Village Board - Regular Meeting

All right, cameras on my fellow board members. Um, Lisa, are you ready to go? I'm ready to go.

All right, welcome to the Village of Cottage Grove Village Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, February 16th, 2026. Um, this is a virtual meeting due to the election being held tomorrow. So, the Zoom link is at the top of the agenda. You can also tune in on our YouTube channel as well. It is 6:30, so I'll call the meeting to order. We have a quorum and the agenda was properly posted. So, we'll stand for the pledge of allegiance. And like a good uh Girl Scout troop leader, I have a flag for you all. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. This is the public's um appearances, the public's opportunity to speak. So, this is the portion of the meeting um for community members to share their comments or concerns. But please note that this isn't a dialogue between the village board. Um the each speaker has up to three minutes and we'll use a timer. I don't think we'll put it on the screen tonight because that can be kind of distracting. I want to make sure you see your face. Um so I'll just keep track of it here. And we just ask that everyone please respect the rights and viewpoints of others. So because this is a um virtual meeting, if you would like to speak, we're going to ask that you use the raise um raise your hand feature at the bottom of your Zoom screen. Um, and then you'll be allowed to unmute um, and give your comments. So, if anyone would like to speak, you can do that. We'll just pause here for that. Cindy, I'm not seeing a raise hand function on my screen, so I don't know if some of the citizens are having trouble.

Um, if you go under the react button on the bottom there, you can raise your hand. Oh, perfect. Okay, it's a different viewpoint. Thank you. I'm not seeing any hands, Cindy. All right. Um, we're going to move on then to number five. So, discuss and consider the minutes of the village board meeting from February 2nd, 2026. Those minute meeting minutes are linked in the agenda. Murphy would make a motion to approve minutes as presented. Severson second.

All right. There's a motion by Murphy and a second by Severson. Any other discussion on the meeting minutes? Just a question. Um on the next items for next agenda, um do those carry over if they weren't listed because I know one of the items that I wanted listed was the flack camera conversation. So, will those carry over automatically and be on the next agenda? I think that's been on um I know I've had the discussion with Chief Gary, so it's on everyone's radar, but we can make sure um to revisit that. Okay. Any other discussion on the meeting minutes? All those in favor?

I I opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Um we're going to move on to number six, unfinished business. Um is discuss and consider the potential purchase of 107 East Cottage Grove Road in TID9. And I think Kyle um is on and will run us through this. Um there's two PDFs linked in the agenda here. And I will mention that our legal team did review this as well.

Yeah, thanks Cindy. Hi everybody. Uh uh filling in for for Tom this evening. So uh what we had sent over as city mentioned was two PDFs. Uh this is followup to the letter of intent which was uh discussed during previous meetings. We went back with the seller for the property uh to negotiate the the best price and deal that we could for the village and then the culmination of what we have before you today is the offer to purchase for your review. So just a few of the highlights to to to mention. Um the purchase price is at 350,000. Acceptance is set by March 18th. So that would be approval by the board tonight and then we'll get that in the seller's hands as well for their review and sign off. Earnest money of $5,000, which is pretty typical and again was agreed to in the letter of intent. 90 days after acceptance that the village has for their due diligence to review everything on the property. And within that 90 days, as long as everything looks okay, then at the end of that 90-day period, everything is locked into place, the closing is set for mid- November, November 18th. Um, and during that time, the renter that's in the property currently would be vacating the property, taking all their personal property as well. So again, after that 90 days, as long as everything looks good, then everything is is locked and we just kind of wait it out until November. So that's the the highle summary. um all the documentation there, the standard state form that we've used in the past as well as the addendums that we have.

And I'll open it up to questions from village board members. Yeah, I guess I got a question. You know, we talked um uh about the letter of intent. We talked about valuation and I I had shared, you know, my concerns with this. We spend a lot of money on on these properties to put them together and we felt 300,000 is is about what it would be worth on the open market if that. Um and we had said 330 and so now it's 350 plus I see that the seller is not paying the commission which is another 10,000. So essentially instead of 300,000 is costing the village 360. Right.

Correct. Paula's got her hand up. Go ahead Paula.

You know, I too was um a little um not happy with the price increase. Um the bigger issue for me and I do know that we've kind of already made that offer to purchase and I know that you know boards before us have kind of gone down this track of purchasing buildings in that area. So I mean I'd like to kind of compromise. I'm going to obviously follow through since the board went with this offer to purchase. But I would like before we entertain the notion of um purchasing more property to have some public input. I think when we talked about reszoning that area to central business um and some of the citizens were pretty upset that kind of open my eyes to the fact that the public really hasn't had an opportunity to um play a role in this and kind of voice their opinions. So I I would like for us before we entertain another property to hold some public visioning sessions and some conversations kind of like we talked about at the last meeting about where's our downtown, what does that look like? So, I just wanted to say that.

So, I'll just um and maybe Rick can jump in. I know we had given um specific direction, Kyle, too. Um please weigh in that the the terms meet the board's direction that was given at the last meeting. Um and then Paula in terms of um the visioning exercises those are all worked into the um compreh comprehensive plan revisions that are um set to move forward um this year still so hopefully in the next you know couple of months we would I know the RFP is out right now. Yeah, Cindy, I know we gave direction um at the last board meeting. I I certainly wasn't aligned with anything over 330 and that was kind of the starting point and we didn't really talk about the seller not paying a commission and obviously not closing till the 18th. There's a number of things here, but again, I know we've spent millions of dollars on the other properties that are part of this situation, but I I I do concur with this notion of having uh some public hearings and discussing the vision for the future development, how that fits. uh would they have also passed direction to Rudabush to continue the um negotiations moving forward um for some additional properties. So we would want clear direction from the board on whether that should be paused um or not and perhaps that's a future agenda item which I will make note of to bring up at the future agenda items. But this is a discuss and consider for the purchase of 107 East Cottage Grove Road. Is there any other discussion on this?

So, Kyle, you guys had talked to them about what we had proposed before, 330 in exchange for a a lengthy closing out to November, and that was a no-go with the seller, I'm assuming. Correct. 350 was the the only number that they would take. I think we do have some flexibility if the the village would want to move the closing date up. Um, their biggest concern was for their tenant, right? They want to make sure that they have adequate time for the tenant to find a a new location, but in the original letter of intent, we said Q4, so potentially in October or we can always go back and have discussions about a a sooner closing date if that would be something the village want to pursue.

And they listed Go ahead. Sorry. Sorry. Paula had her hand up. Um, I was just going to ask Cameron if he wouldn't mind taking a minute to explain the financing of this um, for the residents that are um, on the meeting right now.

Sure. Um, so there would be no intent to take out any debt for this property. So this property would be um, completely paid in cash. Um there it is slightly advantageous for the village to not close on this property until um November as that's longer that's a longer period of time that the village can sit on uh the cash that's located within uh 10 to 9. Um so no no plans to finance. Um what we would try to do um as far as a a closing period is we'd want to work if there's going to be training opportunities, we would want to work with our emergency responders and then um do some restoration of that property hopefully before the winter the the winter months start. I know it's a little bit of a tight um turnaround, but making sure that um the the area is properly restored.

Yeah. Um, and to be clear, the cash would is a TID 9 cash, which is, you know, for the public reinvestment of um, revenues from the Authentics apartments, which bring in about $900,000 per year. Other questions from board members? Otherwise, this is a discuss and consider. Rick's got his hand up. I was just going to say my my preference would be to take a actually close sort of in line with Cameron and close when there's no tenant. So if that's it just makes it a cleaner transaction overall. So that would be my preference I guess as well.

Go ahead Pete. It's kind of clunky with these controls here, but anyway, you know, I guess assuming we were to go forward with this, uh, what would the what would the plan be? Like, would we demolish the property? What is the cost for that? Uh, we're certainly not going to be residential landlords. It's hard enough being a commercial landlord in one of the one of the two properties that were already purchased for multiple millions, right? So, what is the plan and where are we going with this building if we do purchase it? just a demolition cost. Um so right now we're working on getting quotes for a more aggregated approach. So we have a cost per parcel. Um we have results back from one um company, the company who did the corner, but we want wanted to get a couple more back. Um, but it would be probably between 20 and $24,000 to actually demolish and another 5 to10,000 um to restore the property um in in the in um my my guess is based off of prior direction that the board would be interested in letting um EMS and fire um do training. Um that obviously doesn't have any cost to us, but just that additional coordination with um that group. Chris, go ahead.

