Village Board — Minutes

VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – May 5th, 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 , Clerk/Treasurer Sandy Shawback, and Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Rebecca Reuter. PRESIDENT SONNENBERG TO APPOINT A TRUSTEE MEMBER Sonnenberg appointed Oberbeck to fill the remainder of his term APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION by Oberbeck, second by Berry to approve April 7th, 2025, Village Board minutes, motion carried. TREASURER REPORT General Water Sewer March 1, 2025, Balance 226,948.15 320,305.44 14,618.97 March Receipts 114,721.32 9,646.95 4,719.19 March Disbursements 59,083.81 82,324.14 5,305.44 March Balance 1/31/2025 282,585.66 247,628.25 14,032.72 LGIP #1 TIF $1,054,608.89 – LGIP #9 ARPA $ 0.45 – Capital Project Checking $33, 979.59 - Building Fund $ 70,000.00 – Money Market $1,64 6.91 – CDBG Working Fund $13,857.48 - LGIP #6 Park/Beach $ 44,553.08 – Tax Checking $1 1,940.03 – TIF Checking $ 95.00 -Street Equipment Fund $ 87,725.00 – Court Order Proceeds $3,808.03 – Water LGIP #3 Special Redemption Fund $245,920.07 - LGIP #4 Water Replacement Fund $3 84,628.43 – LGIP #8 Water Debt Reserve Fund $ 77,981.01 – Sewer LGIP#2 Special Redemption Fund $104,254.83 - LGIP#5 Sewer Replacement Fund $ 54,920.35 – LGIP#7 Sewer Debt Reserve Fund $63,402.10 MOTION by Klicko, second by Oberbeck to approve treasurer report, motion carried. PAYING OF BILLS MOTION by Klicko, second by Oberbeck to approve April vouchers 27621-27665 in the amount of $132,970.95, motion carried. PRESIDENT SONNENBERG TO MAKE FINANCE/PERSONNEL & PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS Finance/Personnel Committee is Chairman Ernie Klicko, Nadine Ashworth and Brad Oberbeck. Public Works Committee is Chairman Bob Berry, Melvin Waller and Jason Pierce. APPOINT THREE CITIZEN MEMBERS TO SERVE ON THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS The Committee members are Charles Spargo, Pat Kierstyn, Steve Parrott, Tony Sindelar and Justin Hutter. APPOINT TWO CITIZEN & ONE VILLAGE BOARD MEMBER TO SERCE ON THE PLAN COMMISSION The Committee members are Jerry Sonnenberg, Beth Schultz, Janet Boddy, Jason Pierce, Dave Steiner, Laura Brown and Tome Pierce. APPOINT TRUSTEE TO SERVE AS VILLAGE REPRESENTATIVE TO ATTEND FRIENDSHIP LAKE DISTRICT MEETINGS Sonnenberg appointed Nadine Ashworth to serve as the Village representative on the Friendship Lake District. APPOINT BOARD MEMBER TO SERVE ON THE ABULANCE COMMITTEE Jerry Sonnenberg will serve on the Ambulance Committee. APPOINT BOARD MEMBER TO SERVE ON THE FIRE DISTRICT COMMITTEE Sonnenberg appointed Ernie Klicko to serve as the Village representative on the Fire District Committee. DESIGNATE OFFICAL DEPOSITORIES, NEWSPAPER FOR PUBLICATIONS, POSTING LOCATIONS & OFFICIAL RADIO STATION Official Depositories: One Community Bank, BMO Harris Bank, Royal Bank and WI Department of Administration VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – May 5th, 2025, PAGE 2 Official Newspaper: News Publishing Company (Adams-Friendship Times Reporter) Official Posting Locations: Village Hall, Village Website, Friendship Post Office and Adams County Community Center Official Radio Station: WCWI 106.1FM MOTION by Berry, second by Oberbeck to approve all appointments, motion carried. CITIZEN INPUT Becky Xheka from 7725 County Road J in Friendship – Her question is the fallowing; she would like to know the Village of Friendships regulation on alcoholic beverages in the village. Is there a regulation indicating that alcoholic beverages are not allowed on the sidewalks or streets? Oberbeck stated he believes when we went through the ordinance review under prier guidance, he does believe there was an ordinance, but he doesn’t recall the parameters of the ordinance. Oberbeck stated that the ordinances that have been updated and that they have gone through as a board are on the Village website. Becky has done that. She is showing that there is a regulation, and respectfully she will follow the guidelines that the Village has set forth. She just wants to make sure as a business owner she’s on the same page as reference to that. Her second question is if you do not have a liquor license attached to your facility are you allowed to sell or give any kind of alcoholic beverage over. Reuter explained that only if you have a temporary class B license, for example we have a wine walk coming up here shortly and the businesses who are involved and participating in the wine walk are allowed to serve alcohol, but it’s only for that one day. President Sonnenberg presented Tony Sindelar with an award for his 10 years of dedicated service to the Village of Friendship. ROPORT FROM COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE RICK PEASE Pease stated that the county has just approved a resolution for spending some of the opioid money that they receive. One of the biggest things that they hear from people with addiction problems is per support. Not everyone has someone that they can go to. There’s a company out of the Rapids Three Bridges Recovery they concentrate on per support. Something else they are currently doing is getting ready for budget time. They are getting stuff out to department heads, so that they can develop the budget. They would like to finish up by November. PERSONNEL COMMITTEE TO UPDATE ON PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT Klicko stated that the Personnel Committee met as a