Village Board

Village of Withee Phone: 715-229-4319 Fax: 715-229-4451 511 Division * P.O. Box A * Withee, Wisconsin 54498 The Village of Withee Board met on January 9, 2023, in the Municipal Building Conference Room at 6:30 p.m. for the regular board meeting. ROLL CALL President Lindgren called the meeting to order. Roll call was answered by Trustees Lindgren, Shelton, Gehrke, Frankewicz, and Kalepp. Clerk Niemi recorded the minutes. Also, present were Brian Chapman from Cedar Corporation, Cindy Cardinal, Withee Public Works employee, David Laabs, Todd Weich from WI Rural Water Association, Johnathon Goessl, Nicole Rogers, Police Chief Patrick Fehlman, and Owen DPW Chad Smith MINUTES A Gehrke/Shelton motion to approve the minutes of the December 12, 2022, regular meeting and January 3, 2023, special meeting carried with all ayes. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS A Shelton/Frankewicz motion to approve the monthly financial statements for the General, Water, and Sewer Accounts carried with all ayes. PAYMENT OF BILLS A Frankewicz/Kalepp motion to approve paying the General Account checks 35929 thru 35986, Water Account checks 7156 thru 7168, and Sewer Account checks 2535 thru 2538 carried with all ayes. PAYROLL REPORT The board reviewed the employee time cards and payroll report. Trustee Frankewicz asked about Troy Hatlestad’s final payout which will be processed this week. COMMUNITY INPUT Brian Chapman expressed his condolences on the passing of Troy Hatlestad and offered help from Cedar Corporation. COMMITTEE REPORT Trustee Kalepp stated that the library did not meet in December. POLICE REPORT The police incidents report was reviewed. A Frankewiz/Shelton motion to approve the bills paid 12/07/2022 to 01/03/2023 carried with all ayes. Trustee Gehrke asked about the junk ordinance citations issued to a Village residence. Chief Fehlman has issued citations and a letter with deadline per ordinance. There must be a continuous engagement to file orders to progress to a court action. Chief Fehlman plans to talk with Village Attorney Wachsmuth before next meeting about that residence and the changes to the Village junk ordinance. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Withee Public Works employee, Dave Laabs, has been helping in several areas such as snowplowing, equipment maintenance, water sampling, data entry of readings, and answering alarms at the water plant. Owen DPW Chad Smith who has experience with a similar plant at the Village of Stetsonville is now in charge of the Withee water plant as it must be operated and DNR reports filed by a certified operator. Smith has put in 8-9 hours since Hatlestad’s passing and reviewed the plant with his crew for backup. Brandon Wilson from Owen public works did the sampling today. Smith informed the board that he, Wilson, Lindgren, and Laabs have been entered in the system to get alarms from the plant. There was an issue with not getting alarms for a certain pump which should be fixed now. Smith notified the board that there is an issue with Well #3 which B&M Tech will look at this week. Well #3 has been shut down until it can be fixed. Smith will help file the upcoming DNR and PSC reports. Smith encouraged combining Withee and Owen systems which might be reviewed in the future. Another option might be a contract for services as the Village of Stetsonville has with the City of Medford. Todd Weich from Rural Water Association has been involved in covering the Withee plant and will help with the job posting. Weich is licensed so can also help as it could take at least two months to get an operator certified after hiring and that person will still need a year to get fully certified. He said it is good that we just have a collection system. He cautioned against using private contractors as they just run the plant and don’t do maintenance. Trustee Frankewicz felt the board should look for a full-time employee that would do what Hatlestad did. Clerk Niemi distributed examples of job postings. Weich will construct the job posting with Clerk Niemi. A Frankewicz/Kalepp motion to postpone the job posting of the DPW position until a special meeting on 1/16/2023 at 6 p.m. carried with all ayes. Discussion was had about the mutual aid. President Lindgren had stated at the January 3, 2023, special meeting with Owen that Withee would cover the hourly wage. Smith said they had been keeping track of hours spent at Withee and will discuss charges at the City of Owen meeting on 1/10/2023. He projected being at the Withee plant an hour a day. Weich said he also stops by and checks on the plant. Smith plans to call President Lindgren if anything comes up. The Village board authorized Smith to test the required monthly samples at the City of Medford lab. A Gehrke/Shelton motion to postpone approving reimbursement for services until provided with the costs by the City of Owen carried with all ayes. President Lindgren commented on how well everyone has been working together and how much they are appreciated. CLOSED SESSION A Kalepp/Gehrke motion at 7:27 p.m. to enter Closed Session pursuant to §Ch. 19.85 (1)(c), “considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee (employee wage and benefits)” carried with all ayes. A Frankewicz/Gehrke motion at 7:43 p.m. to invite Todd Weich into closed session carried with all ayes. Weich left at 7:56 p.m. A Kalepp/Frankewicz motion at 7:57 p.m. to invite David Laabs into closed session carried with all ayes. A Kalepp/Gehrke motion to reconvene into open session at 8:07 p.m. carried with all ayes. A Gehrke/Frankewicz motion to approve a wage increase to $18.50 per hour for David Laabs and to $14.00 per hour for Ken Koltis, effective January 2, 2023, carried with all ayes. GENERAL DEPARTMENT The board was presented with the information that President Lindgren is running for president and Trustee Gehrke is running for the one trustee position in the spring election. A Kalepp/Shelton motion to approve purchasing 41 rolls of stamps for a savings of $123 before the price increases carried with all ayes. A Frankewicz/Shelton motion to approve Resolution #01-01-23 contract with Robert Christensen for UDC inspector with revised fees carried with all ayes. A Kalepp/Shelton motion to adjourn at 8:17 p.m. carried with all ayes. Ellen Niemi, Village Clerk *** These minutes are unofficial and will be formally approved at the next regular board meeting*** *** Next regular board meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 13, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. ***