VILLAGE OF LA FARGE

                 Regular Board Meeting          Monday, May 12, 2025

                                                                                    

1). Village President Aaron Nemec 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:

All Board members: Dave Fish, Jill Stoltz, Karen Leis, Terry Jensen, Cathy St. John, Barbara Melvin, and Aaron Nemec.                

Also: News reporter Lonnie Muller, Public Works Manager Wayne Haugrud, Utility Clerk Greg Lawton, Police Chief Steve Palmer, Samantha Laskowski, Mark Digman, David Jablonowski, Bob Callaway, Jackie Harrison and co-worker Matthew, 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 Thursday, May 8, 2025.      

               

3). Melvin moved, Jensen seconded to approve the previous meetings minutes: (4-14-2025/Streets and Utilities committee meeting; 4-14-2025/Regular Village Board meeting; 4-23-2025/Special Village Board meeting; 5-1-2025/Zoning Board of Appeals Public Hearing meeting; and 5-6-2025/Streets and Utilities committee meeting). (Carried).    

              

4). Correspondence:   

**The board (and guest) received an invitation to a banquet for the La Farge Area Ambulance Services’ 50th Anniversary celebration on June 21st at 5 p.m. Let Kim know if you plan to attend by June 6th.     

**The Village received an award for up to $10,000 from the Vernon County Economic Development committee on a matching grant for a backup generator for the substation. We’ve previously been successful with this grant, receiving funds for the Sandmire Park picnic shelter and the new Tornado Siren.    

 

5). Public Comment: None.  

 

6). Utility Business:

**Pay application #7 was received from Badger Environmental & Earthworks for $135,536. Mark Digman, with Delta 3 Engineering, was present and gave a review of the project. The sanitary sewer will be done this week, and the water mains are complete. Patching and landscaping are left to finish. Fish moved, Leis seconded to pay application #7 to Badger Environmental & Earthworks. (Carried).

**Mark explained a problem found today. When crossing the box culvert on Main, just East of Elm Street, they were unable to replace the existing sewer because of how it had been poured into the box culvert. So, this area will need to be skipped for now and wait for the DOT project when they come thru. It will be a change order for that work, and some added expenses for the village. Unforeseen case.  

  

**The Streets & Utilities committee met earlier and made recommendations on the following three items:

1). Financing for the new boom truck, which is about finished (and approved last year). Two quotes were received. Farmers State Bank (FSB) and Royal Bank. FSB was the lowest, at 4.25% for a 5-year loan. Fish moved, Jensen seconded to approve the financing with FSB for the truck. (Carried).  

 

2). Cherry Street Infrastructure: Mark Digman explained that over the years, Cherry Street has had a lot of water main breaks. It costs $5-$8,000 to fix every time, and they just had a recent one. With the contractor, Badger Environmental, in town now, it would be beneficial in cost to do this. The plan is Main to Penn on Cherry Street to replace the water main, with a cost estimated to be around $50,000. As this is not part of the Main Street project, to pay for this, the utilities will borrow money from the village. Jensen moved, Melvin seconded to approve the infrastructure improvements on Cherry Street. (Carried).

 

3). Adams Street Infrastructure Improvements: This is between the School and Village Park (Mill to Bird Streets). Mark explained there’s been a lot of storm water problems, and the road is very narrow. So this project would take care of installing the underground storm sewer, water mains, and widen the road with

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curb and gutter on both sides. For the funding, we can apply for the Safe Drinking Water grant/loan (as done with recent projects). The deadline for this is June 30th, with results out in September. The project is projected at $675,000. By 2027, we will have this amount in the TIF to pay for the project if we don’t receive the SDWLP funding. Fish moved, Stoltz seconded to approve to move forward with it. (Carried).        

    

**President Nemec read Resolution # 05-12-25 for the “Adoption of 2024 Compliance Maintenance Annual Report (CMAR) for the La Farge Wastewater Treatment Plant”. Leis moved, Melvin seconded to approve the resolution. (Carried).

 

**Regular Utility Business:

*Wayne reported the wastewater treatment plant water quality trading has finally been approved by the DNR after 3+ years, so we are able to move forward with the discharge permit. An inspection is scheduled for June 19th to inspect all our properties to do with sewer. So hopefully by Fall, we have the permit.    