whole with the Public Works Committee on Friday night for interviews. We move to recommend that Rayn Peterson be hired for our position at this meeting. Sonnenberg stated that he has been in touch with Peterson and he has said that he would really like to work for us, but that money is an issue. What he’s looking for is $27.00. He does want to work here, but he’s got to think of his family and all the stuff that is going on in the world right now. Everything is just getting more, and more expensive. Berry asked if we have the wiggle room to do it? Sonnenberg answered, yes, we do if we look at the budget. We’ve not had Ron here for a few months. And Brent hasn’t been here. We have not used any of the money for the temporary position in the office, so we have the funds available for now. But what we have to look at is what happens in the future when we go to do the budget. How that will all play in, for everybody, not just this particular individual. He really fits the bill, he’s really excited about it, but again he’s looking out for his family. Oberbeck stated that it’s important to remember that if current funds are available that’s understandable. Budget time will be a concern. He feels that if this is the direction that we move forward then having that part-time help will not be considered via the Finance Committee. What we’ve ultimately done is taken any possibility for any part-time employment, and we’ve shredded that to add to our full time employee salaries. He thinks that it’s important to remember that if that’s the case we might end up handcuffing ourselves by saying this is all the help that is available, instead of having something on the side in case something occurs. We won’t have something to offer a part-time employee for the front office or Public Works. He would also like to add when it comes to budget time if we are going to increase starting wages, then that needs to be reflected on the entire Village employees. That’s a point to emphasize that will need to be taken into consideration. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – May 5th, 2025, PAGE 3 Sonnenberg stated that we need to do a wage survey to find out where we are in reference to everyone else around the area. Then the Personnel / Finance Committee can make a recommendation of what we’d like to see that scale look like in the future. Pierce asked if there’s enough difference in our lead position, and the worker position? Sonnenberg stated that he would look into that. Waller asked what our starting wage is right now? Sonnenberg stated that it’s $24.86. Schultz stated that she really thinks it’s important to do a wage assessment. She understands that it’s a small community, but we’re really losing out on some good people because we don’t have insurance, and we can’t back it up with the extra hourly wage. Ashworth stated that he’s willing to go a couple of dollars more, versus full benefits and insurance. Berry asked if we offer him the whole $27.00, do we have the wiggle room to bump Beth up so that she’s at least a few dollars above him? Do we have the room to do that? Klicko stated that we can make room for that. Sonnenberg stated that with all the dollars that we have not spent this year, we do. It becomes a budget issue; we will have to make funds available to do those kinds of things. But we need to make sure we get the good people here and also keep them here. MOTION by Berry, second by Oberbeck to offer him $27.00 an hour, motion carried. Sonnenberg stated that Peterson said he would be able to start on May 19th. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ON A DONATION TO THE ASHWORTH FAMILY FIREWORKS SHOW MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to donate $1,000.00 like the Village has other years, motion carried. Ashworth abstained DISCUSS OFFICE STAFF ATTENDING CTI INSTITUTE Reuter gave each of the Board members a letter signed by Shawback and herself asking that the office staff be permitted to attend the Municipal Clerks and Treasurers Institute July 14-18th. Everything is all online. They would just keep the office closed for the week as they attend the training online. MOTION by Klicko, second by Oberbeck to allow at the Villages expense, motion carried. UPDATE ON WATER RATE STUDY Reter stated that about a year ago the City of Adams came to us and told the Village that they would be raising their water rate with the case study they did. It has taken the Village a year and four months to get the Village to where we can do our water study. The cost would come out of water. It would come to $15,000.00. The City of Adams has already raised their rates, so we are now paying their water rates, but have not raised our own. Berry stated that the reason it is costing so much is because we need to do a conventional instead of the simplified. We need to do it. MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to approve the water rate case study, motion carried. DISCUSS COMPUTER EQUIPMENT QUOTES Reuter stated that the office received a quote three weeks ago to update the computer equipment and then received another one today that is $2,000 more because of the tariffs. She suggests that we table this until the tariffs go down or away. MOTION by Berry, second by Oberbeck to table this item, motion carried. UPDATE ON EAST LAKE STREET PROPERTY Hasler stated that there is going to be an inspection of that property on Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. Mike Parrott from GEC will