MINUTES OF THE
TOWN OF
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Chairman
Collyard called the meeting to order at
Motion (Porter/Webb)
to go into closed session pursuant to State Statute 19.85(c) for considering
employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any
public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises
responsibility. Roll call vote taken:
Porter-yes, Webb-yes, Meinke-yes, Collyard-yes.
McGee was absent. Only the 4 Board members were present
in the Closed session. Clerk was not present. Minutes
taken during the Closed session were by Supervisor
Webb. Only those matters pursuant to state statutes 19.85(c) were discussed. There
were no decisions made during closed session. Motion (Webb/Porter) to
adjourn the closed session and return to the regular closed session. Motion
carried.
Collyard
called the reconvened open session back to order at
The pledge
of Allegiance to the flag was said.
Roll Call to establish a quorum/Verification
of Public Notice/Approve the January Agenda: Webb-present, Meinke-present, McGee-absent,
Porter-present, Collyard-present. Quorum was established.
Motion( Porter/Meinke) to approve the February
agenda. Motion carried. The agenda is as
follows:
NOTICE
TOWN OF
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
AGENDA
Call the Regular Board Meeting to
order.
Closed Session - The Board will then
go into Closed Session pursuant to State Statute 19.85(c) for considering
employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any
public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises
responsibility. The Board will then
reconvene to the Regular Session immediately after the closed session.
Pledge Allegiance to the Flag
Roll Call to establish a
quorum/Verification of Public Notice/Motion to approve the February Agenda
Approve minutes of the Last Regular
Board Meeting and Motion to dispense with reading of the minutes.
Treasurer’s Report
Voucher’s Approval
Clerk Correspondence
1)
Discussion and Board approval to delete or reduce erroneous omitted tax bills
and discussion and Board
action for approval of the Treasurer to reduce or delete tax bill corrections not received by the county
prior to tax bill printing.
2)
Assessor Update
Department Head Reports:
Highway
Cemetery
Fire
Department
Discussion
on Policy for Fire billings (Tabled from last meeting)
Ambulance
Department
Constable
Committee and Commission Reports:
Eurasian
Water Milfoil Committee
Road
Committee
Land
Use Planning Commission Report
Contract renewal for
Discussion on support for the Upper
St Croix Watershed Project
Discussion on Town Hall Use and
Public Records Policy
Update on Mosinee Property behind
Town Hall
Network Proposal from Cheqtel
Public Comment Session – 5 minute
limit for those not on the Agenda
Issues Timeline Update
All Department Heads are required to
be at the Regular Board Meetings
All Department Heads and Committee
Heads must submit a signed written report to the clerk by Friday evening prior
to the Board Meeting.
The Town Board reserves
the right to solicit information from
Department heads and
Committee heads only, without opening the floor to discussion.
Any persons requiring
special needs for handicap services please contact the Clerk-Treasurer
Elaine J. Brustad Barnes Town
Clerk-Treasurer
Dated this 16th Day of
February, 2007
Approve minutes of the Last Regular
Board Meeting/Motion to dispense with reading of the minutes. Motion (Porter/Meinke)
to approve the minutes of the last meeting and to dispense with the reading of
the minutes. Motion carried.
|
Treasurers
Report |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Checking
Balance from last meeting |
|
$47,833.14 |
|||
|
Receipts |
|
|
|
|
$74,747.45 |
|
Check #'s
21143-21231 |
|
|
($55,409.83) |
||
|
January
Tax Payment & other direct payments |
|
($3,869.90) |
|||
|
Service
Charge January |
|
|
($5.81) |
||
|
Interest
Earned January |
|
|
$31.36 |
||
|
|
CHECKING
BALANCE |
|
|
$63,326.41 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Money
Market Gen'l Fund Balance from Last Meeting |
$1,094,895.79 |
||||
|
Interest
earned January |
YTD
Interest $5747.7 |
$5,747.70 |
|||
|
Service
Charge |
|
|
|
($40.00) |
|
|
Check #
1043-1050 |
|
|
|
($1,311,259.00) |
|
|
Deposits-Taxes |
|
|
|
$1,063,661.65 |
|
|
Transfer
to sub accts for sinking funds |
|
($30,000.00) |
|||
|
|
Sub-Total
Money Market Gen'l Funds |
$823,006.14 |
|||
|
Highway
Dept. Sinking Fund |
Trans.
