Common Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. i'll call this meeting to order the common council july 14th 2026 at 7 00 p.m council chambers can i have a roll call please principal here hill here collie here stubby here love here here sorenson absent okay bye thank you please stand for the project leaders

the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we are on to number four, which is general public comments. I do not have any. Up next is the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda contains items which staff considers to be routine and have already been discussed and recommended by committee or commission in a previous meeting. And we have any questions, otherwise we're looking for a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the Consent Agenda.

I'll second.

Motion by Victoria, second by Samantha. Roll call please. Criswell? Aye. Taylor? Aye. Cawley?

Aye.

Stubby, aye. Levita, aye. And Sorensen, absent. Motion passes, thank you. On to number 15, which is the 2025 audit presentation and acceptance. The recommendation is to listen to the presentation by Kerber Rose regarding the 2025 audit of the city's finances, discussion and action as appropriate, and then accepting the 2025 audit.

Hello.

Hi. Thanks for having me today. My name is Dave Lynch. I am the government audit shareholder with Ferber Rose, responsible for the oversight of the city's audit. Excuse me. This is the first year that we started working with the city. And the audit, for the most part, went pretty well. There's a couple things we had to work through. If you look at the statements, there are a couple prior period adjustments, which really stem, I think, a lot from the software conversion that the city went through. last year and then also you know anytime you have a change in auditors um there's it's open to some interpretation and so we really took a deep dive in this year just really learning the dynamics of the city uh and move some things to the correct accounts make sure we get the correct expenditures and the accounts in there were a number of projects that crossed funds so between the tids the water the sewer utility uh just making sure that we got everything reported correctly uh for the city going forward but today we're going to go through kind of at a high level with financial highlights for the year end of december 31st 2025. um i'll refer to printed page numbers which looks like a lot of you in the hard copies confirmed as we go through this but we're going to start by looking at the annual financial report uh the first page we'll look at is printed page number one oh yes it's the larger the power uh printed page number one is the independent auditors report essentially this is why the city and any other municipality in the state of Wisconsin has audit done, and that is to receive an opinion on your financial statements. Our opinion is listed in the second paragraph on this page. It states that, in our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities, the business type activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining funding permission of the city as of December 31st, 2020. So in other words, this is a clean or unmodified opinion. It's essentially the highest level of assurance that we can provide as auditors on a set of financial statements. So good news for the city of Mr. Gutter. Next, we're going to look at printed page number six. This is the balance sheet for the governmental funds of the city. It contains all of the major funds, which are determined by a new formula set forth by government accounting standards. A couple things I wanted to just point out here on this page is at December 31st, the total fund balance for all the governmental funds ended the year at about $9.6 million this year. On this page, the first column is the general fund, which is obviously the main operating fund for the city. And that ended the year with a fund balance of $3.79 million. This is This is an overall increase from the prior year, from a current year operating standpoint, so revenues, less expenses. But the largest component of that is the unassigned fund balance, which is really the operating reserves for the city. It's really the reserves built up over time to cash flow throughout the year. But that unassigned fund balance, oftentimes we get asked, how do we compare to other cities that we work with or other villages? And that's a really tough question to answer, You know, every municipality provides the same general services, but the way that you're managed, the way that you fund operations is substantially different. But one thing we can do is compare that unassigned fund balance to current year expenditures. So that $3.7 million compared to about $5.6 billion in current year expenditures means our unassigned fund balance is approximately 65% of expenditures, which is a very strong financial position from my standpoint. Oftentimes, you know, at a minimum, we recommend anywhere from 25 to 35%. But, you know, this really allows you to take advantage of any repairs or maintenance that come up or any unbudgeted items. It's still enough cushion to fund your operations throughout the year. The other item I just wanted to call out on this page is about the middle columnist ambulance fund. That ended the year with a fund balance of about $474,000. Jumping forward two pages to page number eight, this is the statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance, or in other words, your income statement. As I previously mentioned, the general fund increased their fund balance about $245,000 this year, whereas the total for all the governmental funds was an increase of about $85,000. Now, this includes all of the kids, all the other special revenue funds that the city has, And ambulance did have a pretty strong year this year with an increase of about $85,000 in that fund. So I think overall, a lot of very positive aspects. We look at the operating results for the year end of December 31st, 2025. Does anybody have any questions on these first two pages? All right, we'll move on. Next, we'll look at printed page number 11. This is the same around these expenses and changes in that position for the proprietary funds or utility funds, which consists of water and sewer. Water had a very strong operating year this year. It produced operating income of about $173,000 this year, whereas the total change in that position was about $189,000 this year. So that really means that the rates that you're charging to your customers or your residents is generating

FROM A RATE STANDPOINT TO COVER AND FUND THE OPERATIONS OF THE WATER UTILITY.

