Utility Minutes 03.25.2026

VILLAGE UTILITY COMMISSION MINUTES Wednesday, March 25, 2026 1. CALL TO ORDER at 4:00 pm UTILITY ROLL CALL: A. BERENS, B. BOHR, M. TELFORD, D. SEILER, K. HANDRICK JR. all present 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS a. Virtual Meeting Guidelines i. This meeting will be recorded and available upon request b. Public Participation at Government Meetings Virtual Attendance: Kevin O’Brien – Record Review 4. APPROVAL OF JANUARY 28, 2026 MEETING MINUTES MOTION – Approve Minutes from January 28, 2026 Meeting Motion made by Handrick second by Bohr. Motion passed by voice vote. 5. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF PAYMENT OF BILLS Commission members questioned the following Bill Payments: Check 49340 – Marathon Plumbing – repiping at Meadows of Marathon to fit new meter Check 49342 – Menard, Inc. – incorrect coding Check 49385 – JF Ahren – 24-hour fire alarm monitoring system annual fee Check 49430 – Premium Waters, Inc. – distilled water for labs Check 49455 – Vierbicher Associates – trailer park lift station MOTION – Approve Payment of Bills Motion made by Handrick second by Telford. Motion passed by voice vote. a. Review 1st Quarter Budget Status Administrator Cherek provided a status update for the Water, Wastewater, and overall Utility Budgets for the 1st quarter. A couple key items he pointed out were: - The revenues are on track for the year at 24.3% for the Wastewater and 20.38% for the Water. Water is lower due to little pumphouse revenue for this time of year. - Water meter account is over as Water Operator, Aaron Martin, purchases all meters at the beginning of the year to have inventory in stock for the year. Come 4th quarter Cherek will review Water Budget to see where he can pull from to cover meter account. - Administrator Cherek budgeted an estimate for insurance evenly over all budgets with new insurance provider. After invoice came in it was determined the Utility will take on a larger portion of the insurance expenses than the rest of the Village budgets. - With 2 water main breaks already fixed for the year the maintenance of mains account is at 63.46% of the budgeted amount. 6. PUBLIC UTILITY OPERATIONS & FACILITIES REPORT Ken Bloom, Director of Public Works, presented the Commission with a report of the daily operations and projects for the Utility for February and March. The full report can be found in the Agenda Packet. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Update on Well #5 The Village, with the help of Strand Associates, submitted the DNR well site investigation report. The Safe Drinking Water Loan application will be submitted in April and construction bidding is on track to begin in August. Submission of the loan application is requiring a water rate study by the PSC. Last simplified rate study by the Village was done in 2016. Cherek provided a proposal from Ehlers Financial Advisors for the rate study. Cost to Ehlers is quoted at $17,750 payable by the Safe Drinking Water Loan and included in project budget. Cassie Lang Village Clerk / Deputy Treasurer At the April 29, 2026 meeting, Ehlers will present Phase 1 of the rate study, a long-range cash flow analysis, used to determine if the Commission is better off doing a phased rate increase over multiple years or a full increase right away. b. Update on Cure-In-Place-Piping Project Visu-Sewer began televising and cleaning sanitary sewers the beginning of March. They noted a couple issue spots that will need attention before the cure-in-place piping stage of the project. The current project budget has a contingency of $196,067.25. Sections on 8th St, 4th St, Pine St and 3rd St will be added to the CIPP scope of work. About 2,770 lineal feet will be included using about $108,000 of contingency money. Remainder of contingency will be used to clean and televise approximately 4,530 lineal feet of older mains. The week of April 13th is the anticipated week the CIPP portion of the project is set to begin and notices will start being delivered to residents. They foresee completing about 2 blocks a day and residents will not be left without sewer use overnight. c. Update on 4th Street Lift Station As per the January 28th meeting, Bloom and Cherek reported they tested extra weight on the base plate of the motor and the cavitation issue did not resolve. Smith & Loveless ordered a dual port impell er to match Vierbicher’s recommendation of 100 gallons per minute at 65 feet of total dynamic head, based on several drawdown tests. Propellor from S&L will be no charge to the Utility. William Reid will be on site to install new impeller along with a motor they are refurbishing. d. Discuss Draft WPDES (Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit Bloom shared that both the Village and Marathon Cheese submitted comments in regards to the draft WDPES Permit in hopes it would help reduce testing required per the draft. After the 30-day public comment period, Bloom reported on the updated permit with a few key items: - pH monitoring of water discharged to the river decreased from 7 days a week to 5 days. This would eliminate the need for utility employees to come in for wastewater testing on the weekends. - Ammonia effluent decreased from 5 days of testing in the draft to 3 days. - Sampling frequency increased for both influent and effluent BOD, CBOD and total suspended solids from 2 times to 3 times per week. Bloom intends to ask if they would reconsider dropping the influent BOD sampling to once per month. When CBOD limits are required, influent monitoring must include both CBOD and BOD, both of which the Utility monitors regularly. - Phosphorus sampling frequency remained the same, but limits increased. The Utility is now allowed 1.0 mg/L up from .8 and 1.73 lbs per day up from 1.55 lbs. - PFOS testing will be required once every 2 months. After 2 years of sampling, Bloom will submit reports to determine if the Utility will need to create a PFOS Minimization Plan. e. Update on Engineering Services Contract Renewal with Strand Associates Cherek presented the Commission with a Task Order from Strand Associates to provide engineering services outside of the Well 5 project for an estimated $10,000 from March 30, 2026 thru March 30, 2027. This is a standard contract with Stand Associates. MOTION – Approve Task Order Contract with Strand Associates Motion made by Handrick second by Seiler. Motion passed by voice vote. 8. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion on Chestnut St Water Main Break Bloom and Cherek informed the Commission that the water main break that they had been searching for since December was found on Chestnut St between 8th and 9th with the help of Wisconsin Rural Water Association. The water main was located directly above a broken clay sanitary sewer main that provided a place for the water to go making it hard to detect. Both the water main and a portion of the sanitary sewer main were repaired on February 11th. 9. SCHEDULED MEETINGS a. Regular Meeting: Wednesday, April 29, 2026 – 4:00 pm b. Special Meetings as Needed 10. ADJOURNMENT at 5:33 pm Motion to adjourn made by Seiler second by Telford. Motion passed by voice vote.