Sinking fund 15,000.00 |
$16,072.92 |
|||
|
BES
Sinking Fund |
|
Trans
sinking fund 15,000.00 |
$32,677.05 |
||
|
Park
Savings |
|
|
|
$10,960.06 |
|
|
Ski Trail
Savings |
|
|
|
$629.21 |
|
|
Parade-Event-Calender Fund |
|
|
$1,842.60 |
||
|
|
Sub-Total
Money Market sub accounts |
$62,181.84 |
|||
|
Total
all Money Market Funds |
|
|
$885,187.98 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
ALL ACCOUNTS |
|
$948,514.39 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Motion(Webb/Porter) to approve the Treasurer’s report as read. Motion carried.
Voucher’s Approval
Motion (Porter/Meinke) to approve the voucher’s as presented. Motion
carried.
Clerk Correspondence
There were 6
Notices to Cut received on property owned by Plum Creek Timberlands, 1 Notice
to cut on property owned by Wausau Paper Company.
The Clerk read
a letter from Jon Harkness to Richard Collyard to commend him and the Board members on the form
and substance of the announcement of this Board Meeting published in the
A letter was
received from WITC regarding Board appointments for 3 vacancies beginning
Clerk read a
letter from Pamela Toshner regarding the
tree-trimming on
The Clerk
also received an email addressed to Colin Nowaczyk of
the DNR informing him of the approval of the hazard mitigation project entitled
“Improve Access/Egress Part 2”, in the amount of $30,000.00.
Discussion and Board Approval to delete or reduce erroneous omitted tax
bills and discussion and Board action for approval of the Treasurer to reduce
or delete tax bill corrections not received by the County prior to tax bill
printing.
The Clerk
had previously given the Board members a list of bills to be looked at. She acknowledged that one of the couples
were in the audience this evening and wished to speak on their behalf.
Motion (Webb/Porter)
to open the floor for discussion. Motion carried. Mary Luethner spoke
on the receipt of the omitted tax bills for 2004 and 2005. She stated her land value in 2004 and 2005
was $100,100.00 and in 2006 was reduced by the current Assessor to
$59,100.00. She felt since the Board was
looking at reducing the omitted tax portion of the improvements they should be
able to also reduce the land value which had been assessed in 2004 and 2005.
Clerk-Treasurer Brustad said she had read the statutes, and publications regarding this and talked with
the
Motion (Webb/Porter)
to close the floor to discussion. Motion carried.
Motion (Webb/Meinke) to reduce or delete the 7 bills per the
Clerk-Treasurer’s list. Roll call vote taken, Collyard-yes,
Meinke-yes, Porter-yes, Webb-yes,
McGee-absent. Motion carried.
Motion( Webb/Meinke) to deny the Jacobson request per
the Clerk’s recommendation. Roll call vote taken – Webb-yes, Porter-yes, Meinke-yes, Collyard-yes,
McGee-absent. Motion carried.
Assessor Update – Brustad read an email from Charlotte
Johnson: “2007 is already here and work has begun. 78 statements of personal
property have been mailed and due back by March 1st. I have been corresponding
with the Dutke attorney. There have been 181 acres added to the
managed forest plan. 105 2006 property
sales transfers have been posted to the digital record cards. As soon as the 2007 workroll
is available I can begin correcting errors that were made with the email
problem occurring in the 2006 revaluation and making other new changes and
property splits for 2007. We still have
about a weeks worth of roadwork as soon as the weather and roads are better.
