Public Works — Minutes

VILLAGE OF FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday September 17, 2025– 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 Clerk Rebecca Reuter. The agenda for the meeting was: 1} Roll Call 2} Approve meeting minutes from August 28th ,2025 3} Citizen input 4} Building update by County Administrator 5} Discussion & Possible action on: an ordinance restricting wave boat usage on Friendship Lake 6} Discussion & Possible action on: Aerators in the slew 7} Discussion & Possible action on: Life Saving Rings 8} Discussion & Possible action on: stormwater infiltration into the lake 9} Discussion & Possible action on: Boat Wash Down 10} Discussion & Possible action on: possible location on handicap parking 11} Discussion & Possible action on: Christmas Decorations 12} Status of “No Fishing” signs at the beach 13} Open equipment bids 14} Public Works Directors Report 15} Adjournment A majority of the Village Board may be present but no Board action is contemplated. Approval of August 28th , 2025, Minutes Motion by Waller, second by Sonnenberg to approve August 28th , 2025, Public Works Minutes, motion carried. Citizen Input No Citizen input Building update by County Administrator County Administrator Cynthia Haggard & Dan Rammer from MSA – Put together a project overview to show the Committee with a blueprint map of the project update at the Courthouse. Rammer stated that the east parking lot is almost doubling in size. They will be taking away the green space and turning it into more parking. One of the issues that has been brought up was drainage. Right now, the existing parking lot drains to the south. They did try to keep that the same. The parking lot kind of breaks in half with half of it going south and half of it going north. The goal with the southern portion is to try and put in some kind of rain garden or biofilter. During big rain events that would fill up and spill out into the roadway as it normally would. The north half of the parking lot that is grass right now; they are proposing that it would all drain to the north similarly to the south portion. It would be a one way in and one way out parking lot. They are hoping to run the water drains under the courthouse to minimize the impact on the village as a whole, and any of the neighboring entities. They will be looking at a revised lighting layout. They are thinking of just perimeter lighting right now. They are still planning on using the main crosswalk that they have now, with some advanced warning signs to let residents know it’s coming up. They will have a few steps going up to get into the building, and also the ADA access ramp will be along the building side with a railing. Sonnenberg asked what the difference in price is between the signs and the light up crosswalks? Rammer stated that the signs are around $1,000 vs. $5,000 - $10,000 for the light-up ones. Berry asked if any studies have been done on traffic percentage vs. if you need signs. He doesn’t feel that there will be that much traffic that would warrant having them. Rammer stated that’s what they were thinking. There will be times that it’s busier than other times. There have been studies done and they are more effective, but it’s not really a high traffic area. If there were multiple lanes here, then he could see how that would be helpful. But he doesn’t think we will need them. Berry asked where they were going to be tying into the storm sewer and how much more water do they see flowing into where they’re going to tie in and is it big enough to handle it all? PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday September 17, 2025– Page 2 Rammer stated that it was one of his concerns. The pipe that we are tying into is an 18-inch pipe, then it necks down under the building a little bit to an open grate. It goes to at an 8-inch, then goes into a 10- inch, then to a 12-inch then comes out. So, it’s going to be bottle necked a little bit but then it will come out. You typically don’t ever want to downsize downstream. There might be something they can look at to throttle that 18-inch, or maybe it’s only open part of the way. But they haven’t had issues with it yet. Sonnenberg asked how many additional parking spaces will be added? Rammer stated that they would be adding over 50. Sonnenberg added that this should help with some of the on-street parking issues that we are seeing. Some of the businesses are saying that they don’t have enough parking space because the people that work in the courthouse are parking on that street. Therefor there’s not as much parking for customers going into those establishments. Will that relieve some of that? Rammer stated that it should, but on certain days some of these parking spaces will be reserved. But it should help with having extra parking. They will just need to be educating the employees to use the parking lot first before parking on the street. Haggard thanked the Committee for their time, and for opportunity to come and show them the building updates. Discussion & Possible action on: an ordinance restricting wave boat usage on Friendship Lake The Committee received a letter from Mike Henke, Commissioner Chairman for the Friendship Lake District stating that the Friendship Lake District Board does not have a position on limited use of wave boats for Friendship Lake at this time. (His letter in full will be included with these minutes) Berry stated that the next five things on the agenda are things that were brought to us by a gentleman on the lake. Come to find out a lot of the things he brought to us all on his own. It was not with the blessing of the lake district. Chuck Spargo from the Friendship Lake District was here to represent the Lake District and apologized for the confusion and any feathers that might have gotten ruffled . This gentleman approached all 3 municipalities that are on the lake without the knowledge of the Lake District. He stated that