No Structural Damage To Jefferson Ditch Bridge. 68 Village Sites Need Repairs Due To Flood - $200K In Repairs. Well 7 Online.
Free Water Test Kits For Homes' Wells - Clerks Office. FD Building Expansion Moves Forward. Richfield IGA Work Remains On Hold. Board Moves Budget Discussion To Committee Level Over COW Meetings.
From video.
9/2/2025 Village Board Meeting Agenda packet here.
Meeting starts here. President’s report: First day of school. 20th anniversary of Katrina, our flood caused min of $500k in damage. Germantown was first to declare a state of emergency. Next steps with agencies to fix the sequence of traffic lights along county line road. November 15th at 1:30pm for Christmas parade. Green Bay packaging had their ribbon cutting ceremony. Last summer concert happened. Road work is almost finished. 2026 budget is now balanced and is ready for review and rework.
Trustees announce the next meeting dates of the committees they chair.
Public comments here. Lady drove around the village after the flood to see the affect. She comments that the more concrete there is, the less water is absorbed by grass or fields. Sell the recently purchased properties by the village. She has questions about why so much development of “roads to nowhere”. Her taxes have gone up. 68% of the people do not want taxes to continue to go up.
Congratulations on having the budget discussions at the committee level. How will the lift station replacement/renovations costs affect the budget? Renovation of the existing fire station is a more sustainable way over building new for expanding the use of the fire station as long as it meets the departments needs.
Residents ask that the board be conscious of not overspending as has been done in the past.
Germantown Firefighters local 4054 urge the board to approve the expansion/renovation of fire station 2. They point out the deficiencies and that there is a problem with mold that needs attention now.
Storm response update here. Matt Mortwedt, Director of Public Works, presents an update on the public side of the recovery and reporting on the flooding event in August.
Focus has been on reporting, debris collection, repairs. The damage may change the schedule of other work that has been put in the queue for the upcoming year; such as Rockfield Road being redone within the TID to correct the damage.
The Jefferson Ditch had all its footings’ wiped clean of gravel/rock coverage on the north side abutment on the inside. The bridge is safe.
Other services are delayed that would be normally done in the fall.
Well 7 has been tested, treated, retested and released to be reopened up for operations.
Trustee Kaminski asks about the FEMA funds that may come our way. Up to 80% of what has been reported, if any. The estimate had to been created to “like condition” and not a permanent fix.
Waste management did not help with the debris removal; it was handled by the DPW staff almost entirely.
Oktoberfest liquor license here. Approved.
Damage Claim disallowed here. Not enough information in the packet. They review what was provided and decide to disallow the claim.
Old Farm and Main Street Lift station study here. Matt Mortwedt returns to the podium to provide an overview of the study. Both need work to upgrade and be improved. Old Farm is the last stop before MMSD; Main Street is before that. He provides details on what would be needed for work at each site. The dollar amount comes to roughly $15M for both.
Design next year for both. Start with Old Farm’s construction in 2027 and Main Street the following year. The timing is synced with Division Road work.
They review the timeline for the lift station on the County Line to be relocated. Nothing solid.
Flood plane not an issue.
Holy Hill Right Of Way purchase for Richfield Water and Sewer service here. Trustee Cutts asks about a crossing noted in the agreement. Trustee Baum asks about the new crossing status and is told that nothing is happening at the moment.
Trustee Borst asks what are the total costs to date. Approximately $500K so far. No construction of utilities has started and we are waiting for Richfield to have a developer.
Trustee Baum suggests that the village could pay for the work to move it forward and be reimbursed by Richfield in the future.
No eminent domain action was needed. Agreements have been made with property owners.
Fire Station 2 renovation and expansion here. Chief John Delain, Fire Department, presents two options both around $6.5M for the renovation and expansion of the fire station. He reviews the history of the building and the changes in how the department responds over time.
The discussion with the board includes are either plan the right one for the future. They discuss how they sold equipment to fit into the current building. They also talk about the need for a second location on the east side of town in the future.
The county is discussing consolidation of EMS services throughout the county.
They vote to move the matter forward but without landing on or confirming that either plan is the right one.
Updated Fire Department billable services schedule here. After studying the area municipal rates Chief Delain says they have decided it is best to move to a flat rate. It will be more efficient in the invoicing and will allow them to recoup more revenue that covers their costs.
They vote to approve.
2026 recommended budget here. Matthew Uselding, Finance Director, presents the recommended budget. The general fund is dependent on property taxes, shared revenue and transportation help from the state. Net new construction will be 2.14% more than this year for calculations. Salaries and wages are going up by 7.7% in 2026.
Energy costs are going up next year.
From the video. The Rose color is DEBT SERVICE. Two spikes. 2023 = DPW bldg & 2025 Public Safety referendum. In 2022 it was at $3.1M and now is at $4.874M.
The slides presented in the video were not included in the agenda packet. Slight increase in tax rate of 4 cents projected for 4.58 mill rate.
They review capital projects.
Is it supposed to be 2026 capital projects? Unclear.
$3M for the design of a police station seems a lot. If that is 10% then the building will cost $30M in our future. Ouch.
The director then reviews two options for the flow of the budget review; one, sending to committee and the other handling as in the recent past through the committee of the whole meetings.
The provide direction to move on the committee level budget review meetings.
This should mean a more vigorous discussion and pulling apart of the budget as presented. We may see some actual effort to reduce costs through this process.
Meeting ends.