Common Council - Regular Meeting

So that's it. Okay. Getting older. Oh, we do have a green light. Mr. Waters is um just finishing getting set up, but everybody could get situated. And I think we've lost our city manager temporarily. Let's see. But the light is green.

That just means she's ready. It doesn't mean we have to go in one minute. Yeah, it's still 659. Oh, Thursday's agenda. Let's get to today's agenda. Got it. There was a Oh, you got the packet. Okay, we have the green lights. So, I will call this meeting of the Lake Mill City Council to order for Tuesday, March 17th, 2026. We have our deputy clerk, Lisa Vincent, here tonight. Would you call the role, please, Lisa?

Miss Carler, here. Miss Schmeagger here, Miss Quidnau, here. Mr. Coots, here. Mr. Waters here.

Thank you. Thank you. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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 council meeting minutes from our last meeting of March 3rd. Are there any uh corrections or comments on those minutes? No. Okay. Seeing none, we'll accept those into our record. Uh, next we have uh meeting minutes from the public works board in February and the parks board February meeting. Are there any uh comments from uh committee members or um questions or corrections on those minutes? Okay, seeing none, we will also um set those into our record. So, uh next is our public comment period. Um, individuals who have registered to speak are invited to address the council at this time. Please state your name and address when you're called upon to make your comments. No actions will be taken. Four items not listed on the agenda and each speaker is limited to 3 minutes. So, we've got our timer back working again. Um, we have five people um who are listed to speak on the sentry site which is on our agenda tonight and one on the golf course which is not. So, we'll go with the uh Sentry site first and uh Jacob Art uh you can give it start.

Yes. Is the green light on by your microphone there? Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Um I um I'm going to stick with the script so I can um I provide you with 9 by1 photos of just about the uh um development here designed by 11 photos um of the same building. Photos of the same building design that's presented by HUD development. These samples these photos are given are actual existing new build on east Washington. You can see clones of these throughout the in uh near inner ran capital of the cap and the campus and the exit arteries.

Now you're on. Oh, thank you. There we go. Now it should be a little bit better. Yeah. Why don't you go ahead and start over, Jacob, because I don't think that was Did I start over? Yeah. I don't think that was I'll give you time because I don't think people could hear you. Okay. Go ahead.

Jacob Art, 527 Malbury Street, Northwestern Masonry and Stone. Um I have a number of properties in town. In fact, one of them is right across the street from the uh um uh plan development uh proposal here. So let me stick to the script and carry on. I have provided you with on your desk there um with some 9 by11 photos of the same building design presented by HUD uh development. only these samples, the photos are of actual existing new build um existing that uh are on East Washington Avenue right now in in actual existence. And you can see these the clones of these particular style is a particular style of building like we have for our uh the proposal here throughout the near inner ring of the capital and campus and the exit arteries outside of you know as you leave Madison. Uh you might call this mixeduse grad student housing is basically what um we in the uh you know in the industry call it. Uh it's fine for that setting in Madison, but I think wholly inappropriate for our downtown Lake Mills. Now, this is just architecturally. Other people will talk about the density and the rest of that. And to have such extreme architectural contrast makes it foreign and not comfortable um in the context of our setting here with the commons and our beautiful um worldass library and then this building here. Now I know about historic guidelines for new build and you don't want to build the same you know you u for new build of course with 40 years of masonry preservation contractor experience on state and ecclesiastical

buildings around the country and abroad my company for 40 years teaching at Talesen teaching at the art institute of school of historic preservation um in my career on historic preservation. So, I know we don't want to build a faux um uh historic building. Okay. Uh that isn't the issue. We do want the new build to have design elements that make it comfortable and compatible and some harmony with our unique beautiful little village. Okay. So, design enrichments can do that. with brick patterns, stone echoing certain unique atmospheres and characteristics of the buildings that we have. I mean, we've got it all over the place. We've got archways, we've got rollock, we've got um soldier course, we've got pull outs, we've got different color brick. I mean, let's have some vision here and and you know, make it compatible with the with the existing u with our with our community.

Thank you, Jacob. It's your time. We've got a very false don't on this particular building uh design, but we can work together on it and with and it won't be that expensive to add some of the enrichments. Okay. Thank you, Jac. Let's do that.

Okay. Our next uh person on the centry site um comment is Samantha Wright. Um and then after that'll be Corey. I'm not sure if I Gazelle, I think it says. Hello. Hi everybody. Uh the first thing that I'd like to say is that um what we build reflects our values. And I'll say that again. What we build here reflects our values. So um my name is Samantha Dr. Samantha Wright. I'm a neuroscientist at WMadison. I've lived here in Lake Mills for 3 years. I grew up in Madison. I do not want to live in Madison largely because of the grandiose overbuilding that is occurring in Madison. Samantha, please address the council. This is a chance to speak to us. Thanks.

Okay. Um, so I love living in Lake Mills. It's a beautiful, safe, quiet, sleepy town. I can walk down to the lake at 10:00 p.m. and know that I'm safe. Um, I do not think a 100 unitit apartment building is appropriate. um not just aesthetically or architecturally, but it will change the entire town. Um 24 units might be more appropriate. I understand we can't stop growth and we can't stop the building, but we can control what we build here. And I only found out about this a little over a week ago and everyone that I've spoken to so far who lives here is not in favor of this build. No one here who lives here wants it that I've spoken to so far. And I'm going to continue to speak to people and I'm going to continue to let people know what's in the plans because I think a lot of people don't know about this proposal and if they did there would be more people here speaking against it tonight. Now this build will make certain people a lot of money. There is a lot of revenue to be generated from building a building like this. However, I don't think that the people who live here want that kind of explosive growth to happen in Lake Mills. Like I said, we can control what is built here and 24 units would be much much more appropriate because the building will continue. And so if you go from this quiet, sleepy little town with, you know, three stories max to something that is um like I said, grandiose, I think it will just be inappropriate. So I have no idea how long I've been talking because the timer's not been going. So I just want to be respectful of that time because I was waiting for it to be on. However, I think I've made um my most pertinent points this evening. I will be back. I will continue to speak on this and I will continue to let people in town know that this is proposed.

Okay. Thank you, Samantha. Okay. Um and uh because we want to be be respectful of all different viewpoints for and against, I I ask people not to applaud. So, our next person is Corey. I'm sorry I can't I don't know how to pronounce your last name. Um, so you can say it on the record here and now I will start the timer. Okay,

good evening. My name is Corey Worth live at 216 Church Street. I'm a land surveyor. I have completed many, many, many projects like the one proposed across the street. Now is the time to get ahead of it and not allow what that to happen. development happens where you have a a 2lb can and you put 10 lbs of other into it and now is the time to cut it back a whole lot. That's far too much. And and and you know the other thing is the fact that it's it's a whole lot of ugly. There's no reason to have ugly. Now is the time to get ahead of not having ugly. Look down the street. Ask a developer to look down the road. Take a picture of it down. They don't even have to come here. They don't want to come here. They can do the street view and see what the road looks like. mimic how an old town looks. Make it not as big and ugly and it might work. It's just, you know, it's simple. I got two more minutes. I guess I can keep on talking. I have to. Um, that's all I really got is the fact that now is the time to do it. Thank you.

Thank you, Corey. Okay, our next uh person who signed up is Nick and Nicole. I think it says Williamson. Okay.

Nope. Doesn't work that way. Nope. Sorry. Nice try. Okay. This is my first ever city hall meeting, so I didn't know about the no clapping rule, but I'll keep that in mind in the future. Um, my name is Nicole. This is my husband, Nick. Um, we are homeowners and we live on Water Street. Um, so we are some of the people in this community that will be kind of directly affected by this apartment being built. Um, we're also joined tonight by our lovely neighbors, Jerry and Beth. They didn't get here in time to sign up, but we're kind of speaking for them as well. Um, we are concerned about this apartment complex being developed and the impact that it will have on our quality of life. We love Lake Mills. Um, similar to someone who spoke earlier, we moved here from Madison um, with the intention of staying here, investing our time here, and really dedicating ourselves to this community. So, here's our primary concerns. The number of units in the apartment building, um, you know, the density of it, the size of it, the height of the building. From my understanding, it would be four stories which would tower over every other building in our downtown. You know, do we want the center of our downtown to be an apartment building or do we want it to be, you know, our legendary Commons Park and the other historic buildings there? Um, you know, we're concerned about the increase in traffic, the increase in noise. um you know 100 units. I mean I think we can all agree that if an apartment you know needs to be built 100 units in our town is insane. It yes it's way too much especially when some of these units are two threebedrooms. So this could potentially bring you know 300 plus