this wouldn’t even be able to happen without public hearings with the DNR, this isn’t something we can just decide that we want to do. Berry stated that anything involving the lake with any kind of restrictions #1 the DNR, and then all 3 of the municipalities. They all have to agree to it adopting the same ordinance that reads exactly the same. He went on to say that a wake boat is a big speed boat that has an inboard, but they also have 2 pumps built into the boat that will pump water up and shoot it out like a jet so that skiers can have a lot more wake to jump over and have their fun with it. There are municipalities that have put restrictions on them. They can be really hazardous to shorelines. Until he hears from the Town of Adams and the Town of Preston, he’s going to consider this a moot point. Discussion & Possible action on: Aerators in the slew Berry stated at this point we are going to table this. Sonnenberg has been in discussion with DNR and Land and Water. Berry feels there are other things that can be used other than the aerators that just sit on the bottom and bubble. There are thrusters like the City of Adams put in the retention pond behind Ace, that would force the flow towards the lake. Then again you have cost, and you have to figure out where power is going to come from, and who’s going to pay for that. Discussion & Possible action on: Life Saving Rings Berry stated that he remembers years ago they had some at the beach and the kids destroyed them, they would get replaced and they would get destroyed again. He feels like they should be there, but how many times are we going to keep replacing them? That was also when we had lifeguards at the beach. We also had a swimming platform, but then kids destroyed it. It’s sad that they have to do this stuff. Justin Hutter from the audience asked if we could put it behind glass for emergency use. He is for anything that will bring safety to and clean up the lake. Having something like that probably is a good idea. MOTION by Berry, second by Waller to purpose to the Board t hey purchase a lifesaving ring and mount it, motion carried. Discussion & Possible action on: stormwater infiltration into the lake Berry stated that at the last Public Works meeting we had a resident ask when the last time was, we had our drains televised, cleaned or had anything done to them. He agrees they probably need to be done, as far as he knows, and as long as he’s been a Board member the only street that has been done was Quincy Street. He feels it probably is time. He knows that there are a few companies out there that do it. Green Bay Pipe does it, he called Steves pluming in Wisconsin Rapids they are going to be getting into it. Steve’s going to be ordering a crawler camera. They don’t have a vac-truck yet, but they are working on getting PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday September 17, 2025– Page 3 one. But they do have a company that they rent one from. Berry knows the cost for that will be a lot so we will end up getting bids to do it. That’s something that we should be looking into come springtime, getting our storm drains cleaned, getting them televised and seeing what kind of shape they are in. Bags on the drains won’t work, there are too many municipalities that have tried that with no success. The City of Madison is building retention ponds with green areas. We really don’t have that option in the Village, but we could do other things like keeping them clean. If we were to put the filter bag in there and we get a four-inch rain like we’ve seen, you’re going to make more problems than anything. We need to educate our residents about throwing things in the street. Maybe we need to look into something like the City of Adams did a few years back where someone painted over their drains “BEE Smart” with little bees over the grates. Maybe we need to reach out and find out who did that for them and have them do it for us as well. Discussion & Possible action on: Boat Wash Down Berry stated that he thinks it’s a good thing , but we have a lot more research to do. He wants to leave it on the agenda and keep doing research and find out what is the best way for us to do it. A lot of boat ramps and municipalities have them. He has seen some at the different boat ramps that they have used over the summer. We want to keep the junk out of our lake that are recking havoc on other lakes. So many of the lakes in our area are dealing with zebra mussels, heaven forbid we ever get them in Friendship they will decimate the lake in a heartbeat. Discussion & Possible action on: possible location on handicap parking Berry stated that he has talked to Jonh and stopped on his way to work and took so measurements. One thing he hasn’t found out is what the state minimum requirement for a handicap ramp. The owner believes it is 36 inches for the width; you could put 36 inches out and they w ill still have almost 4 feet of sidewalk from where the ramp would be down to the curb line because that’s almost 7 feet with his measurements. The key question is where the ramp ends coming out the 36 inches to the end of the curb, is that going to be enough width? We need to look into whether there are regulations on that , our right of way, and is that going to be enough room for them to shovel. He’s not sure what our right of way is there, but he’s pretty sure that it ends just on the backside of the telephone poll . That’s normally how right of ways work. He feels like it’s doable. But we need to do some more research. He looked and both ends of that street do have the handicap ramps so that would be a non -issue. He would rather see it up at the other end and not by Main Street just because Main Street can be busier . They are going to get in contact with Jer emy Phillis from General Engineering and see if he has the answers to some of these questions. Discussion & Possible action on: Christmas Decorations Schultz stated that they took