TOWN BOARD MEETING MINUTES

JULY 28, 2015

1. Pledge of Allegiance: lead by Chairman Marx.

2. Call to order & roll call: Town Board members present: Tom Marx, Bob Benson, Jim Schommer, James Brooks, and James Bechen. Also present: Town Atty. Lawrence Bechler, Andy Ross (President of Columbia County Economic Development Corp.; CCEDC), Lt. Wayne Smith (Columbia County Sheriff Dept.; CCSD), Lt. Rich Hoege (Columbia County Sheriff Dept.; CCSD), Curt Walters (Agent, Rural Insurance), Dave & Audrey Attoe, Tim Attoe, Chris McNeill (President, Harmony Grove Association; HGA), Gene & Ingrid Fleming, Neil McIntire, Joe Ballard (Lodi Enterprise), Bill Breunig, Teresa Jiran.

3. Citizen Input: Lt. Hoege – the speed limit on CTH V coming into Harmony Grove (on Lodi end) will be on the next Columbia County Safety Committee meeting agenda. Bechen – I am happy to see that the speed (test?) has been set up on that section of CTH V. Lt. Hoege - I have also looked at serious safety concerns on the section of CTH V from STH 113 to Rapp/Summerville. This too will be on the agenda stated above. Restricting parking is of great concerns to the 2 busy businesses in that area (Fitz's and Lucky's). Pewitt’s Nest in the Town of West Point has similar parking problems. One option is to is to keep the NO PARKING signed as it currently is, one option is to have no area posted NO PARKING, and another option to have NO PARKING on just one side. Benson – how is the NO PARKING in that area now? Lt. Hoege – currently it’s signed NO PARKING from Fitz’s to STH 113 on both sides of the road. Benson – those businesses do need on-street parking. Would changing it to only NO PARKING on one side help? Lt. Hoege – since there’s angled parking in front of the Okee School maybe on-street parking could be allowed from the school to Lucky’s, and then on-street parking on the other side from the school to Shamrock.

Lt. Wayne Smith – At a later date I can give you a breakdown of what all the abbreviations on our reports mean. Only 1 noise complaint in Okee, which was voluntarily been reduced by the business owner, plus a parking complaint on a Thursday night for a car parked in a NO PARKING zone.

Marx – just FYI (to Lt. Smith/Lt. Hoege) there’s a noise ordinance on our agenda tonight. We’ll let you know the results of whether that is adopted.

Dave Attoe (Demynck Road) - there’s people on the west side of us and it’s become a million dollar party house. Live bands with amplifiers along with fireworks on the 4th of July. There were close to 200 people on that property for most of the night. People were running around our property, out on our dock, and parking in front of our garage/driveway. I have here several of the leftover pieces of fireworks that I picked up on my property after that party. That lot is not large enough to have a party like that. Marx – we are working on that. Audrey Attoe – it’s not only the 4th of July, they just had another party on July 18th, and the music is set up right outside my bedroom window within feet, along with fireworks. By the time the CCSD gets there the noise has quit. Our neighbor on the other side was upset also and ready to call the Sheriff. We’ve asked them to turn it down, they turn it down and a few minutes later they turn it right back up. Some of the partiers, as they leave, will actually shout out to us that they are leaving. Lt. Smith – what is your address (Audrey Attoe gave it to him), he stated he will look up the call logs for this location and I will follow up on it.

Steve Attoe (son of Dave & Audrey Attoe) - there were so many people on that lot that they were overflowing onto my parents property and pier, plus there were so many vehicles parked along the road that emergency vehicles would have had trouble, if not impossible, to make it anywhere. Town Supv. 1 James Brooks – I was at Attoe’s during the 4th of July party and I believe many of those fireworks were extremely dangerous, emergency vehicles would not have been able to get down the road, and I can attest to everything stated above. I had fireworks go over my head and land on us on Attoe’s property.

