MINUTES OF THE
TOWN OF
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Chairman
Dick Collyard called the meeting to order at
Motion (Meinke/Porter) to approve the November agenda. Motion
carried. The
agenda as posted follows:
NOTICE
TOWN OF
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
AGENDA
Call the Regular Board Meeting to
order.
Pledge Allegiance to the Flag
Roll Call to establish a
quorum/Verification of Public Notice/Approve the November Agenda
Approve minutes of the Last Regular
Board Meeting/Motion to dispense with reading of the minutes.
Treasurer’s Report and Resolution to
pay all required taxes above bond for Treasurer
Voucher’s Approval
Clerk Correspondence
Discussion
on Health Insurance increase for 2007 and possible alternatives
Department Head Reports:
Highway
Cemetary
Fire
Department
Ambulance
Department
Constable
Transfer
Site – Increase of Fees for Disposal
Resolution
to combine Ambulance and Fire Departments
Committee and Commission Reports:
Eurasian
Water Milfoil Committee
Land
Use Planning Commission Reports
Tabled
Resolution from Bayfield County regarding the combined Land Use Grant
Resolution to correct error in
Chapter 20, Alcohol Licensing Ordinance
Chapter 5 amendment to add
forfeitures and penalties in Chapter 20 Alcohol Licensing Ordinance
Acknowledgement of Property Owners
Letter regarding better communication for meetings
Response from survey of what to do
between the Hall and Garage area after trees cut down
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.
Elaine J. Brustad Barnes Town
Clerk-Treasurer
Dated this 16th
Day of November, 2006
Motion
(Porter/McGee) to approve the minutes of the last Regular Baord
meeting and motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report
|
Checking
Balance from last meeting |
|
$21,885.37 |
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Receipts |
|
|
|
|
$37,993.84 |
|
Transfer
funds from Money Market |
|
|
$150,000.00 |
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Check #'s
20903-20981 |
|
|
($182,657.88) |
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October
Tax Payment & other direct payments |
|
($3,016.46) |
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Service
Charge October |
|
|
($5.81) |
||
|
Interest
Earned October |
|
|
$23.71 |
||
|
|
CHECKING
BALANCE |
|
|
$24,222.77 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Money
Market Gen'l Fund Balance from Last Meeting |
$666,090.83 |
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|
Interest
earned October |
YTD
Interest $28,045.38 |
$3,091.53 |
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|
Check #
1026 Transfer to General Fund |
|
($150,000.00) |
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|
|
Sub-Total
Money Market Gen'l Funds |
$519,182.36 |
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|
Highway
Dept. Sinking Fund |
|
|
$1,072.92 |
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|
BES
Sinking Fund |
|
|
|
$17,677.05 |
|
|
Park
Savings |
|
|
|
$10,960.06 |
|
|
Ski Trail
Savings |
|
|
|
$629.21 |
|
|
Parade-Event-Calender Fund |
|
|
$1,842.60 |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
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Total
all Money Market Funds |
|
|
$551,364.20 |
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|
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TOTAL
ALL ACCOUNTS |
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$575,586.97 |
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Motion(Porter/Meinke) to approve the Treasurer’s
Report as read. Motion carried. Clerk-Treasurer also read a Resolution required by the
RESOLUTION R-06-17
WHEREAS,
the Town of Barnes Treasurer is required by statute to
furnish a bond to the County Treasurer in a sum of double the amount of state
and county taxes apportioned to her town, conditioned for the faithful
performance of the duties of her office and that she will account for and pay
over according to law all state and county taxes which shall come into her
hands, and
WHEREAS,
the Town of Barnes is given the power under Section 70.67(2) of the Wisconsin
Statutes, to obligate the town in case the Town Treasurer shall fail to pay all
state and county taxes required by law to be paid by the Town Treasurer to the
County Treasurer,
NOW,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of the Town of
Barnes, at its regular meeting held this 21st day of November, 2006,
that the Town of Barnes does hereby obligate itself to pay in case the Town
Treasurer shall fail to do so, all state and county taxes required by law to be
paid by such Treasurer to the County Treasurer.
__________________________ _________________________
Dick Collyard, Chairman Jack Meinke, Supervisor
__________________________ _________________________
Christine Webb, Supervisor Donna Porter, Supervisor
__________________________
Mitch McGee, Supervisor
CERTIFICATE
THIS
IS TO CERTIFY THAT the foregoing is a true and correct
copy of a resolution duly and legally adopted by the Town of
_________________________________
Elaine J. Brustad, Clerk-Treasurer
Motion(Webb/Meinke) to approve and sign the
Resolution # R06-17 for obligation to pay taxes to the
Motion(Webb/Porter) to approve the voucher’s as written. Motion carried.
