MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING

 OF MARCH 21, 2005

 

 

Present: Chairman Gene Ratzel; Supervisors Dixie Chermack (5:00PM), Jack Meinke, Chris Webb and Dave Scharlau.

Also present were the Clerk Lu Peet, Deputy Clerk Elaine Brustad, Fire Chief Tom Renz and community members Donna Porter and Dick Collyard. 

 

Chairman Ratzel called the meeting to order at 4:54PM.

 

Ratzel read the notice and agenda as follows:

Special Town Board Meeting Monday March 21, 2005 at 4:45PM at the Town Hall

Agenda

  1. Drug Policy Handbook Approval
  2. Ordinance for Hazardous Waste
  3. Ordinance for Alternate Board of Review Members
  4. Janitorial Proposals
  5. Eurasian Watermilfoil Coordinator/ Assistants-Approval to go ahead with the plan to hire
  6. Approve Costs for Bridge Inspection for Weight Limit Restrictions
  7. Approval to Send a Letter of Support to the County for County Driveway Ordinance
  8. Community Wildfire Protection Plan Participation-Approval/ action

John Carlson Attorney available for advice (by phone)

Closed Session: The Town Board of the Town of Barnes will meet in regular session to go into closed session pursuant to State Statute 19.85 (b) and (c) for the purposes of discipline, considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any employee over which the governmental body had jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. The board will then reconvene to the regular session.

Motion (Meinke / Scharlau) to approve the notice and agenda. Motion carried.

 

  1. Drug Policy Handbook Approval-The Substance Abuse Policy (as the drug policy is called) was reviewed by the board members. Attorney John Carlson had made the necessary changes and will send a final copy after the board approves the changes. Most of the changes were in reference to �employees� as opposed to �drivers� as the policy would apply to all employees. The policy would then become part of the new Employee Policy Handbook. Motion (Meinke / Scharlau) to approve the Substance Abuse Policy. Motion carried.

 

  1. Ordinance for Hazardous Waste -The attorney had given the board two versions of the Hazardous Waste Ordinance. The recommendation of the attorney was to have approval on the longer version as the board would not have to do a separate Ordinance for the permit process. Motion (Scharlau / Webb) to approve the Hazardous Waste Ordinance (the one that was recommended). Motion carried.

 

  1. Ordinance for Alternate Board of Review Members- The alternates would be chosen at a later date and the terms would be staggered, with a term being no longer than three years. Motion (Chermack / Scharlau) to approve the Ordinance for Alternate Board of Review Members. Motion carried.

 

  1. Janitor Proposals- Three proposals were received by 5:00PM. The proposals were opened and reviewed. After discussion, the board members decided on Patti Jacobs to do the janitorial work. This would initially be a 6 month trial contract to be reviewed at the end of this time period. The board discussed what issues would be covered with Ms. Jacobs. Some of these would be window washing, use of the town�s equipment, supplies and verification of Ms. Jacobs� proper insurance and bonding. The clerk will call Ms. Jacobs in the morning to confirm. Motion (Webb / Scharlau) to approve the lowest proposal that was from Ms. Patti Jacobs on a six month trial basis. Roll call vote was taken: Webb, Yes; Chermack, Yes; Meinke, Yes, Scharlau, Yes and Ratzel, Yes. Motion carried.

 

  1. Eurasian Watermilfoil Coordinator/ Assistants-Approval to go ahead with the plan to hire. The board discussed the options for the hiring that were presented. These were: 1. Have the town hire the coordinator and the two assistants as regular town employees 2. Have another local community involved in the project hire the personnel 3. Have the county hire the personnel 4. Contract with a firm to do all of the work (to be the Coordinator and provide the assistants) and have them paid from the funds by the town and 5. Contact a temporary service to do the hiring. There was discussion on all of the plans. The clerk said that CEP would check on the options for us also. Dave Thorson indicated that the Ad Hoc committee would be meeting soon to discuss the options as well. The board has to approve the ability to hire tonight, even though the method is not yet set. The town is the responsible unit for the funds and must pay out regardless of how the hiring is done. Motion (Chermack / Meinke) to go ahead with the hiring plan. Motion carried. The clerk will send a letter to this effect to Dave Thorson of the Ad Hoc committee.

 

  1. Approve Costs for Bridge Inspections for Weight Limit Restrictions-The board discussed the issue. The cost would be about $1,500.00 for Cedar Corporation to do the inspections of the four town bridges. Motion (Webb / Scharlau) to approve the inspections for the four town bridge for approximately $1,500.000. Roll call vote was taken: Webb, Yes; Scharlau, Yes; Meinke, Yes; Chermack, Yes and Ratzel, Yes. Motion carried. The garage supervisor will contact Cedar Corporation.

 

  1. Approval to Send a Letter of Support to the County for County Driveway Ordinance-There was discussion on the issue. The board felt that this was the way to go, with the permit process being done by the zoning department. Motion (Chermack / Meinke) to approve sending a letter of support to the county for the County Driveway Ordinance and permit process. Motion carried. The clerk will send a letter to the county board, the county highway commissioner and the county zoning department.

 

  1. Community Wildfire Protection Plan Participation-Approval / Action. The board agreed to have the town start action to participate in the plan for community wildfire protection. Motion (Meinke / Scharlau) to approve the town�s participation and cooperation and follow through in the Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Motion carried. The clerk will send letter to this effect to Tom Salzman of the DNR.

 

 

Motion (Webb / Meinke) to adjourn the open session to go into closed session pursuant to State Statutes 19.85 (b) and (c)for the purposes of discipline, considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any employee over which the governmental body had jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. The board will then reconvene to the regular session. Roll call vote was taken: Scharlau, Yes; Meinke, Yes; Chermack, Yes; Webb, Yes and Ratzel, Yes. Motion carried. The regular session was adjourned at 5:50PM.

 

MINUTES OF THE CLOSED SESSION

 OF MARCH 21, 2005

 

Chairman Ratzel called the closed session to order at 5:52PM.

 

Present at the first part of the closed session were Fire Chief Tom Renz, Chairman Gene Ratzel; Supervisors Dave Scharlau, Jack Meinke, Dixie Chermack and Chris Webb. Also present were the Deputy Clerk Elaine Brustad and Clerk Lu Peet. Fire Chief Renz was dismissed at 6:00PM.

 

Only the issues dealing with the statute noted were discussed. There were no decisions made in closed session.

Motion (Webb / Meinke) to adjourn the closed session to return to the regular adjourned open session. Motion carried. The closed session was adjourned at 6:15PM.

 

MINUTES OF THE RECONVENED REGULAR SESSION

 OF MARCH 21, 2005

 

Chairman Ratzel called the reconvened regular session to order at 6:17PM.

 

The board discussed the approval of the new fire department member. Motion (Webb / Meinke) to approve the application of the new member. Motion carried.

 

The board discussed briefly the garage supervisor position. Motion (Chermack / Meinke) that having received notification of the resignation of the garage supervisor, the board would approve having the town board oversee the operations of the Highway Department. There was discussion on this issue. The motion was then amended (Webb / Scharlau) to read to add �upon the effective resignation date of the current supervisor until further notice�. Motion carried.

 

Motion (Chermack / Meinke) to adjourn the reconvened regular session. Motion carried. The Reconvened session was adjourned at 6:21PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

 

Lucille J. Peet

Barnes Town Clerk

Dated this 22nd day of March 2005