Yeah, I just wanted to ask Cameron if so the TID would pay for that demolition then. Correct. It would it would um because the intent there would be to get that site ready for the redevelopment um eventually once those parcels are aggregated. So you're really looking at so any so any cost associated with like if the fire department EMS went out would not be TED eligible but the actual demolition would be so very similar to what just happened this previous fall

correct any other comments or questions on the offer to purchase Pete. Yeah. I guess the one question I would have is in typical residential real estate, the seller pays the commissions. And I guess in this case, we didn't have clear direction. And again, it's $10,000. And I guess the question um to Kyle would be um what is the opportunity to go back to them and have the seller pay the commission which is uh customary for residential real estate transactions?

No, good question. That was one of the first discussions that we had with the seller, Pete, was that as you mentioned that it would be very typical for the the seller to pay the commission. And that's what we had in our original discussions with them before we even brought the LOI to the board. And that was another one of the sellers hard stopping points that they said no, they would not be paying the commission. And if they would, then they they wouldn't be selling the property. Other comments or questions? I'll take entertain a motion. Murphy, I'll move approval of the purchase of 107 East Coach Road in Tid 9 as presented.

I'll second. All right. Motion by Murphy, second by Stoa. Lisa, can we do a roll call vote, please? Yes. Ben,

just a comment in the discussion. Right. So, discussion after that. I guess just reinforcing what I'd said before. I mean, without a good clear plan, begin with the end in mind. I struggle a little bit with where we're going with TID9 money. Even though it's TID9 money, it's it's village and the other taxing districts money in the end if it's not spent, right? But again, it comes down to we're so deep into this that it, you know, um, one one property when this opportunity is in front of us. So, I'm struggling opposing it, but at the end of the day, I do believe that we need to have more discussion before we plow down uh, more purchases in this area.

I have that noted for future disc agenda items. All right, there is the motion and second. Any other discussion on this? Otherwise, go ahead, Lisa Benzo. Okay, the host had me muted. Um, my vote is no. I believe that need further discussion. D

I Cal Nelson I Murphy Iverson I and Stowa yes.

Right. Motion carries. Uh moving on to number 6B. Discuss and consider board member involvement participation in PAAA's fire and EMS study. So, I requested this agenda item um after I learned that uh the town board um the entire board uh had been able to do the walkthrough of the existing emergency services building and I was not aware that that was even a thing. Um, and so, um, you know, I'd like to have the same opportunities that the town board is having. So, if they notice the public meeting, right, and and they're able to attend, I would hope that we would have that same opportunity. I know that village um you know in the past that it's typically just been the village president and um and administrator but you know I think I certainly would like would have liked to have been there. I've been around that building for over 20 years. Um I would have liked to heard the conversations maybe seen what has been pointed out that is um you know like a flaw in or what the needs are. you know, I have some ideas and opinions on um the space in the in the basement of that building that I feel hasn't been well utilized from an efficiency standpoint. Um so I guess I you know had some conversation with Matt um via email and wanted to have this agenda item so that we maybe have um an idea going forward if we are all able to have those opportunities. Go ahead, Heidi. Yep.

Thank you. Uh during our study, last facility study when we looked at all village facilities before we ended up with the recommendation that the police needed the greatest need and then other departments could backfill in their space. We did go after the architects had the discussion with all of the staff about the future staffing needs and we did have a tour of kind of the study findings um to to go over like what areas were going to need growth and um other you know things with the buildings that needed to be repaired in the future. So I think that that was really helpful. you know, it was an open to the public meeting um to talk about kind of the findings of the study. And so, you know, I think that would be a really, I think, helpful thing to really see in person. I wasn't expecting either to have it be noticed by the town at this early stage, you know, rather than, you know, after the experts talk through the findings that that would be an appropriate time. So, I guess that kind of took me by surprise, too. We had had the kickoff meeting with the um with PAA and the I don't the intent was not to leave the village board out of this and I think they weren't expecting necessarily the town board to notice a meeting and and use it as kind of a public meeting. Um and we definitely if we do we're going to have to make sure that we're ready to handle you know the public going through those spaces as well um as part of the public meeting. Um, all village board members, I was going to give an update at the end, but I can do it now. Um, in the next maybe week or so, will be receiving a survey to fill out for PAA. There is going to be a a comment box at the end. So, you can put you can actually write written comments after you fill the survey out. And then if you would like to have a one-on-one with PAA, make note of that as well. And then they will sit

down with you or call you and make sure that you're interviewed one-on-one. So Paula, that might be a good um way to get some one-on-one time with them to make sure that you can kind of hammer home some of your points, too. No, that's great. And I appreciate that. And even just a heads up um you know to the to the village board when these things are happening and then that way someone can express interest if they'd like to be a part of it. I think that would be very helpful and transparent to the whole board. So, um, just wanted to have this as a discussion item.

And I think, um, if anyone feels like they need a walk through with the chiefs, they'd be more than happy to take you through the building as well, um, and kind of point out, you know, the current space and what they kind of envision for it and have that conversation kind of one-on-one with you all, too. So direction from this item is to make sure keeping everyone in uh in the loop in real time a little bit better. I can certainly do that. Thank you.

And I'll speak to just Oh, sorry, Cindy. I didn't have my hand up. Um I I did it at in a we we didn't have the I don't know the timing of when we knew the date or time but I did have mentioned in a um monthly briefing that there would be a site visit in February. Um so but of course we didn't you know didn't realize that there was interest and when the board discussed you know scope of the study it was really just the um stakeholder feedback survey discussions with consultant type discussion

but having this like thank you for putting this on the agenda because it gives us some clear direction to make sure we communicate properly. Heidi,

is it part I can't remember if it was part of the deliverables that we would have like an in-person tour of the findings like we did with the previous facility study or is that something we can talk to pa if there's interest with the boards to have that? Um I don't think it's in the deliverables, but I think that's a good idea when So the idea is that they're going to finish probably in the next in four months and we'll have an additional joint town board meeting so that they can present their findings to us. But maybe that's also kind of part of it, especially if there tends to be a lot of outcomes that have to do with the current station. We think it would be a good idea for all of us to kind of see it in real time and have that conversation in person. Any other discussion on this item? Every time someone moves, my whole screen bounces around, so I want to make sure I don't miss anybody. Um, we're going to move on to number seven, new business. Discuss and consider resolution 2026-04 authorizing the issuance and established parameters for sale of not to exceed 20.355 million general obligation promisory notes series 2026A. So this is um and I think we have Ellers on the call here. This is kind of an accumulation of the prioritization process that occurred um last June. the financial management plan that we approved in September, budget review, um budget workshop, approval of the entire budget in October and November. Um and so this is kind of working um forward with all the projects coming up in 2026. So I'll turn it over to Greg from Ellers.