people to that area. You know that's 300 plus you know people maybe 100 to 200 cars. I mean, we don't Yeah. Okay. Um, so I have some questions and I don't know if there's it's possible to get answers at some point, but I'm curious about what is the research that's been done to show that there is a need for this type and size of apartment building in Lake Mills. Coming from Madison, there has been so much growth that there's apartment buildings sitting empty. yet we're apparently in a housing crisis. So, doesn't make sense to me. Um, oh god. Okay. We also want to recognize the importance of keeping our downtown vital and supporting downtown businesses. And I don't want to discredit the fact that having more people living downtown would increase um, you know, our Yeah. Um, but also I just want to um, you know, we're not necessarily saying no to the apartment. We're advocating to meet in the middle so that the decision reflects what the um citizens of Lake Mills want, what our values are, and honors what makes our town legendary and protecting that and an impact study. We need an impact study. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. And the last uh person who signed up to speak on the Sentry site is Sue Keys Johnson and then we'll have um Ken France on the golf course. Um, good evening. I'm Sue Keys Johnson from 126 Fargo. Um, I have concerns regarding the proposed development, the entry location as well. Specifically, the design, the size, and the how it'll affect traffic. Getting up here isn't comfortable for me. it triggers uh my voice disorder, but I felt it's important to speak up on this. Um I feel that the proposed apartment design is representative of hubdy buildings that we see in bigger cities, specifically Madison, and not necessarily tailored to our small city. Um some questions to revisit. This has already been said. Um, but why does it need to be four stories, the tallest building in the downtown? Why does it need to be 100 units of which majority are studio apartments? That sounds like college housing and not necessarily what our town needs. That sounds like potential transient situation. Um, are we able to make it more aesthetically and architecturally appealing versus industrial looking? How many additional cars does this add in a concentrated area and how does it affect traffic? Um, I agree. I think it sounds like an impact study is needed to see how this development will affect our city. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Again, our last uh person signed up to speak is Ken France. Good evening. My name is Ken France and I live at 331 Pinnacle Drive. And on Thursday, March 19th, after the planning commission holds a public hearing on the proposed amendment to change the comprehensive plan future land use map, a vote will be cast. If the vote fails to change the map, the golf course is kept on the map and steps can be taken to find a new buyer to keep the golf course running. So far, there are a number of possible buyers that we know of that are just waiting to act. If a change is voted in to allow the single family residential development, the only step left is for the city council to cast its vote to allow this change, sealing the fate of the golf course. In essence, you, the city council members, would have the final say. At this time, I implore you, if it comes to your vote, to please vote it down and save our community's treasure. The Lake Mills Golf Course Association is committed to help a new buyer make our golf course a thriving business once again. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, that closes public comment for this evening. So, we will move on to the city manager report. Drake, uh, a number of documents included in your packet, including our, uh, monthly um, reports from some of our public safety entities and some financial records. Um, if there's any questions, I'm happy to try and answer them.

I have a question. uh in the in the February monthly AP summary, I noticed that one of our five largest expenditures was uh 110,000 for the FE design for the library. And we've spent about a quarter of a million on FE design over the course of several quarters. And I'm curious to know how that how the funds that we're spending for that contribute to the 2.5 million match and whether that how that budget or that part of that project plan is related. Lisa Lisa's question last meeting was I thought really interesting and valuable regarding our role in the the library expansion. And so when I saw that line item, it kind of just triggered my thoughts to say, "Oh, I I really don't know that I'm understanding um the financial side of things when it comes out in um the AP summary because I since it came up in the top five, it kind of highlighted um that in in my eyes. So I'm just would like to learn some more and curious to know how that quarter million is being accounted for in the project plan."

Sure. Well, the the $2.5 million match based on my understanding is um a match towards the the project including soft and hard costs. So design would be included in in that there is as as far as my understanding is is the library board is using cash on hand for funding uh of the um the architect uh of it. Their con the contract with the architect is with the library board. Um so the library board approved um engaging with FE for the design of the project. Um it is I mean it's the project is estimated to be somewhere between four four and a half five $5 million. So the the contracted amount for the architect is within what we would expect for design costs of it. Um, I have asked the library director to provide a final presentation to the city council um forformational purposes prior to the library board going out to bid um on the project. So, I anticipate that happening um in April. Um so, the funds are being paid for out of the libraryies accounts. Okay. Um um so that they still they're still reflected in the city's city's books, but the library retains control over their um funding under state statute. So once once funding enters the libraries sphere, the library board has full control um over how those funds are spent.

Okay. So, so the fact that it shows up on the AP summary doesn't that that's a library is paying for it even though it comes in through our checks. Okay, that's what I was I was I wasn't understanding how I thought we were paying for it and so I didn't know if that was still we're their financial agent so it runs through our accounting department but um it is library funds that's paying for the architect.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Um, I don't have a question, but just a comment. I really uh would like to thank uh Chief Schroeder for his uh regular monthly reports. We don't usually have questions or or comments about them, but I always read them and I always appreciate, you know, what's going on with the staff turnover and training and and just a summary of um the um issues and investigations that the police department is working on. So, I just want to recognize those monthly reports. I appreciate seeing those and for our community to see those. So, it's uh has all of a sudden crossed my mind that I think I skipped over agenda item number six. So, I'd like to just go back to that uh because we always go through and identify correspondents and constituent contacts. So, uh Greg Hoots, are you uh would you like to start us off?

Sure. Thanks. Um I got the library newsletter. Um, I had some emails on the golf course. I had a couple emails on the Sentry site. Uh, received an email pertaining to uh the Club 55 and the Meals on Wheels program. And along with u some of the other people here and then the uh and the public works board, I took a tour of the wastewater treatment plant and learned a lot about wastewater. Great. Thank you, Mary.

The only thing I would like to add, and I'm certain you had this probably also in your inbox, was we received the JRLC minutes and then I had the same um topics of correspondence and I also joined the tour of the wastewater treatment plant and that was awesome. So, thank you for put for to Bill for putting that on for us for sure. Greg Waters, nothing to add. Okay, Michelle,

nothing to add. Uh the only thing I have to add is uh I also attended the wastewater treatment plant tour and um I met with uh city staff and talked to a couple constituents regarding the proposed tree ordinance. Okay. So sorry for skipping that over. So uh next we'll move on to council business. So our first item is a consent agenda. Uh we have three items under that agenda. uh two license applications for Speedy3 LLC and resolution 26-13. So if there's a council member uh any one council member that wants to discuss any one of those separately, you can speak at this time and and request that. Otherwise, I'll look for a motion to adopt the consent agenda.

Make a motion to adopt the consent agenda. Second. Okay, we have a motion by Greg Coots and a second by Michelle Quednau to adopt the consent agenda. So under these u requirements, we have no discussion. So Lisa, would you please call the role? Miss Smeaggger I. Miss Quednau I. Mr. Coots I. Mr. Waters, no. Miss Curler I. Motion pass 41.

Thank you. Our next agenda item is resolution 26-14 uh which is our Arbor Day uh proclamation. This is an annual um uh declaration. We have a memo uh regarding that. So um do we want to do a motion first or shall I read the proclamation first? I don't know if anybody has a I'll move to approve city council resolution 26-14. Second. Okay. Okay. So, we have a motion by Greg Wat, a second by Mary Schmaker uh to adopt the Arbor Day proclamation. Is it um is it requirement that I read it? It is not.

Okay. Um it's pretty short and I think we're talking about trees later in the agenda. So, I think I will go ahead and and read the Arbor Day proclamation. uh whereas arborday is observed throughout the nation and world and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our top soil by wind and water cut heating and cooling costs moderate the temperature clean the air produce oxygen and produce habitat for wildlife and whereas trees are a renewable resource that provide us paper wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other products and whereas trees in our city increase property values enhance the economic v vitality of business areas and beautify our community. And whereas the city of Lake Mills has been recognized as a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation for the past 33 consecutive years and desires to maintain this status. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Lake Mill City Council does hereby pro proclaim the last Friday in April as Arbor Day in the city of Lake Mills, and we urge all citizens to support efforts to care for our trees and woodlands, support the city's community forestry program, and we urge all citizens to plant trees to promote the well-being of present and future generations. So, that is our proclamation. Lisa, would you please call the role on resolution 26-14? Miss Quednau

I Mr. Coots I Mr. Waters I Miss Curler I Miss Schmeagger I motion pass 50. Thank you. Our next item is resolution 26-15 regarding financial support to Club 55 Senior Center. Lisa, would you read that title of that resolution for us, please? City Council Resolution 26-15 approving financial assistance to the Club 55 Senior Center to host the Jefferson County ADRC Lake Mill Senior Nutrition Program.

Thank you. So, Drake, I'll ask you to uh maybe give a summary of this and then I know we have representatives from Club 55 here who we can invite up to speak as well.

