City Council

Minutes Town of Vermont Board Meeting July 8, 2024 7:00 P.M. Vermont Town Hall 4017 County Rd JJ, Black Earth WI 53515 ​ To Join the meeting by phone: +1 347-896-0991 PIN: 481 262 925# ​ In attendance: Karen Carlock Alex McKenzie Kirk Lynch Doug Meier 1. Call to order and certification of notice posting Karen called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. Katie Zelle certified the meeting had been posted according to statute, mailed to adjacent property owners and posted on the website and door of town hall. 2. Approval of agenda Kirk moved to approve the agenda. Motion carried 4-0 3. Approval of June minutes Kirk moved to approve the June meeting minutes. Motion carried 3-0-1 4. Chairman's report and acknowledgments none 5. Citizens’ Input none 6. Treasurer’s report The current total balance is $450,539.98, total liabilities are $387274.79 and reserve balances are $219,309.15 in total. Kirk made a motion to approve the treasurer’s report. Motion carried 4-0 7. Clerk’s report We have the schedule set for the poll workers in August. We will be training two new workers. Absentee ballots have been sent and will continue being sent as requests come in. The Wisconsin supreme court has ruled that we may once again receive ballots using our secure drop box on the front of the building. There were no permits issued for new construction this month. Bills of note included paying Fahrner for the chip sealing of Ryan Road. Kirk made a motion to approve the clerks' report. Motion carried 4-0 8. Payment of bills Doug Meier made a motion to pay the bills. Motion carried 4-0. 9. Patrolman Report, Mt. Horeb Fire Department, Black Earth Fire District and District 1 EMS Reports  Jack reports that lots of trees continue to come down. He has been cleaning out culverts and ditches; ditches are full of silt and holding water. We are going to need to put rip rap on the outflow side of some culverts where there are washouts. No updates from the fire departments this month. 10. Driveway Application, Gordon Brunner, 4377 County Hwy F This is a field road, not a driveway, and Mr. Brunner is parceling off 4 acres with the intent to sell. The land is going to be sold and the new owners will have to get a driveway permit before they can get a zoning permit. Karen made a motion to approve the driveway application for 4377 County Rd F. Motion carried 4-0 11. Field Road Application, Sue Powers/Daniel Frame, County Hwy F The landowners had rezoned two parcels and the county based the approval for that rezone on highway access. The two field roads are to meet this requirement. Karen made a motion to approve the field road application for Susan Powers and Daniel Frame for the field roads on their property. Motion carried 4-0. 12. Consideration and possible approval of conditional use permit application for David Dybdahl at 4200 Blue Mounds Trail The planning commission discussed this at their last meeting. Their only question was that they asked about the trash service, there was some confusion, but he will have his maintenance people take the trash off site. Kirk made a motion to approve the conditional use permit for the transient lodging permit. 13. Consideration and possible action regarding Ridgetop Overlay As discussed at the public meeting, nothing is actually changing in the rules, this is just an enforcement option. Additionally it does only apply to residential building and not to ag. Brian Standing would send the rezone petition for the entire town. Everyone would receive a postcard about the meeting. There would be a public zoning hearing. The county would make the actual decision to approve. So, instead of filling out the town ridgetop form, the county zoning inspector would verify based on the elevation plans that they met the requirements. This would become part of the county zoning approval process. Kirk made a motion to approve moving forward with the Ridgetop Overlay application. Motion carried 4-0 14. Consideration and possible approval of next steps regarding cooperative boundary agreement Kirk feels that without an imminent need it might not be valuable to continue to spend money to pursue this. Tim added that Mount Horeb doesn’t really want to sign an agreement. Kirk suggested that we have him be a party to one more meeting with Mount Horeb. Karen suggested that we cap it at 10 hours. Karen made a motion to approve the extension of the agreement with Mark Roffers for meeting with Mount Horeb only with a cap of 10 hours on his time. Motion carried 4-0. 15. Consideration and possible approval of property assessment contract for 2025 - need to determine whether to move forward with re-evaluation or maintenance contract Kirk feels that we shouldn’t incur the expense before we have to. Karen suggests that we reach out to Steve and ask some questions and have this item on the August agenda. 16. Consideration and possible approval of updated solar ordinance Karen spoke with our town attorney and they recommended that we not move forward with an ordinance. The recommendation instead was that the town should consider adding the language to the comprehensive plan. Another suggestion was that a solar farm would use up a split. 17. Consideration and possible approval on ongoing website maintenance contract and set date/time for website training Kirk Lynch made a motion to add a budget line for $50 a hour for website maintenance not to exceed 24 hours a year. Motion carried 4-0. 18. Discussion and possible action regarding public safety expenses Open house for Mount Horeb Fire is July 23 and Doug feels that if towns don’t have articulated expectations for budget there is not much they can do after the fact. Doug thinks it’s fair to hold public safety agencies to something close to the CPI. Doug suggests that the board make a resolution indicating that. Kirk suggests not more than 2% above CPI, so a 5% increase. A resolution was drafted by the board and Alex motioned to send resolution 070824. Doug suggested that it be sent to Black Earth Fire and DaneCom. Motion carried 4-0. 19. Review status of offer to purchase land immediately adjacent to Town Hall to clean up boundary lines and approved by Town residents and Annual Town Meeting Kay could draft an easement agreement for $350. The town would still pay the property owner. Some clarification is needed because easements in Wisconsin are limited to 40 years. The board is going to look into doing the CSM survey. 20. Review and possible approval of letter(s) to property owners on Town Roads without a signed turn-around easement agreement or dedication Karen and Jack are working on which roads to send letters to. The board would like this completed by winter so the first round of letters will go out this month. 21. Consideration and possible appointment of Jim Elleson, Dean Bossenbroek and Scott Moe as plan commission members for an additional 3-year term Karen made a motion to appoint Jim Elleson, Dean Bossenbroek and Scott Moe as plan commission members for an additional 3-year term. Motion carried 4-0 22. Town of Vermont 2024 Picnic planning  Still looking for a musician. Will be putting together an invitation to be sent out through mailchimp and on the website soon. Doug suggested Mike’s Mud Music. 23. Agenda items for August - Note: August meeting will be virtual only due to voting the next day Property assessment contract Public safety open house recap Boundary cleanup Town road turnarounds Budget planning 2025 Ridgetop overlay Storm damage cost assessment Doug made a motion to go ahead and get Jack a new chainsaw for up to $1000. We can do a budget amendment for next month. Motion carried 4-0. 24. Adjournment Doug made a motion to adjourn. Motion carried 4-0. Meeting adjourned 8:51 pm