Village Board — Minutes

Village of Benton December 07, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes Members present: Scott Cruse, Chuck Wartner, John Perkins, David Ralph, Cal Robbins, Jill Knight, Kenneth Farrey Absent members: Village employees present: Sonya Silvers, Eric Mowry, and Brian Hammill Others Present: Dan Wackershauser. Jim Neyen, Jerry Cullen, Joe Slater 2022 BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING The public hearing of the Benton Village Board was called to order by Village President, Scott Cruse, at 6:15 p.m. at 244 Ridge Avenue in the conference room of the Benton Business Incubator building on Wednesday, December 7, 2022. In compliance with the open meeting law, proper notice of the meeting had been posted in four public places; Benton State Bank, Benton Post Office, Benton Business Incubator Building and the Zephyr Depot. Discussion was held regarding the 2023 General Fund Budget. Motion (Farrey, Perkins) to adjourn. Voice-all ayes. Carried. The Public hearing adjourned at 6:30 p.m. REGULAR BOARD MEETING 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, December 07, 2022. 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 (Farrey, Robbins) to approve the minutes from the regular Village Board meeting held on November 9, 2022. Roll-all ayes. Carried Jim Neyen and Jerry Cullen from CS Technologies/Cuba City Telephone were present to update the board on the fiber that will be coming to Benton. CS Technologies will need a central location with electrical power and gas to place a 8’x10’ electrical hut for the fiber. The group met with Jim Goffinet last week, who showed them a possible location for the electrical hut at 60 Water Street. The location is exactly what they were looking for. They will need an agreement with the Village of Benton to put the electrical hut on 60 Water Street, parcel#107.0170.0000 with either a lease or by donation. They would place a concrete slab on the property, do a curb cut, and place a driveway. All expenses to install the hut and driveway will be covered by CS Technologies. The fiber will be installed to every residence in the Village, approximately 868 structures. The estimated timeline to start is the summer of 2023 and possibly extending into 2024. Discussion was held and the Village of Benton will offer CS Technologies/Cuba City Telephone a 99 year lease for 30’x50’ plot of land at 60 Water Street at no cost for an 8’x10’ electrical hut to facilitate fiber to all Village residents. CS Technologies will also provide fiber to the Village buildings and parks at no charge in exchange for the plot of land. The Village will provide the mowing and weed maintenance around the hut. Further details will be in the agreement to follow. Motion (Knight, Farrey) to approve entering into an agreement with CS Technologies to offer a 99 year lease for a 30’x50’ plot of land at 60 Water Street, parcel #107.0170.0000 at no cost for an 8’x10’ electrical hut to facilitate fiber to all Village residents. CS Technologies will pay all expense related to installation of the electrical hut and the driveway. CS Technologies will also provide fiber to the Village buildings and parks at no charge in exchange for the plot of land. The Village will provide the mowing and weed maintenance around the hut. Further details will be in the agreement to follow. Roll-all ayes. Carried Village of Benton December 07, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes Eric Mowry reported that they have been busy putting up the Christmas lights on Main Street and getting all the equipment ready for the winter. Almost everything has been moved out of Swindler’s Ridge Museum to storage. Committee Reports:  Scott mentioned that a reduced pressure zone valve at the sewer plant needs to be replaced. Estimated cost is $7,000 plus labor. This will be put on January’s agenda with more details to follow.  Scott announced that the Village received the matching DNR Urban Forestry Tree Grant for $5,000. Chief Hammill is working on moving his office to the incubator building. He gave a brief stat update for the month. More information will be coming from the County about the firewall and switch upgrade for next year and whether that amount will be covered by the LEA grant. There is a Chief Training, January 23-27, 2023 in Madison, WI, that Chief Hammill has requested to attend. The Village would need to cover the cost of transportation and food. 24 hours of training are required a year. Discussion was held. Chief Hammill will coordinate with the County for coverage while he is at training. Discussion on the police phone line was held and will be moved to a police committee meeting at a later date. Motion (Robbins, Farrey) to approve Chief Hammill’s attendance to the Chief’s training in Madison, WI on January 23-27, 2023. Roll-all ayes. Carried Swindlers Ridge museum is 95% empty. The rest of the items will be moved out within the week. Sonya called Alliant Energy to disconnect and remove the gas utility. Alliant stated it could take up to two weeks before they could complete removal and no demolition can occur before then. Sonya will receive a call when completed. The Village needs a DNR permit to raze the building because it is a commercial building. An environmental study will then be completed. If asbestos is found a professional company would be called in to remove the asbestos before the building can be razed. The cost of the testing and removal of the asbestos will come out of the community center funds. Scott will reach out to Terry Sheffer to see if the VFW is still interested in the windows and doors from the museum before the building is razed. Motion (Ralph, Wartner) to raze the Swindler’s Ridge Museum building at 25 W Main Street following the DNR requirements. Roll-all ayes. Carried Jill announced that the Village office and the Police Department will now be in the new community center/library building. Eric Mowry and Jim Goffinet requested to attend the MEUW Electric Operations Conference & Expo in the WI Dells, January13-14, 2023. Motion (Perkins, Robbins) to approve Eric Mowry and Jim Goffinet to attend the MEUW Electric Operations Conference & Expo in the WI Dells, January 13-14, 2023. Roll-all ayes. Carried John reported that he spoke with Keith Dalsing of KD Engineering. Keith is working on getting an estimate of the cost of the Main Street water main project. There were some issues when the main was Village of Benton December 07, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes replaced in 2003/2004 with valves and bolts being lower quality and are not holding up. Scott will follow up with Keith. Scott sent the 2028 state/municipal financial agreement for the state-let highway project from the WisDOT to attorney Eileen Brownlee. Eileen stated there is not a lot of leverage with not fulfilling the contract for road repaving project. Motion (Wartner, Robbins) to approve signing of the contract from the WisDOT for the state/municipal financial agreement for the state-let highway 2028 project. Roll-all ayes. Carried Resolution #2022-02 was presented to the board to approve the authorization of the borrowing of the $100,000 loan from Benton State Bank. Motion (Farrey, Perkins) to approve Resolution #2022-02 of The Village Board authorizing borrowing. Roll-all ayes. Carried Resolution #2022-03 was presented to the board to approve exceeding the levy limit by $100,000. Motion (Robbins, Farrey) to approve Resolution #2022-03 of The Village Board to propose exceeding the levy limits. Roll-all ayes. Carried The Final 2023 Budget was presented. Motion (Knight, Wartner) to approve the 2023 final budget as presented. Roll-all ayes. Carried The consulting contract for Ryan Carver will be go to a personnel meeting where more discussion will be held. It will be placed on the agenda for January. Pay the claims against the Village. Motion (Knight, Wartner) to pay the claims against the Village. Roll-all ayes. Carried Meeting adjourned at 7:56 p.m. Motion (Perkins, Robbins) to adjourn. Voice-all ayes. Carried