Town Board Meeting April 14, 2011

Chair Ray Knapp convened the Regular Town Board meeting on Thursday April 14, 2011, at 6:54 pm. , immediately following the Board of Appeals meeting, as noticed.  Supervisors Jan Cuccia, Sue Warren, and Jason Kjos were present.  Brian Schwab arrived later.

 

The following people signed the attendance sheet:  Kristen Sailer, Bridget Call, Jill Berke, Denise Stalker, Ray Stalker, Mark Mitchell, Charlie Macdonell and Darla Roeker.  Others were present who did not sign in.

 

R. Knapp invited those present to join in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

 

APPROVE MINUTES - Minutes of the March 10, 2011 Town Board meeting had been distributed to the board.  J. Cuccia moved to approve the March 10, 2011 Town Board minutes, seconded by S. Warren.  Motion passed, all in favor.

 

CITIZEN INPUT – None.

 

PARK BOARD REPORT – The March Park Board report and Park Board minutes were distributed to the board.  Jill Berke recapped that the Parks Brochure and been completed and distributed to various locations throughout the community.  She would also like to see it added to the town’s website.  The dock has not been installed at the launch due to the high water.  The entrance directional sign for Glover Park has been located and will be reinstalled.  The Park Board and park rangers are in the process of reviewing uniform costs.  R. Knapp suggested that they should at least order a jacket now so that the rangers have a presence when patrolling the parks.  The town board agreed and directed the Park Board to get these on order.   

 

PLAN COMMISSION REPORT – Minutes of the Plan Commission meeting had been distributed to the board.  J. Cuccia stated that the 2 riverway applications heard by the Plan Commission were approved by the Board of Appeals earlier tonight.  The Plan Commission tabled a riverway concept application, discussed the expedited process for replacement of riverway POWTS, reviewed the status of the Cooperative Boundary Agreement and discussed the next steps in the Comprehensive Zoning process.

 

CONSTABLE & SHERIFF REPORTS – Copies of the Constable report and Sheriff report were distributed to and reviewed by the board.  Park Ranger Roen was available for questions.

 

REVIEW AND DISCUSS EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLAN – Kristen Sailer, St. Croix County Emergency Management Coordinator, reviewed the Town’s Emergency Operations Plan.  She explained that her role is to assist the town in updating their plan, to help the town obtain equipment, if necessary after an event, and to train town officials in case of an emergency.  She is in the process of working with the Wisconsin Towns Association to set-up training dates.  J. Cuccia agreed to work with K. Sailer on updating the town’s Municipal Emergency Operations Plan.  The other town board members will read through the town’s current plan and give their feedback to J. Cuccia.

 

DISCUSS & CONSIDER FIRE CALL APPEAL – BRIDGET CALL – Bridget Call explained that she was in an accident on December 7, 2010.  She was billed $700 for the fire department and she claimed she didn’t call them, she is a college student and doesn’t have any money, the accident was dismissed in court, so there aren’t any reports against her driving record and the other person involved in the accident was also billed.  B. Call did admit that she had called 911, but didn’t realize that the fire department responds when 911 is called for an accident.  She was treated at the scene and transported in an ambulance from the scene.  Her mother has paid $200 of the $700 fire call, but she would like it back.  Her insurance company denied the claim.

Brian Schwab arrived.

J. Cuccia stated that she didn’t see any compelling evidence for forgiveness.  The town’s policy is to charge for an accident, if that isn’t what the town wants to do, maybe the board should be looking at changing the policy.  R. Knapp understood where J. Cuccia was coming from, and suggested that reviewing the policy be place on the July town board agenda.  R Knapp also was concerned with trying to figure out what’s fair.  S. Warren stated that emergency services are expensive and that is the reason for insurance.  She recommended that B. Call appeal to her insurance company.

 

R. Knapp moved that the town board accept the partial payment of $200 on the public safety call for Bridget Call for fire services as presented tonight, seconded by J. Kjos.  Motion passed 3 – 0.  (J. Cuccia and B. Schwab abstained.  B. Schwab had arrived after B. Call made her appeal.)

 

DISCUSS & CONSIDER EXPEDITED PROCESS FOR REPLACEMENT OF RIVERWAY POWTS – R. Knapp distributed copies of a memo from St. Croix Planning & Zoning Director, Dave Fodroczi, dated February 15,, 2011, regarding Replacement of Private On-site Wastewater Treatment Systems (POWTS) in the Lower St. Croix Riverway Overlay District.  R. Knapp explained that the Plan Commission made a recommendation for the Town Board to adopt this policy. 