Thank you. Good evening. I'm going to share my screen and just bring up some of the documents that you had in your packet for easy reference. As was mentioned, the agenda item is consideration of a parameters resolution. This is really the authorization to proceed with uh the financing which would be awarded subject to certain financial parameters being satisfied which I'll summarize in a few moments. Uh but the general purpose uh that we have a detailed listing of project cost but what's included is this year's capital improvement plan projects which broadly consists of straight and trail improvements, water and sewer improvements, park improvements, uh police station project, and then just ongoing vehicle and equipment acquisitions for various departments within the village. included in your packet and accompanying the resolution was our pre-sale report that includes our financial analysis for this proposed financing. So, I'm just going to walk through the financial exhibits uh that supplement this report. Uh so, we'll start with the village's existing general obligation debt profile. Uh so, table one summarizes your existing levy for debt service uh before we look at the impact of this proposed financing. The far left hand side is the total principal and interest payments that the village makes annually on its existing general obligation debt. And then the village budgets several non- levy revenue sources to repay some of that debt. Most notably revenues from TI districts five, six, and nine. And then revenues from the sewer utility and the water utility. Uh and then this year there was some fund balances applied as well from various funds. So the vill's levy for debt service this year was about $1,835,000. Uh so then this net tax levy shows the existing levy uh for debt uh that's already outstanding. Though we'll look at the impact of this uh proposed notes

in a few moments. Terms of the dollar amount that's being borrowed, it's about two mill,214,000 project costs. Uh so here it lists uh the dollar amount uh for each improvement uh and each project and then we identify the fund and repayment source for the debt. Uh so any projects attributable to the water utility will be repaid by water revenues uh sewer projects by sewer revenues and then the remainder of the debt service will be supported by the villages property tax levy for debt service sources and uses. The not to exceed amount that you're borrowing in the resolution is 20,355,000 and then we allocate um the debt uh by repayment sources so we have that debt service for future budgeting purposes. In terms of the estimated debt service schedule that's shown here in table four, one of the financial parameters for this due in addition to not exceeding 20,355,000 of debt is that the true interest cost uh when the notes are sold cannot exceed 4.21%. Uh so in essence what that means is that in order to award the sale uh the interest rates can't be any higher than what we are showing here in our analysis. These interest rates are conservative. They're about 50 basis points. One basis point is 0.01%. So these are about half a percent higher than what we're seeing in the market presently. Um so we you know if the notes were sold today the total debt service cost would be less than what we're showing here. So we've typically built in a cushion but um you know the the sale to be awarded cannot exceed uh 4.21% uh true interest cost. So in terms of the overall financial impact so when we take the village's existing levy for debt service uh we show the gross principal and interest

payment for the notes uh the abatement and application of water and sewer revenues to support their share of respective debt. Um you'll see the the levy change uh for debt service going forward for these projects. This is right in line with the financial management plan that was presented to the village board last September. Uh so the levy impact is is very comparable to what uh you saw prior to kind of going through the budget process last year. Uh then we show how your tax rate for debt service will change. You're at about a$155 per thousand presently. uh that's projected to be about a $188 cents per thousand uh for the 2027 budget. So the impact of these notes uh for every $100,000 of value is about $65 per year in 2027. Terms of the village's general obligation debt capacity, we kind of do this on a year-end uh projection. So at the end of fiscal year 2025, the village was at about 41% of its debt limit. uh projecting some growth in equalized value by the end of 2026. Uh we're projecting with this financing, the village will be at 50% of its debt limit, which leaves about 48 million of borrowing capacity for future projects. Since a portion of this debt service is repaid by utility revenues, we prepare what's kind of called a all-in debt service coverage calculation. um that looks at existing debt and then uh proposed geo debt to repaid by water revenues in this instance. Um so what this kind of shows is that you know the debt service coverage uh ratio for the water utility is projected to start getting under one uh which just kind of means that there'll likely to be some uh future look at water rates which I know is is anticipated going forward um just to kind of make sure that you continue to have sufficient funds for debt

service coverage but also maintaining long-term operations of the water utility as well. And then the sewer utility coverage uh the amount being repaid here by the sewer utility is is relatively small. Uh ranges from 15 to $27,000 per year. Uh so you you have strong coverage under the existing revenue structure of the sewer utilities to support this debt. So as I mentioned the action item is the agenda on the agenda is the parameters resolution. Um there are several parameters kind of the ones that you know are usually most applicable are the not to exceed the 20,355,000. Again the true interest cost cannot exceed 4.21%. We set bidding parameters for the underwriters that bid um just to kind of get enough attractive bids but also to get the fiscal impact that we want. And then when we get the final sale results we often adjust the amateurization schedule based on the final rates. And so we have some parameters that uh provide the guidance for making those adjustments so we get the levy impact that's similar to what's in the pre-sale report. Uh so in terms of the timeline uh where we go from here um we're kind of at the at the February 16th date here which is the consideration of the parameters resolution. resolution delegates authority to either uh the village administrator or the finance director to accept the bid results on behalf of the village board if those parameters are satisfied. Um the village has used this sale method in the past. One of the advantages of this is that we can schedule the sale on a date where there's typically less sales within the market. um since you routinely meet on Mondays. Mondays, Tuesdays in particular are very common meeting nights for municipalities in Wisconsin. So if you have the sale on a regular meeting day, you can have more competition. Uh and

usually spring is where we see heavier volume. Um so we're kind of targeting March 24th as the sale date. Um which gives us, you know, on a day that there's likely less uh activity in the bond market, less sales to compete with, which can help with bidding. uh then you would get the estimated close of funds by April 16th. So again, the parameters resolution will kind of set all this in motion uh to proceed with the financing which will uh be concluded next month and then closing uh in midappril. So that's the overview of the financing plan. I'm happy to answer questions or if staff has anything they want to interject, they certainly can as well. Thank you.

Thanks, Greg. Um Cameron, do you have anything to add? No, I have nothing else to to add. Greg did a a nice job just consistent with the financial management plan. Um I sent some additional kind of notes out to the board kind of detailing um you know how the village has issued debt in the past. You know, re a little bit of more of a reliance on go debt compared to revenue bonds. um pointed out two specific examples with Windsor and DeForest um with comparable communities and and what their debt limit percentages into our comparison. So, just wanted to make sure that the the board had, you know, some supplemental information when reviewing this tonight.

I'll open it up to questions from the village board,

otherwise Yeah, go ahead, Pete. Yeah, I don't really have a question. Just a couple comments, I guess, as you go through this. Did I pick up? It's going to be $439,000 about to actually issue this debt. Was that the right number, Greg?

Yes. That includes the underwriters discount, which is the compensation that the winning underwriter that can change. That's an estimate. um in terms of what their compensation is that it includes rating fee uh with standard and pores um bond council and disclosure council which is corals and Brady and then our compensation as the uh village's municipal advisor. So all of those are contingent on the financing actually occurring. If for some reason the financing doesn't occur, you wouldn't incur any of those expenses.

Right. Right. Gotcha. I mean, it's just that it's just a ton of money and it just amplifies kind of the impact of the more and more debt we take on. I mean, I know you said we're comparing to other other municipalities and, you know, being this far in debt, you know, it's pretty it it's it's not uncommon. I find it disturbing that we're going to spend $9.8 million in interest during the recovery of of these notes. Again, we went through the police station. I we it's been approved. I don't think there's a whole lot here that we can change. we've sort of set the table and it aligns with the financial management plan. But I I guess I just want to reinforce and it goes back to some of the um the um piece that with public service fees we talked about is this is an example of the cost of growth, right? The police station itself, if we didn't build 800 apartment units over the last 5 years or since 2020, there's a possibility that the magnitude of this debt wouldn't be there. The same thing goes with the police uh the police equipment, the fire equipment, the public works, and and the parks funding. We're gonna we're gonna fund or issue debt for $700,000 worth of of service elements to those departments, which, you know, again, it's all part of where we ended up. But again, it comes down to that growth in and of itself doesn't generate infinite amounts of revenue that pays for the service costs that go up. And that's something we need to be careful moving forward and we've talked about it and I just want to reinforce that this $20 million is a result of the growth that's happened over the last five to six years and this is the cost of the services that are necessary for our community and we need to do it and I'm not saying I'm against it at this point but the cake is baked and we've we've actually um you know approved a lot of these things in other elements of our proceedings but again this is the culmination of it And to spend 9

million, $9.8 million worth of interest, which is lost money as far as any benefit the village gets is disturbing. And I understand debt allows us to do things that we otherwise couldn't, but this is a massive number and it's unprecedented in the history of Cottage Grove. Renee has her hand up.

Yes. Thank you. I have a couple questions to uh for you, Greg. I guess I'm I'm curious. Um, at what percentage does Aaylor's uh feel that uh we've reached our capacity um for a community the size of ours? at what percentage like 50%, 60% before it's really um going to start taking even a larger strain. And Pete, I share u many of your um concerns of when is this going to start impacting future operating uh budgets and um other staffing needs uh public safety cost um or other core services. So I I think my answer is kind of two-part because I mean there's really kind of two ways to kind of look at your at your question. Um so one is you know your general obligation borrowing capacity. I mean what you can legally borrow is one half of the question. The second half of the equation is how much are you comfortable repaying and what's the fiscal impact. So, in terms of the first half, in terms of what you borrow, I think we generally like to, you know, what we've said before is we wouldn't want that to exceed anywhere between 75 and 80% of your borrowing capacity. That's not a recommendation to borrow that amount. That's just kind of an upper level of from a borrowing capacity standpoint. But the more important question is just because you can borrow it doesn't mean you should. So then it comes down to what's the appropriate fiscal impact and you know striking that balance between investment in your infrastructure and funding on ongoing day-to-day services. So you know you are as you're all well aware restricted in terms of how much revenue raising capability you have for operational services under levy limits. Um, so debt does give you kind of an additional mechanism to fund those types of

projects, but it but affordability is central to those considerations.

