Common Council - Regular Meeting

Do you guys want me to pass that down? They seem to be popular down that end. [laughter] It's been popular for me for three. Okay, it's time to get started. Good evening everyone. I'll call this uh meeting of the Lake Mill City Council to order for February 3rd, 2026. Misty, would you please call the role? Miss Curler, here. Miss Smeagger here. Miss Quidno here. Mr. Coots here. Mr. Waters here. Thank you. Thank you. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to 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. Our next agenda item is correction and acceptance of the city council meeting minutes from January 20th. Are there any comments or corrections for the meeting minutes?

Okay, seeing none, we'll accept those into our record. Uh, next item is our board and committee reports and we have uh meeting minutes from plan commission, Lake Housing Authority and two meeting minutes from the library board. Are there any comments or corrections on those minutes? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to correspondence and constituent contacts. Greg Coots, would you like to start us off? I had multiple uh comments about the uh golf course. I think that's probably just the best way of summarizing it. Um, also the Rock Lake Improvement Association email and just a couple of city emails that came in too.

Okay. Thanks, Larry. Uh, I had the same as Greg, I also received the joint rack lake committee minutes. [clears throat and cough] I had an inquiry on the new water level order and also a correspondence regarding the new no vehicle sign on Bartle Beach speech. Thank you, Greg Waters. Uh the only thing extra I had was uh some Bay correspondence. That's it. Okay, Michelle, nothing to add.

Okay, thank you everyone. And I'll just add, I think we all um received um Mr. Waters had the clerk forward the review of the tree protection work on Milton Street. Um I got some correspondence regarding the school district real estate plans, uh Nickervanker Festival volunteer opportunities, and a couple of inquiries about serving on the plan commission. So those are my additional items. So, okay, there is no one registered for public comment this evening, so we can move on to item eight, which is our city manager report. [snorts]

Uh, there's a written report attached to your packet. Um, I guess one thing that I'll call out specifically, um, since it was publicly reported, um, there is still the February primary continuing as scheduled. Um, it was reported that a candidate had withdrawn from the race. You can't withdraw from the ballot though under Wisconsin state law. So even though there's only two candidates actively campaigning um currently um the primary continues on as scheduled and the top two vote getters will proceed to the April election. So um still plan on either coming to early voting early absentee inperson voting and or on election day. Since she's in the room, we can all congratulate Misty on obtaining her SHRM certified professional uh certification.

Yes, congratulations, Misty. Thank you for your uh continued [applause] continued uh professional development and it's it's a a service to you and a service to the city as well. Um I note also that you had in your um report uh that there is a future land use map amendment request uh for the golf course property and that that um public plan commission meeting has not been scheduled yet. Right.

Uh correct. It has not been finalized at this time. Uh if we're not if we don't schedule a special meeting, it would occur on the regular meeting in March uh which is the fourth Tuesday in March. I can't remember the date right now. Okay, sounds good. Are there any other questions or comments for the city manager? I have a pleasure. Mary, uh first of all, I really like the level of detail in this report, so appreciate it. Um I do have a follow-up question on the Sandy Beach redevelopment plan. I know you noticed uh noted the focus on delivering food service for March and I'm just curious the timeline for the full park plan if that has been established.

Um I believe in my notes I had uh that the city council was looking for options prior to March 1st on the food service and then prior to I think maybe 1st on the um proposal as a as a options as a whole for the overall park plan. Oh. So, we're on target for hoping to achieve that. Okay. I thought it was still our goal. Yes. Thank you. Thanks. Anything else for Drake this evening?

Okay. If not, uh we will move on to council business. Our first item is resolution 26-06. Miss, would you read that for us? City Council Resolution 26-06, confirmation of city manager appointment of public works director Drake.

Uh very happy to bring forward this candidate to you for uh confirmation of my appointment. Um Brian Peterson, he is in the audience tonight if anyone would like to him to come up to say a few words, but he is the uh current deputy public works director for the city of Bo. Brings uh a wealth of experience and knowledge and skills to the position. Um, we're excited to be able to work with him and I'm happy to present his appointment to the city council for confirmation. Fantastic. Uh, Brian, would you like to come up and say a few words? Just introduce yourself to the audience. Thanks. Welcome. And there you might need to press a button if you don't see a green light on there. There we go.

