City Council

Town of Vermont Board Meeting August 12, 2024 Meeting will be virtual to allow town hall to be set up for the election 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 Carlock Doug Meier Kirk Lynch Alex McKenzie Nick Balster 1. Approval of agenda Doug motioned to approve the agenda. The meeting was posted according to statute on the door of town hall, emailed to subscribers and posted on the website. The motion to approve carried 5-0 2. Approval of July minutes Doug motion to approve the July meeting minutes. Motion carried 5-0 3. Chairman's report and acknowledgments none 4. Citizens’ Input Marc Haukoos spoke about his issues with his property. Doug made a motion that all further discussions with Marc take place with our attorney. 5. Treasurer’s report Karen motion to move the treasurer's report to after item 8. Total assets $369,456.04 16,522.34 total bills for the month. Board designated reserves are 219,309.15 Alec made a motion to approve the treasurer's report. Motion carried 5-0 6. Clerk’s report We are all set up for the election tomorrow. We have two new poll workers joining us in addition to our regulars. Bills of note this month include the materials and work for a large culvert, the culvert inventory, which we will be reimbursed for and the DaneCom system. In the folder you will find a flyer for the WTA fall workshops. WTA is one of our most helpful training resources. I would like to attend and would encourage anyone on the board who is able to attend to sign up as well. 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 The new culvert on Shower road is in and blacktop over it. The new sign posts are backordered. Jack is waiting to do another round of mowing in September. The fire departments are both looking at their budgets for the coming year. 9. Zoning, Homesite and Driveway Application, Todd & Cynthia Leece, 9517 Howery Road The proposed driveway extension is off their current driveway to homesite. The planning committee recommended approval. This homesite would use their last PDR. The requested rezone is 2 acres from FP 35 to RR2. Karen made a motion to approve the zoning change from FP 35 to RR2. This will use all remaining PDRs for this property. Motion carried 5-0. Tim reports there were no concerns about the homesite. Karen made a motion to approve the homesite for Todd and Cynthia Leece. Motion carried 5-0. Doug made a motion to approve the driveway. Motion approved 5-0. There is a shared driveway and currently the agreement is on file. The new portion of the driveway is outside the easement addressed by this agreement. 10. Zoning, Homesite and Driveway Application, Travis O’Connell, Zwettler Road The proposed rezone is for 3.07 acres from FP-35 to RR-2, for a new homesite. This driveway will need a shared driveway agreement. Dane county has the rezone on the agenda for August 15. Kirk made a motion to approve the rezone. The board approved the rezone 5-0. Kirk made a motion to approve the homesite and the motion carried 5-0. Karen made a motion to approve the 760 ft driveway for Travis O’Connell contingent on receipt of the shared driveway agreement. Motion carried 5-0. 11. Public Safety discussion regarding Mount Horeb open house and inter-municipal discussions Tim and Karen attended the Mount Horeb Open House for the fire department, and they and other municipalities shared their concerns about costs and budget increases. Kirk reports that the meeting with the other municipalities went well. The departments have been doing some trainings together and held an intermunicipal wiffleball game. By next year’s budget planning they would like a roadmap for moving forward. 12. Review status of offer to purchase land immediately adjacent to Town Hall to clean up boundary lines and as approved by Town residents at Annual Town Meeting Kirk reached out to the landowner to see if he was comfortable with a certified survey map that would be required by the county. Kirk made a motion that the board approve the additional expense for the survey pending approval from the landowner. Motion carried 5-0. 13. Review and possible approval of letters to property owners on Town Roads without a signed turn-around easement agreement or dedication The town attorney had some feedback on rewriting these letters. We will continue looking at these in September. 14. Consideration and possible approval of property assessment contract for 2025 - need to determine whether to move forward with re-evaluation or maintenance contract The clerk has reached out to several neighboring towns and also WTA. We received negative feedback about American Appraisal and Accurate Assessors and Blue Mounds  currently used Associated Appraisal and finds them to be slow in getting back to them on issues. In the folder there is a bid from Accurate Appraisal (not the same as above). The clerk also reached out to one other company, however they asked a long list of followup questions so we do not have a bid from them. It was clear that they were less local. Kirk suggested we propose to him that we get a three year agreement 54k over 3 years. 15. Consideration and possible approval of next steps regarding cooperative boundary agreement discussions Kirk signed the agreement based on the more limited engagement that was proposed by the board last month. 16. Review and possible approval of storm damage cost assessment We are unlikely to make the minimum threshold for the state funding. We will not continue tracking this. 17. Review and possible approval of next steps regarding Bohn Road Bridge Doug talked to Ray about progress on this project. It looks like we will be able to put in the replacement bridge without disturbing the utilities or phone lines. We would like to be able to get bids in October and break ground in the spring. 18. Consideration and possible approval of spend for ditching and culvert repair Jack reports that Union Valley needs some ditch work. We would be able to use that silt to rebuild part of the sides of McFee road and also along Roberts Road. The total spend should be less than $3000. Kirk made a motion to spend up to $3000 for ditching and culvert repair. Motion approved 5-0. 19. Budget amendment for small chainsaw purchase The town was able to fit this in the garage supply budget at this moment. 20. 2025 Draft Budget preparation - expenses only The board began the conversation for next year’s budget. The main increase will be returning the salt and sand budget to historic levels after several years of a reduced salt and sand budget that has proved insufficient. 21. Consideration and possible approval of contract agreement with the Driftless Historium for digitization and archival storage of town historic documents. A partnership with the Historium for the digitization and physical archiving of old town records is to the benefit of both parties. We retain ownership of the records and they serve as the custodian and make their archives available to the public. Would ask that the board consider allowing the clerk to sign the transfer documents on an as needed basis. Karen moved to approve the contract agreement with the Driftless Historium for digitization of historic documents. Motion carried 5-0 22. Town of Vermont 2024 Picnic planning We have musicians booked and the menu planned. We are going to need to sort out chafing dishes. We could probably buy some and stay within this years budget. We will  see if the church has them to borrow first, and consider renting from the Co-op if they do not. 23. Agenda items for September Budget Bohn road bridge Cooperative boundary Black earth fire 24. Adjournment Nick motion to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:53