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Town of Clinton Board Meeting July 13, 2022
Properly posted meeting was called to order at 7pm with the pledge of allegiance.
In attendance were Chairman Corey Leis, Supervisor 1 Wally Hemmersbach, Supervisor 2 Fred Brandt, Clerk Sandy Schweiger and Treasurer Jan Clark as well as Patrolman Scot Sanders and visitors including Ranelle Brandt, Mava Clark, Paul Clark, Bob Erickson, Laurie Erickson, Doug Ewing, Joe Giles, Carla Leppert, Tammy Litsey, Lonnie Muller, Lori Schmitz and Steve Schmitz.
Mr. Hemmersbach made a motion, 2nd by Mr. Brandt, to approve the financial report as read; all ayes, motion carried.
Mr. Hemmersbach made a motion, 2nd by Mr. Brandt, to approve the following transfers: on July 4 $804.27 from ARPA money management to regular money management (culvert sale inadvertently deposited in wrong account) and on July 14 $74,942.69 from savings to ARPA money management, $38,625.00 from savings to checking and $23,450 from regular money management to checking; all ayes, motion carried.
Motion made by Mr. Brandt, 2nd by Mr. Hemmersbach, to pay the bills; all ayes, motion carried.
A figure regarding the isolated patching of Clinton Ridge Road was corrected to $64,980 in the minutes while Mr. Brandt edited a paragraph referencing his website progress report and the Clerk not furnishing him with Town documents requested via an Open Records Request. With those changes, Mr. Brandt made a motion to approve the minutes, 2nd by Mr. Hemmersbach; all ayes, motion carried. Mr. Brandt made a motion that only board-approved minutes would be posted on the new website, 2nd by Mr. Leis; all ayes, motion carried.
During public comment, Mr. Giles asked how public would view minutes if not posted online; Mrs. Schmitz also expressed concern. Mr. Leis indicated the minutes could be requested from the clerk after five days. Mr. Schmitz requested to speak. Chairman Leis advised him he was on a one year probation. He continued interrupting and disrupting the meeting and at that time Chairman Leis asked him to leave the meeting.
Mr. Erickson, as well as Mr. Leis and Mr. Brandt, expressed concerns regarding the accuracy of the draft minutes posted on the website in the past.
Mr. Brandt reported on the new website progress which the board will review prior to launch.
Mr. Hemmersbach noted that Eric Wang’s mower did not work as intended and recommended staying with current mower. Due to the cost of an arm mower, the
town has instead been contracting with the county for brushing; the board will explore their options.
Mr. Hemmersbach reported that Joel Rickey had expressed an interest in working as an attendant at the Recycle Center for $20 per hour. Mr. Leis made a motion, 2nd by Mr. Hemmersbach, to hire Mr. Rickey as an employee; all ayes, motion carried.
Mr. Leis made a motion to amend the budget for the Irish Ridge Road project from a provisional line item of $650,000 on the budget, to a bank Line of Credit of $1,250,000, 2nd by Mr. Brandt; all ayes, motion carried. Mr. Leis made a motion to increase the Clinton Ridge Road project to $250,000, 2nd by Mr. Brandt; all ayes, motion carried. Mr. Leis made a motion, 2nd by Mr. Brandt, to increase the website budget to $5,000 from an initial design estimate of $1,500; all ayes, motion carried. Mr. Leis made a motion, 2nd by Mr. Hemmersbach, to transfer $10,000 from the contingency fund to equipment repairs; all ayes, motion carried. Mr. Leis made a motion, 2nd by Mr. Brandt, to transfer $1,000 from the contingency to sanitation; all ayes, motion carried. A total of $147,908 has been spent on road projects so far this year. Mr. Sanders will get pricing on salt; Mr. Leis recommended 60 loads of screenings. Mr. Sanders will also investigate fuel pricing and contracts.
Mr. Leis made a motion to increase the Clinton Ridge Road financing to $250,000, 2nd by Mr. Brandt; all ayes, motion carried.
Vernon County Emergency Management Coordinator Brandon Larson provided Municipality Emergency Operations Plans for the board to consider. Mr. Hemmersbach was in favor of the county plan; Mr. Leis preferred to address the matter at the next meeting.
After the semi-annual budget review, the board decided that an operating Line of Credit may not be necessary at this time.
Chairman Leis received a call from the Farmer’s State Bank of Hillsboro after the June 8, 2022 Town Board meeting, stating that they had sent the Town’s Line of Credit documents to the Town Clerk in time to be signed at the June meeting.
The Clerk never made the presence of the loan documents known, nor available to the Board. The bank told Chairman Leis that they would send new loan documents directly to him because the original set of documents would be expired before the July Board Meeting.
At the July Board Meeting Chairman Leis pointed out that the only action of the Board left on the Agenda was to sign the loan documents so if people needed to leave they would not miss out on anything else.
Town Clerk Sandy Schweiger refused to sign the documents and left the meeting at 7:58 pm. Town Treasurer Jan Clark refused to sign the loan documents and left the meeting shortly thereafter.
The board promptly addressed these actions by a decision to contact the Wisconsin Towns Association on July 14th, 2022. If required, they would plan a properly noticed Special Meeting for July 15th, 2022 to act on this refusal to sign the loan documents for the banks, and get the loan documents signed and submitted to both banks in a timely fashion.
At 8:17 pm, Mr. Hemmersbach made a motion to adjourn, 2nd by Mr. Leis; all ayes, motion carried.