R. Knapp moved that the Town Board authorize the town chairperson to work with the town attorney on developing an intergovernmental cooperative agreement with the county to put in place an expedited system for the replacement of private onsite wastewater treatment systems (POWTS) for existing systems in the riverway as outlined in Dave Fodroczi’s memo of February 15, 2011, seconded by J. Cuccia.  Friendly Amendment: “this pertains to variances related to filling and grading in the riverway for POWTS.”  Amended motion passed, all in favor. 

 

DISCUSS & CONSIDER POSSIBLE DRY HYDRANT IN TROY BURNE – R. Knapp moved to table this until the May agenda, seconded by B. Schwab.  Motion passed, all in favor.

 

DISCUSS & CONSIDER TEMPORARY CLASS B RETAILER’S LICENSE – HEARTSTRINGS PARENT ASSOCIATION, INC – Lisa Peterson from HeartStrings Parent Association explained that the group wants to serve beer and wine coolers at a barn dance on May 7th at Camp St. Croix, from 6pm – 9pm. The YMCA (Camp St. Croix) has approved allowing them to serve alcohol on the premises.  An operator, licensed in the Town of Troy, Bridget Gilmore, has agreed to be present throughout the entire event.  J. Cuccia moved to approve the granting of a temporary Class B Liquor License to HeartStrings Parent Association, Inc., for an event to be held on May 7, 2011 at the YMCA camp, noting that they have obtained a licensed operator and contingent on the fact that we get written confirmation from the YMCA summer camp that they are agreeable with the activities of selling liquor at the event, seconded by B. Schwab.  Motion passed, all in favor. 

 

DISCUSS NEXT STEPS IN COMPREHENSIVE ZONING – R. Knapp distributed a draft letter written to St. Croix County board chairman, Daryl Standafer, to the board members.  R. Knapp recommended sending the letter to the county chairperson asking for a meeting with the St. Croix County, the county attorney, the town attorney and R. Knapp.  The town would be asking to be removed from county zoning jurisdiction.  There is a strong case to be made for this from a financial perspective.  J. Kjos moved that we authorize Ray to finish his draft letter to the county board chairman for the meeting to pursue our comprehensive zoning ordinance to opt out of the county zoning, seconded by S. Warren.  Motion passed, all in favor.

 

UTILITY PERMITS: The following permit was submitted by Cedar Corp.:

U11-002     Baldwin-Telecom       Underground construct telephone lines              $500.00

 

R. Jones, Cedar Corp., explained that this is the permit that would cover all work Baldwin-Telecom is going to be doing in the town for the rest of this calendar year.  The town has already agreed, in an earlier Memo of Understanding during the grant application, to issue a one time permit to cover this project.  Feedback from the town attorney has been included in the permit.  J. Cuccia moved to approve the permit for underground construction of telephone lines from Baldwin-Telecom, Inc., permit# U11-002 in order to proceed with the installation of fiber optic throughout the town, seconded by J. Kjos.  Motion passed, all in favor.

 

BUILDING PERMITS:  The following permits were submitted by the building inspector and reviewed by the Town Board.

PERMIT #

APPLICANT

ADDRESS

PROJECT

11-106

Bethel, LLC

312 Lindsay Rd

New home

11-107

Gary Duclos

237 Townsvalley Rd

Storage shed

11-108

Randy Strong

395 Deer Valley Dr

Alteration

11-109

Evan Carstedt

163 South Glover Rd

Addition/Alteration

11-110

Gary Griswold

318 North Cove Rd

Alteration

 

DRIVEWAY PERMITS – The following permit was submitted by the Building Inspector and reviewed by the Town Board.

11-101

Bethel, LLC

312 Lindsay Rd

 

DISCUSS PROPOSED COOPERATIVE BOUNDARY PLAN AND AGREEMENT – J. Kjos summarized the meeting he and R. Knapp had with the City of River Falls Cooperative Boundary Plan and Agreement representatives.  During the meeting the city representatives expressed serious concern about the limited proposal offered by the town, but they have a strong desire to have an agreement.  The city was amicable to not having the town special assess town residents for the Radio Road interchange, to increasing the number of years of the agreement (current proposal is for a 20 year agreement) and there may be some room for a reduction in the size of the land area of the agreement.  The key issues to the city in terms of moving forward are their request for the land around the Radio Road/Hwy 35 interchange, the land in the 35 corridor and the land they’ve purchased in Mann Valley.  The town board consensus was that they needed more time to think about the city feedback being offered by J. Kjos and R. Knapp.  In addition, they agreed that there is not enough time to adequately discuss a cooperative boundary plan at a regular town board meeting.  They agreed to hold a closed session town board meeting on Thursday May 19th at 5:00 to discuss and develop a negotiation plan in working with the city.

