Elmwood Village Board Meeting
Elmwood Auditorium Dining Hall
December 5th, 2007 at 6pm
Present- President Bill Stewart, Trustee Doug Claflin, Pam Marson, Mike Sand (Late)
Mike Burke, Bob Rupakus, Jodi Pulk, and Susan Peeples
Absent- Susan Dzubay (Resigned as of 11-28-07)
Public- Mrs. Yaucht, Neil Boltic, Steve Repp, Talford Family
Agenda-
4-Public Hearing for the 2008 Budget -
Bob Rupakus gave the board the information about the budget that was discussed on Nov. 21st in the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting. He stated that there where two different options for the board to look at. 1st was the blue option, that was discussed in that meeting, and 2nd was an amendment that was never spoke to publicly to anyone. He commented “the basic Jist is this” If you look at the back page, you will see that we have a positive cash flow of $20,000.00 for the 2007 budget, and we are expecting around $10,000.00 cash flow for the 2008 budget. We projected to spend near $930,000.00 in 2007 and we only spent $910,000.00, leaving a positive balance of 20K. The 2008 budget was looked at and voted on with an approx. $565,000.00 for the budget and it is expected to have about $10,000.00 left over. We have a couple changes that make the difference, the Police Committee has decided to only hire 2 part time police officers for about 1200 hrs, and we will then have about $10,000.00 for a Chief of some degree. We may contact another community to see if we can get assistance in this. This is in the yellow version of the budget papers. We also cut costs with the Deputy Clerk position, dropping Vicki from being full time hrs to approx. 75% of the hrs she had. We have decided to change that to 80% to keep her as a full time employee for the benefits being she has been so loyal to the village. That change gave us a $2,000.00 cash flow keeping it still at $7,000.00. We decided to keep all the wages where they where, but pay all the insurance costs for the employees. Jodi Pulk added that there was a 10% increase in the costs. (yet early this year, they reported saving $13,000.00 in insurance costs) Bob then asked the board to pass the yellow version of the budget and not the blue. (this was a budget that never was gone over in a open meeting, and was amended without public knowledge)
Doug Claflin made the motion to accept, and Bob Rupakus gave the second.
(note- nothing was stated about the $40,000.00 loss that was stated in the P&F Meeting on the 21st, nor did they say anything about the tax levy of 3.86%. They also did not tell everyone that they are now charging the citizens for the fire hydrant rental. The Library wanting an additional $2,000.00 was not stated either.)
5- adjourn public hearing-
The Public Hearing was then adjourned without any public input to it. time 6:10pm
Bill Stewart then stated that they where moving number 11 up to the next position to assist with the Post Office Rep. that came for the meeting.
11- US Postal Rep-
Greg Maddux, of Denver, CO came to Elmwood to speak to the board, and explain to them the process in which the village of Elmwood will be getting a new post office built at no expense to the community. He stated that he deals with 4 different states and WI, and MN are two of them. The past four years there has been no funds for any new offices, due to Hurricane Katrina. There is now money available for MN & WI so I jumped on it right away, he replied. I already met 6-8 weeks ago with the board rep. and explained a little about what we where doing here. This information is fore the board and all of the community to know. There will be a letter coming in 2 weeks to the village president to tell him of the steps we will be taking to create a new post office here in Elmwood. We will be looking into 4 different areas, 1- Can the Post Office just stay where they are, and live with their building. 2- Can we just make improvements to the current building and not move them at all. 3- Can we relocate the building to a new site, in another unoccupied building 4- we build a new post office all together on a new site. He then went over the steps a bit more, saying that again, there will be a letter coming in two weeks telling the village what the next step will be. There will be a notice posted at the post office by the postmaster, as well as a public notice in the papers. We will then look into the building specs at that time. Then about 30 days later, we will have the ad for contractors to respond to placed into the paper., with a closing date for the bids listed. These bids will then be forwarded to the village president. We will then have a site selection meeting held to lock down the location of the new post office. We are looking for at least a half acre piece of land for the building. This process will be done within a year, starting the process in Oct. 2007 and ending with Sept. 2008. I will then send another letter to the village president stating what numbers are being accepted for the bid approvals. He said that this gives 4-6 weeks to get all the contractors bids together, and all completed. Then an architect will create an on site plan. The Construction solicitation will be nation wide, and is open to anyone in the US, not just the local contractors. He added, it is not very common for a local contractor to get this type of contract, due to the lack of knowledge for the federal regulation set for Post Offices. We hope to have the building up in the middle or late fall next year, with the parking lot to be completed early the following spring. This was the end of the presentation.
no questions where asked by anyone and Gary and the Postmaster then left the meeting.
7- Approval of the Minutes-
Bob Rupakus made the motion and Doug Claflin made the second.
