20250507 – Village Board Minutes

PROCEEDINGS - VILLAGE OF ARGYLE - MONTHLY MEETING Wednesday, May 7th, 2025 The regular monthly meeting of the Argyle Village Board was called to order by President Thomas Moore on May 7th, 2025 at 7:00 pm. Roll call was taken with Fransen absent. Proper posting of the meeting was acknowledged. King made a motion for approval of the minutes, Hinojosa seconded, motion carried. Webster made a motion to approve the agenda, King seconded, motion carried. CITIZEN COMMENT Tom and Tami Crist appeared before the board to question Ordinance 164-6 Restrictions on keeping dogs, fowl and other animals; vicious animals . They have three Rottweiler dogs in their household and stated their dogs have grown up with their grandchildren and are ve ry mild mannered and well trained. King spoke on the ordinance, stating that the existence is not to punish responsible dog owners, however it does exist to prevent issues with irresponsible owners. King notified the Crists that as long as they get the proper insurance coverage for the dogs, which is a requirement of a restricted breed in the Village of Argyle, they will not have an issue with keeping the dogs. They were adv ised to contact the management of the trailer court on obtaining approval for a temporary fence for the dogs, and were instructed to follow up with the Vill age Board to obtain approval for a multiple dog license. Chief Saalsaa presented an estimate to add more security cameras down at the American Legion Park. The park currently has a few cameras that were donated, however they only capture a few views down at the park. The new cameras will also be donated, the only cost being the charge to set up and wire the cameras. King mentioned that he would look into the current system and see if these could be o n the same monitor system or if it would have to be on a separate system as they can only host a set amount of cameras. Johnson motioned to approve th e installation of the new cameras, Helfvogt seconded, motion carried. OLD BUSINESS Resolution No. 3 -2025, A Resolution Authorizing the Village of Argyle to Cap the Village’s Portion of Public Fire Protection With the Rest Being a Direct Charge Based on Customer Meter Size was presented. Johnson Block has been working on the water rate case for the Village and had advised that the Personal Fire Protection be capped at $64,000 . Helfvogt motioned to approve the resolution, King seconded, motion carried. The Argyle Cemetery received two bids for the seasonal mowing: Bryce Slater bid for 12 mowings at $175, and Mason McNett bid for $400 pe r mowing. Helfvogt motioned to approve the bid from Slater, King seconded, motion carried. Bryce Slater will also be doing the park mowing unde r direction of Park Coordinator Kevin Slater. In addition to mowing the park, he will also drag the ball fields and clean up at the park. The m owing job usually takes around 15 hours a week in addition to 5 hours of weekly maintenance and will be at a rate of $15.00 per hour. Helfvogt motioned to app rove hiring Slater, Webster seconded, motion carried. More upgrades have been added to the shelter house at the American Legion Park. Lighting has been added, as well as the new kitchen and bathroom are almost finished, and a water heater will be set up soon. Rejuvenators is working on the floor inside currently, and there are new high-top style tables and chairs that are able to be rented in the future that are easier to use for all ages. The Legion is still looking into a way to help block the wind on the West side of the shelter house. The Park Committee will be discussing raising the price of renting the shelter house with all of the upgrades it’s had. Currently the cost to rent the shelter house is $35 per day. The DOT has been evaluating potential alternatives related to truck turning paths and the addition of a stop sign at the West approach of State Highway 78 and 81 intersection. They presented multiple alternativ es and movement maps showing turning movements of trucks. The first alternative including a dding in the stop sign would move the lane North, removing all six of the parking spaces on this side of the road to allow for trucks to have enough space to stop and turn South. The second alternative would be to not install the stop sig n and keep things how it is today. They also looked into adding a wider painted median to allow for turning, however this would impact parking on both sides of the street. King motioned to notify the DOT that the Village will not include adding a stop sign in the intersection, Hinojosa seconded. A roll-call vote was taken with Johnson opposing, motion carried. The Board discussed removal of parking stalls on the corners of the intersectio n in the absence of a stop sign being added and agreed on five stalls to remove to improve visibility in the intersection . Johnson motioned to remove the parking stalls, King seconded, motion carried. This year’s contracts for the Beavers Home Talent Team, Fire Department Mud Volleyball Tournament, and Thund erbridge Flywheelers Thresheree were presented to the board. The Park Committee will be meeting on May 14 th at 4:30PM to discuss raising the rental for the park and the shelter house use; the Mud Volleyball and Flywheelers contracts will be on a future agenda pending their decision. Helfvogt motioned to approve the Beavers contract, King seconded, motion carried. NEW BUSINESS Class B Beer and Class B Liquor licenses have been filed with the Clerk’s office from Good Fellas Tavern, the Corner Pub and Deli, Sportz Page, and Class A Beer and Class A Liquor Licenses have been filed from the Blanchardville Co-op. The