January 2025 Minutes

Town of Menomonie Regular Monthly Meeting Thursday January 16, 2025 6:00pm Town Hall E4055 550th Ave. Menomonie Present: Kent Jackson, Brian Johnson, Scott Barnhart and Charisse Sutliff Absent: Nancy Ponto Kent called the Regular Board Meeting to Order at 6:00 pm Approval of Minutes: • November 12, 2024, Regular Meeting* o Brian made a motion to approve, Scott 2nd Carried. • December 17. 2024, Budget Finalization for 2024 • December 17, 2024, Special Elector Budget Meeting • December 17, Regular Board Meeting o Scott made a motion to approve all of the Dec 17th meeting minutes, Brian 2nd Carried. • December 23, 2024, Special Board Meeting o Brian made a motion to approve, Scott 2nd Carried • December 30, 2024, Special Board Meeting o Brian made a motion to approve, Scott 2nd Carried. Public • None Assessor contract approval with Irwin Appraisals (Kevin Irwin) • Kent asked the Board to review the contract provided by Kevin Irwin. 2025 will be a Reevaluation year. • His rate has gone yearly from $11,500 to $12,000/year. • Kevin has kept his pricing very affordable and the rates have not increased hardly at all since 2014. • Brian made a motion to approve the Assessor Contract for 2025. Scott 2nd Carried. • Kent, Charisse and Kevin signed the contract. Discussion and possible approval of a new tandem axle plow truck • Channing Lokken was here from Premier Truck Group of Eau Claire • The truck we ordered in 2023 isn’t available. If we change our model we could possibly, have it by December. • The International isn’t available, we could order a Freightliner 114SD Plus. Specs have been shared with the Board. The suspension is different, it’s what the City of Menomonie uses. It’s tough track suspension instead of the air ride. $151,300 vs $151,042 • Trade in with the Kenworth isn’t recommended, it will bring better trade in on the market. • The Kenworth is under powered, this new truck will have another 100 horse power. • They are willing to make adjustments/trimmings once the truck is in possession. • Warranty starts once we take possession. In Service date is date it’s delivered and working. 3 years on Engine and 2 years on everything else. • Brain thought it was a good idea, Matt said it will save us money in the long run. Scott asked what we needed to do to cancel the order on the International. Kent clarified it wasn’t binding unless the truck was being built. International will require a letter to cancel and why. • Scott asked about delivery date, Channing said he had a VIN number and if put the order in they will start the build. • Scott made a motion to approve ordering the Freightliner, Brian 2nd Carried. • Channing will send a DocuSign and Kent will take care of it. Contract Approval for Matt • A new employee contract was drafted with changes effective Feb 1st. Pay would be going to $30/hour and Insurance would go from paying their policy to $600/month. It is no longer provided by the Town. Sick hours are banked at 60 per year, available at the beginning of the year. • Brian made a motion to approve, Scott 2nd Carried. Contract Approval for Cody • A new employee contract was drafted with changes effective Feb 1st. Pay would be going to $30/hour and Insurance would go from paying their policy to $600/month. It is no longer provided by the Town. Sick hours are banked at 60 per year, available at the beginning of the year. • Cody will receive 50 hours of vacation his first year. • Scott made a motion to approve, Brian 2nd Carried. Employee – Chairman Report • Matt has been deep cleaning the shop, patching holes and snow plowing, cutting brush, getting spec prices on the truck. • The Kenworth one cylinder on the wing is down. The wing is not useable. • He’s welding a chain holder so they aren’t laying around rusting. • Serviced the Single Axle and everything went well. Budget Update • Nancy will be meeting with Kent; this will be tabled. Discussion of the sale to the Town of Dunn Town of Menomonie’s half of the Vermeer brush chipper. • Kent has had conversations with Matt, we just don’t use it as much with the boom mower. We can rent them if we have a road project where it’s needed. • Matt feels it’s faster to haul the brush away rather than transport the chipper. • Kent will contact Forrest and discuss the sale with him. • Brian is in favor of having the conversations. Scott agreed. Approval 3rd Payment to Albrightson Excavating for 330th Street Project • Kevin from Cedar Corp is here to answer any questions on the 3rd payment to Albrightson. • Brain made a motion to approve the third payment of $324,514.83. Scott 2nd Carried. • Kent has requested the loan. Update Town Services Charges for 2025 • Kent made a motion to approve the new Town Service charges. Brian 2nd Carried. Drop Off Site Report • Brian Burkle said the Holiday hours were very appreciated. Being open Thursday over the Holidays made Saturday much more manageable. • Kent gave the Ok to have Richard work and repair the step to the shed. Plan Commission Report • Meeting will be held Thursday with Cedar Corp to start to work on the Comprehensive Plan. There is a CSM request coming in Feb. Scott is learning his new role as the Chairperson. Clerk Reports • Charisse reported that the end of the year tax preparations are done and W2s would go out this week. • The Spring Primary is Feb 18th and Absentee ballots are going out on January 28th. Prep is being completed for that mailing. Board reports • Brian called Matt that there was tree hanging over Rudiger Road, Matt took care of it. • Scott will attend a City Town meeting on Jan 28th at 4pm in the Dunn Co Hwy building. • Kent said Board of Review training will be in March, Kent just wanted to put it on the Board’s radar. There will be a virtual option. • Kent stated we adopted the cemetery in 2011 but cannot find a cemetery ordinance. Kent got a called for a burial this week. We don’t have an ordinance that says you can’t burry in the winter. We can put in an ordinance that puts those parameters. We will have the cemetery mapped this year; it’s in the budget. Kent recommended that we would craft an ordinance so that we better navigate requests. • Town of Tainter will present next Board Meeting to sign the joint document that repeals the no wake ordinance. Town of Tainter will then send it to the DNR. Vouchers / Review /Approve • The budget and vouchers were reviewed by the Board. • Scott made a motion to approve V ouchers 22300- 22350. Brian 2nd Carried. Set date for next regular Board meeting: • Tuesday February 11th, 2025 at 6 pm. Adjourn • Brian made a motion to adjourn at 7:15 pm, Kent 2nd Carried.