Town Meeting Minutes | January 13, 2020

The monthly meeting for the Town Board of the Town of Cedar Lake

was held on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020 at 6:30 PM at the Cedar Lake Town

Hall in Mikana. Present was Ken Leners, Chairman, Tony Wolff and Kory

Weiss, Supervisors, Maryhelen Drew, Clerk and Gladys Roux, Treasurer.

Also present were 8 other people. The meeting began with the Pledge of

Allegiance.

     Minutes were read from the last monthly meeting. These were approved

as read by Kory and seconded by Tony.

     As there was no public input, the next item is the financial report by

Gladys,Treasurer. All accounts balance with the bank and the clerk’s

books. Gladys reported that she has started the account at the bank for the

reserve fund. The chairman and clerk need to go to the bank to sign

papers. Also,they need to sign new papers for the current money market

account. Ken explained the end of year finances stating the Town is in very

good condition. He also discussed the loan for the new fire hall which we

will need to apply for in the spring. That will mean a payment of $32000 on

the loan in 2021, going for 10 years. The Board discussed road costs for

2019 and plans for 2020. The bridge decks are scheduled for 2020 by a

contract signed last summer. Kory asked if we would be staging money

with the County again this year? Ken said that the time for that had passed,

but doesn’t feel that we  needed to have done so since we invested a

significant amount of funds in road repair in 2019 that will positively affect

future transportation aid calculations.  Also, we may contract with a

non-county contractor for FY 21 roadwork and don’t want to fence funds

with the county in the event the county is not awarded the contract.

     Kory then discussed the roadwork for the past month. Per the weather,

we have been dealing with snow and ice. There is an issue on Bolger’s Rd.

with water running across the road. It has now frozen, but this also causes

a problem in the summer. So, we will need to look at that in the spring to fix

it.

     Kory had bought an electric shovel to be used on the front town hall

steps and ramp. When going to use, it was discovered that the nearest

outlet for outside was next to the refrigerator. So, Scott called Meyer’s

Electric who installed an outlet from the box in the office to the outside.

Also, noticed that all the snow falls off the roof directly onto the steps and

ramp. May need to look at installing some breaks on the roof. Also, the

boilers in the shop failed again. Paul’s Sheet Metal came and repaired. The

bill will be about $800. Maybe the Board should look at replacement in

2020 or 2021. Kory will start getting some information together. These are

the original boilers installed when the building was built. Ken added it to the

capital improvement plan list.Kory mentioned that two new tires had been

installed on the 1 ton truck.

     Tony asked if the problem with the plowing across the roads had gotten

any better? Scott said not really. The notice was posted on the website as

well as a notice from the Sheriff’s Department regarding plowing across the

roads. Ken also hand delivered notices to individuals. The manager at the

Loch Lomond Beach Club also sent out an email to members.

     Kory also purchased dash cams to be installed in the equipment. Scott

is charging them and will be installing them.

     Next subject, Kory met with Tyler Gretchman from the county regarding

the dam in Mikana. They would like to install a camera device at the dam to

be able to adjust the dam. Kory has some concerns with this. He feels that

there should be an operator on site to connect the boards to pull. Kory said

that they would also like to install a monitor somewhere on the lake. Tony

asked if it wouldn’t be better to install the monitor first to see how the water

flows? There will be more to follow.

     The next item was the report on the BFCESD who had a meeting last

Thursday. In the past year the ambulance has had a total of 154 calls with

the fire total is 77 for the year. The committee working on the by-laws has

met twice for a total of 90 mins. There are a few items which Ken will be

passing in writing to the committee, although they are not wanting any

input. One is the issue of residency that requires all representatives  to be

from the municipality they live in. Also, should have term limits on all

officers, or rotate responsibilities  each year between the entities. The

Service Awards Program needs to be passed on to another municipality.

Cedar Lake has done this since inception. So, Ken has resigned from this

position as of Feb. 1st, 2020. The Awards will be completed before this is

passed on to the next municipality . There followed some discussion that

this position could be assigned to either the president or vice president

position. Mick Givens, bylaws committee chair, has suggested that the

By-Laws committee should have something by March.

     Next discussion was regarding the annual cost of housing the fire trucks

and equipment in our shop. Ken had asked to see a lease which BFCESD

has with the Village of Birchwood. They were not able to find one. At the

time this was established, it was to give the residents a better insurance

rate as the truck is here. But that does not apply now. Next month, the

Board will decide the cost of the storage.

     Ken made a motion to suspend disbursement of FY 2020 Annual

payment to the BFCESD until the By-Laws have been adopted. A roll call

vote was taken, Ken, yes: Tony, Yes and Kory,Yes. Motion carried.

     Next on the agenda Tony spoke about the Mikana mail issue. As he has

been gone for three weeks there has been no contact. He talked with

Postmaster Cora in Birchwood today, asking why he is never able to get

someone with authority on the phone. Someone actually called saying that

the only thing they could provide would be the boxes and it would be up to

others to mount, lights, plowing and care for going forward. He said that

contractors who have development buy the pods from the USPS and take

care of going forward. Tony feels that the Town should not give land in

perpetuity to the USPS. Tony also asked why not rural delivery for us. The

man didn’t have an answer, but would look into it. Bottom line is that the

Birchwood Post Office does not want added mail deliveries. They are at

capacity at this time. The petition needs to be sent directly to the post

office. Tony suggested that we each go and ask for a form to formally have

our mail delivered to our homes. Ken suggested that some progress has

been made today.

     Tony then stated that he has a meeting with an Attorney, Mr. Coe, to

discuss the issue at Hwy. 48 & V landing on Jan. 27, 2020.

     A discussion followed regarding street lights on West Lakeshore Drive.

Ken has contacted Chad at Xcel Energy and the work order is being

processed.  Ken made a motion to approve the installation of  three lights

on West Lakeshore by Xcel Energy. Tony seconded and Kory abstained.

Motion passed.

     It is noted that the WTA District meetings have been set and there are

two which are close to us. One on March 27th at Lakewoods in Cable and

March 28th in Cumberland. We will all attend.

     A letter from, assessor, Randy Prochnow had dates for an open book

and board of review for 2020. He is suggesting the following dates:

Monday, April 6 from 1:30 to 3:30 PM for open book with board of review

on Monday, April 27, 1:30 to 3:30 PM. After a brief discussion, Ken made a

motion to accept the dates as suggested by Randy.

approved. Randy will be notified.

Kory seconded and all

     Only a couple of items from correspondence, it was suggested that we

add lawn mowing bids discussion on the Feb. agenda. Also, it is noted that

the Wisconsin Towns Association has information for the hotel for this

year’s convention in the newsletter. We can call as early as Wed. noon for

reservations.

     Tony made the motion to pay the bills and adjourn the meeting. Kory

seconded and all approved. (8:31)