Village Board

EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 1 of 10 Call Meeting to Order; Pledge of Allegiance Administrator Suhm verified the meeting was posted according to law. Roll Call: President Timms called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Present: President Timms, Trustees Fred Douglass, Matt Johnson (via phone after vote by Board), Forty Renucci, Scott Seager, Dusty Stanford and Ann Zess Excused: Others: Chief Boyes, DPW Director Equitz, Administrator Suhm, Attorney Gray, YIG Advisory Board members Alex Marshman and Alex Shahczinski Board Consideration of allowing Trustee Johnson to attend via telephone Motion by President Timms, second by Trustee Stanford to allow Trustee Johnson to attend the meeting via telephone. Motion carried. Administrator Suhm called Trustee Johnson who was heard and it was verified he could hear the Board via speaker phone. Citizen Participation John Jacoby, 2980 North Street, stated he felt relatively protected and safe during icy conditions with the recent street salting by the Department of Public Works. He noted he was happy the Board would be discussing the water tower logo. He questioned the new videos that appeared on the website and stated he felt the quality was poor and it didn’t include a lot of other businesses in the area. He questioned if the Board had approved the video being placed on the website and asked about who makes decisions on what is included on the web site, the process and who prioritizes the content. He expressed a desire to have more clarification and transparency on the “Village of East Troy - Randy’s Thoughts” Facebook page and the items that he is working on. He specifically mentioned the path parks project with connecting everybody together and asked if it is Randy working on it as citizen, how do citizens help and if he is working as a Board member how does the Board not know what he is working on. Consent Agenda (One motion and second will approve all of the following items. Any item may be pulled from the list and voted on separately.) 1. Approval Minutes – 12/19/16 2. Operator’s Licenses – Caroline Luedtke 3. Recommendation from Plan Commission to approve a one-lot extraterritorial certified survey map in the Town of East Troy off of CTH L; Howard and Maureen Gleason, applicant 4. Recommendation from Plan Commission to approve one-lot extraterritorial certified survey map in the Town of Troy off of Booth Lake; Mick and Tricia Mitten, applicant 5. Recommendation from Plan Commission to approve a three-lot extraterritorial certified survey map in the Town of Troy off of Bowers Road; John Bashaw and Corrine Lorian, applicant 6. Consider approval of Special Event Permit to American Legion, Memorial Day Parade & Festivities, May 29, 2017 and waive the Parade fees. ($25 parade fee) (new for 1/23)  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 2 of 10 Motion by Trustee Stanford, second by Trustee Douglass to approve the consent agenda. Motion carried. Miscellaneous Business 1. Swearing in of Youth in Government Advisory Board members Administrator Suhm introduced the program and swore in Alex Marshman and Alex Shahczinski as YIG Advisory Board members through May 2017. Senator Nass also attended and spoke commending and encouraging the Youth in Government participants. 2. Property access at the end of Brooks Court, owned by Mary Pulliam (RXUP 00126, RXUP 00127 and RXUP 00128) Attorney Robert VanScoyoc, of Sweet & Maier, S.C. was present representing Mary Pulliam. He distributed handouts with maps of the lots to the Board. He explained the Pulliams have a pending contract to sell the three parcels but it has been discovered there is no legal means of access to the property. He explained the unnamed road (a reservation for a roadway) was set aside for public street purposes and it was deeded to the Village in the 1960s. The street was never built and now because of requirements and engineering concerns a street is no longer feasible. He stated an option would be for a driveway to run across the unnamed road from Brooks Court to the property. He explained there was an access easement notation on the recorded plat for the purpose of accessing the vacant properties. However, the title company involved in the sale of the property noted they did not think it was a valid easement because the easement on the plat did not state what property or properties were to benefit from the easement. He explained the owner of the vacant parcels was working to negotiate the purchase of a small triangle of each property (lot 1 and lot 16 on the Crystal Acres plat). He reported one lot owner wrote back stating they were not interested and the other did not respond. He explained the last option would be the driveway for the vacant parcels to run across the unnamed road to Brooks Court. In order for this to occur, the Village need to take the small easement area by eminent domain. If it were taken, it would be part of a public roadway that would run across the unnamed road, which is already owned by the Village for public street purposes. He stated this would satisfy Chicago Title and allow access to the vacant parcels. He asked the Board for authorization of Attorney Gray to set forth the steps that would be necessary for the Village to undertake the eminent domain process. Attorney VonScoyoc advised the property owner would prefer the driveway be shifted more to the right of the cul-de-sac, which would have more impact on lot 1. He advised this was due to a streetlight at the end of the cul-de-sac that would need to be moved otherwise. Discussion occurred regarding how the error originated. In 2002 the Village approved the Crystal Acres plat. The developer complied with the Village’s request to provide the three parcels an access easement because there was concern the parcels would end up landlocked. When the plat was created there was a clerical error in defining what properties the easement was to benefit. Discussion Included:  If the property could utilize the unnamed road area for driveway access from Highway 20. Topography concerns and whether or not the state would allow a driveway access were discussed.  