Village Board — Minutes

Village of Benton June 21, 2023 Board Meeting Minutes Members present: Scott Cruse, John Perkins, Jill Knight, Kenneth Farrey, Chuck Wartner, Joe Slater, Cal Robbins Absent members: Village employees present: Sonya Silvers, Eric Mowry, Brian Hammill, Becky Freiburger Others Present: Dan Wackershauser, Linda Leifker The regular board meeting of the Benton Village Board was called to order by Village President Scott Cruse at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Benton Business Incubator Building at 244 Ridge Avenue on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. In compliance with the open meeting law, proper notice of the meeting had been posted in four public places; the Zephyr Depot, Benton State Bank, Benton Post Office, and the Benton Business Incubator Building. The minutes from the previous Village Board meeting were presented. Motion (Knight, Farrey) to approve the minutes from the regular Village Board meeting held on May 17, 2023 with corrections made and minutes from the special meeting held on June 1st, 2023 as presented. Voice-all ayes. Carried Linda Leifker is concerned that issues with the storm drain on her property at 340 White Street have not been addressed. Linda attended the board meeting in February, 2023, and stated that storm drain appears to be full of construction debris and water is overflowing into her back yard creating a mess. At February’s meeting it was agreed that the Village workers would look into the issue and clear the drain out once the ground dries out in the spring. Eric Mowry looked at the drain in the spring and did not see any major issues. Scott Cruse and Eric Mowry looked at it again before the board meeting in June and did not see any major issues with the engineering or flow. Eric stated there is some slight silting that can be cleaned out and he will complete that by July 10th. Linda asked if there would be a yearly maintenance schedule to keep the drains cleaned out and if she would be notified when someone would be on her property. The village does not currently do yearly maintenance on Storm drains. The Village also has an easement to access that storm drain when needed. Sonya Silvers introduced Becky Freiburger to the board. Becky will serve as the new deputy clerk/treasurer. Eric Mowry mentioned that the Water Street water project is now fully completed. Iverson will be here in later July to do the street work for Water Street and N. Van Buren Street. Eric will take off the blacktop on Water Street. New curb on Water Street was started today and will be finished 6/22.2023. Last week Jim and Eric installed electric service to a new house in the subdivision and this week they have been working on electric service to Spooky Pinballs new building. The basketball hoop is up at the BCDC Park. Scott Cruse and Bill Bastian will work on getting the lines painted on the basketball court this week. Chief Hammill announced that the new radar equipment has arrived and he will start using it to enforce speeding in problem areas. He is currently looking into grants from the New Glarus Brewery for two new solar speed signs. Work with Lexipol to get state and federal policies set for the Benton Police Department has also begun. Committee Reports:  The Finance committee is still waiting on the full audit reports.  John has called for pricing for the water main project.  The Park committee reported that Eric has met with Felderman’s regarding tree cutting for the Urban Forestry Tree Grant. They have prioritize which trees need to be taken down and will have some money left over for planting of new trees in the parks. Eric presented a new quote for bathroom doors and they will proceed with the ordering of the doors. Sonya has applied for a grant to help with the cost of the doors. The Benton State Bank has had two doggy waste stations that they purchased to donate to the Village of Benton June 21, 2023 Board Meeting Minutes parks. The park committee approved these and one will be placed in Village Park and one will be placed in the BCDC Park. Volunteers removed the basketball hoops at Swift Park and striped and repainted them.  The Personnel committee held interviews and hired a new deputy clerk/treasurer. The Benton Waterworks quality water report for 2022 is not ready and will be presented at the July meeting. The Compliance Maintenance Annual Report and Resolution #2023-06 were presented to the board. Motion (Perkins, Robbins) to approve the Compliance Maintenance Annual Report and Resolution # 2023- 06 as presented. Carried Chuck Wartner mentioned that Bill Bastian had asked if it would be possible to coordinate a group of volunteers to clean up the Boy Scout cabin area. After talking to the Boy Scouts, a group was put together. They trimmed weeds, and cleaned up branches. There is still a lot of work to do but they would like to see the area utilized in the future. Well #1 has been down for two months and the Village is currently at a standstill with Water Well Solutions. The well is producing air from cascading water entering the well when the well pump is running. They have televised the well and can see a rather large crack in the formation. They are proposing to reinstall the pumping equipment with an added 100 feet of 6-inch pvc to the suction of the bowl, so the air in the well can dissipate and not enter the distribution system. They will chlorinate the well and perform a pump test. They will work with Utility Service Group to replace the column pipe as it is in bad shape, replace the rubber bearings, switch over to stainless steel drop in spyders, install new stainless steel shaft sleeves, flame straighten the existing line shafts and wire brush the casing at no cost to the Village as it would fall under the contract, however it would be performed 3 years ahead of schedule. They are estimating the Village’s cost to not exceed $17,823.00. Jared will be receiving a copy from when they televised the well. A Water/Sewer committee meeting will need to take place to determine the next steps. Class A and Class B liquor License were presented for approval Motion (Perkins, Slater) to approve the renewal of the 2023-2024 Class “A” and “Class A” liquor license for Jeff’s Mart, LLC dba Zephyr Depot. Roll-all ayes. Carried Motion (Knight, Wartner) to approve the renewal of the 2023-2024 Class “B” and “Class B” liquor licenses for Lawrence’s Outback, LLC. Roll-all ayes. Carried Motion (Robbins, Perkins) to approve the renewal of the 2023-2024 Class “B” and “Class B” liquor license for Joseph F. McCrea VFW Post 7896. Roll-all ayes. Carried Motion (Slater, Robbins) to approve the renewal of the 2023-2024 Class “B” and “Class B” liquor license for McCarthy’s Tavern, LLC. Roll-all ayes. Carried Motion (Robbins, Slater) to approve the renewal of the 2023-2024 Class “B” and “Class B” liquor license for Hoppy’s Bar & Grill, LLC. Roll-all ayes. Carried Operator Licenses were presented for approval Motion (Robbins, Perkins) to approve 2023-2024 Operator Licenses for: Shane Lawrence, Rory Lawrence, Eldon Kruser, John Scanlan, William Sides, Nicholas Neis, Sarah McCarthy, Aaron DeMuth, Brenda Richards, and Laura Obrien. Roll-all ayes. Carried Tobacco License were presented for approval Motion (Knight, Robins) to approve the renewal of the Tobacco license for 2023-2024 for Jeff’s Mart, LLC dba Zephyr Depot. Roll-all ayes. Carried Village of Benton June 21, 2023 Board Meeting Minutes Pay the claims against the Village. Motion (Wartner, Slater) to pay the claims against the Village. Roll-all ayes. Carried Meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m. Motion (Slater, Robins) to adjourn. Voice-all ayes. Carried