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CITY OF GILLETT COMMON COUNCIL Council Chambers – Municipal Building 150 N McKenzie Ave – Gillett, WI 54124 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2025 AT 6:00 PM MINUTES 1. Mayor Blaskowski called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. 2. Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Roll Call Present: Mayor Jon Blaskowski, Clerk Treasurer Chelsea Anderson, Alderpersons Nanette Mohr , Keri Hicks, Jerry Luther, Ashley VanStraten, Matt Young, Public Works Foreman Nate Anderson, Police Chief Shane Breitenbach, Fire Chief Kurt Hicks, Librarian Shannon Stoner, and City Attorney Robert Gagan . Public: Nancy Grooms, Norm Finnell, Deanna Smith, and Tracy Ondik. Excused Utility Operator Matt Wickman and David Bunker. 3. Clerk Treasurer informs the Council that the Open Meeting Law has been complied with. 4. Public Input: Tracy Ondik thanked the City Police Department for his efforts on the last mutual aid call/traffic accident. He also thanked the Fire Department for all their efforts. Nancy Grooms stated she has filed a formal complaint with the City about an issue she had in the campground. Clerk has given the complaint to the police department. 5. Discussion & possible action on Meeting Minutes from September 4, 2025 Minutes MOTION: VanStraten/Mohr Motion to approve minutes from September 4, 2025 Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 6. Library Report: Library Director: Programming We’ll be at Harvest Days on Saturday, October 4. Monday, October 13, 4-5 pm: Going Batty with Wisconsin Bat Program Wednesday, October 15, 1:30-2:30 pm: Cemeterium Craft-make a gothic terrarium for Halloween. Wisconsin Science Festival is October 16-26 Working with the Gillett School Band and Music teacher to organize a program to teach kids about the science of sound and music We will be getting our “Science in a Bag” in the next couple weeks. Friday, October 24, 10:30-11:30 am, Safe Kids Oconto County doing passenger safety storytime with kids Gary from our Friends group will be giving out candy for Halloween at the library Upcoming Programs On November 3 we are going to be putting up our Mitten Tree for We Believe. People can come to the library and take a mitten from the tree, buy that present, and return it to the Gillett Public Library UNWRAPPED and with the mitten so we can give it to We Believe. Beeswax Luminaries with The Woodsy Dude, Friday, November 14, 11 am-1 pm, 3-5 pm Turkey Bingo Date and Time TBD: Need help getting food for Thanksgiving? Join us for Bingo where you can win what you need. We will have all the trimmings as well as 2 turkeys graciously donated from Schowalter farms in Oconto Falls. One turkey will be given out in the morning and one in the afternoon. November 24, 1 pm: we are having the UW Madison Physics Department for a “Wonders of Physics” program for kids 2 I’m going to present at the Wisconsin Library Association at the end of October My staff and I are working to transform the magazine area into a JobPod area. We'd like to put a desk/table in the corner and move the magazine beside the nonfiction area. We’d put job binders and resources on the bookcase in that corner as well as a light. We want to make that corner comfortable and full of information for people needing help with employment. We have our new bike rack. Our young patron who requested it was very excited that we purchased one. Our Winter Project this year is going through our fiction and making sure books have an appropriate genre sticker on them. Every winter I do a little project around the library.... Previous winter projects included updating the paper card index, replacing plastic shelf holders with metal to prevent injuries to patrons and staff from overloaded, heavy shelves, simplifying movie call numbers, and transferring children non-fiction from adult non-fiction to its own area near the children’s section. 7. Tourism & Marketing Commission/Gillett Area Chamber of Commerce: Alderperson Luther stated TEDCOR has over 27,000 followers on Facebook and asks municipalities to send over their events for advertising. Chamber of Commerce Homecoming and Harvest Days has been busy planning the events and daily drawings. Football game tomorrow followed by the bonfire. On Saturday there will be vendors, food trucks, petting zoo, pumpkins for sale, and more. 8. Financial Report: Clerk Treasurer – a. Updated Monthly Check Register MOTION: Luther/Hicks Motion to approve August and September Check Registers. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 9. Police Department Report: Police Chief Breitenbach a. Discussion on Training, Public Relations, and Incident Summary Report -Chief Breitenbach provided the incident report: Training and Public Relations- From the Chief's Desk: Gillett Police Department: September 2025 / 218 incidents I am happy to announce that we have been selected as one of the recipients of a grant to replace/upgrade our department’s PBT breathalyzer units. In addition to the new PBT unit, we will be receiving future training from the State of Wisconsin to become certified calibration testers for our PBT equipment. I, along with Officers Braun, Kurtz, and Hull participated in the bi-annual EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations) training hosted by the Oconto County Sheriff’s Office. This ongoing training instructs us on the use of proper defensive and offensive driving applications. Officers Hull and Braun joined members of the Oconto County Sheriff’s Office in low-light shooting exercises at the Suring Sportsman’s Club Range. Officer Braun and I have completed our firearms qualifications at the Gillett Police Department Range. Officer Hull attended ARIDE certification training. ARIDE is Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement, (ARIDE) is a 16-hour course that was developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, (NHTSA) to address the gap in training between Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) and the Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) training. The ARIDE course covered SFST skills refresher, advanced sobriety tests, common/trending drugs of abuse, driving while impaired by drugs, how drugs affect the human body, observable effects drug 3 combinations, medical conditions that mimic drug impairment, pre & post arrest procedures, and legal update with pertinent case law relating to OWI and drugged driving cases. These skills are extremely helpful in any situation, not just traffic-related incidents. A few reminders for the rest of the month. On October 25th the Gillett Police Department will be hosting the Fall 2025 National Drug Takeback Day event. This special event will be held from 10am-2pm. Also the 2025 City of Gillett Halloween Trick or Treat event will be held on Halloween, October 31, from 4pm-6pm. 10. Fire Department Report: Fire Chief Hicks a. Discussion on Training, Public Relations, and Incident Summary Report September 4-2025 Fire Alarm, 9-8-Fire Alarm, 9-10- Fire Alarm Seneca, 9-10 Gas Leak, 9-12- Fire Alarm Seneca, 9-19- Fire Alarm- Seneca Cancelled, 9-20- MABAS Gillett EMS Traffic Accident, 9-26- Auto Aid Underhill. Training and Public Relations: Chief stated they will be working the bonfire for Homecoming. Fire prevention week at the grade school, every grade gets a lesson, and we will run a fire drill. Daycare will come over to garage for a fire safety lesson. Pump testing was done and all turcks passed. Will be out for Halloween giving candy on October 31. 