Village Board — Minutes

VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 4th, 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, Public Works Director Beth Shultz , Treasurer Sandy Shawback, and Clerk Rebecca Reuter. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION by Berry, second by Waller to approve July 7th & July 23rd, 2025, Village Board minutes, motion carried. TREASURER REPORT General Water Sewer June 1, 2025, Balance 232,364.28 266,692.54 10,638.29 June Receipts 4,707.39 52,708.51 40,510.60 June Disbursements 89,014.78 19,145.91 5,169.34 June 30, 2025, Balance 148,056.89 300,255.14 45,979.55 LGIP #1 TIF $1,062,332.94 – LGIP #9 ARPA $0. 45 – Capital Project Checking $34,071.98 - Building Fund $ 70,000.00 – Money Market $1,646.91 – CDBG Working Fund $13,857.48 - LGIP #6 Park/Beach $4 5,040.18 – 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 30,556.78 - LGIP #4 Water Replacement Fund $3 88,833.60 – LGIP #8 Water Debt Reserve Fund $7 8,833.58 – Sewer LGIP#2 Special Redemption Fund $ 90,720.01 - LGIP#5 Sewer Replacement Fund $55,520.79 – LGIP#7 Sewer Debt Reserve Fund $64,095.28 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 27751 - 27795 in the amount of $81,071.18, with a note that he has a question on # 27771, motion carried. CITIZEN INPUT Joe Vassau – Is on the Friendship Lake advisory group. They have arranged for Adams County Health Department to perform water testing of the public beach swimming area. The Bimonthly test is currently $30.00 per test, $60.00 per month and $180.00 Per season weather depending. They feel the testing is critical for our community. They also believe in being transparent and creating and maintaining a working relationship with the Village and the Village Board. They are currently getting the results of the test and paying for those out of their pocket. They will share the results with the Village, and post only the results of these tests on the Friendship Lake Facebook page and their website. However, any and all notifications, warnings, restrictions shall be the Villages’ decision and responsibility. They ask that the Village Board review the ordinance regarding this issue and assume future expenses if we approve them. Berry asked why before they had the testing done and went to the county, why didn’t they come to the Board first seeing as how it is the Villages’ responsibility, it is the Village beach not the lake district. Shouldn’t you have come to us first? Vassau stated that it happened fast. It was the kind of thing where there is only one meeting a month. He took it upon himself to jump on it and take it because it had never been done, and he thought it was for the good of the community. Berry stated that when they posted the first results on Facebook, he did get some calls of residents asking if it was safe to still use the water. There was no indication that the results were high enough to close the beach, that it was just advisory, and that’s what he told people. But they were up in arms over it. Vassau stated that he posted exactly what he got from the county. Dillon “Bobby” Baggs – Stated that he was here to talk about his fence at 205 Raymond Street. He applied for a permit 3 years ago; it was approved with the exact measurements that he followed to a tee. After a full calendar year went by, he received a letter from the VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 4th, 2025, PAGE 2 guy that gave him the permit saying that he needed to move his fence, 2 months later he received another letter, and then a whole year went by, and he received a letter from our attorney stating the same thing that the fence needed to be moved back 8 feet on both sides. A whole calendar year later with nothing in writing someone came to survey his property, then got a notice from the Village with dimensions, someone showing up at his door the Village President with a tractor to tear down his fence. If he wanted a dog run in his front yard he would have built one. There is a lawyer in Mauston that said he would represent him. He doesn’t know how to go from approving a permit to a whole calendar year nothing happening, then 12 months later saying to move it back 8 feet on both sides to now 24 & 17 feet. Hasler stated that he is the current Village Attorney. The action that the Village Board took in regard to your fence Hasler believes was 2 months ago after Baggs received notice that the Village Board was going to act after it had received a survey that disclosed the encroachment to the public right of way. Hasler believes the minutes will reflect that he Mr. Baggs was not present at that meeting at which that decision was made despite the fact that Baggs did have notice that the decision and matter would be discussed. Hasler encouraged Baggs to have his lawyer contact him. But for the record the position of the Village is that his fence encroaches on the public right of way. It is the public right of way, not the Baggs right of way. Heather Gayton – stated that she was a member of the farmers of the Roche-a-Cri and said the group was holding a field day on August 26th at Sterling Farms on Hwy M. She wants to make sure the public knows about that. She’s been farming in this community for about 20 years. ROPORT FROM COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE RICK PEASE Pease’s report included that departments are working on budgets presentations for 2026. Board rules are also being reviewed. This is an elections year. DISCUSION & ACTION ON AGREEMENT TO GFL SOLID WASTE MIDWEST LLC Reuter explained that our garbage and recycling company LRS was bought out by GFL and we needed to sign a new contract with them. It’s the same contract we had with LRS, they are just updating the name on the contract. MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to approve the new contract and have the Village President sign it, motion carried. PERSONNEL COMMITTEE TO UPDATE ON PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT Schultz