 

DISCUSS & CONSIDER MAILBOX DAMAGE PROCESS/PROCEDURE – Moved to May Town Board agenda.

 

TOWN BOARD APPOINTMENTS – The following is a list of Town Board Appointments:

Vice Chair Town Board……… Jan Cuccia

Park Board…………………….Jason Kjos

Hudson EMS & Fire…………..Sue Warren

River Falls EMS & Fire……….Sue Warren

Park Rangers…………………..Jason Kjos

Intergovernmental Advisory…..Ray Knapp

Intergovernmental Advisory…..Jan Cuccia

Road Crew & Recycling………Brian Schwab

Newsletter Coordinator………..Jan Cuccia

SCEDC Contact……………….Brian Schwab & Ray Knapp

UTA Contact………………….Jan Cuccia

 

PLAN COMMISSION APPOINTMENTS – The Plan Commission appointments are:  Ray Knapp, Chair, Jan Cuccia, Vice Chair, Paul Mahler, additional three year term and Dave Wolf, additional 3 year term.

 

BOARD OF APPEALS APPOINTMENTS – R. Knapp moved to reappoint Ray Knapp as a Board of Appeals member, appoint Sue Warren as a replacement to finish out Gloria WahrenBrock’s term and reappoint Brian Schwab as the alternate, seconded by J. Cuccia.  Motion passed, all in favor.

 

BOARD OF REVIEW – ALTERNATE MEMBERS - Moved to May Town Board agenda.

 

WEED NOTICE – J. Cuccia moved to publish the weed notice as presented tonight, seconded by B. Schwab.  Motion passed, all in favor.

 

CLERK/TREASURER AND DEPUTY CLERK/TREASURER PERFORMANCE REVIEW – B. Schwab and R. Knapp met with S. Provos and S. Weide.  They felt that the staff was doing a good job and haven’t heard any negative feedback from residents.  S. Weide will continue to work on the record retention project and S. Provos will continue to work on the town’s website.  They will also develop a list of garbage haulers for residential garbage pick-up in Troy.  S. Weide has requested a .25/hr raise and S. Provos has requested an additional week vacation.  The town road crew received a $600/year increase in January 2011.    R. Knapp stated that many businesses were not giving increases to their employees because of the poor economy and thought this might not be the best time to offer 2% increases. J. Cuccia felt that employees should be treated equally during the year and since the road crew had received an increase, the office staff should receive one too.  S. Warren moved to increase S. Weide’s salary by 2% or .25/hr, retro to April 1, 2011, seconded by J. Cuccia.  Motion passed, all in favor. 

J. Cuccia moved to grant an additional week of paid time off for Sharon Provos, effective April 1, 2011, seconded by S. Warren.  Motion passed, all in favor.  R. Knapp noted that this does not mean that the town is setting precedence for giving annual increases.

 

CLERK/TREASURER REPORT – Copies of the cash reconciliation, impact fee summary, legal and engineering fee summary and budget summary were distributed to the board.  S. Provos has set up new email accounts for the town board members.  She will be adding them to the town’s website next week.  She stated that there was a very large turnout for the April election and there may be a recount in the State Supreme Court race.

 

BILLS: Checks numbered 023204 - 023273 –and the Elan bill were presented in the amount of $53,011.78.  B. Schwab moved to approve checks 023204 - 023273 and the Elan bill of $42.79 for a grand total of $53,011.78, seconded by S. Warren. Motion passed, all in favor. 

 

CORRESPONDENCE –

There will be a St. Croix County Recycling meeting on Tuesday April 19th at 7:30.  B. Schwab plans on attending.

 

J. Cuccia encouraged board members to attend one of the training sessions put on by the WTA for town officials.  S. Warren expressed some interest in attending.

 

R. Knapp will follow-up with R. Jones about the proposed changes to CTH U that could be implemented after reconstruction of the Radio Road/Hwy 35 interchange.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS –

B. Schwab explained that the town had received a variance for the Recycling Center from the county.  The town has sixty days to submit a plan for fencing and lighting.  B. Schwab will submit a general plan to the county to see if our approach matched their expectations.  The town board will review the variance at the May town board meeting.

 

S. Warren attended the Hudson EMS meeting.  She gave a brief summary (support by a handout)of the meeting to board.

 

 

J. Cuccia moved to adjourn, seconded by J. Kjos.  Motion passed, all in favor.

 

The meeting adjourned at 10:55 p.m.

 

These minutes were taken at a meeting

of the Troy Town Board held on the

14th day of April 2011.

 

 

 

__________________________________

Sharon Provos, Clerk/Treasurer

 

 

__________________________________

Ray Knapp, Town Chairman