Village Board Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, June 10, 2025

CALL TO ORDER: A regular village board meeting by President Crubaugh at 6pm.

PRESENT: Bob Rausch, Pat Strelitzer, Rich Stuczynski, Brian Swan, Chris Hodges, Dave Crubaugh, Jodi Patoka & Travis Stuczynski

ALSO PRESENT: Brandon O’Connor & Judy Emerson

EXCUSED: Rebecca Roberts

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE MINUTES OF MAY 27, 2025: Approved as presented

PERSONS WISHING TO ADDRESS THE BOARD: N/A

PAYMENT OF BILLS: M/S Rausch/Hodges approve payment of the bills including the add’l list. Roll call vote. Ayes all. M/C.

OPERATOR’S LICENSE – CEIRI THOMAS & BRANDON O’CONNOR, 2025 WINE WALK: M/S Stuczynski/Swan approve the operator’s license for Brandon O’Connor. Ayes all. M/C. The operator’s license for Ceiri Thomas is postponed until the June 24, 2025 meeting.

INTRODUCTION & Q&A FOR VILLAGE ATTORNEY, BRANDON O’CONNOR, ELIASON & O’CONNOR: Crubaugh welcomed Brandon as the new village attorney. His main office is located in Wausau but now has an office located at 157 N Main St. Brandon said he does mostly civil work and municipal work.

VFW UPDATE ON MILITARY MEMORIAL DEDICATION CEREMONY ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 2025 FROM 10AM-3PM (JUDY EMERSON): Emerson went over the details of the event. The village will provide the garbages and dumpsters needed for the event. Parking – the VFW has talked to Peace Lutheran Church about parking at their lot and then shuttling people to the Military Memorial. Emerson should reach out to Travis Stuczynski to discuss parking. It was suggested that the VFW also fill out a Public Space Permit which Patoka will email to Emerson. R. Stuczynski will provide the sound system. Crubaugh will speak at the event. No other politicians will be invited to the event. Patoka will make the Sherriff’s office aware of the event. The VFW will be responsible for porta potties if they want/need them. For pictures, Emerson should contact Tom Parker or Brent Frankenhoff at the Community Spirit. The event will run from 10am-3pm with the program at 11:30am and lunch afterwards. Lunch will be provided by Grit and Grace with cupcakes from Amherst Family Foods. Ok Hardware is supplying the tents, tables and chairs. Formal invites will go out to local VFW’s. Marv Somers is looking into the TV and newspaper coverage. Exit Judy Emerson at 6:14pm.

STREET USE PERMIT – PORTAGE COUNTY FAIR PARADE, SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2025 FROM 11AM-1:30PM: M/S Swan/Stuczynski approve the street use permit. Ayes all. M/C.

2024 COMPLIANCE MAINTENANCE ANNUAL REPORT (CMAR) RESOLUTION: This is required annual report through the DNR. M/S Hodges/Rausch approve the 2024 CMAR as presented. Ayes all. M/C.

2024 CONSUMER CONFIDENCE REPORT: This is also a required annual report through the DNR. The village did have to note one violation in which “failed to develop and report an initial inventory for service line materials.” The violation was corrected the next day. This report is required to be sent to all village residents by July 1^st. This will be mailed out to all village residents with their June utility bill that goes out at the end of June. M/S Stuczynski/Swan approve the Consumer Confidence Report. Ayes all. M/C.

RENEWAL OF OPERATORS LICENSES FOR – MARILYN ORSUND, JOE ORSUND, JENNI PATOKA, BRITTANY LUTZ, TROY AMBROSE, JERRY RIEDERER & NICOLE ROHRS: This is simply for informational purposes only. No action is needed.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USE OF EXCESS FUNDS BUDGETED FOR WASHINGTON STREET REPAVING PROJECT: Looking at widening Washington St. by approximately 4 ft. which will make this a better road for pedestrian traffic at a cost of $14,310. The budgeted amount for redoing Washington St. was $125,000. The bid to repave Washington St. is $98,785. The patches that were done for the water main breaks were $7,010. The repair work under the viaduct on Wilson St. came in at $6,980. The village will receive $15,830.49 in LRIP funds, leaving approx. $13,745 left over. There will be some restoration work to do after the road is paved which will come out of the leftover funds. Painting of the centerline and edge lines will most likely take place in 2026 because the rest of the village is due to have the road lines repainted. M/S Swan/Stuczynski approve the change order to widen the road along with the other projects as presented. Ayes all. M/C.

