20250305 Village Board Minutes

PROCEEDINGS - VILLAGE OF ARGYLE - MONTHLY MEETING March 5th, 2025 The regular monthly meeting of the Argyle Village Board was called to order by President Thomas Moore on March 5th, 2025 at 7:00 pm. Roll call was taken with Helfvogt absent; she arrived after roll -call was taken. Proper posting of the meeting was acknowledged. Fransen made a motion for approval of the minutes, Webster seconded, motion carried. King made a motion to approve the agenda, Hinojosa seconded, motion carried. CITIZEN COMMENT There were no citizen comments presented. OLD BUSINESS The Preliminary Resolution Declaring Intent to Exercise Special Assessment Taxing Powers for the Fairview Avenue project was presented. Notices are to be sent out to property owners and a public hearing will be scheduled to be held at 6:30PM on Wedn esday, April 2 nd prior to the Village Board Meeting. Johnson motioned to approve the resolution, Hinojosa seconded, motion carried. Resoluti on No. 2 -2025 Amending Sections 16, 17(A), and 17(C) of the Village of Argyle Code Chapter 541 was up for board review and approval. This will allow ATVs and UTVs to have access to all streets of the Village of Argyle, will designate the speed limit for ATVs and UTVs to not exceed 25 miles per hour, and will prohibit any use on sidewalks or curbs. Johnson Block has given advice on the Kleinschmidt proposal for the dam and spillway repairs. They ha ve suggested borrowing for the first portion of the repairs only, and in the future re -financing the second portion of the project into the first loan to avoid paying any extra interest. The Village of Argyle has a new website – argylewi.gov. Community Development Director Joe Schutte has been building this website along with his team at Geek Powered; they have implemented a community calendar, mailing list, online f orms, and are looking into a way to provide online payments as an option to Argyle Municipal Utilities customers. Schutte noted that Villa ge emails will switch over to reflect this new .gov domain, as the current emails are a .org domain. The emails will continue to work even past th e change to allow a transition period. Johnson Block provided an engagement letter for the future water rate case. They advised it would likely be $9,000 to $11,500. King motioned to proceed with this, Helfvogt seconded, motion carried. NEW BUSINESS Johnson Block has suggested that during the water rate case, the Village should adjust the way that Public Fire Protection i s collected; they advised a fixed fee for this based on the size of customers’ services. This number would be set by the PSC. They also advised that a simplified rate case should be completed every other year to keep up with inflation. These rate cases can only be done once every 12 months, and municipalities must qualify for them to complete. Andy Kurts from Vierbicher spoke on the TID#3 project plan, presenting an amendment agreement. Vierbicher is looking to expand the TID an additional half-mile; work would need to be done with the Plan Commission on this project. The goal of the amendment would be to assess the opportunities of the TID so that it would not need to be amended again in th e future. The expense would be able to use TID funding. Helfvogt motioned to proceed with the agreement for the amendment, King seconded, motion passed. Kurtz also presented a zoning ordinance review and update agreement. He stated that the current zoning code includes things that are not current or practiced, and that some of the zoning refers to State code, which takes authority from Village of Argyle and places it in to the State’s hands. Vierbicher would clean up the code, make it easier to understand, and stay in compliance with cases for conditional usage. T he cost of the project would be around $6,000 and would take around 3 to 4 months to complete. Helfvogt motioned to approve the ordinance update ag reement, Fransen seconded, motion carried. The 2025 Park and Recreation program agreements have been created by McGuire and presented to the Park Committee for approval. For the 2025 year, Randy Russell will be leading the Soccer Program and the Youth Flag Football prog ram, and Kevin Slater will be leading the Summer Park and Recreation program. Webster motioned to approve the agreements, Fransen seconded, motion carried. The Library Board has appointed new member Sarah Gallagher to replace Bill Johnson as his term has ended, King moti oned to approve this change, Hinojosa seconded, motion carried. COMMITTEE BUSINESS Hinojosa updated the board on the Lead Service Line replacement; water samples are being collected and sent off for testing. James Welding has created the hydrant foot valve tool that the Village of Argyle and Blanchardville will share; the y are to split the cost of the