Special Town Board Meeting — Minutes

1 MINUTES Special Town Board Budget Workshop Meeting Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 4:00 pm Linn Conference Room W3728 Franklin Walsh St. Zenda, WI 53195 Held in-person Only Chairman Weiss called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. Present at roll call were Supervisors Zimmerman, Livingston-excused, Leith, Palmer-excused, Chairman Weiss also present were Clerk Morris and Administrator/Treasurer David Zimmerman. Discussion and Action on Establishing a New Polling Location Located at N2490 Cisco Rd for future Elections: M. Zimmerman/Leith motioned to approve N2490 Cisco Rd for future elections for WisVote. Motion Carried. Clerk Alyson Morris stated that she was contacted by Pastor Kelly of Chapel on the Hill, currently undergoing a name change, and was informed that the parish hall that Linn uses as the north shore polling location will be undergoing reconstruction October through January and therefore cannot be used as a polling location on November 3rd for the General Election. She did offer for the Town to use another building on campus. Alyson contacted the County and the State to ensure this was handled properly. Clerk Morris is asking the Board to approve using the theatre at N2490 Cisco Rd for a Linn polling location. It is a state requirement that the Board approves their polling places. Consider a motion to convene into closed session: Leith/M. Zimmerman motioned to move into closed session per WI Statue sec 19.85(1)(c) at 4:03 p.m. Motion Carried. a. Closed session according to Wisconsin Statues section per 19.85(1)(c) - considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of public employees. I. Police Union Contract Roll Vote: Supervisors Zimmerman-yes, Leith-yes, Chairman Weiss- yes Motion to reconvene into open session: Leith/M. Zimmerman motioned to move into open session at 4:38 pm. Motion Carried. Possible discussion of/taking of action regarding closed session matters: Nothing to Discuss 2027 Town Budget Workshop-Discussion Only: Fire / EMS – Dennis Dewkowski said the total proposed budget for next year comes to $2,214,575. That includes all staff and costs. That is a $97,504 increase or 4.61% change. This budget is figured assuming all senior staff will be working in Linn, to be having the highest possible numbers in the estimate plus admin fee and north shore coverage. $86,000 of the increase is on staffing, $10,000 for fireboat repairs, $10,000 for work on lights, generator, door seals, and an additional $12,050 in medical 2 supplies. Other line items remain flat as they don’t have many years of history to compare. Chairman Weiss asked Dennis for information that would support the 36.82% increase for staffing. He said 4% CV A increase, three lieutenants that will be promoted, and health insurance will have a 2% increase. They are standardizing equipment on each side of the lake. One cardiac monitor has to be updated/outfitted. Chairman Weiss said that Dennis’ numbers were off. He asked if he would go back and rework. He may have been working off of the wrong form. Five-year capital plan – Chairman Weiss asked Dennis to get the years, and the dollar amounts to match. Some items were accidentally placed in two different years. He briefly discussed 2% dues and what it covers and what it does not. Police – Chief Graham Gunyon presented his proposed budget. Income sources have stayed flat for the last two years, and he doesn’t predict them to change. Police salaries, FICA, Medicare, and retirement are all contingent upon negotiations. Police Investigations will remain flat at $1000. Immunizations and screenings $500, Youth Outreach and Education flat at $3000. As for Police Maintenance; Fleet Service and Repair $10,000, Tires and Parts $3,000, Weapons Service and Repairs $2,000. Mobile Broadband increased $3000 if the Board agrees to go with individual cell phones which they will talk about later. Police Uniforms flat at $6,800. Police Training flat at $14,000 which covers ammunition, targets, range, tuition, lodging, mileage, and food for off-site trainings. Storm Siren Maintenance went up $5. Police Technology went up $6366.90 in the area of software subscriptions. It could be less if they subscribe for multiple years. The Board will decide that later. Flexible policies are in need of updating. Graham said that he would prefer an attorney to do that. Police supplies, publications and dues remain the same. The police copier goes up $250, due to it being an older machine, they are charging more. He increased Geneva Lakes Law Enforcement $10,000 because he heard it was going up, but he is unsure what amount exactly. Water Safety Patrol went up. Police Health Insurance has not been determined yet. Police Wellness is flat. Police Assigned Reserves has been kept flat. Police Capital Outlay- Computer Hardware remains the same. When Chief Bushy was here, two squad cars 1 & 4 were purchased in the same year. The Town just replaced squad 4. It was purchased last year, upfitted this year and it is on the road now. The budget shows $70,000 for upfitting squad #1. Lieutenant Jon Strohm said that their four preliminary breathalyzer test (PBT) equipment is not recognized by the state of Wisconsin. Which could cause issues in the court of law. It is a part of the investigation. We have one that is recognizable by the state. It works and they are calibrated every 60 days. If we buy new ones they come with a two-year warranty. Admin Patrol Vehicle – This would be a training vehicle that could function as a squad car but doesn’t have a prisoner compartment in the back seat. We have had a squad out of service for 3-4 weeks this year. There are two shifts a month with four people on, and other moments when they are down a car. Hand held police radar - our current one doesn’t work. To replace it is currently $1,700. M18 Impact Kit would cost $600. They talked with Brandon Harris from First Net regarding Department Cell Phones. Currently the officers have to use their personal phones for many aspects of the job. Fortunately, we have Ring Central which will make it look like they are calling from the Town not their personal number. There are times when they need to take pictures for digital evidence. First Net offers .99 per phone for I Phone 17E. They offer two plans; one is a State of Wisconsin plan with a 24-month promotional price of $27.66 per line. He also said there is always a promotional period. The Federal plan has .99 phones as well, and the monthly charge per line is $24.44 for 36 months. Graham is asking for $625 upfront to outfit the phones with screen protectors, charges, etc. Jon Strohm said that the promotion can be extended when they trade in their phones after the initial period. Glock Simunition Guns are a training weapon that mirrors our existing weapons that they carry daily. They are blue and can shoot blanks and paint pellets. He would like to buy one for each officer so they can all be involved in the trainings together. Previously, they have borrowed something like this from the Sherriff’s Office. They are close to our weapons but not the same. Supervisor Leith asked how often they do training exercises. 3 Graham said that being short two officers he can’t have training now. Greg Ryan is currently at training though. If we had the Glock Simunition they could practice down in the basement and not on a live range. The officers log when they train. Harbor – David began with covering the pay machines. They raised the pay machine processor fees; Pier Superintendent and Pier Assissants- it has been a struggle to engage with the staff and get them to commit to what we want them to do there, except Nancy, she is there every day. We have been under budget for the last few years. Supervisor Zimmerman said she is unsure whether they are going to staff Hillside or not next year. The staff call off or leave early. Last year the question of whether or not we should staff Hillside came before the Board, and members of the Board wanted it staffed. It may not have paid off for the Town to do this in hindsight. We have a lot of maintenance that needs to be done. We did not repair cribs last year or this year. There has also been damage that needs to be talked about. Pier Maintenance has gone up $3000. Boat Launch Fees cannot increase unless the DNR raises it again. Boat Stall Rentals will be raised. Supervisor Zimmerman said that they have been raised considerably in the past and there is no need to increase the fee too much. She wishes to put $25,000 into Harbor Reserves. The concrete seawall is in good shape. We have our three-year contract with Lake Geneva Pier Company; the fee has gone up some but will be under $25,000. IT – David reported that the Town Offices are moving to a state Adobe plan which is cheaper than we have currently. We had been paying for the Ironport Email Filtering through the state and that has been stopped at the state level. Clerk and Treasurer Devices – Clerk Morris said we are trying to get on computer rotation schedule. Manny Cam and MSB Software went up a small amount. Transcendent is tax software. Travis Frederick gave a 16-page outline of his services. Chairman Weiss encouraged Mr. Zimmerman to call these IT professionals to get our answers. ………………………………………………… David asked about carry-over funds. Levy worksheets – Clerk Morris discussed a Linn property that was annexed into Williams Bay. Chairman Weiss asked if we borrowed $3 million what would the mill rate be? Supervisor Leith said that something needs to be done with the Parks “Actual” as $9000 is still missing. It is part of the 2025 general budget. We budgeted $43,850 and that needs to come up $9000. Chairman Weiss asked David to fill in the different incomes we will receive. David said that we will be selling the two fire trucks. Chairman Weiss asked him to put in a “Proceeds of Sale of Town Property” line with an estimate filled in. Next meeting will be Wednesday, September 30 at 4:00pm. It will begin with closed session to go over wages. Leith/M. Zimmerman motioned to adjourn at 6:04 p.m. Motion Carried. Respectfully submitted, Alyson Morris Town of Linn Clerk