Town Board Meeting — Minutes

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE Vinland Town Hall 6085 County Road T Oshkosh, WI 54904 Monday, July 13, 2026 @ 6:45 PM Chairman O’Connell called the public hearing to order at 6:45pm inviting the audience to participate with questions or comments on Winnebago Co culvert application for Maxwell/026-004500301. M. Woods said he doesn’t live in the Town of Vinland and isn’t on the Co variance committee but is in favor of the culvert. O’Connell asked the audience 2 more times for any questions or comments. Public hearing closed at 6:53pm. Town Board Meeting Minutes Monday, July 13, 2026 The meeting was called to order at 7pm by Chairman O’Connell attending via phone. He began with the Pledge of Allegiance. Also present were Supervisors Devens and McNamee, Clerk/Treasurer Brazee, Deputy C/T Starr and 7 others. Review/Comment: Fire Department minutes of 7/7/26: Accepted as submitted by McNamee/Devens. 1st Responder minutes of 6/9/26: Devens mentioned that the dept was denied the Compeer Grant. The FD and 1st responders share a tax ID number and the FD was awarded a grant last year. Accepted as submitted by McNamee/Devens. Approval of Town Board Minutes: Board meeting of 6/8/26: No questions or comments. Motion to approve as submitted by Devens/seconded by McNamee. Motion carried. Special Board Meeting Minutes of 6/29/26: Motion to approve as submitted made by McNamee/seconded by O’Connell. Motion carried. County Supervisor’s Report: County Supervisor Matt Woods came from the Co Planning and Zoning meeting which addressed data centers in Winnebago Co. The Co P&Z made a recommendation to put a 12-month moratorium on data centers. This will allow the P&Z administration time to update definitions and put rules in place that would allow to bane them or put restrictions on data centers. The Co P&Z only covers 4 townships (Algoma, Neenah, Nekimi, Omro). Only towns that have county zoning will fall under the co moratorium. Towns that have adopted their own town zoning can fallow suit. He suggests that if the town wants to put a moratorium on the centers that they wait until after the Co Board approves the PZ recommendation. Then the town can take that language and contact the town atty and figure out what works for the TOV. Woods also is questioning why the Co POWTS on the tax bills has more than double in 6 yrs. He’s asking the questions and awaiting answers. He also mentioned that when he was a town official, he wasn’t satisfied with how the Co P&Z would communicate with the towns. He encouraged that to have been communication with the towns, better explanation, etc. He wants to work on improving the relationship between the Co and towns. The next Co Board meeting is Tuesday, July 21. J. Maxwell mentioned that she contacted a septic service company and was told that the county sets the price. The Vinland Board and Woods argued that is not the case. Woods added that there is an electronic system that the company who pumps the tank will upload the info. In regards to CO POWTS, Brazee asked Woods if he is going to find out what the fee is for. He said he was told it is for the maintenance of the system. He’s trying to find out if the system has been in place for years and more people are being added to the system then why is the price going up. He’s trying to understand if it’s a 3rd party software that they are buying or a licensing fee. Public Input: Amanda Bell was in attendance. She is running for Congress in the 6th district. She has a background as a water scientist and attended the Winnebago Co P&Z meeting regarding data centers as water is near and dear to her heart. Building and Zoning: O’Connell will follow up with Keller if needed and with Dobbe regarding zoning. No other questions or comments. Financial Report for June: Brazee noted total of all accounts= $684,517.06. Motion to approve the financial report was made by Devens/seconded by McNamee. Motion carried. Discussion/Take Action Items: 1. Invoices: Motion made by McNamee to approve invoices/seconded by Devens. Motion carried. 2. WI State Firefighters Association: The town fire dept and 1st responders were invited to become members of the WI Firefighters Association. The association has over 10k members and are looking to add the TOV. There is an opportunity to add life insurance policy coverage. The premium is $30/member and accidental death coverage benefits pay $5k off-duty death and $10k while on duty. The current policy pays $15k. Brazee is waiting to hear back from the insurance company to see what the cost would be to up coverage of the current policy. Motion to table until we hear back from our current carrier made by Devens/seconded by McNamee. Motion carried. 3. Animal control person: There has been one person interested in the animal control position. She is willing to do the job 7am to 9pm and possibly some weekends. The interested person recommends we no longer pick up cats and only lost/stray dogs. This will deter people from picking up feral cats which in turn costs the town money. The former animal control person suggested the person the town hires take a class at the Neenah Animal Shelter on how to approach skittish animals and the town purchase a catchpole and live trap. Brazee spoke to Town of Neenah and they don’t have an animal control person. If there is a stray dog, they call the sheriff’s dept. They also bill the person who drops off a cat to the animal shelter. Brazee called the non-emergency number to take Sara off of their call list. O’Connell asked who has been doing the job since Sara left. The town hasn’t had anyone and if there is a call the sheriff would have to respond. The sheriff’s dept doesn’t bill the town. Motion made by Devens to go without an animal control officer for 1 year and see how things go/seconded by McNamee. Motion carried. 