Chairman Alan Michl opened the Special Assessment hearing
for street improvement projects on Thursday, April 11, 2019. He explained
the purpose of the hearing was to “go through how everything works, how the
payments on assessments will work, interest rates and the terms.”
Michl turned the meeting over to JEO Engineer Steve Parr who
explained the assessment process. He noted that the running foot cost
that would be assessed to property owners on the recently paved Union,
Burlington and North River streets was $114.71 per running foot.
Parr explained that the first payment on the assessment will
be due to the village in 50 days from the meeting. After the first year
the county will send a yearly bill and property owners will remit those funds
to the county.
The board approved Resolution 2019-05 which established
assessment for the recently paved streets with a delinquent date of June 3,
2019 and an interest rate of 4.5.
The board closed the hearing and opened their regular
meeting at 7:22 p.m.
JEO Engineer Andrew Wilshusen gave a report on the concrete
crushing. “The crew has had breakdowns. So far they have crushed
2300 tons crushed and I estimate it will be 3500 tons when done.”
Wilshusen also broached the subject of the defective flag
holders on the new light poles.
Parr reviewed a few of the issues they have found with the
recent street problem and explained their planned fix at no cost to the
village. “The key thing is that we are going to take care of it. Don’t
make the final payment on the downtown area until we get the flag issue taken
care of.”
Clerk Becky Erdkamp asked if the mesh that the grass seed
was laid with can be pulled out now. The engineers noted that it would
decompose in one year but is fine to pull it up now. Parr added, “If they
would just let it alone in about 3 months when the grass is grown they won’t
even know it is there.”
The board set summer salaries for the pool manager,
lifeguards and summer maintenance employees.
Kathy Erdkamp noted that she and Clerk Erdkamp plan to “have
a mandatory meeting with all of them to make clear what is going to be
happening.”
The board discussed the possibility of a new Library/City
Office Building through a Civic and Community Center Financing Fund (CCCFF)
planning grant. The three options included a stick frame built new building, an
engineered metal building and the third option would be remodeling and
adding on to the current building which would include updated the current
facilities to code.
The board needed to choose the options to focus on for the
grant since they have already invested in the engineering costs. They
decided to focus on the first two options.
Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller reported that the pool
will be painted soon. Also he has dumped gravel on all the gravel roads
in town and installed new locks on the well doors that were purchased through a
grant option.
Mueller is also working on an energy grant which would
provide energy efficient light bulbs for the shop, library and office. He
had the fire hall sign looked at and the electrician determined that the
ballast was bad. They will switch it to a led light.
The board approved Mueller purchasing a new transit for some
upcoming culvert work. It doesn’t require two people to operate.
Clerk Becky Erdkamp reported that the village received a
safety dividend from EMC Insurance for $8356.81. Also the January sales
tax was $19,929.63 and February Keno was $475.41. She noted that the
sales tax increase was due to online sales tax collection.
Clerk Erdkamp showed the board several options for the new
banners which will go on the new light poles on main street. Two styles
were chosen, one with a holiday theme and one for the rest of the year.
The board set the next meeting for May 8th at 7
p.m.
