Village Board

MINUTES OF THE ALBANY VILLAGE BOARD March 11, 2024 The regular meeting of the Albany Village Board was called to order at 6:38 p.m. in the Albany Village Hall be President Kim Blumer. Members present were: Blumer, Fred Johnson, Michelle Monson, Roald Henderson, Larry Nipple, Tonya Stephan and Bert Hefty. Absent: Fred Johnson, Larry Nipple and Lonnie Gill. Also present: Robert Ritter and Melissa Everson. The Pledge of Allegiance was shared. Proof of posting was verified. AGENDA: Motion by Stephan, seconded by Hefty, to approve the agenda as posted. Carried. MINUTES: Motion by Hefty, seconded by Monson, to approve the minutes of the board meeting of February 12, 2024 printed. Carried. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: Nothing. PUBLIC APPEARANCES: None. GREEN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: Otte reported that Childcare funding is still available, for education and capital improvements to the provider’s facility. There is a small business series starting April 3, held for five weeks, once a week for 2 hours and then a pitch contest will be held for a cash prize for their business. Albany is getting a small grant to help with downtown beautification, $1,000 for benches, sidewalk paint, etc. She would like ideas from the board on where we should spend that money; can also be used to help with pedestrian crossing, walking and biking. A decision does not have to be made right away, the money has to be spent by May 2024. Albany Farmers market filed a grant for marketing, such as a website and flyers to give more notice, and are waiting to hear back on that. There are a couple county wide grants to help with housing and broadband that have been applied for; workforce development and apprenticeship programs. If we want to apply for the downtown riverside DNR grant, we would need an exact plan and a resolution from the board; the amount is up to $250,000 with a 20% in kind amount. Since we do not own the property on the waterfront side, the DNR states we could get an easement from the property owners. This grant will require quite a bit of work and is due by the end of May. Will need to look into some ideas for this grant, whether it be a river walk or retaining wall. ALBANY COMMUNITY 1ST / CHAMBER: Vosters reported that the Chamber is currently working with Lake Winnetka for the June 1, 2024 Hooked on Fishing event and are also coordinating with good trucks to be present. NORTH WATER STREET CLOSURE – JUNE 1, 2024 FROM 7AM-6PM: Albany Community 1st/Chamber is requesting to close the street during the Hooked on Fishing and Food Truck event. Motion by Monson, seconded by Hefty, to close North Water Street from Milwaukee Street to Madison Street on June 1, 2024 from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Carried. Currently there are two confirmed food trucks and they are looking to get four. LIBRARY UPDATE: Everson was present to give an update on the library. The cleaning position was finally filled. The annual DPI report has been completed and filed, which governs libraries. Village Board March 11, 2024 Page 2 Current library programs are adult book club, adult writers club, and just started a children’s program called Paws to Read. This is where therapy dogs come in once a month after school and children sign up for a time slot to read to the dogs; for the first session 24 participated and 14 of them were kids. Library board has approved a change in homebound patron policy – there used to be a requirement that the patron had to physically prove they were homebound, that requirement has been removed. Statistics – circulation is down, patron count continues to rise with 450 in February this year and last year it was 379. South Central Library System runs an app called Libby where patrons, from any library, with their library card can download and/or borrow books. Currently trying to figure out how many of our patrons use Libby and then trying to find out how to navigate that data. FENCE PLAN: Motion by Stephan, seconded by Hefty, to approve the wooden garden fence for Fred & Valerie Johnson located at 605 South Mechanic Street not to exceed six feet in height. Carried. FIRE DEPARTMENT OFFICERS: Much discussion on what is needed/required to be Fire Chief. The board would like clarification on who else is currently qualified to be Fire Chief as Danny Mueller brought to a meeting in 2023 that he would like to retire. Also questioned on who else is qualified to be Assistant Chief and Second Assistant Chief since Danny Mueller has also indicated that Justin Mueller, most recent Assistant Chief, is very busy. The board would like Danny Mueller to bring to the March 2024 Police, Fire & License meeting the following items: fire chief training/certification requirements; a list of fire department members and training/certifications and bylaws. COMMITTEE AND COMMISSION REPORTS: The following committee and commission reports were reviewed and placed on file: Parks Commission 2/19/24 Police, Fire & License 2/27/24 Personnel 2/2/24 Street & Utility 3/4/24 ORDINANCE 01-24: FIRE INSPECTIONS: Much discussion on changing the current ordinance from two inspections to the suggested one inspection. The proposed ordinance states “not to exceed fifteen months” and the board is considering removing that and leaving it at “once per calendar year.” The board would like Danny Mueller to bring to the Police, Fire & License committee meeting fine amounts that can be issued to premises’ that have inspection violations and then can possibly explore creating an ordinance to issue citations for such violations. Motion by Monson, seconded by Stephan, to table the Fire Inspection ordinance until we gather more information. Carried. OPERATOR’S LICENSES: Motion by Hefty, seconded by Monson, to approve an operator’s license for Mackenzie Vanthournout. Carried. Village Board March 11, 2024 Page 3 TRAINING/DAM BOARDS: The fire department has dam training the first weekend in May and would like Gill to wait to put the boards on the dam until after their training. Motion by Hefty, seconded by Blumer, to wait until May 6, 2024 to put the dam boards on. Ritter offered to call the DNR and make sure we have permission to wait until after the training on May 5, 2024 to put the boards on the dam. This is tabled until more information from the DNR. VILLAGE HALL OFFICE HOURS: Motion by Blumer, seconded by Monson, to add eight hour day option to the personnel manual to give the office employees the option of working eight or ten hour days with the schedule to be set so that the office is staffed five days Monday through Friday each week. Carried. VILLAGE HALL WEEKLY CLOSURE: Motion by Monson, seconded by Blumer, to close the clerk’s office to the public on Wednesdays effective March 13, 2024 for an undetermined amount of time, bringing it back for review at the May 13, 2024 board meeting. Carried. POLICE OFFICERS POSITION(S): Motion by Monson, seconded by Hefty, to have Chief Ritter continue to run the police officer ad to ensure we have adequate staff. Carried. HEYGOV – UTILITY PORTAL: Motion by Stephan, seconded by Monson, to approve the HeyGov portal at a startup cost of $3,000 and a yearly maintenance fee of $2,000 thereafter. Carried. APPROVAL OF BILLS: Motion by Monson, seconded by Blumer, to approve the bills. Carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Nothing. ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION UNDER WIS. STAT. 19.85(1)(C): At 8:00 p.m., motion by Blumer, seconded by Monson, to adjourn to closed session. Roll call: Hefty—yes; Stephan— yes; Blumer—yes; Henderson—yes; Monson—yes. Carried. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION: Motion by Blumer, seconded by Stephan, to reconvene to open session. Roll call: Hefty—yes; Stephan—yes; Blumer—yes; Henderson—yes; Monson— yes. Carried. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM CLOSED SESSION: Motion by Monson, seconded by Hefty, to offer the full-time police officer position to Clay Spooner. Carried. ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Stephan, seconded by Monson, to adjourn. MICHELLE C. BREWER, Clerk Village of Albany 8:59 p.m.