Committee of the Whole

MEETING MINUTES Village of Palmyra Committee of the Whole Meeting Monday December 18, 2023 6:00 pm Village Hall 100 W. Taft St. Palmyra, WI. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Weiss. Roll call: Ball, Gorsegner, Kinjerski Petruska, Smith, Troiola, Weiss – present. Smith-arrived at 6:05 Pledge of Allegiance Communications: President Weiss thanked to Alissa Simmons for helping with the grant application for funding with the sesquicentennial celebration next year. Toy drive at Healthy Community Network Tuesday, New Years Day Lions breakfast, and the Lions Club Fisheree Jan. 27th. The next village board meeting will be held Tuesday Jan. 2nd instead of Monday Jan. 1st Department Reports: Building Inspection Clerk / Treasurer-tax payments are coming in and so far there have not been any complaints. Library-Trustee Petruska said our library circulation is up 30% over the other 23 libraries in our area. Parks & Recreation-nothing Public Safety – Chief Pavlock reported there were 13 fire/rescue calls for November, 2 criminal felony arrests and traffic related enforcement is up 50%. He met with Jefferson County Sheriff and will have higher patrol where county roads meet the village limits. There are numerous truck complaints and signage is up now. Pavlock contacted State Patrol and asked them if they would do truck enforcement in our village. Officer LePak will be attending a specialized training course. Purchased and received new OC, new tasers and there is a training class to certify the officers that was part of that purchase. Public Works- Scott said that the signs are up for no through trucks. John Kannard will find property lines at the creek before the cleanup begins. The trees around the old sewer plant will be getting cleaned out and the old fence is gone except for what is in front of the road. The DNR approved the Dam repairs/drawings today so this project will need to be done before March or after June. Committee Reports: Trustee Kinjerski reported that the personnel meeting came to a tentative agreement with police officers on the union contract. This is on the agenda later. New Business: 1. Entire Committee of the Whole A. Ball/Kinjerski motion to approve the minutes with 2 corrections, Troiola was not present and insert the word “add” in item 2. All ayes-motion carried. B. Don Rutkowski’s requests to have access, parking, personal use and a key for the public works fenced area behind old Village shop. Rutkowski who lives at 212 Mill Road in a new home says that due to him having a large family parking for holidays/get togethers is very limited and his driveway has such a hill making it hard to get to the house. He is asking that he has access from the fenced area behind the old public works shop so that his family can walk through the fenced in area. He would also like plowing done there in the winter so the family can park there. Weiss says it would not be plowed and public works do store things there says Weiss. Weiss doesn’t want to set precedence for allowing personal use of a village areas for other. Where would it stop? Trustee Petruska asks if there would be a liability issue if someone got hurt on the items inside the fence? Scott H. says there are 2 gates, one is left open for easy access from the old shop to the fenced area, but the second gate is locked. Trustee Troiola asks if there are 2 gates, but only 1 is locked, then currently anyone could enter that area. Halbrucker said the only time both gates were open was during the snowmobile season because the old trail used to go through that area but not any longer. Rutkowksi would like Scott to plow parking area of Xenobia spring/deep rock springs then Don would shovel a path. Scott says that is where the snowmobile trail goes so he can’t really plow there. Rutkowski say that they will wind up parking on the side of Mill Road and it will be a hazard. This would be hazardous to park on both sides of Mill Rd but parking is allowed. Since 2020 there are no more snowmobiles going through this area, they go around. Troiola says to open one side of the gate towards Dons house so it can’t be driven through just walked through. He thinks walking is a fair compromise. Halbrucker says he would compromise and get it cleaned up. The Lions Club needs to get their stuff cleaned up and out of there. Scott says he could let them walk through, but it won’t be plowed. Trustee Petruska who is the chair for the Public Works committee will meet tomorrow morning at 8 am with Don and Scott to look at the area and report back to the board at the next meeting. C. Troiola/Smith motion to write off personal property taxes in the amount of $18.16 for Little Explorers Family Childcare as bill was generated in error for 2023 taxes. All ayes- motion carried. D. Discussion/possible action on Collective Bargaining agreement as recommended by the Personnel