How much property was needed to create the access? There was not an exact area or amount known.  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 3 of 10  The cost associated with the land necessary for eminent domain was unknown, which some board members expressed concern about in addition to this being the first time the Board discussed the issue  DPW Equitz stated the area of the streetlight is where snow is plowed and stored during winter months and that would need to be looked at as well.  Attorney VonScoyoc advised the intent of the property owner is to combine the three parcels into one parcel.  If the unnamed road were vacated, which Attorney Gray recommended, the adjacent property owners would receive a portion of that property (half of the land for the unnamed road goes to the property owner on one side and the other half goes to the property owner on the other side). Discussion occurred regarding whether or not that would help offset the portion of property used for access.  Trustee Renucci suggested shifting the entire cul-de-sac west, which he felt would be beneficial if they wanted to keep the three parcels separate and allow the potential to give more land to lots 1 and 16. Concerns regarding the cost associated with doing so were discussed. Motion by Trustee Stanford, second by President Timms to move forward with eminent domain and that Attorney Gray at least approach the topic to find out if the unnamed road area can be used to help to offset (the property used for access). Trustee Johnson asked to clarify if the motion would be to move forward with eminent domain. The Board discussed the motion was to have Attorney Gray work with the property owner’s attorney and begin the process, but the motion is not actually approving the eminent domain. Trustee Seager questioned if Attorney VonScoyoc and Attorney Gray could put together what the process would entail including the amount of property to be taken, how much the land would cost, as well as explore vacating the road. Once all the details are together, the property owners could be approached with the details as a total package. Trustee Stanford disagreed stating the Village cannot landlock a property and the seller is in a position where they cannot sell the property right now. Attorney VonScoyoc clarified that the written proposal sent to the property owners as part of the negotiation process proposed the road would be vacated so they were aware of the potential to acquire the additional land. President Timms explained the attorneys and owner have been trying to resolve the issue for close to a year and the question before the board was whether or not to authorize the attorneys to proceed with eminent domain. Advisory Vote – Alex Shahczinski - Y, Alex Marshman - N Attorney Gray clarified that the process would be to determine the value of the land so a jurisdictional offer could be made. She stated they would come back to the Board with a survey and appraisal prior to proceeding. She also advised according to timelines the property owner has a right to obtain counter appraisals. It was clarified that the Board still has an ability to say “no” and stop the process at that time. It was also clarified that vacating the unnamed road would be brought back to the Board. Administrator Suhm reread the motion.  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 4 of 10 Trustee Seager suggested a motion could be made to investigate the procedures, a dollar amount and the amount of property. Gina Dingman, real estate agent for the vacant property owner, stated the issue has been going on for almost a year. It began when the Village Engineer and Planner confirmed there was access from Brooks Court if the unnamed street was vacated. At this point all measures have been exhausted with the engineers. The sale would have been completed five months ago, but was stopped when the title company brought up the easement issue. Roll Call Vote was requested by President Timms on the motion. President Timms Y Trustee Douglass Y Trustee Johnson Y Trustee Renucci N Trustee Seager N Trustee Stanford Y Trustee Zess N Motion carried. 3. Liquidated damages for water tower painting project, request for discussion by V&T Painting, LLC (Timms) Vasel Malaj, owner of V & T Painting was present to discuss liquidated damages. This project was completed 45 days late and liquidated damages were $750 per day. The expansion joint was not replaced and lawn restoration was not done. The decision was made at the last Village Board meeting to assess full liquidated damages. Mr. Malaj explained his pricing of the project and the difficulties that were involved in the project. The platform needed work, which was unexpected, and the fill pipe needed additional work and inspections. He also explained wind interfered with work. When the wind is 10-15 miles per hour work cannot continue. He stated there were times DPW Equitz called him to stop the job because of overspray or dust. He stated the logo work also cost him days. DPW Equitz explained he had asked how many extra days were needed to