Public Works — Minutes

VILLAGE OF FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday, February 26th, 2025– Page 1 The Public Works Committee meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. in the Public Works Building. In attendance were President Tony Sindelar, Chairman Jason Pierce, committee members Bob Berry and Melvin Waller; also in attendance was Public Works employee Ron Beeman and Jerry Sonnenberg The agenda for the meeting was: 1} Roll Call 2} Approve meeting minutes from January 8th, 2025 3} Citizen input 4} Discuss Kayaks at beach/location and requirements 5} Committee to meet with employee and discuss possible concerns 6} Discuss table and chair replacement for the Village Hall 7} Discuss shoreline ordinances 8} Inspect red plow truck and make recommendations if needed 9} Adjournment A majority of the Village Board may be present but no Board action is contemplated. Approval of January 8th, 2025, Minutes Motion by Berry, second by Waller to approve the January 8th Public Works Minutes, motion carried. Citizen Input No citizen input Discuss Kayaks at beach/location and requirements After discussing, the Committee decided to recommend to the Village Board that the Village let the Chamber of Commerce put the kayaks at the beach. Placement will be picked as a Board. Committee to meet with employee and discuss possible concerns Beeman stated some of his concerns such as the 1-ton and the flatbed aren’t fixable. The Committee had some information on trucks that Sindelar received as an email from Ascendance Trucks. Lance from Ascendance told Sindelar not to worry about the price because they will negotiate the price since we are a municipality. Sindelar stated that the emails will give them a ballpark idea of what the pricing will be. Pierce stated that it looks like we are going to have a tough year with the equipment. It seems like everything is dyeing on us. Beeman stated that the Village just needs a 1-ton truck for plowing. That’s all he used to use. Pierce stated that it would be nice if we could get 1 vehicle and use it for many things. Some of the big trucks will work for plowing and hauling brush but not moving and hauling snow. Sonnenberg asked Beeman how big of a truck he thought the Village needed? Beeman stated that he thought we would need a 350. Waller stated that if they went with a stainless-steel box, it would add another 5 years to the life of a truck. Otherwise after 8 years you are starting to rust out of everything. He thinks that’s a very important factor, even if it’s going to cost the Village an extra $4000 for stainless steel it will be well worth it. Berry asked what we have right now in our budget for equipment? Sindelar stated that it was around $76,000. Waller asked if the Village was going to have to finance some of the new vehicle cost. Sindelar stated that the Village had to finance some of the loader that we have. It all comes down to figuring out what the needs are and taking that back to the Finance Committee, figure out what the Village needs are overall. Then plan accordingly. Whether we can pay for it in-house or if we’ll need a loan. There’s a lot of grants out there, it’s just a matter of we would need somebody who knows how to wright a grant and knows what you’re looking for. That’s one thing we’ve been lacking here for a while is the ability to wright a grant. There are some grant writers out there that will wright grants for you and the fees are built right into the grant itself. We need to take the time to do a little bit of the leg work to look into the grants or find a person that can help us do that. He stated that we can’t dip into any other funds to help with the equipment. Pierce asked if there was a vehicle that they could buy that would be able to do everything we need it to? Berry answered that with a plow truck you have a sander, if you want to use it for hauling snow you have to take that sander off. It’s a pain in the butt. Beeman stated that the flatbed truck shouldn’t be hauling water for sewer jetting anymore, and that it’s not roadworthy. He stated that he doesn’t want to be liable if something goes wrong with our equipment and he’s the one driving it. Waller came in earlier in the day to look at the yellow plow truck and the setup of the plow is poorly thought out. He feels we need to get a contractor to replace the edge. Beeman stated that he would like to make another $1.00 an hour. Pierce stated that it would have to go to the Finance Committee, then before the Board. Waller stated that Beeman was going to be responsible for doing a lot of training for the new person. Berry stated that they can look into it. Pierce asked Beeman before moving on to the next item if he had any other concerns, or things we’re missing that he thinks we need before we get a new helper? PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday, February 26th, 2025– Page 2 Beeman stated that we could use another helper down the line. Discuss table and chair replacement for the Village Hall Beeman stated that we have 5 tables that are bad. He is hoping to go through the chairs and take out the bad ones. Beeman stated that Grande Cheese offered to help out with a few tables. Waller asked if we need to replace all the tables? Beeman stated that he would just replace 5 for now, and then down the line get a few more. He stated that the welds are breaking on the tables, and that they are starting to chip, they are dented in. Sonnenberg presented a book that the office received so they could get an idea on how much tables would cost. He stated that the plastic tables are a lot lighter. Pierce stated that as far as the tables go, do we want to wait until Beth starts and have someone bring samples of tables and chairs in to see what kinds we want? Sindelar stated that at the Coop they have had samples come in and they try them out to see if they will work, so he knows that something that companies do. He can get the Committee the information. Discuss shoreline ordinances Berry stated that he’s still working through it. He knows the Lake District wants all kinds of stuff that he doesn’t necessarily agree with. We do need to have something because right now what we have is basically nothing. Sonnenberg stated that we don’t have to have one. If we do have one, it needs to be easy to read so that the residents can understand it right off the bat. Berry stated that who would be responsible for it? The county and townships can land back on Land and Water to take care of it. As for the shoreline ordinances, he thinks we should table it for now until everyone can read through it, and get the new attorney involved. We need to decide what we want for ourselves in the Village. Sonnenberg stated that the new attorney called him the other day, and this was one of their discussions. Sonnenberg asked who had jurisdiction and how do we make changes to the board if we’re responsible for it. We need to look at that and see if it’s us that has jurisdiction. Our attorney is going to investigate that for us. Pierce asked Beeman about moving the buoys at the beach. How easy is it to move them? The weed harvester would like them to move to clean up the water around the beach area a few times a year. Berry stated that part of the water is all open on the west side. They can take their harvester in there anytime to clean up those weeds. That’s something we as a Public Works Committee need to discuss is what do we need out in the water for buoys. We might need to do some research because we’re a public beach. Are there rules and regulations to follow to put the buoys out there. Pierce stated if they want to get the harvester in there a couple times a year would it be a big deal to move the small buoys? Beeman stated that it would not. Inspect red plow truck and make recommendations if needed Pierce stated that this truck has $12,000 in repairs that it needs. Waller looked it over. He was looking at the hinges, and the springs. After discussing it the Committee decided not to repair it for that cost. Sindelar stated that as it is right now, we have already spent $4,500 on it in repairs. If we sold it, we would be lucky to get that out of it. Pierce stated that they will make the recommendation not to fix the truck. Adjournment Motion by Berry, second Sonnenberg to adjourn the meeting, motion carried. ___________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Deputy Clerk