do with all of his cabins. Oberbeck asked what ordinances do we have on the books currently regarding any of that would be the next question for him. Because that’s what we would be imposing, is our ordinance, they would have to be in violation of our ordinance. Berry said I think what you are looking for is you would like to see the state inspection and make sure it is getting done. Am I correct in that? Just to see if it has been done and followed through on? Hutter answered, correct. Sindelar asked if that would be on the state website? Oberbeck would think that would follow a simple freedom of information act request. Maybe just go to the courthouse and make a request. Hutter stated that we are pushing forward to have them clean up the outside, and it is going really well. They are doing a good job. This is a way to have someone take a look at the inside and make it meet that standard at least. Oberbeck recommends that it goes to Public Works to move forward with this; to get all the information you need to present it to the Board for further discussion. Then bring it back to the rest of the Board for further discussion and any possible action. Then we can go forward from there on any concerns that we might have. c) Discussion on Adams Street Sindelar stated that on the corner on County Road J and Adams St. across from the church there was a sinkhole. Public Works had it dug out, had it inspected and found that a col lar on the sewer line was broken and leaking. The sewer line was repaired. The hole was backfilled properly. It is gravel right now as we let it settle and compact. Schultz is working on getting quotes to asphalt repair at a later date. d) Discussion & Possible Action on: Handicap Ramp at 106 East Second Street The Committee discussed the handicap ramp in front of the discount grocery store. Previous plans for the ramp were reviewed; however, the matter had been delayed waiting on permission from the property owner . The item was tabled until the next committee meeting for further review and discussion. Schultz stated that the handicap placards are on 2 of the parking stalls. She is just waiting to pick up our paint sprayer and then they will be able to paint the vertical lines. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 3, 2026, PAGE 4 e) Discussion & Possible Action on: Old Brush Truck Sindelar stated that the old brush truck had an issue with one of the break chambers falling off of it. It isn’t fit to drive. The Committee recommends that we scrap the truck. Get ahold of Manthey’s Salvage and get rid of it. He doesn’t feel it’s worth trying to sell. MOTION by Oberbeck, second by Ashworth to get ahold of Manthey Salvage and have them pick it up, motion carried. f) Public Works Directors Report Schultz stated that everything is off the East Lake Street property. She had a conversation with the landowner last week about someone parking and sleeping there . The landowner would like it if anyone sees him there to call the sheriffs department directly. The light polls will be installed this month. We received the polls, but they still need to send the arm and bass . She has been in touch with RC Electric and he is ready anytime. He is also going to donate his time and put up the flag at the park. She has had contact with Manthey’s, and they will give us $160 per ton, not including the tiers. The gross weight on the truck is 29.5. We received our first donations for concerts in the park. This week we are working on the main valves. They are so full of sand. FRIENDSHIP LAKE DISTRICT REPORT BY TRUSTEE HUTTER Hutter stated that he went to the meeting. They are testing and taking samples of a lot of weeds. On the Preston and Adams side, where they dump the weed harvester to cut the East side of the lake, they raised the lake and that caused some issues with piers and stuff. So, they are going to bring that up because that will be a Presto n and Adams issue on how that gets fixed . Right now, they are having a hard time getting the weed harvester onto the lake and that is going to become a big issue, because raising the lake then causes other issues. They are talking about that they might need to lower the lake significantly next fall to fix that. I would also give other properties a chance to clean up their shorelines. They are talking about trying to get a grant for a smaller harvester. When Berry was president, he did this. They used it almost like a big lawn mower and a little lawn mower and edged it out. It really cleaned it up good for the 4 th of July. He feels like reproducing that would be phenomenal. They are looking into seeing if they can find the paperwork for the ramp to see if they could just repair the ramp so that they don’t have to get a permit. FIRE DISTRICT REPORT BY TRUSTEE KLICKO Klicko stated that they are still working on the apparatus replacement plan for the two oldest tenders. They are supposed to bring back to their boards to see if they would approve the district money to do that. We are just finishing up payments on the second to the last truck we bought. The payments on that would make the payments on the tender , so there is money in the budget to do that. They are still talking about billing for services . They would bill the insurance companies for what they are already billing the property owner for. They want to buy an ice rescue boat, and two water rescue suites for cold water rescues. AMBULANCE COMMITTEE REPORT BY TRESTEE ASHWORTH Ashworth stated that Travis from Lifestar gave some of the statistics for basic life support . They talked about all the calls that they went on. They only meet every three months. They are talking about getting another ambulance. CONSIDERATION & ACTION ON THE APPROVAL OF PROVISIONAL OPERATOR’S LICENSE – BARBARA WEADE, JEFF PRESLEY, WENDY PROCHASKA MOTION by Oberbeck, second by Sindelar to approve Provisional Operator’s License for Barbara Weade, Jeff Presley, Wendy Prochaska, motion carried. CONSIDERATION & ACTION ON THE APPROVAL OF WATER/SODA LICENSE – CASTLE ROCK LIONS CLUB, REPUBLICAN PARTY, ADAMS-FRIENDSHIP FFA ALUMNI, J&B NEW AND USED RESALE MOTION by Oberbeck, second by Sindelar to approve Water/Soda License for Castle Rock Lions Club, Republican Party, Adams-Friendship FFA Alumni, J&B New and Used Resale, motion carried. CONSIDERATION & ACTION ON THE APPROVAL OF TEMPORARY ALCOHOL BEVERAGE LICENSE – CASTLE ROCK LIONS CLUB SEPTEMBER 10TH-13TH, 2026 VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 3, 2026, PAGE 5 MOTION by Oberbeck, second by Sindelar to approve temporary Alcohol Beverage License for Castle Rock Lions Club September 10th-13th, 2026, motion carried. DISCUSSION WITH POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING ROOM TAX AND SHORT-TERM RENTALS Hutter stated that this would apply to his business, Cabins on the Lake and a few Airbnb’s. This is not for those businesses that rent out long term, so this wouldn’t affect them. If we move forward, he would like to see that money stay in the Village. Then work on Village stuff, like maybe saving the fireworks, doing