Town Meeting Minutes| February 14,2022

The monthly meeting of the town board of the Town of Cedar Lake was held on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022 at the Cedar Lake Town Hall at 2696 26 ¾ Ave, Mikana.

Present were Kory Weiss & Tony Wolff, Supervisors, Maryhelen Drew, Clerk & Gladys Roux, Treasurer. Absent were Chairman Ken Leners & Mike Hessling. There were 6 people present and 2 by Zoom.

 The minutes were read from the previous monthly meeting. These were approved as read by Kory and seconded by Tony.

 Under public input Louie Okey had several items to discuss.

• First is the request by the town for the Hwy. V to be open from Hwy. 48 until Ranch Road to the county. There are certain criteria that must be met to have this happen. Not only will the Barron Co. Board of Supervisors discuss this, as will Mark Shervi, Hwy. Superintendent and Jeff Wolff, recreational officer for the county. The county is in discussion at this time about opening all roads in the County. If this happens, an ordinance would be developed at the county level. There will be more information to follow.
•  Next, Louie spoke about emails from Mike Hessling and Mike Klutho regarding the stop sign on Hwy. V. They feel that there is an issue with jake braking being done by truck drivers. Any signs that would be placed would be meaningless unless the Town has an ordinance against jake braking. This discussion is being turned over to corporate counsel, John Muench. More information to follow. Linda Zillmer spoke to the fact that Washburn and Sawyer County review their UTV/ATV routes within the counties each year to see what had worked or not.

     Under public input, Linda Zillmer spoke as to the discussion last month regarding the scope of the new BFCESD building. It seems that Mike Hessling, as chairman of the BFCESD committee, asked if all had received the building plans from December. All had agreed that they should move forward with these plans. They discussed maybe phasing some of the building as monies arrive. Her concerns are that it had been agreed upon that the building would not be built until funds have all been received. She is concerned that what happens at the town meeting is not necessarily what happens at the BFCESD meeting.

     Tony asked if there was a quorum present at the meeting. Linda said that Mike Hessling,chaired the meeting, Rick Oswalt remote, Al Dirkes, Pete Baribeau,Cindy Fairchild and clerk/treasurer from Long Lake. It seems that the plans were approved to go ahead without a vote. Tony thanked Linda for the information and suggested that this be tabled until Mike Hessling is present.

     Under public input, Gladys mentioned that Don Erickson had dropped a map off for the town of Indian Trails and Mounds within our area. This could be placed in the showcases,

•   Next item is the financial report given by Gladys, Treasurer who read the totals for the end of January. All the clerk’s books balance with the treasurer.

     Kory then spoke about the past month’s road activities. The invoices for the repair of both the trucks are being paid tonight. On one truck it was the wiring for the transmission and the other was the steering. Scott mentioned that there is a minor coolant leak on the yellow truck.  Also, at this time, the water pump on the old backhoe has gone out. McCoy is taking care of this repair, and said that the maximum would be $ 1500 for this repair. Scott will be burning the pile when the wind is down.  So, nothing scheduled at this time. Scott has picked up the new sign to be posted at the burn pile regarding what items may be placed there. Will be put up closer to spring.

     As Mike is absent there is no report from the BFCESD tonight. The last minutes posted on their website are from December. Linda had sent several emails with information about other municipalities who had gotten grants for building their fire halls. The Board thanked Linda for this information. Tony had thought that maybe with all this new money coming from the State there would be some to apply to our new building. Louie Okey suggested that maybe Ken George, Fire Chief, could contact these districts to see how they had applied. Linda spoke about the several meetings that had been held with the USDA previously concerning the new firehall. The lack of bylaws was the reason these funds could not be applied for at that time. We now have bylaws, but at the end of them, it states that the assets would go to the highest bidder. Kory suggested that this be tabled until next month, maybe need to tweak the bylaws.

•      Under old business, is the discussion of the request by the parade committee for permanent “no parking” signs on the parade route. This is the third subject that Louie wanted to discuss. Tom Nanstad has taken on the project of the parade setup. He has given Kory a map of where they would like signs to be posted. Louie has talked with Sheriff Fitzgerald about no parking signs on Hwy.48. There followed some discussion with the idea of putting in posts permanently rather than attaching signs at appropriate times. Tony made a motion to table this discussion until the April meeting when a parade representative could be present.
•      Next was the discussion regarding taxes on tourist rooming houses. Louie spoke up to say that there are a lot of rules,licenses and permits required for these at this point already. It is possible that all places are not collecting taxes and have not notified the county of their rentals. As there is a procedure to follow, the decision would be up to the Board. There followed a discussion with Tony making a motion not to create an ordinance for taxing tourist rooming houses. Kory seconded and all were approved.
•      Next is correspondence received during the month. Gladys had received a check from the Tuesday group for the Fire Dept. which she forwarded to Ken George. Next the clerk discussed mail received, change of dates for WTA Dist. meetings, letter from WITC asking for board members, report from building inspector. The clerk also explained to the Board about ordering a second voting machine. This needs to be decided as the order goes in the next day. So, this was discussed and decided between Kory and the clerk that the town would order, taking advantage of the bulk order price. Tony had no mail. Kory had three items. First was the BFCESD discussion which was completed to be discussed next month, the request for jake brake on Hwy. V and this will be put on hold until we hear from the County Council. Next is the request for a person to subdivide his land for a 5 acre parcel for son to build. Kory had told them to go to  the county to request this subdivision. They in turn sent them back to use as there were some questions regarding the driveway into this subdivision. It would be the town’s responsibility to maintain this as a town road. Kory wondered if there was ever anything written about roads for subdivisions. Yes, it had been voted on many years ago; the town would not accept any roads unless built to county specs. Kory suggested maybe there should be an easement on the deed. At this point, Kory is waiting for information from the county on driveways. Kory will keep digging on this.

     Kory had attended the webinar regarding funds from the state for municipalities under 50,000 population for projects.  He feels that the plan sounds nice but not practical for our town. The application for these funds needs to be in by April 1st. With all of the qualifications, we would not meet that deadline. Will discuss this further at the March meeting.

     Tony made the motion to adjourn and pay the bills. Kory seconded and all were approved. (7:35)