Town Meeting November 12, 2018
November 12, 2018 Budget Hearing The Budget Hearing for the Town of Cedar Lake was held on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018 at 6:00 PM at the Cedar Lake Town Hall in Mikana. Present was Ken Leners, Chairman, Supervisor Tony Wolff, Clerk, Maryhelen Drew, Treasurer, Gladys Roux. Absent was Supervisor Kory Weiss. Also, present are 15 other November 12, 2018 Budget Hearing persons. The purpose of this hearing is to present the proposed budget for the Town for 2019. It is the responsibility of the Board to create, but it has been clarified with the accountant, Dan Thole. Ken described the different taxing jurisdictions within our Town. Ken explained that some expenditures are being identified in other categories than previously. He then went onto discuss each section in the budget. Jon Sleik asked if there would never be overtime? Ken responded that maybe in an extreme declared emergency. The comp time would be used first. J.B. Bolles inquired as to the condition of the roads. A report was recently compiled to submit to the Wi. DOT in regard to the condition of the roads. The Phaser State Program sets the priority on the roads. At this point, the Board does have some priorities. JB mentioned in several discussion was the need for gravel on some of the roads. Otherwise, no problems. Board is trying to look at the big picture, they plan on putting gravel on next spring. Kory is the road supervisor. Jon Sleik asked about the 1 1/2 mile of road work to be done on Loch Lomond Blvd. So, the $250,000 budgeted is for that roadwork. That leaves only $1,361 for road maintenance for the rest of 2019. Chairman Leners reminded Jon Sliek that $100,000 is pre-positioned in 2018 for 2019 work, resulting in a total of $350,000 for road work in 2019. A goal for 2019 is to replace the heavy tables in the town hall, have the floor resurfaced and change all of the feet on the chairs. As the squad was sold, those funds were applied to the loan to bring the principal down. The revenue for 2019 is -7.12% while the expenditures are -4.98%. JB asked if we control the inventory of the culverts. Yes, Scott maintains an inventory, delivering and billing. Discussion was had regarding a capital improvement fund that was adopted in October 2018.. As there was no more discussion, Ken made the motion to adjourn the budget hearing. Tony seconded and all approved. (6:45) SPECIAL MEETING The special meeting of the electors was called to order by Ken Leners for the purpose of adopting the 2019 proposed budget supporting the town tax levy. Louie Okey made the motion to adopt the proposed budget. This was seconded by Cathy Hatfield with 14 yea and 0 no. Next the Board presented the question to the electors to see if they would be willing to pay one of the elected officials to step in to help assist the Town patrolman if needed during emergency situations. It is recommended that that person would get paid $18.50 per hour with the cap being by law $5,000 for an elected person. Louie asked if they would be required to have a CDL. Tony said that on an emergency basis, a CDL is not required as discovered in researching with the insurance co. It is noted that the Board will use common sense, and use during emergency only. JB suggested that it not be someone on the Board. Ken suggested that the Board would be a third level of support following town employees, then experienced volunteers, then board members. Norma Jankowski asked if the Board is looking for approval to pay a board member $18.50 per hour if needed. Tony said yes. Jon Sliek mentioned that it would be assisting the patrolman not with just snow, as we have storms throughout the year. Sue Pagenkopf mentioned that we did have two people, Jeff Krueger and Joe Klingleholts to help with snow. JB Bolles asked if we still had the agreement with other towns to help. Yes, but they would be busy as well. Mark Pagenkopf made the motion to allow Town Board members to assist the patrolman at $18.50 per hour. Dick Ballou seconded. Vote was 13 yes, 0 opposed. Louie Okey made the motion to accept the Town levy as present with the 2019 Budget. Norma seconded. 20 approved 0 opposed MONTHLY MEETING The regular monthly meeting of the Town Board began at 6:57 following the adjournment of the special meeting. The minutes from the previous monthly meeting. Louie Okey corrected that the meeting in Barron at the hwy. dept. is called a Town Day not an Annual Meeting. Tony approved the minutes with this correction. This was seconded by Ken and approved by all Under public input, Ken thanked Cathy Hatfield for her work on the show cases in the town hall. Cathy is still working on them as well as supplying historical materials. Also, Louis Okey mentioned that the county has brought gravel to the Mikana Dam Park. The county has also made arrangements with the caretaker at the Waldo Carlson Park to visit more often to keep the porta potty clean. Norma Jankowski spoke about the sale of Quillen’s restaurant. It has been purchased by the Saxinger Family and will be taken over by Dec. 10th. This will make it the fifth generation of the Quillen family to own this business. It will be very good for the community. The next item is the financial report given by Gladys Roux, treasurer. Both she and clerk are balanced with all banks as well as each other. As Kory is absent, Tony gave the road report. Not much going on right now, just a little snow, so plows have been out. Ken spoke about the operation for snow plowing. The plows will not go out with 3 in. or less than when it snows. There is no sense going out especially overtime on the weekends. We live in Northern Wis., so need to deal with the weather. The salt/sand was overdone last year. It will be made a safe as possible. Ken talked about the recent hire which the Board has made. Pat Netz has been hired to work at a level not to exceed 30 hours a week with Scott on the roads. He will begin on Nov.26th. Thankfully in time for winter. Next, the Board discussed items which are being dropped off at the recycle bin which are not eligible for this bin. Scott has to pick those items up and save them for the white goods pickup in June. Cathy suggested putting a sign on the bin. If it doesn’t fit in the bin, it probably is not recyclable. Discussion followed. Jon suggested that maybe the board should look at what other towns had done for the first snowfall as there has been no practice for driving. Ken stated that we will continue to adjust as we go, this call is made by the road supervisor. The intent is to put safety first. Ken said not to stop Scott in the truck and complain as he does not make the call regarding roadwork. Any complaints should be addressed to the Board. Jon Sliek then gave the report for the Birchwood Four Corners Emergency Services Dist. Jon said that there had been 12 ambulance calls in Oct. with a total of 130 for the year. Everyone is very impressed with Bumper for all his success managing the EMT’s. He has managed to staff 2 EMT’S on call 24/7, 365 days a week. The Fire Dept. had no fire calls in Cedar Lake only 2 in the Village during the month of October. They had a very successful Fire Prevention Day at the school. They have been practicing water rescue with the new suits which they got. There will be an information letter to insert in the tax statements. They are waiting on response on the grant proposals for the new fire hall. Going forward meetings will be Ambulance 2nd and 4th Wed. of the month with the fire meetings being the 1st and 3rd Wed. of the month. Ken thanked Jon for the report. Ken Leners spoke about some different options he learned at the WTA State meeting regarding ways to cost share Emergency Services District expenses. Cindy Fairchild, BFCESD bookkeeper would have the electronic format which was used in 2008 to form the BFCESD. There followed much discussion regarding other methods of cost sharing. The next item was the letter from Xcel Energy regarding electrical distribution pole attachments. They are directing that all attachments be taken off their poles. Scott will need to take down all the banners and flags. We will not have Christmas decorations going forward. Denny Hennekens has been working on taking down the shop in the alley. The end product will be a concrete slab. Maybe move the recycle bin there. Tony made the motion to pay the bills and adjourn the meeting. Ken seconded.]]>