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Village of Fall Creek Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes 10/6/2021 Page 1 of 3 1. Call to Order: 5:00 p.m., Village Hall Meeting Room, 122 E. Lincoln Ave., Fall Creek 2. Roll Call: Members Present: President Tim Raap, Trustees Ben Burch, Karen Herbison, Karen Hurd, Sheena Kaatz, Matt Mattoon, Karen Strasburg. Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Administrator/Public Works Director Jared McKee, Public Works Employee Jamie Kaeding, Clerk/Treasurer Renee Roemhild. Also Present: 11 citizens. 3. Certify Open Meeting Law Requirements Have Been Met: A notice of the meeting and an agenda was posted at the three public places and local newspapers were notified. 4. Adopt Agenda:  MOTION (Kaatz/Raap) to adopt the agenda. PASSED, without negative vote. 5. Consider Potential Ballfield Project, Possible Recommendation: Trustee Karen Hurd, as chairperson of the Community Relations, Recreation and Health Committee, chaired this part of the meeting as it related to parks. Trustee Ben Burch presented an update regarding the requested ballfield project, giving an overview of the need for an additional ballfield and the benefit it would bring to the Village. One of the benefits listed was in relation to the Lions Fest, stating that another ballfield would provide the opportunity to hold a tournament during that event, which would bring in more people to enjoy the Fest. Burch stated he met with the directors of the Lions Club, as stakeholders of the park, to get their opinion on the project. Burch stated that they were in favor of the project overall, but they did have some concerns. Two representatives, Fred Strasburg & Curt Strasburg, were chosen to work with the Village on meeting the need of a second baseball field. The biggest concern was the location that would be chosen for the ballfield. Burch presented a diagram showing the park, with the typical area used by the Lions Club for Fun Fest outlined, depicting an area of about 2.5 acres. Next year the Fest is scheduled for the 3rd weekend in July. Burch presented information of 4 possible areas for the second field, and discussed the pros & cons. Area A • About 35 yards northwest of the main pavilion; • Pros: proximity to the current field is advantageous, allows for multiple beer tent options for the Lions Fest, ride area is larger than the area used in prior years, doesn’t impact horseshoe pits, preserves green space of the park to the north; • Cons: moves the Lions Club beer tent, demo of current outhouses Area B • Further to the northwest • Pros: allows a lot of green space between ballfield and pavilion, preserves green space of the park to the northeast and east of the park, doesn’t impact the location of the Lions Club beer tent. • Cons: 80 yards between pavilion and ballfield, demo of current outhouses, relocate horseshoe pits, more costly than Area A due to demo of blacktop and need for new blacktop area for turnaround Area C • On the north side of the park, with home plate on the south end • Pros: allows 55 yards between pavilion and ballfield, doesn’t impact location of beer tent or horseshoe pits, don’t have to remove outhouses, preserves green space to the south • Cons: eliminates a lot of good green space on the northside of the park, field lights would be very close to house located in park Village of Fall Creek Minutes of Committee of the Whole Meeting Wednesday, October 6, 2021 Village of Fall Creek Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes 10/6/2021 Page 2 of 3 Area D • Also on the north side, but home plate on the northeast end • Pros: allows room between pavilion & ballfield, doesn’t impact beer tent or horseshoe pits, don’t have to remove outhouses, preserves green space to the south and east • Cons: eliminates a lot of good green space on the northside of the park, field lights would be very close to house located in park, backstop bleachers would be 120 yards from pavilion, smaller park green space, may need to remove some trees to the west of the tennis courts Amy Gustafson, FC Youth Sports Director, spoke stating the goal is to keep interest up in the program and to keep the kids in Fall Creek, rather than having them travel to other communities to play. Gustafson stated this has been a challenge with having only one field at Keller Park. Gustafson also stated enhancing he youth program, enhances the future of the high school program. Matt Bartow, also of FC Youth Sports, spoke of the volume of people the capability of hosting tournaments could bring to the Village who would support local businesses. Fred Strasburg spoke on behalf of the Lions Club, stating the Lions Club is in favor of Area B. Lions Club has been doing the Fun Fest for 20/30 years, has raised a lot of money for the Village, including helping build the restrooms and the kitchen in Keller Park. Darrel Wathke spoke on behalf of the horseshoe league, stating the league has been going for 52 years and asking that if they move them, to make a new area for them that is not by the train tracks. Burch reported the preliminary budget is putting the project at upwards of $200,000. The FC Youth Sports Association has already assembled volunteers and some materials at a reduced cost which would cover approximately $75,000 of the cost. He asked members of the FC Youth Sports which location they preferred. Their answer was Area A, and they stated a concern over the additional cost of Area B due to the paving issue, stating that cost may be so prohibitive that the project may not get off the ground. Discussion continued back and forth with members of the Lions Club and the Youth Sports looking for a collaborative solution. Fred Strasburg offered to check with the rest of the Lions Club members to see what they could to financially in regards to the removal and paving needed for Area B.  MOTION (Burch/Raap) to make a recommendation to the Board to move forward assessing Area A & Area B, to figure out the cost difference between the two, and for the Village to figure out what funds they may be able to contribute to the project. PASSED, without negative vote. 6. Consider Information from September 20 Meeting Regarding Accepting Septage at Wastewater Treatment Plant, Possible Recommendation: Trustee Sheena Kaatz, as chairperson of the Public Works, Public Safety and Property Committee, chaired this part of the meeting as it related to public works. Kaatz stated there were big take-aways from the meeting and she would like the committee to review the data, ask any additional questions, and make a plan as to how to proceed. Hurd wanted to delay any decision until next spring, saying there were still things to check out. Herbison felt it good to wait until spring because the Village had no money now. Mattoon stated the work should continue now as it will take time to do the additional research that will need to take place if the Village would like to start accepting septage in the spring. Kaatz stated we would have no more money in the spring and there is adequate money in our current budget to pay for engineering. Hurd indicated the Village of Fall Creek Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes 10/6/2021 Page 3 of 3 WWTP could handle taking a slug load from the haulers, rather than the Village increasing the size of the holding tank. McKee stated that a change like this would impact the operation of the plant and that his understanding of the process and what was stated by the presenters at the 9/20/21 meeting was that we should not slug-load our plant, we would need to flow pace. McKee further explained that he had scheduled Kay Curtin, Wastewater Technician/Trainer from Wisconsin Rural Water Association, to come tour Fall Creek’s plant and make needed recommendations for process optimization. As the Village is a member of the WRWA, there will be no charge for her time. Raap felt it would be important to have a qualified engineer make recommendations on the needed upgrades for various levels of septage acceptance.  MOTION (Raap/Mattoon) to pursue an engineering study on what they would recommend for our plant; and to continue with the Village’s own studies regarding taking septage and amount of revenue that could be gained vs. the additional cost. PASSED, without negative vote. 7. Adjourn: 6:57 pm. Renee Roemhild, Clerk-Treasurer