Sure. Um, first I'll make a note. The uh memo and the resolution uh contained a mistake when it first went out. It referenced city council contingency. It should have stated unreserved fund balance. Um it was they are updated in your current packet. Um the this uh was brought to my attention by the ADRC. They were unable to attend tonight. Um but they did the information included in the memo did come uh directly from them. Um the ADRC hosts a congregate meal um in the Lake Mills community room um during the week and uh as a as a part of that program they're required to provide um nutritional education as part of the the meal that they try and encourage um seniors to eat um in the in the space in which they serve them. So, this isn't about the any any um uh remote delivery of of meals. Um and their ability to fund uh meals on wheels and delivery of meals is is severely limited. And so, this is a way a way for them to try and bring seniors into a gathering space, provide education as well as a meal um during the week. Um our the meal downstairs uh on average attracts zero to two seniors on a daily basis with most days having none attend. Um the ADRC is concerned that this lack of of interest and engagement in the program threatens the future uh viability of the program. Um and in their conversations with seniors um seniors would prefer to be in a location uh in which there is other senior programming being provided. And so that's something that's keeping them from participating in the senior program um at uh city hall. Um they uh engaged ADRC had conversations with Club 55 and Club 55 indicated that they would be able to or they would be willing to take

on the service at their location which is the former um Lake Mills EMS building. um and but that uh their ability to provide services is limited as they're an all volunteer organization with limited funding as well. And so they had stated that they would need approximately $500 per month in order to make that um be able to take on that service. Uh the ADRC has funding to provide nominal funding to cover some utility costs typically in the amount of $25 to $50 per month. Um they do note that um the other congregate meals in Jefferson County are hosted through senior centers and they routinely see um uh 25 or more uh senior participants uh in um those congregate meals. Um they have had seniors ask them can they pick up meals from city hall and then bring them to club 55 and the answer to that is no because the nutritional education is a required piece of the program uh for which they receive funding on. Um, so I've spoken with uh Club 55. I've spoken with um ADRC leadership uh and ultimately in order to ensure that the program continues and that it remains a viable resource for our seniors uh we are recommending an allocation of $500 per month to Club 55 for this service. Um for 2026 that would come out of unreserved fund balance. in future budgets, it would be a line item um out of the community development fund most likely. Um the um I lost my train of thought. Um the an additional benefit I guess I'll say although not necessarily a consideration is for the period of time in which the library will be operating out of our community room. Um that would be that may be difficult to continue providing the congregate meal out of that service. We would certainly do our best to

accommodate it if it was the only um option um to continue having that congregate meal if if it wasn't able to go elsewhere, but that is um something for consideration in the short term. Um but that is not necessarily a long-term consideration. Thank you. Are there any questions for city manager? Great. Other than providing the space, do we currently contribute to these meals in any other way as a city? Um, not to the ADRC congregate meal program? No. Okay.

And is Club 55 going to talk at all? Yes, I was going to invite them. I just wanted to see if people had questions for the for uh Drake first, but um yeah, why don't I invite representatives from Club 55 and and we did hear from them by email today um and if they want to add um any information and Carol and Marian if you want to introduce yourselves and then

I will I will do that. I am Carol Burrough and currently the president of our club 55. Um before I turn it over to Maryanne who has done a lot of the dealing with ADRC, I'd like to give a little history of Club 55 in itself and that is just the fact that we've been in business trying to help provide special things for the older adults in our community since 2016. In fact, I had was digging through um all of my papers that I have because when we started, not everything was electronic. And so I have papers, papers, pap papers everywhere. And I found one that I had sent to uh Diane Fritz who was member of the city council in 2016 and stated March 10th of 2016 which I thought was rather interesting that here I am 10 10 years later standing in the very spot that I stood in front of the council saying Lake Mills doesn't have a senior center. We don't have a gathering spot. And I said that our neighboring communities such as Jefferson, Fort Atinson, Fort Atinson, Jefferson, you know, they Watertown all have these wonderful community centers and we'd have nothing. And we need a multi-generational place for community to gather. And we did have a huge meetings and meetings. Steve Wilkkey was great about who was our our uh city manager at the time. We gathered a whole group of people and worked towards one. Still, there was no space and there's no money, which of course is the same place that we're at today, except that we've gone to a whole new level. And Maryanne is going to talk more about that because she is the one who has really been the driver in getting us going where we are today and

it's been wonderful. Um, so I met Diane pretty much uh when this started. We talked about they were having kind of fireside chats at the library and we could come in and ask questions much like you're doing here only it was at a onetoone level and I know you've done some again this this council has and so that came about and Diane was interested but still there was nothing that that could be done. So, you know, we've come to the point where we're an accredited senior center. We have our own 501c3. We are nonprofit. We have just over those 10 years taken leaps and bounds to where we are today. However, when we compare ourselves that those communities that are an entity of other community, it's still different. So because we the money that we are asking for is because we pay rent to the building that we are in and you know it's it's pretty hard to keep going and pay that much rent. So I did dig into our comprehensive plan of 2040 and under the utilities and community facilities goals, objections and policies under objection number six, it was to coordinate improvements, expansions and policies for community facilities, infrastructure and services with neighboring communities and Jefferson County. ADRC is definitely Jefferson County. Under the policies, number 12 states, the city will prioritize engagement and cooperation with community civic organizations that provide important health, education, and social services to Lake Mills. So, I will let Maryanne

explain all of the details that she has weighted herself through and is done doing an excellent job. Thank you, Carol. Thank you. My name is uh Maryanne Sawaska. So, I am the person that does a lot of the development work for Club 55 and as a part of that, I'm just out in the community talking to lots of different people and one of them are is the um ADRC out of Jefferson County. And after we met, it became obvious that they did not have a a person to connect with in Lake Mills. And that person has become me for whatever reason through Club 55. And now Club 55 is offering quite a few programs through the ADRC. And it was just sort of a natural conversation because we have seniors there doing different classes through the ADRC that they run, they staff, but they use our site and we can offer those classes around the lunch hour, that type of thing. Um, more importantly, I think everyone's been pretty impressed with the new site that we sit in now because we have a community room that we've never had before. So despite a gathering space, we have a community room. We're across the street from Dollar General, which is a huge plus. And we're representing kind of the the city at the county level with this relationship. Prior to this, they didn't come into Lake Mills other than to check on their staff in this building, and they didn't feel real comfortable just hanging out in a building where the staff was getting ready for meals, but no one was showing up. So when they sit in our building, they see lots of people hanging out, especially seniors coming and going. And we have classes and activities 5 days a week, actually seven days a week, but that's another whole story because we have this wonderful

community room. So it really was a natural conversation to consider this. And then once the library situation came up, we all learned a whole lot about the ARDC that ADRC than we had planned to. But it's really a very comfortable fit. But we're paying rent. And for them to be in our kitchen 3 hours, four hours a day, 5 days a week means that we will have to rearrange programming. We're we will be providing them our space. We need to provide secure space for their equipment just like you have here. We'll have to do a little bit of remodeling which we're always happy to do anyway. But um we simply can't do it without some financial support. But beside that, I do a lot of grant writing and I'm going to work with Jefferson County because everything they do is from a from a grant standpoint and we look we we want city, you know, civic bill businesses to support seniors, which we do all the time anyway. So,

enough. Thank you. Questions? Thank you very much. Any questions for the Club 55 folks? Okay, you answered a couple of my questions. Thank you. Appreciate it. Um, on the community room, I've been in it during the EMS chili days, so there's a lot of people at that point. You of course have redone it. Carol's invited me over. I haven't made it yet, but but what's the capacity like in that room now?

Oh, well, that on the wall it says 165 people, but I don't think that's realistic. I mean people would be standing side by side but we also have the gathering space. So a lot of people who come into the community room don't realize what the other room is. So it was the old EMS building. There were three bedrooms which are now three offices and a lending library. And we have two anti- rooms which again we have a lot of activity going. We have a blood pressure kiosk there. We need storage. Um so if you open up the whole room you can host 150 people which we have been doing pretty routinely especially with celebrations of life which is interesting but um the gathering space you know I don't we're already looking at targets and if we can get a dozen people a day we will be ecstatic which will cut down on the meals on wheels which is a more expensive cost but we have the potential of hosting 100 people pretty easily.

Fantastic. Thank you. I have a followup for the city staff on the city council funding. What's how much is left in that fund for the year? Um it's it'll it'll actually come from unreserved fund balance. So the 26 budget didn't include any funding and council contingency. Um unreserved fund balance is a healthy amount. Um I can't remember the exact number, but it's significant. That's fine. Thank you. It's well over 6,000, I think. So, which would be the annual for this. So, any other questions?

I have a question. How uh are you connected or how do you differ from the Arlac Senior Connections Group and how how does this program that you're looking to fund this one from the county connect with that organization? So, Arlac is we were in we actually rented a room from Arlac and Carol started in a church and then moved over to the Arlac building and a a year ago they determined that they wanted to run their own senior center. We're an accredited senior center that's been providing services for over 10 years and we're part of a larger organization through Wisconsin Association of of Senior Centers and we're only focused on seniors. Arlac provides provided us one room that we could host senior programming. We could use the gym and that type of thing. Um, but we also compete with their business. And a year ago, it became apparent they are a nonprofit and we are a nonprofit. So things going into that building belong to them and we ended up not being able to take the stuff that we took there because we were renters and it was part of the deal. We So when that all occurred, we decided it was best that we step up on our own. And so we actually have three senior centers in this city because there's a senior center here, but they just offer bingo. So anyone can offer senior programming, but we are an accredited senior center. There's a difference.

And can may I ask a specific question? How much is your rent per month at the place? Well, we rent two different spaces. So, we started out with the initial space for $650 per month.