No, I just wanted to thank everybody. Uh, Drake, the city attorney. U, the process was very professional. Um, I was fortunate enough to meet the team in public works, at least the the uh leadership team over there. Um, very impressed. Very impressed. And the uh the presentation of the facility was above what I expected for sure. I mean, I've been in a few communities and it's very tough. It's very difficult to maintain that level of presentation and what I expect the level of service that we provide here for the community. I'm hoping to obviously maintain that and drive it forward even further. So, I appreciate it and thank you.

Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll move to approve city council resolution 26-06 confirmation of city manager appointment of public works director. Second. We have a motion by Greg Wat, a second by Mary Schmaker. Any discussion? [clears throat] Right. If not, Mr. would you please call the role on resolution 26-06. Miss Schmegger, I. Miss Quednau, I. Mr. Cuts, I. Mr. Waters, I. Miss Curler, I. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you. Look forward to starting with us. Brian. Uh, next item is resolution 26-07. M. Would [clears throat] you read that title for us? City Council Resolution 26-07, Municipal Certification of Wisconsin Division of Alcohol Beverages, Form AB 105, Producer Full Service Retail Sales, OffDay Productions LLC, DBA Last Ditch Brew Pub, Off-Site Full Service Retail Sales Outlet, Outsider, 360 Enterprise Drive, Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Thank you. So, this is kind of a new process for us. So, um, can we have a little summary from staff? [laughter]

Um, this application comes came in. It does require the city council um to basically sign off saying that they're not going to impose any special restrictions. Um, being a brewery, it is permitted through the state, not through the city. So that piece can proceed with state's approval, but the full service um for the alcohol and wine, the permissions, not necessarily the permission, it still gets granted through the state, but just saying there's not going to be extra restrictions comes from the city council.

I would just add that um you've certified one other brewery under this process and um one of the issues here is that the city council, the city does not have ordinances or policy in place that does add uh specific restrictions on this activity. So um our our certification is basically stating that you don't have additional um restrictions. They will operate as a fullervice um um entity that offers beer, wine, and alcohol, hard liquor under um state statute. So um if there is any questions, certainly we can entertain those. Um, if there is a a desire to impose ordinance in the future, we can discuss that. But at this time, you don't really have authority to kind of create rules like on a an ad hoc basis at this point in time.

Okay. Thank you. Are there any questions or discussion? Okay, seeing none, Missy, would you please call the role on resolution 26-07? Oh, I see somebody pausing. Oh, thank you. We need a motion. Yes. Thank you. [snorts] I'll move to approve city council resolution 2607 as written. Is there a second? I will second.

Motion by Michelle Qunau, second by Mary Schmaker. Um, did I Mary, did you have something for discussion? Okay, thanks. Last call. Any discussion? Okay. Now, Misty, would you please call the role on resolution 26-07? Miss Quednau, I. Mr. Coots, I. Mr. Waters, I. Miss Curler, I. Miss Schmegger, I. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Our next agenda item is an update on the LD Fargo Public Library expansion project. So, I'll ask our library director, Gerard Sailor, to come on up. And I see you have some friends with you tonight.

We do. Yeah. I'm Gerard from the library. We've got several of our campaign committee members here to answer any questions that we're looking at, but trying to give a regular update on the project and things are moving along pretty well. Um, the overall timeline has been compressed a little bit by the architects, mainly to save money and get it going. We want to save as much as possible on inflation. So, right now, the process we're in is the construction documents uh section. We'll have our 50% meeting next Wednesday and the plan is to have all the documents ready for bidding at the end of March. Doesn't mean necessarily going to go out for biders, but it'll be ready at that point. Uh we're still looking at solar and geothermal. [clears throat] Still have to do some test wells for the back of the library. Um and we're looking at different offsite locations. We're doing some comparisons and we're also looking at city hall here. Um, we're moving off site to save money by uh the architect uh estimated about 3 months time saved for the construction process which has saved about $300,000. And then offsite we're looking at rent up to like a hundred maybe $120,000. And now we're looking to knock that down even more and possibly looking at being here at city hall. Uh so we're looking on that. We don't really have any estimates yet on moving in storage for that to have a really good comparison. And we also have had several offers of inkind donations from local vendors. Uh most important thing at this point is the campaign committee has really been doing a lot of work. It's been all volunteers and we've raised uh over 73% of our goal already. So we're at 1,830,000. Uh it's been going really well. We were focused initially on big donors following the 8020 rule. 80% of the income, 20% of the donors, and we've almost got there. We're going to having a wider roll out to the rest of the community to uh really push towards the

