Rushford Annual Town Board Minutes

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Town of Rushford 2012 Annual meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm on April 11th, 2012 by Chairman Tom Egan followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Present for all of part of the meeting was 23 persons per attendance record on file, although several others were presented, but did not sign in.

Guest Speakers:

· Fire Chief Jay Treleven from the Rushford-Omro Fire Department – Mr Treleven has been chief for 5 years and a member since 1983. Currently we have ambulance service with the City of Oshkosh. They are in the 2^nd yr of the 5 yr contract. They had a contract 5 yrs previous to that. A portion of this is paid by Medicare and Medicaid. Aurora Medical has been subsidizing the first contract year and $2.93/person in 2011. Aurora says they will not be subsidizing any more. 2012, 2013 and 2014 will not be paid for, so if something does not change, the Towns will have to pick this subsidy up. This contract is with 9 other municipalities. The $2.93 is split between the 9.

There were 45 calls to the Town of Rushford from August 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011. Total runs were 441. None of the volunteers receive compensation for the running, training, etc. With the cost of fuel, they will be receiving $3/run subsidy. After runs, they will receive a gas card for $36.

The DNR has a new tool on their web site for anyone having a control burn. There is a link that is updated every day to let you know the fire danger by county.

The 2010 budget was $131,000. The 2011 budget was $131,850. The 2012 budget is $131,155. This is paid by the Town of Rushford, The Town of Omro and the City of Omro.

He was asked if they inspect Commercial properties. Those properties are only inspected if they are open to the public. It was asked if a property has numerous fuel tanks, if it should be inspected. Mr Treleven said if it had public access it would be, but private properties cannot be inspected.

The Radio system is coming along well. It is scheduled to go online about this time next year. Mr Treleven commended Tom Egan, for it was because of Mr Egan and a couple others on the County Board that really pushed for County payment for the radios.

Jr Firefighter program is for anyone 14-18 years of age. They are issued gear and there is training.

The fire department receives a yearly 50/50 matching grant from the DNR for $5,000-$10,000. They receive a FEMA grant for the air equipment. The last one was over $65,000 and they just applied for another one for $125,000.

There is a new training and storage facility going up. Mr Egan thanked Mr Treleven and the fire department for all their work and dedication.

· Jim Smith from Martenson & Eisling: Jim Smith spoke on resurveying Waukau. The Town Board had decided when Eureka Assessors Plat was done, that nothing would be done with Waukau until Eureka’s was paid for. The intent is to get existing property lines to where they should be. The Town will pay up front, but then is paid back by the landowners. Mr Smith thinks this is something to keep in mind and should be addressed in the future. Mr Patrick Schoonover feels that if a person wants to have their land surveyed; they should do it on their own. Mr Smith explained the main reason the villages should be surveyed is because in the 1830’s there was “out lots” done. It is very hard to trace exactly where these are in the community. Mrs. Newman asked why the Town has to pay for this and then be paid back in 3 years time by the land owner. Mr Smith explained that is the way it is set up in State Statutes. Comments were made where they have seen this as a great service, for though out the years when small, close lot descriptions get off, it throws a lot of sites off.

· Dave Tellock, General Manager from Veolia in Omro: Veolia has been servicing the Town of Rushford for 14 years. Service is very important to Mr Tellock and he would like to know if anyone has any concerns or comments. The Winnebago landfill will be closing the end of April. The recycling plant will be in Outagamie County and the trash will be going to a transfer system in Outagamie County. Mr Egan asked if the company was going to be sold. Mr Tellock said that they are for sale. The main office for Solid waste is in Milwaukee. This went up for sale in December and is a 2 billion dollar purchase. The possibility of a competitor purchasing the business is very slight, for they would control too much of the market share. The feedback is that investment groups are the ones who are interested.

· Tom Egan introduced Dean Kaderabek. He is doing our rewrite on the Town ordinances. The Town had bids from $21,000 on down. The County just got done with their rewrite. Dean works for the County in GIS and is very familiar with the ordinances. He is also a past Town Zoning-Planning Committee member. Dean was interested in doing this and he is doing it for $9000. Dean stated has been doing land use regulations for 17 years. He has been on the planning and zoning committee for the past 6-7 years and he knows intimately where the issues are. The schedule of events will be preparing the first draft code in the first and second months. In the third and fourth months, he will be meeting with the Planning and Zoning committee and the Town Board to get comments. This will take a few months because he wants to engage the Town Board and Committees. There will be a public hearing. After the code is done, a zoning map will be done. He is open for comments and calls.

