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June 15, 2005 Minutes of Town Board Work Meeting
Minutes of Town Board Work Meeting of June 15, 2005 The regular monthly Town Board Work meeting was held in the Town Hall after due notice had been posted. Chair John Pelletier called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. PRESENT: ALSO PRESENT: Town Chair, John Pelletier Clerk, Colleen Endisch Supervisor, Richard Hummel Treasurer, Shari Wisniewski Supervisor, Larry Malsch Police Chief, Andrew Mayer Supervisor, Dolores Nowak Fire Chief, Gerald Edwards Supervisor, Wayne Polzin Audience: 4 Communications: Clerk Endisch provided the board with a request from the Urban Towns Assoc., requesting that six people from the town call their legislators to support SB165 – Charter Towns Bill which is going to be held on June 22, 2005 at 10 am in Madison. UTC is also looking at having a representative of each town attend this hearing. Chair Pelletier asked the board members if they had received correspondence from the American Transmission Corp. looking for participation in their meeting on June 21, 2005 at either 1 pm or 6 pm. Chair Pelletier informed the board he received correspondence from the city that Newport Development Corp. is going to be building 700 units of housing on property that is currently assessed in the Town and the city is annexing this land. Pelletier added the City would be responsible for paying the Town the portion of taxes as currently zone (AG), for a dollar amount of $ 1.800. Supervisor Malsch stated that Ron Siedelman is trying to find out who has an interest in participating in the July 4th parade and if interested please contact him. Treasurer Wisniewski reported that she had received correspondence from the Highland asking to opt back into snow plowing for the 2005-2006 season. She added that the Highland’s have asked to bill the Highland’s rather than the individual homeowners. The cost will be approximately $ 2,000. Comment and Suggestions of citizens present. Lucky Laine who owns property on Bayview Rd. addressed the board concerning the roads in his private subdivision. Mr. Laine reported their streets are in terrible shape and he is looking for direction on how he could have them repaired, with the town borrowing them funds to do so and they could have this cost added to their individual taxes. Chair Pelletier asked if they had an association and Mr. Laine responded no. Attorney Wassel stated that this subdivision has approached the Town Board two other times and the problem had been the subdivision couldn’t get all homeowners on board to repair, so the project remained dormant. Mr. Laine asked if the Town had a form he could use to petition the homeowners and if the Town would consider if he could 100% participation on street and not another. Attorney Wassel responded the Town would need to do a preliminary engineering study to determine cost and then a public hearing would need to be held. Wassel stated that the Town wouldn’t get into any legal battles between residents. Supervisor Polzin told Mr. Laine that his petition should state they are petitioning the town to repair their roads and special assess. Mr. Laine asked if they would be able to contract for the work and Attorney Wassel stated the Town would put out to bid and the residents would have the option to pay over ten (10) years or pay up front. Wassel stated the first step would be to find out how many residents are interesting, providing the town with their names. Supervisor Polzin commented that the residents need to know when they sign the petition they are under no obligation because the cost is unknown and the Town would also have to agree to take on the project. Supervisor Polzin stated that Mr. Laine would probably want the Town to contract for them, since the Town would get better pricing. Old Business: New Business: Reports/discussion/agenda preparation from issues resulting from monthly Committee meetings. )aAdministrative Committee Supervisor Hummel reported the administrative committee had discussed the enforcement of the ninety day usage rule in the Liquor Licensing municipal code. Hummel stated the administrative committee is looking for approval of the board to have the Town Clerk send out letters to Leo B’s and the Esquire, making them aware of the requirement in our ordinance and ask them abide by the obligations of the ordinance by providing some proof they are open in a ninety day period which would begin on June 13, 2005. Attorney Wassel cautioned Supervisor Hummel regarding this, stating the Town doesn’t want to start a revocation on these licenses. Clerk Endisch remarked the committee is just looking at a better tool to keep the licenses in compliance with the ordinance as written and thought this was an attempt to do that. Attorney Wassel asked how the Committee would know of any future businesses that would do the same thing and the Police Chief stated they would be reporting back any business that was non-operative on a regular basis. Supervisor Hummel asked that the 2005-2006 Liquor Licensing be added to the T.B. agenda for approval. Supervisor Hummel explained the committee also addressed the issuance of Direct Seller’s permits in the town and whether the board would want