Village of Elmwood Board Meeting
May 14th, 2007
Elmwood Auditorium @ 7 pm
Note- meeting was held in the auditorium area upstairs, instead of the normal meeting area.
It appeared that maybe the American Legion group was in the dining hall.
Attendance-Village President Bill Stewart, Doug Claflin, Pam Marson, Sue Dzubay, Mike Burke
Absent- Mike Sand & Bob Rupakus
Engineers Angela Popenhaugen & Susan Peeples
Also -- Chief Adam Meyers (1st time in 8 months as Chief)
Jake Sailor, Marion Yauch, Neil Boltic, Chris Nazer, R & K Talford,
Mrs. Schoeder and Daughter W/ A Cedar Corp. Rep., Bill Warner-Pierce Co. Economic Dev.
Public Input-
Jake Sailor asked if he should wait for the Woodman Project to be spoken about or just start saying what he was at the meeting for. They decided to wait for the agenda listing to speak about his request.
Bill Warner, from the Pierce County Economic Development program came to the meeting and reintroduced himself to the Board. (he was the past leader of the program some 10 years ago, and has returned) He brought in a brochure of the updated information in regards to the programs available to the businesses in Pierce Co. He added that the program has assisted in over 31 loans, that equal over $3 Million in assistance. He said the program replenishes itself with approx. $14,000.00 per month. He also stated that any new business may be conducted with them, at there site, or even at peoples homes.
2007 Committee Appointments
President Stewart stated they would not read the list out loud.
Jodi Pulk stated, anyone who wanted to know the information could just contact the Clerks office.
Bill added, "So be it then".
(note- this is the same information that has been released by the county openly- I do not understand why the village did not state who was on each committee, but more and more, our village information is becoming more of a secret, and when asked about certain things, they act like you are too nosey)
Change in June Village Board Meeting date-
Jodi asked for the Board to change the date of the meeting, due to some issues she had with attending. The Board acknowledged the request and changed the meeting to June 18th.
Provisional Operators Licenses-
The PD approved the request, and the board followed along.
Extended Use Permit for the Sandbar ll on May 19th
without much of anything said, except that this was for a graduation party through the night. approved
Resolution 04-2007 Assessing Police Powers for Curb and Gutter on Woodman St. under Statue 66.0703
Angela explained to the board that this was needed to be done, in order to get the final costs and set up a meeting for the public hearing prior to the next meeting. A Roll call vote was then done
Approval of the Final Plans for Upper Woodman Project
Angela spoke to the board again, stating that this was the area roughly between May Ave. and Pierce Ave. This would include reconstruction of the curb and gutter as well as upgrading the sewer and water lines. The 4" pipes would be replaced with 6". The bidding could begin in the first part of June, and the approval could happen as early as the next board meeting.
Resolution 05-2007 preliminary resolution declaring intent to exercise special assessment police powers under state statue 66.0703- as to curb and gutter for upper woodman- project 201-06-004
Angela said, this again is for the ordinance setting to get things rolling for the project.
Jodi then added that the board needed a roll call vote to approve this measure.
The Public Works meeting that was recent was then brought up by Jake Sailor. Jake stated he would like to have a filled ditch instead of an open ditch on the east side of his driveway. The last meeting, they spoke about this, and he was told to expect a cost of near $7300.00 , and he felt that was high.
Mike Burke then added that the WI DOT has the area under review as of now. He added that they have the right to work in the Right of Way at this time.
Jake then explained that he had a meeting with Doug Aspen, and the green space he had was ok with him. The telephone pole on the other hand, was going to be an issue due to the anchor is being exposed. To make the changes, I would lose about 800 sq. feet of parking lot he added. The change needs would be for a manhole to be added, the open ditch to the west would be ok, and the east side would then be filled with a 80 foot concrete pipe. a new culvert has already been purchased, and he felt the need to buy another would be at a loss. The cost of the change would roughly be $2,000.00 to 2,500.00, not $7,300.00. The telephone pole could be replaced with 2 poles to help with the bad one in place. Jake then asked the members to stop by when they have free time and look it over. He had a question in regards to the paperwork on the work being done to his property. The pre-construction papers #9 under general discussion stated that a drain tile had to be placed from the east side of his roof . This must be ran out to the open ditch through the tile, and all the work must be performed by Jake Sailor. He asked if Pember could do this. "I did water control", Jake stated. "Why did the village not do the connection to the manhole?" This was done last fall.
Bill Stewart then said it should go back to the Public Works for more review.
Jake had one more thing to add. He has a pile of black dirt on his property, that he would sell for approx. $3.00 a sq. yd, and he believed there to be approx. 75-100 yds of dirt available. He asked if the village may have any interest.
Citizen Committee Appointment Procedure
Sue Dzubay told the board that they do not legally have to get letters of interest for the Zoning board of Appeals or the Planning Committees.
