Library Board - Regular Meeting

I hate when I do that. Okay, well, let's put all the family calendars away.

Yes, game on.

And we will shift to Cemetery Commission. Well, let's call to order the meeting of the Cemetery Commission for Monday, June 8, 2026. Yes, we will do. We'll just go down the line. Amanda Roddy, present.

Mike Christine, present. Rico Camacho, present.

And the other commissioners are excused this evening. All right. Next we have public comments. Seeing nobody present, we will move on to approval of minutes. We have a detached copy of the commission minutes from 2-9 of 2026. If there are no adjustments or comments, to be made if you have a motion to approve as presented.

Mike Procini will make a motion. I review them and have no issue with them, so I'll make a motion to approve 26-03776, approval of February's meeting minutes. And Rico Camacho will second.

Okay, we have first and second. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Okay, motion passes and minutes are approved. Thank you, everyone, for that. Next on our agenda.

For some reason, there's the same motion to adjourn again.

Oh, well, we're down on that list.

To adjourn? Wait, what?

All right, so next on our agenda is new business. Do you have a chance to catch up, Karen? Is there anything? I don't see anything listed there. Nope. All right, so then we'll move on to agenda item number five, which is the annual election of cemetery commission officers. Here we are going to, the first item is to elect a commission president. To open the nominations for this position, I would need a first and a second, please.

Go ahead. I will open up the nominations. 03747. I second. Is there a second to that?

Rico Camacho will second. Go, second.

All in favor, aye, please. Aye. Opposed?

All right.

We are open. So the floor is open for nominations for Cemetery Commission President.

Now you have to do a motion for the nominations.

Oh, do I? Excuse me. another item number. Oh, there is another. Pardon me. Yes. You know what? I literally have it written down in front of me. Okay. So can we please get a motion to nominations for cemetery commission president? Want to open the floor?

So I'm so moved that we open up the floor for nominations for president.

Okay. Thank you. Rico is first. Is there a second to that? I'll second.

Mike?

All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Now, the nominations roll. Is there anybody who would like to nominate a fellow commissioner?

I will nominate Amanda Ratty for... How would you know?

Okay.

So, interior commission president.

All right.

Sorry, Amanda Ratty. Before we have a second...

I have a question. Are you interested in running for the position?

Yes, I'd be happy. Okay. I think Pat has served her time for quite some time. I think she might appreciate it.

And she also helped out, stuck around a couple other times when someone thought they were going to do it, but they changed their mind. Based on answering my question, I will second that nomination.

Goodbye, Mike.

Any other nominations?

Yeah, so then that moves to a vote. Is that correct, Carrie?

Well, we don't need the second for the nomination. Just I need to know all of the, and then we would close the nominations and then vote.

It's spelled out right in front of me, friends.

You're good.

All right, if there are no other nominations for Cemetery Commission President, I can get a motion to close the nominations.

Mike Racine will make a nomination to close 03749, closing the nomination for those selected for commission president.

That's all right.

And Rico Camacho seconds.

Okay, Rico seconds that. All in favor? Yes, all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none. Aye. The nominations are closed. Now, item number 03750, a motion to vote for the Cemetery Commission President.

I motion. No, I apologize. I motion for 2603750 to vote for the Cemetery Commission President.

I move to second to that.

Mike Christine will second.

to vote on Amanda as president. OK, so now the vote on the floor is to vote for Cemetery Commission president being Amanda Roddy. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Hearing none, the motion passes.

It's like we practiced that we did. We did. Thank you very much.

Appreciate the confidence.

Celebratory beverage. Thank you.

All right. That's not awkward moving for yourself.

It's necessary.

It is a sin.

You're a member of the team.

I am. Thank you for that. All right. We get to do the whole process all over again. and I will actually read what's in front of me. Next on the agenda is the election of Cemetery Commission Vice President. So item number zero, ending 0-3-7-5-1, if they can receive a motion to open the nominations for Cemetery Commission Vice President.

Mike Christine will make a motion. to open nominations for Cemetery Commission Vice President. Rico Camacho will second.

