MINUTES OF THE
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Chairman
Collyard called the Regular Board Meeting to order at
Roll Call to
establish a quorum/Verification of Public Notice/Motion to approve the May
Agenda
Meinke-here,
Porter-here, Webb-here, McGee-here, Collyard-here. Quorum is established.
Motion (Porter/McGee
) to approve the May agenda. Motion carried. The agenda is as 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/Motion to approve the May 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
Set
up first meeting of the Board of Review
Department Head Reports:
Highway
Cemetery
Fire
and Ambulance Department
Approval to purchase
Auto Pulse System (“geezer squeezer”) under “Promise to Pay Plan”
Approval of replacement of Fire Extinguishers in Hall and Garage areas
Constable
Committee and Commission Reports:
Eurasian
Water Milfoil Committee-
Board Approval of New
Hires for Coordinator Position and Boat Landing Monitor Positions
Road
Committee
Land
Use Planning Commission
Request to County Highway Department
to install a turn lane into the
Jim Miller Subdivision
Letter of Support for the Lake
Protection/Shoreland Restoration Grant
Zoning:
1)
RV Extension -3 years on property
owned by William Wolf 52250 Pease Road
2)
Home based business request Mike
Kubala 2474 Pine Chip Dr in Potawatomi
2008 Memo of Understanding between
Timeless Services Agreement approval
for 2007-2008
Resolution amendment authorizing
designee to sign checks for Chairperson
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 7th Day of
May, 2007
Motion ( Porter/McGee)
to approve the minutes of the last meeting and to dispense with the reading of
those minutes. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report
|
Checking
Balance from last meeting |
|
$64,374.41 |
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Receipts |
|
|
|
|
$9,813.86 |
|
Check #'s
21430-21524 |
|
|
($39,208.88) |
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April Tax
Payment & other direct payments |
|
($10,404.71) |
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Service
Charge April |
|
|
|
($13.96) |
|
|
Interest
Earned April |
|
|
|
$34.19 |
|
|
|
CHECKING
BALANCE |
|
|
$24,594.91 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Money
Market Gen'l Fund Balance from Last Meeting |
$506,268.11 |
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|
Interest
earned February |
YTD
Interest $17619.68 |
$2,443.95 |
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|
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Sub-Total
Money Market Gen'l Funds |
$508,712.06 |
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|
Highway
Dept. Sinking Fund |
|
|
$16,072.92 |
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BES
Sinking Fund |
|
|
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$32,677.05 |
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Park
Savings |
|
|
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$11,051.22 |
|
|
Ski Trail
Savings |
|
|
|
$629.21 |
|
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Parade-Event-Calendar
Fund |
|
|
$1,842.60 |
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Sub-Total
Money Market sub accounts |
$62,273.00 |
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Total
all Money Market Funds |
|
|
$570,985.06 |
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Motion (Meinke/Webb)
to approve the Treasurer’s report as read. Motion carried.
Voucher’s Approval
Motion (Porter/McGee)
to approve the Voucher’s. Motion carried.
Clerk Correspondence
We received
2 Notices to Cut on property owned by Plum Creek, 4 Notices to Cut on Town
Owned Property
Regarding
the New Town Complex Committee request for members, Lu Peet and I are
interested. I have heard from no one
else, should I place another ad in the shopper to see if we get anyone else??
Collyard
said definitely do that.
I received a
letter from RJF agencies regarding their sale of a portion of their business to
Spectrum Insurance Group. This new
company will be the agency contact on our health insurance plan.
I would like
to have approval to go out for bids for someone new to administer our 457
Investment Plan. Our current contact
can’t seem to find the time to talk with us about our investments. The three of us involved with the 457 plan
have not made any money on our investments and we would like to make some
changes.
Webb asked
if anyone can do that or do we have to stick with a certain type of investment.
Brustad said she wasn’t sure but would want to check with investment firms to see
what they can do. Collyard said if we go out for bids we have to publish it;
Webb said Brustad should get information to bring to the Board at the next
meeting.
