February 21, 2012: Regular Board Meeting

APPROVED

MINUTES OF THE TOWN OF BARNES

REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING

February 21, 2012

At Barnes Town Hall

Chairperson Lu Peet called the Regular Board Meeting to order at 6:15pm.Roll call was taken:  All members were present.  Peet verified with Clerk-Treasurer Baldwin that public notice for the meeting and the agenda had been posted as required.Per the agenda, Peet then read the following ‘Closed Session’ notice:

Closed Session: The Town of Barnes Board will meet in regular session to go into a closed session  per  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.

Peet requested a motion to adjourn to a closed session.

Motion (Porter/Webb) to go into closed session, Roll call vote taken:  all present responded yes.  Motion carried. The Board adjourned to the Town Hall offices for closed session at 6:19pm.

Motion (Meinke/Webb) to return to Regular Session;Roll call vote taken:  all responded yes.  Motion carried.Peet called the Regular Session back to order at 6:40PM.The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag was recited.

Since the Board had not received the January meeting minutes in advance, all Board members had not had time to review them.  Peet read the January minutes to the assembly.   Peet then called for a motion to approve the minutes of the last Regular Board meetingand to approve the following Agenda:

AGENDA

1.             6:15pm:  Roll Call to establish a Quorum & Verification of Public Notice

2.             Motion to go into Closed Session:  The Town Board of the Town of Barnes will meet in regular session to go into a closed session per 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.

3.             Approximately 6:30PM:  Motion to Return to Regular Session

4.             Call the Regular Board Meeting to order

5.             Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

6.             Motion to Approve the Agenda for this meeting, the Minutes of last month’s Board Meeting and to dispense with reading of those minutes.

7.             Ambulance and Fire Departments – Monthly Report

·      Approval of letter to Town of Highland to rescind FD First Response contract.

·      Approval of support Agreements with LifeLink III and Gold Cross Ambulance.

·      Discussion of changing Ambulance billing from Advantage to Life-Quest.

·      Approval of 4 new Fire Department members.

8.             Treasurer’s Report

9.             Voucher’s Approval

10.         Clerk Correspondence

11.         Department Head Reports:

a)      Highway

·      February Road Report

·      Review, discussion and possible action on changes to the Town of Barnes Recycling Ordinance and also current processes at the Barnes Transfer Site.

·      Discussion and possible action on creating a road access at the north-end of the Town property off of Barnes Road.

b)      Cemetery                                           

c)       Constable

12.            Committee and Commission Reports

·      Eurasian Water Milfoil Committee

·      Recreation Committee

·      Land Use Planning Commission

13.            Public Comment Session – 5 minute limit for those not on the Agenda

14.            Issues Timeline Update

15.            Adjourn

Motion (Porter / Meinke)to approve the meeting Agenda and the January 17^thminutes of the Last Regular Board meeting, as presented and read.  All responded Yes, Motion Carried.

7.      Ambulance and Fire Departments Monthly Report – Tom Renz, Director & Fire Chief

Ambulance

Since the last Town board meeting the ambulance has had 4 calls since the last meeting.

• 2 – No Transport
• 2 – Transports to St. Mary’s

I would like the Town Board to authorize the agreement between LifeLink III and the Town of Barnes.  It is the same agreement that has been in place with Lifeflight and Luke’s one in the past.  It deals with patient billing so that there is one billing for each patient.

We also need to approve the agreement with Gold Cross.

I would like the Town to authorize me to look into Life Quest as a new billing option for the Ambulance Department.  There are several reasons:

1. It is the company that most ambulance services are using in the area including Great divide which makes it easier for billing. 
2. It will take one step out of the paperwork process.  Instead of doing the paperwork for Advantage Billing and then also entering it into the WARDS system, with Lifequest you enter the information on their Web Site and the billing and Wards is done all at the same time.  The EMT’s that were on the run can enter it also so that everyone knows the process not just one or two people. 
3. Lifequest also does billing for Fire Departments.   

Fire Department

There have been no runs since last town board meeting.  The Fire Department will be having

the WITC Flashover trailer coming to Barnes in March for training.  The training is limited to twenty five people and it is great training to experience a flashover situation.

