Town Meeting June 11,2018
JUNE 11,2018 MONTHLY MEETING The monthly meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Cedar Lake was held on Monday, June 11,2018 at the Cedar Lake Town Hall in Mikana at 6:30 PM. Present was Ken Leners, Chairman, Tony Wolff and Kory Weiss, Supervisors, Maryhelen Drew, Clerk and Gladys Roux, Treasurer. Also present were 36 other people. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance. The minutes were read from the previous monthly meeting. These were approved as read by Kory, seconded by Tony and approved by all. Under public input, Ron Richlick asking for Gary Garbe, if the Town would be able to mow the ditch on Hwy. 48 toward Mkana for the parade parking. Kory has talked with Scott and this will be done. Next it was mentioned that the white goods pickup is on Sat, June 16th at the Town Shop from 10 – 2. Dale Campbell asked if that would include TV’? There will be two dumpsters, one for electronics, the second one for appliances. There are no fees. Nel Brawner is looking for volunteers to help with selling tickets for the July 4th Mikana Parade fundraiser. People are needed to man tables during the morning of the parade, beginning at 11 AM, as well as during the parade to sell tickets. Contact Nel at 715-354-9666 and leave message. Cathy Hatfield spoke about the Cedar Lake Ladies. They will be meeting at Quillen’s on Wed. June 13th at 6:30 PM. They are discussing fundraising as well as uses for the funds, a garage sale. Cathy Hatfield then asked about fireworks and the permits for individuals. The application may be found on the website. Needs to be completed be returned. Then it gets shared with the fire chief. There followed a discussion. The financial report was then given by Gladys, Treasurer and Clerk, Maryhelen Drew. Both are balance with the bank accounts as well as each other. Ken will discuss the budget details at the July meeting. The past month’s road work consisted of 85% over gravel roads, 1st round of mowing, county checking culverts, a few trees. There are three problems with beavers, but have been taking care of it at this point. If needed, contact the trapper. The Swamp Road is now open. Tony asked if Dave Tomesh had started working on the gun range. Not yet. Number 2 truck is now at Eric’s for repair of antifreeze leak. Kory mentioned that we will need to get Truck #3 in for attention before next winter. It needs a whole new wing at the cost of approximately $13,000 from Monroe. We are still waiting for uniforms for Scott from Cintas. Scott has purchased some to get thru the time frame until they arrive. He will be reimbursed for these. Kory asked what should be done about the banners which have always been put up at this time of the year. They are in very bad shape. Louie Okey suggested that we get an estimate and submit it to the Parade Committee. Todd Barthen will be starting on the Town Hall stairs on Wed. The patrolman position had 8 applications. The board picked three and interviewed them. WTA instructed the Board that it would need to be announced in at a public meeting. The position description has been updated, a letter of offer composed. Still working on a 56 page employee handbook which will be completed soon. Kory made the motion that the letter of offer goes to Scott Walters.Tony seconded and all approved. Scott will receive the letter on Tuesday AM and have 5 business days to accept or reject the position. The Board will now proceed with the vacancy for part time. Ken recommended that authority be delegated to road supervisor to appoint the part time person. Motion was made, by Ken, to give authority to Kory thru April 2019 to appoint the part time person. This will be acted upon at the July meeting. In the meantime, post the position for part time, after Scott had decided. Next is a report from Fire Chief, Ken George. In May, there were 6 fire calls, which is about average. The ambulance had 3 calls. Ken then discussed the plans for the new fire hall,with detail plans and price being approved by the firemen as well as EMT’s. Total cost for the project is $1,687,257.00. Work has begun on private donations as well as fund raising for this building. This must be approved by all entities before it begins. Ken Leners asked Ken George if it is possible to have a dollar amount by the Oct. budget work meeting? Hopefully. They have already received funds from Birchwood Community Funds for Ambulance Service of $1500 as well as $2,000 for the new building. The property has been purchased in the Village. There is a 14 x 70 mobile home on the lot, which would be given away to move. Ken Leners will contact SAP for payments for retired fireman as well as annual payment. There has been no additional retirees for a couple of years. Next item for discussion is the patrol vehicle. Last month the police assets had been discussed. The firearms are stored at the County Sheriff’s Office. Discussion followed regarding the future use of the patrol car. It looks to be a very small possibility that the Town would use this vehicle. So, going forward, we will get the process of value started and get the vehicle posted for sale. Mark Manning from the Lakeview Ambulance Service had contacted the clerk to suggest that they had such a vehicle listed in their budget and would like to discuss possibilities. Ken will contact him. Kory recommended that before putting for sale, it should be cleaned as it smells like wet dog. So, this will be scheduled. Ken made the motion to proceed with the sale of the squad. Kory seconded and all approved. Next on the agenda are the applications for all 8 liquor, beer, operator licenses which have been received. The only changes are the agents for Island of Happy Days, Ron Gratzinger, Cheers, married name now Judy Purdy, and Loch Lomond Beach Club, Angie Dubberke. Ken made a motion to accept the changes as stated. Tony seconded and all approved. Tony made a motion to accept all licenses as submitted with the new agents. Ken seconded and all approved. The next item on the agenda is the discussion regarding the shop behind the Town Hall in the alley which is owned by the Town. There are several options which could happen: one would be to repair the building, sell the building and lot, or demolish. Discuss was had in regard to the fire truck being moved to the new building. There would be room and the firemen would use the code to get into the building as needed. It would be good if there was room also for the fire trailer. The fire dept. will discuss the possibility of housing it. Scott did suggest that we should have a backup to open the garage doors if there is no electricity. There is no manual release on the garage doors. There followed much discussion of the pros and cons of the building. It was suggested that a committee be formed to evaluate the considerations. This will be tabled for now. There are a lot of unknowns at this time. Need to gather more information. A new added agenda item is to consider a Tourist Rooming House application for Heather Roidt Grzina at 2477 28 ½ St (Hemlock Landing). They are wanting to rent out the bottom half of their home. Kory thought that if it is a primary residence you do not need permit. The county has told them that they do need the permit. The Board approved the permit. The next item for discussion was the landing at Hwy. 48 and V. It appears that this access has been closed by Dave & Vanessa Peterson. According to the deed, they are the owners of this landing. They have put up a rope and asked for a $5 donation to land your boat there. As they are liable for anything on that landing as well as paying the taxes for years, the ability to close this is theirs.Dave & Vanessa Peterson bought the property in good faith. They have since taken the line and a sign down. The Board was concerned about sign which had been placed at the landing which had Town of Cedar Lake on it. The Board members do not want the sign there with the Town’s name on it. Will notify Jeff French. The Board then discussed the charge which the county does at Waldo Carlson Park. It would be great if we could discuss with the county about taking these charges off the landing. Ken asked Louie Okey to discuss this with the County Board of Supervisors. As the discussion regarding the landing at Hwy. 48 and V ,the Board made no decision on this. Correspondence received during the month was discussed. Kory requested that CenturyLink be contacted to eliminate the fax line and add caller ID to the phone. Also, call Xcel Energy to disconnect the gate boxes. With the security on the shop building, there is no need for the gates. Also inquiry about the monthly electrical cost of the Town Hall as it seems to be excessive use. Kory made the motion to pay the bills and adjourn the meeting. This was seconded by Tony and approved by all. (8:15 PM)]]>