Yeah, Greg, one thing I just want to make very clear, um, you know, because I I have this question all the time is, you know, we're not like the federal government. We are not taking debt out to cover any operating expenses to make payroll. Um, everything is backed by an asset. Um, you know, Greg Greg probably wouldn't look at that very favorable if we were if we were needing to take out debt uh to make payroll or to make um you know, get get from one tax collection to to to the next. Um, so Renee, sorry for cutting you off, but I I can you can if you have any other questions. Just wanted to make sure that was added.

Yeah, I I Yes, thank you for that. Uh Cameron, I guess, you know, from Greg Gear's standpoint, so a village our size, would you consider that this is a conservative, a moderate, more aggressive um way for the village to proceed with the debt? And with that being said, are we, you know, at the rate of our growth, which Pete had mentioned too, is that our our rate of our growth has just been exponential. Are we looking at adding a levy? I mean, what are the chances in the next three to five years of having to do a le a levy?

I mean, I think in terms of, you know, this goes back to kind of the annual planning and prioritization that the village board goes through each year. Um so with the financial management plan that we typically do at the start of your budget process that really looks out at five years both for operations and capital to help identify what that fiscal impact is going to be uh to help prioritization and kind of strike that appropriate balance. U not every community goes through that process. I you know I don't want to uh kind of just make it sound like it's just standard uh course of practice. It has been in Cottage Grove. to all of your credits, but that isn't necessarily something every community chooses to undertake. Um, I mean, I think in terms of your CIP process and your prioritization process as well, um, you know, your your approach you there use there is is very diligent as well in terms of ranking projects and prioritizing things. So, you know, it's all, you know, challenging uh and difficult choices in terms of deciding which projects you move forward with, but I think when you do it in that long range context, you're positioning yourself to make stronger decisions and if you're just reacting to things on just a, you know, a 12 to 18month basis. So I my general recommendation is to keep doing what you're doing because I think that's going to better position yourself and the and the village is in stable financial condition. Uh I mean in terms of you know tax levies and impacts those are all extremely important considerations but the village is also very healthy and you're in position to have these discussions whereas that isn't universally uh true either with every municipality. Paula, you

another question. Sorry. And then I'll I'll stop asking questions for the moment. Uh, another question, Greg. Thank you for that um answer, but what what are some warning flags or some warning signs that our community is is really headed towards an operational referendum? Yeah, I mean I think I think that is kind of the the biggest uh financial decision that communities in Wisconsin are facing is really looking at operational uh referendums and I think the reason that is becoming front and center is largely due to the passage of time. I mean levy limits have been in place since 2005. Uh and if you kind of track inflationary uh trends uh statewide compared to kind of net new construction and your ability to increase the levy um many communities have now you know reached the point where they that is they have that gap uh to fund their day-to-day services and maintain services cannot continue to be uh funded under under the current levy limit restrictions. And so again, that's where your long range planning comes into play because it helps kind of prioritize that and you can see that kind of coming. Um, so it's, you know, it's very much the main challenge facing municipalities throughout Wisconsin is communities that maybe still have that levy limit flexibility are starting to see that erode over the coming years. Um, and again, it's all about kind of prioritization, but but maintaining that long range forecast so you have time to plan for that as opposed to reacting to it.

Yeah, that's yes, I appreciate that. But what do what do you see in the villages um uh financial outlook to answer that more specifically? I know that you know for generally speaking you gave a very uh succinct overview but looking at the village specifically.

Yeah. So I mean when we look at and I mean that's what we look at in the financial management plan every year is in terms of where kind of that levy limit you know gap you know may exist. And so, you know, the that has kind of changed in terms of where that pressure point has been as different priorities and your and your numbers come into focus each particular year. So, you know, I think we'll take another look at it when we go through the fall and kind of see where you're at in terms of that that projection. But, I mean, that's that's been front and center throughout the years. And you know, we haven't been at the point where you've had to do that operational levy limit forecast yet, but that still remains front and front and center in terms of when that when that situation may exist. That's really what we what we look at every year with the financial management plan when we have your your next year's round of data.

Yeah, Greg, to to your to your point, Greg, um uh the biggest drivers for the village is public safety. Um public safety costs. Um not only um are you talking about the increase just in benefits and things the the demand on public safety so public safety EMS fire um police is costing more that that cost is increasing much higher than what inflation is um as there's less people who are becoming paramedics as there is a tighter uh labor market for um getting police officers in. So that's something that we we focus on and and so really what we do as a community um that I found as a benefit is that financial management plan gives you a warning before there is an issue. And so every year um taking that one to five years as and really you know working on that three four and five year out if the problem is already next year we it most of the time it's too late to to make significant changes. But when I'm looking at it and working with this at LRES, we're going three to five years out and how are we structuring? Okay, if our population is growing a little bit, how do we h how do we get another officer hired? How does EMS fit another paramedic in the the equation? Are we going to need additional plow equipment related to additional miles of roads? So from an operating perspective, the financial management plan is a two to three kind of months process where uh Greg and I and and Cassie kind of go back and forth and making sure we're refining that and predicting our operating expenses. Um, but from a debt perspective, because we're able to take an unlimited debt adjustment up to our statutory limit, taking out debt, unless you're talking about a tax impact, there's there's really no red flags because we're able we're literally able to levy whatever our debt service payment is. Now, I've said this in pre in previous capital prioritization plans

because of the rate that the village is growing doesn't mean we should aim to stay at 60% of our tap limit because one year if we add $und00 million in net new construction that doesn't mean we should spend the capacity that was generated. And so what I'm hearing kind of tonight is we need to make sure that our capital prioritization process is in alignment if we still feel those parameters um maybe need some tweaking to get a desired result. So if the the village's desired result is to be no more than 40% or 50% we should be adjusting what those guidelines are so that when the board members are grading those projects we can make sure that we're fitting those priorities. Um, another kind of thing with a capital plan that we are doing is a lot of other communities are facing these issues, but because they don't do robust planning like this, they don't realize the capital stack that they have. And so, a good comparability is, you know, in the infrastructure footnote of the financial statements, you'll see a vast majority of the community having their street lines being over 50% depreciated. And that all that really means is, you know, the that community chose not to replace as much roads as they probably should to from a replacement perspective. So, we have we do have a very aggressive um infrastructure replacement plan in place with the million dollars of road improvements on an annual basis and a million dollars of equipment. That is that is a very aggressive replacement plan to kind of catch up on some of the deferred maintenance. You know, another question if Sorry.

I want to give Paula Can we'll come back to you Renee. Can Paula's had her hand up for a really long time. Arms tired. And then Heidi, I do see you too. And then we'll come back to you Renee.

