Village Board — Minutes

MEETING: AMENDED REGULAR MEETING OF THE VILLAGE BOARD DATE AND TIME: Monday, May 4, 2026 7:00 PM LOCATION: Germantown Village Hall Board Room N112 W17001 Mequon Road MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER: This meeting has been given public notice in accordance with Section 19.83 and 19.84, Wis. Stats, in such form that will apprise the general public and news media of subject matter that is intended for consideration and action. Village President Bob Soderberg called the Village Board meeting to order at 7:02 PM. II. ROLL CALL: Presen t: Trustee Robert Warren, Trustee Meg Cutts, Trustee Scott Hefle, Trustee Jan Miller, Trustee Patrick Kaiser, Trustee Jim Stout, Trustee Terri Kaminski, Village President Bob Soderberg Absent: Trustee Pieper Also Present: Village Clerk Donna Ott, Support Services Manager Gosia Wormsbacher, Village Attorney Brian Sajdak, Interim Village Administrator Mitch Reynolds, Finance Director Matthew Uselding, Water Superintendent Paul Haugen, Community Development Director Jeff Retzlaff, Fire Chief John Delain III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE / MOMENT OF SILENCE: IV. PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Village President Soderberg spoke regarding his attendance at the Chamber of Commerce Community Awards Celebration, the ongoing recruitment for key Village staff members, the recent heavy rainfall, upcoming Village events, new Village trustees, and Village Board goals and governance. V. APPOINTMENTS OF BOARD, COMMITTEE, AND COMMISSION MEMBERS: A. Appointment Spreadsheet (ACTION) Motion: Approve as presented Motioned By: Terri Kaminski Seconded By: Robert Warren Page 2 Yes: Robert Warren, Meg Cutts, Scott Hefle, Jan Miller, Patrick Kaiser, Jim Stout, Terri Kaminski, Bob Soderberg No: None Abstain: None Motion Carried by Voice Vote (Yes 8, No 0, Abstained 0) VI. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS OF PUBLIC INTEREST / COMMITTEE AND DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Trustee Kaminski announced the upcoming Public Works & Highways Committee meeting on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at 5:30 PM. Trustee Cutts announced the upcoming Public Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at 6:00 PM and the upcoming General Government & Finance Committee meeting on Monday, May 18, 2026, at 5:30 PM. Trustee Miller announced the upcoming Tourism Commission meeting on Monday, May 11, 2026, at 5:00 PM and the upcoming Economic Development Commission meeting on Tuesday, May 12, at 6:30 PM. Village Clerk Ott announced the upcoming Open Book and Board of Review on May 7th, at 4:00 PM, and June 4th, at 10:00 AM, respectively. VII. CITIZEN INPUT: (Please be advised per 19.84(2) that information and comment will be received from the public. It is the policy of this municipality that public input be limited to a four (4) minute period per person with a time extension granted at the discretion of the Chairperson. Be advised that there may be limited discussion of the information received but no action will be taken under public comments.) Comments that may be injurious to village personnel or other individuals will not be allowed. Lynne Schauer Bednarz (W156N10121 Pawnee Ct) spoke regarding the Village budget. Melanie Smythe (N140W17938 Cedar Ln) spoke regarding a forensic audit of the Village budget and congratulated the newly elected trustees. A representative of the Germantown Firefighters Local 4854 spoke regarding the scope and budget of the Fire Station 2 project. Charlie Hargan (W169N11504 Biscayne Dr) spoke regarding newly elected officials. Written comments were not read aloud, but are included with these minutes. VIII. CONSENT AGENDA: Motion: Approve as presented Page 3 Motioned By: Robert Warren Seconded By: Meg Cutts Yes: Robert Warren, Meg Cutts, Scott Hefle, Jan Miller, Patrick Kaiser, Jim Stout, Terri Kaminski, Bob Soderberg No: None Abstain: None Motion Carried by Voice Vote (Yes 8, No 0, Abstained 0) A. Meeting Minutes: April 20, 2026 (ACTION) B. Equity Salary Adjustment for Fire Chief Delain (ACTION) C. 2026 Budget Amendment to Carry Over 2025 Funds to FY2026 for Projects Not Completed (ACTION) D. An Ordinance Repealing and Recreating Section 1.50 of the Germantown Municipal Code Relating to Municipal Court Assessments and Fees. (ACTION) IX. