Regular Town Board Meeting — Minutes

Town of Montrose Minutes from April 8, 2025 Regular Town Board Meeting Present: Roger Hodel, Town Chair; Randy Francois, First Supervisor; Dan Palmer, Second Supervisor; Jennifer Armstrong, Clerk and Treasurer Residents Attending: Brian Brown, Darren Eichelkraut, Junior Eichelkraut, Ann Sayales, Cory Brown, Jeanne Blasberg, John Sayles, Paul Schaller, Melissa Salisbury, Tim Bahls, Mag Wijaya, Jean Hodel Non-Residents Attending: Julie Walser, Nic Mink, Scott Davis Roger Hodel called the meeting to order at 7:07pm. The meeting was posted according to law. Jennifer Armstrong, Town Clerk and Treasurer, read the minutes from the March, 4, 2024 Regular Board Meeting. Dan Palmer made a motion to approve the minutes as read, seconded by Randy Francois, approved by Roger Hodel. Jennifer Armstrong read the Treasurer’s Report. Randy Francois made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report and to pay all bills, Dan Palmer seconded, approved by Roger Hodel. Announcements: The town would like to extend condolences to the family and friends of Ramona Pest who passed away. Her husband, Henry Best, was a Town of Montrose chairman in the 1970’s. The town would like to extend condolences to the families of two educators from the School District of Belleville that passed away, Roger Moe and John Becker. The Town Annual meeting will be held next Tuesday, April 15, at 7:00pm. A light luncheon to follow. Agenda: John Sayles provided an update from the Building Committee regarding the stairway remedy options investigated by the committee. The current plan is that the stairs will be removed in order to be in compliance with the state inspector. McKee is still working to find lighting solutions. The stairway will come off and put on the market to sell. A rolling ladder will take place of the stairs and allow Cody to work on the trucks, as well. Scott Davis and Melissa Salisbury expressed concerns about a ladder replacing the stairs and frustrations regarding the overall pace of the rebuild project. Randy Francois suggested a meeting be set up with the state inspector, builder, committee, architect, and Board to investigate a solution to rectify the stairs situation. John Sayles will move forward to set up a meeting. The Board reviewed the status of the garage project funds, as well as the upcoming expected expenses for the Fire, EMS, truck and plow. Randy Francois made a motion to borrow the remaining funds available from the approved loan from the Commissioners of Public Lands in the amount of $ 532,132.70, Dan Palmer seconded, Roger Hodel approved. Nic Mink from Seven Acres Dairy was present to provide details of the upcoming Charity Ride for the River Pantry on township roads and county roads. The approximately two-hour ride will begin in Paoli, participants will bike to Bailey’s Run in New Glarus to eat lunch, and ride back to Paoli. 100 to 200 participants are expected, and the rules of the road will be followed, the event is not a race. Support will be provided for volunteers from sag vehicles, volunteers, and the Belleville EMS. 90 parking spaces are available in the Seven Acres parking lot, they have 50 entries signed up to date. The Edgehill Lane road improvement project is complete. It was estimated it would cost between $ 8,000 and $ 10,000 per lot for the six Edgehill lots. The total cost of the project came in at $ 33,319.19, divided by the six lots, is $ 5,553.20 per lot. Invoices will be sent to Danny Francois (4 lots), Tom and Jennifer Gillette (1 lot), and Jesse Neath (1 lot) this week. Randy Francois and Cody Salisbury went to look at and compare trucks and agreed on Western Star Truck and Burke. Cody approved the specifications. It will be 6 to 9 months for the truck and about 500 days beyond that date for it to be complete. Currently, the truck is $ 166,900 and the plow is $ 136,500, some market variance over time is to be expected. Randy Francois made a motion to approve the purchase of a town truck and plow equipment, Dan Palmer seconded, Roger Hodel approved. Public Input Ann Sayles stated that we will need a board member for the senior center, the bi-laws call for two members from each municipality. For Montrose that has been one board member and one member of the community. Anyone interested in serving on the board should contact the clerk or member of the board. Randy Francois made a motion to adjourn at 8:10pm, Dan Palmer seconded, Roger Hodel approved.