4. Rural Insurance (Curt Walters): Marx – we recently reinstituted the exchange/donation table at the Transfer Site. Benson – from your (Walters) standpoint what insurance does the town have that would cover someone who is injured by something they take from this table? Walters – you have a general liability coverage of $2 million dollars per occurrence (aggregate $4 million), which would cover this table. At the time the Resolution banning the table was done, it was reported to us that an employee or employees of the Transfer Site were taking things out of dumpsters that had been discarded by residents and putting them on the exchange/table … that is a concern relating to insurance. But items are being put on the table by residents (not out of dumpsters) and taken home by other residents the town still has some risk, but probably very small. Does this affect Rural’s ability to insure the town … any claim affects the ability to be insured. But a table at the Transfer Site is not going to change your rates because the Transfer Site is covered under the general liability. Brooks – so the town is covered if someone is injured by something taken from the Transfer Site? Walters – Rural will defend the town from a lawsuit and pay based on the results of that within insurance limits. Schommer – and any claim can increase our premium. Walters – it can.

5. Eastern Columbia County Joint Municipal Court Presentation (ECCJMC): Brooks – at our last meeting the town joining this ECCJMC, which was turned down at that time. Present tonight is Judge Roy Breunig of that court. One concern we had was the statement in the Agreement for the Operation of the Joint Municipal Court for Eastern Columbia County "Whereas, the municipalities which are parties to this agreement have enacted identical ordinances thereby creating and establishing a municipal court to serve said municipalities". This makes it sound like we all have to have the exact same Code of Ordinances. But in talking to Karen she stated no, not all the municipalities in this court have the same ordinances. That paragraph means we all have to adopt the same ordinance creating the ECCJMC for the town to join with the other municipalities in this court, so that all the municipalities are playing with the same court rules, but not the same laws/ordinances. Atty. Lawrence Bechler – I concur with what has been stated above, the ordinance to join is fine. Benson – what is the advantage for the town to join this court? Brooks – the town has ordinances that we have almost no way to enforce, so the CCSD enforces county ordinances in the town, but can do little to enforce town ordinances. And fines from those citations goes to the county, the town gets nothing. Joining this ECCJMC would mean the town gets the monies from the fines. Atty. Bechler – the town does have ordinances that allows the town board members, building inspector, etc… to issue citations for violations. But enforcement has to be done through Columbia County Circuit Court and the town gets none of the money. Brooks – right now we have ordinances, such as for garbage in front of homes, junk vehicles, etc… and little way to enforce them fully. Atty. Bechler – there are sheriff departments that are contracted to work for municipalities and enforce town/village/city ordinances under the proper contract. Lt. Wayne Smith – that’s what we do with the contracts the county has with some municipalities, aka policing contracts. To do that we have to have a court to take them to, such as the ECCJMC. But the sheriff is only in our section for a short amount of time. Judge Breunig – if someone gets a citation and decides to plead not guilty to it the municipality can set up a time to have a phone conference with me and the town attorney. 10-12% of citations are plead not guilty to. 1-2% ever go to trial. Atty. Bechler – that’s completely accurate comparing to other municipal courts I’ve been involved with, and I was a prosecutor in municipal courts in the past. Benson (to Atty. Bechler) – another avenue the town has used in the past is for us to send a letter out explaining the violation and the fine for it, and if not paid it can be added to their real estate property tax bill … is that correct? Atty. Bechler – I don’t recommend it. Even though no one is likely to come back to the town and say you didn’t legally serve me a citation, it’s still not advisable. Benson – so is the ECCJMC a better method to use? Atty. Bechler – if you have the method to process citations in place to handle them quickly, it works. You need someone to enforce the ordinances (issue

