Village Board — Minutes

VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – October 6th, 2025, PAGE 1 The Friendship Village Board meeting was called to order followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by all present. President Jerry Sonnenberg called the meeting to order and roll call was taken. Present were Trustees Ernie Klicko, Nadine Ashworth, Melvin Waller, Bob Berry, Jason Pierce and President Sonnenberg. Also present were Attorney Joseph Hasler, Public Works Director Beth Schultz, Treasure Sandy Shawback and Clerk Rebecca Reuter. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION by Berry, second by Waller to approve September 2nd , 2025, Village Board minutes, motion carried. TREASURER REPORT General Water Sewer August 1, 2025, Balance 142,835.19 339,215.48 47,946.38 August Receipts 3,316.22 13,549.29 7,729.31 August Disbursements 38,374.07 35,392.07 11,937.82 August 31, 2025, Balance 107,777.34 317,372.70 43,737.87 LGIP #1 TIF $1,074,052.51 – LGIP #9 ARPA $0. 45 – Capital Project Checking $34,135.09 - Building Fund $ 70,000.00 – Money Market $1,646.91 – CDBG Working Fund $13,857.48 - LGIP #6 Park/Beach $4 5,374.49 – Tax Checking $1 1,940.03 – TIF Checking $95.00 -Street Equipment Fund $ 43,416.50 – Court Order Proceeds $3,808.03 – Water LGIP #3 Special Redemption Fund $2 44,342.71 - LGIP #4 Water Replacement Fund $3 91,719.76 – LGIP #8 Water Debt Reserve Fund $7 9,418.73 – Sewer LGIP#2 Special Redemption Fund $ 101,209.64 - LGIP#5 Sewer Replacement Fund $55,932.90 – LGIP#7 Sewer Debt Reserve Fund $64,571.03 MOTION by Klicko, second by Ashworth to approve treasurer report, motion carried. PAYING OF BILLS MOTION by Klicko, second by Berry to approve October vouchers 27836 - 27876 in the amount of $123,452.91, motion carried. CITIZEN INPUT No Citizen Input ROPORT FROM COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE RICK PEASE Was not in attendance DISCUSSION & ACTION TO ADOPT AND APPROVE RESOLUTION 2025-6R A RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH AN ANNUAL TRICK-OR-TREAT DATE AND TIME IN THE VILLAGE OF FRIENDSHIP Reuter introduced a resolution that she and the City of Adams Clerk Johnson worked on together that establishes Trick-or-Treating hours will always be on Halloween Day, October 31 from 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm. MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to adopt Resolution #2025-6R. Roll Call Vote 6 yes, 0 no, 1 absent, motion carried. DISCUSSION ON 2026 BUDGET Sonnenberg and Shawback talked about the Finance Committee meeting and where we stand on the 2026 budget. They showed the board the proposed budget and asked them to look it over before the next Finance meeting on the 13 th of October. This would be the final chance to get something in. The final budget will go before the Board in November, so that it can go in the paper and we can have the public hearing for it in December. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON POSTING AGENDAS AND LOCATION Hasler stated that it came up during our last meeting about posting vs publishing. He said that publishing agendas isn’t required. The law requires it to be posted in places that are likely to be seen by the public at a minimum of 3 locations. The reason for doing this rather than publishing is that it gives the Village staff the flexibility to get items on the agenda that might come in with in the 24 hours before a meeting so that we don’t have to wait until the VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – October 6th, 2025, PAGE 2 following month to act on something. It will also cut costs because you won’t have to pay publication fees. Reuter stated that now that we have our website, we could save money on publishing our agendas in the paper. She asked the Board to approve the change in how we post. There are still some things that we will need to publish like election items. MOTION Ashworth, second by Berry to leave posting and publishing at the Clerks discretion, motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON THE UPDATE FOR ON EAST LAKE STREET PROPERTY Sonnenberg stated that we did get a bill from Metta. The final bill that they sent us was $29,600.00. We paid them $23,000.00 because that is what the Board had already approved. Metta said an additional 4 dumpsters were required, because they were not previously able to see the amount needed due to the residents still occupying the structure. They are proposing an additional $4,000.00 for the 4 extra dumpsters. They also had to fix the broken sewer and water laterals and placed pipes as reference points fo r $2,600.00. Sonnenberg feels that we should pay them. They had to cap