more concerts in the park stuff like that. He would be on board with a tax like this if we followed it up with a tourism board. He has given everyone the proposal that he has written up. He then asked Ashworth if the Village ran the fireworks would you be on board to continue doing it. Her reply was that she didn’t know. It’s not just about the fireworks, but also the liability . That liability issue is huge. Her insurance company said that if something goes wrong the first place they are going to look at is the owner of the property. She would have to be guaranteed that no matter what happened nothing would ever come back on her. She knows that nothing has happened in 26 years, but you just never know. Hutter said he wouldn’t be apposed to having them at his place but doesn’t know how to get around the power lines . But we are getting off topic. He broke down money that could be made in his proposal. We could use that money to put into tourism. Oberbeck stated that he thinks all of that sounds fantastic. He complemented Hutter on putting everything together. His question is a matter of logistics . How does the Boards responsibility fit in here as far as A) form a committee for tourism? He understands where room tax goes, but the way this government body works with committee members, is this a volunteer base, what administrative cost does that incur onto the Village? Hutter answered saying that it could be like Public Works, but for tourism. That committee can work on things like the fireworks, music in the park, and help with advertisements. Oberbeck stated that he is coming at this from the finance committee, his question then becomes each and every person is compensated, and now we are going to add more, and the village would be responsible for finding the funds and accruing that administrative cost? So, if the money from the room tax has to go into a room tax fund of 70% for tourism, the 30% he would absolutely have to ask about going into administrative cost. Berry stated as a Village Board we do have to have certain committees . We have to have Public Works, Finance, Personnel Committees. Would a Tourism Board even be something that is in a municipality’s wheelhouse? Klicko stated that it would need to be created if he didn’t want to join the two, we already have. Hasler stated that the starting point is to decide whether or not we want to impose a room tax. Once we make a decision to impose a room tax the first question will be what is the rate we want to charge? Mr. Hutter is correct that 70% has to go to a tourism entity, the other 30% would go to the village’s general fund. The real challenge is where is the money going to go? It has to be some kind of a tourism entity of some sort. There is an Adams County entity that a number of municipalities send their money too. We know that there is at least one municipality in the county that has a tourism entity that the community created. The question is if Friendship is not going to send its money somepl ace else then what tourism entity is it going to contract with, and who is going to be responsible for creating that tourism entity ? The reason that the municipality gets to keep up to 30% of the money is because there is going to be administrative cost the village will have to incur in order to collect the money and get it to the entity that has the contract. Another question is, is there any responsibility from the municipality to make sure that the entity that you would contract with spends the money appropriately. This would not be a year-long project, but it certainly would be a several-month project to get all of the steps in order. Starting with just imposing the room tax in the first place. Berry stated that the key question for us as a Village Board is deciding if we want to charge a room tax, then what entity do we send this money to? Where does a tourism committee come in because the village is not responsible for creating one. Hutter replied that the tourism committee would be just like the Public Works committee. He wants a tourism committee that will represent the village. Berry stated that a tourism committee is not part of a municipality , it is a completely separate entity from what he is understanding. Ashworth stated that she feels we need to find out more about it before we make a discission. Waller feels if this is something that we want to do we should be checking with Quinc y, Strongs Prairie, and Town of Monroe and see how they handle this. Because his Lions Club applies to all VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 3, 2026, PAGE 6 three of them every year for funding their event in Arkdale. They get money from them every year. They also gave them money to help cover the cost of the new shelter at the park. They helped with the band they had this year and the fireworks. Ashworth stated that she would be willing to go with Waller to those different municipalities to find out more about it with him. Sindelar stated that Jesse Pittsley would be a good person to get ahold of . He is Quincy’s town chair. He is also the chairman of the Adams County’s Towns association . The towns association went through this a few years ago. He would have some of the information to help move forward. The Board agreed that additional information is needed before deciding whether to impose a room tax. Discussion will focus on: • learning more about room tax requirements and administration; • estimating how much revenue the Village of Friendship could generate; and • using that information to guide further discussion. The matter will be referred to the Public Works Committee for review and brought back to the Board for further discussion. CORRESPONDENCE The Village received a letter from the Friendship Lake District thanking the Village of Friendship for its assistance with the Kids Fishing Derby held on July 18, 2026. The event included 30 participating children. Trustee Hutter reviewed a letter he sent to the Village and District Attorney Maki -Wallander regarding the Transitional Living Program halfway house facility located at 510 Adams Street. The letter addressed the following concerns: • County-of-origin verification; • Pending petition violations; and • Capacity and contract caps. Trustee Hutter noted that, if the State has placed out -of-county individuals at this location, it may be in direct violation of the statutory intent of Act 184. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING THE SEPTEMBER BOARD MEETING, INCLUDING SELECTING THE MEETING DATE AND IDENTIFYING AGENDA ITEMS. MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to have the Village Board meeting on Wednesday September 2nd, motion carried. SET AGENDA ITEMS FOR WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2ND MEETING Update on 600 Main Street Update on Brush Truck Christmas Lights/Decorations Being of no further business to come before the board, MOTION by Sindelar, second by Waller to adjourn, motion carried. Meeting ended at 7:33. __________________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Village Clerk