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April 10, 2007 Annual Town Board Meeting

Town of Lake Mills
April 10, 2007
Annual Town Board Meeting

 Annual Town Board meeting was called to order by Chairperson Heinz,
all town board members were present as well as Jan Jenrich, Eugene
Hasel, Hope Oostdik, Steve Nass, Tom Berns.  
Motion made by to Arlie Wilke adopt the agenda for the annual
meeting, seconded by Dave Schroeder.  Carried.
Motion made by Eugene Hasel to approve the minutes of last year’s
annual town board meeting, seconded by Steve Nass.  Carried.  
 Annual Financial Report was read by the town clerk.
New Business:  Discussion of disposal of old squad car: Chief Delaney
received quotes for the engine repair for approximately $1,500.00 and
reported that the car has a blue book value of about $3,300 value.
Motion made by Steve Nass to approve the disposal of the old squad
car, seconded by Hope Oostdik.  Carried.
 Discussion of purchasing land for new town hall site: The Town Board
has talked to one land owner, Jason Forest who has approximately 6
acres to sell on Finch Brothers Road.  Another land owner on the
corner of Hwy S and Shorewood Hills Road has shown interest but the
town board has not talked with that land owner yet.  Purpose of land
will be for a storage shed, future town hall site, and yard waste
site.  Jason Forest could process the yard waste for us with his
equipment.  Jan Jenrich is concerned about the looks of the yard waste
site on the corner of Hwy S and Shorewood Hills Road.  Screening would
need to be done for the site to keep it from looking unsightly.  The
yard waste site would need to be gated and policed by a town employee
to prevent misuse.  Hope Oostdik said there is a need for the yard
waste site especially for the urban area in the town.  Felt that
buying land now is a good idea, Finch Brothers Road site has some
benefits by the bike trail; felt that we need to plan out what to do
with the land and future town hall as far as renting the facilities
etc.  She suggested creating a time line and begin setting aside
money.    She also wondered if there were any grants available to
build the town hall?  The property will need to be rezoned to A-2. 
Next step would be negotiate prices to purchase land and then hold a
special meeting to propose purchase.  Soil borings and perk tests,
etc. need to be done yet. On the annual road tour, the board thought
that the town property on Conservation Road could be sold to help
offset the cost of purchasing land for the new site.  
Period of Public Comment:  Tree issues in Mijola Shore Channel:   Jan
Jenrich and neighbors paid to have tree removed to get their boats out
of the channel this past year. The residents requested that the town
board look into creating an ordinance to enforce the removal of fallen
trees in the channel so that they can use the channel.   The DNR’s
opinion is that a fallen tree should be left as is if it is an act of
nature, Jefferson County Shoreline zoning ordinance does not allow the
removal of trees in that area without permits prior to them falling. 
The town received an opinion from the Wisconsin Towns Association, who
felt that it would not be enforceable, and the town’s attorney found
no statutes, rules, or ordinances that would enforce it or back the
Town.  It would end up a civil suit between property owners, the
residents who could not use the channel due to the fallen tree would
need to prove that there is damage being caused.  If the town has an
ordinance then the town has the burden of proving damages.  At this
point the Town does not have any backing by the DNR or Jefferson
County.  Chairperson Heinz suggested that the channel residents create
a homeowners association to help regulate such issues.   The Town
Board previously tabled the discussion of an ordinance indefinitely
because they felt that the ordinance would be challenged whenever the
issue arose.
   Hope Oostdik had questions about the engineering fees for the
north end parking lot.  Chairperson Heinz reported that the costs
should be subtracted from the Rock Lake Account for the parking lot
since it is used mostly by people using the lake and the launch.  The
tentitive plan is to have the parking lot constructed by summer of
2008.  Once the County creates a budget for the parking lot, they will
be paying 50% of the costs currently the town is paying 100% of the
engineering costs.
Town Chairperson recognized Supervisor Arlie Wilke for his 4 years of
service on the Town Board.
Motion made by Eugene Hasel to adjourn the annual town meeting,
seconded by Tom Berns.  Carried.
These minutes are unapproved.  Any corrections made thereto will be
noted in the proceedings of the next meeting in which they are
approved.
 
            Robin Untz, Town Clerk

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