However, um in kind cost includes cleaning and basic maintenance. Uh we take care of this sidewalks and that type of thing. And we are totally volunteer. So, we have people who are taking care of the building for us. Our landlord, Brian Daggner, is absolutely awesome. Again, this was a new relationship with him and he didn't know what to expect. We took over management of the community room for him because he did not have time and it wasn't being managed and it wasn't being maintained like he anticipated. And because that worked out very well, he offered us the opportunity to rent that room for $650 per month. And that we can rent to offset our costs. Again, all of this takes time and people. So, right now, we're at 1150. And in order to take on this, we're going to rent at least two of the cube the the offices so that Jefferson County has privacy and can lock up their stuff. And we're not going to be they're not we're not touching their kitchen stuff. We're not trying to do any of that. and we need to give that we need to have space for them. So, we'll be paying another $500 if it works.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions for uh Maryanne and Carol? Great. I I just wanted to thank Club 55 for uh bringing solutions for the seniors in our community. In our comprehensive plan, we noticed that that there was a drop in population as we we got to some of the senior ages and and as a council, we were concerned about that and wanted to see some positive things happen with the seniors and uh I appreciate I don't know how the vote's going to go, but I did want to reach out and say thank you for being a part of the solution and trying to uh find a fix for this problem. So, thank you. Thank you.

You know, I think the interesting part is that now that people do realize that the room in back, the community room which was EMS and where many of the community meals were prepared were brought there to open up for the whole community and that kind of fizzled out when COVID hit as did many other things. But there's really not a good venue in Lake Mills to have an event. You know, for a long time, those of us who've been here forever had pine nol and everything happened at Pineol or, you know, sometimes a small thing at a a church reception room. But it's amazing how many people are interested in renting that room for

Well, probably because it's the best deal in town at the moment. Well, that too. now that we're realizing and again we we're looking forward to that in the future because again thank you for noticing the senior center but it's really intergenerational. It is because we're not limited by who can come into the building because we're in control of the whole building now. So we're seeing families, we're seeing lots of birthday parties, we're seeing celebrations of life, that type of thing. And during the week, you know, it's it's mostly seniors. So I think this is just all going to have a synergy that

but we our our goal was really when we decided this is what was happening now is more community outreach and I think we've proven that we are capable of doing that. Uh Maryann I just have a follow-up question. You you made reference to wanting to see you know how how this would go and how many um attendees you might start to have. Um, so are you planning to just sort of once this program would get started then you would just be tracking that on a daily weekly basis and well trying to evaluate how how it's going.

They they have to for their grant show doing that and there there's a very good chance if the numbers don't come up you know they would distribute that money otherwise. They have five senior centers that they work through. But one of the big deals and I think the thing that caught their attention is we have quite a few senior members who are club who are meal on wheel drivers. So we have Shirley who's been a meal on wheels driver for 50 plus years and her mother was a meals on wheels driver prior to that. And Rebecca didn't know that from the ADRC. And we have all kinds of people coming into our building saying, "Oh, well I'm driving this week." Well, we're going to start a meal community where they can come in and order lunch and then drive their meals and come back and have lunch. So, already I'm sort of ahead of the game knowing that I can increase that attendance almost instantly. And they're thrilled because when they come here, they just sort of stand in the hall and wait for their things to come. Now, they get coffee, often treats. Thank you, Carol. And we have just a whole different atmosphere. I think so. Just start there. And with all of our card players and um rotary people who come in early for coffee, for communication, they may have people that they know that could use this sort of meal. So, it's, you know, it's a it's a true community.

Well, and the blood pressure kiosk helps a great deal because it's really it was wonderful to team up with the American Heart Association and that there again is Maryanne's connections. Great. I have a heart.

Um, and Drake, I had a I guess just a follow-up question for you. So, the um resolution says we would use unreserved fund balance um to provide $500 a month. It doesn't give an end point, and I'm just wondering, I think you mentioned that we would likely, you know, look at this in the budget and and have it come out of a of a fund. Um could we um get some data when we're um you know reviewing our budget in the fall to see how this investment is um you know paying how how it how it's working. I'm sure ADRC would provide that. Okay. Okay. I think that would be helpful because then we may you know it would help us to know how long you know we may want to continue this. I have a question.

Yeah. Michelle I have a question for all of us. Is $6,000 a year really that big of a deal?

When we think about the kind of impact that this is going to have over a course of time, I really think that since we could not provide a vocation, they took it upon themselves to figure it out. They've taken it upon themselves to figure out all of the solutions that we couldn't figure out on our own because of our own our own barriers. And now they're asking for $500 a month, so $600 a year. And in the grand scheme of our budget, it is minuscule. So, in my opinion, I I'm not I'm not sure how you all are going to vote, but I'm definitely going to vote yes because I know how much of an impact these people have on this community for now and for the future. So, you got my vote.

Thank you, Mary. Well, so I'm I think think think of things a little bit differently. And so when I think of having a 501 um C3 asking us for a contribution and learning about a particular program, we have other 5013C. So I'm thinking of it more from a business perspective.

I 100% feel that a congregate meal program is dining program is absolutely essential. I feel that I I I have I have felt um confused and I still am confused. because I didn't know there were three senior I only thought there were two senior um supporting areas here um that our seniors maybe don't have the robust kind of uh focus that other cities have um so recognize that but I am worried that I shouldn't say worried concerned or questioning whether they're really what we're really looking at is more of a cost sharing plan or program with this particular entity versus it being a supporting of a particular particular meal program. I don't know what the demand is on the meal program. People haven't been wanting or interested in the nutritional requirement to get the food. That's what I'm hearing. They want the food. That's what I read in the memo. They want their food, but they wanted to bring it back to club 55, but they they weren't allowed to do so because they needed to do the nutritional programming side. So, there isn't a demand or a need. And so I there's an element of the ask and I'm going this is going to come across quite um direct but it's like we're providing free food for club 55 members and I know club 55 are seniors but I also know there are seniors who aren't a part of that particular um your particular group and so I'm trying to in in my head think through um the equity of all of the those folks who deserve these meals who aren't a part of the club 55 and will they feel welcome and um cap you know able to come and be a part of this program when they if they haven't yeah I know I'm just trying to sort through this because it was a yeah you know just trying to think through all of the consequences I know $500 isn't a lot of money but I'm trying I'm thinking through and then is it is it evergreen

does it keep going and so then the city has taken this on as a formal year-on-year request and that's why I was just trying to rep my head around all those different aspects.

So, I think um a good clarification, very very good point. Um anyone can come to the meals. This is a Jefferson County. This is a county federal grant. We're not running this program. We're we're housing it and we're able to house it because we have the appropriate kitchen on first floor with the other with the community room. So the ADRC did look for instance they looked at Arlac. Arlac doesn't have the same kind of parking situation we have. Their kitchen is in the basement. They don't have a dedicated space just for seniors to have meals. They run a business with all kinds of exercise kids and that type of thing. So first of all trying to find a space to host this that the city has been doing it is great. I and I did realize today they do pay you a stipen. It is not a free program, but it also means that the city cannot have meetings in there five days a week in the morning. So, we're going to be giving up space. We can make more money. We can easily rent out our front room for $500 a month. You know, we can take on rentals, but this is our mission,

right? So they came to us because the site is set up for it and they can't I mean where else can they go to find a kitchen that had they have to have on their own. You can't go into the kitchen. You can't go into the kitchen here and they don't have the money or the staff to to greet the clients that come in and meet. So they're looking to us for volunteers. So, we're going to be doing more work from a volunteer coordination perspective, which is what we're good at. This is what we did for Club 55. This is what she's been doing for a really long time. And so, it's not just the meals, but I think it's we should be real clear. We're not giving them our site. They're they're hosting their thing in there, but we're going to take care of all the details around it. And anyone can come to this meal. Well, you can. Well, 60 or

old 60 and over. Yeah. I mean, well, and we already anyone can come. So, again, the name Club 55 was this one's choice, which is fine. But if you know someone 55, you can come into our building. Yeah. If you Yeah, you you don't have to be a senior to come into our building. And it's also for disability. So, ADRC is for seniors as well as disability

Aging and Disability Resource Center. Um, I I also want to answer Mary's question though. You know, really we're not feeding Club 55. We tried when the meals were here and we were here temporarily using the space and we we sat and ordered the the uh salads that were coming and it's still it's a very cold atmosphere down there and they really don't know what happens with the rest of the building in my opinion which was not asked. I was teaching apparently too busy when this building was built. It should have been your offices should have been downstairs and other things upstairs because I don't think it it the connection. People come in and they don't know where to go for a meeting with Drake or with Dan or with anybody. And it's it's just I think that happened in the kitchen. Those people know nothing about what's happening anywhere else. And well, and don't forget you're talking a senior audience. So you are talking a a a different de demographic and we can tell you from experience every day depending on who walks through our doors they may want an hour of our time.

They just need to talk things sometimes.

Well and that's part of the mission. So other businesses do not have volunteers on standby to spend time with individuals that need it or want it. They may not even w need it, but they want it. And Carol just expressed that to me this morning. She went there to get things done for this meeting and never got to them because people were coming in and they were not seniors, but needing a place to stop and talk and and that type of thing. So, if we were running any other business out of there, like trying to rent the community room is a problem because we don't have the time because we're busy with our seniors. So, it is a really unique situation. So, I understand you're concerned that other 5013C's may come in here, but this is quite unique as far as the kitchen and the food and the the clientele. And I think our track record has proven itself. I really do. I'm I'm very pleased with how and we're now going to a new level with our promotions person here who is the grant writer, you know, slash hostess slash slash, you know, it's it's great. We have a great group on our director of board, our board of directors right now.

