Village of La Farge Board Meeting Briefs

*November 11, 2024, Village President Frank Quinn called the meeting of the Village Board to order at 6:30 p.m. Roll Call. All members were present: Terry Jensen, Barbara Melvin, Dave Fish, Karen Leis, Aaron Nemec, Jill Stoltz, and Frank Quinn.              

*Verification was given of meeting publishing and posting.   

*Melvin moved, Leis seconded to approve the previous meetings minutes. (Carried).

*Correspondence: None.   

*Public Comment: None. 

*Jensen moved, Fish seconded to approve pay application # 4 for Badger Environmental & Earthworks for $319,037, for the Main/Mill Street project. (Carried).

*The Streets and Utilities committee met before this meeting and recommended a rate increase in the water. Greg explained the two types of increases, for a simplified or conventional. We did the simplified last year (at 8%). We are looking at this again for 2025, for 4.1%, which is set by the PSC based on the financials. Our last full rate case was in 2014. The estimated impact on customers was reviewed and will be published in the Episcope December 2nd. The date to go into effect is 2-1-2025, pending PSC approval. Melvin moved, Fish seconded to approve the 4.1% increase for water, recommended by the streets & utilities committee. (Carried).         

 

**Wayne reported Mark Digman, from Delta 3, sends email updates, keeping us informed on the Main/Mill project. Badger will not be tearing up any more blacktop this year. They will finish in the Spring.    

 

7). Old Business: Michelle Primmer was present to speak on behalf of Frontier Property Management (for the upper trailer park). They sent a letter requesting that the village ordinance restricting mobile homes that are older than ten years be revised. Melvin moved, Jensen seconded to not change the ordinance. (Carried). Michelle asked the board to reconsider. They would like to bring in newer homes, to help dispose of the older homes to make it more appealing. New homes are over $100,00+ and are not affordable to many. She said the Village of Taylor (Jackson County), is meeting tonight to overturn their ordinance, to make it more affordable for people. Quinn commented he feels there are still issues not resolved (at the trailer park). Chief Palmer has the new nuisance ordinance in place, and there is still trash up there. The board feels currently we don’t want to change our ordinance. Michelle thanked the board for letting her speak.       

 

8). Five operator license applications were received: Trisha Johnson (Alcohol server training completed 10-16-24), Lucas Liles (training done 10-16-24), Braidi Meeks (training done 10-18-24), MaKayla Coggins (training done 11-7-24), and Shaylin Townsend (training done 10-16-24). A background check showed all good, except Shaylin, who has pending criminal charges. Fish moved, Stoltz seconded to approve 4 of the 5 applicants, with Shaylin Townsend denied. (Carried).    

9). Nemec moved, Leis seconded to approve the ad in the Driftless Wisconsin Map. (Carried). The cost is $18.90 higher than last year, at $401.40. LAPA donates $100 toward it, so our cost is $301.40.

 

10). The board acted on the following recommendations from various committees:

a). Parks: recommended raising the Park shelter use fees to $35 for the Big Shelter and Lions shelter, $25 for the two smaller ones, and no fee for Sandmire Park (no electricity). This is non-refundable and includes garbage. Jensen moved, Leis seconded to approve the new rental fees. (Carried).  

b). Streets: recommended raising garbage fees. Tags are $2.00, to go to $2.50, Dumpsters are $35, to go to $40, and business dumpsters are $30, to go to $35. Recycle totes are costly, so they agreed to have people buy their own. Fish moved, Stoltz seconded to approve the fees. (Carried).

c). Finance: Proposed a raise in board pay. The current board can’t raise their own, so a new raise would be in effect for the President and 3 trustees elected in April 2025, to be paid in April 2026. The other 3 trustees elected in April 2026 will be paid in April 2027. President pay will go from $2,700 to $3,500, and the trustees from $2,200 to $3,000. Jensen moved, Leis seconded to approve the raise. (Carried).   

d). The office computers are quite old. Greg contacted Monte Bankes. He quoted $1,300 for the Village office, $1,550 for the Utility office, and no price yet for the Police department (estimated around $1,500). Jensen moved, Nemec seconded to approve the new computers. (Carried).

e). Finance: Recommended raising the committee spending limit from $1,500 to $2,500, that a committee can spend without full board approval. Nemec moved, Leis seconded to approve of this. (Carried).     

 

11). The Village health insurance carrier, Exemplar, is non-renewing our group, due to high cost claims this past year. Our agent gave us different options with Quartz. The one like what we have now is a little higher. This one goes by ages. Some employees went down, some up. The committees budgeted for the higher one, and agreed to have the employees look over the options and decide, which they’ve done. They agreed on the similar one like we had. Jensen moved, Leis seconded to change from Exemplar to Quartz. (Carried).  

 

12). Police Report/Update: Chief Palmer is running into issues with unregistered vehicles, so he came up with the idea of a possible permit system that he brought to his nuisance property committee, which they discussed and are recommending. A person with an unregistered vehicle can have one permit a year, for one vehicle, giving them this time frame to either register or dispose of it. This gives people time if it’s a project car to do something with it. The permit is $50 a year. This is a way to enforce a standard we have in our ordinance, with a little leeway. And it’s non-transferable. Jensen moved, Melvin seconded to approve the $50 permit system, for unregistered vehicles, good for one year, for one vehicle only, and then the vehicle needs to be registered or gone, and it’s non- transferable to anyone else. (Carried).   

 

**When Steve started here, the Tasers we had were outdated. He called Axon, and they weren’t covered under the manufacturer’s warranty, as far as liability if there was a malfunction. So since October of 2022, he hasn’t had one. The new one Axon has now is the Taser 10. Vernon County also uses this one. It has an effective range of 0-45’. The old one was 5’-15’. The accuracy is great, and you have 10 opportunities to make the connection. You had to reload the old one after each time. The cost is $4,674. We can go with a 5-year contract to make yearly payments. At the end of the contract, we can return the old one and they will send a replacement. If the Taser is used, the new cartridges to put back in are free. Vernon Memorial Healthcare has given a $750 donation towards this, which can be used to fund the first payment. Jensen moved, Fish seconded to approve the purchase of a Taser 10. (Carried).     

 

*Reviewed highlights of the proposed budget for 2025. Have a balanced budget of $767,070. This is an increase of $44,063 over the 2024 budget. Jensen moved, Nemec seconded to approve the 2025 proposed budget for publication and set November 26, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. for the Public Budget Hearing, with a special meeting to follow for adoption of the budget. (Carried).

*No committee reports or updates.  

*Melvin moved, Leis seconded to approve payment of the bills. (Carried).

*Jensen moved, Nemec seconded to adjourn. (Carried). Adjourned at 7:21 p.m.

                                                             Kimberly Walker, Village Clerk/Treasurer