the end of that. And Jod Sweeney, our fundraiser is here, as well as our committee members, if you had any questions on that. Uh part of coming here early in well, February is we have several multi-year pledges. Um and those are going to extend past uh when bills are due for the construction process because those because of that we're looking to have a bridge loan. The B bank of a lake Mills is interested in doing that. We've talked to them a few times but they need somebody to guarantee that. The library can't do that. So in the future we want to come back to the city council and ask for that. No money has to be put out by the city. uh expect no defaults on the loans or pledges and multiple different pledges. So even if there were a couple defaults, it would be minimal. Just kind of an update on that. Did anybody else want to talk?

No. Okay. They said I'm doing great. Did Do you have any questions at all? Any questions? [laughter] I read it in their body language. It was very clear. Are there any questions? May I have a question?

Um I'm just curious. I know you um talked to talk a lot about multi-year pledges or just pledges in general and I'm curious um in this kind of fundraising space what the expected um like actual cash in hand percentage looks like? Like do you actually are we expecting to secure all of those dollars that are pledged or is there a percent that is like not expected and you're going to have to fund raise above and beyond what the defa like a default on the pledge would look like? Uh not quite sure I understand. I mean most of the smaller

some people will pledge like we'll say you pledge $50,000 and so you pay over three years. Well, in the time you get to the third year, some people do not honor their last commitment to their pledge. And that's common in fundraising. And I and I I have experience in other industries, but not in this space. So, I'm just curious if there's any like if there's any statistics that you would suggest you're going to have to fund raise above and beyond to make up for anyone who defaults like on a pledge. I I don't think we will. I don't have a good answer for that. Uh, one of the committee me Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Come on up, Jody. Come on up to the microphone. Just so we can hear you. Yeah, Jody Sween is our fundraiser. She's done a lot of these. Yeah,

I've done 25 library campaigns. Um the the uh fall off rate on a non-payment rate on pledges is about 1 or 2%. It almost never happens in all the years I've done this, I've only had one not paid. And we have a written pledge form signed on every single gift that we have, every single pledge. So, I'm not worried about that at all. Oh, thank you. That's all. That's really good and that's that's really because everything my experience is often reaches to 10 double digits and then you have to raise above and beyond. So [snorts] for like a one or that is awesome. Thank you.

I would I would add that we should know I believe the timeline is May of this year. We should have some indication of where we fell on the $2 million grant that we applied for. um which may um eliminate a lot of the uncertainty or any of the remaining uncertainty that there might be felt regarding the any pledges that are out there. Awesome. Right. And that grant we applied for I think the max $2 million. We might get none of it. We might get partial or all of it. We've not been planning on it at all. We continue to fund raise to reach the the goal we need to reach without worrying about that. [sighs]

Gerard, I've got a question about the offsite. Um just trying to imagine what that will look like. Is that going to be you know moving the entire collection somewhere else and providing you know trying to provide comparable services out of another space or is it going to be some some services in collection maybe won't be

it will never be comparable because we're not going to be able to find a facility that can handle everything. It's going to be scaled back and it's really going to depend on where we go. So the one other property we've been looking at at Enterprise Drive has a lot of space but a lot of expense and for instance if we were to go downstairs I mean that's just a a teeny amount of what the current uh square footages we have now. So my expectation is we'd have a bulk of the library collection and furniture in storage uh similar to what we did about 14 years ago where we paired down the collection and had as much as possible available on hand and the rest went in storage. Things like uh different events. Uh that's more to talk about with uh city administration how they handle their building. But the immediate thought is we could have things like story time up here and just clean all our supplies out before meetings. um other things would have have to be scaled back and ideally I mean construction calendar has always changed. Um FHD architects said they were doing a project in another city in Wisconsin and rain just kept coming and delayed their foundation work for like 2 or 3 months. But the the plan right now is we'd be offsite for about nine months. So it' be really kind of a sliver of time. But everything would be scaled back. p.m.