I want to thank both of you for being here. If there if there aren't any further questions for Mary, Maryanne, and uh Carol, I think we need a motion on the table and then we certainly can continue to discuss as a council. I'll move to approve city council resolution 26-15 approving financial assistance to the Club 55 Senior Center to host the Jefferson County ADRC Lake Mill Senior Nutrition Program.

Second. Okay. So, we have a motion by Greg Waters and a second by Michelle Qued. Now, um I'd like to add my two cents worth. I think what I'm hearing um from the conversation is really this is a partnership. So, the city uh is being asked to be a partner by providing financial support for a service that Jefferson County provides um in a location that um is hopefully a better location where more people will be drawn to the congregate dining um in our community development. I'm sure I won't be able to think of all of them, but we pay for the um director of the city band. We pay for uh we contribute funds toward Legendary Lake Mill. So, there are other things that the city, you know, contributes to. Um there are other things, you know, other uh things that opportunities that may come our way that people may request. Um I um am very strongly in support of this. I I agree with you, Michelle, that I think, you know, $6,000 a year is a small investment in our seniors. Um, and I think to be able to be a part of this partnership um and to have this service be provided in a setting that is welcoming um to seniors. I have had a chance to be there and have a meal and talk with folks who are there playing cards or doing puzzles or just visiting. and it it provides a lot of the um meets a lot of the goals that the ADRC has in terms of you know gathering people together and people not being isolated or just taking their food um home with them. So I'm very supportive of this and I agree with you Michelle. It's a very uh small amount. I would like to um see how it's going. I think it would be great to see you know how how our investment is going and learn that about that in the fall so then we can see how we might want to fit that in our budgets moving forward. Great. I guess the only question I had was did we want to put a uh a time limit on it or is it just now that it's going to hit our budget, it'll be an annual

thing that we'll look at with the budget? Yeah, you could add 2026 and then it would be addressed in future budget discussions. So, or 2027. Correct. Yeah. So, so amend we could amend the resolution to approve this for 2026, which really is saying unreserved fund balance for 2026. Well, he did say it was going to be a line item. So, wouldn't that by default become something that we review because it's a line item? We'd be reviewing it during the budget process, right? October. It's automatic anyway. Yeah, putting a date on it is like

it would just be if you were setting you you could set a date on use of unreserved fund balance, but if you wanted to extend the use of unreserved fund balance for a date certain 2026 and 2027, that would essentially be directing us to include that as a funding source in the 2027 budget um rather than a funding source from the typical operating levy. I would like to see the participation race and then make the decision whether it becomes a line item. So, how will we would would we need to change something in the would we need to date per Greg's comment to put some time box um in the Could we just amend the last sentence of the resolution to say for 2026?

Yes. Okay. I propose we amend um resolution 26-15 to add the phrase 42026 to the end of the resolution. Is that a motion to amend? It's a motion. Sorry. A second. Okay. Can we have uh any discussion on the amendment? Uh Lisa, can you call the role on the amendment? Mr. Coots, this is to the amendment. Yes. No, Mr. Waters. I Miss Garler. I Miss Smeagger. I Miss Quinn. No.

Motion passed 3 to2. Okay. So, we have a resolution 26-15 um as amended to add the um phrase 4 2026. Any further discussion? Okay. Okay. Lisa, would you please call the role line on resolution 26-15 as amended? Mr. Waters, I. Miss Gurler, I. Miss Schmegger, I. Miss Quinn now. I, Mr. Coots, I. Motion pass 5-0.

Thank you. Thank you. Club 55. We look forward to um hearing how how it's going. Okay. Okay. So, our next agenda item, uh, letter D is resolution 26-16, which is a bid award for, uh, the East Prospect Street Reconstruction Project. Uh, let's see. Lisa, you want to read that title for us, please? City Council resolution 26-16 authorizing the city manager and city clerk to execute an agreement for the East Prospect Street, Moss Street, and Malbury Street reconstruction contract 2-2026. Thank you. Uh can we may have the staff report first?

Um sure. Um we received four bids on the project. The um responsible low bidder was Copin and Canass. Um the public works board did review um and recommended award um of the bid. Uh the bid came in both under the opinion of probable cost and under the amount we had allotted in the capital improvement plan. Um, so we continue to see a uh favorable bidding environment in our uh capital projects. Um, staff recommends um approval and we're happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions on the bid award proposal?

Um, I just had one question. I was trying to understand the dollar amounts for the tree protection alternatives and it looked like they were quite low. I wasn't sure if I was adding those up correctly. It seemed to come to about $10,000, which was considerably lower than what we had on Milton Street. So, I guess my two questions are, was I adding that up correctly? And then why why was it so different?

Um, I believe you are adding it up correctly. It was a low amount. Um, we had only one bidder on the Milton Street, so it's tough to it's tough to compare. Um, this was a more robust bit uh bidding environment. um as far as speaking to um bidder strategy is is difficult to to pin down sometimes and where they choose to allocate their costs in order to be the most competitive they think they need to be to win um uh receive the bid. Um, but I think probably the the greatest contributing factor to um the more favorable pricing we're seeing is probably the bidding environment and the amount of um perhaps we bid earlier, we got more bidders. Um, it's a more competitive environment.

Is there anything related to the design like maybe there are a smaller number of trees? the the road is being a significant portion of the road is being narrowed um which widens the terrace which provides more space to avoid conflicts with um trees. Um Milton Street did involve moving the water man to the other side of the street. So there was a temporary water service um that was necessary. So that increased costs. Um, so yes, there are features of the project that are um that that may lend themselves to being able to avoid conflicts with trees and avoid some of the the higher cost um procedures that are required.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions or discussion? Yeah, I have one. Great. Has Coplin and Kenis if I'm pronouncing that right. Have they done any work for the city of Lake Mills in the past? They have not. No. First time. Okay. So, have they done any work with Strand in the past?

They have not. No, Strand has not worked them with them in the past. They have done work in um Wisconsin. We did conduct a a review of of them. Did not find anything that would have disqualified them as a responsible bidder under under state statute. So, um, we do believe we are obligated to award the bid to them. Okay. So, we we're not aware of any, you know, any claims or anything like that against them that would question our lead us to question their ability to complete the project.

Any other questions for staff? Okay. Is there a motion on resolution 26-16? I will move to approve city council resolution 26-16. Mr. Coots will second. Okay. We have a motion by Mary Schmaker, seconded by Greg Coots. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Lisa, please call the role on resolution 26-16. Miss Curler, I. Miss Smeagger, I. Miss Quednau, I. Mr. Coots, I. Mr. Waters, I.

Motion pass 5-0. Thank you. Um, our next agenda item is resolution 26-17 regarding our wastewater treatment plant. Lisa, would you read that title for us? City Council resolution 26-17 directing the city manager to include the wastewater treatment plant controls and operations building in the phase 1 design package. Thank you. So, Drake, do you want to kick this off or Travis?

Um, sure. or if you recall, this uh building is the one that the city council would wanted more um information on at the time that they authorized uh to begin phase one design of the wastewater treatment plant um improvements. Um the public works board did um both tour the existing plant and then um uh received uh uh ask questions of the engineer and discuss this item. uh they did ultimately uh recommend proceeding with the inclusion of the building as proposed in the phase one design. Um some of the things I will note is you will see that um the opinion of probable cost is approximately $3.87 million. This is down from the previous estimate of about $4.6 million. Um those savings were made by um uh before it was a it was estimated to be a full masonry building. Uh this is now a pre-engineered um metal uh building. It will need to have some Waynees coating to comply with the the city's design standards. Um but that's the majority of the uh decreases in cost and then um as well as um essentially identifying square footage reductions uh that were possible without um sacrificing uh needs of the utility. So, um, at the bottom of the letter that's included in your packet, you can see that, um, of the, um, in in 2026, this building would account for a $424, um, monthly cost, that would be the portion of the the increase of the the rate increase that would be associated with phase one design in totality. Um, our engineers are here if there are any questions of them. Um but otherwise as as I stated the public works board um recommended

inclusion of uh of the uh $3.87 million uh operations and controls building in the phase one design. Uh they have not we have not proceeded with any indepth um design plans until we have an understanding of if the city how the city council would like to proceed. Um so um as far as in detailed depth of of design features that would bear out as we prepared to to bid phase one. Okay. Thank you. Are there any questions or discussion by council members? Greg. No go ahead.

No. I'd like to hear what you have to say. Greg Coots, you're on the public works.