We have first and second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, the nominations are open. Next on the item is ID 26-03752, the nominations for Cemetery Commission Vice President.

I will open the floor for 2603752. I move to start the nominations for Cemetery Commission Vice President.

All right.

And Mike. Mike Christine would second.

Okay. Rika and Mike second. Okay. Do we have any suggestions?

All in favor.

Oh, pardon me, all in favor? Aye. Apparently I'm trying to get us out of here. Yeah, no, you're doing great. You're doing great. We're very excited. You are doing great.

You are setting the pace.

OK, yes, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, nominations are now open for the vote. Any nominations for vice president?

I will nominate Alderman Mike Christine as Cemetery Commission Vice President. Do you want the job? Yes.

Can I do that?

Yes, as Alder.

Can Alder do that? I don't know the bio.

I was just electing the Vice President of Parks and Rec, so that's why I didn't. You didn't tell me that. Yes, I did.

We're getting confirmation. Sorry. Yes, I saw it. Yes, yes.

It's out there, they all know that. I will accept the nomination. If you have any questions for me, now would be the time to ask.

All right.

I just did. I said, do you want it? Yes. Okay, good. We're all here besides you. We did it, seriously. We really did. I was just excited for you.

There could be other nominations.

Yep. Any other nominations other than mine? All right. Absolutely. Okay, well, hearing no more nominations, Let's move on to the next item, ID 26-03753. Close the nominations for Cemetery Commission Vice President.

I move to close nominations for Cemetery Commission Vice President.

All right, there's a first and a second.

Second.

Okay, Terry's going to second that. All those in favor to close the nominations say aye.

Aye.

All right, nays, hearing none. The nominations are closed. Let's open up ID 2603754 to vote on the Cemetery Commission Vice President. What did I miss here? All in favor. Did you have a motion?

Yeah, we had a motion.

Oh, we closed it. So we need a motion to vote. Oops, I'm not going to. All right. I have a motion to open. All right, for the vote. So Amanda will motion to vote on Cemetery Commission, Vice President. Second. So moved. There you go. And a vote. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none. Our vote for Vice President being Alderman Mike Christine. Christine, yes.

Christine, very nice. My mother-in-law doesn't sound that nice.

That's why. Okay. She said in love.

I said I love you mother in law.

Okay. We have voted, yes? To open the vote. To open the vote. So all those in favor of Alderman Mike Christine as Vice President of the Cemetery Commission, say aye. Aye.

Opposed?

Hearing none, congratulations. We got through all of those and looked like a ping-pong match of Mike and Rico, but we made it. Thank you, everybody, for your assistance and your votes and continued service. Next on our agenda are reports. So the first one being cemetery director report.

When you are ready. The attachment is the service summary report. back quite a few years, but you can see our services in 2016 through May. There were 68 total services, and the lower part is the breakdown of the type of service. And we are seeing, through May, 43% of our services were cremation, but that does tend to pick up in the summertime, so we're seeing more of that being scheduled now. And just for information, 12% were natural burial services. Is that a decrease? Yes. We see like last year, 2025, was 7% total of natural burial services. And our sales for pre-need natural burial are really picking up as well. So just to report generally, Memorial Day, Preparation went well this year. The weather cooperated. We had seasonals on board early enough to help us get it all done. We do have one more seasonal still to start in two weeks. But otherwise, then we'll have a full slate of seasonal employees. And then wanted to, oh, so the prairie burn, I mentioned that last meeting. That got postponed because of weather and conditions weren't proper for the spring, so we'll be hoping to do that in the fall. And then the CIP projects for this year, the chapel tuck pointing is nearly complete. It looks pretty good. The security cameras should be installed soon for completion of that. And then the autumn garden roofing project and tuck pointing and caulking project should be commencing this summer. And we did receive our golf carts this year, so there was one on the CIP agenda. We were able to get three for replacements for less than the cost of the one that was budgeted. They are used, but they're working well for us. And the CIP budget is out now for coming five years so I'm working on that this month and we'll be looking at our past ones and then looking to see what we need to add and we'll be adding some more replacements they need to be replaced every several years and it's hard to believe it's we're getting there at least in the next five years but we will see a reduced CIP for golf carts. That'll be good. Let's see. The tribute garden in the veterans section was delayed. We couldn't get the landscaper to get it done by Memorial Day, so the friends and I worked on a grant and got quite a discount. A grant was awarded. for the cause, but we'll have that. They've said that that'll be installed by Waukesha Unlocked in October. So it'll be a fall project. There you go, yeah. So we're excited about that. Because we're seeing the increasing demand in cremation and like the last year and a half ago we added a columbarium in the boulevard. And it's about 67% sold already. We need to add more cremation options. And so I've been seeking out companies to do a plan. And I'll just share this. It's not for a vote at this point. This is a first rendering of, I just have a couple of them if you want to share maybe. Plan for adding cremation options to the boulevard, and it would be a phase-in project. So that's really just for your information at this point, just to see, and if you had any comments, you can keep turning and you'll see the dimensional, yes.