Thank you. It I mean it was fine. You could have let her go yet, but um uh just a couple things. So I think um from my perspective um what I do for my day job working in financial wellness I I that makes me queasy, right? And I would never advise um someone to carry six times the amount of debt that they have for every dollar of revenue that they have. Um and that's kind of where this leaves us. That being said though, um I also want to acknowledge that I'm part of the reason we're taking on this 20,000 or 20 million um because of my vote with the police station. Um you know, obviously a lot of that was done before I got on the board, but I still voted for the final approvement. So um I I just want to acknowledge that. I think though, however, because I feel that great responsibility, um, I want to play a very active role in helping us reduce our debt. And so, one of the things I'm going to ask at the end of the meeting for a future agenda item is to create a debt reduction task force. Um, that's kind of like an ad hoc committee. Um, that really, you know, gets to the work of, you know, trying to increase revenue and reduce debt, right? To get that down and maybe even looking at our spending um looking for efficiencies. Um and I'm ready to roll my sleeves up and do that kind of work. I mean, that's what I do um for my day job. So, um so I'm going to vote for it. It makes me queasy, but I also really want to get super proactive about trying to get it paid down as soon as we can. That's all I wanted to say. Heidi,

thank you. Um, just looking over this capital improvement plan that we approved last year for the projects and thinking about uh, you know, what what this debt goes to uh, you know, to maintain in our village and talking about the Ali Street reconstruction and uh, water looping saves maintenance of our system. Um, and we have vehicles that are, you know, getting more expensive to maintain than buy. And street maintenance, you know, if if a street becomes too poorly maintained, it costs a lot more to rehab it later down the line rather than staying on top of our our maintenance plan. Um, and so I guess my question kind of comes back to uh how how else does a municipality pay for, you know, a a million dollar snowplow or the street maintenance if we're not taking out debt? You know, I'm thinking, do we overt tax people and save up to do these projects in the future? Do you go to like a referendum every year and hope that your neighbors vote to repave your street? Like what are the alternatives? Of course, you can seek grant money, which we're, you know, doing and will continue to do to help reduce the impact. Um, you know, and like there's how I guess my question then would be for Greg, Cameron, Matt, like what are the other ways that a municipality can pay for things if they're not taking out debt? I'll let Gregor Cameron jump jump in on that, but I first want to say that I mean the the issue here is really this the state's levy limits because um they they don't give us any ability to uh increase our

operating levy but for new construction i.e. growth. So we don't we don't get to increase even with inflation unless we're growing. Um, so that leaves the only alternatives to either cut services or go to referendum. Um, with that it doesn't it also doesn't give us room to even do what Heidi was suggesting there. Even if we could, we couldn't um tax to save because we don't have the room in the levy. So that would be a referendum. So, you know, Greg feel feel free to jump in, but that's really where we're the state doesn't really give us any options. they they exempt debt. So they're basically saying that's your that's your solution for capital. And on the operating side, your solution is to grow or go to referendum or cut services. That's it. Pretty simple.

So Matt, that so maybe this is more of a question off of what you just said, Matt. So, we've we've recently or you've mentioned at recent meetings that um with the TID I think it's TID 9 that's closing that there'll be a roughly about $1,300 per household that's going to be realized in um savings that that's actually going to be going to the property owners. So as the um um levy is not going up but development is so new developments as they continue in our village are we generating enough revenue to cover these services um or are we using the existing um tax base to make these numbers work? This kind of goes off of what you just your comment Matt. So either Matt or Greg if you could speak to that a little bit.

Yeah, I can I can start and Greg and Cameron feel free to jump in. Um just a little it is tid five Renee, but you're you're right the the closure there um that that's a projected um based on our financial management plan and with that closure um about a $1,300 tax decrease for the average home for this coming year. Um, and that's that's due to kind of the 15 to 20 year investment and growth in a tiff district and that closing. Um, and there isn't really separated tax bases as as far as existing and new taxes. It's all it's all one and the same. And all you know, without the growth, the taxes would be going up even more. I mean, there's there's no way around it. And without it, again, we're either cutting services or we're going to referendum. And if you go to referendum and you don't grow, then taxes will be going up even more because you won't have the tax base to spread it around to. So,

all right, we've got hands lining the screen now. We got Heidi and then Paula and then Pete. I guess I just wanted to go back to my question because revenue

get an opportunity to um hear an answer of like what are the other ways that municipalities can pay for things if they don't take out debt. So, one other thing, uh, Heidi, that we can do and and and actually it's in my opinion the least cost-effective way to do is issue when we redo a street or sidewalk, we could we could specially assess the property owners for those those improvements. Um, that's a lengthy process each time you do that. And what ends up happening is each individual homeowners get large assessments when we go by and and and do road or street infrastructure. And really what the the village decided three years ago, um JJ brought it forward, JJ and Brian brought it forward that it just these are community assets, the roadways and sidewalks and and instead of one person getting, you know, a five 10 grand assessment, it makes more sense to invest the

I can't hear Cameron. Can anybody else? Yep. I'm see hearing nods. I can hear Cameron. Okay.

You know, obviously, um, Heidi, the there's grant obviously grants available. So, Kyla pretty aggressively, um, applied for some grant funding this past year, uh, for the in the LRIP program. Um, and making sure that, you know, when we're having efficiencies and holding our the the vendors accountable who are doing the road replacements, um, stretching those dollars as far as possible. Um, as far as, um, really other revenue, there's not a not a ton else out there. Um, as far as, you know, park projects, you know, you I I've seen communities do extensive fundraising um, for those projects. you know, typically they have to be, you know, x% funded, uh, private funded before the the municipality will come in and cover the rest of it. Um, but that's really a, um, community decision.

Go ahead, Paula.

Thank you. Um, just in in response to the conversation about what else can we do? Um I think you know um Matt used the terminology cut services. Well I think cut expenses um would be a better word to use because certainly there are things that we can look at um trying to find efficiencies um without necessarily impacting services. The other thing that um would make a big impact um which is going to be I think on our next agenda item or next meeting is a law enforcement impact fee. So um you know Ellers put that report together that basically said over 50% of the police project is due to growth and that up to $7 million of that project cost can be attributed to growth. And so, um, one of the ways we can cut our debt and what we're taking out today and pay it down faster is through that impact fee. So, I think there are other things besides just going to referendum or just growing, right? I think um and again having a debt reduction task force um made up of board members and citizens you know could find some creativity right and kind of dig into these things and maybe you know citizens have a view of something that we haven't even thought of right like um so there's more than just those two options and I just kind of wanted to be clear about that

go ahead P I don't know what was going on there was a lot of crackling going on I don't know If that was Paul, I think that might have been your microphone. It sounded like you were tap dancing a little bit. It did. It was crackling a lot. Sorry.

Yeah. I you know, I guess, you know, to Heidi's point, you know, we need to fix the roads. We need to take care of our infrastructure. I I I'm not I'm not suggesting that we would not do that. I think that the disturbing part to me is that the debt is going to this debt in and of itself is going to cost $9.8 million worth of interest, which could be nine years worth of road improvements. It could be a lot of things. So, there's this balance between advanced spending versus paced spending. And I think uh I'm in complete alignment with Paul in the sense that we need to control spending in conjunction with some of the other things that we talked about here. I mean, at the end of the day, the the police station is a function or the a broad majority of it is a result of the growth. And that growth there was no there was no um impact fee at the time. And at the end of the day, you know, Matt, you said we need to grow, otherwise taxes will go up. Well, if we wouldn't have grown, taxes probably would have gone up at the rate of inflation. And and taxes have gone up faster than the rate of inflation. So, there is definitely, you know, some truth between both lines there. But I think at the end of the day, controlling spending is absolutely critical. I think this debt issuance, unfortunately, is something that we're going to need to move forward with. I don't want to vote for it. But I think in light of the growth that's forced us into making sure that we've got um the the public services that we need to um take care of our residents is absolutely critical.

Matt, go ahead.

Thanks. Um Paula, you're you're correct that um uh you know digging in on efficiencies and and lowering spending. Um that will help and would help for a year or two, but eventually you you can only cut so much and then you know we will have to reduce services or grow because that that's the only option that the state gives us or or go to referendum and have an operating increase. So the take-home here is to everyone email our state representatives. Um any other comments about this?

I just got one thing. Yeah,

one comment. Um I just from a the follow up from the debt task force perspective. Um you know one one just thing I would caution on that is a lot of our debt is scheduled with maturity dates um and and possibly don't have callable features. Um so I think to achieve what you're looking for setting better parameters on the capital prioritization you know and setting okay like go you know goals on okay we want to be at x percentage of our debt by this year x percentage of our debt by that year I I think that's going to achieve what you're looking to um and so while we if the the village on the March 2nd um meeting chooses to go through the public uh or the law enforcement uh impact fee. What that will do is when we collect those fees, that won't reduce that debt, but it will reduce what we have to levy to pay for those fees. And so really I think when we're when we're kicking off those meetings in the uh in April um kind of post election with the capital prioritization process I think it would be really good to get some feedback on what is a tolerable both you know tax increase and debt percentage perspective because we through planning can get those results. We we have been basing off of capital, you know, capital financing and capital replacement based off of the parameters that have kind of been in place over the last couple years.