Finally I
would like to remind everyone that we are under Emergency Burning Restrictions
until further notice. All outdoor
burning is prohibited. Smoking a pipe,
cigar, or cigarette in the outdoors is restricted to places of residence or in
a vehicle equipped with an ashtray. Throwing
matches, ashes, or burning materials from a vehicle is prohibited. Campfires
are prohibited except in developed camping areas. Charcoal grills are to be used only if placed
on a non-combustible surface and attended to at all times. Gas Grills are acceptable. All fireworks, legal and non-legal are
prohibited. Off-road vehicle use including logging equipment is not prohibited,
but its use should be restricted as exhaust systems and sparks from ATV’s or
logging equipment can cause a fire. All welding, torching, and surface grinding
in hazardous areas is prohibited. If anyone would like to report a campfire or any
prohibited actions they can call the Barnes Ranger station at 795-2565 or
Bayfield County Sheriff non-emergency number at 715-373-6120.
Set
up first meeting of the Board of Review
Brustad said
by statutes we have to meet between 5-15 thru 6-12, and we can adjourn to a
later date if the Assessor isn’t ready yet.
She hadn’t heard from the Assessor as to an update for the Open Book,
but did hear that she hadn’t received everything yet from the County. The Board decided on June 7th at
Department Head Reports:
Highway
Fourteen dead red pine trees were knocked
down and cut up at the at the
Mike has been changing out the steel sign
posts and replacing them with treated 4 x 4 posts. The reason we are doing this
is to meet the new standards for signing our roads. The posts and most of the
labor were paid for with grant money we received last year.
Balcsik Farms has informed me that he will
be moving his equipment in to finish up the
A number of jack pines in the
Webb said
the Recreation committee will address that. She hopes to contact someone to
draw up a plan for the park. They could address the placement of new trees
also. She said Jerry can go ahead and get the dead ones removed, and the rec
committee will get moving on the plan for new trees. She also wanted to note that if anyone was
interested in joining the committee they really needed new volunteers for the
committee.
Cemetery
The
Clerk-Treasurer read the report from Bud Pease. Matilda Rausch was interred on
Fire
and Ambulance Department
This last
month the Fire Department has responded to four fires. Three were wildland fires and all were mutual
aid because area Departments have been busy with other fires.
1 – Wildland
Fire in Drummond which we sent two personnel with the ATV and newly mounted
water tank which was purchased in memory of Richard McCaul and has been just recently
installed on the ATV which was just recently installed on the ATV
2 – Mutual
aid to Highland Fire for Wildland Fire which was cancelled while
en-route
3 – 40 acre
wildland fire in the Town of
structure
protection was needed if the fire grew.
I want to thank the DNR as they did an excellent job in shutting this
fire down before it got too far.
4 – Power
line was down on Pease road
Recently the
Fire department completed the pumper operator portion of driver operator
class. Eleven firefighters completed the
course.
We had to
rebuild the pilot valve and the relief valve on the Pumper. We also had to replace the check valve on the
portable pump. Everything went well and it
is back in operation. We also are going
to be conducting extrication training. I
am requesting use of the skating rink for this purpose. I know some members are concerned about this
area but I am looking at the accessibility as well as the easiness to clean
up. If the Town Board can find a better
location I certainly will be open to ideas.
Collyard
said the skating rink area was fine, he had spoken with Colin earlier in the
day and told him that. Meinke also said in addition to what the clerk talked
about with the fire dangers he wanted to point out the importance of what Jerry
has been doing with the widening and brushing of some of our roads. Renz said it is also important to do that
with your own properties, making a fire break between the woods and your homes
or cabins.
The Helipad
is still moving along, the proposed site has been moved a bit to be further
away from trees and lines. It is now on
lot 1, 2, and 3 of the
Ambulance
We have had
three ambulance runs since last Town Board meeting and three stand-bys for the
fire Department.
The ambulance
has received a donation of a case of disposable liners from Doctor Down valued
at $500.00 a case.
I am also
requesting the Town Board to approve the purchase of the Auto Pulse System from
ZOLL Medical Corporation for the terms of $1000.00 down with the balance to be
paid out of and planned into next years budget.