I know this is the first, but are we able to, oh, this is pretty. know by chance if we have how much yet, or is that going to start?

I'm getting quotes for the phase one right now.

Okay. And this will come out of CIP, you said?

Potentially. I'm talking with the finance director. At least a portion of it would be potentially included in the CIP, but we're working that out with finance, which portion has to be. The columbarium may not. Yeah, well, hopefully.

Yeah, knock on wood, but I mean, that's the direction we're headed.

So it's exciting to see, and if you turn the pages, you'll see, like, the original.

It's something that would be, like, it seems like it's around Washington, D.C. Yeah, I was going to say, it's really cool, yeah. On a smaller scale, that's just very appropriately looking.

Yes. And obviously, this is going to be another silly question, I guess, but the... plants and basically the landscape architecture. It'll try to be as within budget, obviously, but very similar because it looks really nice.

Yeah. So I've submitted some other plant suggestions based on our team's desire for low maintenance and plants that they think would look good as well. So then they'll possibly redesign that. There's also some other... cremation options that they may add to going back and forth with some renderings. But at the August meeting, my plan would be then to have the rendition, the phased rendition available for approval, and then also have the pricing at that time, at least for phase one. Love it.

Okay.

So then how many, I don't know the exact verbiage, how many Spaces would be... Yeah, well, when it's all done, it would be... And it depends on if you see the fill-in spots around the perimeters of the sidewalks, those are optional. They're left open blank because we could decide to do lawn inches or private estates or whatever, and that could make some difference on the number, but it'll probably be... at least 1,000. And I'll have more of that next, at the next meeting as well. I thought you'd be interested to see, it's very exciting. And I think it's a nice use of the space, with the rounded sidewalks. I just wanted to share that, and if you have any comments, you can feel free to let me know. I think that's, and then, oh.

All right. Okay, thank you.

I have some questions. How many full-time lower operators? I think you have like three consistent ones, and then there's like a fourth one, a part-time.

So for grounds maintenance, we have three full-time. And then in the summer, we have a equivalent of five and a half seasonals.

So, but that's three full-time plus the five and a half seasonal?

Or that is... Yeah, the full-times are still working in the summer.

Right, but I'm saying that in addition to the three, there's five and a half, or is it two and a half? No, it's five and a half. Okay, excellent. So that's roughly the sum that we have. And I'm glad because I know

Well, the wage went up 25 cents, so it would have gone up significantly. I did post it in January, but what I have found is in the last few weeks, there's been quite a few coming in. Well, those positions we had to fill. So I'll be taking it down soon. I'd like to make sure that the last one actually shows up. But it's probably because... College students are, you know, finishing their exams now and they're thinking, well, what am I going to do this summer?

And high school students.

Oh, and high school, yes. So we do have a very good team this year.

We're happy. And the part-time people, they don't operate the big expensive movers, right? It's more the full-time people? They operate all the movers. Okay. But do the part-times?

Yes. Okay, thank you. For the mowers. They don't operate the backhoe.

Right.

Right.

