Town Board — Minutes

Blooming Grove Town Board Meeting Minutes for July 9, 2025 **draft** Chair Bristol called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. Other Town Board members in attendance were Supervisor Teuscher and Supervisor Woznick. Supervisors Schroeder and Young both had conflicts and could not attend. Also in attendance were Clerk/Treasurer/Administrator Wright and Deborah Sellers. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by those present. Clerk/Treasurer/Administrator Wright confirmed proper proof of posting. There were no changes to the agenda. 2a. Second Quarter Treasurer’s Report: Wright reviewed income and expenses year-to-date. Interest income will easily exceed the budget approved in November 2024 for 2025. Amendments that will be presented to the Board for approval at a future date will be balanced from outlay account funds including: February pay out to former Clerk/Treasurer/Administrator Mike Wolf for unused sick time from the Employee Liability Outlay Account; the July payment for painting the Trachte Building in Thurber Park from the Trachte Building Outlay Account; and the mill and overlay expenses for Rambling Acres and the repair of the cemetery wall along Pflaum Road (that exceeds the $100,000 street maintenance budget) will be supplemented with funds from the Road Outlay Account. Other expenses that exceed the approved budget include published notices and contracted services for the Town website. It was noted that the third quarter distribution for general transportation aid has been received, the second quarter payments for room taxes have yet to arrive, payments for lost local property tax income from annexing municipalities have yet to be received, and the remainder of property taxes levied will be received from the Dane County Treasurer in August. The bulk of shared revenue payments from the State of Wisconsin will be received in November. Overall, the budget-to-actual is where it should be for this point in time. 2b. 2025-26 Operator’s Licenses for, Lee Berger, Brianna Gutierrez, Nicole Lisiecki, Allian Perez, and Tammi Wedekind (regular): Wright stated that all applications are complete, the background checks revealed nothing of concern for any applicant, applications fees have been paid in full and Tammi Wedekind, who was granted a provisional license last month, has completed her responsible beverage training. Wright recommends approval of licenses for all of the applicants. Supervisor Teuscher moved to approve Operator Licenses, to lapse on June 30, 2026, for Berger, Gutierrez, Lisiecki, Perez, and Wedekind; 2 nd by Chair Bristol. Motion carried 3-0. 2c. SafeBuilt termination letter: Wright reported to the group present that he received an email from Allen Greene on June 12, 2025 with an attached letter from the COO of SafeBuilt providing the Town 90-day notification of the intent to terminate the building inspection contract in September of this year. Wright responded to the email by stating he thought the decision was issued in error as SafeBuilt assigned Jose Ruiz to the Town of Blooming Grove on March 20, 2025 prior to the retirement of Roger Schrader. Wright received no response from Mr. Greene. When the rumors of termination persisted, Wright contacted Jose Ruiz and Shayla Bevis (Permit Technician) with SafeBuilt. Wright’s concerns were shared with Mr. Greene by Ms. Bevis. In turn, Greene forwarded the information to Dave Hendrix, the Wisconsin Operations Manager with SafeBuilt. Chair Bristol noted that he asked Wright to reach out to the City of Madison about their interest in taking over the contract prior to annexation in 2027. Wright provided a brief report of the exchanges he had with Doran Viste, the Assistant Attorney for the City of Madison. In summary, the City is willing to take over the contract upon the termination with SafeBuilt. It will require an Intergovernmental agreement, Town adoption of the City of Madison building code by ordinance, and an amendment of the Town fee schedule. Without objection, Bristol directed Wright to forward sample documents Wright received from Attorney Viste, which the Town of Madison adopted prior to their annexation, to the Town Board supervisors. Before the contract is terminated (whether in 2025 or 2027), Wright will work with SafeBuilt to import their digital permit files from their Community Core web application. After brief discussion, Wright was directed to work with Matthew Causley, COO from SafeBuilt (if contact information can be found) to request for the proposed termination to be reconsidered. Without objection, updates on this topic will be added to the next regular agenda. 2d. First quote to digitize Town records from 1850 until 1929: Wright reported that he has successfully scanned Town Board minutes from 1940 to 2020 and posted those documents to the Town website. Historic Blooming Grove Historical Society will eventually post those documents to their website prior to the deactivation of the Town of Blooming Grove website at the end of 2027. It should be possible to scan bound records from 1929 to 1940 using equipment within the Town office; however, records from 1850 until 1929 are too large and/or fragile to scan. To purchase equipment capable of scanning these documents would cost at least $2,000 and week’s of staff time to capture and process. Contained within this evening’s packet is a quote from Microsystems, Inc. to scan approximately 1,900 pages at an estimated cost of $1,227. If the Town has Microsystems staff pick up and return the documents from Northbrook, Illinois, the additional cost would be $250. Wright is awaiting a quote from CH Coakley, based in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Wright’s request to use equipment held at the UW Madison Library system has not received a response to date. 3a. Minutes of June 30, 2025 Town Board Meeting: Supervisor Teuscher moved to approve the minutes of the June 30, 2025 Town Board meeting, as presented; 2nd by Supervisor Woznick. Motion carried 3-0. 3b. Approval of Vouchers: Chair Bristol made a motion to approve the vouchers, as presented; 2nd by Supervisor Teuscher. Motion carried 3-0. 4. Public Comment: Deborah Sellers requested for the Board to add consideration of the replacement of a memorial tree and lilac bushes in Thurber Park on a future meeting agenda. Chair Bristol stated that a request needs to come from the Town Plan Commission instead. Supervisor Teuscher reported on the removal of equipment from a property in the Rambling Acres subdivision and assumes the tenant has moved to another location. 5. Adjournment: Chair Bristol moved to adjourn the meeting; 2nd by Supervisor Teuscher. Motion carried 3-0 at 5:54 PM. Minutes written and submitted by John Wright Town Clerk/Treasurer/Administrator Approved: July 23, 2025