Livingston 

VILLAGE OF LIVINGSTON

REGULAR BOARD MEETING

TUESDAY - APRIL 10, 2012

President Brown called meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

Those in attendance: Brown- Yes, Gluege-Yes, Richards- Yes, France -Yes, Loeffelholz –Yes, Haas-Yes. Absent - Warne. Also present were Gary Stuckey,Jackie Knutson, Rod Allen, Bart Neis, Todd Infield, Marcella Danti, Ryan Walterand Greg Marsh.  Ric Rinikerarrived at 7:30 and left at 7:37pm.

Clerk Christianson verified the agenda was posted at theVillage Post Office, Village Message Board and Village Office on 4/05/12. Boardmember packets were delivered to all members on 4/05/2012.

Motion made by Loeffelholz to approve March Minutes.  Gluege seconded.  All in favor.  Motion carried.

Library Report  

Betty was not present. 

Ric Riniker

            Motionby France that that we hold our open book May 10, 2012 from 8 to 10am at theVillage office and also suggested we have the Board of Review May 15, 2012 from5-7pm at the Village office.  Haasseconded.  All in favor.  Motion carried.  Christina will get it published inpaper and posted in the designated three areas around town.

            Ricreceived an application for tax exempt from Southwest Cap for the propertylocated at 445 S. Park, Livingston and wanted to have Village attorney ToddInfield look it over as Ric feels it is a rent to own situation and wanted asecond opinion.  He stated he didreceive an application from them last year but did nothing with it and they arere-applying. 

Bart Nies-Delta 3 Engineering

            Barthanded out the proposed bids for the water main improvements-Barber Ave and Hwy80.  Please see the attached bidsheet and letter from Delta Engineering. Bart suggested we go with the low bidder with PVC alternate #1 as tosave money.  Motion made by Haas toapprove Owen’s Excavating and Trenching, Inc. bid for Contract #1 w/alternate#1 in the amount of $19840.00. Loeffelholz seconded.  Rollcall vote, Gluege-yes, Richards-yes, Brown-yes, Haas-yes, France-yes andLoeffelholz-yes.  Motion carried asall were in favor 6-0.  Bartexplained that the completion date is June 1, 2012 for the work fromOwen’s.  The start date is roughlyMay 1, 2012.   Discussion washad over having a meeting versus a public hearing for the sidewalk assessmentsfor the property owners for the repair work on Hwy 80.  There was a meeting held last year inthe summer and 3 showed up as to some concern.  We now will have a public hearing and it will be publishedin the paper for two weeks and posted in the 3 areas around town.  Bart will be at meeting to help addressconcerns for the residents this will impact.  The public hearing will be May 2, 2012 at 7pm at the Villageoffice.  Christina will sendletters out to the five residents tomorrow as to let them know of the publichearing and that we are requesting their attendance.

            Bartalso discussed briefly of the road plotted in TIF #1 by the lift station.  There is 60 feet of right away and 250feet by the looks of it on the map on wall.  Bart will do some checking and get back in touch with areresident who was looking for information on what was plotted for a new road inthe TIF #1 area.

Police Report

            SteveJones was present and indicated that there has been a few stops and one arrestwas made.  Several dog complaintswere and are being dealt with.  Stevewill be watching the semi parking as it is becoming a problem with obstructingthe street and view.

Tree Committee

            MarcellaDanti was present and gave a brief report.  She applied for a grant and is hoping to receive$2000.00.  She stated that where therehas been tree removal she hopes to have trees planted soon.  She also stated that she would like tosee trees and or shrubs planted by the new concession stand at the ballpark andthe new well house area.

            Motionby France to make April 27, 2012 honorary Arbor Day.  Haas seconded. All in favor.  Motioncarried.

            Marcellaalso talked of giving a presentation about the value of trees at the nextmeeting.  The students fromIowa-Grant school will be looking to help out the Village and area residents onthe last day of school and Marcella is hoping to get their help and work on acorner garden.  Contribution ofannuals from them would be wonderful. Marcella would like to thank Gary and Clem for watering plants and treesin the past and would like them to do it again this year.

Citizens Concerns

            RodAllen was present and gave concern over a dog complaint that he has and had addressedon Thursday April 5, 2012 and wants the board to be informed of hiscomplaint.  Steve Jones andChristina had talked with Rod on Thursday and Christina had taken his complaintdown and had him sign it. Christina has since made up a more official complaint form as she wasunable to find such complaint in the office.  Anyone wanting to complain needs to fill out a complaint formin person and sign it in front of a village representative.  Steve Jones will have formsavailable.   Steve Jonesindicated he will contact the person who the complaint is on and give him a 1sttime verbal warning.  The secondwarning will be at the officer’s discretion as how to handle the situation asall complaints can be different. Steve Jones apologized for Grant County’s unresponsive help over thephone for Rod Allen on the day of the incident.  Ron will stop in and see Christina and fill out the properform to have on file in the office. Attorney Infield noted that if people want to press charges to keep inmind you will need witnesses to testify in court.  Rod also wanted the Board to know of an unsafe area at theBell park playground.  He submittedpictures of the concerned area. Gary will fix the area tomorrow. Rod said he will volunteer to help and had some ideas to fix the onearea on the little bridge that joins the two structures together.