· Michael Schraa is running for 53^rd Assembly and he introduced himself. He is a small business owner in Oshkosh. He has owned Leons Frozen Custard for 24 years. He feels we have been running into problems because people get in and stay for a long time. He would like to get in for a few terms and then go back to the private sector. He feels it is important to get back to the citizen-legislature type of roots.

· Larry Timm, the Towns assessor stated that he had the assessments completed for the town. Each year he takes a special group for review. Two years ago it was the properties along the Fox River, last year it was the properties along Waukau Creek and smaller tracts which were used for agricultural, and this year it was pasture land and forest land. There were no arms length sales of homes in the Township last year. Open book will be May 25 from 3-7 pm and Board of Review will be on June 2 from 9-11 am.

· John Selsing, Town Attorney stated he helped write our ordinances 20 years ago and he is glad that we are rewriting our code to have something uniform though out the County.

Thomas Egan thanked Jan Clausen, Dean Kaderabek, Larry Hildebrand and Tom Jackson. These 4 people and himself served on the zoning committee the past few years along with Zoning Administrator Fred Kasten. They put in a lot of time and a lot of hard decisions. Our ordinance states that a person can only be on for 6 years, which they all have. Huge thanks go out to them. It is much appreciated. The new zoning committee will be meeting this month with an organizational meeting. The new board will be Dan Stokes, Ellen Newman, Nicole Bahn, Jerry Schoonover, Russell Lee and Patsy Pomplun as alternate.

Mr Egan will be asking the present Board of Appeals to stay on, for they have only met a couple of times in the past two years and Fred Kasten as zoning administrator. The Board of Appeals members are Charles Knigge, Steve Demuth, Pat Ostrander, Janet Helmuth, Warren Bohn and the alternate is Helen Larsen. This will be Chairman Egan’s recommendation at the next board meeting.

Motion by Kafer, 2^nd by Schoonover to approve the minutes of the 2011 annual meeting. Discussion: Patsy Pomplun stated that there was an error in a statement from the 2010 annual meeting. Hendricks said that it was taken word by word when it was transcribed. Motion carried.

A question was asked by Jesse Domke about the statement in the last annual meeting about charging for potential fires if a person does not have a burning permit. He has a lot of questions. Mr Egan stated that if a person does any kind of burning, even in a barrel or a campfire, they supposedly should have a burning permit from the town. Mr Domke said there are not any rules posted in the Town. Mr Egan stated that these are rules set by the DNR and state statutes. Mr Domke is on the fire department and even the Department had questions about the motion that was made last year. Mr Egan explained that if the Fire Department is called for a fire that got away, and the person did not have a burning permit, the resident can be liable for the fire department call. His question was if a person has a burning permit, and if the department is called out there 3-4 times, would the resident be charged. Mr Kafer asked if this has happened in the Town. He thought not. He explained that there would not be an advantage of getting a burning permit if the Town did not have some rules. The burning permits are free.

Mr Domke said that no one is aware of this. Hendricks stated that it was in the spring newsletter but it is not on the web page. She will add it to the web site so there is clarification on the burning permits. Hendricks stated that Mr Treleven was at the meeting when the motion was made last year. He was the one that stated that a person legally does not need a permit, but it would be a good idea for the Town to require a permit to anyone who burns. Mr Kafer said why have burning permits if there is no repercussion of not having one. It was felt it would give residents some motivation to get a permit. The Town pays $90 a run and it is a way to recoup the money the town pays. The Town has never charged anyone as of this date. Mr Kafer stated Chairman Egan and Chief Treleven should get together and if either felt changes should be made, they will be. The question was asked if the Fire Department did a control burn, if they would need a burning permit. Supervisor Kafer stated that until this year, they always have asked for one, but he would not see a reason why the Fire department would need one. Mr Egan agreed. Motion by Patsy Pompln, 2^nd by Wendy Laverenz that if anyone has a control burn by the Fire Department, the owner must have a burning permit. Motion carried with one nay.

Jesse Domke asked about the brushing on Quarry Drive. He feels it is a safety hazard. The resident on the corner of Quarry Drive has also planted trees 2-3 ft from the road. Chairman Egan stated that the Correctional Department is working on ditching and brushing on the Town roads. Mr Domke said it has been like this for a couple years. His wife, Kelly, sent the clerk an email a month ago, but did not hear anything back. Hendricks stated that she never received the email. Mr Egan will check with the people doing the work and see where they are at.