Any other questions? Well, since we're rolling right along and you have brought these friends, I wonder if your uh fundraising committee folks could just come up and and tell us a little bit of the detail of the work that they've been doing. I think we get things in the monthly um newsletter with some of the naming rights and so forth. But maybe could share some of your strategies and some of your successes. Mhm. I'm sorry I didn't hear everything you said. Do you want to know sort of our plan going forward? No, just the maybe a little more detail on how the fundraising has been going and what the strategies are and and that

this bunch is working incredibly hard. Um [clears throat] we we as Gerard said, we started with major gifts. We are now um have a multi-level strategy to approach businesses throughout the community including um contractors to do in kind. We will be talking to legacy families, people who were raised here and moved away. So we have a whole strategy. Um but lots of different components. We will be doing direct mail and then probably May, we hope to have this finished by June. Um, and the grant will make a big difference, but we want to do a communitywide public campaign so kids can get involved and we can do small gifts. We will do maybe pavers or bricks or wall tiles or something that'll finish up the campaign at the end. But we have about five different segments and a timeline to accomplish something different every month.

Fantastic. And it's going really well. Yeah. Thank you very much for that. And I know Gerard in your weekly newsletter you've have clipped out some images u to show with the naming rights and it looks like there's lots of names going to um yeah it's been very successful for the recognition opportunities has been really successful. We've been doing quite well and we've continued to revise the document as well kind of changing the amounts to see where um where the pledges are coming in. Uh but if anybody's interested in that, keep track of the document because some of those sections were selling out. Yeah.

Fantastic. Any other questions for Gerard and the team? So, no action tonight. You're just here to give us an update. So, thank you very much for that. Yeah, just the update. All right. Thank you. Okay. Our next agenda item then is the Bayberry Cottage in progress report. So, we have um Barry Loose here along with Tom Bins and we did receive um a written report and some photographs from you Barry in advance of the meeting. Yeah. I um gave you Can you move the microphone closer to Can you hear me now? Yes.

Okay. I gave you a a picture report and list of things that we've done. A lot of time since I met you has been spent on the last on that porch and the balconies in the back that you don't see from the front. Uh but that's taken several weeks. We got the sprinkler system all in and completely tested and improved. Uh we've got the electrical and plumbing all roughed in and we just started u drywalling and uh taping the second and third floor. And they're totally painted. I brought that picture tonight for you. Okay. Because we just that over [snorts] the weekend.

The additional picture from tonight, it showed the um looks like there's some of the um it shows flooring and and other Yeah. countertops and things that are installed. It's going to be an open concept. And what you're seeing is the living room and the kitchen wall. So, we've been working. We're trying to get it. So, you guys are approving everything. So, thank you. Any questions? Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, I said, do you have any questions? Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Loose?

Michelle, um, thanks for doing this. I know that that's what I requested at the last time. So, I am I just want to tell you, thank you for putting this out there. Um, and and just so that I understand completely, I've never built a house, so bear with me here. Is the install the doors and woodwork and finish the hardwood floors the very final things that need to be done? And yes, okay. Nothing else after that point? Oh, there'll always be something else. But okay.

Yeah, for this project, there'll always be something else. But the main thing is we got the um water that came around under the highway and put a new fire hydrant there. And uh what else did I want to point out? Anyway, the list that I made gives you synopsis of what I've done, what we've done. Yeah. Okay. Is the uh project on track to have a certificate of occupancy by the beginning of April?

We're hoping so. [snorts] I mean, like you said, in construction, there's always timelines that aren't met, and we've had a couple setbacks, but right now, I mean, the first two two floors is second and third floor being painted and moving forward with that. So, how how much work are you anticipating being done after April 1st? I don't have I mean I'm trying to get it done before April 1st. I'm not going in with the idea that we're not going to make it, you know.

