January Board Minutes

VILLAGE OF NELSONVILLE VILLAGE BOARD MEETING MINUTES AT THE VILLAGE HALL Tuesday January 14th 5:45pm pm UNAPPROVED MINUTES The meeting was called to order by President Josh Stolzenburg. Present at the meeting were: President Josh Stolzenburg, Trustee Mark Brueggeman, Trustee Rubina Martini and Clerk/Treasurer Daniel Bootz. Citizens present: Tarion O’Carroll, Lois Brueggeman, Jay Gordon, Gale Gordon, Mark Pearson, Dave Waller, Walter Leppen, Judah Haas, Minutes of December 10th meeting were presented by Clerk/Treasurer Daniel Bootz. M/S, Martini/Brueggeman, move to approve the Minutes minutes, all in favor, motion carried. Treasurer’s report submitted by Clerk/Treasurer Daniel Bootz. M/S, Brueggeman/Martini, move to pay the bills as presented by Clerk/Treasurer Daniel Bootz, all in favor, motion carried. Correspondence was reviewed. Public Statements – Judah Hass reported to the board that he had purchased properties at 9497 First Street and 9506 Water Street and was considering commercial development of the properties. He indicated that the options he was considering included a wine bar or a restaurant, but he understands that the village currently does not have any approved liquor licenses. Martini asked whether there was a timeline for these projects to start and whether it would involve using the existing buildings or demolishing for new construction. Hass reported that he would like to start work on the projects as soon as possible, but it may depend on the other projects that he is current undertaking in the village. He also indicated that he would likely demolish the existing buildings and build a new building on the properties. Hass assured the board that any new construction would take into the account the current look and historical qualities of the Village. Jay Gordon expressed concerns regarding unused wells within the village that are not being properly abandoned, which would involve capping the well to prevent contaminants into the aquafer. Gordon also expressed that he was disappointed that there were no Christmas decorations put up during the recent holiday season. Stolzenburg agreed that the village should work to have decorations put up in the future. Hass agreed to provide equipment to assist with hanging the decorations next Christmas. Bootz update the board on the possible February election. Signatures for candidates for State Supreme Court were still being reviewed, but there would likely be three candidates for the position. As a result, there would need to be a primary, which is tentatively scheduled for February 18th. Bootz confirmed that the Ruby Coffee Cabin will continue to be available for the village to use. Bootz gave an update on plowing in the village. Gladowski had been plowing Oak Street wider now that the ground is frozen. They have also indicated that they will continue to plow Welton Drive at its current width unless several tree limbs are removed. They have offered to remove the tree limbs if the village requests this service. VILLAGE OF NELSONVILLE VILLAGE BOARD MEETING MINUTES AT THE VILLAGE HALL Tuesday January 14th 5:45pm pm M/S Stolzenburg/Martini - Move to increase the new building permit fee by $100. This was requested by Mike Bembenek, the building inspector currently working with village. This increase will put new construction within the village on the same fee schedule as the surrounding municipalities. All in favor, motioned carried M/S Stolzenburg/Martini - Move to accept Village Survey as written by the Planning Commission and send out the survey to Village Residents for response. Martini explained that the survey has been reviewed by the Planning Commission and it was recommended that initial outreach involve emailing out the survey via the village email account. There will then be times that the survey can be filled out at the village hall. There will be an announcement regarding the survey on the village board and a listing of times that the survey can be completed in-person. Once this initial outreach is completed, the planning commission will identify individuals that have not responded and there will be additional attempts, either in person or through the mail, to get a response. Jay Gordon asked why a mailing was not being sent out as there are individuals that do not use email or are able to attend an open office time to complete the survey, in-person. Martini explained that there will be outreach to these individuals, but the goal of utilizing email during the initial roll out is to minimize the cost of distributing the survey. Walter Leppen asked whether the online survey will allow for households with multiple adults, but who also share an email account, to complete the survey individually. Martini indicated that the survey will allow for multiple responses from a single email account. Individuals wishing to set up a time to complete the survey in-person and outside the scheduled open office times, should contact Daniel Bootz at 715-824-2499 or at nelsonvilleusa@gmail.com . Please provide the name, address, phone number and number of adults in the household so that the correct number of surveys are sent. If individuals would like to request a paper copy of the survey for individual that is not able to do so themselves, they are welcome to contact Dan Bootz on that person’s behalf. Martini indicated that the goal will be have all adults within the village to complete the survey. All in favor, motion carried. M/S Stolzenburg/Martini moved to consolidate the village finances into a single account at the International Bank of Amherst. Bootz explained that the village finances are currently split between CHASE Bank and IBA. The CHASE account was used to allow for the village to utilize a high interest checking account through the 1st Bank of the Internet. However, it was determined that the 1st Bank did not meet the statutory requirements for municipal finances. Specifically, the requirement that a bank has a branch located within the State of Wisconsin. Bootz expressed preference that the village move to IBA due to the location, customer service and because it is an interest-bearing account, while CHASE does not pay interest on the village’s account. All in favor, motion carried VILLAGE OF NELSONVILLE VILLAGE BOARD MEETING MINUTES AT THE VILLAGE HALL Tuesday January 14th 5:45pm pm Bootz reported that the village hall was recently reappraised and the property saw a decline in value of 49.95%. The previous assessor had appraised the building at $252.339.44 and the new appraisal resulted in a valuation of $126,300. Bootz had confirmed these amounts with the village’s insurance agent, Jesse Furrer, and he had expressed agreement with the new amount. This new amount will result in a decrease in the village’s insurance premiums. Board discussed the current status of the Village website and Martini reviewed possible options that the village could explore to maintain and update the village website. Options including continuing with Dreamweaver, returning to WordPress or creating a new site through Squarespace. Martini expressed the opinion that Squarespace would provide the most ease of use and ability to train future managers of the site, while Wordpress would provide a more dynamic website, but would be more difficult for the average user to update. The cost of Squarespace would be about $12/month while the cost of Wordpress would be about $60/year plus the hosting cost of Bluehost of $32/year The board agreed to pursue building a website through Squarespace. Martini agreed to assist with setting up the new website along with Bootz. GCAC Update: O’Carroll reported that George Kraft had given a presentation to the GCAC committee on the state of the Tomorrow River. Groundwater Protection Committee report: The committee has set up a quarterly schedule for well testing and they have begun to discuss possible future educational meetings in the village. Park Commission report: No updates Plan Commission report: Plan commission had finalized the village survey. Fire Commission – Next meeting with be on 1/15/20. 6:52pm, Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted by: Daniel Bootz, Clerk/Treasurer