Mr Domke asked if there are any hunting regulations or discharging a firearm in Eureka. Mr Kafer stated that this is a state law, that the town does not have anything in their ordinance. Mr Domke said the property across the road has ag tags and it is for firearms only. The DNR told him to contact the Town Board and if the Town does not have an ordinance, he should go back to them. He has concerns on where they are shooting. The property in question is owned by Russ Pomplun.

Mr Pat Schoonover had concerns that too many board members go to meetings and would like to set a number on how many members can attend meetings and limit the number of meetings a board member can attend. He stated that there was payment for 4 members to attend a meeting in Ripon.

Mr Egan explained that this meeting was for certification for the board of review and is required. Mr Kafer stated he does not attend meetings just to get the per diem. There are many other things a member could be doing, but the meetings members attend are educational & many are required.

Mr Schoonover had other concerns, such as Bohns running a trucking company from their farm. He wanted to know why this was not zoned commercial. Mr Egan explained that the business address is that of the store and that is zoned commercial. It does not make a difference where the trucks are stored.

Mr Schoonover asked Peggy Hendricks why she charges for mileage if she goes to the post office on the way to or from work. Hendricks stated if she does anything to or from work, she does not charge mileage. She charges if an extra trip is needed for an example – picking up or delivering certified mail. She works 12 hour shifts and the post office is not open during the hours she commutes. Mr Schoonover asked why so many certified letters are sent out. They are sent out at least once a month for zoning changes or conditional use permit hearings. With all the elections this year, the clerk receives many registered letters from the county and the schools.

Pat Schoonover made a motion to rent EZ deposit from 1^st National Bank for $25/mo. Ellen Newman 2^nd the motion. Discussion: It was mentioned that cash would have to be taken into the bank. The town uses this for 2 months during tax season at this time. A show of hands was taken for the voice vote was to close. 7 for EZ deposit vs 5 nays. Motion carried.

Pat Schoonover was concerned on discrepancies he has noticed between financial statements of the clerk and the treasurer and wanted to know what their job duties were. Hendricks explained that the clerk’s duties were to write out the checks and present them to the board for approval of payment for that month. The treasurer reports on the checks that were paid the previous month and which have cleared the bank. The clerk and treasurer each keep their own financial records and the board audits these books every 3 months. The accounts are also reconciled every month. Lewis stated that if a check is voided and reissued, she will place that on the monthly treasurer’s report.

Peggy Hendricks went though the 2012 Booklet that was available for the residents. The booklet contains general information, the 2011 annual report, budget summary, 2011 annual meeting minutes and the recycling calendar. Motion by Wendy Laverenz, 2^nd by Patsy Pomplun to approve the annual report. Motion carried.

Resolution Adoption of Annual Meeting Date for 2012, SS 60.30 (4) Hendricks explained that there have been Election law changes that results in a week long “gap” between the end of current terms of town officers. This resolution ordains that the terms of elected town officers will extend from the 2^nd Monday to the 3^rd Tuesday of April. The annual meeting date will change to the 3^rd Wednesday of April. Motion by Neil Newman, 2^nd by Russ Lee to approve the Resolution to extend town officer terms in response to election law changes, No. 041112 Motion carried.

Discussion on Town Attorney: Mr Egan explained that at previous board meetings, it was discussed to look into other attorneys. Mr Selsing has been our attorney for years and has done a good job, but residents requested resumes from others. Mr Selsing was in attendance and commented that he has been born and raised in the township and has served the town for over 20 years. He feels he has responded and serviced the Township well. He has been a municipal attorney for over 30 years and understands zoning and problems that happens in a township. He would like to continue on to represent the township.

Hendricks stated that two other attorneys responded by email. Attorney Daniel Sondalle from Lehner Law Office and Attorney John Blazel from Spoehr, Smits & Blazel, LLC. Hendricks read their emails which explained their credentials and their hourly rate. Pat Schoonover would like the other attorneys invited to speak before taking a vote. Motion by Ellen Newman, 2^nd by Pat Schoonover to table the discussion to the next monthly meeting. Motion carried.

On January 1, 2012, the standard mileage rate in Wisconsin was raised to 55.5 cents per mile from 50 cents per mile. Motion by Ellen Newman, 2^nd by Neil Newman to pay the Federal standard mileage rate per mile for town business driven. This will follow any adjustments they make. Motion carried with one nay.

Chairman Egan stated our next annual meeting will be April 17, 2013.

Motion by Pat Kafer, 2^nd by Gerald Schoonover to adjourn the meeting at 10:10. Motion carried.

Respectfully Submitted by Peggy Hendricks, Clerk