8- Public Input-
Kristina Talford stated “I have a few”
“I wanted to say thanks to the village board, and I will use the word, thanks loosely. They never spoke over the sponsorship information in the personnel and finance committee meeting, as stated by Bill Stewart last month. I wont waste my breathe or time with it anymore, being you have proven that none of you care”. Secondly, “I would like to know why a board member still sits on the board, after physically assaulting a disabled citizen, not once , but three times in the street”. Bill Stewart responded, by stating that he sent a letter personally to Rick, did you get it, he asked. Rick replied, “You mailed one, right?” Bill then asked, did you get it? Rick replied, “I rec’d it”. Bill then said, and the answer was in the letter?, Rick said, “yeah, your answer I guess”. Bill then stated, ok , then the question had an answer. Rick then told Bill, “Apparently that was not good enough, that my Wife is now asking you in the village board meeting”. Bill started to become agitated, and said, ok, It was not or did not. It was personal between two people and wasn’t a board issue.
Kristina then said, “Christ, he is the head of the police committee”. Bill immediately responded, by telling Kristina not to swear in his meeting. She responded by saying she did not swear. (There was a long pause)
Kris then went on to state her third item for input. “Rick gave you a statement or some papers”. Bill said, this one here. Kris replied, “yes from Jodi Pulk, although it says from the citizens of Elmwood, would you like to clarify that”. Jodi replied, by saying she could explain it. “Umm, I, What’s the date on that? John and Cathy came into the office and wanted to speak to me, because they where upset about something written on the internet and asked me to draft something that they did not personally come in and pull me out of the meeting, and that is what I did. I did not mail anything to you. It was given directly to John and Cathy”. Kristina then asked why it was not posted from the village of Elmwood, instead of Citizens of Elmwood. Jodi replied, “I did not mail anything to you. They asked me for a statement that they did not pull me out of the meeting, and that’s what I did. I wrote it, and handed it to them. What they did with it, is not me. If you would have gotten it from me, it would have been in an envelope from the village of Elmwood on it”. Bill then asked if this was a photo copy of the envelope it came in, Krissy. Kristina replied, yes. Bill then said, ok, it did not say village.. Kristina told Bill her name was not Krissy.. under his breathe, Bill said, Kristina, sorry. Is this the envelope it came in? Kristina replied, Yes. Bill then said, it did not come in an envelope from the village of Elmwood then. Kristina again, said, No. Bill then became smart with her, asking “It came from Who?” Kristina responded, “the letter came from Jodi Pulk” Bill then claimed, it was from Jodi Pulk, to Cathy Delong, and Cathy then mailed it to you, because she felt offended. Kristina said, “It does not say to Cathy Delong anywhere on the letter” Rick then added, “Nowhere on the letter does it say, to Cathy Delong as the person it was addressed to”. Pam Marson then added that it was not a letter either. Jodi then said, “I didn’t draft a letter, I wrote a statement, that was requested from me” Rick then asked, “this is on Village Letterhead, right?” no response, so it was asked a second and third time, before getting a reply. Bill then said, “Yes you are right”. Rick then asked, “so how is it, a written statement?”
Bill then snapped, “Are you listening at all?” Kris stated, “Better than you have” Bill went on to saying that Jodi drafted the letter for Who? Rick replied,” Jodi stated she had written a statement for Cathy Delong” Bill then said, “There ya go” Rick then replied, “still this is a legal letter on village letter head” Bill again stated, “You are right, and it was for Who, for who?” Kristina then said, “It does not say who it was for” Bill then again said, She made it for Cathy Delong. Kris added, “she did not specify that” Jodi then piped up, stating “I did not know it was being sent to you. I was asked to clarify what occurred in my office that day, which is why it is on village letterhead, because they asked me in my capacity as the village clerk to clarify what took place, and that is all I did” Rick then pointed out to the board, “the second page is what was written. That is the only thing written about the situation, and to write this letter to begin with was unneeded. It was a statement that was never stated to begin with. as far as what the complaint was” Kris added, “You read the blog, you should know” Rick then stated, “The article never stated that anyone was forced to come out of the meeting for anybody, but she did. Then it was attempted to us to be forced out of the office by Bob Rupakus, stating the village office was closed for the day” Kris then said “Or is that a lie to?” Bob Rupakus spoke, saying that he locked the door to go into the closed session. Kris said, “Yeah as he told us the village office was closed for the day” Jodi then said, “It was, I had a vacation..” Rick spoke up, saying that there was no posting of the office closed. Bill then again got smart, and said “ we don’t have to post it when we close the office, somebody calls in sick or has vacation, we just lock the door” Rick then asked, “so when you have a open meeting, your going to say that the building is closed, even during that open public meeting is in session?” Bill replied, “you walked in right?” Rick responded, and we where forced out. Bill then said, while the meeting went into closed session Rick then said, “ yes , then we sat in the lobby for an hour waiting for them to re-open the meeting” Bob Rupakus then mumbled under his breathe. Bill again spoke, stating “They locked the door so they could have a private meeting. The lobby was still open, and that is where you stood, right, so the building was not closed up” Rick replied by saying, “What was stated, and what was done are 2 different things” Bill then went on to say that he was not here. “I did not know that Cathy asked for this letter, and I do not see any issue with it, Rick” (forgetting that Kristina was the person asking him the questions, he was pinpointing it back at Rick) Rick then told Bill, “That is fine, you do not find anything to be an issue, Bill” Mike Burke then mouthed, “saying what is the issue ?” Bill then followed suit by stating, “Yeah what is the issue, Cathy and John did not like their name on the internet and they did not ask for it to be there” Rick followed that up with, “I do not ask for a lot of the things that are written on the internet that are about me” Kris added, “Or in other blogs” Rick then finished by saying, “so there ya go, but the letter was still produced on village letterhead” Mike Sand, then spoke, saying “Is there any public input that has any importance?” (disrespectful of someone that has missed 65-70% of all meeting since being placed on the board) Bill then said “I’m done with Public Input, we’ll move on to item #9.
