VILLAGE OF BRUCE
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
March 6th, 2023
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a scheduled monthly meeting of the Village Board was held on Monday, March 6th, 2023.
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, Darlene Wundrow, Kim Grasley and Loren Beebe. Jim Johnson and Mark Zimmer were absent. Clerk/Treasurer Jessica Hayes attended also.
– PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE –
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Motion by Beebe, seconded by Grasley to approve the February 6th, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting Minutes, carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to approve the Treasurer’s report as given, carried.
EMPLOYEE’S REPORT: Casey Gudis attended the meeting to report to the Board that the crew has been busy plowing snow and installing new water meters to residents. The new backhoe has been delivered. A new a/c compressor needs to be replaced on it but should be done within the month.
There has been some issues with the lift stations and a check valve had went out. Tri-State Pump & Control was here and cleaned all the Village’s lift stations. They will be back to replace a vfd valve that had fried on the Main lift station when the power went out due to heavy snow fall. The system is currently running on one pump. Tri-State is working on getting a new vfd valve ordered but no indication of when it will arrive. The vfd valve that is out is a brand new vfd valve on the 4th St. Lift Station. The Board asked Gudis to look in to if the Village’s insurance would/could replace the vfd valve due to the fact of it being so newly built. The cost for a new valve would be roughly $3,000 to $5,000.
4th Street Clearing: Gudis talked with Right-of-Way Clearing about doing the work and they will come back in the spring when the snow melts so they can get a better look at the right of way. He also obtained a quote for three loads of gravel which would cost around $600.00. The Board will revisit the item in the spring.
PETITIONERS-CITIZEN COMPLAINTS AND REQUESTS:
Community Citizens of Bruce – Easter Event Donation Request: Motion by Wundrow, seconded by Grasley to donate $250.00 to the Community Citizens of Bruce-Easter Event that is being held on April 1st, 2023, carried.
Derek Ewald – Eagle Scout Project: Derek Ewald attended the meeting to present to the Board a project he has in mind for his upcoming Eagle Scout project. The project would be for installing concrete slabs that would be a base for benches as well as installation of flags and possibly lighting. Motion by Beebe, seconded by Grasley to approve Derek Ewald to move forward with his project, carried.
APPLICATIONS:
Operator’s License: Motion by Grasley, seconded by Beebe to approve an Operator’s License to Gerald W. Smith, carried.
Motion by Grasley, seconded by Wundrow to approve an Operator’s License to Zachary K. Frey, carried.
Class ‘B’ Combo Liquor License: Motion by Wundrow, seconded by Grasley to approve a Class ‘B’ Combo Liquor License to Gateway Gourmets, LLC, carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Utility:
Sewer Rate Increase: Trott reported a meeting is scheduled for March 30th, 2023 to discuss the item. Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to table the ‘Sewer Rate Increase’ issue until the April, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Sewer Main Replacement on East Arthur /S. Main St.: Trott reported a meeting is scheduled for March 30th, 2023 to discuss the item. Motion by Beebe, seconded by Grasley to table the ‘Sewer Main Replacement on East Arthur /S. Main St.’ issue until the April, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Public Works:
Veteran’s Memorial Park Site: The next location for a Veteran’s wall is a small wooded lot on Highway 8, across from the Bruce park. The lot would need cleared before the project could begin. Brainerd discussed looking in to having Zielies or Keystone clear the lot and possibly getting a donation from them for the work. Motion by Grasley, seconded by Brainerd to table the ‘Veteran’s Memorial Park Site’ issue until the April, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Jacklyn Dolan asked the Board about possibly putting in some sort of driveway where people could pull in and park instead of taking up the alley for parking. Trott said the Board is welcome to any and all ideas for the project and that the Board will definitely look in to the idea of a drive thru road.