SERIOUS UTILITY DID HAVE AN OPERATING LOSS THIS YEAR OF ABOUT $35,000. NOTHING TOO SIGNIFICANT FROM MY STANDPOINT. IT'S JUST IMPORTANT THAT WE PAY ATTENTION TO THAT. THAT IS NOT A REGULATED UTILITY BY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, WHICH MEANS REALLY, YOU KNOW, YOU AS COUNSEL, AS THE AUTHORITY, TO RECOMMEND RATE INCREASES WITH THAT. Again, when it's that small, it could just typically be that we incurred more repairs this year, more supplies were purchased. Utility districts or utility funds across the state, the past couple of years have been hit really hard with inflation. The cost to repair anything or even the supplies is really high compared to what your rates increased year over year. So just one thing to pay attention to, the overall change in that position though was about $101,000, which was largely driven by the interest income earned cash and reserves held in that fund. So overall, I think more utility districts and more utility funds did have very good news this year. Next, we'll go forward to printed page number 31. This is part of the footnotes to the financial statements. So the footnotes are all derived from information that Jesse and her team provided to us during the audit. It's all based on your numbers. But one thing I would like to point out is in the state of Wisconsin, municipalities are authorized to incur up to 5% in general obligation outstanding debt of your equalized valuation set forth by the Department of Revenue. That calculation means that the city could have up to $23.6 million in general obligation outstanding debt. At December 31st, the total outstanding debt was about $5.1 million, which means the margin for new indebtedness is approximately $18.5 million. So generally speaking, your debt flow is relatively low compared to the total authorized amount that you could incur. I just think this is another very positive aspect for the city to be operating with that low of outstanding debt and so forth. this is the budget the actual schedule uh within the annual financial reports um for the general funds i think this is one of the more useful back one one more useful pages in the annual financial report you know this really paints the picture on what we plan was going to happen what did we adjust for throughout the year involves our actual results so there was a number of budget amendments throughout the year and you know originally the original budget had projected $487,000. Throughout some budget amendments that were made, we projected to have a decrease of about $808,000. And the actual results are very positive in the fact that we had an increase in fund balance of about $245,000. There really wasn't anything that I could point out within the budget that was any one related item. I think a lot of it is just some very conservative budgeting that was taking place. AND I THINK THERE WAS, YOU KNOW, SOME ITEMS MAY BE BUDGETED FOR IN THE GENERAL FUND THAT ACTUALLY BELONGED IN ANOTHER FUND, AND SO WE MIGHT HAVE MOVED SOME OF THAT ACTIVITY. BUT I THINK NOW THAT THOSE GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS HAVE BEEN POSTED, IT'LL BE EASY FOR THE CITY AND JESSE AND YOUR TEAM TO ACCOMPLISH THAT GOING FORWARD. BUT, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, I THINK IT'S JUST A VERY POSITIVE ASPECT OF THE FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE GENERAL FUND TO HAVE A PROJECTIVE DECREASE AND COME IN WITH A VERY SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN FUND BALANCE. Does anybody have any questions on the annual financial report? Okay, last thing I want to cover is the staple copy of the management communication letter that's with your audit. Again, this is standard communication that we issue at the conclusion of all of our audits. For the most part, it's just a recap of what we did as part of our audits and some other various communications that we had to have. One thing I want to talk about is on the fourth page. On page four starts our internal control over financial reporting section of this report. As auditors, we're not required to audit all of the city's internal controls, but we are required to take them into account while we're planning on performing our audit. And anytime we identify any a significant deficiency or simply in other manner. We did have a couple of findings to note this year. One that we consider to be a material weakness and that is the material account adjustment finding. So as I mentioned kind of at the onset of tonight, we did have to post that number of journal entries to get our beginning fund balance in line with where it should be to make sure we were accounting for things in the correct form. And that also helped with some of those year-end accruals. So essentially, you have to audit them to make sure that it is presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. And that's what we did as part of our journal entry. So just wanted to add some color to that. On the next page, we have two items that we consider to be significant deficiencies. The first one being the financial reporting finding. And this is a very common finding, I would say. We work with about 140 municipalities and a little over 60 school districts in the state. And this is a finding that probably 95% of all governmental entities receive. And you're receiving this finding simply due to the fact that you contract with your auditors to assist with the preparation of the annual financial report. This is driven largely by audit standards that said you as management are ultimately responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of that. And if you can't, you really have two options. contract with a third company to prepare in your financial report or simply contract with your auditor. So I always treat this more as a reminder to you that although we're assisting with it, you are ultimately assuming responsibility for the fair presentation of the annual financial report. The next finding is segregation of duties finding. Again, this is a somewhat common finding. I would say 75 to 80% of all governments that we work with receive And you're receiving this financing due to the limited number of staff that have oversight and responsibility as part of the financial reporting, record keeping, and presentation duties of the city. And I always treat this more as a reminder to those of you sitting in this room that when you're approving disbursements, when you're reviewing receipts, that you ask diligent questions and that you make sure you understand what you're approving. One, this helps deter fraud, but more importantly, it helps identify human error. We don't find a ton of fraud here in our audits. We do find it occasionally, but we do find a lot of human error. And so a lot of that can be prevented or corrected simply by asking the question. So again, I just encourage you, when you're looking through the consent agenda, make sure that you're asking questions about the disbursements of your pain.