to limit how many would be issued. Hummel reported the clerk has received an application from a vendor selling fine art and the question came up whether the Town needed to limit these vendors. Chief Mayer did sign off on this application. Supervisor Nowak added the town has not received any complaints from the residents regarding these sales; the only complaints have been between vendors. Chair Pelletier felt permits should be issued if public safety issues were reviewed by Chief Mayer. )bEconomic Growth & Development Committee Supervisor Nowak gave an update on the County forming a private corporation to represent Economic Growth for the County and the town would be receiving a letter explaining the program. Nowak added the program would be voluntary, with a cost associate per capita. Supervisor Nowak reported the EGAD Committee is planning a business meeting with the business community on September 13, 2005 at 1:30 PM at the Community Center. Nowak has asked Mr. Patzelt (Shodeen Construction) to be a guest speaker and Mr. Patzelt has accepted. Mr. Patzelt will give an update on his company’s plans for development in the community. Supervisor Polzin stated that Towns are now allowed to have TIF districts; but need to form boundary agreements with the adjoining municipalities. Attorney Wassel responded, yes that new legislation has been passed in order to establish TIF districts in Towns, but certain criteria needs to be met. He added this tool is not to be used as a sword against the villages and cities but rather to work in cooperation with the other entities. Wassel explained the first step would be identifying areas for potential development and whether TIF’s fit into the equation. )cEmergency Government No Meeting )dFinance Committee Chair Pelletier stated the committee had decided that two members of the finance committee were already reviewing the bills, but Supervisor Nowak Co-Chair of the Finance committee would come in weekly to review the unauthorized bills for general Town Hall expenses, all bills not approved by a committee. Chair Pelletier reported he had received information from Treasurer Wisniewski that our financial advisor, Springsted has suggested that the Town pass a resolution to cover any capitol expenditures for the next few years because a potential tax freeze is in the works again. He explained this would aid in the Town not getting caught short of any equipment needed. Chair Pelletier stated the Public Works Dept. stated the need for a couple of larger trucks and he would try to come up with a list of items he thinks should be considered. Attorney Wassel stated that if the Town adopts a resolution, this wouldn’t necessarily mean the Town needs to spend the money. Treasurer Wisniewski reported that Renee Messing (Virchow-Krause) met with her and John a few days ago for the preliminary audit report. Wisniewski reported that Ms. Messing would be presenting the final report at the July 13th work meeting and she has requested copies of the report prior to the meeting. Ms. Wisniewski reported the report is significantly different; GASB34 requirements have completely changed the format, which is much more difficult to understand. Treasurer Wisniewski stated that Town Hall had an incident that day regarding kennel licenses. Treasurer Wisniewski explained that she had received correspondence from Nancy Welsh’s office explaining that kennel’s in the town of Delavan don’t comply within the boundaries of the zoning regulations. Ms. Wisniewski added that anyone wishing to have a kennel license would need to apply to county for a conditional use permit. Shari stated the problem is the Town statutes 11.11 make provision for a kennel license. Attorney Wassel responded he didn’t think the code needed to be changed; because County would have greater authority over the issue. Miss Wisniewski also asked if the fees schedule for dog licenses could be addressed. She stated the fees were $ 4.00 for spayed or neutered and $ 8.00 of unaltered and the only fee the town retains is $ 1.00 on the altered licenses. She is looking for a recommendation to increase these fees to cover the administrative work involved in licensing. Wisniewski was asked to collect information regarding license fees in other towns in the county, hopefully before the board meeting next week. )eFire & Rescue Committee Supervisor Malsch reported the Committee is looking at moving the pancake breakfast back to the fire station or maybe Community Park for next year; their attendance was way down this year. Supervisor Nowak asked if the Fire and Rescue handled money at this event as agreed to and Supervisor Malsch stated he was unsure. Treasurer Wisniewski responded that both units have turned in the accounting of funds for May. Chair Pelletier asked when the bids for the trucks are due in; it was determined in July. )fLake Committee Chair Pelletier reported he has met with Kevin MacKinnon a few times regarding lake responsibilities and he hoped that by the July work meeting he would have an outline for an inter-governmental agreement between the Town and DLSD. Chair Pelletier has asked Liesch Environmental to provide himself and Kevin updates of where they are in the process. Chair Pelletier reported that he has been auditing where