be there. He has asked us to make arrangements with the Adams County Sheriff’s department just to provide whatever assistance may be required. Hopefully after we have that report we will be in a position to move forward on cleaning up the property. Oberbeck asked Hasler, from his experience is a civil standby normal for that situation? Is that a service that the County would offer the Village? Hasler responded that in the other counties where he has done work the Sherriff’s departments have been amenable. He doesn’t know if there will be somebody there or just on call, but they are generally aware of what’s happening so that if the need arises assistance is available. Sonnenberg stated that he has already called the Sheriff’s Department and their response to him was if someone is available, they will have someone there. They need us to call them Friday morning and tell them that this is going on. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – May 5th, 2025, PAGE 4 PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT Berry stated that during citizen input they had a gentle man by the name of Paul Nawrocik. He had a complaint about his neighbor. He was complaining that his neighbor has a bunch of dead trees that are going to fall on his property. We can’t force anyone to cut down trees on their own land. There are some trailers and stuff on the property that we can send him a letter to clean up. Hasler asked if this is a cas e where we want to get the building inspector involved? He asked to meet with Reuter and Berry after the meeting to learn more about this so he can better understand it. Berry stated that they received a request from the American Legion and Glassic Dee-Sign to close roads. In discussion the Public Works Committee didn’t have any issues closing the roads. But it has been brought to his attention that we have had some complaints about closing the one road down for July 3rd and 4th because that’s going to take up parking for some of the restaurants on that day. Oberbeck stated that he feels the Village has been more than fair and accommodating as far as whenever anyone comes to the Board and asks for a road closer for a private event. July 4th is on a Friday this year, he can understand the concern and he feels i t’s worth discussing. One question he has is why is one business more important than the other businesses? He thinks that’s probably the mindset. We’re talking about West Second Street, and the effected businesses would be 4 or 5 of them there. Berry stated if it was any other weekend, it probably wouldn’t be that big of an issue . But that weekend July 4th, that’s a busy weekend. And it’s on a Friday. Oberbeck thinks the Village has been more than accommodating. He can’t recall a time when the Board has ever said no and turned anyone down. Waller brought up all the public parking spots we will lose on that day if they close the road on that busy corner. Berry stated that Glassic Dee-Sign wants the road to close from July 3rd 5:00 p.m. to July 4th at 11:00 p.m. Pierce thinks it’s worth giving it to them. He feels it will bring in more people than the 10 people that we will be losing on parking spots. Oberbeck stated that then you’re advocating that it’s ok for outside businesses to come in to take away from our resident businesses. That’s just the other side of that coin. He doesn’t know of any local food trucks. Ashworth stated that there are also 3 restaurants there that will be losing out on business. MOTION by Berry, second by Oberbeck to approve the American Legion for the road closer on May 17th, motion carried. Citizen Becky Xheka from the audience spoke up stating that they own a business down the road from Glassic Dee-Sign and like Oberbeck said those businesses do rely on the business from that Holiday. People bring their families out and it is a big celebration on that street. She feels any parking spot that is utilized for an y food truck or vending truck is really unnecessary. There are parks, they can go to county parks but that’s really taking away from us businesses. They are already struggling with parking there. Right next door to them is the historical society. Behind us, Rich from ACE Hardware is very kind and letting everybody park there, however we don ’t have enough parking. They don’t want to block up the alleyway. It’s a very busy corner there. They have been going to the 4 th of July parade there for y ears. She’s just asking the Village Board to consider that situation there. And the vending trucks are not local. We need to think about our town and our constituents. She thanked the Board for listening to her. Oberbeck stated that the most important aspect is that the sheriff’s department is there. If were blocking and barricading and there are any problems…ambulance, firetruck, police vehicles we’re blocking them from getting to where they need to go. It’s such a busy weekend. MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to deny the road closer on the 4th of July to Glassic Dee-Sign, motion carried. Berry stated that the update on meter installs is Schultz has a list. She sent out certified letters. She only had 2 people get back to her. That’s going to be a work in progress. They did get the survey report back from the property on Raymond Street. The fence is definitely not where it should be. Hasler suggested that we put it on the next agenda for the next meeting for a resolution. Advise the owner that the fence needs to be removed or he is going to be subject to encroachment action by the Village. He would like the surveyor to update the map to include exactly where the roadway is so that we all have a very good understanding of how this is encroaching. Berry stated that the Committee did get a list of all the Village owned properties . A lot of them are alleyways. They didn’t go into it very much for discuss ion. They have a list now if and when they need to reference it in meetings. The other thing on the agenda was to replace the tables and chairs they tabled that for the time being until they can get down and really look at some stuff. