VILLAGE OF BRUCE
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
August 3, 2020
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a scheduled monthly meeting of the Village Board was held on Monday, August 3rd, 2020.
Village President Shane Trott presided and called to order the meeting at the Village Hall facility at 7:00 p.m. Board members present were Mark Zimmer, Galen Brainerd & Avery Newman. Jessica Hegeholz attended also.
Trott announced that he would like to make a couple amendments to the Agenda. One being the resignation of Board Trustee Gayanne Skogen. He received notification of the resignation in the Village Hall payment drop box that morning with a resignation effective date being July 31st, 2020. He also wanted to change “Appointment of Vacant Trustee Position on the Board” to “Appointment of Vacant Trustee Positions on the Board”. Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Zimmer to approve the resignation of Board Trustee Gayanne Skogen, with Newman opposing, carried. Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to leave the “Appointment of Vacant Trustee Position on the Board’ item as is on the Agenda, and to appoint one Trustee this month to fill the vacant seat and to fill the other seat left vacant from Skogen’s resignation at September’s Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
APPOINTMENT OF VACANT TRUSTEE POSITION ON THE BOARD: Trott announced that he would like to appoint Robert Grabon to the vacant trustee position on the Board. The vacant seat has been vacant since last year. Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Newman to appoint Robert Grabon to fill the vacant trustee position on the Board, carried. Grabon signed his official oath and joined the rest of the Board at the table.
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Newman to approve the July 6th, 2020 Regular Monthly Board Meeting Minutes, carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to approve the Treasurer’s report as given, carried.
EMPLOYEE’S REPORT: Darlene Wundrow attended the meeting and asked the Board for permission to purchase 10 new electronic read meters from Kamstrup. Motion by Newman, seconded by Brainerd to give Darlene the permission to purchase the 10 meters, carried. She also reported that the force main has been having some issues due from all of the rain we received last month. Wundrow had Tri-State Pump & Control come and fix the issues.
PETITIONERS-CITIZEN COMPLAINTS AND REQUESTS:
Bob Lorkowski-Parking Lot/Sewer Line Replacement: Bob Lorkowski attended the meeting and thanked everyone involved with the July 11th Craft Fair & Car Show event. He also discussed his request for the Village to consider paying for the alley portion to blacktop his parking lot. After speaking with Public Works Director Darlene Wundrow, the sewer line would not be on the top of the list of sewer lines to replace in the Village. Lorkowski had originally planned on waiting to replace his parking lot until the Village replaced the sewer line running north and south down the alley in front of his business. Lorkowski would like to proceed with blacktopping his parking lot but would like the Village to consider paying for the costs of the alley portion. The work wouldn’t be done until next year. Motion by Newman, seconded by Brainerd to send the item to committee to discuss further, carried.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: Stew Towers attended the meeting. He first thanked Bob Lorkowski for all of his work he had been involved with for the July 11th Craft Fair & Car Show event. Towers also asked the Board if there has been any discussion as far as replacing or adding ‘Welcome to Bruce’ signs as you enter town. He mentioned that a nice sign for the Village of Bruce as people enter town would spark people’s interest to stop. Motion by Newman, seconded by Brainerd to send the item to the appropriate committee, carried. Towers offered to help in any way the Board would like.
APPLICATIONS:
Operator’s Licenses:
Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to approve an operator’s license for Melissa A. Wojcik, carried.
Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to approve an operator’s license for Cheryl L. Tarsa, carried.
Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to approve an operator’s license for Maria C. Kriz, carried.
Building Permits:
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Zimmer to approve a building permit for Katherine Charbboneau to demo an enclosed patio, pour a concrete slab, install a patio door and put up a fence on her property located at 1211 N. 2nd Street, carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Public Safety:
Committee Meeting July 16th, 2020 Report: A committee meeting was held on July 16th, 2020 to review a rezoning request from David Jandrt to rezone 25ft of his commercial lot, parcel #106-00110-0000. He has a buyer that is interested in building a house on his residential lot but would need 25ft off of the end of his commercial lot.
Rezoning Request Approval for Parcel #106-00110-0000-David Jandrt: David Jandrt was here to discuss/explain his rezoning request with the Board. Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grabon to approve David Jandrt’s rezoning request for his parcel #106-00110-0000, carried. Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Newman to remove the item from the agenda, carried.