9- Adoption of the 2008 Budget-
Bill then said, I want to go back to Public Input. I do not know if this is the right time or place for it, but I want to get it out. Susan Dzubay has given her resignation..
He was stopped and told that it was on the agenda, further down, by Jodi Pulk
He apologized and claimed it was because he did not have his glasses that he did not see that.
Mike Burke then made a motion to adopt the budget, and asked what copy was suppose to be accepted, and he was told the yellow. He then restated the motion and added the yellow copy as the one to be passed. Doug Claflin then gave the second to the motion.
10.- Resignation of Trustee Susan Dzubay-
Bill told everyone that Susan had filed a resignation to be in effect immediately as of the 28th of November. No reason for the resignation was stated.
Bill then said they where keeping the seat open until next month, when he would appoint someone to the seat.
11- US post office Rep.-
Bill spoke about the item again, stating that he really wanted to keep the post office in town. He then made the comment that he did not know if Quinn Motors would be staying in town much longer. Bob Rupakus then said, he felt it would not be long before Quinn closed up. Pam then stated that the Rep. came and spoke to her about a month ago, and told her that they are looking at a building about 900 sq. feet in size.
Bill then said there was no action to be taken on the item.
It was then stated that the Rep. said they did not want the post office to be near the school.
Mike Burke then added, he did not want the building to be a bar either.
12- Lift Station Final Payment-
Mrs. Peeples told the board the final payment was being requested, and that was the final 10%. The touch up items have been completed, and the restoration jobs done also. The only change was the change order done for the panel, and that was changed to give the village 5 yrs on the warranty.
Bob Rupakus made the motion to pay, and Mike Burke gave the second.
(note- the village never did recoup any funds for the construction not being completed in the time they stated. This was totally just over looked, and not followed up on)
13- appointment of election workers-
The names of many where listed off as the election workers for the next year. all of them have been in the position before, and all where accepted again.
Jodi Pulk stated that there are 4 elections next year, so everyone should be ready to vote.
Pam Marson made the motion and Mike Burke gave the second.
14- Committee and Board Reports-
Doug stated the Public Works met on Nov. 13th, and discussed the LREP funding.
Jodi then added that Jamie was at the meeting tonight.
Doug then continued, stating that they looked at Lower Woodman and the school had an issue with the people parking on both sides of the street, making it difficult for the busses to be getting through. Jamie was asking that they not allow parking on the west side of the street, during school hrs, and only allow parking on both sides, on weekends, holidays, and after 4 pm daily. This would resolve the problems for the buses.
We also discussed relocating the gas line from under the Genesis building, and that was ok’d to be moved.
Bob then stated that they had a Personnel and Finance Committee meeting on No. 21st. They had a closed session to discuss the employee compensation issues that where discussed earlier in the budget. We also went over the 2008 budget, and there was an amendment to that since. We also had a brief discussion over the Meyers settlement offer. Jodi then said, no we didn’t. Bob then stated it again, and Jodi again said, no we did not discuss that. Bob then said, “Oh yeah, that’s right”
(note- as I wrote in the Elmwood citizen for that meeting, it was discussed under the closed session, and we knew that happened, Bob just acknowledged it. They refused to talk about it with the Wife and I present at the meeting)
Mike Burke stated there was not any Library meeting held.
Mike Sand stated there was no Parks meeting
15- Pay Bills
Pam Marson made the motion to pay the bills, and Doug Claflin gave the second, I think ?
16-Adjourn at 6:37 PM Motion by Doug and 2nd by Mike Burke
Note- I noticed the second page of the board meeting papers, and I see the Village is making changes that are upcoming. 2006 we had $170K for Public Safety, 2007 we had 169K, and next year they have slashed it to 129K. I wonder just why they are cutting the biggest thing the community has interest in, the safety of the community. They have also created a nice issue with the debt services that we are dealing with. In 2006 the cost was $57K, and in 2007 it was 39K, yet they spent $105K, and next year they are claiming to need $138K. It makes me again wonder what they are doing, putting the village in more debt year after year and creating more billing in fee's for the citizens to pay up. Every Citizen needs to get into the village office and request a copy of the 2008 budget and look it over and start asking questions on where all these funds are going.