Ask for support for anything that's just, again, an enhanced control and also

So with that, there's just a few other items that when we went through kind of the financial statement with Jesse and our team, just a couple other recommendations that we had. One being to consider consolidation of some bank accounts. There's a lot of bank accounts, which just means we've got to do more reconciliations on a monthly basis. And then two, I think some of the aspects within the accounting software may not have been set up correctly from the start. We've had discussions with Jesse and we're more than willing to help the city, you know, with our opinion, working with the software, the third party provider, I think Walton here was it. So just, you know, providing our kind of expertise since we work with so many municipalities to help streamline things for the city and get a little better financial reporting standpoint on a monthly basis. Any additional questions, any questions?

I will say I was shocked when Jesse told me that the audit was complete. I was nervous. We know that last year was a struggle and has continually been a struggle, I think, since switching over to the new software. So I didn't have nearly as many phone calls this year. It was quite pleasant. So I'm very shocked and I'm happy that it went as well as it did.

Yeah, Jesse and her team are very responsive. I mean, we really dug in everything just knowing that, you know, it was the first year. We really value all of our clients and all of our audits as a partnership. And so we're here to help you guys, you know, with anything that you need. And, you know, what we built was our job to look at everything, make sure we had things, you know, presented correctly from the onset of our partnership with the city.

Great. I'm thinking it's positive and giving a really good add void to the city administrators and also to council for working on ways to reduce the budget and to get it down to where it's passing.

This is really great news.

I know some of it was GL movement, but also I think that a lot of work was done to make that budget work. So just really proud of the city for making that happen.

It was a very pleasant audit experience. We definitely feel much more this year and are really looking forward to their help in working with our third party to continue to utilize our software better. So, except that it doesn't work, it's just way more work than it needs to be as it's currently set up.

Yeah, our goal would really be to get it so, you know, a lot of times some of our clients say we need our audit done to know where we end up at year end, right? But if we set up the software correctly, you know, provide some training to you guys. We can really get it where you know on a monthly basis exactly where things are at.

And that's where it should have been, but again, it's been a struggle since we did the switch over to this financial software. So this is very nice and reassuring to hear that we're finally on the right track.

There's definitely some work to be done with the software, but I think I'm confident we got a really good year end balance. We know where things are at. You know, like I said, making sure that we get all the TID expenditures in the TIDs because the TIDs pay for those, right? Otherwise, it sits in the general fund or it sits in the water and sewer, which then impacts your residents and, you know, through a rate increase or something like that. So, you know, everybody here was very accommodating. I mean, we asked for a lot of stuff this year. We really did. But I think it went well and we got through it.

My only other comment was going to be last year I felt like I hurt a lot. of negative, it wasn't all great. This year, the first time I heard anything about it was, it's complete. So kudos to everybody in the office that helped make that possible. This is exciting that this was done before November.

Our goal is really to move all of our clients to try to provide a draft within two weeks of final field work. And jobs like this, where they're new, there's some more adjustments. We don't always meet that, but our goal really is to get a ton timely.

Well, thank you very much. Anybody have any questions? I know you guys, this is probably a lot of, Jesse is happy to answer questions along the way to make, so we can understand, because this is a lot, throwing out a lot of our newbies tonight.

If anybody has any questions, you know, get ahold of Jesse, she can pass them along to me. I'll be happy to answer them. Even throughout the middle of the year.

Sounds good. Thanks again. Thank you. We are looking for a motion to accept the 2025 audit. I will make a motion to accept or approve the 2025 audit of the city's finances. I'll second that. Motion by Sam, second by Terry. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next is number 16, which is the Cigarette, Tobacco, and Electronic Vaping Device Retail License Request for Walmart Stores East, Walmart Stores East, DBA, Walmart, number 1727 at 861 Tony Road F. The recommendation is to review and act on Cigarette, Tobacco, and Electronic Vaping Device Retail License for the period July 1 through June 30, 2027.

We don't have a set number of these, like we do liquor license, do we?

No, and they don't actually have to be planned to sell to get a license. Okay, we don't have it in the back pocket.

