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February 10, 2015 Meeting Minutes
TOWN OF WINTER MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 10, 2016 The regular business meeting of the Town of Winter board of Supervisors was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Chairman David Kinsley. Present were board members Ronald Barnaby and Terry Patenaude, clerk treasurer Lori Van Winkle and 8 audience members. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Chairman Kinsley thanked everyone for their attendance. Motion by Patenaude, second by Barnaby to approve the agenda as presented, motion carried. Chairman Kinsley advised if there were questions to please raise your hand to be recognized. Motion by Barnaby, second by Patenaude to approve the meeting minutes from January 13, 2016, motion carried. License / Zoning: An operator license was presented for Melanie Niznik for Red’s Big Bear Lodge. All requirements have been met and fees paid, motion by Patenaude, second by Barnaby to approve the operator license for Melanie Niznik, motion carried. A rezone application for J. Michael Borden was received to divide a property and combine with another zoned Commercial and RR 2. Lori explained she had one call from a neighboring property owner asking how this change would affect him, they discussed the before and after maps and he planned to also contact county zoning, if he had concerns he would let Lori know, there was no further contact from him. The board reviewed the maps provided by the county and were familiar with the area. There were no objections, motion by Barnaby, second by Patenaude to approve the re-zone application for J. Michael Borden, motion carried. Highway / Road Report: Chairman Kinsley stated the roads are snow covered addressed the audience stating if anyone knows of any ice spots to call the hall or the shop. Supervisor Patenaude said he noticed the roads were sanded, Chairman Kinsley replied yesterday and today they were sanding and winging back the snow. Audience member Butch Ladenthin stated Lake Winter Road was slick and could use some sand, Chairman Kinsley said he will let the crew know tomorrow. Supervisor Patenaude stated they should make sure all the corners are sanded because it’s not supposed to snow for a while and Butch Ladenthin added the intersections too. Chairman Kinsley asked if there was anything else, Supervisor Patenaude stated he had one concern, he knows the crew has been pretty good, but that last snow storm we didn’t have them start early? Chairman Kinsley stated no that was his judgment call because the storm watch advised it wouldn’t end until 9:00 and he was told on Tuesday afternoon that school would most likely be closed. Leading on with that, Chairman Kinsley stated Supervisor Patenaude had asked how much salt sand we had gone through. Supervisor Patenaude replied yes the tonnage. Chairman Kinsley stated in November 139.35 and December 85.99 tons were what we had to date purchased, and also to answer Supervisor Patenaudes question from the last meeting what the cost was; salt sand from Sawyer County HWY Department is $19.98 per ton at the Shop in Winter. Over all costs from Rusk County HWY Department in Ladysmith is $17.30 per ton, which is quite a difference. Supervisor Patenaude stated he knew that Rusk County did have good sand down there; Chairman Kinsley stated our crew does like it better, it’s washed sand. Unfinished business: At our December meeting the ATV club had requested Lake of the Pines Road be opened for ATV use. At that meeting Jim Halvorson expressed some concerns about it and it was tabled. Lori has since discussed it with Jim Halvorson; he has no objections of opening up the Towns section of Lake of the Pines road up to that one main driveway. Audience member Darwin Hintz stated it’s approximately a mile up to that main driveway and other driveways fork off from that main driveway. He also stated he spoke with Dan Shauder prior to our meeting tonight and Dan indicated they are ready to sign it etc. Chairman Kinsley asked Lori to read the ordinance, it states the route begins at CTY HWY W and ends at the access road (main driveway) ending at fire number 3878N. If approved, Chairman Kinsley stated it should be signed that the route ends here at that fire number 3878N. Motion by Barnaby, second by Patenaude to approve opening Lake of the Pines Road for ATV use up to the fire number 3878N, motion carried. New Business: Chairman Kinsley provided pictures and specs of a grader that had been available through Surplus and explained that this equipment is usually low hours and well maintained and cost effective and because of that when they become available we must act quickly on them to get them. We’ve been watching the site regularly and when a grader comes available if it’s ok with the board, we’d like to be able to act on it. Audience member Butch Ladenthin asked if this equipment is ready to go to work when we get it or how much do we have to put into it to get it ready. Chairman Kinsley stated there are no guarantees and it’s nice to stick with name brand equipment because parts are available if needed and even if we do have to put a little into them are experience is that we are sitting pretty well in overall costs. Chairman Kinsley asked the boards thoughts, Supervisor Barnaby stated because of the time limits in these situations, he would agree to it so we can act on it. Supervisor Patenaude said his concern is do we really need it with downsizing and only a couple guys, Chairman Kinsley stated he didn’t look at it as downsizing, he looked at it as improving our backup equipment because our other grader has 6000 plus hours on it and we eliminated the other one because we were having a lot of issues with it. Supervisor Patenaude stated he would like to hold off on this. A motion was made by Barnaby to pursue a grader through surplus when one comes available, second by Kinsley, Patenaude was opposed, motion carried. The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System has been approved by the Fire Board for our Fire Department; it must also be approved by the joint municipalities involved by a resolution. Chairman Kinsley asked Supervisor Patenaude to explain MABAS, Supervisor Patenaude stated it is a larger mutual aid system and goes out of our county for assistance with equipment and man power and is used for larger situations rather than draining our local county mutual aid services. We only have a verbal mutual aid agreement with Hawkins at this time but they did assist us at a Connors Lake fire in the past at no charge. There were no questions from the audience. Motion by Patenaude to approve the resolution for MABAS, second by Barnaby, Kinsley was opposed, motion carried. There were no correspondences or contacts to report. Chairman Kinsley said it’s been a busy month with property taxes and Lori reports she is done except for the settlements. Approval of Disbursements: There were no questions regarding the disbursements, Check # 17599 through 17629 in the amount of $20,452.74 were presented, motion by Patenaude, second by Barnaby to approve the disbursements as presented, motion carried. Account balances 1-31-06, General Account $35,537.97, MMA Account $1,085,344.71, LGIP Account $282,671.59. Board Concerns: Chairman Kinsley stated the water at the hall is poor and he suggested we look into something maybe through Culligan or similar to improve it, the board agreed we should. Next meeting date was set for March 9, 2016. Motion by Kinsley, second by Barnaby to adjourn, motion carried, meeting adjourned.