Public Works — Minutes

VILLAGE OF FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday January 28, 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 Jerry Sonnenberg, Chairman Bob Berry, committee member Melvin Waller; also in attendance was Public Works Director Beth Schultz, and Village Clerk Rebecca Reuter The agenda for the meeting was: 1} Roll Call 2} Approve meeting minutes from December 17th,2025 3} Citizen input 4} Discussion & Possible action on: Getting estimates to put electric in streetlights 5} Discussion & Ideas on Code Enforcement 6} Discussion & Possible action on: Sewer rate increase and base rate on wholesale customers increase 7} Discussion & Possible action on: Purchase of a new truck 8} Public Works Directors Report 9} Adjournment A majority of the Village Board may be present but no Board action is contemplated. Approval of December 17th, 2025, Minutes Motion by Waller, second by Sonnenberg to approve December 17th, 2025, Public Works Minutes, motion carried. Citizen Input No citizen input Discussion & Possible action on: Getting estimates to put electric in streetlights Schultz stated that she didn’t think we would be able to put electric in the light poles after looking them over. The arm at the top narrows down and it would be hard to run anymore wire through it. Berry stated that we wouldn’t want our outlets up at the top, but more like ten feet off the ground . Just so no one can reach up there. We wouldn’t want them al l the way to the top. You’d want them just high enough that if we were going to put some decorations up there , you’d be able to plug them in . He suggested that she go look at where the outlets are in the City of Adams. Schultz stated that she will contact someone to come take a look at it and see what can be done to put electric in the poles. They had a light pole come down. She was able to get ahold of the company that put them in to fix it, and it will be about a month before they can get the parts for it. They change the design every 6 months , so they are having a hard time finding the light that goes on that arm. Discussion & Ideas on Code Enforcement Sonnenberg still has to meet with the Sheriff to find out what he can offer us. Reuter suggested that we come up with how many hours a week we think we might need code enforcement, so that both the City of Adams police and the Sheriff’s department can put together a plan based on that number. Waller asked what we think we might need enforcement for? If we have a nuisance complaint and need to follow up on it? If that is the only time we will need them, could we just pay them by the hour and have them come in to enforce that? Berry stated that we have an ordinance that states we have two -hour parking on Main Street. We have to figure out how those ordinances are going to be enforced. Nuisance properties we can send a letter to, if they don’t do anything then we can send them another letter , and then a certified letter stating that if nothing is done by a certain date then we will be forced to enforce it with a fine of some kind. That’s when he feels we would then contact someone for code enforcement. That’s what we are trying to figure out how, why, and when we would need this. Reuter stated that even if we don’t have a nuisance property, we could still have a police officer presents. We have complaints about cars not stopping at stop signs, parking for longer than 2 hours, do drive around to check on things. We don’t have any police presents around the village at all other than the courthouse. Berry stated he always thought the sheriff’s department was supposed to be patrolling the village , as he thought about this, no, he has never seen any kind of contract that states they will patrol the village, and he’s been on this board on and off for 20 plus years. Sonnenberg will reach out to the sheriff’s office and Reuter will reach out to the City of Adams police chief asking them to get us something for 5 hours a week. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday January 28, 2026– Page 2 Discussion & Possible action on: Sewer rate increase and base rate on wholesale customers increase Berry stated that basically the City of Adams is having to increase their rates 15%, and $1,000 on wholesale customers base rate. Right now, for sewer in the village as an example we charge $9.28 per 1,000 Gal. Once they increase to us, we would have to raise our up $2.68 just to break even and that brings it up to $11.95. That makes each individual bill just about $6.50 more per quarter. There are 374 sewer users in the village. He feels we should bump that up a little bit more just so we’re bringing in a little bit of money into that sewer account, so we are breaking even with it. So, maybe make that $12.00 per 1,000 gal. and it will slowly add up and help. We know we will have projects coming up eventually where that sewer account is going to have to have some kind of money in it. But then on top of that we also have the water rate increases, so what do we want to do? Do we want to make the recommendation that we raise our sewer rates right now and then a month from now after our public hearing with the PSC we go and raise our rates on water to whatever they recommend because then there’s another increase . His personal opinion is we wait and do all the increases at the exact same time. Otherwise, if we raise the sewer now, and then the water later we are going to have people saying, “didn’t you just raise the rates , and now you’re raising them again”. He feels we should just rip the band aid off all at one time. He’s not going to like to pay more, but we’re going to have to. The city pretty much has us over a barrel. There’s no way we can come up with the money to build our own well and a water tower, and we wouldn’t want to have our own utility. Reuter stated that this is the City of