(note- this is another shot at removing the citizens way of interacting with the board. The letters of interest, where used for the board to acknowledge someone wishing to be placed in the committee seats available. This has changed since the clerk has not given these records to me, from a request given to her over 1 year ago. these are public records that must be kept, and when asked for the proof of those who filed the letters of interest, they have given me nothing but excuses in why they can't provide them to me, and have went as far as trying to charge me with harassing the clerk by phone. these charges where filed by our late Chief Rockwell, who decided not to attend the court case, and the village attorney dropped the case. I still have not rec'd those records I requested last May, 2006. The excuse for removing this was because it was too much paperwork. ok, 1 piece of paper from each person that was interested. that's a lot. I do believe this is another way for the board to place the friends and family members in the seats to control the community. There have been conflicts of interest in the past due to this exact reason. Zoning Board of Appeals has Dave Pulk on it, and his Wife Jodi was a self proclaimed Zoning officer in a past meeting)
Comprehensive Plan Committee Appointments
Sandr Weix and Marge Rovele where named to the committee by Mayor Stewart
Schoeder Assisted Living Project Update
Mrs. Schoeder and Kevin from Cedar Corp. where present to give the board an update on there plans. Tom Beakman is being dealt with through the DOT, in trying to figure out the access needs for the new living units being built. Option 1 was to run the entrance off Martin St. to the existing Industrial Road. Option 2 would have the Driveway ended and a new addition created. There is also the potential for looping the water mains for the area as well. The standard for the curb and gutter is being set, and the DOT is in control of the set up. Our options are still pending. Mrs. Schoeder added that the building is getting started either way, and the project is not going to be delayed. She requested a meeting be set up with everyone involved. Kevin added that they even looked at bringing a road in from near the bridge by 72 and G, but DOT denied that. Mrs. Schoeder added that the groundbreaking would be July 20th, the building would start this winter with 13 rooms prepared ( 1 wing) and the parking area would be done next spring. Angela added that they need to look at the looping that may be needed for the water flow. Mike Burke and Kevin will get together to set up a meeting on site.
Letter of Support for Non-Recreational Trail between Elmwood and Spring Valley
Jodi gave info. to the board on the meeting held last Thursday. They would like a letter of support to apply towards grants. She also then asked for an additional $1,000.00 so she may attend the meetings for this under a formal position. This is in addition to her salary she has. It was approved
Committee and Board Reports
Library- Sue Dzubay stated the library is doing well. they are financially doing well also. The donations are coming in regularly, and the interest on them is being used to do small projects here and there. Circulation is up to 14,000 books already this year.
Parks- Sue again spoke to the board about the banners and Signs that where looked at with Neil Boltic in a meeting this past month. Neil explained to the board that they can do everything on-line and you can save 20% on their orders. You can fully design the signs you want from the site. They also have a lease program available now, in which when doing an order, the village could save by ordering all the signs at one time, and paying them off over time. This would create another $20.00 sq. ft savings. He stated the color coding options as well. Sue then added the bluebird houses are in use already. The sign brought in for everyone to see, will be left for a week, and a banner will be brought in for viewing once he gets a chance to get one together.
Public Works- Mike Burke stated that most of their information was already stated, with the exception of the dump site info. Angela then told the board the good news. The hole digging for the landfill site was completed and they will not have to do the gas probing they initially thought was going to be needed. May 5th, they dug 5 or 6 holes she said, and found nothing. They dug 9' deep. Ellis Poquette and Pat Collins where both there, and discussed the old site in the early days. The testing at the water treatment plant is still happening for the PH levels and water temp. to our stream over the ammonia issue this past fall. DNR is reviewing these figures.
Nursing Home- Pam Marson stated that Rebecca Weix was hired for the nursing director position.
Personnel and Finance & Police- Sue Dzubay gave a brief amount of information in regards to the meetings held, due to they where closed session meetings. She stated when they began, and ended. The 19th was a fun one, that has created a mess. This meeting ended at 2:35 pm when all the County Police officers left the scene. (read more in regards to this in past blog for April 19th, 2007)
Payment of Bills & Adjourn at 8:03 pm
Update- 6-7-07
Reading the Pierce Co. Herald that was printed this week, I notice that the minutes where falsified again. The release of information in regards to who was placed into what committee's was never stated in the meeting, yet the minutes are printed with all the information provided. This is exactly the reason I have been following the boards actions. They may not be major differances, but why is there any differances between the meeting minutes, and the printed minutes by the Clerk. There is no excuse for this to happen.
There has been release of information by the clerk again it seems, being a new blog has been created by the hateful citizens of Elmwood, in regards to put my name in the dirt some more. This new blog states that there is information to be given that the clerk has. To me, the clerk apparently is on her own, by releasing information to certain individuals for her behalf, in the attempt to discredit me as much as possible. I would like to add, it was nice to see the clerk was able to do construction at her home, without any permits being posted on the property. this many of her neighbors noticed as well. Those with a name in Elmwood, do not follow the same rules the rest of the citizens have to.
