VILLAGE OF BRUCE
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
October 5, 2020
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a scheduled monthly meeting of the Village Board was held on Monday, October 5th, 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 Galen Brainerd, Rob Grabon & Avery Newman. Jessica Hegeholz attended also. Zimmer was absent.
APPOINTMENT OF VACANT TRUSTEE POSITION ON THE BOARD: Trott announced that he would like to appoint Kim Grasley to the vacant trustee position on the Board. The vacant seat was left by Gayanne Skogen. Motion by Grabon, seconded by Brainerd to appoint Kim Grasley to fill the vacant trustee position on the Board, carried. Grasley signed her official oath and joined the rest of the Board at the table.
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Newman to approve the September 8th, 2020 Regular Monthly Board Meeting Minutes, carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grabon to approve the Treasurer’s report as given, carried.
EMPLOYEE’S REPORT: Darlene Wundrow attended the meeting and reported that the crew is flushing water hydrants this week, October 5th through the 9th from 7pm to 10 pm. The crew is busy preparing for winter. They have shut the water off at the Bruce Park, drained the cemetery and are working on tarring cracks on the Village Streets. Wundrow announced that the sand box located on Main Street will be available again this year for the community to use.
APPLICATIONS:
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grabon to approve a building permit for Yvonne Johnson to reroof her house at 1414 N. State Road 40, carried.
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grabon to approve a building permit for Paul Javener to do some interior remodeling on the building he owns at 635 N. 1st Street, carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Public Works:
Committee Meeting September 17th, 2020 Report: Trott reported that a committee meeting was held on September 17th, 2020 to discuss several items. ‘Welcome to Bruce’ signs, Parking Lot Repairs/Alley work at 714 N. Main Street and the Possible Sale of Village owned property at 202 W. Railroad Avenue. The committee recommends the following to the Board:
1- ‘Welcome to Bruce’ Signs
The committee recommends having Roxie Kemmitz from Bruce Telephone Company get a price for new signs and to possibly look at aluminum corrugated with a new frame. They will check with the State as far as setbacks.
2 – Parking Lot Repairs/Alley Work @ 714 N. Main Street
The committee is waiting for final bids and prices from Mr. Lorkowski before they move forward with any further recommendations. The replacement of the sewer line is not an option. The grinding and blacktopping of the alley would be the Village’s only responsibility.
3 – Possible Sale of 202 W. Railroad Avenue Property
The committee recommends putting a ‘For Sale’ sign on the property, along with an ad in the local newspaper.
The Board discussed a few options of ‘Welcome to Bruce’ signs. The item will be discussed further in a committee after talking with the Village’s auditor on if there will be funds available in the budget to get the project done. Discussion was held on the parking lot repairs/alley work at 714 N. Main Street. No additional information was given at this time. The Board decided that selling the property at 202 W. Railroad was in fact the best route. Motion by Newman, seconded by Grabon to send the ‘Possible Sale of 202 W. Railroad Avenue Property’ to a committee to discuss steps in moving forward with the sale, carried.
North Main Street Reconstruction Project:
Committee Meeting September 17th, 2020 Report: Trott reported a committee meeting was held on September 17th, 2020 to discuss the purchase of the property on Coleman Street for the new location of the lift station. The committee recommended scheduling a meeting with the property owner to look at the building, to send a certified offer to purchase of $50,000 to the property owner and to have the Village’s attorney contact the property owners attorney to discuss the matter.
Purchase Approval for Proposed North Main Street Reconstruction Project-Coleman Street Lift Station Location: After talking with our Village attorney, the property owner’s attorney is also the Village’s attorney. The appropriate conflict of interest paperwork was drafted by the Village’s attorney and sent to the property owner. Once the paperwork is filed, the certified offer to purchase can be sent to the property owner and the process of obtaining the piece of property can proceed. Motion by Newman, seconded by Grasley to table the “Purchase Approval for Proposed North Main Street Reconstruction Project-Coleman Street Lift Station Location” issue until the November, 2020 Regular Monthly Meeting, carried.
