Feb. 2008 Village Board Meeting

Elmwood Village Board Meeting

Elmwood Auditorium

Feb. 11, 2008 at 7 PM

Attendance- President Bill Stewart, Trustee's Doug Claflin, Dick Tiffany, Mike Sand, and Clerk Jodi Pulk

Absent- Pam Marson, Robert Rupakus, Mike Burke

Citizens- Reporter Sari Gordon, Kristina and TJ Talford, Engineer Angela Popenhagen, Bruce Hartung, Matt Marose, and 1 or 2 misc. people

While not attending the meeting, but reading the minutes by the Clerk and the Reporter, I noticed information not being given by the Clerk still.

Agenda-
Public Input- none

Change Order for Woodman St. (Upper)
There where additional costs against the Village again by the Engineering for the Woodman St. repairs. A Change Order for $4,706.00 was approved by the Board, after hearing that the extra fill and the returned items had been completed. The project again cost the Village 5% over the budgeted amount.

Pay Req't for Upper Woodman #3
The Clerk claims that the project came in 20% below the budget amount. (this is conflicting info. from what was given as information just prior in the change order) Angela Popenhgen req't amount of $8,827.83 with there still being work to be completed in the spring.

Pay Req't #2 for Lower Woodman St. project
Another $3,511.12 was requested for the Lower Woodman work, with 10% being retained until completion.

Elmwood Fire Dept. Truck Purchase
A cost of 273,000.00 between the Village of Elmwood and Lucas, EL Paso, Rock Elm, Weston, Spring Lake and Eau Galle. The heaviest of the cost would be against the Village of Elmwood. The actual costs per month of the purchase where not known of given at the meeting. It would be a ten year loan. (just a cpl years ago, I recall the Village Board denying the repair to our pump truck, with the Board Member stating that our fire dept. could not get out of the fire hall within 20 minutes, so he would not back any costs from them)

Auditorium Renovations
The Parks and Buildings Committee gave info. to the Board on replacing the stage and re-doing the floors and chairs. No action was taken, but the thought of having fund raisers to help pay for the changes was spoken about. I do know that the Ladies group in Elmwood has already told the Board that they had funds to help in changes to the Auditorium many months ago.

Correspondance
Miss Elmwood wrote a letter of thanks to the Board for helping send her to the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

Committee and Board Reports
Parks and Buildings= Pierce Co. Planner Ad was discussed, with the cost to the Village for the Ad being $200. This was not reported by the Village Clerk, just the PCH Reporter. The costs are higher than the Clerk told the Board a few months ago, as well.

Personnel and Finance= Jan. 30th meeting was held to discuss the Fire truck.

Police= A meeting with SV Police Chief Burgess was held to discuss possible co-op for the Elmwood PD. The Clerk states this was done by the Police Committee, yet in the meeting, it was stated by Bill Stewart that he himself had the meeting with Burgess. (Note- I have a personal knowledge that there will be absolutely no co-op agreement in this manner with the SVPD and the EPD. This directly from the SV Board. The citizens of Elmwood have been getting lied to about the Police services since the termination of Adam Meyers. Bob Rupakus has continually stated that SVPD was going to help in Elmwood, and this has been denied publicly many times, even by newspaper reporters in the local paper.)

Payment of Bills
Approved

Adjourn
7:40 PM

Note- There has been a number of threats towards the family to stay away from the meetings. The most recent was telling us to keep Kristina away from the monthly meetings and the harassment towards the family would stop. This is far from right, and will not be listened to--maybe the board members should find something else to do, rather than threatening the citizens. Rupakus made more threats to another citizen in Elmwood, via phone call as a Rep. of the Village. This is not a personal issue at all. He is not acting respectable as a board member what so ever. There will be another meeting on March 5th at the fire hall in regards to the Adam Meyers case as well. Changes are needed in Elmwood, and it is becoming more easy to see.

News from around the area.....

By Wally Smetana, Editor Emeritus
Monday, February 18, 2008 11:15 AM CST
www.dunnconnect.com

BOYCEVILLE — There’s a vacancy on the Village Board. It’s the office of president.Using a scathing letter as his vehicle, Steven Fischer submitted his resignation to the board last Monday evening. He was serving his third term as village president.The board will address the issue Monday evening when it holds a special meeting.Fisher was first elected president in April 2003. His resignation concludes an approximate five-year period in village history that was often marked by feuds between Fischer and certain board members.