One important issue in front of the legislature this year concerns improvement
to the assessment appeal process. The trend has been for taxpayers to put
minimum effort to exhaust local administrative remedies at the Board of Review
and appeal directly to the state. The
new proposal encourages more efficient use of local resources and speedier
resolutions to avoid unnecessary municipal expense and time consuming
litigation. Secondly, Wisconsin
Assessors would be expempt from liability for
trespassing. Currently this law only
applies to county surveyors and their assisitants. I will notify you when I plan to be in the
area. Hopefully we can correlate work
with one of your monthly meetings.”
Department Head Reports:
Highway
February 20,
TOB Meeting
Mike Collins has returned to work .
South Shore Sand and Gravel delivered
another 132 tons of salt, sand-hopefully this will get
us through the rest of the winter.
As Bud will tell you, we had a busy week at
the cemetery the latter part of January. The frost was down 4 feet.
The pump house by the hockey rink froze up
on the fifth of February due to a short to ground on one of the main feed wires
underground. A temporary above ground feed was installed,
new wires will have to be installed when the ground thaws out.
Mike made a “hockey rink open” sign and
placed it by the Town Hall. There is good ice on the rink at this time.
Last week, Mike and I burned most of the
stumps in the pit on
The septic line froze at the garage on
Friday. Mike has informed me that this has happened in the past.
I have received the 2006 bridge inspection
report from Dale Brevak, the Bayfield County Highway
Commissioner. The report recommends replacement of the
Cemetery
– Bud Pease reported
there were three burials this month: David Jenson buried on January 23rd,
Felix Mecikalski buried on January 25th,
Tom Friend buried on January 26th
Fire Department
Renz apologized for not
being able to attend tonight’s meeting as he had family obligations.
Ambulance : We have had eight ambulance calls since the
last meeting.
1. Standby for gun shot victim
2. no transport
3. self inflicted wound
4. Atv in water
5. Chest pain
6. sick
7. fall from ladder
8. fall from ladder
Fire : We have had 2 fire runs since the last
meeting
1. Possible Ice rescue ATV in the water
2. Set up landing zone on STH 27 at
Thomas M. Renz
Ambulance
Department – see Fire Department
Constable
Mike O’Keefe read
his report. 1, alarm – indoor motion sensor, 1 dog complaint on George Lake Rd,
2 Deer/car hits, 1 assist motorist on highway 27 by Ounce river. 1 check welfare of senior citizen, 1 snowmobile complaint.
Mike reported he is still doing weekly cabin checks for out of town residents
who have asked him to do so.
Committee and Commission Reports:
Eurasian
Water Milfoil Committee Ingemar Ekstrom reported the committee
met last night (
Road Committee – Collyard said the
Committee met for the first time, there are 5 members, Greg Martin, Chair, Dick
Webb-Secretary, Mitch Mcgee, Jack Meinke,
and Jerry Witt, Town Foreman. Jack gave
an overall report of the first meeting. They will be meeting again at the Town
Hall on Thursday. They all were asked to
bring to that meeting their ideas to come up with an overall policy for the
town roads. The main goal is for safety.
Land Use Planning
Commission – Gene Ratzel reported the Commission did not meet this month,
there were no applications pending. Collyard said the Plan has been ok’d by zoning but will hear back formally within the
next few months. Ratzel said it does have to be
approved formally. He would like to get started on the programs, actions and
recommendations in the Plan. Collyard said that was
fine as long as he stayed within the scope of his charge.
Contract Renewal for
Jack Meinke read a letter from Dan Cobb regarding the market
conditions. He intends to cut the
Discussion on support for the Upper
St Croix Watershed
Project – Lee Wiesner had asked Chairman Collyard
if he would write a letter of support
for the project as the
Motion (Webb/Porter) to approve the Chairman send a letter of support for the Upper St
Croix Watershed Project. Motion carried.