Can I just ask you for clarification? So, are you saying all of our notes have a pre um payment penalty?

They don't have a prepayment penalty. They're all callable with a call date um at at some point that's identified for each debt issue. So, you know, if you do have excess revenues at some point in the future and that call date comes, you can pay down a portion or or all of the um you know, remaining principal outstanding on that issue. You can also a call date is also when you have the opportunity to refinance if if market conditions are favorable. So, all most of your geo debt is all your geodet issues have a um a call feature. It's just a matter of when. So I saw that in this issuance that there these are callable but what you're saying is there are certain call dates and is there is there a penalty to prepay?

No once you reach the call date there is no penalty to prepay. So you reach the call date any time after that call date they can be repaid not up and that date and it's not just on that date. Correct.

Correct. Yeah it's any any date after the uh the call date is reached. There's no prepayment penalty. All right. Any other discussion? Otherwise, this is discuss and consider. Murphy, I'll move approval of the resolution as presented. Kel Nelson will second. Right. There's a motion and second. Any other discussion on this item? Otherwise, we'll roll call vote. Lisa Benzo,

I um I reluctantly um have to agree. I don't see any other way out of out of it at this point. I I um appreciate Paula's suggestion and um I look forward to hopefully we can discuss that later. So um long answer to I D I Cal Nelson. I Murphy I Severson I Stowa no.

All right. Motion carries. Uh we are going to move on to uh I've been doodling all over my paper here. Uh new business be discuss and consider the rules governing teleconferences and virtual attendance at meetings. There were this was I think first um written in response to kind of going virtual during COVID and there were a couple adjustments made by staff after our last meeting. Um and those red line corrections were or additions were sent out and what you see is the final version here. Any uh comments or questions? Otherwise, it is a discussing consider. I would move approval approval of the draft rules governing teleconferences and virtual attendance at meetings.

Second.

Lisa, you can choose one. I think it was Murphy got it first. Um, any other discussion on this? Yeah, I guess I just have one question, Cindy. So, you know, the the issues that we had um a couple weeks ago in terms of the disruption of the meeting, was there any investigation in terms of the video conferencing tools and or ability to squaltch unless because like here we've you can put your hand up or you take your mic off and you can talk and I think we've been pretty good about trying to speak in turn, but is there uh any features that we can utilize to allow you as the moderator operator to enable the the the speakers or anybody so that we can avoid that level of disruption which was disturbing.

Um so we did so everyone um that is a village trustee or staff right now is a a co-host on the meeting so they're able to that's why you can raise your hand and you can unmute yourself and you can speak um and you can turn your screen on. Everyone else doesn't have that ability so there you can't share your screen. you can't speak out of turn. So, we hopefully have a little bit more protection during meetings. Okay. Th Thank you. I that was what I was looking for. I didn't see it in the in in that uh the document and or any of the other communication. So, that's fantastic. So, thank you for that.

And I think as technology changes, if we need to change platforms or um different types of features on Zoom, we can absolutely do that as well. All right. This is a discuss and consider. We have a motion in a second. So, you ready for paying attention? Okay. Otherwise, I make a motion. All those in favor? I

opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. And I didn't even do the roll call. I'm all thrown off now. Okay. We're going to move on to reports from village boards, commissions, and committees. Um, utility commission is up first. Chris Yeah, we met on February 11th, Wednesday at 5:00 PM. Um, there were no public appearances. We approved the previous minutes. We approved the bills. Uh, we discussed and considered uh the lease agreement with Upnet. We added an autorenew term uh applied an inflation index and we adjusted the time frame for termination notice. Um, and then we approved that. We talked about the Gaston and TT water main looping update. there should be a bid this week. Uh we sent letters to adjacent property owners to see if they wanted us to stub out and we ended up deciding not to include that in the bid. The violet road sanitary sewer repair update. Um they'd like to get a soil boring and they're recommending uh pushing it to 2027 to hopefully um be able to um group that in with some other projects to um try to get some economies of scale on that. Uh we talked about the impact fee study as far as the uh water and sewer portions of the um impact fees. Uh the director's report um let me just open that so I know what I'm referring to here. Uh they did a 2026 um meter inventory and restocked some meters. There's no updates from heyday so far. Um they had a pre premeating for uh well two rehabilitation. Um there's a a a uh late summer early fall hopefully getting uh started on that. Uh the deferred portion of the borrowing to reduce cost for that and uh the uh farm interceptor project

the pipe is hopefully going to be in by the end of this week. uh feature agenda items for our next uh March meeting uh talk about Gast and Loop bids and uh going over the 2025 financials for water sewer and then we adjourned right at about 5:30. Heidi has her hand up. Yep. Thank you. Thanks Chris for your overview. Um I was wondering we aren't talking about we're going to have the presentation on the impact fees next month. So, will the utility commission's comments be like looped into that or did they have any? Okay, perfect. Thank you.

I will be summarizing the feedback provided by the utility commission on um on that meeting date. Um so, just to update on that, we posted the public hearing that would be in the paper on Thursday. Um also on Thursday, we'll have the two public meetings. Um and all of that feedback will be shared on the 2nd. Great. Any other comments or questions for utility commission? Otherwise, you can roll it right into public works, properties, and sustainability com committee.

All right. We met on Wednesday. We gave in at about 5:36 as I recall. Um, no public appearances approved the minutes. Uh, we talked about the 2026 street and ped project. uh as approved in the 2025 budget bid should be going out this week. Um the we talked about the DNR grant for street sweeper for staff direction. Uh there's a potential to defay some cost from a new street sweeper. I asked if they make street sweeper leaf trucks and apparently they don't. So that's a bummer. Um, we talked about uh rightaway permit first after direction. The um villages rightaway ordinances need a bit of a clean up. There's currently no fee. Neighboring communities uh do have a fee. So, we're going to um Kyla's going to look look at updating that. Uh rain barrels go on sale uh in midappril. Um we talked about safe streets for all grants. um MSB fire alarm monitoring system. Uh hoping to hire a new public works technician by the end of the month. Uh go still going over the stop sign and traffic management policy with a a official traffic map update. Um and a lot of the engineering stuff is duplicative of the utilities commission. So any questions on that? All right. Thanks, Chris.

And then we adjourn. All right. If there are no comments or questions, Kyler, can I raise my hand quick enough? I don't know if I did that right. Um, I did just go ahead.

I did just want to point out in um the director's report, I did mention, and Chris, you did a great job covering everything. Um, Frontier Communications has submitted seven rightway permits. um to do a large village infrastructure update um throughout the village. I am meeting with their construction team tomorrow um to discuss the project. There's quite a few comments I have on the ride ofway permit, but it is something that this um village board will likely see moving forward as we had TDS come back in 2019 and there were a lot of hiccups that we're going to work through on the frontier side, right? Which is how I got involved in village politics to begin with. So,

well, perfect.

I know. All right. Um, any other comments about for public works? Okay. Otherwise, we'll move on to plan commission. Plan commission met on Wednesday, February 11th at 6:30. We approved our meeting minutes and we had one item on the agenda which is also on our village board agenda for tonight and that was discuss and consider a request from Dave Hensak of New Tech Golf Carts for an approval of a conditional use permit to allow an outdoor display incidental to indoor sales land use at 645 Sandpiper Trail. Um thank you to Aaron who worked with Dave on this to come up with kind of a solution. So there um the proposal from the beginning was kind of golf carts galore and we have it now kind of paired down to a particular spot on the west side of his property by the retention pond where he can put about six golf carts there and he knows the sign ordinance. Um and so this was approved by the plan commission and now is for um discussion tonight and all of those um items are linked in the agenda tonight as well. If you have any questions, um, either myself or Aaron can try and answer those for you.

Yeah, go ahead, Pete. Um, okay. So, I'm looking at uh the document, the the plan view that shows So, you said six golf carts. It doesn't say that in the narrative. Um, it shows a green box to the west of the pond, which is within the e building setback line, which kind of meets all of our criteria, right? But you said six. Is that going to be included that there's only going to be six versus 14 or

I think it's what can fit in that area, which is about six. Erin, if you're on and you can jump in and correct me. Um, and it's golf carts only, so no other um, businesses from that area or from that complex would put things out. Um, and there's no also the plan commission did remove the time frame as well. So, initially it was kind of like April 1st to October 31st. Um, but we felt like there didn't need to be a restriction on that based on what he was using it for.