stated that the Village hired a new Public Works employee, and she is working out very well. She’s a go getter. She’s learning a lot. They will both be attending water school in October. UPDATE ON THE FENCE ENCROACHMENT ON RAYMOND & WEST SECOND STREET That was covered during citizen input with Baggs. UPDATE ON EAST LAKE STREET PROPERTY Hasler stated the building located at 207 East Lake Street revealed that it was structurally compromised and beyond repair, dangerous, unfit, and uninhabitable for human habitation. The property met the test of a raze and remove order. The Village Board acted upon that. The time for the property owner to challenge the determination of that expired on July 9th, 2025. The Village has engaged the services of a contractor. The work will begin on Friday August 8th . He feels the most important thing to remember is that the property owner was given notice of the Village Boards determination. State law does provide that the property owner has 30 days to file a challenge to the circuit court of Adams County asking the court to review the determination that the Board made. A timely objection was not made. He doesn’t feel we are in a position to do anything other then move forward with the Village’s determination. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 4th, 2025, PAGE 3 Bret Schneider stated that they no longer own the property. The deed was transferred and will be finalized tomorrow. Hasler said he was not going to engage in conversation. Blade Schneider stated that there has already been a lawyer hired, and the Village is going to be sued. There were papers that needed to be filled that were not filled. They were told that we filled, but they never were. He’s going to call the sheriff’s department. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT BY CHAIRMAN BERRY Berry stated that the first thing on the agenda was the food trucks. There was a fair amount of citizen input. After discussing it, it is the recommendation of the Public Works committee to update and make a food truck ordinance. Hasler stated that he would like to just supplement what the Committee Chair indicated. There was also a discussion that the Village would like to explore some kind of light touch regulation along the lines of what the Town of Rome has in place for food trucks. We’ve taken a look at that and started the process to see if we can draft a Village ordinance based on the Town of Rome’s ordinance. And secondly, within the last day or so we received notice from the City of Adams that they are looking into an ordinance for food truck/mobile venders. Perhaps we can look at their p roposal and have a mi rror image to them. He’s wondering if it wouldn’t make sense for all 3 municipalities to have something similar , so that all 3 communities are operating on the same set of rules. Berry recommends that this goes back to Public Works, and they can try to put something together that will work for everybody. Hasler stated the next step would be for him to prepare an ordinance for the Public Works Committee to consider. Berry said the next agenda item the Committee discussed was public and handicap parking both on Main Street and some of the side streets. We are still doing some research on that. We are going to get some signs made so that we can have some handicap parking along those streets. Public Works is hoping by the next Board meeting to have something done in those areas. It was brought to our attention by the Friendship Lake District and a few people that live on the lake that they would like “No Fishing” signs in the swim area, after discussing it the Committee agreed. MOTION by Berry, second by Waller to put up 2 signs that s tate “No fishing between the buoys in the swimming area”, motion carried. Berry stated that the next thing the Committee talked about was also brought to them from the Lake District. They would like a boat wash area down by the boat launch. We still need to do more research. Berry has reached out to a couple of different communities to see how they do it , and how they work it. The problem is going to be where the boat washing station should be. There’s no water or electricity near there, so we would have to figure out how we are going to run water and electricity. It can be done, but we need to research and figure out what’s available to us. He feels it is a good idea . A lot of the lakes around here have zebra mussels in them, but so far Friendship Lake doesn’t, and we’d like to keep it that way. They can decimate a lake in a heartbeat. The Committee discussed at length the request to put a raft in down at the swimming area. Years ago, the Village did have a raft down at the lake , at the time it was a liability issues, and the raft was always being vandalized. It was basically decided that we would probably not put a raft up. MOTION by Pierce, second by Waller not to put a raft up at the Friendship Lake, motion carried. Stormwater infiltration was also brought by the Friendship Lake District that they would like them to look into. Berry reached out to some other communities that have lakes and rivers by them, and we’re going to be trying to get in contact with the DNR and get them involved with it so we can see what options we do have. We have 2 storm drains that go into the lake upstream, we have at least 3 or 4 that flow down stream of the dam . He knows that some people think that we can just put some fabric on the drain holes, but the problem with that is when you get heavy rainfall or in the fall you have leaves everywhere you’re going to have water run out onto the roads, so that is a safety issue too. It’s not something that we want to take lightly and jump right into it; we need to do the research and figure out what is VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 4th, 2025, PAGE 4 available for us . What can we do that will work for us? So, that’s something they will be looking at. There was some brief discussion on equipment and