Town of Blooming Grove Board Meeting Minutes – June 22, 2010

Chair Johnson called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. Board members in attendance were Chair Johnson, Supervisor Linzmeier, Supervisor Young and Supervisor Berg. Supervisor McLaughlin was excused. Also in attendance were Public Works Supervisor Rick Konkel, Bill Elmore, Joan Elmore, Judy Riddle, Kathy Buchicchio, Joe Buchicchio, Rick Riddle, Edward Brost, Ray Boness, Chuck Deadman Jr., Jill Dumphy, Tom Dumphy, Kellene Leicht, Scott Johnston, Bridgit Johnston, and Michael Burni.

The pledge of allegiance was recited. Chair Johnson asked if the meeting notice had been properly posted, and Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Chris Astrella stated it had been. The agenda was reviewed and without objection Chair Johnson moved item 2b after item 2h.

2a. Operator's Licenses for Donald Peterson, George Koltes, Carolyn Benson, Dennis McCaslin, and Richard Kratochvil : After a few questions on 2 of the operator's licenses, Chair Johnson made a motion to approve the licenses as presented and it was seconded by Supervisor Linzmeier. The motion passed 4-0.

2c. Large Assembly Permit for Capital City Harley Davidson: Chair Johnson made a motion to approve the large assembly permit for Capital Harley as presented. Supervisor Young seconded it and it passed 4-0.

2d. 2010-11 Class B Beer License and Class B Liquor License for Jerry's Place, 601 N. Fair Oaks Ave : Supervisor Young made a motion to approve the Class B Beer and Liquor Licenses for Jerry's Place. It was seconded by Supervisor Linzmeier and passed 4-0.

2e. Cigarette License for Jerry's Place, 601 N Fair Oaks Ave: Chair Johnson made a motion to approve the cigarette license for Jerry's place and it was seconded by Supervisor Linzmeier. The motion passed 4-0.

2f. Street Opening Permit for Madison Gas and Electric at 226 Powers Ave: Chair Johnson made a motion to approve the street opening permit for MG&E at 226 Powers Ave. It was seconded by Supervisor Berg and passed 4-0.

2g. Fire station cost increase from $600,000: Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Astrella reported that attorney Chris Hughes informed him that the town board has the authority to increase the cost up to $700,000 since that authority was granted to them at the annual town meeting in April of 2010. The board could not exceed $700,000, and would not have to increase the dollar amount if they so chose; but they could increase the cost of the building limit to any number between the two. Members of the public then asked questions to clarify why the town was going to spend more money on a new fire station and where the money was going to come from. Resident Tom Streber attempted to make a motion to not exceed $600,000 for the cost of the building, however he was informed by Chair Johnson that residents are not allowed to make motions at board meetings, only at the annual meeting and the budget meeting. It was also further clarified that the building located at 5005 Allis Ave was sold at the end of May and that the proceeds from that ($248,367) would go towards lowering the overall cost of the new fire station. Various residents in attendence asked if it could be changed to a Public Works building, if the cost could be lowered, and if the project was even necessary at all. Fire Chief Glenn Linzmeier was available to answer any and all questions regarding the new fire station, and how it affected EMS services. He gave a general overview of the timeline and how long the town had been working on this process.

Supervisor Berg then stated his opposition to the project based on the cost increases and that he felt the town was not in the business of EMS service. He also talked about personnel costs, cost of the ambulance, run revenue projections and not being comfortable with the assumptions being made in the model in relation to run revenue and operating costs. After a few more comments from the public, Chair Johnson made a motion that an additional $50,000 be added from the annual town meeting authorization to be used for the building of the new fire station. The motion was seconded by Supervisor Young and passed 2-1-1 with Supervisor Berg voting against and Supervisor Linzmeier abstaining.

2h. Discussion of and Decision on bids for the new fire station: Ray Boness from Fischl construction was in attendance and challenged Wingra's Bid because in his opinion it was a non-conforming bid. Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Astrella talked about the legal advice from he received from the Wisconsin Town's Association and that since the error what a non-material in nature, that the town could reject or accept the RFP from Wingra without an issue. Supervisor Berg stated that since the building committee met and approved the Wingra bid, that the issue of sustainable assets was not an issue. Chair Johnson made a motion to award the bid to Wingra Construction, and it was Seconded by Supervisor Young. It passed 2-1-1 with Supervisor Berg voting against and Supervisor Linzmeier abstaining.

2b. Approval of Intergovernmental Agreement between the towns of Blooming Grove, Burke, and Madison: Supervisor Berg brought up two issues that concerned him, first that the amount of payment from the town of Burke would pay Blooming Grove was $60,000 per year, for the length of the agreement. He felt that with cost increases and changes in economics, it was irresponsible for an agreement to not have any type of increase built into it. Chief Linzmeier responded to that question by saying that the 3 admininstrators of the three towns met, $60,000 was the number they all agreed upon.

Chair Johnson talked about the ability for the town of Madison to pull out of the agreement at any time and that Blooming Grove would be required to provide EMS services to the town of Burke . Chief Linzmeier confirmed this, that Blooming Grove would be required to provide services to Burke for $60,000 per year.

Supervisor Berg also brought up the amount of payment that Blooming Grove would make to the town of Madison for the cost of billing, their EMS director and other services provided by them. He pointed out that there was a built in increase for the town of Madison 's payment, but there was no increase for Burke's payment.

The termination of the agreement was also brought forward by Supervisor Berg and he felt that the advantage lied with Burke and Madison and that Blooming Grove was potentially holding the burden. Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Astrella spoke to the termination part of the IGA, in that if Blooming Grove wanted to pull out of the agreement it could. Before he looked at the agreement, there was not an opportunity for Blooming Grove to terminate the agreement. With the revisions, there is a consistent out for Blooming Grove, Burke, and Madison .

Chair Johnson made a motion to defer action on the IGA until the board's questions can be answered. The motion was seconded by Supervisor Young and passed 4-0.

3a. Minutes of June 8, 2010 Town Board Meeting: Supervisor Berg had some changes that he wanted to see made to the minutes. He gave Deputy Clerk/Treasurer a handwritten paragraph of changes to be made to the minutes in addition to adding Adam's (from Wingra Construction) last name. Supervisor Berg made a motion to approve the minutes as ammended and it was seconded by Chair Johnson. The motion passed unanimously.

3b. Vouchers: Supervisor Young made a motion to approve the vouchers and it was seconded by Chair Johnson. The motion passed 4-0.

4. Public Comment: Deb Sellers was concerned that since the parks equipment that was approved by the Parks Commission hasn't been on the board agenda recently that the money earmarked for it would be used for something different.

Tom Streber asked Chair Johnson if he had his email address and requested that all board members email address be published in the newsletter so that citizens can contact them.

Tom Streber talked about an employee of the town that sends emails to him that insult his intelligence. He felt that it is very unappropriate for the Deputy Clerk/Treasurer/Admininstrator to be sending emails out with a certin signature at the end of his emails. Specifically he brought up Chris “Crazy Orange” Astrella and said it was very in appropriate. Tom did not want it on his emails and said it is going to stop. He asked Chair Johnson to pass that message along to Chris that it is very inappropriate and that it insults his intelligence. He felt a public official should not be be allowed to put down “Crazy Orange”, which may be his handle, and that he didn't like it and that it was unprofessional. He also stated he did not have another way to bring this concern up and apologized for bringing it up during public comment.

5. Adjournment: Chair Johnson made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:55pm. It was seconded by Supervisor Linzmeier and passed 4-0.

Chris Astrella
Deputy Clerk/Treasurer/Administrator