Village of Elmwood Board Meeting
10-8-2007
Village Auditorium Dining Hall @ 7 PM
Present- Full Board, w/ Bob Rupakus via phone (also Angela Popenhaugen)
Public Attendance- Mr. & Mrs. Yauch, Mr. & Mrs. Boltic, Mr. & Mrs. Baker, Mr. & Mrs. Evanson, Mr.& Mrs. Talford, Pierce Co. Herald writer Sari Gordon, Elmwood Argus Editor Paul Seeling, Mrs. Galoff, Mathew Marose, Steve Repp, Molly Hines, Robbie Jaeger
(note: others attended that I either did not know, or who may not have been seen, due to lack of seating for everyone. some people may have come and left without being seen in the hallway)
Agenda-
Approval of the Minutes-
Susan Dzubay made the motion to accept the minutes from the Sept. 10th, and Sept. 26th.
Doug Claflin gave the second on the motion
Public Input-
Kris Talford gave information to the Board on her son, Kenneth Talford who has been selected to become an ambassador for People to People Ambassador Program. He has the opportunity to go to Europe next summer for 24 days, and He is looking for Sponsorship and/or donations to help him attend this once in a lifetime event. His costs for tuition will be near $9,000.00 and he will earn school credits for this also. Kris gave a copy of the letter to President Bill Stewart .
Bill responded by saying "Good Luck, 9,000 is a lot of money" then he asked if Kevin was our son?
Kris replied his name is Kenneth, and Yes he is our oldest son.
Bill then asked if there was any other public input.
Mr. Evanson then asked the board when South Woodman was going to get finished?
Angela responded, and stated that there was final grading and blending needed to be completed, and hopefully that would be in the next couple of weeks. She also stated that the trees to be planted where on a punch list.
Mr. Evanson then told the board that the water coming down Woodman, now runs right into his driveway out into his yard, still flooding everything. He stated the water from 72 also comes into the yard. He explained the heavy rain we are receiving has not been a help, but the project was suppose to look at that as a possibility.
Angela told him, "That's how it has to work"
Mr. Evanson then asked "well how about my driveway?"
Angela then said that they would have to address that, and we could look into digging a ditch along 72. The inspector is going to be here this week she also added.
Mr. Evanson then asked about the purpose of the project to begin with. He said, I believe it was to collect all the water and get rid of it, and it is not doing that right now.
Bill Stewart then stated that he would like to see this addressed.
Mr. Evanson then added that his land and the Halvorsons' yard are being flooded and that was not the problem before the project. He also added that they have not been able to plant the trees, due to the flooding is right at the point of where they would be planting.
Bill again stated that they would have to address that.
Mathew Marose then spoke to the Board, asking about the situation concerning our Chief of Police Adam Meyers. He explained his view of the case, and said that they need to be looking at all his successes and not his failures in coming up with their decision with Adam. "He was hired on his credentials, and I think it would be sad to see him gotten rid of. He is not a puppet on a string, but he is the Law. I ask the board to judge things fairly"
Bill then replied " this is the plan"
Mr. Evanson then spoke up, and asked if there really was any reason for Elmwood to have a cop at all?
Molly Hines then spoke up to this, and asked the Board "Who is to blame when a child is hit by a car, who is going to come, Who is on call, is it going to be you at 2 am, or you, What about an abduction, what are we suppose to do, call Dunn Co. or call Pierce Co. We need a Chief here, and I believe it is a shame that he is not on the streets right now. There are people driving 45-50 mph in the school zones and nobody to do anything about it. Why is he not here? I would ask anyone here that believes that they are perfect to stand up right now. Adam is a good cop"
Sari Gordon then asked for the peoples names for the newspaper. Mathew and Molly gave her their names.
Bill then said that he wanted to clarify one thing. Adam has not been fired, he is on suspension.
Molly then asked about a rumor that is running around town. Is it true that the Chief is already being looked at for replacement?
Kris Talford then spoke up, and stated that we where told today, that Robbie Jaeger was taking over.
Molly then asked the board directly, has anyone spoke to Robbie Jaeger?
Bill replied, Yes I spoke to Robbie, and if the worst case scenario happened, then we would have to go through the hiring procedures again. Bill then looked back into the hallway where Robbie was located, and asked him, has any board member spoke to you on this?
Robbie replied, NO
Bill then said, GOOD. he has only been suspended pending review.
