July Minutes

Minutes Town of Vermont Board Meeting July 13, 2026 Vermont Town Hall 4017 County Rd JJ, Black Earth WI 53515 7:00 P.M. To Join the meeting by phone: +1 347-896-0991 PIN: 481 262 925# In attendance: Kirk Lynch Polly Kawalek Alex McKenzie Doug Meier1. Call to order and certification of notice posting Kirk called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Katie certified that the meeting had been posted according to statutes and emailed to subscribers 2. Approval of agenda Polly made a motion to approve the agenda. Motion carried 4-0 3. Approval of June minutes Alex made a motion to approve the minutes. Motion carried 4-0 4. Citizens’ Input none 5. Treasurer’s report The treasurer presented numbers for the halfway point for the year. We have $553,00 across the accounts. Currently we have a surplus of $210,000, but there are a lot of bills still to come for the year. 6. Clerk’s report There was one permit for new construction this month: 4781 County Hwy F. Bills of note include bills for culvert replacement and for patch material. 7. Payment of bills Doug made a motion to approve the payment of the bills. Motion carried 4-0 8. Patrolman Report, Mt. Horeb Fire Department, Black Earth Fire District and District 1 EMS Reports Jack is working to get ahead on road patching and other tasks prior to his knee replacement. We had a lot of damage from the storm a few weeks ago. Mount Horeb Fire has an upcoming budget open house. Polly reports that District 1 call volume has increased and that they also have 8 new volunteers and 5 former volunteers have been removed from the books. With the two full-timers, they have more capacity than they did before. 9. Adoption of Public Input at Town Meetings Policy We have worked with attorney Mark Hazelbaker, to revise and update the policy for public comment for public meetings held by the town, in order to have concise, efficient and orderly meetings. The attorney was present and spoke to the legal support for the proposed policy. The attorney was repeatedly interrupted with questions from a resident. Doug made a motion to approve the meeting policy, the motion was seconded and approved 4-0. 10. Preliminary planning for 2027 budget Kirk has started filling in some rough numbers with Heather for the 2027 budget. The board will review the draft individually on their own time and come prepared with notes at next month's meeting. 11. Preliminary planning for 2027 roadwork 2025 was a “rest year,” however we did no roads as well in 2026. Kirk put the list of roads that would have been done in those years out to Scotts and Fahrner to talk to them about how long chip sealing could potentially last. They said possibly as much as 8 years. Polly asked for some clarity on the equipment replacement schedule and this was discussed. 12. Planning for 2026 Town Picnic Katie presented some menu options for the picnic. The board decided on tacos. The board offered a reminder that we would be collecting donations for the Black Earth Creek watershed model project. 13. Consideration and possible action on planning commission vacancy has stepped down from the planning commission member and chair. Jim will Tim Piercechair the upcoming meeting. The board has been asked to think of options. Katie will send out an email with the application, asking for interest. 14. Agenda items for August (virtual only meeting) Budget planning Roads Picnic 15. Adjournment Doug made a motion to adjourn. Motion carried 4-0. Meeting adjourned at 8:49