Meeting Minutes, Town Board, October 14, 2019

TOWN OF LIBERTY 
October 14, 2019 


  1. Chairman Terry Theis called the monthly meeting of the Town of Liberty to order at 6:30 pm. on Monday, October 14, 2019 at the Liberty Town Hall and proceeded with the Pledge of Allegiance. Members present were Terry Theis, Nicole Rakobitsch, Treasurer Karen Peterson and Clerk Lori Polhamus. Supervisor Adrian Amelse was excused.
  2. Clerk Lori Polhamus read the minutes of the September 9, 2019 regular town meeting. Motion by Rakobitsch/second by Theis to approve the minutes of the previous meeting as read. All in favor. Motion carried.
  3. Treasurer’s report. (report attached) Peterson read the Treasurer’s report. Beginning cash balance as of 9/1/19 was $48,812.70 and an ending cash balance as of 9/30/19 of $38,126.60 was reported. Interest year to date on the General Fund was $19.73 and interest earned year to date on the Tax Account was $76.16. There is $75,318.32 available in the tax account. Receipts included gravel receipts and building permits.
  4. Patrolman's Report– no update
  5. First Period for public comment – None
  6. Town Announcements- Polhamus stated there is no additional charge on our insurance for the two locations of the shop and town hall. Theis stated that there has been increased participation in the Town Advocacy Council so more legislative action is happening to get highway funding.
  7. Approval of service contract with Vernon County for Shining Ordinance enforcement – Motion by Rakobitsch/second by Theis to approve the agreement for services with the Vernon County Sheriff's Department to enforce the Shining Ordinance. All in favor. Motion carried.
  8. Discussion with possible action on Elk Run road project– Theis stated that when meeting with the DNR regarding the project that we would have to put large rock down in the water to stabilize the bank instead of what we had proposed earlier. The Board chose to hold off on this project to hear from FEMA and possible additional funds from DOT grants.
  9. Discussion with possible action on all Town road maintenance issues – There are DOT transportation grants that we can apply for by December 6th. New projects must be a minimum of $50,000 and can combine up to three projects with up to six years to complete them. We would also need a capital plan put together. There may be other additional funds available.
  10. Southwest Sanitation recycling contract discussion with possible action – we currently do not have an updated contract as they are only updating the fees on a regular basis. If we were to go back to the County we would have to separate recyclables again and we would lose the grant. The Board chose to stay with Southwest Sanitation. Polhamus stated we can also choose whether we want to continue taking items during cleanup days or have residents take them directly to Southwest.
  11. Update from Zoning Committee with possible action – the committee met on September 24th and October 8th and have used the Town of Whitestown ordinance as a model and revised it for Liberty with a single district ordinance. Variances would be required for any other usage. They will be meeting on November 5th to review a draft report and ordinance and the draft will be brought before the November 11th Town Board meeting. Rakobitsch will send out a draft to the Town Board prior to the meeting for their review.
  12. Discussion with possible action on 2020 Humane Society Contract – the renewal amount for the contract in 2020 is $800 for dogs only and doesn't include a cap on mass seizures as discussed previously. The Board would like to see the additional language included in the contract.
  13. Preliminary 2020 budget discussion, debt and capital planning – we will need to purchase fire equipment of $7100 as previously discussed and a fire truck is being discussed as well that we will be responsible for 1/3 of the cost of around $365,000. Turnout gear will need to be replaced in about 3 ½ years, the grader is having issues and our truck has been needing repairs.
  14. Discussion with possible action on Election security grant & transportation grant funding – the State Elections Board is offering grant funding to improve Cyber security on Town computers as it relates to using the Elections database. Our computer is new and has Windows 10 so we are compliant in that aspect along with the security training, however we don't have formal IT support which we can get a $400 grant for. We are also currently using the Clerk's personal email address so we could set up a generic town email as well. Motion by Rakobitsch/second by Theis to apply for the election security grant for IT services. All in favor. Motion carried. The transportation grant was discussed under item nine.
  15. Action & Approval on monthly bills – Motion by Rakobitsch/second by Theis to approve total bills of $35,313.40 as presented. All in favor. Motion carried.
  16. Review of building permits (if any) - There were three applications for Gabe Williams.
  17. Second period for public comment – Evan Jones thanked the Board for their work. Sue Mueller stated that the DOT has other grants available for road repair and there are USDA grants for emergency funds as well. Polhamus stated we received $10,000 from Ho-Chunk funding as well for road repairs. Anne Orso asked if the zoning ordinance will address the cell towers. Paul Linskins stated that we may want to consider not using the smaller dumpster at cleanup day as we are not filling it with items that are required to be recycled.
  18. Future agenda items – transportation grant, budget, debt levy and zoning ordinance.

Motion by Rakobitsch/second by Theis to adjourn the meeting at 7:55 pm. All in favor. Motion carried.

Minutes submitted by: Lori Polhamus, Town Clerk