2025-07-2 VofA Board Minutes

PROCEEDINGS - VILLAGE OF ARGYLE - MONTHLY MEETING Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025 The regular monthly meeting of the Argyle Village Board was called to order by President Thomas Moore on July 2nd, 2025 at 7:00 pm. Roll call was taken with Hinojosa and Johnson absent. Proper posting of the meeting was acknowledged. King made a motion for approval of the minutes, June 5th Board of Review, and June 9th Joint Review Board Annual Meeting TID #3, Webster seconded, motion carried. Helfvogt made a motion to approve the agenda, Rossing seconded, motion carried. CITIZEN COMMENT There were no citizen comments. OLD BUSINESS Discussion on funding for the Fairview Street Project, Lead Service Line replacements, and General Fund Remaining Costs was led by Nik Dorava from Town and County Engineering. The total project cost will be close to $1.3 million, with $600,000 coming from the Safe Drinking Water program, $300,000 can be from LSL Replacement funding which has been applied to this year, and around $400,000 will come from the General Fund. Maddrell will be breaking ground on Fairview starting with sanitary sewer and water main work, followed by storm sewer improvements. InterCon will also be working on the gas lines sub-contracted by Alliant Energy. Town and Country will be there to oversee the construction. Matt Miller from Vierbicher questioned the need for amending the existing boundary of TID # 3, which is currently in the middle of it’s 27-year life and set to expire in 2039. A change in the current boundary does not appear to be necessary at this time and will be put on a future agenda for discussion next year. Helfvogt motioned to put a hold on amending the TID # 3 boundary, Rossing seconded, motion carried. President Moore presented a request by landowner Dennis Lancaster to purchase an L-Shaped area on River Street to square off his property. Among this purchase request was a list of to the Village from Lancaster, including but not limited to posting no parking signs and not-through street signs, contacting Google Maps to remove River Street from GPS directional mapping, posting directions to the handicap fishing pier that does not go through River Street, waiving the raze permit cost for an outbuilding, listing property for bids that is located in the Emergent Wetlands, burning of a section of trees, and the painting of sewer manhole structures to prevent them as an eyesore. King mentioned that since Lancaster is planning a possible campsite and trailer rentals in this area, it would be a good idea to paint the structures a high-vis safety color to make them more visible for people driving to prevent any damage. The list would be an agreement to allow the Village diesel delivery to the power plant through River Street from Mill Street rather than Milwaukee Street with the thought that we cannot have a certain weight truck enter from Milwaukee Street. King confirmed with the diesel delivery company that the Village can still get deliveries with a straight truck or another truck if needed through Milwaukee Street to the power plant. A roll-call vote was taken for the sale of the property with all present board members voting no. Helfvogt mentioned that some of the requests are not up for debate, such as the burning of the trees, which has an ordinance to prevent this and DNR restrictions. The next proposed upgrade to the shelter house is a half-wall on the West side of the building to help with the wind in the building. Currently a third room is being created in the middle of the North side of the building that will be a storage area for park items such as soccer goals and other Park and Rec items. A driveway was suggested from the gravel parking lot to the Beaver shed in the park, however the area may be part of the wetlands or a floodplain, so it will need to be investigated further. Another prospective improvement at the park would be extending the gravel parking lot, which also may be in the wetlands or floodplain. McGuire stated she will inquire with the DNR Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant reporting to confirm that this will comply with their standards as there is a report that needs to be completed every 5 years with a map of existing park spaces. Flannery updated that she has reached out to Woodford Bank to proceed with a loan for the upcoming Fairview Avenue street project mentioned by Dorava earlier. Woodford Bank lender Muhlstein has suggested splitting the total amount into two loans to lessen the amount of interest paid. It was suggested to split it into 2 loans: $438,200 starting first and the remainder will be a second loan which will be the amounts obtained from grant funding that need to be financed until the funding comes through. Peerless Well and Pump has outlined a bid for inspection and re-installation of Well # 2. The cost would be $2,470 for the pull and demo, $710 inspection and $2,970 for reinstallation. The inspections are required every 5 years, currently Well # 2 is over-due for an inspection. King made a motion to proceed with Peerless for the well inspection, Webster seconded, motion carried. NEW BUSINESS Payroll company Paychex presented a possible upgrade to the software that the Village uses for payroll. They presented their HR Pro package, which provides payroll and HR improvements, however Clerk Flannery stated it is not necessary as some of the perks are provided by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities insurance already. Helfvogt motioned to pass on the upgrade, Rossing seconded, motion carried. Operator’s licenses were presented for Shirley Ann Haglund at Corner Pub and Deli, Rebecca Vamstad, Alexandria Carter, and Brianne Flannery at Good Fellas Tavern. Helfvogt motioned to approve, King seconded, motion carried. COMMITTEE BUSINESS King mentioned that