out one of the Christmas wreaths the other day and there’s no way to mount it. She cannot find brackets that are universal. Berry stated that we should table this for this year. It has been brought to us that can residents and businesses decorate the polls? He doesn’t see that as being a problem. That will give us time to put some money into the budget for purchasing new decorations. We are somehow going to have to get power to the polls if we want them to have lights. They are quite expensive. Status of “No Fishing” signs at the beach Schultz said the signs are up and in place. Open equipment bids 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 Waller to recommend to the Board that they except the high bid offers on all but the John Deere Tractor, and for the money made ($5,427) from the sale to go back into the equipment replacement fund, motion carried. Public Works Directors Report Schultz stated that the beach is closed for the session. They took the buoys out. The bathrooms are closed. They just need to take the meter out and put antifreeze in the toilet. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday September 17, 2025– Page 4 We have 2 campers on 211 Superior Street that have moved in. One of them has been there for over 2 weeks. She stopped and talked to the guy, he said one of them was his cousin and one was his brother. The cousin has been there for over 2 weeks. She told them that they have to be out of there by the end of the week. Then his brother called her the next day and asked about our policy on campers, she directed him to the ordinance that states he can only be there for 14 days during the whole year period. He has gotten a verbal. He claims he has no place to go; he has no job. They are almost done flushing the fire hydrants, they would have had them done today, but there was a water pipe that was broken that needed their attention. So, they will finish those tomorrow. Schultz asked why we flush them twice a year when the DNR requires them to be flushed every 3 years? Berry stated that the DNR changed that then, because it used to be DNR policy that they had to be done twice a year. But he thinks dead end lines like on Hillwood Lane get so little use that it helps to keep the lines clean and flushed out. Schultz stated that she was getting her information from Jason at the city. She will double check on that to see if it’s true. A-F Motors called her today and they have the parts in for the plow. They will be making an appointment to have that put on. The yellow plow truck is back, and Fenner’s did an amazing job. She doesn’t know how much money is in the budget to do some more repairs on it, but the brakes need to be done before we put it on the road. She would like to have the county do them simply because Fenner’s are so busy. Waller stated that one thing he noticed when he went to go look at the plow is where he was supposed to put that loop on one side he didn’t, but he doesn’t think it will be a problem because he put some spacers there. Schultz stated that we had some people come in for a day of service and volunteer some time staining tables at the park. They were able to do all but 3 of them. They will get the rest stained before the end of the session. We received a letter from the Adams County Historical Society thanking them for doing such a great job this summer with mowing and keeping up the McGowen house. She asked the Committee about sewer jetting and what we are going to do about that? She doesn’t know what to do, she has no idea. They were talking to the city guys the other day and they told them how they will go home and have feces all over them. And that for 4 days he is sick after doing it from inhaling all the fumes. She doesn’t know what they are doing, she doesn’t know how to hook up the machine or how to use it. She feels completely in the dark about this. Sonnenberg asked if you could use a respirator that way, you’re not breathing it in? Berry answered that you could. He stated that it was always his hope when he worked for the city that we could come together with the village and buy a vac-truck to get them cleaned out good. But you would be looking at about $200,000 just for the vac-truck. Sonnenberg asked if that was something we could contracted out to have done? Berry replied that we could, but it would be costly. Basically, what you do with sewer jetting is you take your sewer map go to the farthest line that runs down, and you would dump your jetter nozzle down and run it up and pull it back . You keep pushing everything toward s the sewer plant . You’re cleaning your sewer lines out. As long as you’re not going down in there you won’t have any gas fumes . You’ll have 2 manholes open, and just the water pressure and everything will push fumes out . He never had an issue with sewer gas fumes being up top. Schultz stated that if they don’t mind, she would like to look into what it would cost to hire somebody just for the simple fact that she doesn’t really have the time to do it. Berry stated to start with Green Bay Pipes out of Green Bay. They do sewer jetting. That’s a question for WRWA. Ask them who else does it and who they would recommend. He can also set up a time with Public Works to show them how to start up the jetter and show them how to do it. Schultz stated that she has arranged it with the City of Adams to use their leaf vac truck to pick up leaves on November 17-21. The tree at the intersection of West Street and 1st Street will get trimmed up after we get frost. The sign over the old Hotel is hanging over the sidewalk. The sign is over that big hole and she’s afraid that sign is going to fall right though that hole. There are always boards falling on the sidewalk. She is going to send them a letter. Adjournment Motion by Sonnenberg, second Waller to adjourn the meeting, motion carried. Meeting ended at 6:34 ___________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Village Clerk