Uh Barry, I had a follow-up question to that. Do you have um renters lined up already? Are you are you expecting to start to have renters on April one? I have names taken on a list of several people that have asked me. Okay. And um another question I have, have you had a chance to meet our new building inspector and have there been any in inspections as this has gone along? Yeah, we've had good rapport with the building inspector. The only comment I would have, we had a a week waiting for him, uh, and he said he's going to be there Monday and we didn't come till the following Monday,

but it was just a glitch, you know, but he'd been real good to work with. Okay. Yeah, that's good to hear. I have another question. Um, kind of following up on on uh Greg's question as far as a certificate of occupancy is what the word was. Do you have a idea of what your price point will be just to help people um hear a little bit more about what might be a possible place to uh live here in Lake Mills? Um I would say in the in around $1,000. Okay. And that's how many square feet? 900. 850. 850.

A couple of them are bigger, a couple of them are smaller. Okay. Thank you. But they'll be nice apartments. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Any other questions? Mary, I guess I have a question only because there's a lot of snow on the ground. So, is there out I'm guessing there's outstanding exterior like the road that is supposed to come like the exit for the fire department and is that needed for occupancy or is that kind of post work that can be completed after April 1st because that's where that wasn't on the list that outdoor that that one piece that I recall being discussed

there. The easement has been granted um on the CSM that was created. Uh it is required that that ingress eress the driveway is paved ultimately. I don't I I don't think that will hold up occupancy. I don't anticipate it being paved, you know, this winter. Uh this spring, early this spring, it will be tough. Um I don't think that specific aspect of it will hold up occupancy. Oh, thanks. Okay. Yeah. When I talked to Craig, Greg told me that last cuz we couldn't when we got it done. We didn't have enough time to get the the black top in and Greg said he wouldn't hold that up. All right. You're talking about the former building inspector, Troy. Troy. Yep.

Right. Sorry about that. And Drake, do you have any um further information from our inspectors as far as their thoughts or um next steps? Um [clears throat] I have not I have not spoken to them on on the topic. Uh they did come in and meet with some other city staff. Uh they think April 1st will be a tight timeline to complete the work to get granted occupancy on. Um but we will it's certainly up to Barry to make it happen. So um if he believes he's on schedule um we can continue there. There's no reason for the city to pull a building permit or anything like that at this time.

Okay, that's good. That sounds encouraging. And we've got just about two more months to go. So, yeah, I'm trying, guys. Okay, any other questions for Mr. Loose on the progress report? Okay. Um, seeing none, we'll move on. The next item is is related to this property resolution 26-08. Uh, Misty, would you read that title for us? So, I need to stay up for that. No. Um, you don't have to. No. Okay. City Council resolution 26-08, reduction of financial guarantee, Bayerry Cottage in 265 South Main Street, Lake Mills, Wisconsin.

Thank you. So, Dan, is this one you? Okay. Um, the developer here has requested a reduction of his financial guarantee. The financial guarantee that was secured uh contemplated certain public and quasi public improvements. Um some of them have been completed. Mr. Loose spoke specifically about the um new water man that enters the property and the fire hydrant that is at the far west end of the property. Those have been installed um satisfactory condition. The letter from the uh engineer, the city engineer does does discuss that specific topic. Um based on that improvement specifically, the engineer recommends that he is eligible for a reduction of that financial guarantee. I would note though that not all of the kind of contemplated public infrastructure, quasi public infrastructure has been completed. We discussed the uh the driveway paving of that. Um there is storm water that will need to be addressed in the the rear the the west end of the property. Um being that it's winter, we don't really have um the best information on that right now. And then you're looking at um the completion of the project as a whole. um the you you are not obligated to um reduce the financial guarantee at this time. However, you do have a recommendation from the engineer that says based on what has been completed uh from a public infrastructure standpoint and um u valuing that contemplating what is left to do. He established under the city ordinances appropriately um what should be maintained if you do engage in a reduction. I I want to leave it there. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Thank you. Are there any questions? Okay, seeing none, is there a motion on 2608? I'll move to approve city council resolution 26-08 reduction of financial guarantee of Bay Perry/cottage in [snorts]

