Village Board

1 VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES 2 Tuesday, April 15, 2025 3 (Approval Pending) 4 5 Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order and Declaration of Quorum 6 The April 15, 2025 meeting of the Sister Bay Village Board of Trustees was called to order by Village 7 President Nate Bell at 6:00 P.M. Those present included Trustees Denise Bhirdo, Louise Howson, and 8 Kurt Harff, returning President Nate Bell and newly elected Trustees Chad Kodanko and Brigid White. 9 Patrice Champeau joined the meeting at 6:45 P.M. 10 11 Staff: Village Administrator Julie Schmelzer, Finance Director/Treasurer Vlad Gannik, Utilities Director 12 Megan Barnes, Marina Manager Dave Lienau, Parks & Streets Director Erik Linczmaier, and Clerk Heidi 13 Teich 14 15 Others: Laurel Harff, Steve Musinsky, Doug and Barbara Hanson, “Melanie”, Nick Deviley, Ellie 16 Soderberg-Guger, Nancy Akerly, Deb Fitzgerald, Paul Grossman, Skip Heidler, Sam Jordan and Nick 17 Dahlstrom 18 19 Agenda Item No. 2. Welcome and Oath of Office 20 Village Clerk Teich administered the Oath of Office to the newly elected President and Trustees. 21 22 Agenda Item No. 3. Honoring Outgoing Village Trustees 23 President Bell noted that thanks were offered to outgoing trustees Lilly Orozco and Alison Werner for 24 their service. Both were unable to attend this meeting. 25 26 Agenda Item No. 4 Approval of the Agenda 27 A motion was made by Harff, seconded by Kodanko that the Agenda for the April 15, 2025 meeting of 28 the Village Board of Trustees be approved as presented. Motion carried – All ayes. 29 30 Agenda Item No. 5. Approval of Minutes 31 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Howson that the minutes of the March 25, 2025 regular 32 meeting of the Village Board of Trustees be approved as amended to correct one typo. Motion carried – 33 all ayes. 34 35 A motion was made by Harff, seconded by Bhirdo that the minutes of the April 3, 2025 Special Meeting 36 of the Board of Trustees be approved as presented. Motion carried – All ayes. 37 38 Agenda Item No. 6. Comments, correspondence, and concerns from the public 39 Multiple items of correspondence were received for this meeting, including: 40 • The first quarter incident report from the Door County Sheriff's Office 41 • A letter from SKB Management inquiring about the “unsightly” property at 2387 Ava Hope Ct 42 and what steps the village is taking to bring the property into compliance 43 • An email from Nick Deviley with several attachments pertaining to employee resignations and a 44 DNR notice of violation 45 46 Bhirdo did request an update from Bell on the status of the home at 2387 Ava Hope Ct, which he 47 indicated he will provide at a later date.  Minutes of the April 15, 2025 Meeting of the Village Board of Trustees - unapproved 1 President Bell asked if anyone wished to offer any additional comments, and the following individuals 2 were recognized: 3 4 Nick Deviley, 10438 Orchard Dr, spoke regarding the letter and attachments which were submitted for 5 this meeting, as well as offering comments on several recent meetings of the village board. 6 7 Steve Musinsky, 10519 Fieldcrest Rd, asked for clarification on why the CDBG grant application for the 8 Village Hall references low-income housing. He also spoke on the need for continual diligence in 9 contacting Diggers Hotline as related to a recent incident discussed at a village committee meeting. 10 11 Nancy Akerly, 10810 N Spring Rd, spoke in regard to the CDBG application and thanked the board for 12 their efforts to renovate the hall into a community center. 13 14 Agenda Item No. 7. Ordinances & Resolutions 15 a) Resolution 2025-009; Adopting a Public Participation Plan 16 The Village Hall Planning Task Force met recently and forwarded a recommendation to the board for 17 approval of a Public Participation Plan, which is required per the Community Development Block Grant 18 (CDBG) application. Schmelzer took the opportunity to respond to Musinsky’s earlier query on low- 19 income housing, explaining that CDBG grants are available for a variety of programs, such as low-income 20 housing programs. This language is included to bring awareness to the public that funding is available for 21 those other programs as well. 22 23 Bhirdo made it clear that she is in favor of renovating the village hall into a more functional facility but 24 believes that the village’s budget cannot support the expense at this time. She provided the following 25 numbers: 26 • The Capital Projects Levy for 2025 is $1,089,000 27 • The levy for 2026 is proposed at $1,185,529 (9% increase over this year, which was $150,00 for 28 engineering at the village hall) 29 • The levy for 2027 is proposed at $1,368,000 (15.5% increase over 2026, which includes $500,000 30 in the CIP for construction) 31 Bhirdo reminded the board that the Village Hall Planning Task Force was tasked with fundraising for 32 renovations to the hall, but that was not done. Grant funding can be explored in the future, but she will 33 not vote in support of this, or any, of the resolutions on tonight’s agenda to commit taxpayer funding to 34 those renovations in the next couple years. 