Well, but he had said that he wouldn't display carts or golf carts um, during the winter anyway. So, I struggle with why we wouldn't put constraints on that because you get into certain times of the year, the ground can get soft. It can be I mean, the bottom line is he didn't really care. And why would we not provide um some constraints as it relates to the winter months?

You know, I think his answer was that he would be removing them when it freezes anyway because the battery can't sit out. Um but if this if the board feels like we want to add that back in, that's something that can happen as well. Yeah, I I personally think we should particularly in the sense that Dave was okay with it. Um it provides kind of some um complimentary context where we collaborate on it. I mean um the the other thing that that I had some concerns about is you know this is our main thoroughare coming into town. Um and Aaron did a nice job kind of going through where this would potentially cause issues and none of them really other than the aesthetics. And that's where I have my concern is there needs so if he's going to be putting carts out there for weeks on end because the do the the the the use permit does not say that he can only have them there for during the day or at night. It does whatever he wants to do as long as they're secure. But what I get concerned about is if he has his mowing service come in and mow and then you've got grass growing up around them and then he lets them sit there for two weeks before he moves them and now all of a sudden we've got something that's left. I don't think he'll do that, but I would think that the document should could should should reflect that when the when the property is mowed that it needs to be mowed completely instead of around the carts. And Erin, I'll let you jump in. Yeah. Um, that would be fine with me. I mean, there is a ordinance in place for the length of grass, too. So, we'd be covered that way anyway, but certainly that's within the range of the kind of condition you could add. If that would make the board more comfortable, that's certainly fine.

I mean, I think it's an important um thoroughare for the village. you come in and and I think if he's going to have a mowing service in there to to make a requirement that the carts are removed so it could be mowed completely instead of around. I I personally think that he's not going to that that's what he would do anyway. But I think to to to dot our eyes and cross our tees and make sure that we're on the same page of what the expectations of the village residents would be for this thoroughfare allowing him to do the things he needs to do to have a successful business I think is win-win. So, I mean, if if the other board members are okay with it, I would like to see that and I would also like to see the April 1st to October 31st time frame put back in.

Thoughts from other board members or nod your head if that's seems I think that's fine. He seemed agreeable at plan commission. So, go ahead. So the it would be a motion um and then to include those two additional items conditions. There were the uh two conditions already in the staff report just specifying that it's for this particular business not any other business that he has on the site there that it applies only to the cars and not any other equipment or

I'd make the motion to approve uh as presented with conditions and the uh conditions of April 1st to October 31st and uh the lawn maintenance is consistent under the cards as well. I I guess I'm okay with modifying that wording if you wanted to capture it better, but

yeah, I I would like to say, and again, I don't want to change your motion, but what what I would like to do is um have the lawn care or lawn maintenance would have to be performed with the C carts not in in in the lawn. Is that a second from you, Pete? And Heidi, are you okay with that language? Uh, yeah. I guess they could move them back 20 feet and then move them back in the spot. I don't think he has to remove them from the grass totally, but if that's the way you'd like it, that's fine.

So, maybe Erin, you help us with the language. The bottom line is we don't want them mowing around the carts and leaving the carts here for sit for two weeks and you got a heavy growing season and now you've got, you know, kind of a less than ideal look for the thoroughfare. You want the lawn under the curts to be consistent with the lawn around the curts. That when the lawn is cut that it's cut completely. Yeah. I'll second that. Okay. A motion by Murphy and a second by Doll. Any other discussion on this item? It is Lisa and Erin, are you clear what the what the motion was with the conditions? Yep. Got it. Um, all those in favor? I

I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Um, that was it for plan commission. We meet again in March. Um, we can move on to reports from village officers, village attorney. Uh, nothing to report tonight. Great. Village administrator.

Thanks. Um, I wanted to give a shout out to uh Tissa Taylor and Josh Bennett who served on their uh or are serving on their uh professional associations uh planning committee for uh their state conference, Wisconsin uh parks and recreation association. And uh they they held that conference and it it achieved um what I've been told is uh record attendance. So, um, good for them on that planning effort. Um, and then, uh, not mentioned here, but, um, wanted to also give a shout out to planning and development director Aaron Ruth. Um, we we hold a little icebreaker before our staff meetings. We do a little bit of trivia and Aaron's the trivia whiz, so he he uh took first place amongst um, all of our management team in uh, 2025 trivia. and he's probably going to win in 26 as well. But anyway, um happy to take any questions on the um tracker or the updates.

Yep. Paula has a question. Just a couple. Um so on your memo you mentioned um a meeting with Creed and a phone call with Newman Development. Can you give us a little bit more information on where those stand, please?

Um, Creed initially submitted a updated um concept and um we met with uh staff and then met with Creed to go over that. Um, based on our comments, they they made some changes a couple days thereafter or maybe even the next day, but it was pretty tight to get it back on for the February uh plan commission. So, um, uh, we asked them to wait until March. So, they'll be coming in March. Um, Newman called to update that they've had positive discussions with the Banigans and uh they're intending to uh propose some updated pre-anex draft uh updated draft of the pre-anexation agreement terms to our attorneys and uh potentially come back in March or April.

Any other questions for Matt? Trista did share with me that there was a Taylor Swift themed um breakout session at her conference which I thought was very exciting and I'm hoping she can bring that back to the village for us. That was a joke. All right. Um moving on. Um assistant administrator finance director Sawyer with a couple of budget amendments for us.

Yeah. So both these budget amendments are primarily the function of time. Um so the village is on uh its fiscal year is also a calendar year um which also corresponds with appropriations. So we might have an ongoing 2025 project that some expenses occur in 2026. Um so a vast majority of the capital lines um relate to shifting costs from one year to the next. Um we do find some efficiencies and year end in purchasing of vehicles. So there were a couple instances here where we were able to come pretty significantly under a budget on some capital vehicle purchases by buying in December of 25 but then corresponding 26 we want to make sure that we reduce the budget authority in the subsequent year uh for those purchases. And so uh budget amendment 2025 uh- 012 um the first part of it is just the park kind of the park development fund. Um so kind of some big drivers there is you know we we had a couple uh collected more fees than we anticipated. Um had a a little bit more expenditures on how it was allocated. Um then kind of going further on um really saw a huge uptick in um room tax revenues in 2025. um we were pretty consistent for two years around that $140,000 mark and then all of a suddenly jumped up to about $170,000 this year and that's great. Um per kind of the tourism you know statutes we do have to remit 70% of that to the our tourism agency. Um so we increase the revenue and then increase kind of the associated expenditures. Um and then one of the associated expenditures is tied to a post development kind of grant um up until the dollar amount is paid off. Um

and then kind of as we kind of further go down um the storm water management plan um so that wasn't completed at the end of 25 uh will be completed here early 2026. Um so that revenue and a corresponding expense uh is decreased here in the 25 um but again brought back in 2026. Um and then the rest are are capital projects and then uh kind of the last two line items here are the the TID nine. So that we obviously had extended periods of time where we weren't collecting lease rent. um you'll see in the 2026 revenue we have those rent kind of reestablished um and kind of corresponding expenses. So I guess it will probably be easier to to because this is such so a lot of different topics that this this budget amendment is I'll you know allow the board to ask questions certainly for either one of these either 2025 or 2026 amendment.

Questions for Cameron? Otherwise these are discuss and considers move approval of uh 2025 012 budget amendment and 2026 001 budget amendment as presented. Second a motion and a second. Any other discussion?

Yeah, I was having a problem with my controls there. I've got like 12 screens open here. Um I guess Cam, if you could walk us through so a lot of this is pushing expenses from 25 into 26, right? And not not changing appropriation levels, but changing the year in which that they occur.

Right. So, when I rack up um 20252, it's like a half a million dollar reduction in spending in 2025, right? I don't I I can't find the tab, but it's a little over 500,000. And then the 20261 the reduction in the police station when I racked that you know you move the Shady Grove into 2026 and some of the um some of the equipment purchases but it does rack up that there's yet another about $500,000 worth of reduction there. So what is the net net impact? Do we really see about a half a million dollars worth of reduction in spending in 2026 as it relates to this? And it looks like it's mostly driven by the budget versus amendment on the police station.

