City Council

Minutes Town of Vermont Board Meeting November 13, 2023 Vermont Town Hall 4017 County Rd JJ, Black Earth WI 53515 ​ 7:00 P.M. ​ To Join the meeting by phone: +1 347-896-0991 PIN: 481 262 925# In attendance: Karen, Alex, Doug, Kirk, Nick 1. Approval of agenda Karen called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Doug made a motion to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. 2. Approval of October minutes Doug Made a motion to approve the October meeting minutes. Motion carried 5-0. 3. Chairman's report and acknowledgments - 4. Citizens’ Input Black Earth Creek Watershed was on hand to speak about their request for funding for the Stream Monitoring program. They are asking for $5000 a year for the next 5 years. It would fund 4 monitoring stations that provide real time monitoring of water quality and conditions. The board members asked various questions regarding the potential benefits of the project. 5. Treasurer’s report Deposits this month totalled $1,455.29 which was mostly interest. The current account balance is $328,968.61. Doug made a motion to approve the treasurer's report. Motion carried 5-0. 6. Clerk’s report We received word Friday that we will get LRIP funding of 17,208.64 for the resurfacing of Moe Rd in 2025. We had one new single family home building permit this month for 3299 Ryan Road. Bills this month included paying for the buildout of the new Ford Truck, $49,505 as well as paying the dues for the Black Earth and Sugar River watershed organizations and distributing payments for veteran grave care, we also paid for the chip material for our salt and sand mix and we paid Williamson surveying $1000 for the surveying for the turnaround agreement for Shower Rd. Karen made a motion to approve the clerks report. Motion carried 5-0. 7. Payment of bills Doug made a motion to pay the bills. Motion carried 5-0 8. Patrolman Report, Mt. Horeb Fire Department, Black Earth Fire District and District 1 EMS Reports Jack has been working on road signs and preparing for winter.  Mt Horeb Fire meeting will be held Wednesday. The new ambulance is in service and the old one has been sold and did well at Wisconsin Surplus. Recruitment will start for the new deputy chief in February. Black Earth Fire will finish the year on budget. The board decided to continue taking out loans for fire equipment rather than accruing. There are significant equipment costs coming up in the next couple of years for new trucks that the town will have to borrow money for. District One is still searching for a new chief. 9. 2024 Chip Sealing road bid opening & possible acceptance of a bid Bids were received from Scotts and Farhner and opened at the meeting. The bid from Scotts for chip sealing Ryan Road was: $113,360 The bid from Farhner for chip sealing Ryan Road was: $97,720 Karen made a motion to accept the bid from Farhner. Motion carried 5-0 10. Homesite and Driveway Approval, Jeffrey and Nancy Bell, Near 4664 Old Indian Trail Karen Made a motion to approve the proposed homesite. Motion carried 5-0. Karen made a motion to approve the proposed driveway. The previous permit recently expired but there have been no changes to the plans. Motion carried 5-0 11. Budget amendment for salt and sand The proposed amendment covers the additional funds spent this year on sand and salt in order to fill the shed to capacity. The amendment moves $19,340.05 to Road Maintenance > Sand and Salt from Reserve>Road Maintenance. Kirk made a motion to approve the proposed amendment as written. Motion carried 5-0. Karen made a motion to move item 15 up on the agenda. Motion carried 5-0 12. Employee/Patrolman contract review Doug suggested that if we move towards parity with Dane County pay scales that would make the difference between what Jack’s current compensation is now and what it would be when his health insurance costs increase in January.. Karen mad a motion to raise the hourly rate from $30 to $31.44 effective Jan 1, 2024. Motion carried 5-0. 13. 2024 Draft Town of Vermont Budget review and discussion We now have the final number for chip sealing which came in lower than we had budgeted. We updated our numbers to reflect the salary increase to compensate Jack for the increase in health insurance costs. We will also adjust our Black Earth fire accrual numbers somewhat, to $21,000 in order to balance out Mount Horeb’s numbers. The budget for the Bohn Road bridge replacement was discussed and deemed necessary. The board will add in $2500 for the Black Earth Creek. This will come out of a new conservation category that will represent 1% of the Vermont Town Levy. This category will also include the Black Earth and Sugar Creek contributions. 14. Document Retention planning/preservation  Kirk put together a spreadsheet for looking at an overall document plan and shared that with the town. A suggestion was made to look into a more consistent rodent-proof storage container option for the papers in the basement. 15. ATV survey update from subcommittee Doug and Alex worked on a proposed survey that asks: Should the town have an ordinance regulating atvs? Should the ordinance allow atvs? If so, should it apply to all roads? Should it have a 3 year sunset? The final format of the survey will be refined and ready for the December meeting so that the survey can go out with the tax bills. 16. Bohn Road Bridge update While we have not yet received official word from the county regarding this funding, we have been told we can expect the funding for 50% of the project cost to be approved. 17. Cooperative Boundary Agreement evaluation discussion and review of next steps We did not hear back from Black Earth or Blue Mounds. The committee will continue discussing the agreement with Mount Horeb. 18. Fire District discussion and planning The board would like to get more towns on board with a discussion. Karen will continue to reach out. Kirk made a motion to have Karen reach out to the boards of nearby towns on behalf of the town of Vermont board. Motion passed 5-0 19. Discussion regarding Land & Water Resources FAQ The town did receive a fact sheet from Land and Water Resources. We will post it on the website. 20. Agenda items for December Cooperative Boundary Agreement ATV/UTV survey Fire District Discussion Election inspectors for 2024-2025 Final budget approval 21. Adjournment Doug Made a motion to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:35