North Main Street Reconstruction Project: A meeting is scheduled for March 30th, 2023 to discuss the engineering fees in the budgeted DNR funding that have not been used from the North Main Street Reconstruction project. There are a few different smaller projects that can be done to use the remaining funds. One of the items to use the funding for would be the sewer rate increase item but also sewer and water maps are required to be updated per DNR, and Morgan & Parmley could take that project on. The project would be for locating all manholes, curb stands, valves, catch basins and storm sewers. This would be a mapping software program that would have GPS capabilities to locate all manholes, curb stands, valves, and catch basins in the Village. Rural Water might have the mapping capabilities that would not cost the Village anything. This will all be discussed at the scheduled March 30th, 2023 committee meeting.
-DISCUSSION AND ACTION-
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to table the ‘North Main Street Reconstruction Project’ item until the April, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Water Filtration Project – Corrective Work on Village Wells & River Avenue: Gotham attended the meeting to discuss with the Board the results of the bid opening on March 3rd, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. There were roughly a dozen contractors that took out plans from Morgan & Parmley, Ltd. Only one bid was submitted from Haas Sons, Inc. for $2,310,306.45.
Gotham advised the Board that if Haas’s bid was not accepted, the Village would lose out on the $993,362 CDBG Grant and the whole project could possibly take another two years to start construction.
The project would consist of either using Culligan’s Water treatment plant or Water Surplus’s treatment plant. Gotham submitted a 10 year cost comparative sheet to show the Board the costs that would be incurred over a ten year period for both plants. Culligan came in at a price of $840,714.15 and Water Surplus at $577,559.62. This would be for the costs of media replacement and backwashing.
A plan holders list, bid tabulation chart, cost comparison chart and a financing plan are all available at the Village Hall for review Monday thru Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Tim Dolan asked Gotham if it was too late to look for additional funding for this project. Gotham informed Dolan that it takes about 2-3 years to get in line for any State funding. Gotham informed Dolan also that the Village applied for and received three different grants for this project. The CDBG grant, USDA/RD grant and also the funding from the DNR’s Safe Drinking Water Program and Clean Water Fund program. The process to obtain these funds began in the fall of 2020.
Dolan asked if the Village tried for any grants for the additional installation of a storm sewer to be added on River Ave./Blackburn St., that Dolan requested plans be changed at the February, 2023 Regular Board Meeting, that was ultimately denied. That addition to the project plans would have cost the Village approximately an additional $150,000. The Board informed Dolan that the storm sewer was never in the original plans therefore grant funding was never sought out for that portion that he requested to be added at last month’s meeting. Dolan asked if there were other sections of town that did not have storm sewer. The Board informed him that most of the town does not have storm sewer and very few sections of town do, therefore will not be installed for this project either. Dolan further asked if there would be grass between the road and the sidewalk at his rental house at 123 W. River Ave. The plans do not have grass between the road and sidewalk. Dolan is worried about individuals parking in front of the driveway of his rental house and blocking access. Brainerd said that we could install ‘no parking’ signs to resolve the problem. Lastly Dolan asked if the increase in the bid compared to the estimated bid price would affect his assessment, and the Board informed him no.
-DISCUSSION, PROJECT BID ACCEPTANCE AND AWARD-
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to accept and award the bid to Haas & Sons, Inc. with Water Surplus’s treatment plant, at a total project cost of $2,310,306.45, carried.
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to table the ‘Water Filtration Project-Corrective Work on Village Wells and River Avenue’ item until the April, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Public Welfare:
Bruce Park Concession Stand Discussion: Nothing new to report this month. Motion by Wundrow seconded by Grasley to table the ‘Bruce Park Concession Stand Discussion” item until the April, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Administration:
Committee Meeting February 28th, 2023 Minutes Report: A committee meeting was held on February 28th, 2023 to discuss employment of a current employee. The committee recommends the following to the Board:
– Add the addition of, ‘The employee manual is subject to change at any time upon Board approval’, to the Employee Manual
– Add, ‘ Part time office employees cannot receive sick and vacation time. PTO/Comp time only’. ‘PTO/Comp time is to be used by year end, 12/31. No payout of unused time is given.’
– Add, ‘Full time office employees will follow the Employee Manual policy Chapter 4, Section 4.1 & 4.2 pertaining to sick and vacation time’. A full time employee is considered any employee working 30+ hours per week.