Adams just slowly raising the rate. By the time the sewer treatment plant is finished with its upgrades, the city thinks that they could be raising sewer 112-135%. The city thinks that they will be tripling the sewer rates by the time the upgrades are all done. Berry said that’s why instead of going with the 15% increase, he feels we should up it a little bit more so that it’s slowly helping us out. We just need to decide what percentage we want to go with. Sonnenberg was thinking between 18-20% would be a good range. Berry asked when the new city rates will take in to effect for us? Reuter stated that it will be in the 1st quarter of 2026. This 15% increase will be part of our next water bill from the city. Berry stated that we should know by then about the water rates. We should be able to get our new rates passed and in effect around that same time. That is how he feels we should do it. Waller thinks that we should go up to 18% so that we have a little bit more cushion there. He doesn’t feel we should just do the bare minimum. We are so close to the red now, he feels we need to make up some of that, so we don’t go into the red. Sonnenberg stated that when he was at the meeting with the city, he told them that they are doing the same thing to us this year that they did last year. They waited until all the budgets were done and set, and now they’re coming up with a 15% increase. He asked them why they can’t do it within the budget period. Because that affects us and now, we have to scramble. Berry stated that we are below average in our rates compared to other municipalities. We are looking at an increase in sewer, water, ambulance and fire protection. Unfortunately, our hands are going to be tied, and we are going to have to raise the rates and figure out the best way for us to start. Next bills will go out on Mache 20th, so we will need the rates to be passed by them. If he makes the recommendation on Monday that we raise sewer rates 25%, what are everyone’s feelings on that? If we can start now to help soften the blow between now and the upgrade to the sewer treatment plant where rates might triple . MOTION by Berry, second by Waller to recommend to the Village Board that sewer rates be increased by 25%, motion carried. Discussion & Possible action on: Purchase of a new truck Waller stated that he and Sonnenberg went and looked at a 2012 International flatbed truck, with a 16’ bed with 20-ton hydraulic dump lift. It’s a stainless-steel bed and is in excellent shape . The cab only has rust by the door and running board where you would go in and out of the vehicle. As far as rust on the truck, the truck frame doesn’t have a spot of rust on it. Theres no sideboards, so we would have to build sideboards. They are asking $18,000. He feels that is very reasonable. They have been looking for a while now and they are hard to find with the flatbed. This one has 180,000 miles on it, and the engine purrs like a kitten. It sounds really good. The tires on it are really good, they put new ones on the rear last year. They do a DOT inspected every year, so as far as they know the breaks and everything else are in good working order. His recommendation is he feels we should pursue it. Then after, we can figure out how we want to do the sideboards. We could use treated plywood. With a 16’ bed you could use 2 sheets and that would give us 4’ sides on it. At the HWY they would use channel iron post, and run a rail along the top that, and that can take a lot of bumping on that rail before you bust your plywood up. MOTION by Waller, second by Sonnenberg that we recommend to the Village Board that we should buy this truck, motion carried. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday January 28, 2026– Page 3 Public Works Directors Report Schultz stated that she has a few things that she would like to cover. The flagpole at the park needs to be fixed. They can’t get the rope at the top to move at all . They had to hire the city this spring to put a new flag on it, so that needs to be fixed. The pulley mechanism at the top of the flagpole is around $150.00. They would have to get someone with a boom truck to come in and help with that. She’d like to look into doing a fundraiser or some grants for Christmas decorations. She really feels that we need decorations. Berry stated that he 100% agrees. That’s why he wants there to be electric at the poles. He wants something that lights up, not like the old Christmas wreaths that we used to have. Schultz stated that if we can’t get a grant , then she would like to come up with a fundraiser to help pay for them. She also would like to look into getting some turbidity barriers to put around the swimming area. That way all algae can’t get into our swimming water. It is so hard to keep up on the algae. Berry stated one of the things that he has thought about is getting some oil spill containment tubes. That you could tie right onto the swimming buoys that are already out there. Schultz stated that the turbidity barriers are like that, but they also have a net that comes down. They are like swimming noodles, with a water-resistant material that goes overtop of it , with the nets that drop down. She feels that would help. Berry stated that if she could bring them a price they can see if we can move forward with it. He doesn’t have a problem recommending that and going with it. We have money in the parks budget. Schultz stated on that note she was wondering if we could come up with some different ways to put in the buoys? She knows the guys did this for years, but if you get someone who is terrified of drowning out in that rowboat. You have one person rowing, and the other person has these great big heavy buoys with concrete on the bottom and trying to flip them over the sides of the rowboat without tipping the boat over. If anybody can come up with any