Town of Whitewater Town Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

 

Chairman Lowell Hagen called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM

In attendance: Lowell Hagen, Norm Prusener, Bob Strand and Jorja Boiley.

Norm Prusener made a motion to accept the agenda as presented, the motion was seconded by Bob Strand and the motion carried unanimously.

Norm Prusener made a motion to approve the Minutes from the July 20, 2021 Special Town Board Meeting. Bob Strand seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.

Treasurer reports: Bank balances were read.

Clerk Report:

Donna Sherman will not be able to cover the normal open hours for the Town Hall on August 24 and August 26, 2021. A notice will be posted with emergency phone numbers for resident access.

Scott Cashen is requesting approval for selling prepackaged food on the lake. The board indicted he should contact the County for that approval

The 2020 Census: the Town of Whitewater has a population of 1489 and 1207 eligible voters.

Phone cable at N7423 Ridge Road has a clearance of only about 9’. It is the resident’s responsibility to contact AT&T to fix the issue so that the cable is at or above 12’ from the ground.

Supervisor reports:

Lowell: reported on the Town’s response to the major storm damage that occurred around the lake August 10. The Town crew was working on clean up from 6:00 PM until midnight and continued through the end of the day on Wednesday. He complimented Carl Ahrens, Tim Ryan and Bob Strand for their efforts. The clean up will be on-going for several weeks.

Norm had no reports

Bob – commented also on the damage and fielding many phone calls from residents.

Sheriff’s dept: Nick Yohanek shared that there were about 240 calls for service during the month of July. He said one was related to weather issue; there were no major incidents. He said Whitewater Lake was relatively incident free.

After a discussion regarding a box for the Peterbilt snowplow, Lowell made a motion to accept the offer of a free box and the installation of the box through Kevin Machinery and Welding. The cost for the installation is quoted at $6912.00. Bob Strand seconded the motion, and the motion carried unanimously.

Carl Aherns located forks to install on the Kubota. Norm made a motion to spend up to $725.00 for the purchase of forks, the motion was seconded by Lowell, the motion passed unanimously.

Bob provided an update for this season’s road repair:

Stader Road mill and replace is scheduled for early September. Bob will assist Asphalt Co for marking the project.

Ridge Road overlay and Converse Road wedge and overlay will commence after Labor Day. Payne and Dolan are doing both projects.

Grand View is schedule for September 27 with Rock Road. Bob will call Dan at Rock Road to verify marking for the project.

Currently the Town does not have a fee schedule for responding to FOIA requests/Public Records access. The Board reviewed information and a fee schedule from another town and they felt the fees are reasonable. Jorja will check with Code360 to confirm if the information needs a more formal document.

After a discussion about the project on Hill Drive at the lakefront, Norm made a motion to accept the proposal from JNT Marina to complete to affect their portion of changes in the amount of $6000.00; the motion was seconded by Bob and the motion carried. Once JNT is finished with their portion, the Town will complete the necessary changes. JNT is in the process of drafting a contract for the project.

Norm also indicated that there is no place to leave any personal belongings in the area overnight.

The year to date budget report was discussed. The board offered two dates for a special meeting with the Town’s CPA to verify the process for increasing taxes to cover costs for needed road repairs.

Public input:

Elaine Florczak raised a question regarding the Town’s lack of involvement regarding the Lake Lorraine project that the Town of Richmond is developing. Individual board members assured her that there are conversations being held with residents and Lake Management. So far the opinion expressed is that the proposed project will most likely not transpire.

Elaine also shared that Sean Blanton says the Safety Patrol needs about 15 new buoys. There is adequate money budgeted for that purpose.

Norm made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Bob, the motion carried and the meeting adjourned at  7:56PM.

Respectively submitted by Jorja Boiley Clerk/Treasurer