  

7). Old Business: Dale Clements made a request to be on the agenda regarding Franklin Street, but he was not present. Nemec said the Street committee met last week on this, with Dale present, and found we’re in compliance with the maintenance of the Street. Karen said she’d like to see a sign put up on that street, stating “minimal maintenance, proceed at your own risk. Something to cover us. Chief Palmer said he drove down the road with his dash camera on, all the way down and back, and took pictures, and he deemed the road safe. There’s a record of this with dispatch. Wayne will check with Decker Supply on a sign.       

    

**Last month, Cory Volden requested closing a part of Gold Street, from Main Street to the alley behind the Truck Center. The first step is to get it surveyed. When this is done, then the Planning Commission needs to meet and hold a Public Hearing. What the board needs tonight is to approve the Village to take steps to secure a legal description of said street for the planning commissions use and consideration of a resolution to discontinue Gold Street. Jensen moved, Leis seconded to approve moving forward with this. (Carried).  

  

8). David Jablonowski was present to talk about a trail on the old railroad bed. He gave a background on himself. In 2016, he and a group of Friends bought property on the West of town, by the old railroad bed. They wanted to create a community space, but with the floods, things didn’t work out, so they sold it, except David retained the parking area close to the (Kickapoo River) for canoeists to use. He’s been thinking about building a pedestrian/cycling path along the old railroad way, North to the KVR, to just south of Corp Road. He walked this about 8 years ago with some village people, who were then looking at a possible trail. He’d like to re-visit this, to have a safe path for people to not be on Hwy 131. He would take the lead on mapping this out and working on funding, with checking into grants. Karen inquired on the maintenance. He said he’d have to come back with proposals and do more research. He’d like to talk about this further, possibly coming back next year with ideas. The board was good with this.    

 

9). Samantha Laskowski, from the Vernon County Energy District, was present and reviewed that they coordinated with the Village to write the Rural Energy Savings Program grant thru the PSC. One item in the grant was to do a study on how the community center could interact with the grid if batteries were added, on how it would work with a micro-grid and a standby generator. Bob Callaway, from Ethos Green Power, did the study and shared it with the board. A report was passed out for review. In the basement of the building is a possible spot for an energy storage system to be used to power the community center during a grid outage. This area could house the batteries, transfer switches, and other equipment. It would be compatible with the generator (the village is applying for). It would provide shelter in a situation for about 10 hours. There is also an option to connect a solar PV to it, to keep the batteries charged. But there’s no space on site for this. A solar canopy option is available. Bob said if the board has any questions, to please contact him.   

10). Jackie Harrison and her co-worker Matthew, from Couillard Solar Foundation, were on hand to explain the solar canopy option. They handed out materials on what this looks like. They’ve been around for 8 years, and their mission is to help non-profits get solar power thru grants. She explained the canopy, which comes in a variety of sizes, depending on the needs. This can go along a parking lot area, and can also be used for community events, such as a farmers’ market. It is weather proof and very versatile. There are 2 parking spaces in between each of the support structures. Schools have used these for outdoor classrooms. She thanked the board for the opportunity to come and present this.  

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11). Board of Review committee: Aaron Nemec, Karen Leis, Terry Jensen, Barb Melvin, and Clerk Walker were appointed. The meeting is May 22nd, at 5:00 p.m. at the village office. Cathy St. John is the alternate.         

 

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

**He’s completed the certification training on the new Taser.

**Monte Bankes has installed his new desktop computer. Night and day difference in operation.

**The nuisance property committee agreed on a time frame for when Steve issues the first citation for a chronic nuisance property, to when we begin the abatement process. They felt 60 days was a fair amount.   

  

13). Committee Reports and Updates:

**Chronic nuisance committee: Jill reported the village cleanup day went very well. She asked if anyone had any feedback. Aaron said it was fantastic, bringing many community members out. Maybe in the future, have again, but be a “pop-up” cleanup, so people don’t store stuff for a yearly thing. This time it was a learning experience.       

 

14). Fish moved, Jensen seconded to approve payment of the bills. (Carried).

    

15). Jensen moved, Leis seconded to adjourn. (Carried). Adjourned at 7:26 p.m.

   

                                                                                      __________________________________      

                                                           Kimberly Walker, Village Clerk/Treasurer