11. Health, Protection and License Committee Report: Alderperson VanStraten a. Discussion & possible action on Resolution 12-2025 to request electronic mailings from County of Ordinance Amendments MOTION: Luther/Young Motion to approve Resolution 12-2025 requesting electronic mailings from County of Ordinance Amendments Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED b. Discussion & possible action on Operator License for Jason Druckrey MOTION: Luther/Mohr Motion to approve an Operator License for Jason Druckrey. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED c. Discussion & possible action on purchasing a generator for the fire department at a cost of $11,013 using ACT 12 money MOTION: Mohr/Luther Motion to approve purchasing a generator from Telford for the Fire Department for $11,013. Roll Call Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED d. Discussion & possible action on Exterior Lighting Ordinance change- VanStraten attended Ambulance meeting and received our new contract. MOTION: Luther/Hicks Motion to approve removing line f (no rotating/flashing, moving digital lights) in the Exterior Lighting Ordinance. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 4 12. Utility Committee Report: Cleaning and inspecting the water tower in October. We have received two applications for the Utility Assistant Position. Clerk will set up interviews for October 20, 2025. a. Discussion & possible action on Bid Award for Highway 22- USDA is shut down (government shut down) no work is being completed on our grant application at this time. REL would like to know a date we move forward without USDA funding. Council would like to wait as long as possible for USDA to come through and receive the sewer grant money and lending. b. Discussion & possible action on loan from CoVantage Credit Union for $829,000 for cost overrun from HWY 22 Project MOTION: Luther/Hicks Motion to approve a loan from CoVantage Credit Union for $829,000 for cost overrun from HWY 22 Project. Roll Call Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 13. Board of Public Works Committee Report: Alderperson Hicks- Public Works Foreman Nate Anderson had to leave for an on-call water and sewer issue. 14. Finance and Personnel Committee Report: Alderperson Mohr reported we had our budget meeting and went well. All budgets were submitted and department heads talked about their needs. Kerber Rose will go over our budget amounts and get back to us to cut expenses if need be. 15. Park and Cemetery Committee Report: Alderperson Luther stated we were granted 1 million dollars from CDBG for our Zippel Park Playground Upgrade, and we also were awarded $900,000 from the Stewardship and DNR grant! a. Discussion & possible action on opening a non interest bearing account for the grant proceeds MOTION: Hicks/Mohr Motion to approve opening a non interest bearing account for the grant proceeds. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED b. Discussion & possible action on MSA administration contract for Stewardship and LWCF Grant MOTION: Mohr/VanStraten Motion to approve MSA administration contract for Stewardship and LWCF Grant. Roll Call Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED c. Discussion & possible action on removing/moving small yellow merry go round, climbing tower bell, and one tree for the Fair Track Extension- fair wants to expand track this fall because it needs to sit all winter. Public Works will move the play equipment. Fair will cut the tree. MOTION: Hicks/VanStraten Motion to approve Public Works removing the small merry go round, climbing tower bell as soon as possible or by October 30, and the fair board to remove the tree as pictured. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED d. Discussion & possible action on playground location MOTION: Mohr/Hicks Motion to approve the playground location as pictured, near the Lions Stand. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 5 16. Planning Committee Report: Alderperson Bunker a. Discussion & possible action on Hazard Mitigation Plan MOTION: Luther/Mohr Motion to approve the Hazard Mitigation Plan. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 17. Clerk Treasurers Report: City Clerk Chelsea Anderson stated she had still been working with the USDA to keep the HWY 22 project moving before the government shutdown and will still proceed to get things finished on our end. We have until November to award to PTS to start the project. CoVantage is still processing the loan request for the cost overrun. This month there will be a Workers Compensation Audit, which is an end of year audit by our insurance to verify our payroll reflects accurate workers compensation insurance premiums. 18. Attorneys Report: Conway, Olejniczak, and Jerry S.C. Attorneys at Law- City Attorney Robert Gagon answered our tobacco license limit question which we can’t limit tobacco license quotas. We need to plan a planning meeting, it seems an assessors plot is needed in the North McKenzie/ Pine/ Cedar area to fix lot lines. 19. Public Input: None 20. Mayor's Report: Mayor Blaskowski stated we are working through the budget, and that the city budget looks good reflecting on preliminary numbers. Members, please look over the budgets and prepare for our next meeting. After discussion in the previous Public Works meeting, Mayor would like to state that he believes the new cold storage building location needs to be in the industial park not the recreation park. 21. Adjourn at 7:10 PM MOTION: Mohr/Luther Motion to adjourn. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED Respectfully submitted by Clerk Treasurer Chelsea Anderson