They had it previously. I'll make a motion to grant the cigarette, tobacco, and electronic vaping device retail license application for Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, DBA, Wal-Mart, number 1727. I'll second that.

Motion by Sam, second by Terry. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Number 17 is a special event permit request for Kingdom of Wonders Circus, the free community event, July 21st through the 23rd. Setup is July 20th in Riverside Park. Recommendation is discussion and action. Is this appropriate? Does anybody have any... Oh, Scott, sorry. Do you have anything to add before I close this out? I just looked up and we're standing there all ready to give your spiel.

Yeah, it's been several years since we've had a circus in town. Kingdom of Wonders is offering a free circus. If you would approve it, they would come in on the 20th to set up and the circus would be 21st through the 23rd, 6pm each evening, lasting about 100 minutes.

Do we have any, I guess I did notice the location of it is right like on the outside of the ball down by the boat launch parking lot, correct? Yeah. Do we have any concerns with it being close and, I don't want to say a while, but a nuisance for campers? Do we know, is that right?

Six to eight, I don't think so. Okay, well. It's going to be a busy atmosphere, that's for sure.

Well, my only concern was, like, are we going to have any of such cameras that thought that they were coming for a nice, quiet evening, and now that whole field is going to be built?

Or... It might be just the opposite. It got pre-entertained. Right.

And I did, I thought, I just, I was worried, obviously, about the negative aspect of it.

Um... Are they, where are they planning to be housed, I guess?

My understanding is they'd house themselves.

Like on location or patient?

I'm sure we'll have to probably coordinate with the PD to get some... Passes of sorts or... Well, where they might not be able to park.

Does anybody have any questions about this or any concerns?

They don't need a special license, vendor license, to sell anything at Photo Circus, do they? Because I see that that's how they make their money. It's by donations and by selling merchandise.

I'm not aware of this. Yeah, I guess they have to go through the... We don't require it.

Okay. Just maybe an abundance of caution, but do they submit to you that they have done background checks on their employees?

Actually, very good question.

So, nothing that's on our checklist, anyways. Did they say about how many employees? How big are we expecting this thing? Did they give you any kind of details as far as, like, how big is the tent? How big is the tent?

They needed an area that was 125 feet by 125 feet.

will say i did look at this up earlier today and they are in multiple other locations within the next two weeks they are i looked at their website eagle river marion lady smith marathon city i mean

very rarely do we have we only have a few free community events and when you do come in on the 20th andrew with the parks and i will be

making sure that there's plenty of sanitation and stuff like that.

The circus entertainment would include a Renaissance-themed theatrical circus featuring acrobatics, juggling, comedy, and a narrative adventure without animals or traditional homes. Shows last approximately 100 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission and is designed to captivate both children and adults. All performances are free to attend with funding supported through donations, concessions, and merchandise sales.

I'd like to take credit for that, but it came off of their website.

I think generally it's a great idea to bring another form of entertainment to Berlin and see how the community likes it. If they want to continue doing it year after year, it might be something that we can keep bringing back. I think that's a great idea. I know I sound probably funny, but I think like it's always been kind of like when you talk about services, people think about kind of a different element of people coming in. And so I would feel safer if I knew that they all had background checks, but If they're only gonna be here for two days, in and out of the community, doing a couple of performances and gone, we're probably okay.

Do you have any other places that they- That they visit, yeah.

All right, does anybody wish to make a motion?

I'll make a motion to allow this special event permit for the Kingdom of Wonders service on July 21st through the 23rd at River Cipher. Second.

Motion by Victoria, second by Jamie.

Did this load up, Carson? It did not. No, there's no animals.

Okay. All right. Motion by Victoria, second by Jamie. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. we just make sure we get that on our website so thanks please thank you okay answer number 18 which is the real estate services contract with core inc for wisconsin 91 with 49 south berlin greenlight county road project the recommendation is to approve the agreement that costs not to exceed 63 900 plus 4 300 per person

So the actual document is in the front of your binder. I sent it to you . You did have some changes. I sent it to 4 as well, however they had a date to look it over. So if you're comfortable with this and this motion, I would also add on there that if 4 has adjustments, if they're OK, if the attorney approves of it, if you're comfortable with that, then we can just move forward. If you're not, we'll just bring it back. but I just thought they may have a tweak or two due to the timing of this. And therefore, if you're okay with turning sides off, great. Otherwise, we'll just print that.

I'm fine with the attorney's sides off.

And hopefully they'll just say it looks great, but just in case.

She and I are looking for a motion.