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – May 5th, 2025, PAGE 5 The Committee had lengthy discussions on equipment and vehicles. There is a bunch of old and outdated equipment that Schultz would like to put on Wisconsin State Acton and get rid of some of the stuff. She Is going to compile a list for us . They are still looking at trucks. They have a decent quote from the county to fix the yellow plow truck. At the next meeting they are going to look at that a little more. Pinpoint what needs to be fixed right now, what doesn’t need to be fixed right now and go from there. They need a haul truck for hauling brush , snow, and one that can handle the sewer jetter tank on it. Waller did look at a truck over in the Town of Adams, that is a decent truck, but Berry thinks we can put some repairs on our yellow one and still have a decent truck. The Committee received a letter asking us to put a speedbump in front of Villa Pines on Park Street. People have been complaining that the cars are driving too fast. The Committee suggests getting ahold of the sheriff’s department and using the little buggy that they have that lets people know they are going too fast. That could maybe slow some people down. The Committee tabled crack fillin g. Schultz is going to talk to some companies and do some research on that. The Committee discussed striping and painting of the curbs on Hwy 13. They are going to get some quotes to get that done. The Committee did a drive around and went to the beach and made the decision to put the kayak rental just north of where the sign is down by the boat ramp. They thought that it would be the best place to put that. They don ’t want it over on the san dy area in case they need to get in there with tractors and any equipment, and they don’t want to take up the shady area with the trees because when its hot out people use the shade under those trees. The Old Farmers Club at the Fairgrounds has restrooms now. They have just been paying water charges. They will now start getting sewer charges on top of it. FIRE DISTRICT REPORT Klicko stated that they had 14 calls in March, 8 wildlands and 2 structure fires. They received 3 new member applications. There are some motor issues under warranty on the new fire truck. There’s a vibration in the truck. There are some filings on it because it’s still under warranty. The inspections that they are doing are on track . The fire chief now is doing them personally. It’s a tuff job to do, and a tuff job to keep up on. The chief says that there are businesses that have called him for fire inspections. They are applying for a grant for recruitment and retention, and possibly paid positions. They have credit with Lexipol that can be put towards this new grant to see if they can’t get something out of it. They are selling the other trucks. There is still some maintenance going on. The next meeting will be Thursday May 8that 6:00 p.m. AMBULANCE COMMITTEE REPORT Sonnenberg stated that they elected new officers and filled all their positions. Mike was there and made a presentation. As of that date there were 917 calls, and 72 for that month. It’s pretty average per month. FRIENDSHIP LAKE DISTRICT REPORT Sonnenberg stated that they are having a meeting on Thursday May 9th. He is planning on going to that meeting. Ashworth will also be there . They will also have a special meeting the weekend of memorial day weekend. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON OPERATOR’S LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Oberbeck to approve operator’s license for Joann Krueger, Walter Kruger, Donulus Schantz, Clayton Kisting , Ted Griffith, Lawrenee Yunck and Alan Arndt , motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON PROVISIONAL OPERATOR’S LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to approve provisional operator’s license for Shauna Lauritzen, motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON SODA WATER BEVERAGE LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Soda, Water beverage license for Rocky Racoco , motion carried. CORRESPONDENCE Reuter stated that we have two correspondences. The County Tressure sent a packet that was both emailed to the Board members and handed out at the meeting. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – May 5th, 2025, PAGE 6 The engineer that is putting together the new building where Family Affair burnt down. He has a setback variance request. The variance request will be sent to the zoning board of appeals. SET AGENDA ITEMS FOR MAY 5th MEETING Discussion on the result of the East Lake Street inspection The Raymond Street encroachment ECMAR Repost Being no further business to come before the board, MOTION by Berry, second by Oberbeck to adjourn, motion carried. Meeting ended at 7:08 __________________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Deputy Clerk