repair the platform. They verbally agreed on five days to complete that task so five days were taken off the actual 50- days past deadline. There were no days subtracted for the filling pipe because that was not discussed. DPW Equitz reviewed a timeline, explaining that the Village Board voted on this project on May 16 and approved the contract. V & T signed the agreement on May 20. V&T showed up for work the first time on July 21. The tank was back on line on Nov. 2. Trustee Renucci asked if he had another project going at the same time. Mr. Malaj expressed that it was not because he did not have workers - V & T had two crews. Trustee Johnson stated that he does not know if we will get to an agreement by going through each and every line item. He explained that he does not know much about painting water towers, but does know about project management. He pointed out that the contractor did not execute the necessary change orders. Also, there was some other work that was not done and the Village needs to withhold funds to address these issues. He suggested the possibility of modifying the logo, which was the Village’s issue, as part of an agreement.  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 5 of 10 Trustee Zess stated that she does not believe the Village was damaged and should not press for liquidated damages. The contractor corrected the issues with overspray and other issues. She also questioned if there a way to repaint the logo. Trusted Renucci asked DPW Equitz if the tower is in good shape and painted well. DPW Equitz expressed that he feels that we got a great final product except that we did not get the expansion joint. Trustee Renucci asked if the expansion joint could be done at a later date and DPW Equitz explained that the $6,500 bid is for that and it is over twice the original price. The work will not be planned when it needs to occur and the tower would need to be down to do the work. Lawn restoration can be done for $2,500. Motion by President Timms to reduce the fees that were originally voted on to $9,000 equating to $2,500 and $6,500, second by Trustee Stanford. Advisory Vote – Alex Shahczinski - Y, Alex Marshman – Y Trustee Johnson requested a roll call vote. Trustee Zess N Trustee Douglass Y Trustee Johnson N Trustee Seager Y Trustee Renucci Y Trustee Stanford Y President Timms Y Motion carried. 4. Water tower name/logo (Trustee Johnson) Trustee Johnson explained he had driven around the Village to view the water tower and the only place that one can see Village of East Troy wording is if you are taking Hwy 20 Westbound near the airport. The logo is not as bold and easily readable at it used to be. He believes it may have to do with the color or the font size. He stated at this time, he doesn’t want to discuss design but would like to instruct DPW Jason to work with Dixon Engineering to determine what would be involved with repainting the water tower and get three or four different views of what it would look like. DPW Equitz stated he did get a budget number to repaint the logo. It would involve sanding off the existing paint to the base color, masking off the area, repainting the area and the logo that is decided upon. At this time the paint is fresh and should blend easily. The budget number came in at $15,000. He thought it might be a little high but after discussing it with the contractor feels it is close. He stated if the Board decides to go this route he would obtain a couple of bids. Trustee Stanford stated that some people do not like it and some do. He stated with the size of the tower it is difficult to place logos so they are seen from all sides. Trustee Johnson agreed with him and restated that it does not have to be the logo, it could just say “East Troy”. DPW Equitz suggested the need to back up and ask what they want from the logo and where they want the ability to see it from. President Timms stated that not every water tower in every municipality is identified and it is not imperative to the function that the water tower have writing on it at all. Mr. Malaj explained the restriction that because of the size of tank the letters cannot be made bigger and the bulb circumference is an issue to the size of the letters. Trustee Zess stated that she feels the mistake was adding the “Village” and that made it unreadable. DPW Equitz agreed and suggested that if the Board wants it to say “East Troy” not to use fancy script and just make it block letters simply stating “East Troy”.  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 6 of 10 Trustee Johnson restated he is trying to keep the discussion away from what it needs to be and thinks that is for the designer and painter. He stated that he is not one to spend $15,000 on something like this, but with the complaints/questions he has received, he felt it needed to be discussed. Motion by Trustee Stanford, second by President Timms that we forgo anything else with the water tower and leave it alone. President Timms summarized that it seems that the Board is all in agreement that the printing on the water tower is not the best and all are in agreement that the project was done properly. He recognized the fact that the tank would need to be emptied, the weather conditions would need to just right and the associated cost of painting would be $15,000, which was perhaps for a questionable benefit. He suggested this topic should be kept on the “radar” and if there is an appropriate time that the tank needs to be drained for a reason then the Village should look at painting at that time. Advisory Vote – Motion carried. Motion carried 6-1 with Trustee Johnson voting no. 5. Authorizing two refunds of 2016 taxes due to palpable errors found by the assessor Motion by Trustee Stanford, second by President Timms to approve. Advisory Vote – Motion carried. Motion carried. 