All right. Um after uh after touring the building, uh one thing I said at the public works uh meeting and it was very evident to me throughout the whole tour is that we're we're blessed to have the staff that we have and the the staff that works out of that the current building clearly takes great pride in their work and that includes taking great care of the building and being good stewards of the of what what is there? Um, knowing the age of that building and then seeing how, you know, how good of a shape it it's it's in and how many things are happening in a very small space, but yet everything is still very well kept up. It was very obvious that that the people who work in that building, like I said, take a lot of pride in their work and and are conscious about taking care of the equipment and the space. So, I I I thought that was I'm sure they will take care of a new building with as much care as they took as they're taking care of the current one. Uh, one thing I should have noted um is the the building the building's purpose is essentially will be it'll be separating out some of the chemical processes from the administration of the of the building. So, increasing safety for the staff. It'll be providing um adequate and updated showers and restrooms um for um for the staff. Um and then another significant portion of it is uh the addition of uh multiple bays. Um, for those who went on the tour, um, several of our vehicles are specially made for us currently to be shorter than the the stock, um, the typical build that they do. And they

have about 2 and 1/2 in on either side of clearance. And so if if they get any bigger, um, then we won't be able to fit them into our garages. These are heated garages. The equipment that this the wastewater utility uses almost always has water in it. So they they need to be in climate controlled environments to prevent damage. Um the storage spaces is essentially at its limit. Um they've whittleled down the amount of garage bays to um what they what the staff use as the minimum amount in order to um um provide the the service that the utility needs for it. um any redu any further reductions in it, there will be a a some reduction of service um ability or or quality or sacrifice of um how we store equipment. Um so those are kind of the highlights of of why staff believes that u uh the operations and controls building is necessary. Um so I'll leave it at that. Greg Waters.

I just wanted to thank uh staff and Strand for taking another look at this and uh I I know the council was uh little critical and wanted a review of this process and uh thanks for going through that and the result of pulling back some of the cost is is nice to see as well. So for thank you for for the effort there.

Any other questions or comments? I I echo Greg's comment. Same thing. Thank you for taking a look at uh the parameters on making some revisions like moving to um from masonry to prefab and thinking about costs. Um I too appreciated really appreciated the tour and I super support in a new building. You can you can see it's it's well kept up but it is could use some modernization. um the the lab in particular was um super well organized, very impressed, but I couldn't see as things get more complicated in the environment and more testing protocols are required or things of that nature, I just think um doing it in a facility that can handle the growth of the city but also the changes going on I think is going to be really important. So, um, again, appreciate the efforts in revising to skinning down the cost, um, a bit, but still keep the important parameters in place.

Thanks. I'll also echo uh, my experience on the tour. Um, you know, it's one thing to have uh, Travis or Drake explain to us that, you know, the the current building is cramped and the equipment is a tight fit, but to see it, it's really cramped. And I mean just even going on the tour, those of us as participants to go between, you know, some of the equipment and thinking about, I mean, these are, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars valued pieces of equipment and somebody driving that in and fitting it in a space where there's only like 2 in to give. It would be nerve-wracking. and um to work safely. Not even Thank you for reminding us about the chemical separating out the chemical processes because that's a really important staff safety, but just the you know like tripping over things that are on the floor as organized as you might try to make all the storage um the workspace. It's just not you know sufficient for um staff to safely work and for all of the valuable equipment and and um processes that we have there. So, I'm very much in favor of um including this building in phase one. I think it's it's essential for our staff and for our equipment. Um it's an investment. Um it's it's going to add to the um increase in the utility cost, but I think it's an investment that's going to last us for a long time. Okay. Um any other discussion? Otherwise, we need a motion. I would make a motion to approve resolution 2617. Second.

Okay, we have a motion by Greg Quitz and a second by Michelle Quedno. Any further comments or discussion? Seeing none, Lisa, please call the role on resolution 26-17. Miss I, Miss Quednau, I. Mr. Coots, I Mr. Waters, I Miss Curler, I.

Motion pass 5-0. And thank you again Travis and and to your team for um working on bringing the cost down. Appreciate it. Okay. Our next agenda item is ordinance 1288. This is a zoning amendment for HUD properties and tonight is the second reading. So Lisa, would you please do that second reading for us? Ordinance 1288 amending city of Lake Mills ordinance 660-44 subsection A official zoning map city of Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Address 105 South Madison Street, 204 East Lake Street, 203 Water Street, 209 Water Street, and 223 Water Street. Parcel identification number 246-0713-1300-16 017 018 037 038 and 039. owner Gunlack Properties, petitioner Hubd Properties.

Thank you. So that's the second reading this evening. Uh every ordinance has three readings. So um uh we will not be voting on this this evening. That will carry over to our next agenda. Are there any um is there any discussion or questions that council members have this evening? Drake, any updates that you want to share? No, ma'am. Okay, where was Well, appreciate all the public comment on this and so this will be moved forward to our next council meetings agenda for the third reading.

Okay, our next agenda item is ordinance 1289 uh regarding trees and this is also the second reading. So, Lisa, would you do the second reading for ordinance 1289?

Ordinance number 1289 repealing and replacing ordinance number 665B as amended by ordinance number 1054. and as chapter 594 trees vegetation and urban forestry. Thank you. So, Greg Waters, you weren't able to be uh participate last time, but um we did uh bring up some questions about um what you're proposing, you know, what's behind the proposal. So, I wanted to give you the opportunity to summarize the the ordinance that you're bringing forward.

Sure. I I I wasn't able to participate in the meeting, but I was able to listen and and uh Mr. Daly did a fantastic job outlining the uh the proposal and the questions. Um actually, this this uh is an action. It it started with uh citizens that were concerned about the way that uh trees were um were being handled when new road construction was happening. And so the city council decided to uh put an ad hoc committee together with the citizens of the uh city of Lake Mills to to review the uh city trees. Um and uh the recommendation they met for about a year and the recommendation back to us was proposed about a year ago. I think it was almost this meeting a year ago and concerns were we we basically took their suggestions and and the concerns the council had was related to the heritage trees. Uh there was two sets of uh heritage trees. There was the public and the private trees and feedback from council was that uh that we should take the private out of there and and keep the public in. So the public has been has been removed from

from this ordinance or this revision. Uh so the private the private's been been removed and it is public.

So Mr. daily. Uh I think Lisa and I met with him at one point and he helped us revise it and come come back with a proposal and after reviewing that I I did tweak it a little bit um more because I thought some of the reporting uh there there's there's two different types of city trees. You have the the ones that are in the parks and then you have the ones that are in the tree lawns. So I I divided that out where the parks would would report back to the parks department and the treeons would report back more to the uh the public works. So that that's been revised as well. And uh Dan massaged that and and did a great job uh with with helping on that as well. So this is the uh the finished product at this point. So this is what's in front of us today. So it it really isn't my proposal. There's been a lot of people involved in the process. Uh, but I've been kind of uh helping to tweak and get it to where it is today. So, any questions?

Any questions for Greg?

So, I have uh been doing a little research since our conversation at our last meeting because one of the things I wanted to understand is, you know, what would be the um uh time commitment and the responsibilities for our staff on the heritage tree program piece. And um I really like the idea of the heritage tree program. I think it's just such a good way not just to preserve our most special mature trees which is you know a big part of why the committee was gathering but also just to raise awareness and appreciation for the value of of our whole urban forest not just the u mature trees. Um so I had a chance to meet with staff and um last week and talked with our arborist Andrew in particular and the the way the criteria are written in this uh in the draft ordinance based on the size and the age and the you know so the DBH and the age um 40 approximately 40% of the public trees in in his estimation would qualify. and the way that it's written, it kind of sounds like they all automatically would be heritage trees. And then I thought, okay, well, that's not what I was thinking it would be, that it would be such a large, you know, volume. We have what over 4,000 uh public trees in Lake Mill. So, I wasn't thinking that it would be that volume. Um and and Drea mentioned that the um the uh the committee based their original proposal on the village of Cottage Grove ordinance. So I looked up the village of Cottage Grove ordinance and it's very similar, you know, language to what we have proposed here. Um and I called their forester. They've had that that ordinance on their books for about 30 years. So it was before his time there. Um they have one heritage tree um designated in Cottage Grove and

it's in one of their public parks. It's a very large 40inch uh DBH um white oak. Um and they've been talking about possibly, you know, adding a few more. So I am thinking about how we could you know as a friendly amendment how we could tweak this um a little bit further just to make it a manageable size because you know there's um special care and preservation requirements in this ordinance which are important. Um there's also um inspection requirements and so those are all duties that our forestry team is going to need to do and I just want to make sure that it's not going to be something where you know all of our um you know well-meaning citizens who love our trees which which is great um all of a sudden start proposing hundreds of heritage trees because then they're not special if there's hundreds of them and and our staff doesn't have the capacity to manage. So, I'm working on some ideas. So, just a a heads up on that that um I'm going to try to put a proposal together where um you know there would be maybe a little bit um little bit more of a process to evaluate and to come up with really the the best of the best I guess the most special trees rather than you know hundreds hundreds of them. So stay tuned. That's kind of what I'm working on. Um and I'll bring something forward. I'll I'll certainly will talk to you um Greg since you're um sponsoring this and then hopefully we'll bring something forward at the time of third reading. Um another thing that staff shared with me and and it was

and I am open to your suggestions.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that, Greg. Um I the staff reminded me that we did put in our 2026 budget to update our urban forest management plan. And so that's in the works and I think our new public works director is going to be, you know, putting out uh um a request for a proposal to have that work done. And you know, some of the frankly some of the current language in chapter 594 might need to get changed from when that plan gets updated. Um not to mention some of the suggestions that the tree committee had. So, I I think it would be good for us to be thinking ahead to that. We're, you know, we're probably going to need to do this again when that plan comes out. And um I I I just think it's it's a great time for trees, you know, in Lake Mills because we're going to be updating that plan. We're going to be giving um you know um some special recognition to heritage trees. I just want to make sure that it's you know, right size for what our staff can do. So,

that's kind of where I'm at. One thing I learned from Miss Curler's conversations with Cottage Grove that I I didn't understand. I don't think that the the ad hoc committee understood as well is the the DBH requirements do mirror um the Cottage Grove ordinance. Cottage Grove treats those as a minimum uh before a tree even gets considered um for one. So, it's not an automatic qualifier. it's the tree must be 24 or 20 DBH's before it's even considered to be eligible. So, um that is one component that um I don't think we we perhaps understood at the time that the committee was um discussing it. I I don't want to speak for them, but I I don't recall that coming up during the conversation.