we are with the dollars allocated to the project with the Liesch and will share the information at a later date. g)Park & Tourism Supervisor Hummel stated he had received a couple of calls from residents concerned about the Park Building and the continual spending of funds on architectural studies on something that might never materialize. Chair Pelletier stated he disbanded this project and that the $ 18,000 originally approved to spend for this had been exhausted. Supervisor Nowak pointed out this is a 4 to 5 million dollar project. Attorney Wassel stated he hated to see this study ended and wondered if the Park Committee itself couldn’t pick up investigation into. Wassel added the City of Whitewater received over one-half of the funding for their aquatic center from local businesses. Supervisor Nowak responded that the citizens spoke at the last election about spending additional funds, we need to drop this. Supervisor Polzin agreed that this should become a dead issue; not in the best interest of the town right now. Supervisor Nowak added that Dick Brown approached her after the adhoc park meeting and stated the business community might be willing to donate to a project like this. Chair Pelletier stated this project needs a project champion, without that it will not go forward. Gary DeVries, co-chair of the Park Committee, stated there is a lot of maintenance work that needs to be done at the park including replacing of some doors, installing a divider for the men’s restroom which was purchased over a year ago and never installed. Gary added that all these repairs have been previously budgeted for and never seem to get done. Supervisor Malsch responded that these had been budgeted for two year ago. Supervisor Nowak stated that the volleyball and horseshoe pits were being installed and Malsch responded they weren’t done previously at the request of the former town chair who thought it was foolish to install if the new park building was approved and they had to be ripped out. Supervisor Hummel stated he is having a difficult time contacting the contractor that we have used in the past and was determined to try to locate a different contractor. Treasurer Wisniewski asked if anyone knew why DLIA had sent a $ 75.00 check for use of the community center for their annual meeting. No one was aware; Supervisor Malsch stated she should send it back. Wisniewski will ask Cory and/or Mary Knipper if payment was requested. h)Plan Commission Chair Pelletier stated he had three agenda items: 1.Discussion/possible action on recommendation of the Plan Commission to approve a CSM for Greg Cook for property located at S & D Townline Road. 2.Discussion/possible action on recommendation of the Plan Commission to approve the revised sight and drainage plan for Lakeland Community Church located on Hwy. 67. 3.Discussion/possible action on recommendation of the Plan Commission to approve the rezone for the Campshure property from M1 to R1, located 4157 Industrial Court. i)Police Committee Supervisor Malsch reported the Police Committee is recommending approving a budget transfer of $ 10,500 for new laptops for the squads and a workstation for the P.D. These new laptops and workstation are required because of a software upgrade that is being mandated by the Federal Government to change frequencies; all as a result on 9/11. Chief Mayer stated he is recommending buying reconditioned Panasonics @ $ 1700 each. Supervisor Nowak responded that she had contacted Dell and got a quote for $ 1,428, $ 1506 with tax. She stated this would come with a three year service contract. Chief Mayer stated he knows nothing about computers, but the current computers they have are Panasonic and were reconditioned when they bought them. The P.D. has had these computers for three years with no difficulties. Chief Mayer stated they originally bought Compac computers and only had those for six months and they were inoperable. Treasurer Wisniewski commented that a budget resolution would need to be passed to move monies as not budget for. She asked where to take from and it was determined surplus. Supervisor Malsch presented a detailed drawing of the new Police Station and reported that everything was on schedule. Chair Pelletier asked if the bids or permits were gotten and applied for and Supervisor Malsch responded no. Malsch reported that Arris Corp. is in the permitting process and that Mr. Choyce had some personal issues that put the project back. Chair Pelletier responded that he thought the project needed to move forward and that a month was too long to wait to start the project. Supervisor Malsch responded that Mr. Choyce needed the go-ahead from the Town to do the drawings as provided and this was figured in the timeframe needed. Supervisor Hummel asked when this will go out for bid and Chair Pelletier asked about the scheduling of the project. Supervisor Malsch reported that Mr. Choyce is stating that the project is on time as anticipated. Supervisor Polzin asked if the bids would be available by the July meetings and Supervisor Malsch replied yes. j)Public Works Committee Chair Pelletier stated the Public Works Committee is recommending the Board approve the hiring of Timothy Murray; who had been hired earlier this year as a temporary