4. Text Code amendment for Winnebago Co Planning & Zoning: Chapter 23, Article 7, Division 1, section 23.7-3(10): This topic was tabled last month. O’Connell spoke with Julie Rosenau with the Co she confirmed the town only needed to be notified of the change but no resolution is needed. Motion to close with no action need made by McNamee/seconded by Devens. Motion carried. 5. Municipal Records Inventory: Two town residents went through some town records organizing and some digitizing records. They produced a binder for each board member and the office with a few items they felt the board should review. They had some recommendations for the town. Board review and approve the 2018-2028 WI retention records: This is what Brazee goes by the municipal record retention schedule which is current. Board request the Clerk write a letter to the WI Historical Society asking for a review of current record inventory: This allows the town to archive records at the Historical Society. It doesn’t make sense to send records to the WI Historical Society on records that have a destroy date. The ones that we want them to have that would have a permanent retention period. We will have to look at what we have and see if there is enough to move to the Historical Society. Cemetery records: Brazee looked at WI Statutes to see what was required. She referred to what Joan and Julie put together. O’Connell stated that our current record keeping doesn’t include everything and he guesses this is the case for every town and cemetery due to how things evolve. O’Connell suggested the GIS software offered by Cedar Corp offered will help to archive the cemetery info and location of all cemetery plots modernizing our cemetery record keeping. Brazee suggested that the board meet with Joan and Julie to review and have a question-and-answer session. 6. Cedar Corp – GIS software: Cedar Corp presented the board with a software that would be a great asset for organizing and digitizing cemetery records and mapping the cemeteries. The program is custom built to our needs and has the capability to do road mapping/record keeping to assist with the WISLER and applying for grants. The yearly fee is $700 and the startup for the cemetery is $6,500. O’Connell mentioned taking this money out of the cemetery fund to offset the cost. The cemetery budget is for the maintenance and burial fees. We do have a reserve acct. Brazee mentioned using it as a capital outlay project. McNamee is waiting for a proposal from Robert E. Lee and Associates on a similar service. O’Connell suggested a meeting to look at both Cedar and REL simultaneously and also discuss how to fund the programs and training. O’Connell made a motion to table until the town receives a second proposal and can then make a decision/seconded by McNamee. Motion carried. 7. Ordinance 2026-006; Amendment to Chapter 217-6(D); Emergency Services: This ordinance amendment will allow the town to collect emergency services when an individual goes to muni court to include statutory and applicable attorney fees. Devens made a motion to adopt ordinance 2026-006/seconded by McNamee. Motion carried. 8. Resolution 005-2026; Intergovernmental Cooperative Recycling Consolidation Grant for Calendar Year 2027: This is a yearly collaborative agreement between cities, towns, and villages in Winnebago Co regarding recycling, recycling education and the like. Motion to approve resolution 005-2026 made by McNamee/seconded by Devens. Motion carried. 9 North end of Woodenshoe Rd repair (South of County Rd G): Devens mentioned the edging is breaking off. This is not part of the road that was recently chipped sealed. The Co estimated $2,500-$3,000 to mill, pave and do shouldering. Devens will contact the Co Hwy Dept. McNamee made a motion to approve repair of the north end of Woodenshoe Rd/seconded by Devens. Motion carried. 10. Winnebago County culvert application Maxwell/ 02600400301: No one came forward with concerns during the public hearing session and the town isn’t aware of neighboring property owners having an issue. O’Connell mentioned that this is a county code situation. If it were a town road there wouldn’t be an issue, the distances between driveways meets town code. Co requires 600’ due to the fact that County Rd G is county highway and is a high traffic road with cars running at highway speeds. He asked the Maxwells if they are claiming a hardship and they responded that it is not a hardship. O’Connell will fill out the form the county is requiring when he is back from vacation. The form consists of town findings and town conditions; the town doesn’t really have an opinion. The town doesn’t necessarily object to it but the town can’t really approve it because it is a county thing. The town won’t put any conditions on it. Motion made by O’Connell that the town found via its public input meeting no concerns or issues that were brought forward by neighboring property owners and the town has no objection to the culver being placed as desired by the Maxwells/seconded by Devens. Sharing of Correspondence: McNamee received another phone call from a lady on Breezewood Lane that the speed limit sign is still not posted. This is her second call. Devens thought he spoke to the Co Hwy Dept about putting a sign up. McNamee said he thought the board was going to discuss town speed limits. Brazee added Ross had sent an email about how to change do a onetime change without having to do a speed study. McNamee asked if it can be added to the agenda. Brazee received an update from Dave Tovar. The town book is progressing but not as quickly as he would like. He is hopeful it will be complete by years find. Devens said the Woodenshoe Rd and Skeleton Bridge Road Culverts were placed last week. Motion to adjourn made by McNamee/seconded by O’Connell. Meeting adjourned at 7:57pm. Respectfully submitted, Maggie Starr Deputy Clerk/Treasurer ______________________________________ Chairman, Don O’Connell