( Geezer Squeezer J ).
Motion (Webb/Porter)
to approve the purchase of the Auto Pulse System under the Promise to Pay
plan. Roll call vote taken: Meinke-yes,
Webb-yes, Porter-yes, McGee-yes, Collyard-yes. Motion carried.
Joint items of interest
On May 9th
members from both Fire and Ambulance will be traveling to
On May 18th
and 19th the Be Somebody campaign will be going on. This campaign is an effort to gain member
ship and support. The campaign will
begin at
Tom also
asked for approval of an application received from Brett Friermood for a First
Responder.
Motion (Webb/Porter)
to approve the application of Brett Friermood as a First Responder for the
Ambulance Department. Webb wanted to note
that this person would only be around part-time as he attended college out of
state. Motion carried.
Approval of replacement of Fire Extinguishers in Hall and Garage areas Renz
explained the fire extinguishers were outdated and had plastic heads on them so
couldn’t be tested. The new ones have been installed and he will write a
purchase order for them. Webb said no
motion is needed as it will be approved with the vouchers approval next time.
Constable
Mike was unavailable
and did not submit a report for reading.
Committee and Commission Reports:
Eurasian
Water Milfoil Committee- Ingemar Ekstrom reported he and John Kudlas had been in
Collyard
said at the last meeting they didn’t formally approve the new hires for the
Boat landing monitors and coordinator positions.
Motion( Meinke/McGee)
to approve Dave Pederson, Drew Carlson, and Charles Corlett as Boat Landing
Monitors, Jack Conklin as the Boat Landing Coordinator, and John Kudlas as the
alternate. Roll call vote taken: Meinke-yes, Webb-yes, Porter-yes, McGee-yes, Collyard-yes.
Motion carried.
Road
Committee Jack
Meinke read the minutes of the committee’s last meeting: The Committee took a road tour to review problem roads, then
reconvened at the Town Hall at
Land
Use Planning Commission Gene Ratzel spoke for the Commission. They met yesterday and had one
person speak during the public comment session. Carol Kulpa had asked why the
Town doesn’t have its own zoning, rather than
Request to County Highway Department
to install a turn lane into the Barnes Area Industrial Park
Gene Ratzel
said the Town Board would need to formally request a turn lane into the
Motion (Porter/McGee)
to request the County Highway Department to install a turn lane into the
Jim Miller Subdivision Collyard said he spoke with the
Town’s attorney regarding the boat landing in Jim Miller subdivision. Liz Lammer is the owner and is paying for the
public access to be moved. The Town has to be a part of the application because
of state regulations, and the attorney will be handing all the paperwork
involved. There will be no charge to the
Town for this.
Letter of Support for the Lake
Protection/Shoreland Restoration Grant Collyard explained he received an email from Carol LeBreck
asking for a letter of support from the Town Board on their Bony Lake
Protection/Shoreland Restoration Grant.
He read from part of the letter to him: “Please note that any letter f
support by the Town Board does not include any financial support of any kind. It would merely be an indication of support
for having this kind of effort being put forth on one of the area lakes with
the opportunity for all of the Town’s residents to benefit by participating in
any of the educational workshops, learning how to do restorations on their
properties, having restored sites to visit for information.” Collyard said if it benefits the whole town
and not just Bony Lake Residents he would be in favor of writing a letter. Webb agreed, but said usually these available
grants require a sponsor, and as long as they are asking for a letter of
support only and not asking the Town to become their sponsor for the grant she
would approve writing a letter to that effect.
Collyard said the letter could say “we support the concept and the
workshop, learning, and educational possibilities for all the residents of the
Town. He will call Pam Toshner also to
get more information. He said Carol
indicated although she couldn’t be here tonight she was going to have someone
else come and explain this further. Webb
said the Board would support any grant if it was purely voluntary and provided
education to all our residents. Motion
(Webb/McGee) to write a letter of support for the Lake Protection/Shoreland
Restoration Grant with the stipulation that the Board believes in the
educational process. Motion carried.