off the pipes and clean out that lot. If they didn’t do that it would still smell like it did. MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to pay the bill on $6,600.00 to complete the invoice from Metta, motion carried. Hasler stated that the Clerk has sent a letter and has advised the property owner that they are expected to pay the bill or it will go on their taxes as a special charge or make arrangements to pay the bill. If that is not done, then the charge will be put as a special charge on the 2025 real estate tax bill. Sonnenberg stated that we have reached out to the property owner to set up an appointment to go over the bill, and what a payback plan could be, but they have not responded to us at all. Waller asked what the deal was with the shed they left behind? Sonnenberg stated that he was asked if they could keep that shed, because that shed is in really good shape. The deal was that they were to move it back over to the west side of the lot. They have not done that yet. If they don’t do it, we’ll get it moved. Reuter asked if she should get a motion to add the bill to the taxes. Hasler stated that would be a good idea. MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to direct the Clerk to add the outstanding bill to the 2025 real estate tax statement if not timely paid as a special charge, motion carried. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT BY CHAIRMAN BERRY - DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON: A. BUILDING UPDATE BY COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR The County administrator gave an update and project overview for the Courthouse. B. RESTRICTING WAVE BOAT USAGE ON FRIENDSHIP LAKE This was tabled and is a moot point. The gentlemen that brought this forward to the Public Works Committee did it on his own without the direction from the Lake District. And that’s not something that we would be able to do anyways. You would have to get DNR approval, have public hearings, and all 3 municipalities would have to agree on it and adopt the same ordinance. C. AERATORS IN THE SLEW They tabled that until they can look at some other options. He doesn’t feel that’s the best solution for back in the slew. He thinks there are other options that they should be looking at. D. LIFE SAVING RINGS It was brought up that down at the beach we should have some life-saving rings, and Berry agrees with tha t. Years ago, they were there, and kids would destroy them, they would get put back up and kids would destroy them. Nothing has been done for a long time now. He feels we should try it again and see what happens. MOTION by Berry, second by Ashworth that by next summer we pick up a life-saving ring and get it mounted at the beach, motion carried. E. STORMWATER INFILTRATION INTO THE LAKE One of the things that was talked about was when was the last time our storm drains were cleaned and televised; it’s been a long time. The recommendation from the VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – October 6th, 2025, PAGE 3 Committee is to start looking into the cost of that, find some companies that can put a camera in and see what they look like. Schultz was given some companies to call and get pricing. F. BOAT WASH DOWN The boat wash station is going to be ongoing. He feels we probably should do it, but we need to figure out how, and the best way to do it. We need to know how we are going to get water to a station and where the water is going to go. G. POSSIBLE LOCTION OF HANDICAP PARKING We are looking at where we can put handicap parking by the J & B store. Two options would be to put one on Main Street or one at the other end of the street. He doesn’t feel Main Street is a good option because it is so busy. John from the store was going to have the engineer look at it and see what kind of handicap ramp he could have put in and if it’s even feasible. He’s not sure if it will be feasible because by the time you get from the building out, he believes it is 36 inches is what state statute says you have to have and he just doesn’t think there is going to be enough room, but until we hear from the engineer we won’t know. H. