Village Board — Minutes

VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – September 2nd, 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 Brad Oberbeck, Ernie Klicko, Nadine Ashworth , Melvin Waller, Bob Berry, Jason Pierce and President S onnenberg. Also present were Attorney Joseph Hasler, and Clerk Rebecca Reuter. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION by Oberbeck, second by Berry to approve August 4th, 2025, Village Board minutes, motion carried. TREASURER REPORT General Water Sewer July 1, 2025, Balance 148,056.89 300,255.14 45,979.55 July Receipts 63,372.46 119,897.20 37,032.35 July Disbursements 68,594.16 94,830.98 41,974.39 July 31, 2025, Balance 142,835.19 325,321.36 41,037.51 LGIP #1 TIF $1,070,089.96 – LGIP #9 ARPA $0. 45 – Capital Project Checking $34,103.52 - Building Fund $ 70,000.00 – Money Market $1,646.91 – CDBG Working Fund $13,857.48 - LGIP #6 Park/Beach $4 5,207.09 – 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 37,436.27 - LGIP #4 Water Replacement Fund $3 90,274.57 – LGIP #8 Water Debt Reserve Fund $7 9,125.73 – Sewer LGIP#2 Special Redemption Fund $ 95,954.39 - LGIP#5 Sewer Replacement Fund $55,726.54 – LGIP#7 Sewer Debt Reserve Fund $64,332.81 MOTION by Ashworth, second by Klicko to approve treasurer report, motion carried. PAYING OF BILLS MOTION by Klicko, second by Oberbeck to approve June vouchers 27796 - 27835 in the amount of $93,222.34, motion carried. CITIZEN INPUT No Citizen Input ROPORT FROM COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE RICK PEASE Was not in attendance DISCUSSION AND ACTION ON RAFT AT FRIENDSHIP LAKE Berry stated that it was discussed at Public Works. The recommendation from Public Works is to not purchase a raft. MOTION by Berry, second by Oberbeck to not get a raft and put it up at Friendship Beach, motion carried. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ON “NO FISHING” SIGNS BETWEEN THE SWIM AREA AT FRIENDSHIP LAKE Berry stated that it was discussed at Public Works. The Committee’s recommendation is to put up the “No Fishing” signs. Director Schultz will be notified to get some signs. MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve putting “No Fishing” signs in the swimming area at the Friendship Beach, motion carried. UPDATE ON EAST LAKE STREET PROPERTY Sonnenberg stated that the update is that it has been cleaned. It looks very good. There were some issues that they ran into. One is, we suspected that the sewer line was broken somewhere, and indeed it was. This was not in Metta’s bid to fix the sewer, but it needed to happen. When we get the bill, we will share it. Ashworth asked if they just had to cap it off? Sonnenberg stated that they had to dig it up where the house was forward in the lot to where it was broken and cap it off. Oberbeck asked if the repair has been made? Sonnenberg stated that yes, the repair has been made. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – September 2nd, 2025, PAGE 2 Berry stated that another thing they had to do was to dig up the water line and crimp it over so that nothing could get in there. That way if someone ever does decide to build or do anything there, everything is marked. All they would have to do is go to the ground and hook up to the water and sewer. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT BY CHAIRMAN BERRY - DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON: A. ORDINANCE FOR FOOD TRUCKS/MOBILE VENDERS – Berry stated t he Committee discussed this at length and has an ordinance to recommend to the Board. MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to recommend they adopt the Ordinance 11-3, change what was presented from 200 feet to 100 feet, also reset the times from Sunday – Saturday 8:00 am – 10:00 pm, a $35.00 a year license fee with a $5.00 water/soda license fee, with language added that the license runs from July 1 st through June 30 th . After a lengthy discussion by the Village Board , motion carried. MOTION by Klicko, second by Berry to adopt Ordinance 2025 -11-3 Mobile Food Vending, motion carried. Roll call vote 7- Yes/0- No B. LOCATION OF HANDICAP PARKING – Berry stated he is reading state statute on handicap parking. There are 2 different kinds of parking. There is a handicap stall and then there is van accessible handicap, and they both need different things for them. Van accessible means that you need to have 6 feet on either side of it. He’s doing research now to figure out what we need to have. We do have ramps on each end so we could put it either way. It’s just a matter of how close to the corner we want to put it. We will most likely end up losing one parking spot wherever we pick to put it. He's hoping for the next Public Works meeting to have some more figured out. C. WATER TESTING AT FRIENDSHIP LAKE – Berry stated that it is the recommendation of the Public Works Committee to take over water testing for Friendship Lake. Hasler wanted to know who would be in charge of the testing. He feels it’s important to understand that the only thing we’re doing is writing a check and paying for it . We’re not responsible for doing the test, posting the test, guaranteeing the test. Berry stated that part of the motion could be that if results come back high, we would be responsible for posting down at the beach. Hasler feels that if this isn’t going to happen until 2026 why are we making a decision about it now , with out making sure we understand exactly what it is we ’re responsible for doing to make sure we aren ’t liable for something that somebody else was supposed to do that didn’t get done. If all that is going to happen is the Village of Friendship is going to pay f or the testing, that’s fine, but if there are some strings attached then we need to know who it is on our staff that’s doing that, and when are they doing it , how are they doing it. He ’s just a little bit leery of taking on a responsibility without making sure that the I’s are dotted and the T ’s are crossed. If there isn’t a big hurry to get this done because people aren’t going to start swimming until sometime next year, then he would say let’s put this on the things to do list. Oberbeck would feel better about looking at a contract proposal for everybody to discuss. Berry stated that the MOU from the county says as part of the responsibility Adams County will collect the samples. D eliver the samples to Wood County . Collect additional samples if needed and deliver them to Wood County if necessary. They will provide sample analysis with a recommendation about whether an advisory or closer should take place; and an environmental log of conditions found during each sample collection. Hasler stated that this is a contract between Adams County and the Friendship Lake District. Berry said we could set up a similar contract, but before we can do that, we have to