6. Potential ordinance amendment relating to amusement/arcade licensing Motion by Trustee Johnson, second by Trustee Seager to approve. Advisory – Motion carried. Motion carried. 7. Potential ordinance amendment relating to the penalty and violation sections of the zoning code and building code Motion by Trustee Seager, second by Trustee Douglass to approve. Trustee Johnson asked if the Board is entitled to a report of all violations and how they were dealt with. President Timms stated that this is done at the County level and he had discussed this being added with Chief. Chief Boyes stated the plan was to incorporate it with the police report. President Timms explained the information would include the date started, what has happened on item, the disposition, if it is ongoing and if a citation has been issued. Advisory Board – Motion carried. Motion carried. 8. Contract amendment with Lynch & Associates for standard specifications project, addition of $4,600 Motion by Trustee Zess, second by Trustee Seager to approve the amendment for Lynch for $4,600. Advisory Board – Motion carried. Motion carried.  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 7 of 10 9. Discussion regarding water usage history and trends (Timms) President Timms shared the water usage he has been tracking since 2013. He stated it was not for any specific purpose other than referring to when discussing capacity and used in conversation with DPW Directors Miller and Equitz regarding how wells are performing. DPW Equitz explained that the new meter program began in 2012 and in 2015 we lost the largest water user, the west Plymouth Tube plant. 10. General liability insurance policy renewals 2/1/2017-1/31/2018 Motion by Trustee Stanford, second by Trustee Seager to approve with the social engineering added on to the policy. Advisory – Motion carried. Motion carried. 11. Agreement with Baxter Woodman to perform operational evaluation study of wastewater treatment plant for WPDES permitting, $15,000 DPW Equitz explained that within the recent permit from DNR they are required to do an operational evaluation of the Wastewater Plant by September 30, 2017. It is a checkup on things as the plant is eight years old. It will be an opportunity to explore options with the phosphorous issue and to insure operation is at peak efficiency. Motion by President Timms, second by Trustee Douglass to approve. Trustee Johnson asked DPW Equitz since the report is due by September 30, when he thought Baxter would have the report for the Village to review. DPW Equitz stated it will take three to four months and it will be close, but he is confident they will complete it on time. Trustee Renucci asked if the prior phosphorous testing involving East Troy Lake was being considered in this. DPW Equitz responded not in this operational evaluation, but in the phosphorous issue as a whole. The phosphorous is higher going in than it is coming out and this is likely due to the fact that the silt in the lake is holding phosphorous. Advisory – Motion carried. Motion carried.  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 8 of 10 Ordinances & Resolutions 1. Ordinance 2017-01 – Frequency of Police Department Reports Motion by Trustee Stanford, second by Trustee Douglass to approve. President Timms questioned why reporting frequency was an ordinance and stated that he would prefer to rescind the ordinance. He expressed he does not feel it is appropriate that a department head’s reporting frequency is dictated by ordinance. Chief Boyes questioned Attorney Gray if this mirrors a portion of State Statute. Attorney Gray advised there is no statutory requirement on how often he has to make reports to the board and can be mandated via policy. Advisory vote – Motion failed. Motion failed 0-7. Motion by President Timms, second by Trustee Stanford to repeal subsection 105(2). Advisory Vote – Motion carried. Board – Motion carried. 2. Resolution 2017-01 – Citizen Participation Policy (from 12/19/16 meeting) President Timms stated he still believes the three minutes is more than adequate. Prior Boards have tried five minutes and felt it was too long. Trustees Seager, Zess and Johnson expressed support for a five-minute period for citizen participation. Trustee Johnson also asked for clarification once the Board has moved on from Citizens Participation when is it appropriate to let somebody from the audience speak and not speak, with President Timms explaining that the two people that spoke outside of the citizen participation were both here for that agenda item. Trustee Renucci questioned if the Board should have made a motion to allow them to speak. Trustee Seager added that the speakers from the audience should step up to the mic and introduce themselves. Trustee Johnson discussed the language in the policy that specified applicants, not those people related to the agenda item, which he felt was highly restrictive. Trustee Seager stated the need for clarity on that point because there was situation in particular regarding East Troy Lake when a participant in the audience with information was not allowed to speak outside of Citizens Participation. He stated that there should be a way to allow somebody with pertinent information on an agenda item to speak. Attorney Gray reminded the Board if they allow everybody from the public to speak it becomes a public hearing. Trustee Johnson stated he would like clarification of the definition of who is part of the presentation and applicant. He expressed his worry that the Board will not be able to enforce this in an equitable manner. Trustees Johnson and Seager questioned the point that stated the Board “will not comment” stating they believe it needed to be changed to “should not comment.” Attorney Gray stated she could make that change. Motion by President Timms, second by Trustee Stanford to instruct Attorney Gray to rewrite Resolution 2017-01, changing paragraph one to 5 minutes, “will not” to “should not” and to change language in item three to include “any person or persons directly involved in the agenda item”. Advisory Vote – carried. Motion carried.  