Rushford Town Board Minutes
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 

The Town of Rushford Board meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm on April 6, 2011 by Supervisor Jerry Schoonover followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call was taken with Jerry Schoonover, Patrick Kafer, Kathryn Lewis and Peggy Hendricks present. Tom Egan was absent due to family obligations. Also present for all or part of the meeting: 5 additional persons per attendance record on file. 

Statement of Public Notice This meeting, the annual meeting and Public Notice of Election equipment was posted at the Eureka and Waukau Post office, the town hall door and the town web page. Notices were mailed to Town Board members and the Zoning Administrator. Public Notice of Election testing equipment was additionally posted in the Oshkosh Northwestern. 

Public Input: Patsy Pomplun, 7505 Cty Rd E, Omro suggested that we put out a mailbox out in front to save the clerk time and mileage of going to the post office. Kafer had concerns of security of sensitive material. Hendricks said she would contact the post office to see if the drop box was moved, if the postmaster would deliver mail.

Clerks Report & Minutes: Motion by Kafer, 2nd by Schoonover to approve the minutes as presented for the March 2, 2011 town board meeting. Motion carried. 

Treasurers Report was given by Kathryn Lewis. The balance in the general account is $54,018.51. There is $71,086.85 in 3 separate Fire Truck CD’s. The Town tax account has $170,346.15. Motion by Kafer, 2nd by Schoonover to accept the treasurer’s report. Motion carried. 

Payment of invoices –Peggy Hendricks approved and submitted to the board invoices for April in the amount of $77,934.40 for approval of payment. Motion by Kafer, 2nd by Schoonover to pay April’s invoices as submitted. Motion carried. Patsy Pomplun suggested that the header on the list of invoices be changed from Receipts to Disbursements.

Communications & Correspondence – Hendricks stated we received 2 letters from the Winnebago County Sheriff’s office congratulating Eureka Landings and O’Malleys for passing the alcohol sales compliance checks that were done at their business in March.

Old Business: Peggy Hendricks read an email sent from Mike McMonigal which gave an update on Eureka Locks. There are some amendments which are in process in which the Town might have to provide additional information or simply approve the amendment. There are language modifications and a need to define the actual site being leased. They expect the total project to b approximately $300,000. $150,000 has been donated & $112,000 was loaned to fully fund the CR Meyer contract, (they are contracted to rehab the locks). The Berlin Boat club has 2 years of interest free time to raise money to repay the loan. Fund raisers are underway. They hope to have the locks open by July 4th weekend. Hendricks said she would contact Mr McMonigal to see if he would like to give a presentation at the annual meeting.

Discussion of Town Hall maintenance/needs: Hendricks said that since the frost is out of the ground, something should be done with the flag pole. It is crooked because of the high winds which we have had. Kafer stated that he will check the weir for he thinks it might be plugged.

Upcoming meetings and workshops : 

    • Winnebago Unit Meeting at the Town of Black Wolf at 6:30 pm April 7
    Jerry Schoonover and Fred Kasten stated they would attend. Patrick Kafer is unsure as of now. 
    • Rep Spanbauer will have office hours at the town hall April 8 from 10-11
    • Annual Meeting April 13 at 7:00
        Guest speakers will be Jay Treleven – Omro/Rushford Fire Chief, representative from the Sheriff’s Department, Dave Tellock from Veolia, the Winnebago County Highway Department and Larry        Timm, the town’s assessors.
    • Town Official Workshop at Ripon on May 3rd
    • Trails for Tomorrow Workshop May 19 at 8 am – 3 pm at Miron Construction Corp Office, Neenah, WI
    Hendricks has the applications for the Town Official workshop and Trails for Tomorrow Workshop.
    Motion by Kafer, 2nd by Schoonover to approve attendance of any board member to attend the Town Official Workshop in Ripon. Cost is $60. Motion carried.

Reports on Meetings that have been attended: 

     • Peggy Hendricks reported on the Spring CT form Training which was held in Fond Du Lac by the Department of Revenue and the WMCA District Meeting which was held in Manitowoc. Workshops   consisted on Parliamentary procedures, the District Meeting, Open Meetings, records, agendas and minutes and legislative updates.
    • Jerry Schoonover reported on the Wind siting workshop in Oshkosh in which Fred Kasten and his self attended. The company that gave the presentation has installed wind turbines at 4 different locations in Winnebago County. Fred Kasten stated that at our next zoning meeting which will be April 27th, there will be a guest speaker on renewable energy.
    • Hendricks reported that the Spring election, which was April 5th, had 439 voters. It was steady all day and the turnout was better than expected. More ballots had to be picked up and there were people here for signatures for a recall on Senator Hopper. 

County Zoning Committee Report: Fred Kasten reported each township had to draw up their own 3 tier map for Farmland Preservation. Tier 1 is A-1 and would qualify for any Farmland preservation program they wanted to sign up for. Tier 2 is land that would have to rezone to A-1 to qualify for the program. Tier 3 is A-1 land which is in an encouragement zone. They would be able to sign up for a program for 15 years. 

Discussion on Town Maintenance: Brushing done by the inmates is planned to start sometime in April. Blue Belle would like to post weight limits. The owner called and said he would post at his own expense. Motion by Kafer, 2nd by Schoonover to post weight limits in the Blue Belle Subdivision. Motion carried. Kafer stated that these are the Towns Roads and if he does not purchase the weight limit signs, the Town will. Other roads should have been posted, but it is rather late to do that at this time.
It is anticipated that the Board will have a Road Inspection tour with the county next week. Hendricks said she will send along a copy of the Road pavement rating worksheet in which the Board has to fill out at the end of each year. 

Most of the house numbers are up. A few news ones have to be ordered and it will be asked if stickers could be sent to cover the signs that we have but do not have any use for.

Hendricks went though some figures on how the Governors budget will affect the township. It is estimated that we will have $3004 reduction in General Transportation Aid, $9337 reduction in shared revenue and no recycling grants. 

Motion by Kafer, 2nd by Schoonover to adjourn the meeting at 7:45. Motion carried. 

Respectfully submitted by Peggy Hendricks, Clerk