recommendations or a better way to do it. Berry stated that she should see what Dolata’s would charge to come in and help with his barge. Load everything up on that barge . He does a lot of shoreline restoration, so he has a barge. He feels that it would be a lot safer than trying to do it out of a rowboat. Schultz stated that the update for the Villa Pines meter is they haven’t gotten that in yet. WRWA was supposed to help them on that really cold Friday, but they are coming from 2 1/2 hours away, and she really needs their guidance. She is working on a grant . It’s a hometown improvement grant. They will give up to $50,000. She would like it to go to the park. She feels our park is one of our biggest assets. We don’t have a lot for the kids to do in this community. She thinks it’s important to keep their little minds busy with productive things. She is hoping to get some more playground equipment. Just for a large jungle gym were going to spend all that money on that. So, she’s thinking maybe some individual things kind of spread our pa rk out a little bit more. She is almost done with the application, but she does need 5 support letters, any recommendations on who she can get them from? She would need them before March 31st. Reuter suggested the Camber of Commerce, and Rosemary from State Farm. Berry suggested local business leaders, ACEC, presidents of some of the organizations we have in town. Schultz stated that she contacted the general manager for Miller Lite and asked if they would sponsor us for a couple of new volleyball nets down at the park, and they have agreed to do that. We should get them before spring. Kiera and her have been really busy working inside during all this cold weather getting rid of junk and organizing. They were in the garage and organizing all the old files , and they took all the files in the old fire chiefs office, and the rest of them went upstairs above the chief’s office. Her question is, can they build some steps out there to make it safer for the office staff to get up stairs when they need them ? Otherwise, all we have is that old fire ladder. Waller stated that the reason it is like that was because when it was a fire department, they had firetrucks parked in there so there wasn’t room for stairs. Schultz stated that because of the metal rails they would have to come straight down from the open space in the rail, or they would have to move the rail. But before we put too much time into that, the stairs are just a temporary fix. We need to find room to put the files. As many as we are congregating, and we have to keep those forever. Berry stated that dilemma has been talked about for many years at this board level. We have talked about a new fireproof room back there. It’s time we need to delve into that issue again and try to come up with something. He asked right now, what is all out there in the different bays? Schultz stated that the very far end is the brush truck , then the Emergency Management vehicle, the loader with the box plow and the grappler, and then the lawn mower and the line sprayer. Berry asked what is in the bay closest to the office? PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday January 28, 2026– Page 4 Schultz stated that the lawn mower and the line sprayer. Berry stated that back in the day that was the one area that was talked about getting rid of was that first bay and making that a whole new room making access from the office into there with a fireproof storage area. Schultz stated that we could technically do that right now . They could move what’s there and get rid of that bay epically if they get rid of the John Der tractor. She knows that they have said in the past that Ron used to use that during the winter, but with the snow that they have gotten this year, it has been completely useless. Berry asked what makes it useless? Schultz stated that the back end is so light even with the back blade on it. Waller stated that isn’t enough. Ron had a big box to use to weigh it down. But then you can ’t use your back blade. He thinks it’s a 3x3 box. Schultz stated that the only box they have back there is for the cold mix. She hasn’t seen one like that. Berry stated that this isn ’t the first time this has been brought up . So maybe it ’s time to start seriously considering it. The first thing we need to find out is what kind of a room do we need for storage of this stuff. Does it have to be fireproof? Then we can get some quotes and go from there. Schultz stated that the yellow plow truck they are still having issues with it starting. They can’t ever start it without ether. Every time they start it, they have to use ether, even in the summer when it’s warm out. But that’s not the issue, the issue is there is a problem with the valves . When you raise up the plow then the spinner goes around. So, if you are going down HWY 13 and you’re plowing and you start sagging your spinner may start. Berry stated he would think there is something in the control box. Waller stated that it sounds like va lve problems. At that age he feels it probably has some va lve bank problems having some bypassing going on. Also, that’s a safety issue. We will need to get that fixed Schultz stated that she talked to Fenner’s, and he said it could get quite expensive. She asked how much more do we want to stick into this? Berry stated, knowing what we would have to pay for a new truck, we’re going to fix that valve bank. Waller stated that hopefully it doesn’t tie the truck up for too long and we can find someone to fix it. Schultz aske if she should talk to Fenner’s about it? Berry said he would start with Fenner’s, and if they don’t want it then Mid-West truck. Adjournment Motion by Waller, second Berry to adjourn the meeting, motion carried. Meeting ended at 6:16 p.m. ___________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Village Clerk