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 9 of 10 Reports 1. Municipal Court – November 2016, December 2016 2. Emergency Services – 11/15/16 Minutes – Trustee Renucci questioned an over budget item and Trustee Douglass explained that the calls are becoming more serious calls as the population is aging. 3. Village President – December 2016 – In response to questions on items one and three, a meeting with a restaurant owner and a meeting on December 19, President Timms stated he was asked to keep the matter confidential. Trustee Seager asked about his conversation with Tony Barrett and President Timms explained that took place in advance to the community meeting that Tony hosted. Trustee Zess questioned what was not on the report, stating President Timms had mentioned a lot of projects at the recent community meeting that she was not aware of as a Board member. In particular, she mentioned Trent Tube talks, Loxidromics and an email to a resident indicating that he is meeting with attorneys and the DNR. She questioned if money is being spent on these services that the Village Board is not aware of. President Timms stated that there was no money being spent. She expressed concern about being aware of projects before they are set. President Timms explained that he had an idea of how to make an improvement in the Village and has researched it and talked to other people who are involved, an attorney and representative from the DNR, to find out how to make it a realization. He reported he, the attorney and DNR are working on that behind the scenes and when things are in place he stated he plans to bring it to the Village Board to so the Board has ample opportunity to evaluate the possibilities. 4. Airport Advisory Committee – 11/14/2016 and 1/9/2017 Minutes – Trustee Johnson asked if there were any updates on emergency procedures. Trustee Zess explained the Airport Committee wants to look at this. Through Walter’s agreement he is in charge of setting up an emergency procedure. They have looked at BOA and some others that would assist. They need to get police and EMS involved as they would be the responders. It is not the airport personnel or people on the field’s intent to run an emergency event but it is more to set up a plan so when emergency personnel come on the field they are aware of where they can go, etc. Discussed public participation at the committee meetings and clarified that any committee of the Village is subject to open meetings laws. The meeting agenda can have citizen participation at the end of the meeting. 5. DRAFT Plan Commission Minutes 1/9/2017 - Trustee Johnson questioned if the Board would be able to see some sign options based upon those quotes and overall approach. Trustee Seager explained that there was discussion at that meeting about getting some kind of template of what a sign would look like and he was sure that something could come to the Board before final decisions need to be made. 6. DPW Director’s Fourth Quarter Report 2016 – Trustee Johnson thanked DPW Equitz for his help with his request for the streetlight through WE Energies. President Timms talked about the department heads and questioned whether or not the Board needs to put them through the effort to supply the amount of detail that is being reported. Discussion concluded with Department Heads continuing with quarterly reports. Trustee Renucci questioned if it would be possible to also do a study on the sewers as well as well as the water study. DPW Equitz explained that at this time they are only mapping water systems. There is very little sanitary sewer on the Square because the majority is on the streets behind the buildings. Trustee  EAST TROY VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES January 23, 2017 Page 10 of 10 Renucci also asked if all the lift stations and wet wells have built in flight mixers, DPW Equitz responded that only a couple do and that we have more success having the wet wells pumped and removing grease that way. Trustee Renucci also commented that DPW did an excellent job with the Christmas decorations. 7. Booth Lake Minutes – 11/16/2016 (new for 1/23) 8. Preliminary December Financial Reports (new for 1/23) - Closed session Adjourn to closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility (DPW). Motion by President Timms second by Trustee Stanford to adjourn to closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) Trustee Douglass Y Trustee Johnson Y Trustee Renucci Y Trustee Seager Y Trustee Stanford Y President Timms Y Trustee Zess Y Reconvene in Open Session Possible action on closed session matters Adjourn Closed session Adjourn to closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. Reconvene in Open Session Possible action on closed session matters No action taken. Motion by President Timms, second by Trustee Stanford to adjourn at 9:38 p.m. Motion carried. Adjourn Respectfully Submitted, Eileen Suhm Administrator