Public Works:
New Village Shop Update: The Clerk is working with Cooper Engineering on getting the final paperwork finalized for the project. Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to table the “New Village Shop Update” issue until the September, 2020 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
North Main Street Reconstruction Project:
Committee Meeting July 21st, 2020 Report: Trott reported that there was a committee meeting on July 21st, 2020 regarding discussion on what to do as far as special assessments with the North Main Street Reconstruction project. The committee is recommending the following:
1) Assess residents/businesses that qualify via the income survey
2) Assess only the property owners that are effected by the project
3) Assess the Coleman Street Lift Station portion of the project to those who use or would benefit from the upgrades of the lift station
4) Look for some more input from engineer Larry Gotham of Morgan & Parmley, Ltd. on how to assess the Main Street Lift Station portion of the project
Larry Gotham of Morgan & Parmley, Ltd. did attend the meeting and discussed what the committee is recommending to the Board. He explained to the new Board member, Grabon, what the income survey was and how the process of the survey worked. Gotham also explained how different portions of the project could be assessed differently. Dave Jandrt expressed his concern of the possibility of being assessed for the project even though he has no property within the project scope. The Board informed him that that was what the committee decided to refer to the Board, that only those properties affected by the project would be assessed. Grabon wanted some clarification on which streets would be affected and what all the project consisted of. Gotham said he would email a map over with the highlighted streets that the project would affect for anyone that inquires about it. Gotham updated the Board on the project. He mentioned that Morgan & Parmley, Ltd. is currently working on the lift station plans. The water portion of the paperwork has been submitted and we are just waiting to hear back for the approval on that. The sewer portion of the paperwork will be sent in the end of September along with the application for the sewer portion for funding. The other item that came up was the Coleman Lift Station. There is some underground water issues where it currently sits and an option for a better location would be to possibly put it on an adjacent property. The property in question is the old garment factory. Motion by Newman, seconded by Zimmer to give Trott the approval to negotiate an offer with the property owner for the property, carried.
Morgan & Parmley, Ltd.-Invoice Payment Approval: Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to approve paying an invoice in the amount of $14,945.00 to Morgan & Parmley, Ltd, carried. The invoice is for engineering work for the North Main Street Reconstruction Project from January 1st, 2020 through July 31st, 2020.
Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Newman to table the ‘North Main Street Reconstruction Project’ issue until the September 2020 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Public Welfare:
Library Lease Agreement: Kathy Stempf, Bruce Area Librarian, attended the meeting to discuss the possibility of having the bathrooms at the Village Hall cleaned more often and the wages would be covered by the library budget. After further review of her budget, she decided that it would not be feasible. She also came to the Board to ask if they could wave the increase on the library lease for 2021. Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Grabon to approve increasing the annual payment for the Library by 1% for 2021 and to review the agreement every year, carried. Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Newman to remove the ‘Library Lease Agreement’ issue from the agenda, carried.
Administration:
Update Ordinances: Hegeholz is waiting for response to her quote inquiry. Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Newman to table the “Update Ordinances” issue until the September, 2020 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Employee Wage Negotiations: Motion by Newman, seconded by Brainerd to send the “Employee Wage Negotiations” issue to committee, carried.
Employee Manual Update: The manual has not been updated since 1992.Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Grabon to send the “Employee Manual Update” issue to committee, carried.
APPROVAL OF BILLS: Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to pay vouchers and electronic payments totaling $144,079.31, carried.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Cruise Night-705 N. Main Street in Bruce: August 18th, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Contact Classic Auto Collision Center at 715-868-CARS for more details.
Bruce Community Farmer’s Market-Friday’s from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. through October 16th. The market will be located in the Bruce Telephone corner lot on Hwy 8 and N. Alvey Street.
August 11th, 2020 Partisan Primary Election- Polling location is 100 W. River Avenue, Bruce, WI, 54819. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
September 2020 Regular Monthly Board Meeting Labor Day Conflict- The September 2020 Village of Bruce Regular Monthly Board Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. at the Village Hall.
ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Zimmer, seconded by Brainerd to adjourn, carried. Adjournment was at 8:17 p.m.
Jessica Hegeholz
Clerk/Treasurer