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1 CITY OF GILLETT COMMON COUNCIL Council Chambers – Municipal Building 150 N McKenzie Ave – Gillett, WI 54124 THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2025 AT 6:00 PM MINUTES 1. Council President Mohr called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Roll Call Present: Clerk Treasurer Chelsea Anderson, Mayor Jon Blaskowski, Alderpersons Nanette Mohr, Irene Drake, Jerry Luther, Ashley VanStraten, Matt Young, David Bunker via phone, Utility Operator Matt Wickman, Public Works Foreman Nate Anderson, Fire Chief Kurt Hicks, Police Chief Shane Breitenbach, Librarian Shannon Stoner, City Attorney Robert Gagan, and MSA Art Bahr, Public Kevin Smith, Dennis Schultz, Warren Bluhm Times Herald, Keri Hicks, Gerald Wendt, Ann Ammerman, Deanna Smith, and Michael Kohn. 2. Clerk informs the Council that the Open Meeting Law has been complied with 3. Public Input: Dennis Schultz is asking about putting on an event here in Gillett and how to go about it. He went across America in his wheelchair to honor first responders and to shake their hands, he called it “The Handshake Journey”. The event he is proposing in Gillett will be called “Heroes Day Off”. He plans to put on a concert and serve food, and all money he raises he would donate to the local veterans. 4. Michael Kohn Veteran Banners: Two Banners were made by Dotcom in Shawano. Double sided with grommets for $110.00. We will put it on our Public Works agenda to hang the banners on Main Street. 5. Discussion & possible action on minutes from February 6, 2025 Minutes MOTION: VanStraten/Mohr Motion to approve minutes from February 6, 2025 Minutes. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED MOTION: Mohr/VanStraten Motion to move item #15 under #5. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 6. Library Report: Library Director Report- Library Director Report- February 2025 Programming: Thursday, March 13 from 5-7 pm is our Winter Market. Project: Slime: Join The Children's Museum of Green Bay at Gillett Library Community Center on Wednesday, March 19 from 3:30-4:30 pm to learn about states of matter and make your slime. Money as you Grow Storytime on Tuesday, March 25 at 10:30 am. Each family receives a book (Berenstein Bears “Trouble with Money”) parent guide, craft, and learning activities about money Let's play away the winter blues with a Bluey Party at the Gillett Library Community Center on Thursday, March 27 from 11 am to 12 pm! Enjoy a Bluey-themed snack and activities! Build a robot to clean your room, play librarian, and shake those wiggles out with a game of Keepy Uppy! Gillett Library will also host VITA this year. VITA provides free tax preparation. Our Peep-le's Choice competition is back for another year! Make a book or library related diorama using peeps and our community will vote on the top two! Dioramas are due at the Gillett Public Library on April 1st. Voting will be from Monday, April 14 and voting will conclude on Thursday, April 17! Who will win the Peep-le's vote? 2 I wrote a grant for the Teen Inclusive Internship. It is a $2,500 grant to grants for up to seven Wisconsin Libraries to fund library internships for local high school juniors or seniors to be completed between June 1st, 2025, and August 31st, 2025. It offers a paid mentor internship for local high school juniors or seniors to experience the world of librarianship. I attended Bystander and Anti-human Trafficking Training at NWTC in February. The training is meant to train library staff ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay. Training topics included gaining a deeper understanding of human trafficking and the role libraries can play in identifying, responding to, and supporting victims. We will also learn about ways that we can build community awareness and provide education to help with prevention as well as conflict intervention tactics. We started a job binder for local jobs. Patrons who are looking for jobs can peruse the binder to see what is available locally. 7. Tourism & Marketing Commission/Gillett Area Chamber of Commerce: Alderperson Luther stated we discussed construction signage for the HWY 22 Project. $110 dollars per sign per quote. Circus will not be coming to Gillett this year because the date would have been August 15, when the Oconto County Fair Starts. MOTION: Luther/Drake Motion to approve rescind the approval of the Circus performing this year due to conflict with the Oconto County Fair dates. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 8. Financial Report: Clerk Treasurer – Updated Monthly Check Register Provided MOTION: Luther/Drake Motion to approve February City and Utility Check Registers. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 9. Police Department Report: Police Chief Breitenbach –Written Report Gillett Police Department \ 206 incidents \ February 2025 All the members of our department have completed their bi-annual CPR training. This training instructs us in the application of CPR protocols, care of chocking victims, and the proper use of an AED for adult and child patients. Gillett Area Ambulance provides training for many of our first responders including not only law enforcement officers, but firefighters and emergency medical personal throughout the county. Gillett Area Ambulance also has donated multiple AED units to many organizations including the Gillett Police Department. We are very fortunate to have this organization in our community. I wish to thank the members of Gillett Area Ambulance for their continued support of the Gillett Police Department and our community! This week we have received the ballistic shield given to us by the Oconto County Sheriff’s Office. The Oconto County Sheriff’s Office received a grant and through this grant, obtained multiple ballistic shields, providing one to our department. These shields provide an improved area of safety for officers, allowing greater protection from gunfire, blunt objects, and edged weapons. Our officers completed the level 1 ballistic shield application training this week. This training was focused on general use with additional specific training on non-compliant subjects in vehicles and tactical room clearing. Officer Hull continues her work in the Gillett schools. SRO Hull handled 24 law enforcement related events in the schools. Officer Hull also now been appointed to the Health Committee assisting the school with educating students and staff on topics such as vaping, drugs, use of social media, anxiety, and bullying. Officer Hull has also been working closely with Oconto County Human Services on creating presentations for students on Teen Distracted Driving, Bullying, the Juvenile Justice System, Sexual Abuse, and Harassment. Officer Hull also assisted with facilitating a protective K-9 sweep of the campus. 