Village Board

VILLAGE OF HORTONVILLE VILLAGE BOARD MARCH 7, 2024 MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MARCH 21, 2024 President Jeanne Bellile called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Community Center at 531 N. Nash St., Hortonville, Wisconsin. Trustees present: Grace Abitz, Pat Lund-Moe, Jim Moeller, Jane Olk, and Julie Arendt Vanden Heuvel. Trustees excused: Shauna Keel Officials/Staff present: Administrator Nathan Treadwell, Clerk-Treasurer Jane Booth, Director of Public Works Aaron Steber, Chief of Police Kristine Brownson, Library Director Alexandrea Krause, and Attorney Ashley Lehocky. Consent Agenda Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Olk] to approve as outlined. Roll call vote, 6 ayes, 0 nays, motion carried. A. February 15, 2024 Regular Board meeting minutes B. Presentation of accounts and other claims against the Village Agenda Changes None Preregistered Citizens to be heard Julie Arendt Vanden Heuvel, 121 E Main Street, said I speak as a resident and as a village board trustee candidate, not as a board member. A post that was intended to help has actually created several issues. I have received several calls from voters about a recent social media post that Trustee Jim Moeller posted on February 19th. The post was in a neighborhood group the day before the Primary Election. There were several screen captures of this post that were shared beyond what was originally intended. The wheel tax statements made in the post are grossly inaccurate. I quote, “The issue has come up four times and has been narrowly voted down every time and it is coming up again soon.” As a candidate, how am I supposed to respond to these types of things? To help answer residents’ questions, I did a little bit of homework. First, April 19, 2018, administrator shares that a wheel tax is a possible source of revenue. Quote “it was the consensus of the board to have the administrator get more information.” No vote, a consensus. May 3, 2018, motion made by Peter Olk, seconded by Pat Lund-Moe to move ahead, and initiate a resolution. Again, not a vote to pass or unpass, but a resolution. The ayes were Jeanne Bellile, Al Habeck, Pat Lund-Moe, and Peter Olk. The nays were Kelly Schleif and Dawn Vollbrecht. I was absent that night. May 17, 2018, no vote, but Peter Olk suggested that the board proceed with a possible public hearing and frequently asked questions. June 7, 2018, administrator states public information meeting about a wheel tax will be at the next board meeting. We are still in 2018. June 21, 2018, motion made by Bellile and Arendt Vanden Heuvel to table resolution 8-18 at this time. There were four ayes, Bellile, Arendt Vanden Heuvel, Vollbrecht and two nays, Habeck and Schleif, Peter Olk was absent. That was a vote, to table. July 19, 2018, non-resident Jim Clegg spoke in favor of a wheel tax. August 16, 2018, citizen request for wheel tax to be on the agenda. The citizen asking wasn’t present at the meeting. And more recently, September 21, 2023, wheel tax on the agenda due to a request. Possible referendum which wasn’t advised by legal counsel. In summary the wheel tax there haven’t been four votes, especially any that were nearly narrowly passed. I have had to share this corrected information with dozens of voters and residents in the last couple of weeks. From August 2018 until September 2023 there was little to no information. Discussion before 2023 only includes two current board members that are physically here at this board. Other situations recently to note, during the January 4, 2024 board meeting, Jim stated that village legal counsel advised him, it was determined that the information was inaccurate and misleading. Several residents were also told this erroneous information from Jim before and after the meeting. Another example, it was mentioned by Jim that the cost to keep the traffic lights on Main and Nash was roughly $80,000 a year. Again, proven wrong. As a candidate how am I supposed to respond to residents and voters when they ask about erroneous information the night before an election? As a resident I expect better conduct from our board members. At the very least board members are required to be honest about board activities. The proof is in the meeting minutes. It is not hard to check your facts. Stop spewing lies to the general public. It is my ask as a resident for all board members to be as accurate as possible with all residents. Lying is unacceptable. Presentation by Todd Timm with the Hortonville Area School District Todd Timm – HASD presented on the HASD. He said he appreciated the time that he gets to spend with us every year with the update. The last several years he has brought the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction the report card. Each year the WPDI that oversees schools, the HASD is the 40th largest district in the State of Wisconsin out of the 421 school districts. There are about 10 percent of school districts in Wisconsin that are growing, and we are one of them. There are about 90% that are declining in enrollment. We own our own transportation center and own our own food service; those people are our people, and we feel like we get better service from those employees. We are one of the largest employers in the district, again, about 720 employees. The HASD according to the DPI in the 2023 school report card scored higher than 85% of the other school districts in Wisconsin. We are also a low revenue district. We receive the lowest amount per pupil of any district in the state for our funding. The population study that we did calls for about 34 new students every year for the next 15 years. Act 20, the literacy bill, will change the way we are teaching children to read. We are shifting to how we are teaching the younger readers to the way it used to be more phonics based. We are supportive and excited about the legislation. How we partner with the Village of Hortonville, we partner with the library activities, we appreciate Allie, we do the summer reading program here at the library. We appreciate the work with HYS and the village on the fields that we get to use the softball/baseball programs. One of the populations that we see increasing the most in our six school buildings are the kids with medical conditions and serious heart conditions, kids that come with trachs, kids that may need a one-on-one nurse, kids with other physical disabilities that require a wheelchair, and some kids that have severe intellectual disabilities, nonverbal autism and such. We also partner with our district safety team. We do some drills that would be required, and some drills that are not required. We partner with Fire, EMS, and law enforcement and we have a great appreciation for our safety teams, and the professionals here in the building that help us practice those drills. We also partner with our SRO program. We have 1.5 SROs in the program. We appreciate the Village’s support for our SRO’s and the safety of our children and teachers. We have a great