Discussion on Town Hall Use and
Public Records Policy
The Clerk
presented a form used by many clerks along with recommended costs to charge the
public for a public records request. The
new policy in part addresses the fees:
FEES/COSTS
The
requestor of the record is responsible for the actual, reasonable and necessary
costs to locate, reproduce and send the records in compliance with the
request. Pursuant to WI Stats 19.35
(3)(a) An authority (the town of Barnes) may impose a fee upon the requestor of
a copy of a record which may not exceed the actual, necessary and direct cost
of reproduction and transcription of the record, unless a fee is otherwise
specifically established or authorized to be established by law. Advance Payment: Fees due in excess of $5 are
payable in advance of sending the records [WI Stats 19.35 (3)f
].
The
Fees will be charged as follows:
·
Staff's office
time for locating and duplicating records determined to be directly related to
request – this is calculated at the hourly rate of pay for the lowest paid
individual in the department that can locate the information.
·
Photocopy expenses
– 25 cents per page. (Maximum size
copied is 11” x 17”).
·
Color copies – 50
cents per page (Maximum size copied is 8 ½” x 11”)
·
Audio recording -
$10.00 tape or CD.
·
Shipping/handling,
posting or mailing fees as determined by weight
·
We cannot
reproduce photocopies in excess of 11” x 17”.
Motion
(Webb/Meinke) to approve the new format and costs
associated with the Open Records Policy. Motion carried.
It
was suggested to put the new form on the website. The Town Hall Use policy was
discussed. Suggestions were given on improving the current agreement form and
also who would be allowed to use the Hall.
Currently there is no actual policy in place as to who can use it or not
use it. The Town Hall Use Policy will be
a work in progress and should be put on the timeline so the Board can track it.
Update on Mosinee Property behind the
Town Hall – Collyard spoke regarding the 35 acres behind the Town Hall
that is owned by Mosinee. He previously
had asked if they would be willing to donate the land, they said no. Then he
asked if they would be willing to trade for another parcel the town owned, they
indicated no. The last option would be
to purchase it outright, and they would not be willing to do that for three
years until it comes out of their management program. Webb asked if they indicated they definitely
would sell in three years or would they just consider it? Collyard was
unsure, but thought we should continue to pursue it. He also said Patrick of Mosinee had looked at
all our properties and wondered if the town had anyone managing them. Collyard told him
Dan Cobb had been hired to do that and Patrick thought that was an excellent
idea. Collyard
told him it was because of Jack Meinke that the town
had implemented this program, before that no one had done it.
Network Proposal from Cheqtel -
Supervisor Webb wished to abstain form the voting on this item and removed
herself from the table. The current
proposal from Network It was $225.00 to maintain our current network
computer. Chequamegon’s
proposal was less and the benefits greater. Collyard
explained the proposal was a no brainer, it would be cheaper in the long run and provide more
services to us than we are getting now. Motion
(Porter/Meinke) to go with Chequamegon’s
bid for networking the office. Roll call vote taken: Meinke-yes,
Porter-yes, Collyard-yes, Webb abstained,
McGee-absent. Motion carried
Public Comment Session – 5 minute
limit for those not on the agenda
Mike
O’Keefe wanted to talk about the heliport that Tom O’Brien had offered to pay
for. Nothing had been done so far and Tom had not heard from anyone regarding
his offer. Clerk Brustad
had also talked with O’Brien and felt the Board should send a letter to Tom
thanking him for the offer and also to give him a progress report. Collyard said he
would do that, he had given the information to Tom Renz
who is working on it but he would send a letter to OBrien
to update him on the progress. It should also be put on the Timeline so the
Board revisits it each month.
Ingemar Ekstrom concerned about the alcohol related crime in
Barnes, and wondered if there is anything positive that we all could do about
it.
Someone
asked about putting up signs on
Issues Timeline Update
Under
Fire
Department – work in progress with fire billings and policy ordinance, the SOG’s Chris and Tom will be ready to start next month with
presenting them to the Board.
Add the Town
Hall Use Policy
Add Heliport
offer by Tom O’Brien to be installed possibly by the transfer site.
Motion (Porter/Meinke) to adjourn the
Respectfully
Submitted,
Elaine J.
Brustad,
Barnes Town
Clerk-Treasurer
Dated this
8th Day of March, 2007