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: X. PUBLIC HEARINGS: XI. NEW BUSINESS: A. Temporary Class "B" Beer/"Class B" Wine Application for Deutschstadt Heritage Foundation, Maifest - May 15-17, 2026 (ACTION) Motion: Approve as presented Motioned By: Terri Kaminski Seconded By: Robert Warren Yes: Robert Warren, Meg Cutts, Scott Hefle, Jan Miller, Patrick Kaiser, Jim Stout, Terri Kaminski, Bob Soderberg No: None Abstain: None Motion Carried by Voice Vote (Yes 8, No 0, Abstained 0) B. Resolution Disallowing the Claim of Davine Black (ACTION) Motion: Approve the Resolution disallowing the claim as presented Motioned By: Terri Kaminski Seconded By: Robert Warren Page 4 Yes: Robert Warren, Meg Cutts, Scott Hefle, Jan Miller, Patrick Kaiser, Jim Stout, Terri Kaminski, Bob Soderberg No: None Abstain: None Motion Carried by Voice Vote (Yes 8, No 0, Abstained 0) C. Abacus Architects, Agent for DONTOF LLC, Property Owner, and Basic Metals, Inc. W180 N11819 River Lane; Certified Survey Map (CSM) application to combine two (2) existing parcels into one 7-ac parcel in the Germantown Industrial Park. (ACTION) Motion : Approve subject to the one condition noted Motioned By: Robert Warren Seconded By: Meg Cutts Yes: Robert Warren, Meg Cutts, Scott Hefle, Jan Miller, Patrick Kaiser, Jim Stout, Terri Kaminski, Bob Soderberg No: None Abstain: None Motion Carried by Voice Vote (Yes 8, No 0, Abstained 0) D. Resolution Adopting the Water Supply Service Area Plan of the Germantown Water Utility (ACTION) Motion: Approve the Resolution adopting the WSSAP as presented Motioned By: Meg Cutts Seconded By: Scott Hefle Yes: Robert Warren, Meg Cutts, Scott Hefle, Jan Miller, Patrick Kaiser, Jim Stout, Terri Kaminski, Bob Soderberg No: None Abstain: None Motion Carried by Voice Vote (Yes 8, No 0, Abstained 0) E. Proposal to adopt the 2026 pay rate chart, including recommended classification modifications aligned with market analysis and organizational needs (ACTION) Motion : Approve as presented Motioned By: Terri Kaminski Seconded By: Robert Warren Yes: Robert Warren, Meg Cutts, Scott Hefle, Jim Stout, Terri Kaminski, Bob Soderberg Page 5 No: Jan Miller, Patrick Kaiser Abstain: None Motion Carried by Roll Call Vote (Yes 6, No 2, Abstained 0) F. Consideration to Increase the Pay Range for the Recruitment of Senior Center Coordinator Position. (ACTION) This item was superseded by the action taken to adopt the 2026 Pay Rate Chart in New Business Item E and required no further consideration. G. Discussion regarding the Police and Fire Departments Budgets and Procedures as it relates to the Newly Proposed Police Department Building and Addition to Fire Station (DISCUSSION) Villa ge President Soderberg, Interim Administrator Reynolds, and Fire Chief Delain led discussion regarding the budgets and procedures for the newly proposed Police Department building and the Fire Station. H. Review of the Downgrade and Rating Report by Moody (DISCUSSION) Finance Director Uselding and Interim Administrator Reynolds answered questions from trustees regarding the Moody downgrade and rating report. I. Village Administrator Vacancy. The Village Board may convene into closed session pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.85(1)(c) for the purpose of considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility and then may reconvene in open session to take such action as it deems appropriate. (ACTION) Motion : Enter into Closed Session at 8:53 PM with the Interim Administrator and Innovative Public Advisors in attendance Motioned By: Terri Kaminski Seconded By: Patrick Kaiser Yes: Robert Warren, Meg Cutts, Scott Hefle, Jan Miller, Patrick Kaiser, Jim Stout, Terri Kaminski, Bob Soderberg No: None Abstain: None Motion Carried by Roll Call Vote (Yes 8, No 0, Abstained 0) XII. ADJOURNMENT: Village President Soderberg adjourned the Village Board meeting directly from Closed Session at 10:11 PM. From: crb crb To: Comments Subject: V.B. MEETING 5-4-26 Date: Friday, May 1, 2026 12:19:14 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Hello, We have some concern we would like to voice our opinions about. New business items G &H on the VILLAGE BOARD AGENDA FOR 5-4-26 MEETING. ITEM G: We have been saying why does the police and fire departments get to pick and choose the firm that