February 2017 Board of Trustees Minutes

The Village of Birchwood Trustees held the monthly Board Meeting on Tuesday February 14th at 6:00 p.m. at the Birchwood Village Hall. Roll Call: Hurckman, VanGilder, Small, Seffinga – Present; Depoister – Absent. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Police Report – Chief of Police Adam Brunclik reporting he has been keeping very busy. Counter Act at school still ongoing; has had several OWIs; new records management software is up and running. Business owner Betsey Acrey inquired about using sniffer dogs at evening school events – wouldn’t hold up; Trustee Small asked what Adam is going to spend his latest grant on – looking at laser for traffic or movable speed signs.

Maintenance Report – Tucker Fee reporting that Ron in doing a great job getting the parks ready for spring; having issues with pump out by mill; been moving snow piles in case we get any more snow this season; ice rink has been used quite a bit – will be maintained until not possible; routine maintenance is going well – monthly maintenance being done on the generator and twice monthly at the plant. Business owner Betsey Acrey inquired about when the street sweeper would be used – not until spring.

Public Comment – Public comment moved to discussion item #5

New Business

1. Motion by Seffinga, second by VanGilder to approve agenda as presented; carried 4-0.
2. Motion by VanGilder, second by Seffinga to approve the minutes from January 3^rd board meeting as written; carried 4-0.
3. Motion by VanGilder, second by Seffinga to approve the Amended 2017 budget. Roll Call – Hurckman-yes, VanGilder-yes, Small-yes, Seffinga-yes; carried 4-0
4. Teresa Anderson presenting a change to the TID laws; will present a proposal in March for MSAs assistance with the new regulations; no action taken.
5. Business owner Betsey Acrey took the floor for public comment regarding the utilities. Inquired if anyone on the board was aware of the money recently paid out to a resident for overpayment – board was made aware of this only recently – PSC required payment within a certain timeframe of error being discovered; wondering if Workhorse system is part of the problem – no, our issues are all clerical; still concerned about the rate change and how the removal of the 3^rd tier affects large volume clients, such as herself and other businesses; surveyed 10 communities who have special sewer rates for commercial accounts; Tucker informing board he would like to purchase some meters from Hayward – all about 8 years old but never used – will help with upcoming testing needing to be done on all meters in town; no action taken.
6. Motion by VanGilder, second by Hurckman to not issue trickle credit as no trickle was issued; carried 3-1.
7. Motion by Hurckman, second by Small to authorize the purchase of the Receipting module from Workhorse while tabling the purchase of the Miscellaneous billing module; carried 4-0.

8. Motion by Small, VanGilder to enforce the $15 install charge and $15/quarter charge for deduct meters; carried 4-0.
9. Motion by VanGilder, second by Hurckman to increase mileage reimbursement from $0.50/mile to new IRS rate of $0.535/mile; carried 4-0.

Motion by Small, second by Seffinga to approve new bills, payroll and acceptance of the treasurer’s report, carried 4-0.

Motion by Small, second by Seffinga to adjourn the meeting, carried 4-0.

Submitted by Chelsea Tompkins, Deputy Clerk-Treasurer