Street Superintendent Johnson requested the purchase of more street barricades for public safety. Community Development Director Schutte had to borrow barricades from the county for recent markets held in the Village. The cost per barricade will be $381, and Johnson is requesting 5 total. Multiple upcoming events such as the Cruise in Car Show and the Homecoming parade require blocking of the street. King motioned to approve, Helfvogt seconded, motion carried. A meeting will be scheduled for the first week of July with the engineer, Kleinschmidt, the Village, and adjacent property owners for approval for the raising of the dam as it will raise the water level around 6 inches. Electric Superintendent Koch spoke to the Electric Committee with concerns about the electric poles near the Lancaster shed. For the safety of our resources and residents, it was suggested to put cement barricades around the power poles located on Village property around the area behind the power plant as those poles supply power to the entire Village, and if one were to be damaged it could cause severe issues, if not causing entire Village to lose power. The barricades would be protected similarly to what is currently on Park Street. Recent damage was caused by a vehicle striking the fence and one of the barricades at the substation, and it prevented severe damage and injury. King motioned to purchase the barricades to protect the power poles, Helfvogt seconded, motion carried. Rossing brought up the re-dedication of the Waddington Community Building that will be taking place on October 4th. The building will be turning 100 years old, and Historic Argyle plans to add a portrait of the building’s namesake and re-dedicate the building to him as well as have a small ceremony followed by the Alumni Photo which will be held in front of the building. There will be a short 5-minute speech, portrait unveil, and a self-guided tour with new displays and photographs added to the building as well as light refreshments. Webster brought to attention that the library’s automatic door warranty will be expiring, and a maintenance program is optional. The program will send someone to check the door’s function 1-3 times per year, and the only charge would be if any repair needs to be made. Webster mentioned that policy for unattended children and vulnerable adults will be updated, as the library cannot be held liable for children who are left unattended, and they have delt with recent vandalism and children unattended for a long period of time. Helfvogt questioned if the Library and Community Building are listed as a cooling center during these hot months, which the Village Clerks will inquire about. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Proclamations have been presented for two more Key to the Village awards by Schutte, these will be announced at Park Palooza on July 19th after the Shelter Dedication. He stated there is a list of others who he would like to see receive a Key this year, possibly during a future event. Schutte noted that kickball and squish games registrations were very low, but he was hopeful to receive more signups before the event. There will be meetings on July 2nd and 16th for volunteer help for Park Palooza at 6:30PM in the Community Building. Schutte stated that he would like to see Park Palooza turn into an annual event that will highlight local businesses and organizations and assist in fundraising efforts. The Saturday markets have been going well despite the recent temperatures, and many vendors signed up for the Park Palooza date. The Argyle Community Parks Foundation raised around $900 during Fish Fry and will be fundraising during Park Palooza as well. The temporary diagonal parking introduced on Broad Street between Monroe Street and Milwaukee Street had positive reviews. PRESIDENT BUSINESS The payroll report for June 2025 overtime paid to full-time: Johnson – 5.83 hours, Ritschard – 8.56 hours, Koch – 8.37 hours, Flannery – 1.32 hours, McGuire – 0.17 hours, Saalsaa – 2.25 hours. Helfvogt made a motion to approve overtime, Rossing seconded, motion carried. President Moore updated the board with committee assignments and information. President Moore presented that Johnson has completed the Wastewater Treatment Operator classes and certification, at which point he was to receive a $1.00 per hour raise. Current Wastewater Operator Ritschard has three more sub-classes to pass to be listed as the Operator of the plant. The new Lafayette County Stray Dog Policy information was handed out to all board members. CLERK BUSINESS There were no building permits approved. Flannery requested that she and McGuire attend the Civic Symposium on September 11 & 12th in Wisconsin Dells. A roll-call vote was taken with no opposition. The Clerk’s Office has received their new copier that was budgeted for this year; they will look into budgeting for a new copier for the Police Department next year. Flannery presented back-billed water adjustments that had been returned in the mail as undeliverable. She noted that there will be a few that need to be written off due to people who are deceased or have moved away. McGuire updated that the Doxo online payments have been successful. 35 payments out of 520 customers, which is around 7%, 9 of these 35 being usually late on their bills. The total payments made online was $4,902.03. Flannery presented the financial statement from the Johnson Block audit and noted that board members may take a copy to look over and return back to the office. Helfvogt made a motion to approve total June 2025 accounts payable checks $281,517.72, July 2025 invoices paid to date $29,459.12, Webster seconded, motion carried. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 6th, at 7:00 pm. Helfvogt made a motion to adjourn at 9:17PM, King seconded, motion carried. Mallory McGuire Deputy Clerk