will do the projects for their department? Yes, they can have all the input they want for the projects. But like we have been saying who is paying for the projects? The departments or the residents /taxpayers? Where are the residents/taxpayer's input in the decisions? After they have picked the firm already. This is not the proper procedure at all! Like we said, it needs to be done, but the proper way! With in BUDGET THAT WE CAN AFFORD TO PAY FOR! KEY WORD IS BUDGET!!! NOT HOW MUCH TO BORROW FOR MORE DEBT!!!! Remember, it was said a home value at $450,000. Is $272. More in taxes. It seems like the ones who voted for this are ok'd with this increase taxes. Don't forget we need to borrow $17 millions to cover for this year's budget! Which is another $172. Increase in taxes too! Does this village have a list of procedures how a project should be handled by employees? Do they follow it? We know for sure, in these 2 projects, the procedures were not follow. The former administer did not enforce it to be done by procedures either. Don't think so! This is how it is coming across at the meetings. Remember the 2050 meetings/ FLOWER SOURCE meetings-means resident's input. Did all the 2050 meetings happen? NOPE!!! Did the village center happen? NOPE!!! But we the residents who live in the village, are now LANDLORDS NIT BY CHOICE EITHER! By the way, what is going at the OLD FLOWER SOURCE? Seems like nothing! Please remember too: New DPW BUILDING started out at $10 millions and grew to almost $40 millions by the time they were done. Yes, was another project that should have been done long ago too! This is how we got a new president and some new trustees to the board. It was stated at the V.B. Meeting last month, the fire department is now over by $2.1 million on the budget for their project! Found this out by a trustee bring it up during the police dept building discussion. Where will this money be found? Seems like it will happen due to not have a construction manager and something else that was not included in the budget. Who should the residents point the finger at for forgetting these things to be included? This is why we have been saying what we have been saying about paying for it! Also, why the procedures are not being follow on a project to done in the village? We believe both projects, before anything else happens, need to go to the CONSTRUCTION OVERSITE COMMITTEE, then should have passed on unto the PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE and finally to the BOARD FOR THE DECISION TO BE DISCUSSED AND MADE AND VOTE ON!! Needs to go over with a "fine tooth comb". There is NO ONE PERSON ON THIS BOARD AND OR IN VILLAGE EMPLOYEES THAT KNOW EVERYTHING THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE ON PROJECTS. Nor do we know. MORE EYES ON IT, THE BETTER IT WILL BE! Remember it's a TEAM THING! Not a department thing! PLEASE REMEMBER WHO IS PAYING FOR THESE PROJECTS!!! Don't forget, these project should have been done long ago! Yes, some members of the old and this board have been on this board for a very long time. NOW WE HAVE TO PAY! OR Maybe put the police dept. On hold for a bit longer. Look again at the location too! ITEM H: How is the MOODY RATING BE EFFECT BY THE BORROWING OF $17milions? KEY WORD: IF this new board does give the approval on the police department building too, how will this effect the rating with MOODY? MOST IMPORTANT HOW WILL THIS EFFECT THE RESIDENTS/TAXPAYERS IN THE INCREASE OF TAXES? Believe the village debt as of now, is $95 millions and growing! Please keep this in mind too: the prices of gas, groceries, and everything and anything a person/family needs to live is up in price's and will continue to raise up. Don't forget about the war, unknow how long that will be. When the war ends, do you really believe the prices on everything will "FALL RIGHT AWAY"? We don't! It goes up real fast, may slowly fall and or not all. HOW WILL ALL THE RESIDENTS BE ABLE AFFORD EVERYTHING THEY NEED TO LIVE ON ,PLUS THE ALL THE INCREASES OF TAXES AND WATER AND SEWER BILL TOO! Don't forget the "NEW PAY RATE CHART " too that they want to vote on! In your discussions on these topics please explain to us, how we will be afford to do everything in the village want. Or Please tell us where the money trees are planted in the village, they we can pick. The Schneider's