So, um, no, the the answer is the TW, um, because of how we budgeted in 26, I thought it was the most transparent way to have the full $16.2 million police station. And so what we're doing in this budget amendment is not only decreasing what we spent in 2025, but also decreasing the budget and what we spent in 2024. So you'll the the budget amendment. So there was roughly $255,000 in 2020 4 that was spent and then $896,000 in 2025. So that's where you're getting that that not all of those expenditures were necessarily 25. I will say there were um for the um some of the engineering was a little bit less um what I

so when you when you budgeted the 16.2 2, it included a lot of the previous engineering that had already been spent. So essentially, we're reducing the spending as it relates to the budget in 2026 by about 500 some odd thousand dollars. Yeah, it's it's essentially taking the the full project, this is what it was because that's the hard part about governmental kind of budgeting. It spreads so many years. We just wanted to be very transparent. This is where we're starting. Yep. These are the costs. And then we'll probably do another budget amendment in 27 to bring the remaining costs. Gotcha.

Um I do I do plan um as Heidi mentioned and Chris mentioned um I'm going to give the financial updates for the utilities at the next utility commission meeting. It will probably be the third meeting or sorry the second meeting in March that I'll give an update on the village financials overall as well as the capital projects and kind of highlight some efficiencies on where we kind of came under budget on on on the projects that were completed. Um, and then you know, Matt and I were also discussing um, in his updates as projects close out throughout the year, give a summary of, you know, this is what the project was, this is what it was budgeted, and this is what we came under. Um, you know, so you guys are getting a little bit more of a real time update as projects complete.

Gotcha. Well, that's good news. Thank you. Any other questions or comments for Cameron? All right. Otherwise, all those in favor? I opposedain. Motion carries. Uh, communication and miscellaneous business. We have to consider approval of vouchers with those listed in the agenda. Comments or questions for Cameron on the bills list?

I guess Cameron, we had spoke about a lot of these, so thank you very much for providing a response to all the village board members. I guess I still had a question on there was two questions. One is the flock $1,000 to trial run two solar cameras. I guess we had approved the flock that we we moved forward with the flock. I'm just curious as to where this came from and why solar versus the lime powered systems that were installed were were even changing course. Maybe that's a question for you chief. Do you mind taking this question chief here?

Sure. um this opportunity came up. Uh the cameras uh themselves are they we get a one-year trial period. Um I want to see the benefit of them for part of our strategic plan uh related to traffic uh accidents and crash uh high incidence areas. Um so they're being added I'll say just for this year uh to see the benefit if they actually show a benefit to the village. Um if not we have no obligation um and the small investment. Uh I think we're going to get some good returns on it especially related to uh some of the investigative information we can get for it related to some of the crashes.

Yeah. I guess the question wasn't the flock. The question was this trial in solar cameras and incremental cost above and beyond because we had approved flock before and now we're evaluating triing some solar cameras for $1,000. That's the piece I was questioning. Understand? Um again, I'm taking it out of my operational, not out of the capital. Um and they're going to be placed with current other uh cameras to give us some additional data.

Yeah, it's less about the data. Are you talking I mean solar versus the standard cameras that flock provided. I guess the question is why why are we looking at solar cameras at this point in light of what we've already installed? We we have solar cameras also. We have both hardwired and solar in operation currently. And this was the the model that they had available for the price of $500.

Okay. The other question was Tapco. I guess what what is man, this is probably a question for you too, Chief. Tapco um equipment and traffic reporting software. What is that? What does it get what does it get the community? So what it gets what it what it is is related to when you had inquired about uh traffic data uh and uh director Laughlin referenced uh she has a device you referenced our speed message board system that's the software that's part of that sign system um and we get the data off of it also uh in addition to the ability to remotely program it um And also it it affects it helps us with the maintenance of it. Um so this is a a three-year um basically three-year commitment that we got uh with a $700 reduction for doing the three-year.

So it's $3,800 for a three-year license. That is correct. Okay. So it's not $3,800 a year for three years. Okay. Very good. Thank you. No problem. And and then the other comment I'd make is is um Cam and and Kyla, thank you for kind of setting up time to meet with Alliance to kind of work work through kind of our our energy consumption and the response on on the um the meter 163 that you'd provided helps. So, thank you. Other than that, I didn't have any other questions. Cindy, do you want to make a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the bills as presented. Second. Second. Oh, Paul. I did have a question. Yep. Go ahead, Heidi.

About the pay application to the memo that was submitted. Is that part that's part of this package? I don't

Yeah. So, that is that relates to the police station project just to provide again additional transparency uh to the community and board just documenting each pay app. So, so we we didn't hire a construction manager. Um, so we just wanted to highlight the elevated process and and review that each pay application goes through um as we're kind of going along. So boring updates the last two um I anticipate as they really get going here um in in March and April for these to become a little bit more robust um you know as we kind of go through the review cycle. So it really starts, you know, when we're documenting this payup review, it really starts with Aaron, Kyla, the attorneys, um, and Nberg. Um, so they kind of get, you know, the feedback together, talk about the the request from Riley. Um, Matt and I then review, um, the comments from that kind of initial review group, um, prior to recommendation to pay at the village board. Um again, uh if there there's if there's minor change order requests in here, um we we would document what those are for again for the board, um just to make sure that we have that level of transparency.

Thank you. And thanks for providing um that all the extra eyes um and bringing it forward. So appreciate it. Any other questions on the bills list? Otherwise, there's the motion and second. All those in favor? I

opposedain. Motion carries. I'll move on to correspondence. Anyone have anything. Otherwise, I'll say that I h we had a um Kyle and I had a meeting with a West Lawn resident about um the water issue that we had been alerted to in I think it was right before Thanksgiving. And so, um, thanks to her and her team, um, we had a really good meeting with that resident and we have, you know, they already had action items for, um, when the spring thaw occurs and additional flushing, um, birectional with all her motions that she makes. Um, so, uh, really appreciate her taking the time to have that conversation with the resident. other correspondents. Um what about upcoming community events?

I would highlight two. Um this Sunday there's family bingo at 1 p.m. at Glacial Drumland um hosted by the Manona Grove Education Foundation um for the weekend snack packs. Um and then the Cottage Grove Volunteer Fire Department is bringing back their corn, beef, and cabbage. That is going to be on Saturday the 17th um from 11 to 1.

We're going to hang out with Aaron and I from noon to 1 on uh Thursday um to learn more about the impact bees and ask questions. That that session's virtual. Um and then again from 5 to 6 at Village Hall. um will be there. As a reminder that you know for for community members out there, there is a feedback form that is available on our impact fee kind of landing page. So please obviously our our board members will appreciate you know all the feedback that is you know presented when making that decision in the second. And I have one correction. Sorry. Um it's Saturday, March 7th, not 17th. I apologize for the um corn beef and cabbage.

And then on uh what day is it? Today's Monday. Wednesday. Um the uh spring summer guide for parks and wreck comes out. Um so you can sign your kids up for all of those things. Story election day tomorrow if you haven't voted yet.

Any other feel like we have a vibrant community. Um future agenda items. Um thank you again for the um direction for fire and EMS. Make sure that um everyone's in the loop going forward with that. I'll try and get some information too on um when we can expect that survey in your inbox so you don't miss it. Um, the other thing I had written down was um, visioning, trying to get maybe a little bit more of an update on when we can expect some of that work for whatever the downtown is in Cottage Grove and how we want to move forward with that. Um, and then a uh, I don't know if we need a close session with Rudabush, but get making sure that we have really good direction to our um, consulting partners so they um, know what their work is um, moving forward. And then I had the flag cameras from last meeting. Um and then also the possible creation of a debt reduction task force. And I know chief um I'm not sure if we'll have flat camera up and I know we were you were going to work on that website. Um and I don't know if that'll be next meeting or maybe the second meeting in March.

I will work with lock on that to get that up and running. Any other agenda items? All right. Otherwise, number 11. Make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Second. All right. Motion and a second and a third. Uh none debatable. All those in favor? I All right. Thanks everyone.