The Fire Department has purchased a positive pressure ventilation fan.  The purpose of this equipment has several uses but most importantly along with the training I recently had in Milwaukee the idea is that instead of doing vertical roof ventilation as was done in the past we will now perform Horizontal ventilation.  This will allow firefighters to get to the seat of the Fire faster and safer as you do not have to put firefighters on a roof to ventilate a building with a chance to fall through the roof into a burning building. 

Also the First Friday night in March the Wisconsin Fire Chiefs Association Board of Directors will be meeting here at the Town Hall.  On Saturday there will be a Wisconsin Fire Chiefs Association meeting here I have included a copy of the letter from Glenn Linzmeier the President of the Wisconsin Chiefs association

• Approval of letter to Town of Highland to rescind FD First Response contract.

Renz reviewed the letter to the Highland Board that he and Clerk/Treasurer Baldwin had drafted and provided in their Board packets and requested Board approval of it.  Supervisor Webb suggested that the letter should use Tom’s formal name and include his contact information. 

Motion (Porter/Meinke) to approve the draft letter to send to Highland Board with the changes as discussed.  Roll call vote taken:  all responded yes.  Motion carried.

• Approval of support Agreements with LifeLink III and Gold Cross Ambulance.

Renz stated that the LifeLink III contract was our standard helicopter support contract and that the Gold Cross contract was a renewal contract and did not contain any new terms.  Peet called for separate motions for each contract.  There was discussion of the LifeLink maximum charge amount allowed.

Motion (Webb/McGee) to approve the Gold Cross Ambulance contract as presented.  Roll call vote taken:  all responded yes.Motion carried.

Motion (Webb/Meinke) to approve the LifeLink III contract as presented, but the maximum billed amount allowed should not exceed the dollar amount that was previously paid.  Roll call vote taken:  all responded yes.Motion carried.

• Discussion of changing Ambulance billing from Advantage to Life-Quest.

Renz reiterated the points from his report and asked approval of the Board to pursue a possible change in ambulance billing.  He stated that he and Baldwin had been unable to identify if the town in fact has a contract with Advantage but has requested that they provide us with a copy if they have one on record.

Renz said that if it was cost-effective to change billing companies, then a formal request and contract would be brought to the Board for approval.  After brief discussion, Peet noted that no formal motion was required at this time as Renz was acting within his duties as department head to identify viable options and since no formal change was occurring at this time requiring approval.

• Approval of 4 new Fire Department members. Renz stated that there were no new members to approve at this time since he did not have any security reports back yet on the applications. 

8.      Treasurer’s Report:

a.      Clerk-Treasurer Baldwin reported that for the property tax collection effort that ended as of January 31st, the town had collected a final grand total of:  $2,202,076. of the Bayfield County assessed taxes for Barnes.  Since the settlement process was already occurring with our required pay-outs to the county, school district and technical college, the Treasurer’s Report was already less than that amount and would be significantly reduced once all payments were complete.

b.      Clerk-TreasurerBaldwin read the following monthly Treasurer’s report:

As of February 20^th, 2012

TOB Balance Sheet

ASSETS         Current Assets       Checking/Savings         100 · TOB General Fund-SBOD Checking -546,371.74       101 · TOB Money Market SBOD Savings           101A · Money Market-General Savings 1,133,013.73         101B · Highway Sinking Fund 26,327.92         101C · BES Sinking Fund 40,464.05         101D · Park Savings Fund 12,542.96         101E · Ski Trail Fund 1,032.47         101H · Building Maintenance Fund 95,932.54         101J · ACT 102 Fund Checking 1,296.67         101K · Bridges Maintenance Fund 12,000.00         101L · Waterways Maintenance Fund 10,000.00         101 · TOB Money Market SBOD Savings - Other 65.29       Total 101 · TOB Money Market SBOD Savings 1,332,675.63       110 · TOB Cash Reserves           110-1 · HCCU Shares Savings Acct. 3,749.58         110-2 · HCCU 35-Mo. CD - 02/20/2014 101,342.44       Total 110 · TOB Cash Reserves 105,092.02       112 · HCCU 9 month CD (2) 106,538.14       113 · HCCU 6 month CD 52,910.59       114 · HCCU 9 month CD (3) 157,418.42       115 · HCCU 18 month CD 101,042.19     Total Checking/Savings 1,309,305.25   Total Current Assets 1,309,305.25 TOTAL ASSETS  $  1,309,305.25 LIABILITIES & EQUITY     Liabilities         Current Liabilities         Other Current Liabilities           2100 · Payroll Liabilities 1,911.75         26000 · Advance Tax Collections 82.48       Total Other Current Liabilities 1,994.23     Total Current Liabilities 1,994.23   Total Liabilities 1,994.23   Equity           3000 · Opening Bal Equity 383,075.84     3900 · Retained Earnings 790,889.32     Net Income 133,345.86   Total Equity 1,307,311.02 TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY  $  1,309,305.25

