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Town Board Meeting
Mar 09, 2009

UNAPPROVED TOWN OF GENEVA MONTHLY BOARD MEETING MARCH 9, 2009 Chairman Lauderdale called the duly posted and noticed meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. In attendance were Lauderdale, Supervisors Fahey, Kukla, Kamps, Millard, Attorney Harvey, Building Inspector Boss, and Administrator Downing. Clerk/Treasurer Kirch took the minutes of the meeting. Pledge of Allegiance. Motion (Kamps/Millard) to approve the minutes from February 9, 2009. Approved 5-0. Motion (Millard/ Kamps) to approve the Treasurer’s Report as presented. Approved 5 0. Balances reported as of February 28, 2009: ASSETS FEBRUARY 2009 10003 LGIP Savings 1,449,165.03 Total Income 1,402,872.11 10007 Money Market Account 22,734.93 Total Expense 566,215.86 10013 Chase Tax Checking Account 2,764.23 Net Income 836,656.25 10015 Chase High Yield Savings Acct 201,223.86 1100 – General Checking 207,959.11 Total Checking/Savings 1,883,847.16 Motion (Kamps/Fahey) to approve bills from 2/9/09 through 3/6/09. Approved 5-0. Downing reviewed the V.A.L.U.E. collective purchasing program and costs. Will be attended by Downing, Parker, Kirch, and Stonehocker on Thursday, and Josh Smith (emergency management) on Friday. Motion (Lauderdale/Kamps) to approve payment for the employees mentioned at the V.A.L.U.E. program. Approved 5-0. Public comments – • Chairman Lauderdale and Supervisor Millard will schedule a meeting with Mr. Slack before the April Town Board meeting regarding the water problem on North Como Road. • Tom Laughlin, a citizen on the private Lake Como Lake Committee, made aware of various documentation which refutes the Basso pier request. Makes the following points: 1) Basso is an Association member which means the Association owns the land between him and the water; 2) DNR permit has been acquired after tests, but the lake was illegally dammed to raised the level of the lake which affected the frontage; 3) There is still a platted road between his home and what is the water which may be called for some day; and 4) If approved, there are twenty other homeowners that could come and request piers. What that translates into is that little corner of precious wetland environ¬mental corridor is chipped away at and changed forever. Lake stewardship duty to future generations of this area and to this lake. Motion (Kamps/Millard) to move Agenda Item No. 8 – Lake Committee (Item b) from the Lake Committee Report to Item No. 5 on the agenda. Approved 5-0. Attorney Race was in attendance at the meeting representing Josh Basso regarding his pier request. Town of Geneva Lake Committee met earlier this evening and voted 7-0 to recommend to the Town Board to decline permission of the pier for non-compliance. Attorney Harvey reviewed documents and background on this request. Pam Schense, DNR, staked the property and found there is lake touching (ordinary high water mark) Basso land. The flags have been pulled. 1935/37 aerial photo reviewed with regard to lake raising issue. 1965 hearing concluded that the lake had been too high for 25 years. Follow up photos done. Question on whether LCBPOA has a limited number of piers. Basso property is part of the Association, and his request would put them over the number allowed. Larry Kulik and Supervisor Kukla have put in extensive time and consulted multiple sources on this. Question on whether the limit of 120 piers “attached to their property”, whereas Mr. Basso wants to attach his pier to his property, not Association property. Harvey believes the 120 pier restriction has nothing to do with touching property, only if you are in the Association. Association By-Laws were rewritten in 2004. Mr. Basso’s plat of his property shows the wetlands, which should only be designated by professionals. Only DNR has jurisdiction over the water. There’s nothing in the ordinance that says you can’t attach a pier to your property. Pier application reviewed. Platted road not open or maintained. Attorney Harvey would like to review the documents from the property owner’s association. Questioned whether the ordinary high water mark was accurate. Permit issued to clear the cattails, which has been done. There was a 30 day time limit on appealing the issuance of the DNR permit. Motion (Lauderdale/Kamps) to table until the April 14 meeting. This does not have to go back to the Lake Committee for a recommendation. Approved 5-0. Information has been put together which goes back 70/80 years. Would like to view the high water mark flags. Attorney Race distributed his business card. Downing reviewed the plans for the second annual Summer Funfestival, held August 1st from 3:00–10:00 p.m. More picnic-type food this year at lower prices. Will have two bands, one from 3–6:30 and the other from 7-10. Adding more family and kids-type activities. Will maintain raffle at $100 per ticket with only 500 tickets being sold. Having a 50/50 cash raffle at $20 per ticket. Discussed trying to get barge for the fireworks, and liability involved. More shuttle boat service. Offer space to any Lake Como group to sell something, as long as it’s not in conflict with what we’re offering. May not acquire the donors that we had last year. Have added a Como’s Got Talent Contest this year. Suggestion of donation jars for the fireworks at local establishments. Supervisor Kamps gave the Plan Commission Report – • Steve