I make a motion to approve the agreement with CORE Inc. at a cost not to exceed $62,900 plus $4,300 per parcel. For parcels requiring appraisal or appraisal review for real estate acquisition services for the Wisconsin 91, Wisconsin 49 South to Burley-Greenland County Rural Project. Terms as set out in the proposal submitted by CORE Inc. on May 28, 2026. This approval is contingent upon the approval of the contractor agreement by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

I'll second. And the attorney's approval.

And the attorney's approval.

Thank you. If the court has any changes.

If the attorney's approval, the court recommends any changes. Perfect. Motion by Victoria, second by Sam.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Number 19 is a transportation program and wheel-on-wheels delivery update. The recommendation is to listen to the presentation and update regarding those senior centers' participation in the county's program. as a grant recipient slash service provider. Sue, Jesse, who wants to go?

This all started back when I went to an ADRC meeting at Greenland County, and I worried about what's called empty miles. And that basically means that there must always be a passenger in the vehicle when using grant funds. meaning that the driver's wages should not be coming out of the transportation grant for the Meals on Wheels delivery, nor for assisting in the kitchen for the Meals on Wheels packaging. So knowing that, we needed to find an alternate funding source for these tasks, as it was not in the budget, but we had limited funds to pull from. Working with Ryan Bamberg, the Greenwood County Aging EDRC Unit Manager, a plan was put in place that as of August 1st, all meals on wheels will be delivered by volunteers through Greenland County as is proper and modeled in the Markaziana Meal Site. And the kitchen assistants being the responsibility of Greenland County as the meal site manager will now be done by volunteers. Any plan was put into place by Greenland County. Furthermore, after reviewing the transportation activity of the senior center for the past year and a half, the average number of rides has been four per week. Therefore, all parties agree that the funds would be better utilized at the county level and the remaining transportation grant funds would be transferred back to Greenland County. So there are two important takeaways from this. Number one, seniors still have access to the same transportation program, but would just be calling the Greenland County instead of the senior center. The meals on wheels will still be delivered, but now by volunteers through the county nutrition program. Vacation assistance will still be available, but will now be done by volunteers And number four, our city drivers have been invited to drive for Greenlee County and could continue doing the same job that they're doing now if they choose to.

On volunteer basis? No, they would get paid fully from the common.

Yes.

And the new numbers and addresses and stuff would be, I assume, communicated to those who typically use the service?

Absolutely, yes. Right now we have two regulars. And one is fully aware. The other one, after tonight's meeting, I plan to give them a call tomorrow to discuss this. She was already given the phone number for Greenland County, but I'd like to speak with her further just to reassure her that the same program is still available.

It's just through the county now. Does the county have a perimeter, a drive-in perimeter?

Not really.

So I did receive... some information regarding that. And I'm just comparing between our taxi, we don't stay in city limits, but the county would provide further.

Right, so what happens, it's a little bit different with the county versus what we did with the city. And the county charges is $5 for local rides versus what we charged was $2. And then $20 provides anywhere within the county. $20 for that and $40 for destinations outside of the county. Counties, it says the $20 for rides anywhere within the county includes Ripon. But there's a big difference because if you, I mean, they're saving some in some destinations and it's a little more costly in other destinations, but Berlin being local $2 versus their $5, it is round trip. But then you look at a ride to Appleton through the county would be $40. whereas Erwin was charging 55. So give and take.

And then I just want to point out the van that we were currently using. We were going to just transfer that to, we have won that or received that grant.

So the van that we have is a 23 Chrysler, and that was purchased a few years ago with a grant from the DOT and that's the 80-20 grant. So we've paid 20% and the DOT paid the 80%. So therefore that vehicle is still 80% the states. So if we got rid of this vehicle, we'd have to go through their process and get paid back and all that other stuff. Well, we also actually just were notified that we can receive a grant this year for an 80-20 match to purchase a vehicle for the, cab company that we have a contract with. We own the vehicles that the cab uses for the city program. So rather than take that grant and now have to go up to the 20%, we would like to just simply transfer this van to the cab company. Our initial conversations with the DOT is that that should be acceptable. They've actually sent us some paperwork. So that is our hope. We definitely would like your support to to work with that and save us from having to ride on a vehicle and dealing with having to get rid of one. And it's only a few years old. It is.

It's a 2023.

Yeah.

Yeah. Greatness for your... Right. Do we... We are looking for motion.

Does that make sense? My hope is... I spoke with Brian Bauer this afternoon and just touched base. Just like Sue already told you they're working to put volunteers in place and we're working to fill in with staff as best we can to get us through, of course, the end of the month and perhaps a little bit after that. But they're, you know, having great progress. And Ryan said that he certainly would be willing to come in August and kind of give an update as to where everything kind of should shake out and where we're at. So either the community or the regular meetings, depending on his schedule, because he may have meetings too.

so that we can just all be on the same page. So how does the loss of the grant money affect you? I mean, if you're only getting four rides, you're just using that grant money for those four rides, and then the rest just stays?

