Town Meeting Minutes February 12, 2018
February 8, 2018 Closed Meeting The Town Board met at the Cedar Lake Town Hall in Mikana for a special closed session at 8:00 AM on Thursday Feb. 8th, 2018. Those present were Ken Leners, Chairman, Supervisors Tony Wolff and Kory Weiss, Clerk Maryhelen Drew. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss employee policy letters and clarify questions with the assistance of a WTA attorney. As of January 1st, employee policy letters were implemented. To ensure legal compliance, Ken has had written and verbal conversations with WTA attorneys to discuss, among other things, the issue of compensatory time in lieu of overtime. Per WTA’s written and verbal guidance, comp time would be accrued at 1 ½ x only on hours worked over 40 hrs per week. There followed much discussion regarding pay periods 1 & 2 of 2018. Ken then placed a call to Carol Nawrocki, WTA attorney. A discussion regarding the implementation of policy letters followed. The WTA Attorney stated that there should be a grievance policy in place if there are issues. The issue of sick leave payout was discussed and WTA written and verbal guidance was reviewed. Kory will email Ken and Tony regarding implementation of guidance received from WTA and hand deliver this information to our Patrolman. Tony made the motion to pay 1 ½ times pay only after working the 40 hour week. Ken seconded and all approved. It was decided that an agenda item would be added to the Feb. 12th regular meeting regarding going into a closed session to discuss reimbursement of sick leave of employees. The motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Tony at 10:30 AM, seconded by Kory and approved by all. February 12, 2018 MONTHLY MEETING The monthly meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Cedar Lake met at the Cedar Lake Town Hall in Mikana on Monday, Feb. 12th, 2018 at 6:30 PM. Present was Ken Leners, Chairman, Kory Weiss, Tony Wolff , Supervisors, Maryhelen Drew, Clerk and Gladys Roux, Treasurer. Also 24 other persons in attendance. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance. The next item was public input. As there was none at this time, the minutes were read from the previous monthly meeting. These were approved by Kory, as read with the correction of WTA instead of WTS. Tony seconded and all approved. Tony stated that Paul’s Sheet Metal had been out and inspected all furnaces. Ken has ordered replacement flags for the outside pole. The American Legion will take care of destroying the tattered flags. Kelly asked if it was time to take Christmas decorations down? Kory suggested that it is on the schedule and will put up flags at same time. The next item were the financial reports by Gladys, Treasurer and Maryhelen, Clerk. Both balance with each other as well as all the banks. Taxes have now been collected, so the money which is shown is what is left for the Town’s levy. All portions have been paid to schools and county. Ken discussed the budget for 2018,showing the amount set aside for road work. Mike Gallo then gave the report of the past month’s road activities. It’s been cold,snowy and there have been a few breakdowns. Kory said that Jeff Rettenmund would be here to push the brush pile together to burn, possibly Wed.. Mike will contact those persons necessary. As RJ was absent, there was no police report. Ken then gave the report on the BFCESD. There were 10 ambulance calls in the month of January. The planning committee for the new building has been meeting once a month. The floor plan is now finalized, so a solid bid should be available soon. Will need to still be plumbing, HVAC, sewer, electric. Information should be gathered in time to be presented to all municipalities at their annual meetings. Under old business, the route across the bridge on Hwy 48 for ATV/UTV is still being discussed. A letter was sent to the Hwy. Committee from the DOT denying the request to sign this as a route. There were two items sited, 1. Barron County does not have an ordinance regarding this and 2. There should be an administrative change in which road the route would proceed from to the bridge. Hwy. Committee would need to make this suggestion to the Barron Co. Board of Supervisors to make this an amendment. As Ken will be absent for the March 1st meeting, Louie Okey will represent the Town. Also, under old business, a closed meeting will be scheduled after the referendum election to discuss the results of the election and how to proceed. This will be noticed 24 hours prior to the meeting. Results will be announced at the March meeting. Will also be posted on the website. Under new business, the Budget Resolution for 2017 was read. This will be posted in three places. Kory made the motion to approve the resolution 2018-1 as read.Tony seconded. Roll call vote; Ken, yea, Tony, yea, and Kory, yea. This will be posted on website. Ken made a motion at 7:05 PM, to go into closed session in regard to payment of unused sick leave for employees. Roll call:Ken,yes, Tony, yes,Kory, yes. The Chairman, Supervisor 1, Supervisor 2, and Clerk moved to the basement for closed session. Then followed a discussion regarding paying sick leave to employees if there is a separation from the job. This would only apply to full time positions.The end result was that no sick pay would be paid out at separation from the job. This decision reflects Federal Government and private industry standards. A roll call vote, Kory, yes, Tony, yes, Ken, yes. The closed meeting was adjourned at 7:35. Ken explained that the reason for the closed session was to discuss sick pay upon separation from job. The Board has been working at developing position descriptions, a policy handbook and generating all documents related to these items. Ken stated that sick leave would not be paid upon departure from the job in our Town. It was voted on in closed session as 3 votes for this policy. The Board then went over the correspondence received during the month. Joe Atwood sent a letter stating that he had sold his fire extinguisher business and that the new owner would be in contact with us. Xcel Energy has sent a letter asking us to check a property to see if electricity is being used at that site. Ken has first request for weight limits from Ken-Way Sanitation, which he signed and will return. Invoices were reviewed. Replacement funds were received from BFCESD for reimbursement of funds paid to the Service Award Program . As there was no further business,Kory made the motion to pay the claims and adjourn the meeting. (7:45)]]>