Clerk Correspondence
1 Notice to
cut on property owned by Plum Creek Timberlands on Section 26, Township 43N, Range 9 West.
Clerk wanted
to thank the
Notice of Assessments are out. Open Book will be on Friday December 1st
from
Clerk Brustad then told the Board health insurance costs had
increased 17% from last year. She was in the process of getting other bids for
health insurance through the RJF Agencies and Wausau Insurance. She wanted to talk to the Board about the
possibility of using a Health Savings Account to lower the health care
costs. This would have a larger
deductible, the employee and the employer can put monies into the HSA to be
used toward the deductible or any other medical expenses. Board agreed anything
that could be done to keep the costs lower would be something they would be
interested in. Brustad
would get the bids in then present them to the Board at the December meeting.
Department Head Reports
Highway – Jerry Witt
Both
channels have been braced for the winter.
150 of the
300 new signs have been installed by Mike in the past month.
Snow plow
and Sanding equipment has been readied for the
upcoming winter season.
By hauling
gravel from the new pit on 27, we will be saving approximately $6000-$7000 on
the trucking charge from Balcsik Farms because of the
much shorter traveling distance as compared to hauling from the Jerome pit on
N.
I have been
working on the 05 tandem International truck to make it safer and more
efficient for plowing snow and sanding the roads. I had Superior Auto Glass
install a window in the passenger door so the operator can see the wing. The
other area of concern I have is with the sanding unit itself. The box has to be
raised ten to fifteen times on a normal run to utilize the sander. This is a
major safety issue with the amount of overhead power wires on our plow routes.
Witt also explained a different type of sanding unit which would be safer and
not have to raise the box so often would be around $5,000.00 to $6,000.00. He
had the money in his budget to do that but wanted approval from the Board. Motion
(Webb/Meinke) to authorize the purchase of a sander
unit for the 2005 IH truck. Roll call vote taken: Meinke-yes,
Webb-yes, Porter-yes, McGee-yes, Collyard-yes. Motion
carried.
Cemetary – Bud Pease Neil Bonner was interred on Otcober 30th, Block 5,
Fire
Department-Ambulance Department – Tom
Renz was not at the meeting. The clerk read his report: No fire runs and
three ambulance runs since last meeting.
The fire department is now running an officers training class. Next
month’s meeting Tom will be presenting a proposal for consideration in charging
for certain fire runs. Collyard also wanted to
mention he spoke with Gene Ratzel regarding the
landing zone at the Industrial Site. Gene asked for Dick to have Tom contact
him so they could mark
the helicopter landing pad off.
The landing zone was changed there because the helicopter pilot felt it
would be a safer area than at the Town Fire Hall area.
Constable – Mike O’Keefe was not at the meeting so the Clerk read
his report also. 3 alarms from the Sheriff, 2 firearm complaints, property owners target shooting on their own property. 2
car-deer hits, both vehicles left the scene, issued mail in reports. Excessive noise complaint, loud music. Asked the owner to
quiet down and he complied. 1 domestic battery complaint, I was contacted by
the female subject who said she was assaulted by her live-in boyfriend at her
home in Gordon. She was calling from Barnes. Contacted the
Douglas County Sheriff. Responded to her location, male subject arrested
at her home. Female subject taken to the hospital.
Forwarded report to
Transfer Site-Increase fees for Disposal –Collyard
said he asked Tom Pieters to check around the area
for fees others charge for refrigerators, tires and furniture. The following is what he has proposed to the
Board for increases:
$15.00 to
$18.00 Empty refrigerators, freezers, stoves,
washers, dryers, water heaters, dish
washers.
$3.00
Passenger tire or smaller trailer tires (larger tires - charged based on
size).
$12.00 Larger furniture items,
large/stuffed chairs, etc. (hide-a-bed couch $15.00)
$5.00 to
10.00 Small items such as lamps, etc., small TV's,
small appliances, microwave ovens,
end
tables.
$ 5.00 (and up) - Carpeting, padding rugs, depending
on size.
Large or
heavy scrap metal such as BBQ grills /(mattress
frames-$10.00)
Fee may
be assessed and determined by attendant
Motion
(Porter/McGee) to increase the rates per Tom’s proposal for 2007. Motion
carried.