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS Because the new light poles do not have any electricity to them at this time we aren’t going to worry about any Christmas decorations. We are letting residents that have a poll in front of their place, or businesses decorate them. We have 5 residents and business that have already signed up. In the future the Public Works Committee will be looking into what it would cost to have an electrician come in and put some outlets in. We will also have to put in the budget for new decorations. I. STATUS OF “NO FISHING” SIGN AT THE BEACH The “No Fishing” signs are up at the beach. J. OPEN EQUIPMENT BID The Committee opened the bids for the equipment; the winning bids were: Farmall with broom - $950 Fenner’s Garage 2000 Chevy 3500 - $1,000 Fenner’s Garage 1988 Ford Crew-Cab - $2,365 Ken Whitehorse 1994 International with plow - $825 Austin Eggersdorff John Deere 3-part mower attachments - $287 David Dean The decision was made to keep the John Deere Tractor as the bids were too low. MOTION by Berry, second by Ashworth to accept all the bids, and the money made off the bids of $5,427 from the sale to go back into the equipment replacement fund, motion carried. K. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTORS REPORT Schultz stated that they have all the lawn meters out, and the park and beach are all winterized. They spent their week at water school and do the test this coming Friday. They have been spending a lot of time cleaning the streets and the storm drains. Berry asked how bad the storm drains have been? Schultz replied that in spots they have been pretty bad especially on Quincy Street. There was a group of people that came and stained the picnic tables at the park, and they did a good job. They look really nice. They have one left to stain and then they will be done. They got the plow on the Ram, so it’s ready to go. The strobe lights are going on next week. The strobe lights will be in the taillights, the sides, the grill and the top of the truck. There will be no reason why people can’t see us. FRIENDSHIP LAKE DISTRICT REPORT BY TRUSTEE ASHWORTH Ashworth stated that the meeting was September 25 th . The weed harvester has 20 -30 loads a week. The water level is 6 inches lower. They were supposed to change it on October 1 st but now they are changing it on October 10 th because of the weather. The water levels will be adjusted for the winter. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – October 6th, 2025, PAGE 4 November 1st the harvester goes into storage. The water service grant was approved and will cover water testing, weed testing and additional test and water monitoring for the 2026 session. Adams County Land and Water gave the Lake District an MOA to sign, but they are going to have their attorney look at it first. The county only does testing on the county owned beaches. The Friends of the Lake made around $7,000.00 on the golf outing. On November 1 st they are going to help with the fund raiser for Cabins on the Lake at Cedar Shack. They are going to be using the state raffle license from Friends of the Lake. The Lake District is donating a $500 kayak. The Wisconsin Lake convention is April 2026, and 4 members are going to that. The next meeting is December 4th . FIRE DISTRICT REPORT BY TRUSTEE KLICKO Klicko stated that the new engine is finally fixed. It was the drive shaft that was causing the vibration. It’s back in service now. The training center burn tower dedication is on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. with a lunch to follow at Mid-State. The next meeting is on Thursday at 6:00p.m. They had 7 calls, and 2 alarms in Friendship. AMBULANCE COMMITTEE REPORT BY PRESIDENT SONNENBERG Sonnenberg stated that they have not had a meeting, the next meeting is set for October 22nd. CORRESPONDENCE Reuter stated that there are 3 correspondences. One was from the Adams County Historical Society thanking the Friendship lady mowers for doing such a great job of keeping the McGowen house looking so nice. Nacy Churchill thanked the Village for doing leaf pickup last year and is asking that we continue to pickup this year. We received a letter from the DOT that the land they own by the dam on HWY 13 they are selling, parcel #126-00014-0000 for $30,300.00 . DISCUSSION & ACTION ON THE APPROVAL OF OPERATOR’S LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Operator’s License’s for Jason Rowell , motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON THE APPROVAL OF MOBILE FOOD VENDING LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Mobile Food Vending License’s for The Pig Pen, LLC, Tommy’s Tamales & More, Little Sister Cookies, motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON THE APPROVAL OF WATER/SODA LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Water/Soda License’s for The Pig Pen, LLC, Tommy’s Tamales & More, Little Sister Cookies, motion carried. SET AGENDA ITEMS FOR NOVEMBER MEETING 2026 Budget Code enforcement Being of no further business to come before the board, MOTION by Berry, second by Waller to adjourn, motion carried. Meeting ended at 6:50 __________________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Village Clerk