Minutes

Town of Rock Elm Elmwood, Pierce County, Wisconsin MINUTES Town Board Meeting - Tuesday, August 12, 2025 Meeting called to order at 8:00 p.m. by Chairman Tim Bates. Others present: Matt Holcomb, Supervisor; Chris Thibado, Supervisor; Dave Bechel, Patrolman; Pam Reitz, Treasurer; Dawn Churchill, Clerk; and 3 residents and 2 non-residents. Motion to approve the agenda was made by Matt Holcomb, second by Chris Thibado, motion carried. Presentation from Bakke Norman Deanne Koll and Paul Mahler from the firm gave background information, overview of services, and outlined how fees worked. The board will discuss for consideration after Loberg’s office is given the opportunity to present, possibly at the September meeting. Minutes from previous meetings Minutes from the July 8, 2025, meeting were read. Motion to approve by Chris Thibado, second by Matt Holcomb, motion carried. Financial Report Dawn Churchill gave the financial report. This months’ bills total $61,566.84. There is expected income of $105,822.55 from School Levy Tax Credit and First Dollar Credit. Motion to approve payment of bills by Matt Holcomb, second by Chris Thibado, motion carried. Commercial Driver’s License Testing Program agreement Testing has been provided by Pierce County for years. There is an increase of fees from $35 per participant to $50 per participant per year. Discussed availability of other companies to do this, but would not be any cost savings, so will continue with Pierce County. Motion to continue with CDL testing through Pierce County made by Matt Holcomb, second by Tim Bates, motion carried. Discuss Fire and Ambulance meeting Tim attended this meeting. The ambulance building needs a new roof at a cost of $17,250. They are looking at purchasing a 2008 firetruck from Texas for $115,000, plus improvement costs to winterize for northern use; total cost of $180,000. Spring Lake will finance this, but if that falls through will Rock Elm finance? Discussion by board and Tim feels that we depend on them when there is a call. Motion to finance funding for the truck if Spring Lake falls through made by Matt Holcomb, second by Chris Thibado, motion carried. Dedicated right of way The rock quarry on Cole Hill is owned by Rock Elm according to the Pierce County Zoning Office. Rock Elm has been approached about selling, but there is no interest in doing this. Website and wi.gov email address Dawn attended a webinar on obtaining a wi.gov or .gov email address; this meeting outlined the process for obtaining both. It was felt by the board that Rock Elm should get a new email in one of the formats for security reasons; the State is starting to also require this for certain forms. Dawn received an email from Josh Myers, a web designer from Eau Claire, in regards to his help in setting this up, along with setting up a website for Rock Elm. Chris noted that at a cost of $900 for the website, he feels that it is not needed, as things are posted on the Pierce County website now at no cost. Dawn will make contact with 24/7 Telecom about obtaining wi.gov email addresses for all board members, as they helped the Village of Elmwood set this up. Follow up at next month’s meeting. Highway Report Presented by Dave Bechel, Patrolman. • Finished work on 70th St. and 510th Ave - Installed culverts, unplugged culverts, diverted water, cut hillside and re-ditched, used dirt from project and sloped ditches. • 570th Ave. road project - Fill dirt has been hauled, culverts are installed. Next will be Pierce County with pulverizing at the end of August, the week of the 25th or after Labor Day,. • Has been grading roads • 07/21/25 Mowed for the Village of Elmwood. Will bill for 4 hours at $150/hour. • Serviced tractor • Dump truck was serviced by Premier Truck in Eau Claire, has 300 hours, 6,000 miles. Took dump truck to Universal Truck for minor warranty issues. • Town pickup truck is at Kent’s Auto for some service work and two front tires and alignment. Hope to get it back this week. Tim stated that for the 570th Ave. project, the rock will come from Greg Bechel and everything else will be Pierce County. Public Input Comment that the dump truck looked nice in the parade. CAFO committee member - handed out the updated CAFO ordinance that has the changes discussed at the last meeting. There will be a CAFO committee meeting to go over the public comments. The attorney email is ready to go to the board for review. Statement that Kevin from Stevens Point is excited to help us with getting a ground water ordinance written up if we want. Isabelle Township has a public hearing on September 9th on their CAFO ordinance. CAFO committee member – concerned with the animal units being increased to 2500. If it is left at 1000, it prevents farms from getting bigger. If they make the conscious decision to get bigger, then they will incur added costs and this may deter them. How do we get farms to pay costs? Unknown Comment that once water is polluted, you can’t fix it overnight. Written public comment received – o Water ordinance brought up again o Letter regarding Ridge Breeze management Tim got no response from other town chairmen regarding a meeting to discuss CAFO issues. Can we have a State Representative come to a meeting? They can be invited if someone wants to do that. Ditches are filled with wild parsnip. Can we purchase a boom sprayer? This had been looked into prior. Comment that mowing at the right time can knock this weed down. Can we enforce fencing around “junk yards”? Other municipalities may have ordinances regarding this and can be looked at. Correspondence Reviewed. Chris will attend Emergency Management meeting in Ellsworth in September 11. Tim will look into Bridge Improvement Assistance Program. Tim asked resident if they were aware of a company wanting to build battery storage on their property; they are aware. Next meeting The next board meeting will be September 9th at 8:00 p.m. Motion to adjourn made by Chris Thibado, second by Matt Holcomb, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 10:24 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Dawn Churchill, Clerk approved 09/09/25