35 36 Kodanko agreed with the need to improve the structure, but also to curb village spending. 37 38 Howson asked for clarification on how the village would qualify for a CDBG grant if it is based on income 39 levels. Schmelzer explained the low-to-moderate income requirement in the grant must be more than 40 50%, and currently the village lies at 59.6%, with a poverty level of 26% as compared to figures from a 41 decade ago. 42 43 White asked for clarification on the village’s monetary obligation if matching funds are offered. Schmelzer 44 explained that it is a 2:1 match, so the village would be responsible for 1/3 of the project cost. The 45 maximum grant amount available is $1 million. Should the full grant be awarded, there is no way of 46 knowing at this time if there will be enough money to cover the full project cost, even considering the 47 portion that would be funded by the marina for the addition of restrooms and showers for the boaters 48 off the back of the hall. 2  Minutes of the April 15, 2025 Meeting of the Village Board of Trustees - unapproved 1 It was noted that the village has already spent approximately $50,000 for schematic drawings of the 2 proposed renovations and for the grant application to be drafted. A brief discussion was held on how 3 these items can still be utilized in the future. 4 5 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Kodanko to deny Resolution 2025-009 which would have 6 adopted a Public Participation Plan as the village seeks funding for renovations to the village hall. Motion 7 carried – all ayes. Champeau was not yet in attendance during the vote. 8 9 b) Resolution 2025-010; Authorizing Resolution to Commit Match Funds 10 c) Resolution 2025-011; Resolution to Submit CDBG Application 11 d) Resolution 2025-012; Creating a CDBG Citizen Participation Committee 12 13 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Kodanko to deny Resolutions 2025-010, 2025-011 and 2025- 14 012 related to the Community Block Development Grant application. Motion carried – all ayes. 15 16 Agenda Item No. 8. Discussion/Action Items 17 a) Set Board of Review Training Dates 18 Prior to the Village’s annual Board of Review meeting, one member of the board is required, by state 19 statute, to take an approved training course and submit an affidavit to the Clerk. This year’s meeting is 20 scheduled for June 9, 2025 at the Sister Bay Village Hall. Kodanko and White indicated that, due to prior 21 commitments, they would not be able to attend the meeting. If ZOOM is an option, White stated she 22 would be able to participate in that manner. 23 24 The remaining board members requested that training be offered as a link on the village’s website for 25 individual viewing. Teich indicated that she would try to make those arrangements. 26 27 b) Liquor License Request; Alpaca to Apparel LLC; 2340 Mill Rd; Benjamin Kornowski - Agent 28 An application for a combination Class A beer and liquor license was received from Benjamin Kornowski, 29 agent for Alpaca to Apparel LLC. Kornowski recently purchased the property at 2340 Mill Road and 30 desires to operate it as a retail store, with liquor sales. The Class A license is the most appropriate for 31 this use. During discussion on the item, Trustee Bhirdo recommended that the premise description be 32 revised to restrict alcohol sales to the interior of the building and not the entire property as requested 33 by the applicant. The other trustees concurred. 34 35 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Howson to approve the license request of Alpaca to Apparel 36 LLC for a combination Class A liquor license to sell intoxicating liquors and fermented malt beverages at 37 the premises located at 2340 Mill Road for the period of May 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025 as presented and 38 amended to limit the sales areas to the interior of the building. Motion carried – 6-1, with Kodanko 39 opposed. 40 41 c) Liquor License Request; Savor BBQ Co., Inc; 10635 N Bay Shore Dr #F; Corey Brydon - Agent 42 The property at 10635 N Bay Shore Dr, Unit F, is currently under lease by Savor BBQ Co., Inc. Corey 43 Brydon, agent, has requested a Class B Beer and Class C Wine license for the premises to offer sales of 44 beer and wine for on-premise consumption. A completed application and all applicable fees have been 45 paid. 46 3  Minutes of the April 15, 2025 Meeting of the Village Board of Trustees - unapproved 1 A motion was made by Howson, seconded by Kodanko to approve the license request of Savor BBQ Co., 2 Inc for a Class B Beer and Class C Wine license for the premises located at 10635 N Bay Shore Dr #F for the 3 period of May 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025 as presented. Motion carried – all ayes. 4 5 f) Monthly Financial Report & Appropriations 6 Finance Director Gannik prepared the monthly statements and included them in the meeting packet for 7 the members to review. Bhirdo asked a series of questions related to the bills and responses were 8 provided. 