3 Officer Hull continues to build on her relationships with students and staff. These relationships have identified issues off campus that are directly impacting the daily activities at school. These relationships have assisted greatly on how we can address the issues at home. Officer Braun has completed her field training program and has transitioned into solo patrol. Officer Braun has been doing a great job! Officer Kurtz continues with her field training program being paired up with Officer Anderson. Officer Kurtz is also doing very well! As a reminder, next month the Gillett Police Department will be hosting the annual Spring Drug Takeback event. Specific date and time will be forthcoming. 10. Fire Department Report: Fire Chief Hicks a. Discussion on Training, Public Relations, and Incident Summary Report: February Calls: February 18 MABAS call Oconto Falls structure fire, 26th MABAS Oconto structure fire. Joint Training with Underhill: trained on electrical vehicles; how to use jaws, how to extricate, how to shut off power to the vehicle, watched videos and did hands on training. The Youth Firefighter program is going to be offered in this year’s summer school programs, called EMS Fire bootcamp. 11. Health, Protection and License Committee Report: Alderperson VanStraten a. Discussion & possible action on 4th of July Celebration Picnic License and Operator License MOTION: Drake/Mohr Motion to approve the 4th of July Celebration Picnic License and Operator License. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED b. Discussion & possible action on Life Insurance Policy MOTION: Drake/Luther Motion to approve the Life Insurance Policy. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 12. Board of Public Works Committee Report: Public Works Foreman Nate Anderson stated we had large snowstorm and plowing went well. We are working on machinery that broke or in need of repair, such as the wing of plow truck, new head light in dump stuck, new cutting edge and hydraulic motor in snow blower, library maintenance, new camera installed at compost center, maintenance on pay loader, and installed a new cutting edge for pay loader. We have also started our safety training for the year. 13. Utility Committee Report: Utility Operator Matt Wickman stated we had one residents water line freeze up, tried to steam it open but the freeze was too far in the line. The customer is supplied with water from the neighbor until it can thaw. The water tower needs to be inspected and cleaned. a. Discussion & possible action on Water Line L&N Metal Works Easement MOTION: Drake/Mohr Motion to approve the easement for our water line with L&N Metal Works. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED b. Discussion & possible action on private septic system application MOTION: Mohr/VanStraten Motion to approve the install of a septic system at 125 E Fourth Street where City sewer is not offered. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 4 c. Discussion & possible action on Water Tower Quotes MOTION: Drake/Mohr Motion to approve James Orr for $14,700 for inspecting and cleaning the Water Tower. Roll Call Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 14. Finance and Personnel Committee Report: Alderperson Mohr- No Meeting, No Report. 15. Park and Cemetery Committee Report: Alderperson Luther a. Discussion & possible action on Resolution 1-2025 DNR Stewardship Outdoor Recreation Grant MOTION: Mohr/Drake Motion to approve Resolution 1-2025 DNR Stewardship Outdoor Recreation Grant Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED b. Discussion & possible action on Update to City of Gillett CORP MOTION: Drake/Mohr Motion to approve a one-page section being added in the Oconto County Recreation Plan to add the addition of the Zippel Park Playground Project. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED c. Discussion & possible action on Request for amendment to the Oconto County CORP MOTION: Luther/Drake Motion to approve the request to Oconto County for an addition to their Recreation Plan. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED d. Discussion & possible action on 4th of July Celebration Special Event Permit MOTION: Drake/Mohr Motion to 4th of July Special Event Permit. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 16. Planning Committee Report: Alderperson Bunker a. Discussion & possible action on 125 E Fourth Street New Home Build MOTION: Luther/Drake Motion to approve the new home build at 125 E Fourth Street for VanElzen’s. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED 17. Clerk Treasurer’s Report: Clerk Treasurer - Clerk Anderson stated the February Election went great. We had good voter turnout for a small election. I will be attending the Gillett School District Career Fair for 3rd- 5th Graders. I will bring pictures of equipment and explain what Public Works does, Utility, the Police Department, and the Clerk and Treasurer duties, including accounting, election, court, and more. We had our audit completed by Hawkins Ash CPA’s, we should get our reports back soon for 2024. Reminder Dog and Chicken Licenses are due April 1. I will put the reminder in the paper, on our website, and on Facebook. 18. Attorneys Report: Conway, Olejniczak, and Jerry S.C. Attorneys at Law- City Attorney Robert Gagan- Finished the Water and Sewer Line Easement for the Hertwig Property, spoke with the attorney for Waters Edge on Armstrong about their parking lot, they stated they will assign parking spaces and repair the parking lot in spring to make sure all spaces can be used. 19. Public Input: Ann Ammerman volunteered at school today to help second graders learn about their community. Ann thanks the mayor and council for improving the council. 5 20. Mayor's Report: Mayor Blaskowski will attend BizTown. The Little Seedlings 4H Club donated $200 to the Friends of Gillett for the Playground Upgrade to Zippel Park, Huge Thank You! Gillett School Superintendent Dr. Hanson reached out for a meeting regarding the great job Officer Hull has been doing and negotiations need to start for next school year. Had a meeting with the Fair Board President and Secretary and spoke with them on how to communicate better and looking forward to working together. 21. Adjourn at 7: 05 PM MOTION: Mohr/Drake Motion to adjourn. Voice Vote: All Voting Aye - MOTION CARRIED Respectfully Submitted, Clerk Treasurer Chelsea Anderson 6