While Fischer’s resignation was unexpected, one observer (who preferred not to be named) commented, “He intended to resign when he came to the board meeting. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have prepared a letter of resignation.“He (Fischer) did the village an enormous injustice because of the negative attitude he exhibited. His action reflects badly on the board and village. The strife that existed couldn’t continue any longer. Something had to happen — and it did.”The observer did point out, however, that the office of village president does entail an immense amount of time and is becoming more difficult each day as new regulations are promulgated. Hiring an administrator, with the assignment of bringing all factions together, might be the best solution, according to the observer.(Reportedly, one of the trustees came to the board meeting with the intention of resigning. However, he was “talked into” staying on the board by other trustees.)Fischer’s letter of resignation follows:To Village Board members and the Boyceville community:“This letter is my formal letter of RESIGNATION as the village president for the Village of Boyceville.“These past few months, I have been slandered and my family has been drug through the mud. I have received ZERO support from the village board members and in fact have been called a liar. In the terms that I have served as village president, I have always had the best interest of the COMMUNITY in mind and heart. NOT ONE TIME have I benefited from anything that I have supported while village president. I HAVE NEVER LIED!!“During the time of budget changes for 2008, a personal attack on myself and family began. The Boyceville Police Department has used several ploys in order to make this happen. These ploys include pushing a complaint within the school that involved our daughter, not handling that complaint, but turning it over to other police departments, collaborating with those other police departments to assure that I got a ticket, providing individuals with information regarding the incident so that they could publicize it as ‘concerned citizens,’ following me to work several times, using harassing police techniques from other police departments to ‘prove’ to the board that more police are needed in town, and by rallying his friends to become village board members.“After receiving the minutes for the Public Safety Committee [chair Bill Sempf, Herb Dow and Keith Sorensen] meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 5 (the meeting which the village attorney, John Higley, advised me that I could not attend because of my emotional involvement) it was clear to me that the presiding board members are clearly swayed by those people that are the smoothest talkers, not by the facts that are clearly part of the ‘bashing Steve’ that occurred at that meeting and are written in the meeting minutes. These board members clearly lost control of the meeting, which instead was ‘ran’ by Dan [Wellumson] and Brian Hurt.“The police policies which I suggested changes on were based on other local police department policies, state law, the liabilities of the village, and consistency among all village department heads. Please refer to the Employee Handbook in which you will see that all department heads report to the village president. This should be no different for the Police Department. This is by no means my way of having ultimate ‘power,’ because in fact, it takes the whole board to make decisions. It is called consistency and accountability.“I am a progressive thinker that wants positive changes for Boyceville, and a person that wants accountability from the employees of the village and the board members that serve the village. I guess this is not what the current board wants. I am FRUSTRATED, tired of being the target for every employee and board member’s actions (or inactions as it may be), tired of fighting for the good of this town all by myself, and refuse to be part of this any more. My resignation in no way means that anyone has ‘WON,’ but I will not put myself or my family through the stress and personal slander that this position entails.”

Wally Smetana can be reached at (715) 235-3411.

2008 Election Statement

Rick A. Talford
for
Village Trustee
_____________
Pierce County
Village of Elmwood
___________________
Constitutional
Election Date: April 1, 2008

Reason for Running:

I would like to serve on as a Village Trustee, to help invest the time to better
Our Community for the future. Hopefully in as many ways as we can come up with.While returning the Board back into the Democracy style it once was.

Family and Community:

I have been with My Wife for 21 years. We have been married for 18years,
with two Son’s 15 & 17. Both Boys are in High School, and have been Honor Role Students. We have run a small business in the town, to help those that may need the assistance with their needs with Snow and Lawn Care. We are also a part of the Adopt A Hwy program that is within the community and reaches out into the county.