citations), and someone to prosecute (an attorney) them. Marx – if someone pleads not guilty are the court costs added to the fine? Judge Breunig – if someone gets a $50 forfeiture, the total costs end up being $120. The salary for myself, the clerk, etc… there is no additional cost incurred by the court, the costs incurred are for the prosecutor/attorney, the enforcing officer. Marx – is there disincentive(s) for the defendant to not go to court? Atty. Bechler – the judge gets to determine the merits of the case, and most fines have a range of $50-$200, and the judge can determine the amount of the fine based on the merits of the violation. The court cannot penalize someone for exercising their right to be heard before a court. Brooks – for initial appearances can the town clerk bring citations to the court? Judge Breunig – they can be electronically transferred to the court. Lt. Hoege – the problem you run into is a paperwork problem with all the various routes the paperwork has to go through before the court hearing. What the sheriff’s dept. has done when it’s under contract is appear at the hearings. Atty. Bechler – with juveniles there is a lot more procedures to follow. Judge Breunig – Monday, August 3rd there will be an ECCJMC at Poynette starting at 1:30. Bechen – what’s the incentive to the CCSD Sheriff to enforce our town ordinances? Lt. Smith – we’re able to respond to your issues that the county doesn’t have an ordinance for, or where the county ordinance is more lenient. Bechen – example: how would the county have addressed the Attoe’s concerns stated this evening? Lt. Smith – if we were under contract with the town to enforce town ordinance then we would be able to enforce the town’s stricter ordinance whereas otherwise we’re bound to the county’s ordinance. Atty. Bechler (to Judge Breunig) – have any municipalities joined in the past few years? Judge Breunig – Village of Dane 1 or 2 years ago, Village of Poynette in 2009. Att. Bechler – the town should possibly ask the other municipalities how it’s been before and after they joined this ECCJMC. Benson (to Lt. Smith) – how does the contract we have with the sheriff now differ from a contract with the sheriff to enforce town ordinances? Lt. Smith – with those contracts to enforce town ordinances there are specific contract hours set where our officer enforces only for the town. We would just need time to enter the town’s ordinances in our system electronically, and then it’s on every officer's computer. Currently we’re contracted with Cambria where we’re scheduled approximately 90 hours/month. Some are follow-up to complaints sent to us from the clerk who has received the complaints. Benson – is this a favorable thing for the town and county to do? Lt. Smith – yes, it gives us more enforcement authority and gives the town ordinance enforcement authority. Marx (to Lt. Smith) – if the county’s ordinance on noise and the town’s ordinance on noise are exactly the same, and a violation occurs during a contracted time with the town, whose ordinance would you enforce and write the citation for? Lt. Smith – the town’s.

Brooks/Bechen motion to adopt ordinance 2015-07 to join the Eastern Columbia County Joint Municipal Court and pay the $860, MC 5-0.

6. Andy Ross, President of CCEDC re broadband: We deal primarily with economic development issues. But you have to have things in place to make it good for current and future businesses, which includes broadband. By December we’d like to have a plan together, and start the process by hiring a consultant in 2016. Benson – when you’re in a rural area and you’re one of a few, or the only one at the end of a long rural road, you just don’t get service. Ross – folks in rural area end up paying more, but we don’t want it to get to be too much. I have talked to every internet provider in the area and they’re “up to their eyeballs” in how to do this. There’s no campgrounds in our area that have high-speed internet available. Benson – there might be grant money for companies like Charter to go into a community to do the construction? Ross – yes. Marx – 20 some years ago when I was President of the Village of Waunakee we were having pretty much this same discussion. Technology is expanding so quickly, and we’re talking broadband now, but how soon could that become obsolete and antiquated. Ross – I think the technology has now advanced to within the next 10-20 year window. Cable seems to be the way to go, most economical, easiest to install. Bechen – what is it going to cost the taxpayers of the county? Ross – nothing more than the $20,000 stated in what I presented tonight. Bechen – so down the road we’re not going to see an increase in their county taxes for broadband? Ross – I know I have a reputation for that, but that’s only been for items that the county is required to be doing, broadband is not

something the county is required to do. Ross quote: "I will not bring anything to the county board that will increase the county taxes". Bechen – my concern is the CCEDC, which gets it’s funding from the county, will use some of it’s funding to help people pay for broadband who can’t afford it. Ross – we don’t have enough of a budget to do that.