December 2010 Elmwood Village Board meeting

2011 Budget Passed by Elmwood Village Board


Submitted by citizen journalist Rick A. Talford


ELMWOOD, WI - On December 6th, 2010 the Elmwood Village Board met for their monthly meeting. The meeting was held a week early this month, so the board could approve the upcoming 2011 Budget. A Public Hearing was held prior to the meeting to give the public a chance to question any areas of the budget prior to it getting passed by the board. The hearing was closed after about fifteen minutes, with no public questions. The meeting was also held one hour earlier than normal, starting at 6 pm. All members of the board were present with the exception of Trustee Bob Weix.

In Public Input, Office Matt Broehm spoke to the board in regards to a new ordinance. This ordinance will be in conjunction with the Elmwood Public School, and will need to have further discussion with them, and the village board. It is called a K2 Bann Ordinance. I have requested more information on this ordinance to give the public an idea of what it details, but have not received any response as of yet. I hope to be able to give more detail in the near future. No Action was taken. I have been given the information as of today, Dec. 14th, 2010. This is an ordinance against the new synthetic spray drug version of Marijuana. It has many other names, such as spice, k2, Genie, Yucatan Fire, and fake marijuana. This has not yet become against state or federal law, but many cities and smaller communities are taking action now.


The board then voted unanimously on the 2011 Budget, with Bob Weix being absent from the vote. In Committee and Board Reports, Trustee Patricia Knops reported the Nursing Home Budget had been approved, and a bid was accepted for their projects. This information was not going to be made public, until some finalizations were made to the bid. Trustee Bruce Hartung then spoke about the Personnel and Finance Committee, stating they will be working on employee evaluations. Concluding the reports, there was discussion from the Parks and Building Committee over the continued problems with water ponding at the intersection of Main and Hwy 72. There is still an issue of water sitting on the corner nearest to Rheil’s Funeral Home. There was no report from the Library this month, due to Trustee Bob Weix being absent.

Finishing the board meeting, the board discussed payment of the bills. Trustee Bruce Hartung questioned if there was a hold back on the Butternut Park Ravine repairs and Clerk Amy Wayne confirmed that 10% was held back and would be paid when the project was inspected in the spring and everything was favorable. The meeting then adjourned around 6:40 pm.


(Note-- Last month the board stated the meeting was going to be held a week early, but never mentioned it would be held an hour early. Anyone that would have showed up at 7pm for the meeting, would have found an empty meeting room. I am now believing more that the meetings should be posted in the newspaper at least a week prior to the meeting, so it ensures the public knows when there are changes in the time and date of the meetings. I attend these meetings, and had no clue the meeting would be held an hour early, and it would be done by its original start time. Just a thought that should be brought to the board attention. Just placing a note on the village door, does not ensure everyone gets informed.) This month they held a Hearing and the Board meeting, and it took all of 35 minutes to complete everything.