Yeah, I appreciate that you share that because I know you attended most of their meetings and and you know were helping guide them through that process. So, um, yeah. So, it's interesting. So, okay. So, that was our second reading. Any other comments or discussion on the proposed tree ordinance tonight. Okay. So, we'll move that forward for third reading next time and and Greg, I'll talk to you, you know, in between meetings on on some of my ideas and we'll um kind of go from there. Okay. So, next is ordinance 1290. Uh, this is regarding storm water management and this is our first reading tonight. So, Lisa, would you please uh read that ordinance for us?

Ordinance 1290, repealing ordinance number 824B, storm water regulations, codified as chapter 565, storm water management, and replacing with chapter 565, construction site erosion and sediment control, and creating chapter 566, postconstruction storm water management. Thank you. So, I think I said read the entire ordinance, but it's quite a few pages, so I don't think don't think you want to do that. Uh, Drake, you want to introduce this for us?

Um, sure. Um, this is something that I had uh asked uh Strand to begin working on. Our current storm water um ordinance um is has been in place was instituted around the year 2000 and has not been updated since. Um it is outdated. It's out of it's not consistent with um surrounding communities or current um uh standards and and uh in industry accepted um regulations. Um and so I had asked them to to take a look at this and and try and modernize it um to make us more in line with neighboring communities um and a more a more realistic um and modern um code. Um and so um they are here tonight to kind of walk you through the um the technical aspects of it. But uh that is where this where this stemmed from is uh I had asked Strand to take a look at this because it has been 25 26 years now since our storm water ordinance um our rule our administrative rule was looked at. Um the administrative rule so the city does not operate a storm water utility. However, we do operate a storm water system. Uh the city of Lake Mills does so through uh the adoption of an administrative rule which sets the requirements and regulations um for which um development has to follow. Um the public works board uh did receive the same presentation that you're about to receive and they did recommend um uh adoption of the ordinance. So with that, if the chair is amendable, I will ask our engineer to get to his presentation.

Yeah, please do. Welcome Dan. Before you talk, Strand's been pretty busy this week. Well, I'll say lots of different faces.

Right. So, my name is Daniel Johnson. I've been working with strain associates for about four years now in the storm water division. Uh it's different than a municipal, different than the wastewater. Um I've done a number of these stormwater ordinance updates in the past. So I was kind of help asked to kind of help along with this one. Um yeah, so we're going to walk through some of kind of the updates that we've made and kind of how we've wanted to kind of move towards standardization kind of towards the rest of the state. So, the proposed ordinances will bring Lake Mills in line with the state statutes and neighboring communities. The current administrative rule 0201 was in place since the early 2000s, modeled up after Muhammad, Illinois at that time, and it's not currently in the city code of ordinances. Um, and it's often asked for by developers when they're looking for it. So the proposed code of ordinances would repeal existing 565 stormwater management and replace it with the chapters 55 565 construction sites erosion control and sediment control and chapter 566 post construction storm water management ordinances. So this is going to be more along kind of what the state uh standard model ordinances are typically seen as. Um we're just kind of modernizing everything. So, like I said, the new code of ordinances is modeled from the DNR standard templates and it references the natural resources code NR151 um in a number of locations. So, the new new coordin code of ordinances are close to the state standards and neighboring communities and we're going to talk about some of the key differences in a second here. And then the new code of ordinances provide kind of additional workflow exhibits and many standard forms that the city and developers can use kind of as they move forward through these processes. So we're going to talk through kind of a

comparison of the old versus the new. A lot of text here. On the far left you will see kind of what the topics are. The middle two columns are kind of where we were and where we're at now. And then the right column which I'll kind of talk through are the key changes which have been bolded. So administrative authority um it's going to be changed to the primary contact of the DPW and for reviews permits enforcements the like. Uh applicability and exemptions. It's now become more standardized. Uh sizes of parcels or disturbance of one acre is typical now. Um we're just kind of standardizing that. Um there the technical rainfall and modeling standards. We're kind of updating precipitation information what's with what's out there now. Uh we're modernizing the distributions, the quantities, all those sorts of things and making sure that they're required during the modeling that's needed. the conveyance design thresholds, changing and updating some of the storm sewer size um sizing for the storm sewer itself, culverts, different things like that, standardizing things there. Then we're doing peak discharge control. Um so we this is one of the big ones where we are kind of making it pre pre-existing conditions to kind of where they are going to be at the peak flows have to match. Previously, it was more restrictive than that. So, it's say a 100red-year event had to be a 10-year, but now it's more we're going to go towards more of a standard approach for all of Wisconsin. This is kind of more typical of just pre-toost. This is the the peak flows are matching. Uh infiltration performance, we are requiring a number of additional things be kind of provided for this infiltration requirements. So geotechnical reports, groundwater

levels, infiltration rates, pre-treatment data, all becomes kind of standard requirements as a part of these submitts. And then one of the other key components is this water quality um kind of update. So right now it's 80% TSS for both new development and redevelopment for we're going to change that to for Rock Lake. Actually, the area that drains to Rock Lake, you'll see that in the uh packet, that area is actually going to stay at 80% for new and redevelopment. It's kind of the gem of the community. We're going to kind of try to preserve that as best we can. Then the new development for the rest of the community stays at 80%. That's a DNR standard. The redevelopment comes from 80% down to 45%. 40% is standard for the DNR. We're going down to 45% because when we reached out to the DNR about MS4 permit requirements, they told us that 45% is where the TSS will need to be in the future. So, let's get ahead of that now.

TSS, what's that?

My apologies. Total suspended solids. It's the solids that are in the water after it runs off the roads and the the grass and all of that. So, there's particles that get picked up. they've been suspended. 80% of that treatment, 80% of that has been removed. 40% 40%'s been removed. Typically, the higher the TSS percentage, the larger these basins become. So, a 40 80% um is quite achievable when you have an entire site development, right? You have a neighborhood that you have to build. Well, you know, you have to do that storm water management. But if you have uh just a small little site that needs to be redeveloped, um typically 80% can be more difficult. And I'm not saying that we're getting rid of it, but in certain areas, uh we are minimizing that. Also, typically the peak flow reduction requirements tend to drive um if you meet those, you can typically meet the TSS reduction requirements pretty easily. So these are the main changes. Do you have any questions on this before I kind of continue?

Um I do. Yeah. Um so um in about the middle of the table, conveyance design thresholds just to make sure. Oh no, sorry. Um technical rainfall and mod modeling standards. Yeah. Um, I mean that seems to be pretty important because it's it seems like I often hear, you know, what we used to think of as a 100-year storm is happening every 10 years or something like that. So, is that part of the goal here is to be referencing the the most current data? Yes, I will models in design.

I will say that the current data Noah Atlas 14 is still doesn't necessarily take kind of climate change into account. It doesn't project into the future. It stays at is kind of historical data to this point. Noah Atlas 15, which is kind of the the next step, is going to look at the future of rainfall as well as kind of using historical data. So, they'll try to predict the future. And at that point, I think there's going to be a lot of changes that kind of come along with how do municipalities want to proceed with that. Some communities I've heard really would like to use more of kind of a advanced um number and then others not. So that'll be in the future. But this at least brings it up to the most current data we have now.

Okay. Okay. Um and then my other question I guess slash comment on the last line. So MS4 that's for a permit that's needed for a municipality that's 10,000 population or more. We're at about 6,800. I guess our current prodction projections that could be you know 30 or 40 years from now. Absolutely. Depending on unless we have some unexpected high growth. So but still I I think your your point is important that it it positions us to be in compliance with that once you know if we would once we would get to a 10,000 population,

right? And the easiest way to meet those requirements is through development. You can go back in and retroactively put in ponds as much as you want, but those are expensive. Those are your own projects that you have to do out of the city's pocket. But development is already coming, so you might as well make sure that your requirements are going to help you in the future. So yeah, it may not be you may not hit that threshold for a while, but when you do, it's be a lot nicer to not have to try to catch up on all the missed pollutants that you've um kind of gone away from. So the standards would already be met on the sites that we're regulating moving forward.

Exactly. So just to clarify, when you hit MS4 status, you're you have to retroactively come into compliance. So it's not like a standard that's going forward that something must meet. you must remediate anything from the past to bring it up to that the standard that's set by for MS4. Yes. So by incorporating the requirement now it it it resolves that potential issue in the future. Would we have any remediating to do now? I don't believe so. Okay. Because we've had a pretty strict ordinance. Correct. Yeah. Greg Waters.