Zoning:
3)
RV Extension -3 years on property
owned by William Wolf 52250 Pease Road
The Plan
Commission recommended approval as it meets County zoning and the Town
Comprehensive Land Use Plan requirements. Meinke said the Board has approved RV
requests before but for two years and he recommended only a two year extension
to keep it consistent.
Motion( Meinke/McGee)
to approve the RV extension for 2 years on the property owned by William
Wolf. Motion carried.
4)
Home based business request Mike
Kubala 2474 Pine Chip Dr in Potawatomi
The Plan
Commission recommended conditional approval: No outside storage of material or
equipment.
Motion ( Webb/Meinke)
to approve the home based business request by Mike Kubala on
2008 Memo of Understanding between
The Clerk
explained this is for the input into the State-wide Voter Registration System by
the County. The agreement is for maintenance by them through December of 2009.
Motion(Porter/McGee)
to approve the Chairperson signing the Memo of Understanding for the 2008 SVRS
maintenance. Motion carried.
Timeless Services Agreement approval
for 2007-2008 Webb
said she had a question on #17 which had an error. It said “Employer has thirty (60) days from
receipt of bill to submit payment in full to Timeless Services.” She wanted to know which it was, thirty or 60
days? Also if it is a no charge service why would the town get a bill? Webb said she definitely would favor
continuing the business relationship but with that clarification.
Motion(Webb/Porter)
to enter into an agreement with Timeless Services 2007-2008 with clarification
of the 30 or 60 days payment time under # 17 and also explanation of why we
would be getting a bill for anything. Motion carried.
Resolution amendment authorizing
designee to sign checks for Chairperson Collyard said he wanted to change the Resolution in force
so he could name a designee if he was gone, because he doesn’t like to sign
blank checks for any reason. Board
members had copies of the new resolution to be adopted. It read:
RESOLUTION # R07-5
TOWN OF
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING SIGNATURES ON
ALL CHECKS WRITTEN ON TOWN OF
WHEREAS, the Town of
WHEREAS, the Town of
NOW IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED THAT:
1.
The three (3) signatures required on the Town of
2.
The two (2) signatures required on any other Town of
Adopted this 8th day of May, 2007
Motion(Webb/McGee)
to approve the resolution authorizing a designee to sign in the Chairperson’s
absence. Motion carried.
Public Comment Session – 5 minute
limit for those not on the Agenda
Mike Tremblay
asked when
Carol Kulpa read
a letter she had given the Board members. She was present to ask the Board to
re-consider adoption of general county zoning regulations. She stated it was
possible to adopt only partial county zoning rules and regulations. She felt it
was time the town stepped up it efforts to protect our natural resources and to
keep the “Northwoods Flavor” that is unique to Barnes before it is too late. By
opening the door to ”some town
additions” to the County zoning regulations, that would make them stricter, not
more lenient, the Board then could consider some stricter regulations for docks
and piers. There is a need for town
zoning with regard to piers and docks in our lakes, when a permit is required
from the DNR. Collyard said he felt this
needed some discussion and wanted to add this item to the next meeting’s
agenda.
Jon Harkness
said he was with Carol in her thoughts. They are both on the board of the
Property Owners Association, and the group does oppose high density
development.
Dick
Collyard said he had just come back from Bozeman Mt and they too are
experiencing the same thing. He believe that everyone has rights and we have to
come up with what is right for everyone.
Buzzy
Harkness said she found the same thing in
Issues Timeline Update
Fire
Department – both works in progress
Heliport for
Landing Zone – Work in Progress
Town Hall
Use Policy – adopted policy last meeting, can drop this off
Employee Award
Program – Work in progress, May is month to nominate, Clerk to check with Renz
for forms
Recreation
Area planning – Chris wanted to put this on the timeline, and will call rep to
come and plan out the park.
Motion (Webb/Meinke)
to adjourn the meeting of
Respectfully
submitted,
Elaine J.
Brustad,
Clerk-Treasurer
Dated this
11th day of May, 2007