But we have really, really expensive mowers. Right. We talked about that. That's what I'm just saying. We have what? We have some, like, expensive ones, like $12,000, $14,000 ones, and then there's smaller ones.

Oh, yeah. They're all zero-turn, 48-inch deck mowers. And they are a little costly, but we... They all have to use them.

And I was going to say, there hasn't been any issues.

No, they're trained. Yes, I'm not questioning how they get trained, will they get trained. I know that's taken care of, but it's, you know, we went from having not enough people and then borrowing and other departments helping out, getting up to adequate staff levels. Can they all...

Any other questions? Thank you for that, Karen. Next on the agenda for reports is Friends of the Prairie Home Cemetery President's Report.

Yes, from the president and from the Friends group. And actually, Terry, you can speak if you'd like. I have a few bullet points here to add.

But if there's anything else, you can add. I need a better speaker.

So like I mentioned, they're on track for the tribute garden in the newer veterans section to be installed before Waukesha unlocked in October. And I think tomorrow, let's see, Wednesday's event, you all have a flyer for the Taco John's fundraiser that will also help with this project. So please, if you can, support it. All right. And then the third annual tombstone trial date is Sunday, October 18th. So mark your calendars for that. And then, Teri, did you have anything?

Okay. All right. Thank you for that. And the next report is the Cemetery Commission's President's Report. I don't believe Pat left anything.

No, she just indicated that she, to me, that she did not wish to run for president again. And she felt like it was in good, the meeting today was in good hands with Amanda.

Well, thank you, Pat. There you go, your first report. It's all that. Alderman's report.

I would like to thank Pat for her service. was like, oh, let's get someone else in here. And then some plans changed and she ran again. So just think. And then how many years did she do that? How many years was she here?

She was the president when I came up.

Okay. Well, I'm not going to say how many because I don't know. But just thank you, Pat, for doing that. I had a lot of questions when I first got assigned. She was very gracious and helpful. Because some of my questions can be odd, but that's the only way I can find out things. So thank you, Amanda, for doing that. I want to bring up Waukesha Unlocked. The other commissions that I serve on, I bring up Waukesha Unlocked. It's not just a cemetery, but it's also landmark historic homes, businesses, and churches. For those listening at home, you'll want to get the flyers because once you start doing this, you're going to say, now we run out of time to do the thing. So really, it is a true two-day event. And check out historic homes or historic churches, our neat businesses, obviously our municipal cemetery, Prairie Home Cemetery. Are you going to be doing any fun event during the walk, Sean Locke? Or we don't know yet? Well, we're going to have the hayride. Oh, yes. You see that one.

It's part of the report. Is that trolley coming for the Les Paul?

Yes, there will be Les Paul tours that will be also coming through. Okay.

All right. That's going to be fun. Okay. That's the Altman's report, just in the Tombstone tribe. That was already brought up. Just as soon as we get more Rebecca, this team will really get her. As soon as they get the information, they're really good about getting that out to the community and the paper. So that's all I have. Do you have anything you have to say? You took it all, brother.

Took it all away.

Thank you.

The floor is yours. You're the star. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Alderman. Next on our agenda is referrals. Any referrals for us tonight?

Okay, completed.

Okay, and then the fence, the tree, and the thing that got hit two years ago, I keep forgetting to ask about, do we need any more referrals on that, or that's all fence?

The fence and the tree from the crash, that's all taken care of, and then the pillar on West Avenue is also taken care of.

Okay, because those were past. Sure.

Thank you. That's our next meeting date. You said August. Right now it is scheduled for August 10th. August 10th. Our next meeting here, assuming here in the training room, unless otherwise noted, that's 5.30. Why is August 10th bringing it up?

I'm sorry, you said it's 6 o'clock? 5.30. 5.30. in my phone calendar as we discussed.

Okay. There's nothing else with the next meeting date. Motion to adjourn? Yes.

I'll make a motion to adjourn. I will second.

Mike and Rico second. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

I didn't even finish my last sentence.

Terry, aye.

Yes. He did, aye. I was trying to guess my thing. Thank you, everybody.