Well, there are a few things that come with the grant money. One would be the driver's wages, any maintenance on the vehicle, the fuel costs, and then part of my wages come out of that, and insurance. So every month I do a tally.

So if the fuel, maintenance, and insurance of the vehicle go away, you'd just be losing a source of income for your wages? Correct.

Right. We don't know how much of that we are actually supposed to take from that grant.

There's a lot of gray area in this.

so if this grant gets transferred to the county does she still receive a portion of wages for that no no no but it's i've gotta run all of the numbers but i think it will be all right because we are gonna that that program and all of those and the drivers and all that are coming off of our expensive as well so yes the only portion would be and we'd have to figure out exactly how much it is but i don't it's not a huge portion of that it's minimal it's minimal yeah okay i just want to be careful that we're not slashing her income no that's completely understandable but we have to be careful that we're not using money that we're not supposed to need i mean So we need to get things being done the way that the grant money is supposed to be done for both our state and, of course, the county, and for everyone who that money belongs to.

Well, I would like to make a motion to direct staff to work with the county to ensure that the transportation grant is turned back over to the county and the senior center ride program ends August 1st, 2026, and to work with Wisconsin DOT to determine the best use of the 2023 van. and awarded grant funds.

I'll second that. Motion by Victoria, second by Terry. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed?

Motion carries. I hope this is the last. Okay, number 20 is the erase and remove order for 127 West Berlin Street, person number 206-00542-0000. The recommendation is to issue a raise and remove order for 127. An offer is commenced in the process, including potential litigation.

This is the one that we talked about. This is the one, oh.

This is a different one. What we talked about was the one I was discussing previously.

Oh, sorry. All right, Tim, what do you have for us? i guess i will bounce off of that point and this is following a similar process to that one on south wisconsin presenting on behalf of the building inspector just they did their inspection and the findings were very clear that this property is in a condition where this would be the appropriate process to move forward with and the one they did on the 8th of june i mean the history even that limited as it is that we have with the property has been one that's had some recurring issues not to this scale but we don't want this to get worse so we are asking for permission to initiate the process as outlined by the attorney and authorize the follow-up steps that could happen for this hoping that there will be an outcome that's better than the worst case scenario

So I'm just going to read some of this background that on June 8th, the building inspection responded as well as the referral from the county health department observed numerous code violations and unsafe conditions while investigating the complaints from a neighbor filed to the city, which we've also had numerous over the years. They confirmed the findings to be summarized as critical safety issues presenting severe immediate life safety and environmental hazards. The primary core threats were atmospheric and respiratory hazards, biological contamination, and structural and physical threats. The following day, on June 9th, the county health department placarded the building as unsafe for human habitation. So that's here. Again, we have some new members on the board. Do you guys have any questions or concerns, anything right off the bat?

Is this owner occupied? Yes. And are they there now? No, they can't be. As of that day in June? Yeah.

And I should say relocated, yeah. Okay. Obviously, there's no, because this is just the start of the process, there are no photos yet, right Tim?

Yeah, no photos that I'd say really well illustrate, and I say currently, what this looks like. Those could be provided if you would like at a future date, and of course, to answer any questions anybody has.

I will note that there is a possibility that they may be selling the property, but our team has tried several times to get ahold of the property owner and has failed to confirm that either way. If you move forward and that becomes confirmed, this can be good.

Because obviously the alternative is if somebody else were to buy, this would be a lot cheaper in the long run for us, most likely. to have somebody else do the work or removal or whatever the case may be. But we can, if they're, they return the phone calls or their contacts, at that point we can, you know, if it's anywhere in the near future, that's something we can kind of halt. But either way, this is the beginning of the process. And I would, my only comment would be, this is about the worst of the worst that you said.

Well, the inspector said they believe it's unreasonable to repair the building, so yeah.

We don't like to see these in the community, however, I would like to, again, Tim, on the history, there's been several chances for.

Yeah, we've tried to take the angles. I mean, the police, I believe, actually had a citation process last year. I don't remember if it ended up what it all amounted to but there was a hope and thought that it may deter this from being worse and then unfortunately like in some situations that's actually even being worse than it was before this home happens to be home in my work when i was an older person and i had received several complaints from neighbors for years this is not a new case by enemies

However, now the county health department is also involved. So it's full level structure and health concerns.

I guess I'm just confused why this hasn't come before us prior to this, because it says that there are significant complaints of damage that date back to 24 and 25. Then I swear that the two days on here said 2025 when I read it online earlier today and this letter from The attorney is actually from 2025, unless that's a misprint.

So why would- So this letter from the attorney is just a process for rape orders and child- Oh. So if you provide this, we're trying to remember to provide it to you guys every time we start the process, just so you know.

