The board quickly
approved previous minutes and invoices with board member Kathy
Erdkamp absent.
Speaking to the
board first was Exeter
resident Charles Trauger representing the Fillmore County Development
Corporation. He thanked the board for their continued support and
encouraged them to contact him “with any questions or concerns. . . We will be
updating the Exeter
community guide this year.”
Trauger also noted
that the FCDC is working on housing issues and Village board chairman Alan
Michl confirmed that “housing is our major issue.”
Next on the agenda
was Andrew Stark, the owner of Stark Data Network. He presented the board
a bid for fixing some of the video surveillance cameras in town along with
updating the network system.
Michl asked what
happened to the original company that installed the system, Glenwood, and Stark
informed him they no longer do any camera work. The board approved the bid from
Stark.
Much of the
audience was present for the next item on the agenda. Fillmore County
Zoning Administrator Jennifer Slezak was present and requested the board open
two public hearings for conditional use permits.
Robert Rhodes and
Dean and Leesa Bartu had filed applications for accessory buildings of a
primary nature within a residential zone in Exeter. The Fillmore County
planning commission had made a recommendation to approve. Rhodes is planning to construct a 30’ x 40’ garage and
the Bartu’s are construction a bus barn.
After no public
comment the board closed the public hearing and then voted to approve both of
the conditional use permits.
Still working on
property issues, the board approved a lot split on property owned by Bob
Dumpert, before continuing the discussion on building height
requirements. Currently the village has a limit of 12’at the half peak.
Slezak noted that Fairmont has switched to
a 25’ maximum height with a 17’ sidewall maximum and Milligan is considering
the same limits.
Board discussed the
heights of several different buildings and indicated that they would change to
the same specifications. The changes will be written up as an
ordinance for the board to consider at a future meeting.
Exeter-Milligan
Superintendent Paul Sheffield approached the board with a request, “The school
has decided to have an EM wolves give back day. We would like to have the
kids and teachers do something in the community sometime in April.”
Sheffield
requested assistance from the village maintenance department to find projects
for the students. He continued, “My first thought was ball fields or
getting things ready. We will split up and have a group in Exeter and another in Milligan doing the same
thing. It will be our 7 – 12 grade students.”
The board was very
positive about the project. Board member Mitch Schlegelmilch confirmed,
“That sounds awesome.”
The board set the
clean up dumpster date for April 21.
Michl noted the
next order of discussion was derelict properties in the community. He
highlighted the property of Rene Salazar which is currently on the market.
The board discussed
purchasing the property and cleaning it up themselves but Village Maintenance
Supervisor John Mueller advised the board that there was likely asbestos on the
property and would be very costly for the village to remove because of
government restrictions. He noted that a property owner could do it
themselves if they followed guidelines.
Michl gave his
opinion, “We need to tackle a couple. Not them all, but a couple. “
Board member Justin
Harre added, “That’s probably the worst (Salazar property) and it affects the
people who live around there. We can use the keno money to improve the
town so we don’t have to talk about this anymore.”
The board did not
take any action on the neglected properties but did discuss the process for
condemning properties and will pursue that avenue with Police Chief Mark
McFarland.
Maintenance
Supervisor John Mueller spoke on several agenda items including the option to
purchase the well chemical tanks from ACCO. The board optioned to
purchase the tanks for $1250 and also decided to purchase the extended warranty
on the VFD (variable frequency drive)at the well for $1079.
The board
introduced Ordinance 592 a bond anticipation note for the street and downtown
improvement construction project. Michl noted, “This gets the ball rolling.
This repeals the last two ordinances we had done and now combines them.”
Clerk Becky Erdkamp added, “They put it for $2.4, I’m
hoping we don’t have to get to that point.”
Michl added,
“Anything with the water portion we can spread out for 20 years and the streets
for 15 years but they are going to try to work it so the payments are the
same. They will be around $165,000 to $175,000 a year and right now we
are paying $85,000 but that one will be done in June. They won’t overlap.”
The board approved
the ordinance.
Michl gave the
Marshal’s report. He noted that McFarland has been taking photos of
nuisance properties. He also reported that there have been several
incidents of people allegedly walking through yards and looking in garages along
with driving through yards. Nothing has been reported missing and the
snow allowed McFarland to track the footprints.
Mueller reported
that the well work should be complete by the end of the week and during the
last snow storm three stop signs along with the village employee parking sign
on main street were mowed over.
Clerk Erdkamp
reported that January Keno was $938.38 and December sales tax was
$9325.30. The next board meeting will be April 3.
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