Resolution to combine Fire and
Ambulance Departments. Collyard explained this was an
error, he had misunderstood but it should have been to appoint Tom Renz as head of both departments. Motion (Webb/Porter) to appoint
Tom Renz as Ambulance Director and also to appoint
Tom Renz as Fire Chief. Both Donna Porter
and Chris Webb wanted to make sure the motion was for separate appointments and
that the departments remained separate. There was no other discussion. Motion
carried.
Committee and Commission Reports
Eurasian Water Milfoil Committee John Kudlas
spoke on his
Recreational Committee Chris Webb said the committee met on the 15th,
they asked again about the signs to be placed on each side of the ice
rink. Collyard
said he needed to know exactly how many and what each should say. Chris said
they talked about 4 signs, each saying “No motorized Vehicles”. They would put
two on each end of the ice rink and the other two would be placed in the
park. She also said the committee is
looking for more volunteers, the Chairman has resigned
from the committee so they will be electing officers soon. The next meeting is
Wednesday, December 13th at
Land Use Planning Commission Gene Ratzel
said the commission had met on Monday the 20th to discuss the
Comprehensive Land Use Plan. There were
some minor changes made to the plan.
Motion(Webb/Meinke) to open the floor for discussion.
Motion carried. There were questions about the
changes made to the plan by Lee Wiesner and and questions of the board by Jon Harkness. Motion (Meinke/Porter)
to close the floor to discussion. Motion carried.
Tabled Resolution from
Resolution to correct error in
Chapter 20, Alcohol Licensing Ordinance Clerk Brustad explained a typographical
error was found before publishing the Ordinance by the Town’s attorney. The
Resolution corrects the error in Section 20-7.
TOWN OF
ORDINANCE NUMBER:
CHAPTER 20,
The Town
Board of the Town of Barnes, Bayfield County, Wisconsin, by this resolution,
adopted on proper notice with a quorum and by a roll call vote of a majority of
the town board present and voting resolves and orders as follows:Chapter Twenty, Section 7 of the Town of Barnes
ordinances shall be amended to read: The forfeitures and penalties provided for
in this section shall be applicable to violations of Section 20-4(a) of this
ordinance. Violation of this ordinance
shall be in accordance with the schedules of deposit, which are now in
existence and may be amended from time to time in the future, plus any
applicable assessments, costs, fees and penalty enhancements now in force in
the Bayfield County Circuit Court, or as enforced in the future and restitution
as it may apply under §973.20 Wis. stats.
Each day’s failure to comply with this Chapter shall constitute a
separate offence.
The town clerk shall
properly post or publish this resolution as required under s. 60.80,
Town of
_________________________________ ________________________________
Richard Collyard -Town Chairman Christine
M. Webb-Town Supervisor
_________________________________ _________________________________
Mitch McGee
-Town Supervisor
Jack Meinke-Town Supervisor
_________________________________
Donna Porter
-Town Supervisor
Adopted:
Published:
__________________ Posted:
Attest:________________________________________ Dated:
Elaine
J. Brustad-Town Clerk-Treasurer
Motion (Webb/McGee) to approve the Resolution
as read. Collyard said he
also spoke with the attorney regarding a call he received from one of the
tavern owners. The attorney prepared a
letter stating why the town needed an ordinance. John Carlson, the town’s
attorney, stated: “ The need for an ordinance arose
last spring when a person with a liquor license was charged with possessing a
significant amount of controlled substances. The town then realized the
procedure outlined in chapters 125.12 and 125.17 of the statutes for issuing
and revoking licenses were not sufficiently detailed. I advised the town to adopt an ordinance that
provided the missing details and that dovetailed with the statutes. The grounds
for revocation contained in section 20-6(a) (1-5) are similar to the grounds for
revocation and suspension provided in S 125.12(2) (ag) (1-5) of the statutes. If the license holder is
obeying state and federal laws, there are no grounds under the town ordinance
to revoke or deny a license.” There was
no other discussion. Motion carried.
Chapter Five Amendment
to add forfeitures and penalties in Chapter 20 Alcohol Licensing Ordinance Clerk Brustad
explained a forfeiture amount needed to be set for the penalties section in the
new Ordinance for Alcohol Licensing Procedures. Motion (Webb/Meinke) to set the forfeiture amount for Chapter 20 Section
4(a) at $100.00. Roll call vote taken: McGee-yes, Porter-yes, Meinke-yes, Webb-yes, Collyard-yes.
