VILLAGE OF LA FARGE

                 Regular Board Meeting          Monday, April 14, 2025

                                                                                    

1). Village President Frank Quinn called the regular meeting of the La Farge Village Board to order at 6:30 p.m. at the Emergency Services building, at 201 S. Cherry Street.

 

Roll Call - Present at the meeting:

Board members: Aaron Nemec, Barbara Melvin, Dave Fish, Karen Leis, Jill Stoltz, and Frank Quinn. Absent was Terry Jensen.               

Also: News reporter Lonnie Muller, Cathy St. John, Utility Clerk Greg Lawton, Police Chief Steve Palmer, Cory Volden, Tyler Babb and wife, and Clerk Kimberly Walker.     

            

2). Verification was given of meeting publishing in the La Farge Episcope, and of posting at the Farmers State Bank, La Farge Post Office, and Village Office bulletin board on Friday, April 11, 2025.      

              

3). Melvin moved, Fish seconded to approve the previous meetings minutes: (3-10-2025/Regular Village Board meeting; 3-25-2025/Library Board meeting; 1-13-2025, 2-24-2025, and 3-24-2025/Nuisance Property committee meeting; and 4-10-2025/Emergency Services Building committee meeting). (Carried).    

              

4). Correspondence:   

**Received an invitation from the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, to help them celebrate 25 years on June 7, 2025, with a rededication ceremony at 1 p.m. at the KVR Visitor Center. RSVP is by May 1st.   

**We received the $1 million grant for the substation from the appropriations committee. The money paid off the $1 million note we borrowed for the project. Thanks to Greg for his work on this. 

**The La Farge Lions Club donated $200, and LAPA donated $500 for the April 26th Village Cleanup Day.  

 

5). Public Comment: Lonnie Muller mentioned the county received a $150,000 grant from the State, available for small businesses or signage on Main Street store fronts. If interested, contact Lonnie.      

 

6). Utility Business:

**Pay application #6 was received from Badger Environmental & Earthworks for $118,953. Fish moved, Stoltz seconded to approve the pay application. (Carried).

**The Streets & Utilities committee discussed and recommended a disconnection policy for non-payment of utilities. We follow the rules, but the PSC recommends having it formally approved. The reconnection fees are set by the tariffs, and the minimum threshold to disconnect is $100. Melvin moved, Leis seconded to approve the policy. (Carried). 

**The committee is also recommending selling the used light poles we have piled up from the Main Street project. There are approximately 18 poles. Fish moved, Stoltz seconded to approve selling these. (Carried).

**PWM Wayne Haugrud is unavailable tonight, as he’s dealing with a power outage.

 

7). Old Business: None.

  

8). Cory Volden sent a letter requesting permission to close a small part of N. Gold Street from Main Street to the alley, to put up a new tire shop. The Streets & Utilities committee met on this and recommend moving forward with the closing process. If approved, the board will need to approve a resolution at the next meeting and publish it in the paper for 3 weeks for any public feedback. Will need to talk to the attorney on a discontinuance order and an order for closing it. Fish moved, Leis seconded to proceed with the process. (Carried).     

 

9). Opened three bids for mowing/trimming of Chapel Hill Cemetery for the 2025 season. Beau’s Lawncare bid was $4,000, Justin’s Lawn Care & Landscape, LLC bid $2,700, and Babb Lawn Care bid $150 per mow/trim/blow occurrences, with a cap of $2,550 per year, with spring and fall cleanup options. He will also offer a 2-year contract in June if both parties are happy. Leis moved, Nemec seconded to award the mowing and trimming of Chapel Hill to Babb Lawn Care, not to exceed $2,550 for the year. (Carried).

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10). Fish moved, Melvin seconded to approve an operator license for Daija McNamer (Wisconsin Responsible Beverage Server training completed on 11-26-2024. (Carried). CCAP check was good.

 

11). Frank congratulated the new members elected to the Village Board, from the April 1st election. Wednesday, April 23rd at 6:00 p.m. was set for the re-organization meeting for the Village board. 

 

12). Open Book with the Assessor was set for May 15th, from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. and Board of Review for May 22nd, from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., both at the village office.  

 

13). The 29th annual Village-Wide rummage sales were set for June 6th & 7th.   

 

14). Leis moved, Nemec seconded to approve the ad in “The Visitor” for $150. (Carried).

   

15). Police Chief Steve Palmer gave a report on the following:

**He’s working to bring his Taser into service and is upgrading the desktop computer this week.

**The DCI Drug Investigation school in Appleton last month was an excellent course. Already using some skills learned. Great networking with people.     

**Steve inquired on getting approval to charge people for doing criminal background checks. We currently use CCAP for operator license application checks and business uses, but if they have a felony in another state, we don’t have this information. We can check them through the Wisconsin Department of Justice site, but they charge us $7.00. With our time involved, we were thinking of a charge of $10. Stoltz moved, Leis seconded to approve charging $10 for criminal background checks for operator licenses, etc. (Carried).     

  

16). Committee Reports and Updates:

**Chronic nuisance committee: Jill reported flyers have gone out for the village cleanup day, and they will hold another meeting on this before the April 26th event.  

**Clinic: Dave said 2 of the renters will be leaving: Omar (end of April) and the Power House Nutrition at the end of May. 

**Library: Barb said circulation is good. There was a question that came up on the annual report on which members are county appointed. The county approves 2 of these. This is being investigated further.  

**This is Frank Quinn’s last meeting, as he didn’t run for another term. So as a token of appreciation, on behalf of the Village and the Village Board, Aaron Nemec presented him with a plaque for his 11 years of service (9 years as a Village Trustee and 2 years as the Village President). Frank thanked the board. He said a lot has been accomplished in his 11 years. We’re moving in the right direction and getting a lot done! 😊     

 

17). Fish moved, Nemec seconded to approve payment of the bills. (Carried).

   

18). Nemec moved, Leis seconded to adjourn. (Carried). Adjourned at 7:08 p.m.

   

                                                                                      __________________________________      

                                                           Kimberly Walker, Village Clerk/Treasurer