have the motion to approve it to set this contract up. He agrees we should have a contract in place that we can see and make sure we are good with the same contract that the Lake District has with the county. Hasler stated that he’s fine with the Village writing a check , he just wants to make sure that there aren’t any other strings attached to the Village that it doesn’t have the capacity to do. Unless there is a reason this has to be done tonight then ok, but VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – September 2nd, 2025, PAGE 3 otherwise, he feels we should table it to make sure we understand what we are getting into. Berry stated that until we can get a contract written that the County can look at and approve so that we have a cont ract in place with all the provisions that we feel are necessary per our attorney. The Lake District is going to be testing through this year anyways, so we have plenty of time to come up with a contract. Joe Vassau - Co Chair Friendship Lake Advisory Group stated that it’s going to get tabled and then the Village Board is going to forget about it, and then the Lake District is going to have to pick up the cost. Sonnenberg asked Vass au if he ask s for money from any of the other two municipalities on the lake to help cover expenses? Vassau replied no. Sonnenberg stated that he feels it should be shared three ways wi th the other municipalities on the lake, each paying 1/3. D. VILLAGE HALL RENTAL AGREEMENT – Berry stated that it is the recommendation from the Public Works Committee that the Board go with this Village Hall rental agreement. MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to go with a $100 security deposit with a refund of the deposit within 7 days, cancellation made within 2 business days prior will receive a full refund , less than that and they forfeit the rental fee , motion carried. E. STORMWATER INFILTRATION INTO THE LAKE – Berry stated that a lot more research needs to be done. There are some things we can do . One thing that was recommended was to have our storm sewer lines cleaned and televised just to see what kind of shape they’re in, see what all is in there. We will be discussing that more at Public Works and getting some quotes to see what it would cost to do that. There are some bags that can be put on the outlets, but he doesn’t think they would do any good. Other options are putting fabric in the storm drain baskets. Also, education, try to figure out how to educate the public about not mowing their grass onto the curbs. He has some pho ne calls out to different municipalities to find out what they’re doing. F. SIGN AT FRIENDSHIP PARK – The sign at Friendship Park needs to be replaced very badly. Schultz gave th e Committee a quote from a company. The Committee told her to go ahead and get it done. G. YELLOW PLOW TRUCK – The yellow plow truck is going to Fenner ’s to have everything gone over and fixed so it’s ready to go for the winter. H. OFFICE TRAILER FOR WisDOT ENGINEER – WisDOT is going to be redo ing the bridge on CTY J . They asked if they could park their office trailer at the Village Hall like they have done in the past, and the Committee agreed to that. FRIENDSHIP LAKE DISTRICT REPORT BY TRUSTEE ASHWORTH Ashworth stated that on Saturday August 30th the Lake District had its annual meeting for the members. One of the topics was to consider changing the fiscal year . Chuck Spargo explained it very well with the difference between the 12 months and the 15 months. It was voted to change it from November 1st through October 31st . There was talk of changing the annual meeting, but it is going to stay the same . The 2026 loan for refinancing was also explained by Chuck Spargo. There was a big discussion about a used harvester , and to put $30,000 aside if we found one, but now they decided to just wait on that. They want to obtain a line of credit from One Community Bank. The Lake Management Advisory Committee talked. She feels that Linda did a good job explaining everything that’s being done. Friends of the Lake talked about what they’ve done all year, and what’s going on. Next week is the golf outing. At the end, the Lake Association received a $5,000 check from the Friends of the Lake. The secretary’s role was up, so that was voted on and Karen Pokorny is now the secretary. The next meeting will be on September 25th at the Town of Adams town hall. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – September 2nd, 2025, PAGE 4 FIRE DISTRICT REPORT BY TRUSTEE KLICKO Klicko stated that the Cheff’s initial report was the moral was good , a nd it seems to be compared to what we were going through a couple of years ago. They’ve done most of their baseline physicals. A-F County Market arranged for a matching grant to donate $9,000 to the department. They want to buy new battery-operated execration and forcibly entry tools to replace the hydraulic tool, some have recently failed. That amounts to around $58,00 0. Members of the department have raised $46,000 for that. The ribbon cutting for the new durn tower is October 8th. They anticipate Governor Evers. There were 12 calls, about one every other day. Including one being Cabins on the Lake that ended up being a pretty good save according to the owner. Berry stated that the Fire District also had some water rescue training on Friendship Lake. They also in conjunction with Friendship Island Resort worked there with water rescue too. 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 the on ly correspondence we received was from Joe Vassau regarding the raft at Friendship Lake, it stated : The Friendship Lake Advisory Group along with the Friendship Lake Board of Commissioners have agreed to accept the Village Boards vote on August 4th, 2025, with regards to our request for a raft at the public beach. No further requests from our committees will be brought forth for further discussion on this issue. We appreciate the time and effort you and your Board put forth to consider this request. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON OPERATOR’S LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Operator’s License’s for Kalven Hunt , motion carried. SET AGENDA ITEMS FOR OCTOBER MEETING Set Trick or Treating hours ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION - Motion by Berry, second by Oberbeck and roll call vote to adjourn to closed session pursuant to Wis Stat sec. 19.85 (1) (g) to confer with legal counsel concerning Baggs matter, motion carried at 6:48. Convene into open session and take action from closed session. Back into open session at 6:54. No action was taken. Being of no further business to come before the board, MOTION by Ashworth, second by Berry to adjourn, motion carried. Meeting ended at 6:55 __________________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Village Clerk