Public Works — Minutes

VILLAGE OF FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday June 24, 2026– Page 1 The Public Works Committee meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building. In attendance were President Bob Berry, committee member Melvin Waller; also in attendance was Public Works Director Beth Schultz, Trustee Nadine Ashworth, and Village Clerk Rebecca Reuter The agenda for the meeting was: 1} Roll Call 2} Approve meeting minutes from May 20, 2026 3} Citizen input 4} Discussion & Possible Action on: Selling the damaged light pole 5} Discussion & Possible Action on: Televising the Storm Sewers 6} Discussion & Possible Action on: Small pond at Friendship Park 7} Public Works Directors Report 8} Adjourn Meeting to Drive Around and Review Properties 9} Reconvene to Discuss Properties 10} Adjournment A majority of the Village Board may be present but no Board action is contemplated. APPROVAL OF MAY 20, 2026, MINUTES MOTION by Waller, second by Berry to approve May 20, 2026, Public Works Minutes, motion carried. CITIZEN INPUT No Citizen Input DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON: SELLING THE DAMAGED LIGHT POLE Schultz stated that a resident contacted her wanting to buy one of the damaged light poles for $150-$200 to use as a flagpole. It is $700 new. Waller said that for someone looking for something like that they should pay more because the pole is only a year old. He feels we should try to get every cent we can. He feels it should be at least half the price of the new one. Berry was wondering what scrap prices would be? Schutz didn’t know. Waller said it’s in good shape, and it would make an excellent flagpole. MOTION by Waller, second by Berry, to recommend that the Village Board approve selling the damaged light pole for $350.00. Motion carried. DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON: TELEVISING THE STORM SEWERS Schultz stated that we received the estimate back from Steves Plumbing for televising the storm sewers and it came in at $32,000. But she talked to WRWA and they are going to come and televise all of them for free. They just ask that we send them another good letter this year. DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON: SMALL POND AT FRIENDSHIP PARK Schultz said that she has the pond all weed waked round and has cleaned one culvert so it’s starting to flow again, but she can’t get in any further because it comes up past her knees and as soon as she steps down on something she sinks. She is afraid that she is going to mess her knee up again if she gets stuck in there, it’s just like quicksand. She had Tim Hintz go down to feel him out on options. Tim said it has been like that ever since he was a kid . He doesn’t think anybody has ever done anything with i t. He said our options are we can either dig it out for about $6,000, put rock around it for about $20,000. The reason we would dig it out would be to put an a erator in there, but then we would have to have electricity back there. They tried a pool net to get the stuff out of there, but there is just so much stuff and so many branches, and unless you can get right in there you can’t do anything. Berry stated that is a spring fed pond, so if we do anything the DNR is going to want to know what we are doing. If we dredge that, it will need to be tested, and then possibly transported to a hazards landfill. He would love to have it dug out, or to have electricity there for a nice fountain, that would be really cool. But everything would need to go through the DNR, and it would get expensive. Schultz stated that her next move could be to call the DNR and find out what they can do and if they can help her with it. The other thing is, we could just leave it alone, and she can keep the weeds trimmed. Berry said that before she calls the DNR she should start with Adams County Land & Water. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTORS REPORT Schultz stated that the volleyball nets have been installed and look amazing. She was looking into getting some ashtrays down at the park, but they are kind of expensive. She is hoping that maybe someone has some ideas. Maybe something we can mount to a tree. They are constantly picking up cigarette buds that people just flick. But maybe if they had an option to have an ashtray she would like to think they would use it. Waller asked what about just a few buckets full of sand? He sees places around with that. Berry said he would start with that. Zip tying them around a tree and see if people really use them. Waller feels that we should have some up around the shelter area. Schultz said ok she will try that. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday June 24, 2026– Page 2 They have been doing the street sweeping themselves this year. They are hoping to not have to hire anybody to do it. She feels like they can save $3,000 by not having someone come in and sweep the streets. They have also been painting lines, and the crosswalks. They blew the pump on the sprayer , but they took it in and they are getting it fixed. Once they get it back, they will start on curbs. We didn’t get the grant for the play equipment, but she’s not done trying. She has found some matching grants but feels like those aren’t really an option. Tim Hints has offered to let us take our brush there for free. She told him that sometimes we have a lot, and he said that if it gets to be to much then we’ll have to relook at it. Berry asked what Fenner has been charging us? Waller said he was told that for a big truck load it was $120, and a small truck load is $60. Schultz said that all he asks is that we throw him a bone every once in a while, we can do that. All the fire hydrants have been flushed, and the gallons tallied up and given to the office. The firetruck is at Fenner’s right now getting the breaks looked at for the 4t of July parade. She has our place in line for the parade. Waller who is a member of the Roche a Cri Lions Club wanted to invite her to drive the firetruck in the parade for Rec Days 50th anniversary, it is the 3rd weekend in July, the 17th-19th. Schultz stated that this year Adams is going to start changing how we rent the leaf vac. If we want to rent the leaf vac, then 2 of their guys have to come with it. She doesn’t know if we want to figure out something different for leaf pickup because she doesn’t know what they are going to charge us to rent it, and as of right now they have been trying to keep up on everything with the loader, grappler and the truck. Waller asked how many hours Public Works took last year to pick up all the leaves? Schultz answered that it took them 2 days to do it. Waller said so that would be the cost of 2 guys plus what the equipment was. Berry asked if anybody else has a leaf vac? Ashworth thinks that Nick Hiller picks them up. Schultz will find out what the cost will be from the city. They cleaned up at 207 East Lake Street and took the shed down. The shed will be taken to Bucks Recycling to see what he will give us for it. Schultz will talk to the property owner about the vehicles in the yard and see if he will give us permission in writing to get them out of there. She wanted to give kudos to Waller for all the hard work he did on the brush truck; he did an amazing job on that truck. Lastly, she has done some research on this, and she would like to start concerts in the park. It wouldn’t be this year, but she would like to start it in 2027 . This is how she would like to approach it. First of all, send out letters to the different businesses in town to see if they would be sponsors. If they won’t sponsor it then she won’t be able to do it because bands cost money. If she can get sponsorship, then we could get an account just for the donations for concert in the park . Now keep in mind that this is strictly nonprofit, it is just for families to get together for something to do in town. What she would like to do is the first year start out with 4 concerts, once a month for the session unless she gets a lot of money to sponsor. If she can ’t get money she thought about going to the music teacher at school and seeing if they have a jazz band that would want to perform. Ashworth stated that they have a new band director at the high school, and he started a jazz band, and he has done an amazing job. They won an award this year. Berry stated that there are some local bands. We could try and figure out some local bands to come down and get things started. He really likes the idea. Schultz stated that during intermission we could also pass the h at. She’s looking at 6:30-8:30 at night , maybe a Tuesday or Thursday night. She thought maybe even have a food truck come down, or different organizations could sell hot dog s, or even churches. We have the shelter and electricity and that’s all we need. If anybody has any suggestions or knows of any bands let her know. She also wants to check with the county to see if they have any kind of arts and culture grant, or if they know where she can get one. She feels this area has a lot of potential, but it needs somebody to step up. ADJOURN MEETING TO DRIVE AROUND AND REVIEW PROPERTIES MOTION by Berry, second by Waller to adjourn to do the drive around, motion carried at 5:34 P.M. RECONVENE TO DISCUSS PROPERTIES Back in session at 6:10 P.M. Berry stated the Committee found a few properties that need to be sent letters, and Schultz will send them out this week. All and all it’s not bad out there, things look pretty good. We need to look for a truck. We do these drive a rounds a few times a year . We should probably find a crew cab that will hold everyone. Try to find something with four-wheel drive. That way Schultz isn’t using her personal truck for Village work. It is a liability issue. If something were to happen it could come back and bite us. Adjournment Motion by Berry, second Waller to adjourn the meeting, motion carried. Meeting ended at 6:16 p.m. ___________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Village Clerk