January 2022

TOWN OF PORT EDWARDS MONTHLY BOARD MEETING MINUTES Date: January 13th, 2022 Call to Order: Chairman Randy Moody called the Town Board Meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Town Community Center. The Pledge of Allegiance was not delivered at the start of the meeting due to there being no flag. Meeting Certification: This meeting has been properly posted (on the Town’s three posting boards, and on the Town Hall door) as well as published on our website and in the Daily Tribune, to notify the public of date, place, time, and agenda. Attendance: Chairman Randy Moody, Supervisors Tim Schmidt and Jeff O’Donnell, Treasurer Kathy Reese, Clerk Michelle Sorenson, and Road Superintendent Al Goodness. There were also four people present from the public. Approval of minutes from December 13th, 2021, Town Board Meeting: Clerk presented the minutes from the December meeting. The minutes looked accurate and acceptable. Motion was made by Schmidt and seconded by O’Donnell to accept the minutes as printed. Motion carried. Agenda: Approve the agenda Approve previous meetings’ minutes Approve payment of bills Treasurer and Clerk’s monthly reports Set date for next month’s board meeting Review correspondence New business: ARPA funds discussion, review fire contracts, determine plan for grader tires Old business: Kellnhofer update; determine pricing schedule and review changes for an updated dog ordinance along with discussion on general ordinance enforcement, hosting the WTA meeting details Public input Adjourn Motion was made by O’Donnell and seconded by Schmidt to approve the agenda. Motion carried. Bills: O’Donnell made a motion to approve payment of the town bills listed by the Clerk. Motion was seconded by Schmidt and the motion carried. Total disbursements for the month of December were $86,078.78 with total revenues being $356.33. Treasurer and Clerk Financial Reports: The Treasurer and Clerk reports were reviewed by the Board. All reports balance. Total Town money as of December 31st, 2021, is $117,653.44. Schmidt made a motion to accept the reports. O’Donnell seconded said motion. Motion carried. 1 Correspondence: Clerk received a report of one fire call. It was for an accident between two vehicles involving T. Goodness and D. Gordon. Board requested the Clerk to bill each party $250 as allowed in the Town’s Fire Call Ordinance. A certified survey map was also received by the Clerk for Roger Griffin. The maps were examined by the Board and it was agreed by all that the maps meet the Town’s minimum requirements of two acres. O’Donnell made a motion to approve the submitted certified survey map and Schmidt seconded. All were in favor and the motion carried. Chairman Moody delivered to the Clerk a timber cutting notice he received for Mary Kiedrowski. Advanced Disposal mailed a thank you to the Town’s highway personnel for the outstanding job they do plowing snow and avoiding the garbage and recycling containers. Al gave the Wood County Highway Department an estimate of $600 worth of road signs that were recently vandalized in the Township. The County has turned this into the Sheriff’s Department. The Board received an estimate of $3270.00 from Guezlow for replacing the furnace at the Town Hall. The Town will get 2-3 more estimates. Moody made a motion to give Al Goodness authority to use his discretion and then decide on who to accept. Schmidt seconded the motion and motion carried. New Business: ARPA; The Board received an email from the Village of Port Edwards asking for $10,000 from our ARPA funds to use to develop a water quality study. He is asking for this from all municipalities in our area. Our ARPA funds are now able to be used for road work. We have approximately $133,000 to use by 2024. Some estimates for work on the Town Hall and Community Center will be requested. O’Donnell will look into septic options and Moody will talk to the general contractor Courtney Goodwin about different work that could be done. Fire Contracts; The question was raised as to whether Nekoosa First Responders should be responding to emergency calls received from the Town of Port Edwards. The disbanding of the Nekoosa Ambulance Service has created a mess for emergency services in this area. Nekoosa Fire Department is working on straightening things out. They have a meeting set for Monday night. After that meeting there should be more information available. Grader Tires; Al will get the grader tires down to the Town Hall from the Wood County shop. O’Donnell will take pictures of them and then consult with Al and Chairman Moody for next steps. Old Business: Kellnhofer; Nothing to report on the property. Ordinance changes and enforcement; A review of all of the Town ordinances should be done to determine which ones need updating. The citation booklet was looked at. O’Donnell compiled quite a bit of information on the citing process. There are hearings held every Thursday starting at 9a. The Town’s attorney needs to be able to represent us. Our ordinances will need to be submitted to the County courts for review. When a citation is issued, it is recommended we use a date for a hearing that is six weeks out. In addition to our fines, $114.50 will need to be added for court costs. The County will send us our portion of the fees 2 once they are paid. If there is a failure to pay, the fine can be sent to the State debt collector who can garnish wages and do tax intercepts. WTA Meeting; The schedule has been changed and the Town of Port Edwards is now scheduled to host the monthly meeting in January of 2023. Public input: It was suggested that maybe the ARPA funds could be used to replace the Town’s fire numbers. Some are extremely difficult to read. Seems the Town is using a new ambulance service, it is pretty important they are able to find where they need to be in a timely manner. A complaint was voiced regarding the accumulation of vehicles and boats piling up in the woods and yards of some properties on State Highway 54. The development of a nuisance ordinance could possibly address this growing concern. Next Scheduled Board Meeting: The next regularly scheduled Town Board Meeting is set for Monday, February 14th, 2022, at 6 p.m. The meeting will be conducted at the Community Center. Adjourn: Schmidt made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:44 p.m. and O’Donnell seconded. All were in favor and the motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Michelle Sorenson, Clerk 3