Doug Claflin the spoke, stating that there was no squad car around anyways for Adam to use.
Molly then asked if the hearing was going to be public or closed to the public.
Bill then said " Humor me, it is farther down the agenda. we can discuss it then."
(note: this was the end of the first round of questions and statements regarding Chief Meyers)
American Legion-Permission for plaque on Auditorium--
Mrs. Galoff requested the right to replace a brass plaque that was on the front of the auditorium building that disappeared some 7-8 years ago. She explained that the new one would be a brass look alike, but it would not be brass. We also would like to get and keep a storage container here at the auditorium for anyone to recycle their old flags.
Susan made the motion to approve the request and the second was done, but I did not catch who gave it.
Mole Traps--
(note: last month I asked the board why they gave the directive to the Chief to stop enforcing the ordinance on trapping and killing animals within the village. The use of mole traps is only to kill the animals, and that is against the ordinance all together. no harm to any animal is the ordinance. I spoke with 5 other communities and a city to get their side of this type of ordinance, and they all stated the same thing---follow the ordinance in place, that is why it was made an ordinance)
Susan Dzubay spoke on this, stating that she was on the board when this ordinance was changed in 2005. She added that it was a dog that got caught in a leg trap, so they went over the ordinance to make sure it would protect them. She then stated that people used them last summer, and their where no complaints. She then went on to state, Moles are considered Vermin. So it is not considered to be cruel or unusual to kill them. There are two sides of any law, one is the letter of the law, and the other is the intent of the law. We passed the ordinance to protect the kids and older adults that could be harmed by traps. I believe that if the owners are going to take the liability themselves on this, then they should be allowed to use them. She went on to add, we use mouse traps in our garage, so I guess if someone wanted to come and see them, they could say we are violating the ordinance. I say we allow the use.
Bill then said " I agree with Sue, if someones dog got caught in it, I see no problem"
(note: no motion was taken, but they agreed to not follow the ordinance that was created to deny any use of traps that kill and or harm animals inside the village limits. This is showing that they agree to bend rules to allow certain citizens to continue doing things against the ordinances of the town. The ordinance was being upheld by the Chief, until he was told to stop enforcing it by the village board)
Elmwood Rod and Gun Picnic License--
The white tail deer banquet is coming up, and the rod and gun club is requesting a picnic license to serve alcohol in the auditorium upstairs.
Doug Claflin made the motion to approve
Mike Sand gave the second to the motion.
Tif #5 - Schoeder Assisted Living Complex--
Jodi Pulk, Clerk stated that there would be no need for this to be looked at.
Resolution 16-2007 Resolution for sidewalk repairs on Wilson and Main St.--
The areas to be worked include, 207 & 213 W. Wilson Ave. as well as 230 S. Main and 104 N. Main St.
Jodi again told the board that Jamie went around and spoke to all the people involved and they agreed to have the special assessment done, so there will be no need for any public hearing on it now.
Bill stated that this was a small amount of work.
Pam Marson made the motion to approve
Doug Claflin gave the second to the motion.
Pay Estimate # 1 Upper Woodman St.--
Angela spoke to the board, stating that the water and sewer on Upper (S) Woodman is completed and hopefully the street construction will be completed soon. The Payment request is for the piping that has been completed. Roughly 59% of the work is complete. They are asking for 50% of the payment.
Susan Dzubay made the motion to pay
Mike Burke gave the second to the motion
Vacate S. Woodman St. from May Ave. to the School Property--
Bill explained that the property owned by Paul and Virginia Smith has been sold to the school, and they have requested that the street not be redone, and they would like to village to vacate this land for them. He then added that it was a small section of street, and that corner will now be more of a curve.
Pam asked if the stop sign would be replaced, due to the kids are always speeding in that area, and there needs to be something there to slow them down. There are a lot of little kids in the area she added.
Jodi then stated that the corner lot will get about 1/4 of the street added to their property, and then the school will get the remainder. The village will need to pay for the utilities in that location still.
Doug Claflin made the motion to approve
Mike Burke made the second to the motion
Creation of the Police Commission--
Bob Rupakus via the phone spoke- The way this process works is, our forefathers recommend that any changes at the Chief level must only be dealt with through a commission of at least 3 people that are members of the community. The Police Committee unanimously voted to request the creation of such commission to keep or terminate Chief Meyers.