Motion (Porter/Webb) to approve the Treasurer’s report as read.  Roll call vote taken:  all responded yes.  Motion carried.

9.      Voucher’s Approval

Motion (Porter/McGee) to approve the voucher’s as presented.  Roll call vote taken:  all responded yes.  Motion carried.

10.  Clerk Correspondence

a.      Clerk-Treasurer Baldwin stated he had received 3 cutting notices from the County Clerk.

b.      Baldwin said the last update he had received from the State was that the Walker recall elections would be in May and June; upon their advice he had reserved the Town Hall for Tuesday, May 8^th  for a possible Governor Democratic Primary electionand for Tuesday, June 5^th for the Recall Election.  He expected the actual dates would be finalized by March 31^st.

Peet stated that the Board’s earlier Closed Session was to review and respond to two requests from Clerk-Treasurer Baldwin.  First, since both of the town’s Deputy Clerks are out-of-state on vacation, Baldwin requested permission to immediately hire Rose Baldwin as a temporary part-time administrative assistant, paid the new Deputy Clerk’s wage, until her return.  Peet said the  Board decided to approve this request and requested a motion.

Motion (Porter/McGee) to approve hiring Rose Baldwin as a temporary administrative-assistant as requested and discussed.Roll call vote taken:  all responded yes.  Motion carried.

Secondly, Peet stated that as a full-time employee, Baldwin was entitled to health insurance coverage.  Baldwin had identified that if he continued with his own health insurance plan, which is a larger group with a bigger discount than the Town’s plan, then he could save the Town $258./mo. or $2,322. for the remaining  9 months of 2012.  Peet said effective April 1^st that instead of adding Baldwin to the Town’s Security Health Plan at their higher prescribed rates, the Board was accepting Baldwin’s request to remain on his current plan and be reimbursed for his monthly premium paid.  

Motion (Webb/Meinke) to approve paying Steve Baldwin for his monthly health insurance premium expense as requested and discussed.  Roll call vote taken:  all responded yes.  Motion carried.

11.  Department Head Reports:

1. Highway
   • February Road Report

Even though we haven’t had much of a winter, we’re still plowing and sanding roads.  When temperatures hover around freezing like they have, the freeze/thaw cycles create slippery conditions even if we don’t get much snow.

We took delivery of our new Cat loader backhoe a couple of weeks ago and sent our old John Deere loader down the road.  The new backhoe is going to give us much more versatility while still performing the functions that the old loader did.

The new loader coupler system for the loader arrived with the backhoe.  We installed it last week.  This will allow one loader to interchange between the bucket and the snow plow.  We finished the modifications to the snow plow so we are ready to go if winter decides arrive.

We are nearing the end of an overhaul of the older brushing tractor.  The steering system, hydraulic system, and cooling system all needed extensive attention.  There is more to do on the mower itself, but it’s coming along nicely.

I researched and ordered the back-up generator for the fire hall.  It will be a 20 kilowatt unit powered by propane with an automatic transfer switch, so it should kick on automatically.  This will allow the fire hall to function as a command center which we desperately needed during the July 1^st storm.  We hope to have it installed and operational by early May.

In late January we met with the DNR, Bayfield County, Department of Fish and Wildlife to discuss possible funding sources for the Outlet Bay bridge removal project.  We don’t have any final numbers back, but Bayfield County and the Department of Fish and Wildlife will possibly have funds available to help restore the shoreline back to a more natural state.

We had a meeting with the insurance company last month and quite a bit of follow up correspondence about many aspects of our coverage.  We discovered many mistakes in their equipment records so it’s good to know we have everything covered now.

