March Council Meeting

COLBY COMMON COUNCIL March 7, 2023 Page 1 The regular meeting of the Colby Common Council was called to order at 6:30 P.M. by Mayor James Schmidt. On roll call: O’Brien, T Schmidt, Baumgartner, Hesgard and Hederer. Lindeman was absent. Also present were Mayor James Schmidt, Clerk Connie Gurtner and DPW Higley. Agenda was posted by the clerk. The agenda will stand as the order of the meeting. Minutes of the February 7th meeting minutes were pre-read and reviewed. Motion was made by O’Brien, seconded by Hesgard to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried with a voice vote. Financial Statement and Bills were discussed. Motion was made Schmidt, seconded by Baumgartner to approve the financial statement and bills. The amounts approved are as follows: General Fund $557,565.06; Capital Fund $65,352.00; Water Department $35,869.52; Sewer Department $39,239.95; Net payroll $23,153.41. Motion carried with a voice vote. Public Comment: William Bratcher, Clark County Circuit Court Judge candidate spoke to the council. Colby/Abbotsford Police Commission met on February 14th. The commission approved minutes and expenditures. Review of Financial Contributions by Each Municipality: Hederer said the 55% Abbotsford/45% Colby funding for the CAPD has been in place since 2005 for sure. He said the Central Fire and EMS funding from the municipalities was based on equalized valuation and population. Chief Bauer has done some preliminary research on the issue. He said based on equalized valuation, Abbotsford's share would be 63% and Colby's would be 37%. Reviewing arrests and incidents requiring a report, the activity level in 2021 was 68% Abbotsford, Colby 32%; in 2022 the activity level was Abbotsford 69%, Colby 31%. Chief Bauer said Clark County incidents must be updated for the analysis. He said by population, the current 55%/45% split was accurate. History of the why the 55%/45% percentage was arrived at and mutual aid for incidents out of Abbotsford and Colby were reviewed. CAPC members agreed to research the financial contributions issue further and discuss the matter at a future meeting. Chief's Report: Chief Bauer said deployment of the K-9 last month resulted in four arrests. He said the K-9 officer was now a certified instructor for vehicle contacts. He said the CAPD is now fully staffed. Chief Bauer said the recent Chief's Conference in Wisconsin Dells featured many new ideas on various topics. There were 787 total CAPD activities reported for the month of January, 2023, compared to 738 total CAPD activities reported for the month of January, 2022. Weideman said he had received compliments about CAPD Officers picking up some on 4-wheelers for various violations. COLBY COMMON COUNCIL March 7, 2023 Page 2 Meeting date for March 2023: The next CAPC meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 13, 2023 at the CAPD. Central Fire & EMS District met on February 16th. Minutes were distributed prior to the meeting. Parks/Rec/Recycling Committee met on February 20th. Purchasing Banners: The city is looking to purchase new banners for 2023. DPW Higley had pricing form Display Sales for 24” wide x 62” long banners. Custom banners that size cost $95/each with a setup fee per design of $60. The Custom banner for the hometown hero banners is $121/each. It was determined to purchase style #D4631 Hometown Hero – Blurred Flag as the first choice and style #D446 Hometown Hero – Circle Flag w/o the “Hometown Heroes” wording as the second choice. Higley is going to contact Display Sales regarding those two options. The committee decided on 3 other banner styles – Qty 32 of D538 Patriotic - “Welcome to Colby”, Qty 16 of D434-KG Elegant Welcome - “Welcome to Colby, Home of Colby Cheese”, Qty 16 of BS100-BG Building Welcome “150 Years – Established in 1873”. The committee asked the clerk’s office to work on a form for the hometown hero banners and then Todd Schmidt will write an article help with promoting the banners. They want to offer an option of one summer or two summers. The deadline to purchase a banner for 2023-2024 season is 4/14/2023. The cost to purchase a banner was set at $200/each. Motion was made by Hederer, seconded by Baumgartner to purchase the banners that were recommended by the Parks Committee. Motion carried with a voice vote. Mayor Schmidt: Mayor Schmidt reported on his meeting of the Clark County Economic Development and the Marathon County Municipal Meeting. Mayor Schmidt appointed Liz Baumgartner, Douglas Noyes, Jane Holtzhausen, Nancy Swan and Mary Holtman. Motion was made by Hederer, seconded by O’Brien to approve these appointments. Motion carried with a voice vote. He also informed the council that the city will be posting an ad for a summer hire. DPW Higley: No building permits. DPW Higley reported on the precipitation and flows for February 2023 at the STP. He also reported on the pumpage of water for February 2023. COLBY COMMON COUNCIL March 7, 2023 Page 3 Bids for Construction of Colby Storage Building at 303 S 1st Street: The city received 6 bids for the construction: Quality Construction $135,600; Precision Builders $157,000; Huotari Construction $195,000; SD Ellenbecker $211,100; J Jenson & Co LLC $222,222; Altmann Construction $253,600. Motion was made by Hesgard, seconded by Hederer to approve the bid for Qualtiy Construction in the amount of $135,600. Motion carried with a voice vote. Bids for Water Main Replacement on Highway 13: The city received 3 bids for water main replacement on Highway 13: Switlick & Sons Inc, $547,170; Earth Inc, $798,885; 3rd bid from A-1 Excavating did not have the bid security. Motion was made by Hederer, seconded by Hesgard to approve the bid for Switlick & Sons Inc of $547,170 to replace the water main on Highway 13. Motion carried with a voice vote. Committee meetings for March: Colby-Abbotsford Police Commission will meet on March 13, 2023 at 6:30 P.M. at the Police Department. Central Fire & EMS District will meet on March 16, 2023 at 7:00 P.M. at Station 2. The annual cemetery meeting is March 28, 2023. April Council Meeting: The Spring Election is Tuesday, April 4th and we have been using the council room for the elections. It was determined that we will meet on the same night and just meet in the basement. Adjourn: Motion was made by Schmidt, seconded by O’Brien to adjourn at 7:30 P.M. Motion carried with a voice vote. Approved _____________________ James W Schmidt, Mayor Attest _________________________ Connie Gurtner, Clerk