vehicles. We are going to continue to work on that so come wintertime we have working plow trucks, and everything is ready to go. The brackets that we have for Christmas de corations will not work with our new lights on Main Street. They have tabled it for this year until we can put some money into the budget for them, because Christmas decorations are not cheap. They are very expensive. None of the new lights have power outlets, so in order to put up lights we will have to have electricity run to them. That means hiring an electrician to come in and rewir e everything. They decided for this year they are going to try and figure out how to put the Christmas wreaths up with no lights on them . It was also brought up by some citizens that they would like to again this year wrap them up and decorate the light polls, and as a committee they decided that wouldn’t be a problem. They did discuss the 2026 budget . They are looking at trying to increase the equipment fund, we also have some very bad roads in the village that are going to need to be updated and redone. They are hoping to put a line item in the budget where we can fix some of the roads. FRIENDSHIP LAKE DISTRICT REPORT BY TRUSTEE ASHWORTH Ashworth stated that Chuck Spargo wants to put together a 15-month fiscal year budget because of the ownership of the dam and the timing with the loan . Then return to a 12 - month budget. They are also talking about changing when they have their meeting for membership. They always have it in August , but with this they could hold it in October . He will have all this information at the annual meeting in August . The Lake District annual meeting with be held at the Village Hall on August 30 th. They talked about the harvester that they wanted to get, but it sold for $25,000.00, and they were going to offer $18,000.00. She is really impressed with Ed and his planning of the fish derby for next y ear. He’s really got a lot of stuff going on, he has a lot of businesses and people talking about it. Sonnenberg stated that one of the local businesses was using our beach today for a youth’s girls wrestling. They had some kids that came down and cleaned the waterline with all the scum that was down there, they did an excellent job. He has to also complement the people on the harvester today because they didn’t ask for any help and they did come in today and help to get that ready so they could have that event for 24 young girls . It went without a glitch. It was great to see that happen. FIRE DISTRICT REPORT BY TRUSTEE KLICKO Klicko stated that all the materials for the training center i s there, but he doesn’t know if they have started work on it yet. They are still working on the warranty with Cummins on their engine for the new firetruck. They tried a phone app for the doors but that didn’t work. Now they are giving them key fobs to use. There is talk of the equity in the Fire District. None of the members have real equity. We can’t say we own $20,000.00 in the Fire District because of the way the Fire District was organized. No member can withdraw themselves and withdraw all their equity. If someone took out 30 % of the equipment it could wreck the district , that’s why it was written that way. If it was to be closed down and sold off, then they could divide the proceeds. The City of Adams has rezoned the training tower. They are looking at an 18.5 % increase for next year. He thinks it would be another $3,600.00. AMBULANCE COMMITTEE REPORT BY PRESIDENT SONNENBERG Sonnenberg stated that he was unable to attend the meeting as we had a special Village Board meeting that night, so he asked Tony Sind elar to fill in for him, and he did. He gave Sonnenberg some notes. The y had elections during that meeting. Bill Euclide was elected Chair of the Ambulance Committee. Vice -Chair Jesse Pittsley and Secretary Judy Berry were also elected. The next meeting will be on October 22, 2025. For the month of June there were 156 calls out. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – August 4th, 2025, PAGE 5 DISCUSSION & ACTION ON SODA/WATER LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Soda Water License for Adams-Friendship FFA Alumni Assoc iation, A -F Youth Sports, Old Farmers Ant ique Club, Polish Club, and Rocky Rococo, motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON OPERATOR’S LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Operator’s License’s for Dominik Majerczak, John Celek, and Florence Johnson, motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON TEMPORARY ALCOHOL BEVERAGE LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Temporary Alcohol Beverage License’s for Polish Club for August 31, 2025, and Old Farmers Antique Club for September 26-28, 2025, motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON PROVISIONAL OPERATOR’S LICENSE MOTION by Klicko, second by Berry to approve Operator’s License’s for Jeffery Presley , Stephanie Klopotek, Bonnie Nachreiner, Wendy Prochaska, and Aaron Bonnett , motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON A PEDDLERS LICENSE MOTION by Klicko, second by Berry to approve Peddlers License for 1 week to Jeremiah Dean Moore from USA Fine Foods, motion carried. CORRESPONDENCE There was no correspondence SET DAY & AGENDA ITEMS FOR SEPTEMBER MEETING MOTION by Klicko, second Berry to change September’s Village Board meeting to the 2nd, due to Labor Day being on the 1st Monday of the month, motion carried. Hasley stated that he feels we should put the raft at Friendship Lake and the “No Fishing” signs on the agenda for September so that the community knows what the Village Board is taking action on. Discussion and Action on “No Fishing” signs between swim area at Friendship Lake Discussion and Action raft at Friendship Lake Discussion and Action Food trucks ordinance Discussion and Action Handicap parking spots Discussion and Action Stormwater infiltration Discussion on water testing Being 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