Village Board

MINUTES OF THE ALBANY VILLAGE BOARD April 14, 2025 The regular meeting of the Albany Village Board was called to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Albany Village Hall be Acting President Michelle Monson. Members present were: Monson, Fred Johnson, Paul Rhyner, Kimberly Klein, Tonya Stephan and Bert Hefty. Absent: Kim Blumer. Also present: Lonnie Gill, Robert Ritter, Melissa Everson, Brian Hauri, Jay Hotchkiss, Olivia Otte, Kaitlin Spooner, Logan Winner, Justin Everson, Jasmin Perrin, Carson Brewer and Mitch Marty. Proof of posting was verified. AGENDA: Motion by Rhyner, seconded by Stephan, to approve the agenda as printed. All ayes. Motion carried. MINUTES: Motion by Johnson, seconded by Hefty, to approve the minutes of the March 10, 2025, board meeting as printed. All ayes. Motion carried. PRESIDENT’S MOMENT: Nothing. PUBLIC APPEARANCES: None. LIBRARY UPDATE: Everson reported that the libraries are in the news due to the federal administration threating to cut all funding. An impressive statistic for the library is the preschool story time; spring break had 38 people in attendance, and the entire month of March boasted a record of 90 people for preschool story time. Currently working on the summer program, the theme is Color your World. The summer program will be done in two age groups again like last year, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They will also be doing the summer reading challenge for people of all ages. April’s monthly program is Sourdough Beginning and on April 26th they will have a Sourdough baking presentation, which has had a great response with the public, even requests to offer a second session. There will be in-house computer updates soon. GREEN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: Otte reported on some new programs being offered; officially kicked off housing development fund which will be offering low interest loans to housing developers and the developers wanting to work in the Albany area are aware of the program. They have received $3 million for this program and will be first- come first-serve to help finance gaps. Finally went live with the device refurbish program, where they are offering free devices to individuals, businesses and non-profits. These devices are 3–5-years and will be refurbished and offered to anyone in need of a device. Going live with pitch series, starting in May where contests for small business owners can pitch their ideas to win a cash prize, it is free to sign up and is a $1,000 cash prize. They  Village Board, April 14, 2025 - Page 2 of 4 have also received a grant to create a micro-loan to offer 0% loans to help get small businesses up and running. The DNR grant application for the downtown river side businesses is due May 1 – this is where there were meetings with the riverside business owners and UW Platteville engineering students to help plan some designs. The grant requires an up-to-date Outdoor Recreation Plan, which Albany has an outdated one, which needs to be completed by an outside consultant at an additional cost. A few people will be meeting on Thursday to start the TID process. There is some concern about having the funding and borrowing capacity to do both the TID and the downtown riverwalk. APPROVE RESOLUTION 01-25: AUTHORIZE SUBMITTAL OF GRANT APPLICATION TO DNR: Motion by Monson, seconded Stephan, to table the DNR grant application and look into the innovation grant application to help with the Outdoor Recreation Plan and Capital Improvement Plan. All ayes. Motion carried. SOUTHERNWESTERN WI REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION – OUTDOOR RECREATION PLAN: Motion by Johnson, seconded by Hefty, to table until we learn more about the innovation grant. All ayes. Motion carried. ALBANY COMMUNITY 1ST / CHAMBER: Nothing. APPROVAL OF CSM FOR LAND DIVISION – PARCEL #2300403470000: Motion by Hefty, seconded by Rhyner, to approve the CSM as presented. All ayes. Motion carried. APPROVE BUSINESS LICENSE / CIGARETTE, TOBACCO, VAPING APPLICATIONS FOR HEMP 1848, INC.: Fire Chief Hauri reported that there were some issues with building code and fire code so the occupancy inspection did not pass. Motion by Monson, seconded by Johnson, to table until the occupancy inspection passes. All ayes. Motion carried. COMMITTEE / COMMISSION MEMBER LIST: Motion by Rhyner, seconded by Hefty, to approve the committee/commission list. All ayes. Motion carried. FENCE PLAN: Motion by Rhyner, seconded by Stephan, to approve the fence plan for 301 Mineral Street. All ayes. Motion carried. OPERATOR’S LICENSE: Motion by Johnson, seconded by Klein, to approve the operator’s license for Hunter Brewer. All ayes. Motion carried. SET ANNUAL BUSINESS LICENSE FEE: Motion by Rhyner, seconded by Stephan, to set the 2025 annual business license in the amount of $40. All ayes. Motion carried. SET NSF FEE: Motion by Rhyner, seconded by Hefty, to set the NSF fee at $35. All ayes. Motion carried.  Village Board, April 14, 2025 - Page 3 of 4 COMMITTEE AND COMMISSION REPORTS: The following committee and commission reports have been placed on file: Parks 3/17/25 Police, Fire & License 3/25/25 Plans 4/3/25 Street & Utility 4/7/25 Building/Grounds/Cemetery/Recycle 4/8/25 BASEBALL BATTING CAGE: Rhyner suggested someone approach the Sports Booster Club and ask for a donation towards this purchase. Motion by Hefty, seconded by Rhyner, to table. All ayes. Motion carried. LEGION PARK BOAT LAUNCH: Motion by Stephan, seconded by Rhyner, to approve the repairs at the legion park boat launch at a cost of $2,980. All ayes. Motion carried. Winner also mentioned the boat launch on South Water Street needing some work; Gill reported they need to add some rocks and will work on that. FIRE DEPARTMENT REMODEL: Motion by Johnson, seconded by Rhyner, to have the department get pricing to remodel the upper Messana for storage and bring back to the board. All ayes. Motion carried. PH – VARIANCES 703 4TH STREET: Motion by Monson, seconded by Johnson, to approve the variances for Mobile Home #1 – 11’ on the side to 5th Street, 7’ in the rear, 4’ between existing Mobile Home #2; and Mobil Home #4 – 12’ in the front to Cincinnati Street, 6’ in the rear, 11’ on the side, 1’ between existing Mobile Home #3. All ayes. Motion carried. 2025 CONDITIONAL USE AND VARIANCE FEE: Motion by Johnson, seconded by Hefty, to set the 2025 fee for conditional use and variance at $300. All ayes. Motion carried. FENCE PLAN: Motion by Stephan, seconded by Rhyner, to approve the fence plan at 704 6th Street. All ayes. Motion carried. 2025 PHOSPHORUS CREDIT PAYMENT: Motion by Stephan, seconded by Rhyner, to approve the phosphorus credit payment in the amount of $26,204.96. All ayes. Motion carried. HILLCREST CEMETERY RATES: Motion by Stephan, seconded by Johnson, to increase hillcrest cemetery rates as proposed. All ayes. Motion carried. APPROVAL OF BILLS: Motion by Hefty, seconded by Rhyner, to approve the bills as presented. All ayes. Motion carried.  Village Board, April 14, 2025 - Page 4 of 4 ANNOUNCEMENTS AND FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS: Hauri reported that the Fire Department has a strategic planning kickoff meeting on April 17. ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Rhyner, seconded by Kelin, to adjourn. All ayes. Motion carried. 7:30 p.m. MICHELLE C. BREWER, Clerk Village of Albany