Bill then started asking question to Bob, When did you meet, where all the members present, was the vote unanimous. ( these where all answered already)
Bob then added, with that being said, it is a good idea that the people of the village look into the events that what have been brought to the police committee and give the committee an idea of the next step.
Neil Boltic then asked how the selections would be made. What is the process?
Bob responded, the up most ethics will be needed for this. There can be no influence on either side, and the decision needs to be made based on the information we have. I think he's done a good job
Neil then asked if this would be a temporary seating or would it be a term position. What is the time frame he asked.
Bob then said, there must be a start and end date, and we'll discuss that. The Board must first form the commission.
Susan then added that the board has done this before, and they can consider if they want to just put the Chief on a week suspension with no pay, or say that he is gone, or whatever we come up with. No decisions have been made so far though.
Bill then said "Which is super fair to Adam"
Rick Talford then asked if the board and committee would take into the decisions, as the final say, the investigation results from the Sheriff Dept. on the accident.
Bob then added that this is not over just one issue. we had a meeting sept. 28th and that is when the decision to create this commission came about.
Molly Hines then asked how the commission is going to be formed.
Bill replied, that Jodi and all members of the board have a list of names to look at. The members of the commission will be appointed by the Village Board. we are looking at having five people serve on this commission.
Molly asked if people can be added to the list.
Bob replied, NO
Molly then asked , is that not Bias then?
Doug Claflin responded by saying that they are forced to be fair, due to the chance of suit against them.
Bill then said, this is not a railroad, these are people that have kids and pay taxes in the village. I do not want anyone being bias. I am looking for community respect. I want this fair as fair can be..
Neil Boltic then spoke, stating that he gave input with the school coach issues, and he sees a similar action happening here. stating that the public more or less over ran the board and did not give them a chance to make the decision on there own. I do not want the public to railroad the board on this either.
Bill then added " We got elected to do this for you people, everyone of these people are darn good people"
Bob then spoke up, stating that this was a tough decision, and he liked Adam. he added that there are issues that need to be looked at though.
Neil then stated that he would add his name to the list of names. adding that if you want the gov't to work for you, you need to work with them.
(it was then asked just how many people could be used for the commission)
Bill stated 3 minimum, and we are thinking 5 to be more fair.
Bob then said the more people, the better the chance of fairness.
Jodi then said that the State Statue says that they need to have three at a minimum.
Susan then said, we need people to look at this, so maybe we can even do seven. It is out of our hands now. We don't want pro or cons.
Bill then said the issues where on work performance.
Sari Gordon then asked the board how they will do the selecting.
Bill replied that they can only hope that these people do not have any issues with Adam, and he really does not have any knowledge if any of them do.
Sari then asked Bill how he could even find that out.
Bob then spoke, stating that he wanted to be clear. This is performance based, and there could be monetary things that we could also do.
Molly then asked about the people being selected, and whether they are associated with the board now or in the past, stating that Dennis and Gary where on the board previously.
Bill then said that none of the people actually gave they names for this. The Village Board decides who to select. The facts we know will then be given for them to decide. This will be a public process, unless Adam states he rather it be in closed session.
Jodi then piped up, stating that "We need to protect our Employee's"
(note: I did not know that the Clerk is the boss. She is the employee herself.)
Bill then said that if Adam has an issue with any of the selected people, then they would need to replace the person.
Susan said that most of the people she has spoken to, say NO, they do not want to get involved.
Bill then added that this is like Jury Duty is a sense. I do not want to sound like I am rushing this, but we need to pick the names and make the motion to move on. This looks like we are railroading the Chief and we are not.
Steve Repp spoke to the Board, stating that many of the people that he has spoken with , do not want to get involved.
Bill then said, " we are here to make your decisions for you"
Steve then said, I have 23 years of military service and sometimes it can be a thankless job when things like this happen.
Neil then said, You can't give a cop a blank check though.
Bill then said that it needed to be a speedy process, and the longer it takes, the longer we go with no cop. we have 841 people that want the law enforcement to stay here and not go away.
Bob then added that he did not have bad feelings nor did he want the village to be without a police dept.
Jodi then spoke explaining that the board needed to form the commission, then notice had to be posted, and after 10 days, the commission could begin their investigating. the investigation would need to be completed then within a 30 day period. so between 10-30 days is when everything needs to be accomplished.