Motion carried. The Ordinance amendment for changing Chapter Five
will be done at next month’s meeting.
Acknowledgement of Property Owner’s
Letter regarding better communication for meetings.
Collyard
explained he received a letter from the Eau Claire Lakes Property Owners
Association giving recommendations for improving communication between the
board and the people of Barnes. The Property Owner’s Association reported comments from
members of not knowing about the town’s business until it was over. The Association asked for the Board’s
cooperation in listing agenda items in the Northwood’s Shopper and
“The Town
Board has received a letter from the Property Owners Association containing
recommendations to the Board for improving communication between the Town Board
and its constituents.
We thank the
Association for the interest shown by them in events and past meetings of the
Town Board.
As you know,
there are legal requirements for posting meetings. Posting of the meeting notice must occur at
least 24 hours prior to the meeting at 3 public places. The notice is posted at Bank, the Homestead
Station and the bulletin board at the town hall. The notice and agenda are posted on the
Barnes web site and a public notice in published in the Northwoods
Shopper.
The Northwoods Shopper was chosen as it is received by all
people living and receiving their mail in Barnes. The
The Town
Board has been very open about any town business and any decisions that are
made involving the public. The current
Town Board has refrained from using ‘closed meetings’ except in matters
involving employees or town personnel.
The Town Board has very seldom deviated from the normal 3rd
Tuesday of the month for scheduled meetings.
We have opened the floor to public input on more occasions than any
Board in the past. The Town Clerk is
available five days a week and the Town Chairman is often at the Town Hall but
also has made his home number available for contact. The Town’s website has been improved for
easier access to town information or for contacting Town Board and the Town
Clerk.
The
recommendations stated in your letter will be discussed by the Board. It is possible that a larger ad could be
inserted in the Northwoods Shopper and a general
agenda attached. It is important to note
that the deadline for publication is a full week prior to the town’s
meeting. The agenda can be changed up to
24 hours before the meeting. So the
public can not rely on just what is published.
If they are interested in all town matters then they will come to the
meetings whether the agenda is published or not.
The Board
believes that it is very important that the public have an opportunity to ask
questions or make comments on issues. We
will continue to open the floor on issues of concern. Interested parties have up to 24 hours prior
to the meeting to have their issue or name added to the agenda. While we encourage public input, we reserve
the right to limit discussions in order to maintain an effective, efficiently
run meeting. We were elected to handle
the affairs of the town and the current Town Board takes their responsibilities
very seriously.
We look
forward to continued partnership between the Town Board and the POA on matters
that concern the town as a whole.”
Motion (Meinke/Porter) to open the floor to discussion. Motion carried. The clerk read an
answer she received from the Wisconsin Towns Association. In it they
recommended not using a “shopper” for notices but to post in three
places per statutes and use the website for informational purposes. A notice will be placed in the newsletter
that is included with the taxes about the website and encouraging people to use
that for information on what will be on the agenda for meetings. Possible enlarged notices will be put into
the Northwoods Shopper also, when time permits. Collyard mentioned
it is not always possible to make the deadline for printing in the shopper with
items of interest, so people should be made aware that the notice in the
shopper is informational only and may not include everything on the agenda.
People should always try to check the final agenda which is posted at the Bank,
Response from survey of what to do
between the Hall and Garage area after the trees were cut down
Collyard
said most responses said to increase the parking as there isn’t enough when the
hall is busy. Also the front parking
area is a dangerous place and if there were parking spaces on that side it
might help. Porter said we received a very nice drawing from Leslie Hall also.
Public Comment Session – 5 minute
limit for those not on the agenda
Dave Pease
thought Chris Webb’s idea to use the column Nancy Hunter used to do in theCounty Journal for news around town was an excellent
idea. Webb said she would check with the
Ingemar Ekstrom and Jon Harkness talked
about their assessments. Open Book will be Friday and Saturday, December 1st
and 2nd .
It is the chance to talk to the Assessor in person about your
assessment.
Issues Timeline Update – Items to be removed are Alcohol
Control Ordinance, Eurasian Water Milfoil Committee, and Ambulance
Department. Two items will be left on
and are ongoing.
Motion (Webb/McGee)
to adjourn the meeting of
Respectfully
submitted,
Elaine J. Brustad,
Town
Clerk-Treasurer
Dated this 2nd
Day of December, 2006