BUDGET AMENDMENTS FOR THE 2024 GENERAL ACCOUNT BUDGET: This item is postponed until the 6/24/25 meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Plan Commission:

Did not meet in June 2025.

Utility:

Storage capacity study
Utility operations: Well #1 & #2 Upgrades – Well #1 is back online. August Winter and Econ Electric have been working on the project the last two weeks. There was a point where Well #1 had to be shut down. Had to get two safe bacti samples before well #1 could be turned back on. Have to put in two different valves. One valve is manual, the other is automated. The automated valve is backordered till Labor Day. Haven’t heard back from Angel about the backup generator in Well #1. Patoka will follow-up with Angel at AECOM.
The Sanitary Survey for the inspection of our water system is scheduled for Wednesday, June 18, 2025 with Jessica Minich from the DNR. B&M Tech has completed the water communication project where the water tower communicates with the wells. It used to run off of copper telephone lines which have now become obsolete.
Received the Visu-Sewer report for the jetting and televising that was recently done. Need to review yet. The final bill was approximately $5,360 over the budgeted amount because of the extra time and material.
Started taking in septage from local septage haulers which helps generate some extra revenue for the sewer department.

Safety:

Loud trucks in village
Swan talked to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities about changing the railing at FHP. The league attorney suggested that we talk to our insurance company before making any decisions on the railing. The league attorney thought it was a federal mandate to have handicap parking in the village, suggested talking to our village attorney. Also per the league attorney, municipalities have recreational immunity, meaning if someone was to get hurt in the park, they can’t sue the village. The attorney suggested putting a sign up that says no motorized vehicles in the park. Suggested shoveling the dirt back to get rid of the ramps that were built in McKinley Park.

Finance:

Future Treasurer’s Reports – now that all the journal entries have been posted from the 2024 audit, the bank reconciliation process can be completed in Workhorse.

Personnel:

Administrative:

Amplified sound/music ordinance
Gov Card – accept payments via credit card, debit card or electronic check
Meeting June 17, 2025 at 3:30pm

Public Works:

Freddie’s Home Plate update
Greenwood Cemetery acquisition
Roark Way drainage – Blenker’s along with the village as a joint effort will begin work on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 to correct the drainage issue.
Sally Prideaux called the village hall today to talk about her driveway issue from years ago when the county came thru and redid Wilson St. which was a county road years ago. Prideaux said that she had concrete that was destroyed when the road was redone along with several of her neighbors. Her neighbor’s concrete was replaced with new concrete but hers was replaced with blacktop that now is uneven, and she would like it repaired. This has been discussed in the past. Crubaugh will review meeting minutes to see what the decision was. If nothing can be found, this will go to the Public Works Committee.
Military Memorial Dedication Ceremony at Guyant Park, Saturday, August 2, 2025 from 10am-3pm

Tree Board:

Library:

Received $300 in donations in May.
Friends of the Library donated $1,500 for decodable books which have been purchased.
The summer reading program has started.

Fire District:

Meeting: Monday, June 16, 2025 at 6pm

Crubaugh and Patoka met with Attorney Brandon O’Connor on Friday, June 13, 2025 to go over the details of what we need Brandon to start working on. They are as follows:

Greenwood Cemetery
Raze Order on Ed Deyo’s house
The abandoned street by the United Methodist Church and deeding this property to the four property owners surrounding it.
Fundraising campaign for the library
Ordinance review

M/S Swan/Stuczynski to adjourn at 6:54pm. Ayes all. M/C.

Respectfully submitted,
Jodi Patoka
Clerk/Treasurer