TerHark, W2686 Hospital Road – Conditional Use for a personal airstrip was approved at the June 9, 2008 Town Board meeting. Has requested a revision to condition No. 1 setting the hours of operation from 9:00 a.m. until dark. Would like the hours changed to daylight only or dawn to dusk. Motion (Kamps/Kukla) to revise the Conditional Use for condition No. 1 on the hours of operation from 7:00 a.m. to dark. The rest of the conditions remain the same. Approved 5-0. Kirch to provide letter to the County. • Plan Commission voted last month to begin charging fees as of April 1, 2009. Lauderdale reviewed the fee schedule. Motion (Kamps/Millard) to pass the fee schedule presented tonight for the Land Use Ordinance. Approved 5-0. • Update provide on the City of Elkhorn 2030 Plan. Maps provided. Public hearings are being held. Next one scheduled for April 2, 2009 at Elkhorn’s City Hall. Lauderdale reviewed the changes he has requested. • Audrey Boss gave the Building Inspection report. Permits issued-5; Permit fees-$442.36; Total valuation-$18,500. Lauderdale reviewed the school districts within the Town and their tax levies. We experienced the biggest tax increase in SE Wisconsin due to the schools. Need liaison to keep in touch with them and keep the Board informed. Motion (Kukla/Kamps) recommends the appointment of Supervisor Fahey as the new School District Liaison representative. Approved 4-0-1 (Fahey). Committee Reports – • Police Department (Kukla) – Retired two squads recently which are up for sale. See Chief Gritzner. Reviewed incident report. a) Attorney Harvey relayed the costs of providing service to Lakeland Hospital. Lauderdale met with the tax-exempt entity in October 2008 and asked them to voluntarily pay tax. They said no. • Lake Como Sanitary District (Fahey) – Discussed the transfer station building going in on Woodland. • Municipal Court (Lauderdale) – Reported on the citations and receipts for February. Chief Gritzner questioned why the “gross income” note is on the bottom of the report. This makes them look like they’re not writing many tickets. Requested removal of the note. a) Fire Department (Lauderdale) – Seven hardship requests received. William Smit Hardship Case – Gas spilled at Handa Mart as the pump was left unattended. Motion (Kamps/Millard) to deny William Smit’s request for a hardship. Approved 5-0. No concerns about the remaining six requests. Motion (Kamps/Kukla) to grant those six (Bender, Benrus, Bieze, Bouhl, Carioscia, and Fischer) for hardship cases. Approved 5 0. • Town of Geneva and Town of Linn are prepared to implement the tornado siren at Woods School. Meeting to discuss placement, and providing electric to the pole. Cost to be shared between entities. Approximately $8,000. Will be tested every third Wednesday at noon. • Highway Department (Millard) – Randy and Keith will be evaluating what needs to be done on the roads. Looking at more repairs than new roads this year. Posted weight limits on Saturday. • Park Commission (Packard) – a) Earth day scheduled for May 2 with a rain date of May 3. Lynn Wesolek has taken over for Sonja as chair of this committee. b) Buckthorn removal project completed by Endeavor Environmental. Spent approximately $3,000. c) Park Commission reviewed SEWRPC’s Park and Open Space Plan for Walworth County. Initially done in the 1970’s. Last updated in 2004. Recommends endorsing this plan to the Town Board. Important for receiving grant monies. Add to April 14 agenda. Will have resolution prepared by then. • Lake Committee (Kukla) – By-Laws are in the hands of the Attorney for review and consideration at the April meeting. Requested dam be raised as the lake level is 8.5” above the benchmark. Grates need to be cleared. Motion (Kamps/Lauderdale) to approve original operator license for Joel Serrano. Approved 5-0. Attorney Harvey’s Reports – • Ronald Miller was ticketed a year ago and found guilty. Has appealed. Should win on an indigent appeal, but costs will be incurred. • Working on code revisions. Through Chapter 1. Ongoing project. • Lost case due to flaw in barking dog ordinance. Revised ordinance will be on April agenda. • Working with Attorney Kaiser, representing Garrity Trust, on getting access to the Como Auto Salvage property. Tentatively scheduled for March 11. • Supplied revisions to the City of Lake Geneva for the stump grinder agreement ($47,000). • Grievance pending with two officers goes to the WERC. • Waiting on the return of paperwork for the Korona property. • Perez Auto has until July to fix up or tear down. Letter to be sent telling them to get their property off of our property. No renters in that building now. • Policy and By-Laws approval needed for Police Commission. • Crisman has trial set. Abatement needs to be added to the ordinance. Miscellaneous – • Lauderdale reported that on February 18, Chief Gritzner responded to McDonald, Schofield, Hwy 50 accidents. He had just returned from vacation and monitored scanner during his off time to assist officer on duty. Round of applause given. Motion (Kamps/Millard) to adjourn at 8:45 p.m. Approved 5 0. _____________________________________ Chairman Lauderdale _____________________________________ Supervisor Kamps Supervisor Millard _____________________________________ Supervisor Fahey Supervisor Kukla Respectfully submitted, ______________________________________

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