townofcaryunapprovedminutesdec2019_1

Regular Monthly Meeting, Town of Cary, Wood County, Wisconsin December 10, 2019 unapproved The regular monthly meeting of the Town of Cary Board was called to order at 7 p.m. at the Cary Town Hall. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Jim Patrick after the Pledge of Allegiance. Those present were Chairman Jim Patrick, Supervisors Dennis Brunner, Dale Zawislan, Treasurer Barb Schmidt, Clerk Patricia Lippert, Tim Ecker equipment operator and 3 taxpayers. Dale made a motion to approve the minutes. Dennis seconded, motion passed. Dennis made a motion to accept the treasurer report, Dale seconded, motion passed. Public Input: A taxpayer asked the township to sand the intersection by Sparks and Lindsey Road. Fence Viewing: State Statute 90 lists the only remedy for landowner disputes regarding fences. A question regarding fences was investigated and it was determined the town had no policy to initiate a fence viewing. Chairman Jim Patrick wrote up Fence Viewing Rules. They are based on State Statutes 90 as well as Local Government Center Fact Sheet No. 13. If a fence viewing request is initiated the statutes list in detail the requirements to be met. The policy lists the procedure to be followed and the expenses the landowners will share. Building Inspector: The building inspector that the State assigned to Town of Cary has resigned, and a new one has been appointed at the state level. The local municipality may have the work done by a person appointed by the board. Scheduling inspections is generally easier if the inspector is local. Chairman was contacted by Dan Hansen concerning doing the town Building Inspection. The agreement was presented, and the board decided to gather more information about the procedure and check references. The decision of hiring someone for this will be on the agenda for the January meeting. Road Maintenance from Budget Meeting: Taxpayer suggested one way to save money would be not to plow snow unless more than 6 inches. It was also stated at Budget Meeting that a special meeting is not necessary for the town board to approve the budget. Reimbursement Policy was tabled at the October meeting. Following discussion Dale made a motion and Dennis seconded, to approve the policy, motion passed. Procedure for Budget Preparation was read. WEC Computer The $1400 grant money applied for has been received. This grant was available as a result of Federal money for upgrading the computers used during the election cycle. Software has been installed at state level to stymie attempts to interfere with the voting process or vote tabulation. A new computer was purchased, Office installed, IT support arranged. Deputy Clerk and Clerk are moving information to the new computer. MLS funding, At this time a project could not be found to meet the requirements. Review of Annual Report years 2006-2018 to determine tax collected and rises in taxes in those years. Tax rates for comparison for 2019 : per $1000, Cary $2.58, Hiles $4.406, Richfield $2.735, Rock $3.65. Wood $2.40 General Transportation Aids: Chairman gave a review of what the township has to spend in order to get full amount for General Transportation Aids. Based on the last GTA per mile funding the three year average must be equal to or greater than $104,000. The state formula pays for 85 % of that if the local town spends the required 15 % to arrive at the total of $104,000. In other words, the state is selling us a dollar for 15 cents. Equipment: The case 580 is having final repairs completed. Will be returned later this next week. Roads: At the first snow, only blacktop roads were plowed. Traction on gravel was satisfactory and the road base was not frozen. Plowing would have caused the gravel to be displaced to ditch. The colder temperatures following the first storm allowed the shoulders to freeze and the regular plowing has resumed. At the budget hearing residents present expressed a desire to cut expenditures and made some suggestions. Residents of Johnson Rd indicated they felt no need to plow unless there was a snowfall of 6 inches or greater. State statutes require removal of snow within 21 days to avoid liability. We will begin plowing Johnson Rd from Steffeck Rd south to Hwy 73 on 18 day intervals unless a snowfall is greater than 5 inches or the accumulating snowfalls exceed 6 inches. The following roads which are dead ends and have no permanent residents will be plowed using the same criteria. They are: Steffek Rd from Lindsey Rd to west end, Wussow Rd from Steffek Rd, Dickson Lane from HWY 73 to end, Cook Rd from Accola Rd to west end. New Business: Election Workers: for the following 2 year term are Marlene Neve, Vicky Dux, Carla Yetter, Sharon McDonald, Don Felhoefer, Michelle Wolfe, and Mary Czaja. An ordinance allowing people to work only ½ day, and a resolution will be drawn up for next meeting allowing 3 people to serve on election board, state requires 7 unless local board approves fewer. Number of workers must be odd number. An invitation from Pittsville Fire for a board member to attend their annual banquet was read. Dale Zawislan will represent the Cary board. Treasurer Barb Schmidt wrote an e-mail to the W.T.A. attorney asking if they had any safe guidelines for the use of credit cards in the township. They recommend strong controls to be put in place for the use of credit cards in the township. This item will be on the January agenda. On Dec.5th Chairman attended a meeting with Parks and Forestry and Highway Commissioner in regard to who was responsible for cleaning trees from the ditch’s fronting the county owned forestland. State statutes assign responsibility for cleaning the ditch of tree debris to the landowner. The response was positive from the county board members. A mechanism will be set up to allow notification to the county when tree debris accumulates and they will clean it up. Highway and Parks will meet, discuss a mechanism and present it to the towns for consideration. This procedure should be completed by the February meeting of the county committee. The townships present also asked for an increase of the aid to towns with county forest land get in lieu of taxes. There was no response to that request pending discussion of the county board. Town of Cary chair will be the immediate contact as the procedure unfolds. Tim asked if he could rebuild the work bench and clean the shop up so all his tools would be in the same place. He stated that the cost would be about $150.00. Dale made a motion to purchase supplies not to exceed $150, Dennis seconded, motion passed. Chairman stated that the shop was in need of a new battery operated grease gun. Dale made a motion to buy a new grease gun, Dennis seconded, motion passed. Jim will purchase one before the January meeting. Jerry Wagner, assessor for the township, will do a revaluation this year. He has some sales information that indicate property values have risen which the state wants to include as basis for the re-evaluation. There were other sales where the property sold for less than the assessed value but may not be included in the profile. Patricia Lippert clerk, resigned her position as of January 31, 2020. She stated, if necessary, she would help with the Feb. 18th election and help the new clerk. Jim made a motion to pay bills and Dale seconded, motion passed. Checks # 9340-9358 were written out for the amount of $$8,634.12 Next meeting will be Jan 14, 2020 at the Cary Town Hall. Dale made a motion to adjourn, Dennis seconded, motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Patricia Lippert, Clerk