Monthly Meeting Minutes I October 9, 2023
The monthly meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Cedar Lake was held on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023 at 6:30 PM at the Cedar Lake Town Hall in Mikana. Present was Ken Leners, Chairman, Supervisors Kory Weiss and Mary Hele, Clerk, Maryhelen Drew and Treasurer, Gladys Roux. Forty-five other people were present.
The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance. The minutes from the previous monthly meeting were read with no corrections. Kory made the motion to accept the minutes as read with Mary making the second. All approved.
Under public input, Mary apologized that visitor, Dave Armstrong was unable to attend the meeting as he had duties in Madison. We will have him at another meeting in the future. He was going to speak on economic growth and development.
Next, Louie Okey appeared to speak. He spoke very well of Dave Armstrong as he is the Growth and Economic person for Barron as well as the State Assembly Representative for our district. He said that if money is to be found, Dave will find it. Louie is the member for the Barron County Board of Supervisors for the 16th District, which is ours. He is also Chairman of the Barron County Board of Supervisors. He came to talk about the rezoning issue within our town. He would like to see civility bring the temperature of the situation down. There are many good people on both sides of this issue and this needs to be worked out. He has met with John Muench, corporate attorney and Dave Gifford from the Land Services Office. If this were to become an issue, the county could get sued, which affects tax dollars as well. It would be difficult to rezone a lot without the consent of the owner. He recommends that all should let Loch Lomond Beach Club handle at this time and keep the town out of it.
Mary has spoken with Tom Goodwin, who has been elected to the LLBC Board and is Chairman of the Architectural Control Committee.
Also under public input, Gladys Roux stated that she and Roger had discussed the rezoning in the town and both feel that they do not want their tax dollars spent on this rezoning. Maryhelen also feels that tax dollars should not be spent on rezoning as there are limited funds to maintain the town now.
Kathy Leners stated she feels that this is a good use of taxpayers dollars as we need to look to the future. We need to go with the rezoning.
Doug Fischer got up to say that when he was on the Board for LLBC, he wondered why the county continued to issue camping permits for the lots in the LLBC as the covenants and restrictions didn’t allow it. There has already been one division which has changed the covenants and restrictions. The LLBC should have followed the covenants and restrictions since day one!
Grace Reisdorf asked the question of when does the County do its job? This has to be resolved for the future of the town. It seems the town’s living in the past need to move forward.
Diane Thompson and husband Randy have lived in Madison and have moved to the area and built a new house. Their house was built from May to Sept. when they moved in. They had no problem with building material being available. People need to do research on who builds and is able to get the materials.
Paula Schulte spoke to them buying their property many years ago from Terracor. At that time, they were told they would not be able to bring in mobile homes, double wide or other. Their family has many generations camping on their property. If you get rid of all the campers, are the small cabin owners next?
Next on the agenda was the financial report from Gladys Roux. The numbers all match with the clerk and the bank.
As Mike Hessling needed to leave early, Ken moved him up on the agenda for his report on the Birchwood Four Corners Emergency Services Dist. The Town of Birchwood will be dropping Sawyer Co. Ambulance and joining the BFCESD again,as of Jan. 1,2024. So, the bylaws will be updated to reflect this. Mike discussed capital outlay for the district. He has created a spreadsheet to accommodate these figures. Levies were discussed knowing that the town is in the same position and may need to add to the capitol fund annually, like the Dept.
Ken briefly discussed the end of the third quarter budget stating that the Board will meet on Oct. 12th to work on the budget for 2024.
Kory was asking Gladys if she transfers funds often. Gladys said she does as needed. He was interested in knowing what the interest rates are from the Dairy State Bank money market account. Maybe check around to see if there is a better interest rate at another place. Kory has changed a lot of his accounting to Edward Jones because their money market has a better interest rate. Maybe talk with DSB about getting a better rate on the town’s funds.
Under road activities, Kory said that all the updated fire signs have been installed. Only new will need to be installed going forward. Ken George has started the second round of the mowing. The cul de sacs have been graded. Discovered one cul de sac culvert which needs to be relocated and graded. The striping on Lemler Rd. has been completed. Still need the shouldering. Management has been little different since Mark Servi left the Barron Co. Hwy. Dept.
As for salt/ sand, we will deplete the stock we have at this time. We may need to get a couple loads of salt from the county later. The yellow plow truck now has new strobe lights.
The board then discussed using Mark Servi to assist with applying for road aids from the State. It seems it would be very helpful.
Ken met with John Rupp from Stout’s Island to discuss improvements Mr. Rupp would like to make at the 48 & V boat landing. He would like to have a perpetual easement from the town to place a pier/dock in the town’s ROW. Ken told Mr. Rupp that he would need to put his request in writing with a complete description of what his plan is going forward and submit the request to the board for a decision
Next is the discussion of 28 ¼ Eden Meadow Dr. in Cedar Croft Platt. Should this be abandoned or be developed? After some discussion, it was determined to put this on the November agenda as we may need to go the same route that was taken when the alleys were abandoned in the village. The parcels involved in that area are all owned by the same person.