I was very concerned. I apologize. That should have been a separate, I apologize for that.

Also, I think, and again, some of this goes back to just the reporting on RN, however, to miss 24 some of the concern or some of the the issue here is the owner um did they purchase this in 24 is that where this case it was a rental unit i i could try to speculate as to what the situation is and actually we hope that in this process we can just get a title search Just a search on Green Lake County. There was a deed transfer. There was a quick deed. I don't remember what the term was.

I mean, I just looked up the owners. They're not even in the state. Oh, they are not. These owners are. So did it. That's a homeowner.

it was so it was and i think that was the issue years ago when it would be um recorded in my neighborhood was that the owners were not in town but if you look at the deed hold on let's look at it up quick 127 is not in the state 127 Oh geez, sorry.

So it still is, okay. Yeah.

So it's the same address. So the tax bill is being sent still to Texas. but it's a different name.

You're right.

Remember the tax bill was printed in December of 25? The address history could have changed on the electronic side. The tax bill is a PDF of what was printed in December of 25.

This is the actual mailing address on the T-10.

Correct, and that's different from the name on the tax bill.

But I will also, so recorded on February of 25 is a warranty deed transfer from the names, which I assumed were a rental company or a equipment banker, I don't know what it is, but it changed to their names. So it was in February, the change on the deed.

February 1st. Either way. Well, like you said, if we're starting raising repairs, they still have the opportunity to repair, even if it's recommended not to, or tear it down themselves.

But this was a... Raising or removing? Raising or removing. Formal notice of raise order or notice to raise slash repair has not been requested yet. So are you asking us to make the decision of... also approval for a notice of raised order or notice to raise repair so you're looking you're not looking for a raise and or removal you're looking for a raise or repair so i'd like to proceed with the raise order procedure that's outlined by the attorney letter so raise not to repair so he's looking for a raise and removal

There certainly are some pieces of information that could be assembled between that happening and that working time. We've been working on that with the other property just for illustration here. We've been working on that for the last month and still it's a process.

So when I came into this, I was really ready to move on this. However, I think it's important that we see the history of this property. I understand and I agree that it is in serious shambles, however, I think for us, and I might be wrong, I would like to see all the facts in front of us as far as what measures have been taken or requested that have not been met. Or why we didn't start with the razor repair? Right, years ago. Yeah, right, right. Like, why are we jumping to just a race removal?

Yeah, the inspectors had not been in this house, at least in my time here, until that June 8th date.

So how does it go from a couple, and that's what I'm saying, I emailed you earlier asking for the history. We used to get the history of Contact was made. This was issued.

This was to see the history of the property. But I think we asked for that the last time you gave us this, too. We asked to see history of contact.

So I want to see the actual complaints and how many times we were there in 24, how many times we were there in 25. Did they find? Did they give dates? Did they? When were letters sent?

Right.

mean that's kind of a big deal especially when i'm looking up an address and i mean i do have some familiarity with t-tech and the address i'm seeing is in a different state so right i would agree i would agree that we need to see history i don't know it's hard for me to go from zero to 100 from we have had nothing

No, you're right. I wanted to come in, and I know this house is serious. I believe it. I agree with it. I have even talked with the county health inspectors of the county health department. It is not in good hands, not in good shape whatsoever. And again, over my years of making the complaint myself on behalf, as an older person, on behalf of the neighbors that were complaining, I know this is a serious issue and a serious property. I think, and I would assume that we Legally wise, we should have all of our dust in a row.

I think at this point, clarifying for sure, like Tim's request was not to start with that title search and just make sure that we know exactly who's responsible for what. So that when we get to that point, we can start to figure this out properly. We need to do that on the Wisconsin property as well. It's just a part of the process.

but that's not giving us history that's not no i'm suggesting that they start with that that now and you can make further decisions later i would also request that staff present history with these each time so that we have that to review are they current under taxes are they letting them they did not pay until this last year But it switched over in 2025, right? Yeah, I think it was in 2023 as well. There was different names of who it was. Prior to 2023, it was all the same. There was a new name in 2024, 2025, now there's a new people.

Oh yeah, there's been three different names since.

So I guess if you could clarify who has been contacted over the years, are these different people or did they just change entities with the same people owning that?

I guess if you could specify that, that would be helpful. And also in the future, to Tracy's point, because I know she's asked twice now, whether they're currently living there when you bring these to us or not.

OK.

the state that it was placarded right correct but i know that the question has been asked twice now on two different properties so are you saying that when it's placarded they have to move yes and we know that they move i mean a sign can go up but did they move their my understanding is a temporary living situation are there do you know if there are minors in this house

i don't have the firsthand information on that but i yeah i've been receiving some information from the county just uh does suggest i mean backs up what's being said here that it was vacated in temporary apartment there's some sort of relocation plan you haven't been able to communicate with them like email or phone call directly recently

I think the contact was the counting of PD because of the severity from the county. This is my understanding, right Tim?