tool to both be able to use when needed. The clarifier motor at the wastewater treatment plant has been rebuilt, a new o ne was also purchased as parts are hard to get. The new one will be put in and the old will be used as a spare. Helfvogt notified the board that Police Chief Hayley Saalsaa received a $1,000 donation for Shop With a Cop from Grande Cheese, as well as a donation from Eastern Star. S he informed that Chief Saalsaa was also presented with a personal letter from Howard Marklein recognizing and thanking her; this year she was able to help both young children as well as teens with the program. King updated about a replacement to the boiler in the electric plant; the boiler was not working properly and was leaking carbon monoxide, so an emergency replacement was completed. The Street Department presented a rough plan for street projects that need to be completed and noted that for some of the plans, assistance will be needed as Superintendent J . Johnson gains the knowledge to complete the jobs himself in the future. King updated that the floor in the hydro plant has been repaired by Re juvenators Koch plans to repaint the entire floor before a possible open house in the future. L. Johnson notified the board that there will be a P ark and Playground meeting in conjunction with Advancing Argyle on March 11 th at 6:00PM. Fransen notified the board that the Library will be interviewing 5 candidates for the open Library Director position. Webster brought up the price changes with PKK Lighting in regards to bulb disposal; they will begin charging by weight instead of per bulb. The price increase will be looked into by the Clerks and Recycle Committee whe n a comparison is available. Moore notified that McKibben will no longer be doing mowing at the park; he will continue to work in the recycle center. The mowing job will be put out to bid. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Schutte has mailed out Farmers Market flyers and notified past vendors that the market will be relocating. Currently the application link can be found on the website and Facebook page. He will be attending the 2025 WFMA Farmers Market Manager Workshop in Madison. Lafayette Co Community Development Director Allison Taylor will be working with Schutte on a list of amish vendors who wou ld possibly join the market. Currently they are looking for more vendors for the 2025 season. Schutte also spoke on the Village’s outdated Smart Growth plan. The 10-year plan can help guide the Plan Commission and set goals as a community, and will also open the Village up for grants and l oans that require the plan to apply, such as funding for new playground equipment. Vierbicher and Southwest Regional Planning both presented quotes on a new plan. This will be looked into and voted on at the Plan Commission meeting prior to the next board meeting. The first A dvancing Argyle meeting on February 19 th was a success with over 50 people in attendance. Schutte worked with the Clerks and Geek Powered to help volunteer during the event, which discussed an array of topics that residents, business owners, and organization leaders and members ha d brought up as things they would like to see and changes they would like for Argyle. Future meetings will be held for sub -committees such as Park and Playground Equipment, Volunteer Outreach, and Downtown Revitalization at different businesses and locations around Argyle which will giv e an opportunity to tour the locations in our community. PRESIDENT BUSINESS The payroll report for January 2025 overtime paid to full -time: Johnson – 22.15 hours, Ritschard – 12.63 hours, Koch – 6.71 hours, McGuire – 0.58 hours, Saalsaa – 11.37 hours. King made a motion to approve overtime, Helfvogt seconded, motion carried. The Spring Election will be held on April 1st, 2025 at the Argyle Public Library from 7:00am to 8:00pm. CLERK BUSINESS Total Inspections approved a building permit for Janet Flannery at 200 Breeze Terrace for HVAC. The Argyle Cemetery mowing ad will be posted and is to be approved at the April monthly meeting. A CD was renewed for 7 months for the Cemetery account, t he rate went down to 3.45%. McGuire has written a dog license reminder for all Village dog owners. As a result of many complaint calls, remin ders on leash laws and pet cleanup were also added in hopes to prevent any further issues. Dog licenses are due March 31, 2025 and will incur a $5 fee per dog if registrations are completed after that date. Helfvogt made a motion to approve total February 2025 accounts payable checks $337,690.29, March invoices to date $ 23,416.82, Fransen seconded, motion carried. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 2 nd, at 7:00 pm. Helfvogt made a motion to adjourn at 8:39PM, Hinojosa seconded, motion carried. Mallory McGuire Deputy Clerk