Rushford Town Board Minutes

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Town of Rushford Board meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm on August 10, 2011 by Chairman Thomas Egan followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call was taken with Tom Egan, Jerry Schoonover, Kathryn Lewis and Peggy Hendricks present. Patrick Kafer was absent due to hospitalization. Also present for all or part of the meeting: 13 additional persons per attendance record on file, although several others were present, but did not sign in.

Statement of Public Notice The Rushford Board Meeting, & July Zoning meeting 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. Election equipment testing, notice of meeting date change and public notice of zoning hearings were posted and additionally published in the Oshkosh Northwestern.

Clerks Report & Minutes: Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to approve the minutes as presented for the July 6, 2011 town board meeting. Motion carried.

Treasurers Report was given by Kathryn Lewis. The balance at the end of July in the general account is $130,872.04. There is $26,345.41 in the Fire Truck CD. The Town tax account has $45,299.65. Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to accept the treasurer’s report. Motion carried.

Two CD’s were cashed in and put in the tax account, for they had come up for renewal and it was thought it would be wise to use this money to pay towards the town hall loan which is at 4.35%, then receive 1.25% on the CD. Motion by Ellen Newman, 2^nd by Tom Jackson to take the money that was cashed out from the two Fire Truck CD’s and put it towards the building loan. Tom Jackson asked if that money would be returned to Fire truck CD’s and Tom Egan stated it would be. Motion carried.

Payment of invoices –Peggy Hendricks approved and submitted to the board the bills for August in the amount of $13,233.25 for approval of payment. Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to pay August bills as submitted. Motion carried.

Public Input: Alice Dwyer, 2681 Quincy St, Waukau stated that the neighbors have been throwing their trash in the back yard and they are now starting to pile it in front of their garage. Tom Egan asked if this was at 2662 Archery Drive, for that item is on the agenda for tonight. Ms Dwyer stated that was the address.

Jim Schoonover, 7510 Archery Drive stated that there have been a lot of semi tractor & trailers’ going down the road and it is very hard on the road. He asked if there could be a weight limit or if something could be done.

Don Wagoner, 3134 Cty Road E said that in reference to the property across from him owned by Tom Schroeder, stated that he found out that the Power & Light had bought right a ways though the property going all the way to Schuster’s on June 15, 1981. He did not know how it works, but he thought nothing could be built on or near that.

James Erdmann, 8858 Edgewater Ridge spoke for he wanted to update the board on what was going on with his property. He has a sale pending on the property. He wanted to know what to do if the sale goes though. He also stated that in the next 2-4 weeks the place will be vacant. Tom Egan said that he was to come within 30 days with a site plan back a few months ago and that was not done. If it is sold, the Conditional use permit he has would not be transferred to the new owner. The structure does not pass for a house. Mr Egan said he should get something in writing informing the town what he is going to be doing so the town has it for town records. Tom Egan said since we have waited this long, we can wait until the next meeting for the document. Mike Haemmerle stated that he was the person interested in purchasing the property and he will bring in a site plan for a building permit and for the state inspector after the sale and transfers go though.

Steve Hafemeister, 8028 Island Road stated that Island Road needs repair. The garbage truck has left a huge “W” in the road. Water, ice and snow accumulate in this and small cars will bottom out. Tom Egan stated that the town is responsible for the road until it goes east & west. That is then the residents’ private road. Tom Egan said he can contact the county for a bid for the property owners and then they can decide what they want to do.

Constable Report – Peggy Hendricks: Peggy Hendricks stated that 1 citation was sent certified mail for dogs running at large. A warning letter was sent previously. She asked what should be done on the two certified letters that have been sent out to people, who owe on fines, but have not picked up their letters or signed for them at the post office. Tom Egan suggested that we have our constable deliver the letters.

New Business: Fred Kasten spoke on the discussion from the zoning committee that a revision of our Planning and Zoning book should be done. A re-write should be done to correct the errors, update to the new county zoning ordinance which will be adopted between December and March of 2012 and updating of new items, such as wind towers, solar power, etc. He feels our ordinances could be streamlined quite a bit. Money should be set aside in the Budget. Estimates will be gotten from consultations and hopefully given at the next month’s meeting.

Discussion of Town Hall maintenance/needs: Peggy Hendricks stated that we have received the mail box and would like to schedule a time to have it put up. Jim Hendricks will put the mail box up, so she will plan that with him. It was thought it would go at the end of the sidewalk.

Kathryn Lewis said that a 1000 gal tank from Larson Coop would be $1000. That is the cheapest one she found. Tom asked what the difference would be in the cost of LP if we owned our tank or not. She stated there is no difference. It was brought up that the difference is that you can shop around to purchase LP. Usually L&L is the cheapest. It is thought that you could pay for your own tank in a short time. Motion by Egan, 2^nd by Schoonover to purchase a 1000 gal LP tank from Larson Coop. Motion carried. Tom Egan stated as soon as the tank is bought, to call around and get the tank filled before the price of LP starts going up.

Waxing of the town hall floor was discussed. Tom Jackson said it would take a good week to get the floor waxed. Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to have the floor waxed by Jacksons. Motion carried.

Peggy Hendricks explained that she went out and purchased a printer and a keyboard/mouse for Kathy. The printer stopped printing black and a copier was needed for the election. Tom Egan gave permission to make the purchase. At the same time, the USB went out on the wireless keyboard so one was purchased at the same time.

She also stated that she has used her computer bag for the town laptop for the past 3 years and it is ripping out pretty bad. She is requesting $52 for a new computer bag. Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to purchase a new laptop bag for $52. Motion carried.