Yes, and yeah.

So then once that produced as where this came to a kind of a head of, okay, this is something that has to be done with this house now, especially after the health department has been in there.

But why has the health department been in two houses in the last two months? without them coming to us prior to that. That's a concern that I have. The property coming to us.

The property coming to us ahead of that.

Because now we have two, basically, raising remotes that we never heard of that could have been dealt with before it got to this.

Does that mean if somebody went to the county and not to the city, is that?

I don't know how exactly the health inspectors get called. But raise and removes, raise and repairs, they're all very expensive, and that lands on us. We have to pay that. And the county is not, I mean, if they're not paying their taxes, the county can then take the property, but they don't have to pay that either. That's still on the city.

Did we ask a couple of months ago, perhaps you guys might remember, did we ask for a list of endangered properties to be presented to us so that we could start this review process? Are there properties that we can be addressing ahead? I feel like that was part of our discussion a couple months ago.

I don't know what you mean by that.

It was for, I think the thing you're referring to were the ordinance violations of like... It wasn't the ordinance, it was abandoned properties.

Yeah.

That's where it was from.

is where that stemmed from but the discussion was the list we have a list of these abandoned properties or the i don't know what the other term was for it it was on the agenda yeah i think we were looking to be able to review these and see if we can stem any of this kind of we're trying to be proactive it's what what i think our position is up here and i feel like this right here

is a huge red flag to me. Two in two months, that's a problem.

Could have been potentially resolved or at least underway. Correct. In a matter of, since 2004, I guess. So we will, let's bring this back next month. I would like to see some kind of a history on the property. Everything that you can get. I know the county, would it help? Do we want a report from the county health inspector? I know that you said, yes or no, I don't know what you said. There are photos available or there are not?

So there were some photos taken by one of the inspection employees.

Okay, so you can have those in the file. And would it help? Does anybody want the health officials report?

There is a summary report from the health official there. That's where we got the hazards listed there and the deficiencies and COVID implications.

That's the building. That's the building.

That's the building, yeah.

Oh, I'm asking about the health department.

Sorry about that.

Yeah. So if you can also reach out to the health department for a copy of their whatever they're willing to provide.

I was just going to say what we have right now is listed as confidential, so it's part of the record. Not what they give us that's specifically standard confidential.

Okay, well if there's anything that they can give us.

Right, we have to ask because what we have right now is...

I mean, we're talking about tearing somebody's home down. So I would like to see all the bags again. Is there a way to find out when they were contacted and how? Was it

If it wasn't from the city, where did that, how did they come into play on it?

Well, like the PD, like if somebody's going to make a complaint, right, we've talked about that workflow before, I would have told either Jesse or Tim, and then Tim would issue the morning or whatever it may be, or the letters, but then it ultimately goes to the PD then as the next step. Am I correct on that? Yes. So then where it follows up after that, were there fines delivered? Again, this is a kind of a, it's hard with our records because our RP and our records don't equal. They're not intertwined. So it'll be nice. No, no. But I say it'll be nice to see that all in one file. That yes, this was issued. Did they get paid? I don't know. I don't even know if anything was ever issued, but I would like to see that stuff. So let's bring that back next month, and maybe by next month they'll have it sold.

That gives them a month to do that also. I have a question on old business, if we're done with this. Is everybody okay with that?

Again, I don't want to push this off another month, and I was prepared to go ahead and hold for a recommendation to move forward with it, but I just don't feel... Just for clarity,

for some things like that we actually did have a conversation with city attorney and our firm regarding this and yes additional information will be provided but it's kind of suggested that we wait and see if that's something that you want because these are systems so yes we can get that for you but why don't you think that that should be something that should have been with this if we're talking about going forward with an order to remove somebody's home that

all of that information should have been provided with this packet if that's the decision that we were supposed to make tonight honestly i'm not even saying you have to put it in the packet but have it available for us to look at at the meeting if we request it but yes we have gone through having a timeline before multiple times and having it readily available and something like this comes up And I don't think we got it last month either.

I'm not willing to move forward until we have this stuff in front of us. So we will put that on the agenda next month.

Yeah, we approved the consent agenda. Do we need to approve the special counsel meeting minutes from June 9th? It's on consent.

Oh, there it is. Thank you.

Anything else for old business?

Anything number 22 for new business? We used to request items for new business to be put on a future agenda.

If not, we'll move to number 23. Motion to adjourn. Second. So long as we have a second, I stand. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Meeting adjourned at 8.05 p.m.