I'll second. Okay, we have a motion by Greg Waters, seconded by Michelle Qued. Now any discussion, comments? Yeah, with uh with this already being a uh extension of of an existing one and uh with there being it looks like the April 1st date is clo maybe close but not quite and there's going to be it looks like there's potentially other things to wrap up. Um I'm [clears throat] not inclined to reduce the financial guarantee. the the deadline is only two months from now anyways and I I think it would be worth I I don't I don't see myself reducing the guarantee

any other comments discussion I guess the way I look at it is that um that the work has been done the assets would would help to move the project forward and keep things moving forward in a in a good timeline. So, I see no reason to withhold at this point.

I I would um concur with Greg Waters. I think the the terms of our developers agreement, the financial guarantee is very specific for the public improvements. It's not for the overall project. we didn't choose to do it in that way. Um, and I think uh reducing this is um something that the developer is entitled to. And I I think if I understood you right, I agree that it would um facilitate him being able to complete the rest of the project. you know, holding up additional funds that that he is entitled to or or the letter of credit that he's entitled to have reduced, I think doesn't doesn't help the project get across the finish line. Any other comments, discussion?

Seeing none, Miss would you please call the role on resolution 26-08? Mr. Coots, no. Mr. Waters. I, Miss Kurler, I, Miss Schmegger, I, MissWedno, I. Motion passes 41.

Thank you. Our last agenda item under council business tonight is ordinance 1287. This is our third reading tonight. So, Misty, would you please read the title for us? Ordinance 1287, amending City of Lake Mills Co Chapter 38, City Council, section 38-6, referendum requirement. Okay. Would any like one like to make a motion? Um I would move to adopt the resolution. Ordinance. The ordinance. Sorry. Second. My bad. Okay. We [snorts] have a motion by Greg Coot, seconded by Greg Waters. Is there any discussion?

Mary. Well, I actually appreciate, Greg, that you have taken the opportunity to look at something that has really been outdated. I know we've talked about this in prior readings. Um, the fact that, you know, this hasn't been looked at in a significant number of years and so, thank you for u bringing this forward and I think it is I I will be supporting it. Oh, thanks. [clears throat] Um, this came up last time and I didn't have the number with me, but the uh when this was passed in 2000, $1 in 2000 would be about $1.88 today,

meaning half a million in 2000 would be approximately $941,000 today. So, this is a inflation adjustment for inflation, but using round numbers and buying us another couple years worth of of time. Any ways

I I really like this approach. I'm in in support of it as well. And thank you, Greg, for taking the time to do that analysis. I had thought about before tonight's meeting about whether we should, you know, add [clears throat] something in here to have like, you know, account for future years of inflation. But thinking about it and talking to a couple people, it seems like that might just be too complicated. So, I think it's easier to have a a a straightforward number. everybody knows what it is and then we should just if inflation continues to rise, we just need to update this ordinance from time to time. I think that's a clearer way to interpret it and I think it's good for us to have this policy. It really makes us think carefully and make sure that we're getting citizen input if we're going to make large investments. So, I think it's a good policy to retain. Any other comments, thoughts? Seeing none, Misty, would you please call the role on ordinance 1287?

Mr. Waters, I. Miss Kurler, I. Miss Schmegger, I. Miss Quednau, I. Mr. Cuts, I. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you. That concludes council business for this evening. So, we have announcements and recommendations for future agendas. Does anybody have anything council members have anything on their minds to suggest? I guess I need to follow up with Mr. Daly on the uh on the trees and um that's something we need to push forward here soon. So other than that, no. Okay. Drake, anything that you're aware of that you want to call to our attention? Uh not tonight. No. Okay. All right. Seeing nothing. Oh, Michelle,

question. Are we having another meeting for Sandy Beach this month or is it next month or are we good? We don't have a work session scheduled. The way we left it was that city staff would be working on a number of items and I think in particular we thought perhaps if a planner park planner is retained they may want to meet with us and that might be a reason to call it. So we'll wait for Drake to let us know if we if he thinks we need a work session. Okay. Yeah. But thanks for checking in on that though.