Mary gave the report for the Special Funding Project. She had met with Dave Armstrong on Sept. 18th where they discussed funding for towns our size. Mr. Armstrong asked if our community was interested in Economic Growth and Development. As the discussion went on, it evolved into the invitation to attend a meeting. We will try again in December.
Under old business, Ken spoke about Gerry Frazier in regard to his property here in the village. There have been no updates. Wait and see what happens. There has been nothing done in 3 months or 3 years. Kory asked what time frame he had given to Gerry to take care of the issue. Gerry will only do enough to keep people off his back. Ken asked if Kory had any recommendations? Kory said that he must be presented with corrective actions to be taken and given a set date to complete. Mary suggested that he needs to be pushed. One excuse turns into another. The Board would like a list of all the issues on his property by next month. Mary said we need to prioritize the specific action steps to be taken by a certain date. Mary will work with Norma. Todd Barthen spoke up saying this has been under old business since April of 2021. The heat needs to be kept on him to get the job completed.
Next on the agenda is the agent application for the Liquor license for Stout’s Island. An email was sent right after the last meeting. Got immediate attention from 2 people on the island who said they would take care of it immediately. They said they would like to both be the agents. Due to State Statute, there can only be one agent. Another email was sent about 3 weeks after the first letting them know that the next step would be contacting the Sheriff’s Dept. that they have no license. So, I received an application from the island in the name of Dean Kern, who has been with the island for 10 years. The application was signed by John Rupp. The Board approved Dean Kern as the agent.
Ken then gave an update on the rezoning of parcels in the LLBC. He has a company who is drafting a proposal which would identify the town for rezoning so as not to jump into 1000 parcels. Section 3 is the one he had given to the company. This includes the center area of Stout’s Point. There are no parcels which are used for camping in that area. Ken will have a meeting with the company and then talk with the Board. Need to find out if this will support economic development with the county. Kory said that based on what Louie Okey had said,because Ken picked Stout’s Point where there are currently no lots used for camping,no one would show up to argue the rezoning. Would this pass, creating a precedent so other parcels could be pushed through? Ken said that his initial request is to see if there is any support at the county for rezoning. If so, this would be a multi-year project due to the dollars. There followed a lot of discussion. A person asked if no one talks/cares about the homeowners needs? Kory suggested that since the section he picked does not have a parcel which would fall under the grandfather clause, Ken should pick a different section with more parcels that would apply. There followed more discussion. Kory said a lot depends on the costs, not interested at this time, as the town would be on the hook for the cost at this time. Kory doesn’t feel that Ken’s choice would be a good random example. Ken will pick another section. Kory feels that we should wait and see what they come up with for cost. Ken said he might have a draft tomorrow. As Kory will be gone for the Nov. meeting, maybe have this on the agenda for the December meeting.
Next was the discussion regarding the Ambulance service from BFCESD for the whole town. Mary had the following on her committee, Janet Kohel, Lois Gabriel, Mary Sirek, Kathy Leners and Barb Loring. They met on Oct. 2 to share information from the Marshfield Ambulance Service. There is a lot of work involved in making this decision. The committee will meet again at the BFCESD fire hall on Nov. 14th to gather more information. This might need to be on the next budget cycle.
Kathy Mintari asked if these meetings are open to the public? Yes, anyone may attend these meetings. The next meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 14th at the fire hall at 1 PM. Ken reminded Mary that there needs to be a public notice as well as minutes from this meeting.
Next, the Board is in receipt of the new contract for the BFCESD for 2024 with the following being the contract amounts: Ambulance $79,733.71 and Fire $59,778.50. This contract was signed by the Board members.
Next Ken spoke about updating the Emergency Operations Plan with the County. It is ready to submit. There followed a discussion of several disaster situations which could occur and how to handle them. This emergency plan had been used when Chetek had the tornado a few years ago.
A discussion regarding increasing the levy limit above what the state mandates the levy for the town. Due to the condition of the roads and the cost of maintaining them and building new, as well as the future need for new equipment, Ken made a motion to increase the town levy for 2024 by $200,000. As there was no further discussion, roll call vote was taken: Ken, yes: Kory, yes: Mary, yes. Motion passed.
The next step includes a special meeting of the electors to discuss the increase in the levy for 2024. This meeting will be held on Oct. 25th,2023 at 6:30 at the Cedar Lake Town Hall to adopt this resolution. Ken made a motion to hold the meeting on Oct. 25th, 2023 to adopt the proposed levy limit resolution, held at the Cedar Lake Town Hall at 6:30. Kory seconded. No further discussion, roll call vote: Ken, yes: Kory, yes: Mary, yes.
As Ken didn’t receive any correspondence during the month, Kory spoke only of receiving many emails, too many to read in regard to the rezoning. He has read them all.
The clerk had received an invitation for the Board to attend Customer Appreciation Day with DCS Netlink. No one was interested. The town received a claim refund from the State from unclaimed funds. It was $86.99 from Praxair.
Gladys had no mail to share.
Mary made the motion to adjourn and pay the bills. Kory seconded and all approved. (8:15)
This meeting was posted at Bear Trap, Cedar Lake Grill, Red Cedar Country Store,Town Hall, website and LLBC. In the,Chronotype had only that the agenda would be posted at the town hall 24 hours prior to the meeting.