Minutes

February 9, 2022

 

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

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

Norm made a motion to approve agenda as amended; seconded by Bob; motion carried unanimously

Bob made a motion to approve minutes of the January 12, 2022 Board Meeting, seconded by Lowell; motion carried unanimously

 

Treasurer report:

Fund balances were read. The tax collection process was uneventful. The Town will no longer accept tax payments and any past due or future payments are paid directly to the Walworth County Treasurer. The payout to the other taxing bodies is due by 2/22/2022.
Some of our payments to vendors have been late and it seems to be an issue with the postal service. One check sent to Winchester True value on Jan 12, has not been received. Casey’s has had an issue two months in a row and are encouraging that payments be processed on-line. This information was brought to light today.

 

Town had 15 fire calls in 2022. All were billed to homeowners. 11 have been paid. If the remainder remain unpaid in October, the amount owed will be added to the 2022 tax bills.

Clerk Report: April 23 – at 841 Brewhouse is training for BOR. WTA is going to make the training an annual event. Encourage all BOR members attend…Lowell and Bob plan to attend in person. Jorja will do on-line meetings.

April 5 election: school board and county supervisor are on our ballot. Planning for training for poll workers to be complete by 3.1.

In response to previous discussions regarding a written procedure for handling variance requests, information was gathered from other towns. Specifically studied was from the Town of Richmond. Their process is quite detailed and perhaps Whitewater does not need all the detail. Will write a simplified version and present at next meeting.

Norm made a motion to accept the Treasurer/Clerk report, Bob seconded the motion and motion carried.

Supervisors’ reports – no reports

Sheriff’s Department incident report:

Calls were up across county, however, none were specific to the Town.

Hochhalter variance request on Lots 1 and 1A Chapel Hills Subdivision was removed from the agenda. Paperwork is not available from the County.

 

Road striping: Carl informed that the County is going to be stripping roads in the county and they want to know if Whitewater is interested. The cost is 8 miles for approximately $5,000.00. The County needs to know by Friday, Feb 11. The stripping will be double yellow only.  Clover Valley, Kettle Moraine, Willis Ray, and Townline are the highest traveled roads. Norm made a motion to spend up to $5000.00 to stripe specific roads, Bob seconded the motion and motion carried.

Bridge report: 2020 report indicated some repairs need to be done. Suggested repairs were not performed. Carl will address all repairs.

Town regulation for public utilities: we energies. Discussion was again tabled for a future meeting.

Town Advocacy Council information within Wisconsin Towns Association. The Town benefits from participation in the Council as they lobby on behalf of the towns across the state.
Safety Patrol contract for 2022 will have addendum added to address the cost refund for the buoys as previously discussed.

Billing for Ridge Road grant can now be completed with addition of engineer’s report.

 

Andrea Svec – candidate for Whitewater School Board. Did not attend. Discussion was held regarding candidates’ attendance at business meetings. He feels that if the candidates want to hold public meetings, they can arrange to use the Town Hall and invite more residents to attend. That activity would probably provide more exposure

Public input – Judy Dern expressed concern about contractors working Kettle Moraine Dr. They are parking on both sides of the road. There is need for someone to direct traffic. Deputy Jacob Skibba said that if the town has an ordinance regarding parking on the roads that is not being obeyed, the Sheriff’s department can enforce the ordinance. If a resident observes the illegal parking on roadways, they should contact the appropriate authority.

The following is the state statute addressing this issue: 346.51

 346.51  Stopping, standing or parking outside of business or residence districts.

(1)  No person shall park, stop or leave standing any vehicle, whether attended or unattended, upon the roadway of any highway outside a business or residence district when it is practical to park, stop or leave such vehicle standing off the roadway, but even the parking, stopping or standing of a vehicle off the roadway of such highway is unlawful unless the following requirements are met:

(a) An unobstructed width of at least 15 feet upon the roadway of such highway must be left opposite such standing vehicle for the free passage of other vehicles. This section shall not apply to a school bus when the school bus is loading or unloading pupils or other authorized passengers where flashing red warning lights are used as required by s. 346.48 (2).

(b) Such standing vehicle must be capable of being seen by operators of other vehicles from a distance of 500 feet in each direction along such highway.

(2) This section also applies to vehicles or equipment used in highway maintenance or construction work unless the nature of the work is such as to require the stopping or standing of the vehicle or equipment on the roadway.

History: 1987 a. 125; 2013 a. 96.

The graded, but unfinished, bed of a highway lane under construction is not a “roadway” under s. 340.01 (54). Burg v. Cincinnati Casualty Insurance Co. 2002 WI 76, 254 Wis. 2d 36, 645 N.W.2d 880, 00-3258.

 

The Board reviewed, approved and signed checks.

Final adjournment:  Norm made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Bob, motion carried and the meeting adjourned at 8:06 PM

 

Respectively submitted by Jorja Boiley.  Clerk/Treasurer