            JackieKnutson wanted to know if the Village has any information on the Railroadproperty and what she owns and what was given back to Village from the railroadback in the 1980’s.  The village cannotsay as they do not know and does not have papers from transactions to theirknowledge from property with Knutson. Attorney Infield suggested that Jackie get Title Insurance ordered andit is her responsibility to know her lot lines and where they lay.  Jackie stated she will let the villageknow what she finds out.  Jackiealso wanted the Board to know that she has no problem with people using theaccess road to the water tower. She feels that people do not go to fast on this area.  Her property is right next to the accessarea.

Clerks Report/Treasurers Report

Christina presented the treasurerreport.  Gluege questioned why twoelection paychecks were so high. Christina informed the board that they were paid for a number ofdifferent times as they had set up time day before election and then the day ofthe election and they had a day of pre-lat testing and a public test on theSVRS system that is mandatory by the state.  Loeffelholz asked why some people were paid as “paycheck”and others were paid as vendors. Special boards that meet occasionally get paid through the vendor systemas it doesn’t amount to much per year and doesn’t have to go throughpayroll.  France also had aninquiry of what Quill was. Christina informed the board that it is the supply company she uses asthey are the cheapest and do not charge shipping.  Motion made by Loeffelholz to approve treasurer report fromMarch 2012.  France seconded.  Roll call vote, Gluege-yes,Richards-yes, Brown-yes, Haas-yes, France-yes, Loeffelholz-yes.  Motion carried.

Motion made by Loeffelholz forClerk Christianson to transfer money between accounts for the Village.  France seconded.  All in favor, motion carried.

Christina submitted to the board aresolution (2012-100B) for changing of polling place from Martin Allen Libraryto the Livingston/Clifton Fire station for approval.  France made a motion to approve Resolution number 2012-100B.  Haas seconded.  All in favor.  Motion carried.

Christina submitted information toall board members regarding a 3.2% simplified water rate case increase that wasrecommended by Jay Bennett of Johnson and Block.  It was estimated to cost approximately $100.00.  Motion made by Haas to start asimplified water rate case with Johnson and Block.  France seconded. All in favor.  Motioncarried.

Christina will be at Board ofReview training on April 18th in Madison and informed Gluege, Franceand Loeffelholz that one of them needs to be certified.  Gluege will attend meeting inMadison.  Loeffelholz will letChristina know tomorrow if she is able to attend.  France cannot attend. This needs to be done every two years.

Presidents Report

            Receivedtwo bills for approval.  One fromBill Hamilton in the amount of $550.00 for trimming/removal of trees and onefrom Esser Electric in the amount of $2500.00 for work on Lift stations.  Motion made by Gluege to approve bothbills.  Haas seconded.  All in favor.  Motion carried.

New Business

            AttorneyInfield was present and discussed adopting a yearly resolution to set a feeschedule and amend the schedule we have now so we may update prices.  Discussion was had on the fence ordinanceand how it is contradicting. Brown, Stuckey and Christina will get together and start the process offixing the ordinance book on the fence and fee issues. 

            Aletter from W. Hannan was received by Betty and she forwarded toChristina.  The area of concern wasthe signage at Bell Park.  Thiswill be looked into and tabled till next month.  The other area of concern was in regards to the shelter thatthe LCIC operates and Christina gave the information to Board member Haas andSheila Ruchti to handle. Haas gave an update on the Festival and some of theinterests of what they would like to do as they held their meeting earliertonight.  They have some issues tofigure out yet with permits, etc. The next meeting for the LCIC will be April 17th.

            Loeffelholzhad a resident inquire about the volleyball area and who can use it.  It is not the village’s property eventhough they maintain it.  The boardsaid that the property is Bruce Iveys and they didn’t think he would have anyproblems with people using it but making sure the property is safe to be used.

Maintenance Report

Status of Ball ParkRestroom/Concession stand; Gary is having a work weekend and is looking forvolunteers this coming weekend April 14th and 15th.  In case of rain there is work that canbe done inside.  Christina madeflyers and posted them at the post office, Village message board and Villageoffice.  Gary will have prices nextmonth from Crack Filling Service and what needs to be done for latesummer/early fall this year.  Weare looking at Franklin Street, Florence Street and the far West end of BarberAve.  John Kohlenberg will behooked up to water and sewer later this week if all goes well.  Gary and Clem will be at OSHA trainingon April 18 and 19, 2012.  Garywould like to flush fire hydrants April 26, 2012.  He will check with Rural Route One first.  Gary did flush out approximately 50,000gallons of water out of the Park Street hydrant as there was a complaint ondiscolored water and a foul smell. The first 5 seconds run thought was orange but the rest was regularcolor.

Old Business

Tom will meet with Greg Marsh regarding hisdriveway/sidewalk issue tomorrow morning. An advertisement of bid has been submitted and published in thePlatteville Journal and posted around town for the work at theLivingston/Clifton Firehouse for the new driveway.  Bids are due by April 13, 2012.

Christina had discussed withAttorney Infield regarding Tom Thompson and his questions regarding selling ofhis business (Jake Daddy’s).  Hewanted to know if he can make the building into an apartment and rent it out ashe is unable to sell it as a bar.  Infieldstated that since it was in a TIF district it needs to be looked at farther andresearched with the people who created the TIF district.  There was discussion of possibly notrenewing the TIF #2 district as it is losing money anyway.  Christina will contact Jay at Johnsonand Block on this matter so we can come up with a solution for Mr. Thompson assoon as possible.

Gluege made a motion to adjourn at 9:30 pm. Richardsseconded. All in favor. Motion carried.

Next meeting will be on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 7pm.

DRAFT COPY UNTIL NEXT BOARD MEETING

Christina L. Christianson

Village of Livingston, Clerk/Treasurer