Uh, with Lake Mules being a lake community and it's part of our name. Yeah. You know, Rock Lake is is pretty important to the community and and people take pride in in keeping the lake clean. And as I went through through this document, I I was looking for how we caring how are we caring for for Rock Lake and and and this asset that our community has. Can you can you kind of highlight that as you go through this a little bit more? Maybe that that would point out that this is how we're protecting our lake with our storm water management system. Does that make sense? Yeah.

Okay. Fantastic. one I think the one main thing to remember is that anything that the city deems within the Rock Lake wershed will remain at 85% TSS compared to um 45% outside of the um watershed. Um the rule specifically does not incorporate a strict map into it so that if there is development along the line that the city can dictate how that storm water is managed rather than the developer trying to kind of play with contours and and uh um uh where they're directing water so that they're saying well we're sending water away from the watershed. Um, so it gives the city discretion to ensure that in the areas that are close, the city is still the one setting the standards. Thank you,

great questions on this page. Yeah. Okay.

So, those were the main ones. These are more kind of a number of additional ones that we're going to kind of breeze through a little quicker here. So protective areas and buffers. This kind of codifies the buffer widths and how they affect site layout near waters and wetlands. So near Rock Lake, but also near any water or wetland within the city. Um the detention facility design details. You're you have more options with the explicit maintenance and performance verification. Um it kind of requires and relies on the DNR technical standards a bit more. references those those are kind of very common practices and kind of points developers towards those at all times. Uh alternative storage and sump pumps and dry weather outlets very minor tweaks here or there nothing really to note. Um permits timing financial security it requires a recorded maintenance agreement and final DPW inspection. So, these are very helpful when you get to the MS4 uh 10,000 person population. Um, but it's just kind of getting that in there now and then kind of having that maintenance agreement ready um kind of before approval. So, making sure it's signed and everything. Uh, maintenance and inspections. One of the key additions is a five-year professional assessment of these BMPPS. This is private development. So every five years, well, every year you need to be inspecting it as kind of typical, but then every five years you need to have kind of a professional come out and make sure that they're operating correctly from a professional's point of view. Uh making sure there's no erosion on the side slopes that someone may miss. Um things like that. And then um kind of you have to have kind of outline

that you need to plan for recurring um inspections and reporting to the city enforcements and penalties. Just some minor updates to the numbers there. Um nothing too significant. And then appeals variances and maximum extent practical or sorry possible. Um, and it's just kind of laying out the MEP justification and what's required there, which is kind of what if you can't do everything on the site, you need to prove why not essentially is what that is. Um, so yeah, those are the key up those are kind of the secondary updates. One more slide for you, but before that, I want to see if you have any questions on these things.

Any questions on the second page? Yeah, I I had one that I thought about since we saw this at public works. Um, with the enforcements and penalties, um, was there u why did we go from a per day fine to a flat fine? That is just a more standard approach. Okay. If you would like to look into that more, it certainly could be possible, but it is more of just a standardization with what is typically seen across other municipalities.

Oh, thank you. And I I wasn't looking for anything super in-depth, but and it should be added that both both the old and the new also contain the plus costs, which is probably the most important part if so that thank you. I was just looking for clarification, I guess, more than anything. I I what I'd like to add there is that um both approaches are still appropriate and available under the general penalty section of our ordinances. So I think that this is actually um pretty consistent with what has been drafted and adopted before. Anything else?

So this is just a slide of kind of comparison with other communities. And I think what you all have is I think it says exempt instead of NR151 requirement. And I forgot about that until I was reviewing it earlier today. There was a kind of a question on exempt and it's more of a instead of exempt it should say kind of you're just can go right back to NR1 the DNR1 NR151 requirement. You're not exempt from it. You're just exempt from a local requirement. You still have to meet state requirements. So I wanted to point that out now before we got any further in. So I've listed off Lake Mills and then a number of other kind of similarsized communities in the area. You'll see for TSS redevelopment we've put in 45% that's from that MS4 planning and that's right above kind of standard but not the highest in the area and this is like I said once again down from 80% where you were typically the highest in the area and then the peak discharge for all developments is you have to maintain the one and two-year for redevelopment and then kind of the full spectrum for new development and this is this is what the DNR standard is And then you'll see that there are a number of other communities that have more strict requirements and some that have the same requirements kind of across the board. Infiltration requirements once again mirroring the DNR here. Um and then there's a couple of other ones other communities that have a bit more stringent requirements here or there. And some like kind of on the notes on the far right hand column. Each one has their own little unique quirks here and there, but they all tend to try to lean towards either the DNR or in some cases Dane County's requirements. So, that is all I have.

What is the uh DNR uh TSS number for watershed?

Um for red for redevelopment it's 40%, for new development it's 80%. the when you say watershed those yeah the 40 and 80% is for developments watershed is kind of this TMDL total maximum daily load um documents that they've been publishing for the last number of years so you currently sit within the Rock River TMDL um but you do not have to meet those requirements because you are not a permanent MS4 so that's where this 45% kind of comes in is that if you were to become a permanent MS4 that 45% is the watershedwide TSS that you're going to need to see for your community. So you we try to have those developments mirror what that watershed total is going to need to be and obviously you may not be able to hit it everywhere but that's the that's the idea behind the 45%. Thank you.

Yeah. Zoe, I have a a followup to that and you might have just partially answered this, but I guess you know, devil's advocate. Why wouldn't we just adopt the NR151 standards? Why wouldn't we just implement those? Um, I know we have Rock Lake at 80%. So, that provides additional water quality protection for Rock Lake. Um, yeah. Would it be easier? You know what I mean? like in terms of um working with contractors and developers that they be more familiar with the state standards, right? Like how different is what we are proposing compared to standards?

To give you context, there are

this slide here shows that a lot of areas around here have 40%. And I was just at a conference where the city of Oshkosh was looking at making their redevelopment instead of going from 80 to 45 like we're doing here going from 40 up to 80. And one of the biggest questions that came up was like what happens to development? Like isn't that going to prohibit development? Isn't that going to kind of like penalize development in the city? And the thing that I found most interesting was that I think it was was it Oshkosh I think it was city of Oshkosh said that they have had that requirement for a while now and they have not seen any significant like downturn in development and that it's actually helped them a lot because they know this is one of the best ways to meet their permit requirements is to have this development standard there and that they have seen that a devel developer is likely going to develop there no matter what.

And I mean, especially here for 40 versus 45%. That's not that significant of a difference. Not really going to be a barrier. No. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's minimal in all in the grand scheme of things. And then I um uh I guess question to go along with uh you know we have um a couple of maps of the storm sewer areas and then the watershed map.

Approximately what percentage of our land in the city limits is in the Rock Lake wershed. I don't it's hard for me to estimate looking at the map. It looks like maybe 20 25% if I would just just visually look at that. But I'm just curious because it it as you said, Greg, and I appreciate you raising this, you know, we

that's our jewel. We want to make sure we're protecting it, but also want to make sure that people don't misunderstand that, you know, large parts of our city don't drain to the lake and so they would they would be subject to that lesser requirement. Well, I'm not connected to Wi-Fi right now, but I mean, as you can see ahead of you, it's it's about I don't have exact numbers for you, but like you said, 25% maybe a little less. But I think one of the key things there is that it's mostly built out on the western side and it's mostly kind of residential. So the the redevelopment standard, we wanted to put that 80% in there in case something comes in, but it's really most likely most of the city's redevelopment is going to happen outside of that watershed. So there really isn't going to be that much of an enforcement in that area because it's likely not a lot's going to happen there.

Yeah. But we wanted to have that there just to kind of protect the wershed if something were to come in. Yeah, that makes sense. and um looking at the map um we'll be subject to that and our Sandy Beach Park redevelopment right because that's would be within the wershed. So, we'll need to take, you know, meet those higher higher um expectations to protect the lake, which is part of why we're doing it. Right. And the other thing is, yes, it's a higher expectation, but it's still the same expectation as what you have now, right? Yeah. So, you're not making it harder for like comp pre to post you. This is what you always had to do, right? But in other areas, you just re relaxed it slightly.

Yeah. Thanks, Dan, for Yeah. clarifying that. So, this is just the first reading tonight. Are there any other questions um for Dan this evening? Okay. If not, we'll move this to second reading at our next meeting. So, we have several items that have moved to second or third reading. Uh that uh this concludes our council business for this evening. So, um, other than those, anything else, Audre, that you're aware of for future agendas. Uh, not at this time. No. Okay. Any other announcements or recommendations from council members? I have a question,

Mary. Um, I'm curious uh when we may have an update on the parking monetization ideas and then also uh any proposals on the level B planning, decommission planning like update on what the plan of attack is for that and what you're uncovering. Not not that they're on for the next meeting, but those are just two that I would be interested in in short order. Sure. few months. So, Sandy Beach Park related items, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you.

Okay. And I believe the next meeting is our last is Greg Waters last meeting as a council member. So, we will look forward to working with you at our next meeting and it's three weeks away because this is one of those months that has an extra Tuesday in it. So, uh if there's no further announcements then I will call this meeting ajourned. Thank you everyone.