crewman. Pelletier reported that Mike Petkoff said that Murray had worked out real well. He fit in with the other workers and is a good worker. Chair Pelletier stated the Public Works Committee would be compiling a list of any surplus equipment, supplies, etc. to sell. When the list is compiled an ad will be run to bid on the various items. Chair Pelletier reported the Public Works Committee is going to revisit the driveway ordinance and try to get the Public Works Dept. out of the drive-way business. Supervisor Polzin stated this ordinance is a can of worms. Supervisor Pelletier wasn’t sure this would be ready for Tuesday’s agenda. k)ETZ Committees No meeting l)All other recommendations Attorney Wassel stated he spoke with David Dahms at DNR and found the request for a gate on Blue Gill Road has not yet been approved. Supervisor Polzin remarked that the Slurry Seal on Mound Rd. is popping right off., whoever did the road work the last time didn’t do a very good job. Clerk Endisch reported that Mr. Murphy (Bluegill Rd.) has placed a Freedom of Information Request for copies of the asphalt project bids for 1999. Ms. Endisch is having a difficult time locating and is looking for some direction where to locate. No one had any ideas. Supervisor Malsch asked Chair Pelletier to explain his memo on Mound and Town Hall Roads. Chair Pelletier stated that he had explored the option of the County of taking these roads over and found that there is more bad than good and the county could give back the roads to the town at any time. Treasurer Wisniewski stated that she would like to bring to the Town Board’s attention that there is a huge staffing issue in our Town Hall office. She wants to bring this to everyone’s attention before the town clerk quits. Wisniewski stated the work load just keeps increasing in the office; we are short at least one full-time person. The clerk is doing the duties of the administrator and the clerk and is just getting more and more buried. Supervisor Polzin commented that in the past the treasurers job had been full time and the clerk and treasurer worked together to get things done. Wisniewski responded that when Dorothy Fladten retired she made sure that the Treasurer position was made part-time because the statutory duties of the treasurer didn’t require full-time hours. Wisniewski added that Fladten was concerned that someone would be elected full-time and only do the duties that are statutorily outlined. Supervisor Nowak stated that Clerk Endisch should come up with what is needed and present to the board. Clerk Endisch asked Chair Pelletier if he was aware the Lori Almburg had resigned as Plan Commission Secretary and he responded no. Clerk Endisch stated she doesn’t mind doing the administrative work, but it doesn’t give her time to complete the duties as outlined for a clerk. Endisch stated that maybe we should be looking for combining the Plan Commission Secretary position to another part-time person; or replace the current part-time person with a full-time person or offer same to her. Supervisor Nowak stated the problem she sees is that the Clerk is not being compensated as an Administrator. Clerk Endisch was told to come back to the board with a plan. Chair Pelletier called for a short recess at 8:35 p.m. prior to the closed session portion of the meeting Supervisor Polzin made a motion to go into executive closed session under 19.85 (1) (g) to confer with legal counsel concerning strategy to be adopted with respect to litigation in which it is involved, selection of counsel, and possible settlement offer – State of Wisconsin with a second from Supervisor Malsch and the motion carried unanimously. ()aDiscussion/possible action regarding issues discussed. Supervisor Polzin made a motion to agree to accept the settlement proposal of June 13, 2005 with the State of Wisconsin and Supervisor Nowak seconded the motion. Chair Pelletier asked for a roll-call vote; Supervisor Nowak – Yes; Supervisor Polzin – Yes; Supervisor Hummel – Yes; Chair Pelletier – Yes; Supervisor Malsch – Nay. Chair Pelletier made a motion to continue in closed session under 19.85 (1) (g) to confer with legal counsel concerning strategy to be adopted with respect to litigation – Animal Slurry. ()aDiscussion/possible action regarding issues discussed. Chair Pelletier made a motion to continue in closed session under 19.85 (1) (g) to confer with legal counsel concerning strategy to be adopted with respect to litigation and possible settlement offer – Ted Grant. ()aDiscussion/possible action regarding issues discussed. Chair Pelletier made a motion to continue in closed session under Sec. 19.85 (1) (g) to confer with legal counsel concerning strategy to be adopted with respect to litigation – Jim Wolfgram. ()aDiscussion/possible action regarding issues discussed. Supervisor Polzin made a motion to go out of executive closed session with a second from Supervisor Malsch and the motion carried unanimously. Adjournment: Supervisor Malsch made a motion to adjourn with a second from Supervisor Nowak and the motion carried unanimously. Chair Pelletier adjourned the meeting at 9:35 PM. ATTEST: APPROVED: _____________________________ ______________________________ Colleen Endisch, Town Clerk John Pelletier, Town Chair