9 10 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Champeau to approve the monthly bills in the amount of 11 $2,199,458.48 as presented. Motion carried – all ayes. 12 13 Agenda Item No. 9. Staff Reports 14 No questions were asked pertaining to the staff reports included in the meeting packet. 15 16 Agenda Item No. 10. Committee Reports 17 Bell announced a change in procedure regarding committee reports. Previously, committee chairs and 18 liaisons were asked to summarize the actions of the committees since they last met. Instead, Bell asked 19 for questions pertaining to any of the reports so that the time can be spent more efficiently. 20 21 Minutes shared in the meeting packet included: 22 23 Ad Hoc Admin Building Review Task Force: April 2, 2025 and April 10, 2025 24 Door County Coastal Byways: March 24, 2025 25 Sister Bay Historical Society: April 3, 2025 26 Marina Committee: March 20, 2025 27 Parks, Property & Streets Committee: April 7, 2025 28 Personnel Committee: March 18, 2025, March 31, 2025 and April 8, 2025 29 Plan Commission: March 18, 2025 30 31 A question was raised on the reference to electric vehicle charging stations included in the Door County 32 Coastal Byways minutes. No one was present to respond to the question. 33 34 Bhirdo asked for a correction to the March 31, 2025 Personnel Committee minutes to include the time of 35 adjournment. Howson indicated that she would make that change. 36 37 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Harff to accept the various committee reports as presented. 38 Motion carried – all ayes. 39 40 Agenda Item No. 11. Matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a committee, official or 41 employee 42 It was the consensus of the committee that the following items be included on a future board meeting 43 agenda: 44 • Presentation from the village attorney on board member responsibilities 45 • Discussion on the village website design and need for renovations 46 • Committee appointments 47 • Update on the Anschutz property at 2387 Ava Hope Ct 4  Minutes of the April 15, 2025 Meeting of the Village Board of Trustees - unapproved 1 Bell requested that a special meeting of the Village Board be held on April 29, 2025 and all the trustees 2 agreed, with the time yet to be determined. 3 4 The next regular meeting of the Village Board of Trustees will take place on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 5 6:00 P.M. 6 7 At 7:14 P.M., Bell recused himself from further discussion and left the board meeting. 8 Agenda Item No. 12. Executive Session 9 a) Consider a motion to convene into Closed Session pursuant to Wis. Stats., §19.85(1)(g) to confer 10 with legal counsel who either orally or in writing will advise the Village Board on strategy to be adopted 11 with respect to current or likely litigation: Broadband Contract. 12 At 7:15 P.M., a motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Kodanko to convene into Closed Session pursuant 13 to Wis. Stats., §19.85(1)(g) to confer with legal counsel who either orally or in writing will advise the Village 14 Board on strategy to be adopted with respect to current or likely litigation: Broadband Contract. 15 16 A roll call vote was taken on the motion, and the members voted in the following fashion: 17 18 Bhirdo – aye; Champeau – aye; Harff – aye; Howson – aye; Kodanko – aye; White – aye 19 20 Motion carried. 21 22 b) Motion to reconvene into Open Session 23 At 7:56 P.M. a motion was made Howson, seconded by Bhirdo to reconvene into open session. Again, a 24 roll call vote was taken and the members voted in the following fashion: 25 26 Bhirdo – aye; Champeau – aye; Harff – aye; Howson – aye; Kodanko – aye; White – aye 27 28 Motion carried. 29 30 c) Motion for Action, if Appropriate 31 A motion was made by Howson, seconded by Kodanko to amend the contract with Bertram 32 Communications to accept the phasing plan that was provided as presented, as well as request 33 reimbursement from Bertram Communications for attorney fees incurred to amend the contract and the 34 costs of installing fiber to the new Parks Maintenance (Public Works) building and both the existing and 35 proposed Administration buildings. These costs will be deducted from the final bill paid to Bertram for 36 services rendered. Motion carried – all ayes. 37 38 Agenda Item No. 13 Adjourn 39 At 7:57 P.M. a motion was made by Kodanko, seconded by Harff to adjourn the April 15, 2025 meeting of 40 the Village Board of Trustees. Motion carried – all ayes. 41 42 Respectfully submitted, 43 44 Heidi Teich, 45 Village Clerk 5