Larry Gotham attended the meeting to give the Board an update on the progress of the North Main Street Reconstruction Project. The Village has already qualified for a one million dollar CDBG Grant, and is still in the process of working on the DNR sewer and DNR water grant portions of the project. Advertising for the project is expected to start in February with an anticipated March date set for bid opening and notice to proceed expected in May. Amy Kelsey from Cooper Engineering is in the process of drafting the letter for notification of assessments to Village residents along with the income survey that will be sent out. All Village residents are strongly encouraged to make sure and fill out the survey when they receive it. Failure to do so will result in full assessment.
Administration:
Committee Meeting September 22nd, 2020 Report: Trott reported there was a meeting held on September 22nd, 2020 to meet with employees to discuss and review wages & requests. No recommendations were made.
Committee Meeting September 23rd, 2020 Report: Trott reported there was another meeting held on September 23rd, 2020 to meet further with the employees to discuss and review wages & requests. The committee recommends the following:
— Purchase reflective clothing for outdoor crew. (Will & Gudis) (6) shirts per employee, plus (2) more per year, and (1) jacket per employee, replaced every (3) years
— 3% raise given to all employees
— Christmas Eve – Paid Holiday
— $50.00 per month given to Wundrow, Will, Gudis, Hegeholz & Leer in lieu of health insurance. Employees can collect as straight pay or contribute to their HSA
— Raise the hourly rate for election workers to $12.00 per hour
The committee also started looking over the employee manual for updates. The manual has not been updated since 1992. The committee will take the manual home and make any necessary corrections to the manual before final approval.
The last item the committee met to discuss was the ‘Ordinance Updates’ item. The committee has a quote from a company that would do the updates for the Village. The committee recommends discussing the item with our auditor during our budget workshop, set for October 15th, 2020, to see if the item would be feasible to cover within our budget for 2021. The cost of the project is allowed to be covered through two budget years.
Update Ordinances: The Board decided to discuss the item with the auditor before any further action will be taken. Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Newman to table the “Update Ordinances” issue until the November, 2020 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Employee Wage Negotiations – Committee Recommendations for Employee Wages: Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to approve the following for Employee Wage Negotiations:
— Purchase reflective clothing for outdoor crew. (Will & Gudis) (6) shirts per employee, plus (2) more per year, and (1) jacket per employee, replaced every (3) years
— 3% raise given to all employees
— Christmas Eve – Paid Holiday
— $50.00 per month given to Wundrow, Will, Gudis, Hegeholz & Leer in lieu of health insurance. Employees can collect as straight pay or contribute to their HSA
— Raise the hourly rate for election workers to $12.00 per hour, carried. The approved recommendations from the committee will take effect January 1, 2021.
Employee Manual Update: The committee will take the manual home and make any necessary corrections to the manual before final approval. Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grabon to table the “Employee Manual Update” issue until the November, 2020 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Committee Designations: Trott reported he would like to make some adjustments to the current committee member designations. He recommends the following:
Public Safety – Brainerd/Grabon
Utility – Grasley/Brainerd
Public Works – Brainerd/Zimmer
Administration – Zimmer/Newman
Finance – Zimmer/Newman
Industrial Site – Newman/Grasley
Representative on the Library Board – Zimmer
Representatives on the Fire Department – Zimmer/Grabon
Motion by Grabon, seconded by Grasley to approve the committee designations as given, carried.
Finance:
All Committee Recommendations for 2021 Budget Workshop, October 15th, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.: Trott reported that the 2021 Budget Workshop is scheduled for October 15th, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. Board members are asked to attend and give recommendations. The Village auditor and Board members will be available to answer questions regarding the proposed budget.
APPROVAL OF BILLS: Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grabon to pay vouchers and electronic payments totaling $49,531.33, carried.
CORRESPONDENCE: Trott reported that there will be a charcoal chicken dinner hosted by the Bruce Fire Department on October 10th, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. located at the Bruce Fire Department Hall. ¼ chicken dinner will be $8.00 and ½ chicken dinner will be $10.00.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
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.
Fall Clean Up-October 16th, 17th, & 19th, 2020: An attendant will be on duty at the collection site from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Curbside Pick-Up will be on Monday, October 19th, 2020. For those unable to haul their own refuse please call the Village Hall at 868-2185 by 3:00 p.m. on Friday, October 17th to arrange for pick-up.
Flushing Water Hydrants-October 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th, 2020 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.: Please refrain from running water during this time.
ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to adjourn, carried. Adjournment was at 8:04 p.m.
Jessica Hegeholz
Clerk/Treasurer