Committee. Officer LePak was present, she is going to try to make sure that the copy the board has was the final one presented. Scott P only concern is that if they voted on it and its not correct it is not smart to ratify what we do not have a final copy of. Trustee Kinjerski will call Attorney Macy on Tuesday and then we can schedule a quick meeting once we know the contract is the correct one. Item tabled. E. Discussion/possible action on our ongoing projects as follows: Blue Spring Lake Sewer Agreement- Weiss says attorney Riffle has sent it again to their attorney no word yet. Emergency Management Plan and FEMA Training for Trustees-Scott P says there have been changes at the county so this will be pushed off. 2. Administration & Planning: Chairperson Gorsegner A. Discussion/possible action on the 2024 Fee Schedule. The Recreation department increased a few sport fees. Trustee Gorsegner asked when the last time we looked over and compared our fees. Clerk Mueller said we are in line with other communities our size, she said that all department heads and the building inspector have looked this over and made no changes. No action taken; this will be on the next agenda. B. Petruska/Troiola motion to approve the 1-year lease and payment of $300 to St. Mary Church for a 1.75 acre parcel near the Village Park. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Kinjerski Petruska, Smith, Troiola, Weiss-aye. Motion carried. 3. Budget & Finance Committee: Chairperson Troiola. A. Troiola/Gorsegner motion to approve payment of bills $542,363.56 with extras presented tonight to the Jefferson County Sheriffs dept. for prisoner meals, Bright Speed, DNR for P. Kelly and R. Harris wastewater exams, Shellee Lubus and Lori Clubb for poll worker training, RE tax refund, AFLAC, WE Energies, and UNUM. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Kinjerski Petruska, Smith, Troiola, Weiss-aye. Motion carried. B. Troiola/Smith motion to approve the November Financial statement, bank statement and cash account balances as presented by the Village Clerk. All ayes-motion carried. C. Troiola/Gorsegner motion to approve the quote in the amount of $588 for CO gas detectors for the Public Safety Dept. This will be paid for from the 2021 Borrowing. Scott P. says this is part of a failed inspection which he is correcting. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Kinjerski Petruska, Smith, Troiola, Weiss-aye. Motion carried. D. Troiola/Ball motion to approve the quote in the amount of $92,952 for SCBA equipment for the Public Safety Dept. This will be paid for from the 2021 borrowing. Scott P. said that the current apparatus doesn’t test out not sure why we didn’t get this sooner and to make us in compliant. Scott also said that there will be a quote for turn out gear in the next couple of weeks.. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Kinjerski Petruska, Smith, Troiola, Weiss-aye. Motion carried.  E. Troiola/Petruska motion to approve the quote in the amount of $24,000 for a new John Deere Tractor for Public Works. Scott H. has another quote for Kubota which is more money for just the tractor, this comes with some attachments and is less. We can use this to cut Aurelian Springs trail it will replace the 1973 tractor, which he will be selling. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Kinjerski Petruska, Smith, Troiola, Weiss-aye. Motion carried. 4. Personnel Committee: Chairperson Kinjerski. A. Discussion/possible action on an updated EMT position description. Scott P. said that the FT positions will eliminate the requirement for firefighter training and will provide incentive to get that training so that we can get what we need to meet the scheduling needs as we were not getting responses to this before. Weiss said there is still a reference to firefighting. Scott says that this is NOT a requirement. It’s a duty but not a requirement. They can get this training on the job once they are here. Kinjerski/Troiola motion to approve the new EMT position description. All ayes-motion carried. 5. Entire Committee of the Whole A. Gorsegner/Troiola motion to convene into closed session at 7:09 pm with staff, pursuant to §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. Specifically, the Village owned lands on Hwy H and Marsh Road, parcel 171-0516-2722-005. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Kinjerski Petruska, Smith, Troiola, Weiss-aye. Motion carried. Joe DeYoung will join via phone. B. Gorsegner/Smith motion to convene into open session at 7:35 pm for further discussion related to matters discussed in closed session. Roll call vote: Ball, Gorsegner, Kinjerski Petruska, Smith, Troiola, Weiss-aye. Motion carried. Gorsegner/Troiola motion to adjourn at 7:36 pm. All ayes-motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Laurie Mueller, Village Clerk/Treasurer Minutes approved Jan. 2,2024 without corrections.