appreciation for Officer Hauser, and you all know how I feel about Sergeant Bahr, he is one of my most trusted colleagues. We appreciate his leadership and the safety of our almost 4,400 children and 700 employees every day. We appreciate that he is always available anytime, day or night or on the weekend. I hope you are proud of your school district. We are really excited to focus on our future and the areas where we can do better. Committee Reports The Library Board met on the last Tuesday of February. The majority of the time we reviewed the annual report which Allie has to supply to the state DPI. She has done an excellent job, the first couple of years it was a major feat. We gave our report from Friends of the Library. Our book sale is May 17th and 18th. Unfinished Business from previous meetings None New Business Discussion and possible action on Alonzo Park Playground and Splash Pad Design Administrator Treadwell said that DPW Director Aaron and I met with Parkitecture, and this was the design that we came up with. DPW Steber said that a lot of this playground equipment is wheelchair accessible, some of it is just coming out on the market, so we are getting some of the most state-of-the-art equipment. The whole station is like a relay. DPW Director Steber said that the yellow leaf structures have light panels on them that will cast shadows onto the poured rubber ground, and they will move along with the sun and cast different colors. DPW Director Steber said that the splash pad is nature themed, different kinds of cattails, a horsetail, a dragonfly and they are interactive. The kids can turn and squirt their friends. The big one in the middle can be turned as well, so water can squirt water out of either side. There is a stand that when you walk in a child can wave his hand in front of it that will turn the whole thing on. The water will then run continuously for 3-5 minutes (or whatever we set it at). One modification that we talked about is that this shows partial rubber and partial mulch, we will change to all poured rubber. In the design there will be shade around the outside with benches and shade structures. This conceptual doesn’t show it. Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Olk] to approve the playground and splash pad design by Parkitecture. Roll call vote, 6 ayes, 0 nays, motion carried. Discussion and possible action on CU-1-24 Administrator Treadwell said that this came out of Planning and Zoning for Life Point Church. They tore down the old building that was in the corner of the lot. They are proposing building a community center. Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Lund-Moe] to approve CU-1-24 the conditional use additional building as long as there is a drainage plan with the building permit. Roll call vote, 6 ayes, 0 nays, motion carried. Discussion and possible action on YMCA Usage of Community Center Administrator Treadwell said that the YMCA held a chair yoga here a few weeks ago and the executive director reached out and would like to continue to use our space at no charge. Attorney Lehocky stated that for liability reasons we should at least charge for the rental and have a written agreement. Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Lund-Moe] for the village to pursue negotiation of a lease agreement with the YMCA. Unanimous voice vote, motion carried. Discussion and possible action on Resolution R-09-24 Budget Amendment #2 Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Moeller] to approve resolution R-9-24. Roll call vote, 6 ayes, 0 nays, motion carried. Discussion and possible action on Xylem Quote for UV disinfection bulbs and bulb cleaning for WWTP Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Olk] to approve the Xylem quote for the UV disinfection bulbs and bulb cleaning for WWTP. Roll call vote, 6 ayes, 0 nays, motion carried. Discussion on Video and Sound System for Community Room Administrator Treadwell said that he received a quote for Video and Audio. Discussion on the hearing loop and why that isn’t working in the community room. Report of Village Officials Clerk-Treasurer: The report is in the packet. The “Class B” Beer/Liquor license has been applied for the former New Horton Inn. Director of Public Works: The report is in the packet. We did do a significant amount of tree removal from Alonzo Park. We will be getting more trees to come in when the splash pad is done. If completed. Chief of Police: The report is in the packet. Library Director: I distributed my packets to you before the meeting started. We will be looking to fill a part-time position, just not sure when that will happen. We have been very busy planning for our summer kick-off carnival, we have three food trucks that will be coming so far. The snake discovery will be coming in from Minnesota along with other amphibians. I have our 2023 wrap up statistics. We have an increase from non-residents a lot of that has to do with Appleton has construction going on. This is really important to see and that is where our funding increases come from. We have significant growing pains, and we are outgrowing our space. We are a community asset. Attorney: Nothing Administrator: We are going to start looking for another developer for the area by Sentry. DPW Director Steber and I met out at Alley #3 with the engineering firm, and we are meeting again tomorrow with the company. Any other miscellaneous topics for future discussion Trustee Abitz said she had a resident asked about a 25-mph speed limit coming into town from the west side of main street. Administrator Treadwell said that it should be discussed at the Public Safety Committee. Trustee Abitz would also like to discuss a potential stop sign on Lincoln and Bath. Communications and Miscellaneous Business Black Otter Lake District news: Nothing new Building permit report: The February permit report was submitted. Hortonville-Hortonia Fire District news: None Gold Cross Ambulance run reports and news: The February run report was submitted. Hortonville Civic Association: Nothing new Senior Activities Committee: We had our potluck and movie this past Monday. Rebuilding together is coming this Monday at 9:00 am. We had a meeting today and two agencies joined us. We worked on planning for Autumn Fest and got the flyer ready for the Hearthstone Museum Tour. Comments and suggestions from citizens present None Motion to go into Closed Session Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Lund-Moe] under state statute 19.85(1)(e) “Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session.” Roll call vote, 6 ayes, 0 nays. Motion carried. Board to return to Open Session Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Olk] to return to open session. Roll call vote 6 ayes, 0 nays. Motion carried. Any action on matters discussed in Closed Session None Adjournment Motion [Arendt Vanden Heuvel/Olk] to adjourn. Unanimous voice vote, motion carried. The Board adjourned at 8:46 p.m. Minutes submitted by, Jane Booth, WCMC Village Clerk/Treasurer