Peggy Hendricks also stated that Patsy Pomplun and her granddaughter has done a lot of work on the weeds and mulching in the gardens and that Jim & Peggy had sprayed round up on the property. Patsy stated that in the back, flowers were planted, but it is over grown with weeds and it is just too hard to take care of. It would be better to leave the shrubs and put the rest back into grass so it could be mowed. Tom Egan said he had talked to the master gardeners down at the fair and they were wondering when they should come to mulch. Patsy did not know they were going to do it and she had just started mulching today.

Discussion on Town Maintenance:

Roads: Tom Egan explained that we will do what the budget allows. There won’t be any new blacktop put out, but maintenance will be done.

Brushing: We have not heard from the correctional department. They did our brushing last year, but they did start later in the fall. Tom Egan asked Peggy if she would drop an email to see if there were any new developments.

Peggy Hendricks stated that we have a lot of 911 signs that need to go up. A time will be scheduled between the supervisors to set these out.

Tom Egan was called on a trailer in Delhi that has to be removed on the corner of Delhi and Broadway. Peggy will get the name from Pat and send a letter out.

He also said that Zel Lind had called to say that his trailer is coming down and he had requested a burning permit. He suggested that Zel contact the fire department to help him with the burn.

Tom Egan stated that a letter should be sent to the owner of 2662 Archery Drive saying that they cannot burn or throw garbage out. The owner is Jamie Anderson. Jerry Schoonover said that he had talked to Mr Anderson and he was going to talk to his renters but he has not done so as of yet. The garbage is going down into the creek and the town has received quite a few complaints. Our next step will be calling the DNR and then turning it over to our attorney.

Upcoming meetings and workshops :

a. Winnebago Plan Commissioner network Meeting at Omro Town Hall on August 31 at 6:30-8:00

b. Local Budget & Finance workshop at Ripon on September 14

Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to allow the clerk and treasurer to attend the budget workshop on September 14^th with a registration cost of $60 per person. Motion carried.

Reports on Meetings that have been attended:

Recall Election on July 12 – Hendricks reported that both elections had a great turn out. For the July 12 election, there were 345 voters and for August 9 there were 588 voters out of a poll list of 932.

Winnebago Zoning Ordinance Re-Write Meeting on July 21 at 3:00 – Fred Kasten reported that they are reviewing the county’s ordinances. Once the rewrite is completed, it will go to public hearing.

Winnebago Farmland Preservation Plan Steering Committee Meeting on July 28 at 3:00 at the Coughlin Center – Fred Kasten reported they finalized the farmland preservation districts and it is being incorporated into the new comprehensive zoning ordinance.

Landowner information meeting regarding cost-sharing for conservation practices jointly sponsored by NRCS, FSA, Winnebago County Land & Water Conservation & UW-Extension on July 28^th – Jerry Schoonover reported they had a great turn out of speakers. Most of the questions from the farmers were about tiling and ditching. There were about 8 speakers and 12 people had attended.

Town Zoning Report – Tom Jackson: The zoning meeting was held on July 27th. Tom Jackson reported the following:

• A public hearing for Michael & Cheryl Haedt for parcel # 022 0196. They recommend the zoning change from A-1 to A-2 for a 5.197A parcel that included the homestead to be taken out of a 29A parcel. A new CSM shows this change.
• A public hearing for Clair & Ruth Retzlaff for parcel # 022 0082 requesting a zoning change from A-1 to A-3 for 3.22A which will be taken out of 45.5A as shown on a new CSM. This new parcel includes the homestead. The question the committee had was the posting was made for A-1 to A-2. They recommended reposting the correct change before the board meeting. If the reposting was done, the committee recommended this change.
• A public hearing for Tom Schroeder for parcel 022 1489 requesting a zoning change from C to R-1. There were concerns if he had to put in a sanitary tank, he would have to cross property lines to get to it. The lot lines were very close. They felt it would improve the area if this change was granted. The zoning committee recommended this zoning change.
• A revision was approved by the zoning committee to revise the Conditional use permit given to Jim & Peggy Hendricks to build a new building and submit a new site plan instead of using the existing building as stated in the original Conditional use permit decision.
• Discussion on the river buoys so the no wake ordinance can be completed.
• Pond ordinances and a review and possible rewrite of the towns’ ordinances was discussed.

Board Action on the following:

Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to approve the zoning change for Michael & Cheryl Haedt, Parcel #022 0196 of 5.197 acres from A-1 to A-2. Motion carried.

Tom Egan read the new posting for Clair Retzlaff which was reposted on July 29 and August 5^th.

Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to approve the zoning change for Clair & Ruth Retzlaff, Parcel # 022 0082 of 3.22 acres from A-1 to A-3. Motion carried.

Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to approve the recommendations of the zoning committee for Tom Schroeder, parcel # 022 1489 to be rezoned from C to R-1. Motion carried.

Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to revise Condition 1 on the Conditional Use Permit for Jim and Peggy Hendricks, parcel #022 043002 to be recreated and read:

The activity will take place in a new building as depicted in the site plan.

Motion carried.

Building Permit Report: Tom Egan reported there were 4 building permits for the month of July.

Doug & Dawn Courter, 8012 Broadway Rd, Omro, 30x40 garage for $20,000

Tom Schroeder, for 3095 Cty Rd E to remodel building for $10,000

Steve Helmuth, 3292 Cty Rd K, Omro, 24x30 garage for $14,000

Eureka Dam, 9361 Eureka Lock Rd for new shingles on the house for $8300

Jerry Schoonover asked what the update was on the radios for the fire department. Tom Egan explained as of right now, it has passed the county board to go ahead and appropriate the money to start the towers and to purchase radios to all the fire departments. Some will be replaced with new radios and some will be updated. The county will cover all the costs. This will amount in the millions.

Books were audited.

Motion by Schoonover, 2^nd by Egan to adjourn the meeting at 9:10. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted by Peggy Hendricks, Clerk