City Council

Minutes Town of Vermont Board Meeting November 11, 2024 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 Carlock , Nick Balster, Alex McKenzie, Doug Meier, Kirk Lynch (by phone) 1. Call to Order & Certification of notice posting Karen called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. Katie certified the meeting had been posted according to statute and emailed to subscribers. 2. Approval of agenda Doug made a motion to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0 3. Approval of October minutes Nick made a motion to approve the October meeting minutes. Motion carried 5-0 4. Citizens’ Input (Public Comment is limited to 5 minutes per person) Mark Haukoos spoke about his opinions on awarding of development rights in the town of Vermont. 5. Treasurer’s report Interest income and the last payment of General Transportation Aid were received in October. Our current balance is $394,990. 6. Clerk’s report The election ran smoothly, with no issues. Thanks to all of our poll workers for their diligence and accuracy during a very busy day. Because of an unprecedented number of people requesting early in person voting we will likely move to offering that only during specific hours, rather than by appointment as the number of requests became unwieldy. There was one new single family building permit issued this month for 9998 Greenwald Rd. Bills were mostly routine. 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 prepping the equipment for winter. Mount Horeb Fire is still waiting on final budget numbers as Cross Plains has still not had their board of review. The personnel committee just offered a promotion to lieutenant, and also there are some new volunteers. Black Earth Fire is meeting next week and they are proposing a name  change to Wisconsin Heights Fire. District 1 has no update but Arena is talking about a contract for coverage with District 1. 9. Opening of road bids, consideration and possible approval of road bid We received bids from Scotts and Fahrner, for the Moe Road overlay and for chip sealing. Farhner only bid on the chip sealing for $145,966 with an additional $45,920 for chip seal only on Moe Road. From Scotts, the bid was $123,800 for the chip sealing and for the overlay $ 225,000. Karen made a motion to accept the Scotts bid for the chip seal and overlay of Moe for a total price of $225,000. Motion seconded and passed 5-0. Karen made a motion to decline both chip sealing bids due to budget constraints. Motion carried 5-0 The board doesn’t have room in the budget to do the chip sealing, Moe and the bridge this coming year. 10. Zoning change, homesite and driveway application, Gordon Brunner, 4377 County Hwy F The owner is preparing to sell this lot and is asking for the rezone, homesite and driveway from FP-35 to RR-2 for 3.5 acres. Nick made a motion to approve the rezone from FP-35-RR-2. Motion carried 5-0 Doug made a motion to approve the homesite location with the coordinates as in the records. Motion carried 5-0 Alex McKenzie made a motion to approve the driveway. Motion carried 5-0 11. Review, consideration and possible amendment to Fees ordinance Karen moved that we increase the handling fee from $1.25 to $2.25 for un-neutered males or unspayed females. Motion carried 5-0. The board discussed the new county categories for puppies and decided to make no changes to their fee structure to attempt to accommodate this, due to the confusion created by so many categories. Karen made a motion to increase the operators license fee from $25 to $50 to cover the cost of background checks. Motion carried 5-0 Under land division it was suggested that the fee category be changed to “planning commission site visit”, rather than a number of separate categories. Karen made a motion to that effect and the motion carried 5-0. The ordinance will be updated and a summary published. 12. Review and possible action regarding updates from Land & Water Resources This will be on next month when we have more information. 13. Consideration and possible approval of clerk and treasurer re-appointment for another 3-year term In Wisconsin Statute 60.30 1e clerks and treasurer can be appointed for a maximum of 3 years. The board discussed various ways of handling this. Karen Carlock moved that the board approve Katie Zelle for a term from Nov 11 to April 14, 2025. Motion carried 5-0. In April, the clerk and treasurer can each be appointed for 3 year terms to align with the planning commission appointment calendar. 14. Consideration and possible action regarding turn-arounds on dead-end roads Due to the intersection of public and private property, the cost to taxpayers, and the constraints of budget, Nick made a motion to table the discussion on dead end roads until we have enough information. Motion carried 5-0. 15. Consideration and possible action regarding driveway build violation There is a driveway on Stanfield Road where the asphalt slopes directly up from the road, rather than dipping down so that the plow wing is going to hit it. The town has reached out but now it has been blacktopped and it presents a hazard for the snowplow. The board will draft a letter and have the town attorney review it and send that as soon as possible. 16. Agenda items for December Appointment of election inspectors for 2025-2026 Land and Water resources Bohn Road Bridge briefing by Ray Polkinghorn Update on Cooperative Boundary Agreement 17. Adjournment Alex made a motion to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. Meeting adjourned at 8:35