– Keeping the Deputy Clerk position to only 3 days a week, 6.5 hour days, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 19.5 hrs/week. But, if emergency, ‘call in’ or ‘fill-in’ is needed, it would be considered an extra day worked that week. Days/hours that are worked for emergency, ‘call-in’ or ‘fill-in’ time are not to be used to take the required working days off. (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
– Giving the current Deputy Clerk 40 hours of PTO/Comp time effective immediately upon Board approval. If approved, PTO/Comp time/hours will cancel out any sick and vacation time currently held by the employee. No other benefits will be paid out including monthly health insurance stipend and annual life insurance stipend.
– Add that any part time employee, including current Deputy Clerk, does not receive holiday pay, effective immediately upon Board approval.
Committee is recommending that the employee manual be updated accordingly with committee’s recommendations stated above.
Revision of Deputy Clerk Position and Potential Modifications to FTO’s: Motion by Grasley, seconded by Beebe to approve the recommendations made from the committee on February 28th, 2023, as follows:
– Add the addition of, ‘The employee manual is subject to change at any time upon Board approval’, to the Employee Manual
– Add, ‘ Part time office employees cannot receive sick and vacation time. PTO/Comp time only’. ‘PTO/Comp time is to be used by year end, 12/31. No payout of unused time is given.’
– Add, ‘Full time office employees will follow the Employee Manual policy Chapter 4, Section 4.1 & 4.2 pertaining to sick and vacation time’. A full time employee is considered any employee working 30+ hours per week.
– Keeping the Deputy Clerk position to only 3 days a week, 6.5 hour days, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 19.5 hrs/week. But, if emergency, ‘call in’ or ‘fill-in’ is needed, it would be considered an extra day worked that week. Days/hours that are worked for emergency, ‘call-in’ or ‘fill-in’ time are not to be used to take the required working days off. (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
– Giving the current Deputy Clerk 40 hours of PTO/Comp time effective immediately upon Board approval. If approved, PTO/Comp time/hours will cancel out any sick and vacation time currently held by the employee. No other benefits will be paid out including monthly health insurance stipend and annual life insurance stipend.
– Add that any part time employee, including current Deputy Clerk, does not receive holiday pay, effective immediately upon Board approval.
Committee is recommending that the employee manual be updated accordingly with committee’s recommendations stated above, motion carried.
Employee manual Update: Motion by Beebe, seconded by Grasley to approve updating the employee manual per the committee’s recommendations at the February 28th, 2023 meeting, carried.
Finance:
Rusk County Sheriff’s Department Contract Discussion & Action: Nothing new to report this month. Motion by Grasley, seconded by Beebe to table the ‘Rusk County Sheriff’s Department Contract Discussion & Action’ item until the April, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
Finance Committee Meeting February 22nd, 2023 Minutes Report: A finance committee meeting was held on February 22nd, 2023 to discuss the ambulance garage building. The committee recommends the following to the Board:
1) Scheduling a meeting with the City of Ladysmith to discuss the ambulance garage renting to the County
2) Look in to the Village’s responsibility to provide ambulance housing to the County
3) Draft a letter to send out to Townships to explain that changes are to help with the housing of the ambulance, NOT the ambulance service
Ambulance Garage Building Discussion & Action: Hayes reported that a $1,000.00 donation was received from the Town of Thornapple to go towards 2022 & 2023 expenses for the Bruce Ambulance garage.
Motion by Grasley, seconded by Brainerd to set a meeting with the City of Ladysmith to discuss the ambulance garage item further, carried.
Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to table the ‘Ambulance Garage Building Discussion & Action’ item until the April, 2023 Regular Monthly Board Meeting, carried.
APPROVAL OF BILLS: Motion by Brainerd, seconded by Grasley to pay vouchers and electronic payments totaling $129,141.49, carried.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Spring Election – April 4th, 2023: Polls open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Village residents may vote at the Village Hall, 100 W. River Avenue, Bruce, WI 54819.
ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Grasley, seconded by Brainerd to adjourn, carried. Adjournment was at 7:55 p.m.
Jessica Hayes
Clerk/Treasurer