Leadership and Service:

My past includes a HSED and High School Diploma. I have been a Licensed
Restaurant Manager. My family and I started a small business “Talford’s Snow & Lawn Care Co.” in 2002. I have been involved with the NRCC, and have received different awards from them, including the Ronald Reagan Award 2 years in a row. The most recent of them being the Congressional Order of Merit in late 2007. The family also is happy to be part of the NWF, with the Backyard Habitat Program. Other Organizations and Memberships I have involvement with are: AIC, ACS, ADA, ASPCA, MADD, MDA, NRA, NPCA, as well as National Program like the Trust Historical Preservation, the Law Enforcement Officer Memorial, the Police & Trooper Assoc., Vet Services, Firefighter Charitable Foundation, and the Wildlife Federation. The Wisconsin programs are: the Fraternal Order of Police, the Professional Police Assoc., and the Vets Assoc. Others include the Wildlife Forever, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Sierra Club, and the Metropolitan Ministries.

In 2007, I received Certificates of Appreciation for the “Arbor Day Foundation”,
“Special Olympics”, “Easter Seals”, and “Feed the Children” where through the family business, we where recognized for helping serve 581 meals to the needy in 2007, and have started off 2008 with 183 so far. I also received a Certificate of Acknowledgment from “Boys Town”. We have also been active in donating to the Elmwood Athletics Programs through WDMO Radio in Menomonie. We received a Certificate of Sponsorship for helping with the Internet Safety Program. I have also been listed in the Madison’s Who’s Who of Professionals and will be in the 2007-08 Yearbook coming out in March 2008.


Issues be deal with:

1) Taxes and Increases to the community that keep happening due to poor money management skills.

2) Business and Home Owners leaving the community. The growth of our community is an area that must be given notice, and time to make it better.

3) Integrity of our Public Officials is an area that I very much am aware of, and want to change for the better. I believe that every person deserves to be heard, as well as every opinion. The standings in the community should never make one mans word greater than another. It is a Citizens right to ask their Representatives any question they have, and they should always be answered in a respectable manner.

4) Community Awareness and Participation are another area to make better. The Board currently states that “They Make Our Decisions For Us” They should be doing everything possible to getting the citizens view, weather by surveys to us, or simply becoming more open to public input over these areas. Higher attendance to the meetings would show the citizens are interested in participating with their local government.

5) Education is similar to the Village Board, with the School Board not getting the participation from the parents in the District. Continuous cuts to the programs that mean the most have to be looked at better. While sports can be very attractive for the Schools, it can also be the downfall, when our funds are being used to promote them, instead of the Educational needs of the students. The Safety of Our children should be a top priority and keeping every kid in School until graduation needs to be a must.


I would like very much, to hear from anyone in regards to my candidacy, the issues, and your expectations for your elected officials. Please feel free to make contact with me at any of the following. I will respond ASAP if messages are left.

Sincerely,


Rick A. Talford
123 W. Shaw Ave.
Elmwood, WI 54740
(715) 639-2313
Fax 639-2314
email- rtalford@centurytel.net

Jan. 30th, 2008 Village Committee Meetings

On Jan. 30th, 08 there was a couple meetings at the village hall. I did not attend these meetings, due to the continued threats of arrest if I show up. The Village Clerk not once, but twice that day called the County Sheriff Dept. to request a deputy to be in attendance so if I where to show up, they would arrest me. The Village is not only acting like a bunch of cowards, but now they are waisting the Counties time. I went into the County to pick up a couple Police Reports, and was stopped in the office by a Deputy, telling me that I was to stay away from the meetings that where being held that night in the Village hall. These meetings where not even known by me, but I told the Deputy that in no way was I going to disobey the directive that was given against me. I will be looking into legal actions against that by itself. After returning home, It was heard over the scanner again, the Village Office requesting a second time for a deputy to be at the Village Hall for the meetings at 6:30pm. Then the Deputy that spoke to me, came over the air, and announced that he spoke with me in regards to the meetings already. This is nothing less than the Village Personnel trying to embarass, humiliate, and initiate more trouble. They have succeeded in getting a citizen banned from public meetigs. this has been the attempt for a couple years and without the courts giving the order, a County LT. gave the directive that has kept me away from the meetings, that I have every right in attending. This is far from over with for them. I will continue to do whatever I think is proper in getting this corrected. Manipulation of the Legal system is becoming the Village Of Elmwood and their Attorneys favorite past time now. This I will do my best in proving as well. The Village Board Members have started attacking other Citizens as well, is what I am hearing now. Threats to those people that do not agree with them. Yeah, that is democracy at it's best.