license date is for July 1 st 2025 through June 30 th, 2026. Village employees’ computers were assessed by IT company Computer Know How and have been informed there is at least on e computer still running Windows 10. Currently the end -of-life for Windows 10 will be in October 2025, so they advised updating any computers to Windows 11 before October. King motioned to approve the upgrade, Webster seconded, motion carried. Delton Fransen has presented a letter of r esignation to the Argyle Village Board. Village President Tom Moore will be announcing his replacement. COMMITTEE BUSINESS Hinojosa updated that Water Superintendent J. Johnson will need all water meters to be refurbished or changed by 2028. The water meters were installed in 2013, and the life -span of the meters is around 10 years. The cost will be investigated and possible meter upgrades will be researched. Hinojosa suggested Advanced Metering Infrastructure meters which can automatically read directly to the Clerk’s office whi ch would allow them to be notified when bills fluctuate or leaks occur. The PSC has notified the Village that the 3 -phase electric meters in the Village need to be re - calibrated. There are around 50 customers with this type of meter, and the cost for re -calibration will be $4,500. The project would take around 3 days. King notified the board that Electric Superintendent Koch has completed his third year of lineman school and has only one yea r to go. The Hydro plant has produced 20.01 megawatt hours of power, which is enough to power a few city blocks. This is a record high production for the past few years. Helfvogt brought up three maple trees on the south side of the shelter house need to be trimmed. The quote for the trimming of the three trees w ould be $1,500, $500 per tree . The middle tree of the three is the biggest problem currently and is a candidate for removal, the cost for removing this t ree rather than trimming would be $1,500. This cost would include removal and stump grinding. The Park Committee will assess the trees and possibly have Village employees handle the tree trimming. Helfvogt brought up a comment requesting for an additional driveway down at the Legion Park next to the guard rail behind the tractor pullers lane, leading to the shed. This area is a marsh area, and the driveway would have to be reworked yearly to maintain it’s structure. Webster mentioned that the interlibrary loan system is put on hold currently as the entire Institute for Museum and Library S ervices staff is on administrative leave due to an executive order. There are currently lawsuits against this executive order, however it’s Congressionally funded so it’s difficult to change. Currently this is hindering the library’s ability to serve patrons. The library budget was looked into as well; currently the library is unable to apply to grants such as the USDA grants as they do not have a line item for rent or utilities. The possibility of raising the library budget and charging rent and utility costs to allow them to have this line item for grant applications will be discussed at a later time. President M oore mentioned that the UV system and air filters for the wastewater treatment plant will need to be replaced. Ri tschard and Johnson are currently still taking DNR classes to complete the Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator certification. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Schutte has updated that the Open Market is at risk of being cancelled. Currently there are no food vendors for the market and only a few craft vendors signed up. Previous vendors have not signed up to join. The day of the week is stated as a big factor as Saturdays are highly contested by other markets. Helfvogt offered to help call last year’s members as well as contact Amish vendors to help find vendors for produce and food. The Community-wide Garage Sales have had a few sign-ups. Village residents can sign up as late as May 23 rd to be listed in the newspaper article and map. The Shelter House dedication event will be held on July 19 th in conjunction with Christmas in July and the Open Market. There will be a craft show, a series of games for kids and adults, food and other activities for families sponsored by local businesses. PRESIDENT BUSINESS The payroll report for March 2025 overtime paid to full -time: Johnson – 5.81 hours, Ritschard – 13.20 hours, Koch – 31.03 hours, Flannery – 2.58 hours, McGuire – 1.91 hours, Saalsaa – 1.32 hours. King made a motion to approve overtime, Hinojosa seconded, motion carried. CLERK BUSINESS Building permits approved by Total Inspection Services were Dennis Lancaster for a remodel at 102 River Street, Tommy Heath for a fence at 201 East Street, Amylynne Volker for a remodel at 400 Oak Street, Alan Soper for an alteration at 716 E Milwaukee Street, and Ballard Landscaping for a fence at 102 N Fairview Avenue. The Annual Recycling Costs report has been filed with the County for review. Globe Life Insurance will host a presentation for Village Employees and family on May 14 th at 10:00am. Multiple residents in the Village are requiring multiple -dog licenses. McGuire is working with Chief Saalsaa on homes that are non -compliant to ensure that they obtain board approval for the multiple dogs and become in compliance. Johnson made a motion to approve total April 2025 accounts payable checks $101,606.31, May 2025 invoices paid to date $57,891.11, Hinojosa seconded, motion carried. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 4th, at 7:00 pm. Helfvogt made a motion to adj ourn at 9:15PM, Hinojosa seconded, motion carried. Mallory McGuire Deputy Clerk