MINUTES OF THE

SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING

Of October 8, 2009

 

Chairperson Lu Peet called the Special Town Board Meeting to order at 5:03PM. Chairperson Lu Peet asked for a roll call to establish a quorum.  Those present were Peet, Meinke, Porter, and McGee.  Webb arrived later during closed session.  The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

Agenda

 

1)                Closed Session. The Town Board of the Town of Barnes will meet in regular session to go into a closed session pursuant to State Statute 19.85(c)  “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 reconvene to the regular session immediately after the closed session.

2)                Approval of request to the cemetery committee

3)                Approval to publish and post notice soliciting persons for the Board of County Supervisor position.

4)                Discussion of adding a casual (fill-in) employee for the transfer site

5)                Discussion on Dam grant request by Bayfield County

6)                2010 Budget – The Board will continue to discuss and put together the budget for 2010.

 

Chair Lu Peet read the notice and asked the Board for a motion to adjourn to closed session

Motion (Meinke/Porter) to go into closed session per the above statute.  Roll call vote taken with all present responding yes.   Motion carried.

 

Motion (Webb/Porter) to reconvene to the regular open session.  Motion carried.  Chair Lu Peet called the meeting back to order in regular session at 6:25PM.  No action was taken during the closed session and no motions were made. 

Discussion followed regarding a letter to be sent to the Cemetery Committee regarding budget issues and how the records and minutes are not being kept at the town hall. It was decided to send a letter to each committee member requesting the official records.  Those known to be committee members are Bud Pease, Henry Norton, Viola Friermood, Jeanne Barnes, Nancy Loughren, Linda Clark and Donna Porter. 

Motion ( McGee/Webb) to send the letter to the Sexton and committee members.  Motion carried.

 

Chair Lu Peet had made up a poster to solicit a Town resident to run for an upcoming County Board Supervisor position.  Although the current Supervisor for this area is a good one, he is not from Barnes and would not necessarily have the Town’s interests at heart.  The position is for a two year term and meetings and mileage are paid. 

Motion (Webb/Porter) to publish and post the notice for the County Board Supervisor position.  It should be published in the Northwoods Shopper only as the county will publish a notice in the legal paper.  Motion carried.

 

It was noted that a casual fill-in part-time person may be needed for the Transfer site attendant when he is gone.  Peet already had one person talk to her about the position, and filled out an application.  It was felt the position should be posted.  Jerry Witt said he needed a part-time snow plow driver for the season also, so both positions could be posted and published at the same time.  He will put the qualifications together for both jobs and get with the Clerk-Treasurer for publishing them.   It was discussed to have both positions have a medical exam prior to starting with drug and alcohol testing as well. 

 

Lu Peet and Jerry Witt met with County Administrator Mark Abels-Allison and County Clerk Scott Fibert at the Lock and Dam on Wednesday.  There is a grant available for the dam and Abels Allison wanted to know if the board would be interested in adding the wing wall repair in to the grant request.  The Town would have to budget for 50% of the cost to repair the wing wall.  Discussion followed and it was decided the Board preferred to wait until they could allocate monies to cover the project as a whole to fix the bridge.  Witt felt it was better to wait and do the whole project correctly and not just put a band aid on it. 

 

The Board continued to go over budget items.  Salary increases should be put in for the next meeting. 

Motion (McGee/Meinke) to increase salaries as discussed in closed session.  The Road Foreman and Full-time equipment operator will each get a 3% increase.  The two main snow plow drivers will get an increase to $14.00/hour.  A new snow plow driver will get a starting wage of $12.60/hour.  The transfer site attendant will get an increase to $13.00/hour, and part-time fill in employee at the transfer site will be at $10.50/hour.  The Clerk-Treasurer will receive a 3% increase in salary and $18.00/month to reimburse her for expenses for spouse’s health insurance.  Roll call vote taken and all responded yes.  Motion carried. 

 

Brustad said she would like to see the Board approve an online back-up service instead of the network, which has not worked properly since it was installed two years ago.  There is no need for networking.  The online backup service should save a portion of the costs associated with computer costs.  Motion (Webb/McGee) to have Brustad contact Chequamegon Communications and do away with the server and start online backup service for Tom’s Jerry’s and Elaine’s computers.  Roll call vote taken: All yes.  Motion carried.

 

The next budget meeting will be on October 15th at 5:00PM.  Brustad should have the full costs and revenues in to have the Board review. 

 

Motion (Porter/McGee) to adjourn the Special Town Board meeting of October 8, 2009.  Motion carried.  The meeting adjourned at 8:30PM.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

 

Elaine J. Brustad,

Clerk-Treasurer

Dated this 12th day of October, 2009