May 2022

TOWN OF PORT EDWARDS MONTHLY BOARD MEETING MINUTES Date: May 9th, 2022 Call to Order: Chairman Randy Moody called the Town Board Meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Town Hall. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited to begin the meeting. 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 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 Brian Krotzman. There were also seven people present from the public. Approval of minutes from April 11th, 2022, Town Board Meeting: Clerk presented the minutes from the April 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: Update on Town’s insurance coverage from agent Grant; review and approve a new Town Nuisance ordinance and discuss changes to ordinances with forfeitures; determine the road work to be done for this year; discuss per diems for 1st responders; explore developing a Town Facebook page; brainstorm ideas for managing the East end of Grunewald Lane Old business: Kellnhofer update; continue to make changes and updates to various ordinances; ARPA funds discussion, discuss options for updating the Town Comprehensive Plan; update on Batterman Road and make any decisions necessary 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 April were $44,530.68 with total revenues being $40,149.72. Treasurer and Clerk Financial Reports: The Treasurer and Clerk reports were reviewed by the Board. All reports balance. Total Town money as of April 30th, 2022, is $288,067.17. 1 O’Donnell made a motion to accept the reports as delivered. Schmidt seconded said motion. Motion carried. Correspondence: Reese received an email from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation informing the Board that Kimball Avenue was not selected for the 2022-2023 LRIP Programs. Notice was given from Wisconsin DNR to the Town regarding Matelco’s application for a permit and requests for public comments. Moody talked with Adam DeKleyn from Wood County Planning and Zoning Department regarding the Certified Survey Map for Brian Wilhorn. His new maps and desired changes do not meet the Town’s minimum acreage requirements and so the maps cannot be approved at tonight’s meeting. O’Donnell will make contact with Adam and maybe even Brian to determine motives and options going forward. The Clerk also received a CSM for Andrea Bertotto. The new parcels meet the minimum 2-acre requirement set by the Town and the division does not create any land locked parcels so the request can be approved tonight. O’Donnell made a motion to approve the Certified Survey Map submitted for Andrea Bertotto. Schmidt seconded the motion and the motion carried. Clerk had gotten a thank you card from former highway superintendent Al Goodness for his cake and send off in to retirement at the Annual Town meeting. It was passed among the Board. New Business: Insurance: The Town’s insurance agent Joe Grant was present. He handed out current copies of the Town policy to the Board members. The policies were reviewed page by page. The only changes needing to be made were the removal of insurance coverage on something labeled a park/recreational area bigger than 5 acres, and the addition of the replacement grader recently purchased by the Town. The agreed upon value of the all-wheel drive 1998 Champion Grader was $50,000. Ordinances: The updating of the ordinances has proven to be a bigger project than first estimated. The Board decided to set a separate meeting to review all of the Town’s ordinances and update the ones requiring a fee schedule. That meeting was set for noon on May 17th, 2022, following the Board of Review meeting. 2022 Road Project: It was estimated that the Town has spent approximately $6,700 on road work so far this year. The previous Highway Superintendent (Al) put together a list of roads that should be given attention. The Board decided to request quotes for crack filling on Kimball Avenue from Lynn Hill Road to Creamery Road, and South Section Road in the Township. Quotes will also be gotten for seal coating South Section Road and Kimball Avenue from Lynn Hill Road to County Highway AA. A decision will be made at the May 17th special meeting. 1st Responders: Paying per diems to the first responders when they respond to a call is a good idea. The average per diem paid is roughly $20/call. If the Town has two or more of their first responders attending a call, the Town will get reimbursed $10. The Clerk was concerned with how the responders would be classified. Will they be considered employees then? A donation from the Town to the First Responders to be used for paying per diems only might be a better option. A conversation with the First Responder’s director (Mark Meyers) may be 2 beneficial. Moody will contact Mark and O’Donnell will put in a call to Dan Goodness (past director) and report back to the Board. Facebook Page: The Town of Saratoga has a really nice Facebook page. It provides lots of information to their residents. A similar page for our township would be great but the question on everyone’s mind was who would be able to maintain it and keep it up to date? That question was not able to be readily answered so the decision was made to continue with the Town’s website for now. Grunewald Lane: Various concerns were discussed over the illegal dumping going on at the East end of Grunewald Lane. The Town could either invest in a camera at the end of the road, or put up a gate at the beginning of the road to limit access altogether. Selling the road to the power company was also suggested. The Town only owns the road but it would be nice to either sell it or block it off to eliminate the headache. Moody will contact the power company. Old Business: Kellnhofer; The property seems to be slowly improving. Ordinances: Will be addressed at the special meeting on May 17th, 2022. ARPA Funds; The money is earning one tenth of a percent in interest while sitting in a separate savings account at the Nekoosa Port Edwards State Bank. Highway Superintendent Brian Krotzman has been using his personal vehicle for Town related business quite a lot. A one-ton dump truck should top the Town’s priority list. Moody estimated a window air conditioning unit for the Town Hall to cost roughly $1,000. O’Donnell made a motion to spend ARPA funds on replacing the old-style fire numbers still standing in the Township, adding a window air conditioning unit to the Town Hall, and reimbursing the general checking account for the purchase of the grader. Schmidt seconded the motion. All were in favor and motion carried. Comprehensive plan; Wood County is backed up. They said they wouldn’t be able to help us for several years and referred us back to North Central Regional Planning. Moody has made a list of the Comprehensive Plan parts needing updates. The Board would like to see completion of the update by December 31st, 2022. The search for members to create a zoning committee will begin by word of mouth. Batterman Road: Wood County went out with their machine to recall material from the sides of the road. Moody has no information on what was accomplished. Our highway guys have hauled out our recycled material and graded it. Hauling of the material is so slow because our trucks can only haul roughly 10 yards at a time. The Town could look into renting a quad axle. The west end is still terrible. The magnet is back on the grader now. Roland Hawk from Wood County needs to be contacted so a plan can be made. Batterman’s ditches need to be cleaned up before work begins. There are a lot of trees down and debris in the way. Public input: Our website designer (Martin Welter) informed us our flag was hung in the Town Hall incorrectly. The field of blue should be on the left side. The flag was taken down and hung correctly. A big thank you to Marti for bringing that to our attention. 3 Next Scheduled Board Meeting: The next regularly scheduled Town Board Meeting is set for Monday, June 13th, 2022, at 6 p.m. The meeting will be conducted at the Port Edwards Town Hall. Adjourn: O’Donnell made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:30p.m. and Schmidt seconded. All were in favor and the motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Michelle Sorenson, Clerk 4