2025-11-11 VB mtg minutes WEB

VILLAGE BOARD OF CLEVELAND, WISCONSIN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2025 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/ROLL CALL/AGENDA APPROVAL . Village President Jarrod Jackett called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance at 6:00pm on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, in the Manitowoc County Training Room at Lakeshore College, 1290 North Ave, Cleveland, Wisconsin. Board Present: Jarrod Jackett, Village President John Ader Jon Hoffman Jake Holzwart Becky Paasch Tom Warosh Board Absent: Rob Burkhard (excused) Staff Present: Eric Fisher, Chief of Police Stacy Grunwald, Director of Village Services Stacey Wilker, Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Motion Holzwart/Hofmann to approve the agenda as posted; carried without negative vote. II. YEAR 2026 BUDGET PREPARATION. President Jackett noted the goal for the meeting was to sufficiently complete the General Fund budget to authorize publication of a summary for the public hearing on December 2. Director Grunwald noted it was a strong budget. It used conservative revenue estimates, added only one new ongoing program for infrastructure maintenance, contained operating costs, kept multiple projects moving forward, funded capital investments without using debt, and added savings. She anticipated a sufficient carry forward from 2025 to manage the 2026 operating deficit, estimated at $22,000. The Village Board reviewed the unassigned fund balance, governmental committed funds, 2025 Village Board meeting pay estimate, staff’s budget notes, and the draft General Fund budget, updated with information from prior meetings and staff reviews. Discussion is summarized below. a. The unassigned fund balance on 12/31/24 was $940,877; of that, $383,904 was available to offset 2026 expenditures and add to committed funds. At the end of the meeting, the Board decided to use the unassigned funds necessary to balance the 2026 budget (estimated to be $191,331); add $50,000 to the street maintenance fund; and add remaining unassigned monies to the Park Improvement Fund (estimated to be $67,573.) b. The 12/31/25 unassigned fund balance would likely be available in Quarter 2, 2026. The number would be available in January if the Village operated on a cash basis, but the Village uses a modified accrual system which requires completing tax roll processing, setting up accounts receivable and payable, completing allocations between the funds, among other accounting procedures. c. The Rainy Day Fund is to be recommitted as a Water Quality Fund, available to advance monies to the utilities for water quality initiatives. The Village Board started this fund as a way of ensuring at least three months of operating expenses were held back each year. The Bond Proceeds and Recodification Funds remained at zero balances. d. The capital projects page was eliminated due to completion of the street projects. All capital purchases and investments are identified as ‘Other Financing Uses’ at the end of the expenditures section. e. No changes were made to the budgets for TID No. 2 and revenues. f. Director Grunwald provided summarized expenditure changes appearing in the budget and broke them out by costs that are ongoing, continuing expenditures and those that are specific to 2026. Even though the unassigned funds needed to balance the budget totaled $191,331, only $22,020 of that amount represented ongoing expenses. The one -time costs were primarily capital purchases and investments. g. Village Board wages were reduced by $2000 based on the 2025 meeting pay estimate and historical data. h. Supplementation of the municipal code (an ongoing cost) replaced recodification (a one -time expense.) Recodification was a highly time-intensive project and there were other higher-priority items to address. i. Postage expense was lowered for 2026 due to the reduction in Clerk’s Office staffing. One of the eliminated positions was to focus on communications, including direct mailings and it was unclear if remaining staff could pick up the extra work. This will be revisited for the 2027 budget. j. Travel and mileage in the Clerk’s Office, Planning and Zoning, and Economic Development were lowered on an ongoing basis due to the increasing use of online training and meetings. k. Accounting services were increased in 2026 to ensure there were sufficient funds to continue the transition in accountants and updates to the accounting software and practices. l. Village Hall electricity expenses were increased based on anticipated and prior-year expenses. Village Hall mold testing was added on an ongoing basis as a safety expense. HVAC installation with UV disinfection was moved to 2026 as a one- time expense. m. Building inspection wages were increased due to inflation. n. The E Madison Ave street repair was added as general street maintenance in 2026. o. Street sweeping funds were kept in the budget. The Village was having difficulty locating a vendor but a broom attachment for the proposed new tractor would help the Public Works Department. There was also significant glass and other debris to be removed, after GFL completes garbage and recycling pickup. p. An annual storm system televising program was added beginning in 2026. Storm system GIS costs were reduced since all work will be for records maintenance. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, VILLAGE OF CLEVELAND, WISCONSIN PAGE 2 Minutes of the Tuesday, November 11, 2025, Meeting q. Equipment maintenance was increased in Recycling for Kubota repairs and Parks for new fire extinguishers at the Dairyland Park shelter and overall increases in fire extinguisher maintenance costs. r. Capital purchases included park security cameras for Veterans Park (upgrade/replace an aged system) and Dairyland Park (new building); new tractor and attachments (with budget increase to $80,000 to include attachments); and a permanent generator for Westview lift station. s. Staff will check into combining all security systems under one vendor, including the yard waste site. The systems will require telephone or internet access. After discussion, the Board kept the security system, telephone, and internet budget line items the same as written. t. Director Grunwald noted the summary of governmental funds hadn’t updated correctly; this would be fixed in the published summary. Options for the VFW Clubhouse will be discussed in 2026. Trustee Warosh noted the 2022 and 2023 budgets included expenditures for the Westview lift station and questioned why the generator was dropped from the budget. Director Grunwald explained the funds didn’t appear after 2023 because the project was completed; work included painting the interior of the wet well and upgrading the electrical connections, among other task s. Trustee Warosh stated he was unaware of that work. Trustee Paasch asked how debt service was paid. The Village uses a combination of tax levy, special assessments, and grants (when available) to pay the general fund’s share of debt service. Director Grunwald reviewed an email sent by Trustee Burkhard during the meeting. All topics were addressed during the Board’s discussion, except installation of tennis and pickleball courts. Trustee Ader questioned why the tennis and pickleball courts weren’t included in the budget when the Board identified this as a 2026 project in the Capital Improvement Plan. President Jackett explained his belief the Village couldn’t afford to do all identified projects and he believed it was a greater priority to provide matching funds for money already raised by Cleveland Fish & Game to construct a boat launch. The Board also anticipated more unassigned funds being available for the project. During discussion, a duplicate deduction from the 12/31/24 unassigned funds balance was identified; this money was added to the Park Improvement Fund to support either tennis/pickleball courts, the boat launch, or any other park project identified b y the Board. President Jackett suggested the Public Works and Utilities Committee take up the topic and Trustee Ader offered to obtain pricing. The general fund budget will be sent to CLA for comment. Motion Holzwart/Warosh to accept the General Fund budget with the identified changes to the committed funds and proceed with publication of the budget summary; carried with one negative vote (Paasch, who hadn’t sufficient time to review the budget due to a vacation and preferred the utility budgets be included.) IV. SCHEDULE YEAR 2026 BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING. The Year 2026 budget hearing was scheduled to begin at 5:30pm on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at the Cleveland Village Hall. V. NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2025, 6PM VI. ADJOURNMENT. Motion Ader/Warosh to adjourn; carried without negative vote. The meeting adjourned at 8:14pm. Respectfully submitted, Stacy Grunwald Director of Village Services Approved on 11/18/25