(it was stated then that the police committee will recieve the decision from the commission and that decision will then be forwarded to the village board.)
Paul Seeling , from the Elmwood Argus asked when this took place, as to when the Chief was suspended.
Bill told him the meeting was held the 4th, and that was the begining of the suspension.
Paul then asked how long to expect Chief Meyers to be out. About a month?
Bob then stated over the phone that the village board could override the decision of the suspension.
(It was then asked what the village was suppose to do for the next month)
Bob replied that Robbie Jaeger was contacted to do day to day stuff, like attending court for the village. He also stated that contact with the Co. would probably be needed, possible for a car. Also Spring Valley for help with needs here.
Susan Dzubay gave the motion to nominate the following people for the commission- Rick Garfield, Rob Bowen, Neil Boltic, Mandry, Leah, Vanderberg, Hartung, and Sinz and Glampe as alternates.
(note: the complete names will be updated once I receive the confirmation from the village clerk--sorry I did not catch the names completely because they read through them quickly)
Bob gave a second to the nominations, he then stated that it was his understanding that the commissions ruling would be the final say. Adams fate falls on the citizens then.
Sari G. asked how they would inform the citizens of the meetings, when there is no board meeting again in the time frame.
Jodi said that everything would be published. They will be published in the Argus
Bob then said that the commission will need to make the decision on how many meetings they will need for the investigating to be done. It will all be through public hearings.
Susan then asked Bob about the statement that the village board could overturn the suspension, but not tonight she said, because it is not on the agenda.
Molly asked why the committee was allowed to make this type of decision before it evan came to the board.
Bill replied, stating that Adam was given three choices, and he chose the suspension. Evan if the board had the option to override the suspension tonight, I would say that he still would stay under the suspension.
Bob then asked Jodi if they could alter the agenda on the spot, I say we change.......
Jodi cut him off, stating that they could only do that in an emergency.
Kris Talford then stated that she would like to add her name to the list
Bill heard Kris, and told Susan that she wanted to be added to the list, but Susan ignored it all together.
Susan then again made the motion to create the commission
Bob gave the second to the motion
Committee and Board Reports---
Susan Dzubay stated that there will be a Personnel and Finance Committee meeting Thursday at 8 am.
Doug Claflin stated that they did not have any Public Works meetings
Mike Burke stated the Library will meet Tues. the 11th.
Pam Marson stated the Nursing Home also will meet Tues. 11th
Bob Rupakus stated the Police Committee met on the 28th and the 4th
Bob then stated that he wanted to make a motion--
Jodi replied--"You Can't"
Pay Bills--
Susan made the motion and Doug seconded the motion
Adjourn--
Doug gave the motion and Mike Burke gave the second to it. Approx. 8:30 PM
any errors in information will be corrected once I know about it, and I will update the information as soon as possible.
Update---10-9-07
Police Commission Nominated Names----Jim Maves, Karen Leehe, Neil Boltic ( I have no doubt he would be good, but he has business relations with Board), Rick Garfield, Rob Bowen ( also on Zoning Board of Appeals for Board), Sandy Hartung, Sharon Vandeberg, Linda Glampe (alternate) and Dennis Sinz (alternate) The Board had a list of 10 names, and here are 8 of those 10. Neil Boltic and Kris Talford gave their names in the meeting as interested individuals, but Kris was totally ignored, except by Bill, who did recognize her when she spoke up to them.
Update #2 -- 10-10-2007
As I was looking through the papers I rec'd from the Clerks Office in regards to the Police Committee Meeting held on the 4th, I noticed that the motions made where as follows, 1- Doug made the motion to suspend Adam Immediatly with pay, pending the commission investigation OR subsequent reversal by the board. 2- Pam made the motion to recommend to the full board to form a commission to consider the dismissal (termination) of Chief Meyers. Now in the village board meeting, the Village President clearly stated that Adam would stay under suspension either way, but they could not make any reversal of the suspension because it was not on the agenda. This is false once again. The motion given to the board was written and I have the exact same copy they do, yet Susan, Jodi, and Bill all disagreed with that fact, stating they could not do anything like that, and only in an emergency could they do it. This is the twisted way that our board has been dealing with the citizens, and I feel the citizens must step up against the way they give the community there information. As Bill stated many times in the board meeting, they do our thinking for us, they are the elected officials that we put in place. I do not believe that any citizen wants to be lied to by any of the elected officials.