Steve and I worked up a new accounting/categorizing system for the highway department and some of the properties.  This will make tracking expenditures possible and give us better information for our requests at budget time, such as our actual repair costs for each of our trucks and road equipment.

Respectfully submitted,    Bob Lang,Barnes Property &Road Foreman

·      Review, discussion and possible action on changes to the Town of Barnes Recycling Ordinance and also current processes at the Barnes Transfer Site.

Bob Lang summarized the Special Board meeting on the previous Saturday, February 18^th, that had occurred at the Transfer Site and the ‘walking tour’ of the site yard that the Board had done.  Lang displayed a large diagram that depicted the option that had been discussed of eliminating the current Co. Rd. N entrance/exit gate and relocating new entrance and exit gates to the site from the adjacent Town road.  A “U” shaped drive pattern thru the yard could be created with 2 lanes for garbage drop-off to the exterior of the compactors and access to re-arranged recycle dumpsters.  This would place the site attendant in the yard where he could monitor all activity.

Motion (Porter/McGee)  to Open the Floor for discussion.  All responded Yes, Motion Carried.

There was input from townspeople suggesting that the Board should take a ‘macro-approach’ by first setting environmental or recycling goals or banning hazardous waste and then determine the detailed plan to provide town implementation of the overall approach.  Other possible fluorescent bulbs recyclers and the Solon Springs Facility in Douglas County were also identified but we need to determine if Barnes residents can utilize them.  There was discussion of creating a new Transfer Site Committee to identify, review and recommend the options for recycling and a revised process for the site. 

Chris Webb stated that we really need to educate our townspeople about the things that our Transfer Site can take as well as where they can go to recycle the items like paint and TV’s that we don’t accept at the site.  The committee should also make communication recommendations.

Motion (Porter/McGee)  to Close the Floor for discussion.  All responded Yes, Motion Carried.

Peet called for a motion on the update to the Recycling Ordinance and to post a notice to recruit volunteer members for a new Transfer Site Committee.

Motion (Webb/McGee) to accept the changes as discussed at the Saturday 18^th meeting and do the update to the Recycling Ordinance, and approve posting a notice to recruit members for a new Transfer Site Committee.  All responded Yes, Motion Carried.

2. Cemetery – Baldwin stated that Cemetery Sexton Dave Schiesshad reported No activity for the past month.
3. Constable – Peet read the following report from Constable Mike O’Keefe:

§  1 Alarm from alarm company.

§  2 Animal complaints: Pine chip road area.

§  1 illegal dumping of trash on roadside on Murray Lake Road area.

§  1 assist motorist : Hwy 27 at ounce river, was out of gas.

§  Did 15weekly home checks for out of town residents.

12.  Committee Reports:

·      Eurasian Water Milfoil Committee:  Ingemar Ekstrom reported on the first committee meeting of the year that occurred the prior evening.  They are planning the annual Volunteer ‘kick-off’ meeting/luncheon at Town Hall for 5/3 and a training session for 6/23.  At the meeting, the state reports were reviewed on the Sandbar Lake treatment that had been done last summer.

·      Recreation Committee:  Porter stated that there had been no meeting to report.

·      Land Use Planning Commission:  David Pease said there was no meeting to report.

13.  Public Comment Session – 3 Minute limit for those not on the agenda

·         There was a request from the floor about the status or any information on the still unused and unfinished Cell Tower southeast of South Shore Road on Hwy. 27, and if the announced Norvado cell tower plan had any relevancy to it.  Peet stated we had not heard any news other than the company that built the tower had filed for bankruptcy.  Chris Webb said she was aware that Norvado had received an inquiry from that company about the tower but hadn’t heard anything else.  She volunteered to check with the original Verizon cell tower consultant and try to determine the status of the tower.

14.  Issues Timeline Update

·         Peet added a future review of the Town Hall Use Agreement & Policy and the other items were updated as work in progress. 

15.  Adjourn

Motion (Webb/Meinke) to adjourn the February 2012 Regular Town Board Meeting;  Motion Carried.   Meeting adjourned at 8:59PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Stephen C. Baldwin, Town of BarnesClerk-Treasurer

Dated this 17^thday of March, 2012