[0:00] Oh,
[0:03] all the board of trustees and the um HR
and finance uh boards together for a
[0:10] joint uh budget workshop meeting called
order. Uh number two, pledge allegiance
[0:14] to the flag. If you all stand, please. I
pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[0:19] United States of America and to the
republic for it stands one nation under
[0:25] God indivisible with liberty and justice
for all.
[0:29] » Thank you all. Roll call for
>> here.
[0:36] He's excused. Beck
>> here.
[0:40] here.
>> Here
[0:46] » finance and HR. Olsson
>> here.
[0:49] » Here.
>> Daniels
[0:50] » here.
>> Mel,
[0:54] » here.
>> Ricker
[0:55] » here.
>> Boy, thank you. Uh, public comments. I'm
[1:01] just going to take them in the order I
received them. So, Grace, if you could
[1:04] uh join us.
>> Grace.
[1:09] 603 Jessica from Weston. Um, my comment
is on the little thing that you added
[1:15] about potentially giving Village of West
employees off on a Friday afternoon. I'm
[1:20] not saying that I agree with it or
disagree with it, but however, I don't
[1:23] know how many people that are employed
by Village West are salary or hour. On
[1:28] salary, it's not going to make any
difference because on salary to get paid
[1:32] to get the job done and however many
hours it takes, it takes. However, I
[1:36] also see that we're having a discussion
on reclassifying one of the people that
[1:40] was an engineer engineering tech. I
don't know exactly which one it was, but
[1:44] I'm sure it was one of Mike's guys. Now,
we're taking him back to um hourly from
[1:49] salaried and probably very well within
the law. I'll have to agree with that.
[1:52] But then we're back dating um overtime
back to August. So, I'm going to assume
[1:57] this individual has overtime during the
months of June, July, and August that
[2:01] most of Mike's guys are probably working
out. They're doing some things during
[2:05] the summer that will have extra
overtime. So, I'm going to say if you
[2:09] guys are going to do this, when you do
it with the elderly people, I would hope
[2:13] that we're only paying them for the
actual hours worked, but that we're
[2:16] taking it into consideration when we do
calculate overtime that if the the core
[2:21] of the overtime is at 40 hours a week,
not x number of hours per day because I
[2:27] don't know how your benefits and all of
your salaries line up. But in the past,
[2:30] I've worked for both where over eight
hours a day was automatic and I've
[2:34] worked for places over 40 hours. I would
hope that you would take that into
[2:37] consideration that hourly people get
paid for if it's 34 hours that week,
[2:41] they get paid for 34 hours. That they do
not get paid on the taxpayers's dime and
[2:46] that it gets rolled into the calculation
for overtime. So, if they are working
[2:51] overtime on any of the other days,
potentially they're working overtime or
[2:54] straight time versus time and a half, a
taxpayers's expense. Thank you.
[3:00] Just a quick clarification. Um, we pay
over 40 hours, right?
[3:05] » Correct.
>> Over eight.
[3:06] » Yep. Okay. All right. Uh, let's see.
Number two. Uh, Jim, I got you as number
[3:11] two.
>> Good evening. Jim Pel,
[3:16] at the last meeting, an absolutely
phenomenal question was asked. What is
[3:20] the expense increase for every 1% change
in salary? I've been involved in
[3:24] following this budget process for four
years now and this is the first time
[3:28] I've witnessed that question being
asked. But it is a super important one.
[3:32] We should determine what the actual
budgetary impact of taking that action
[3:36] is. There was no answer last time as if
this unprecedented request would require
[3:42] computing power leveraging quantum
quantum computing levels of calculation.
[3:47] Or maybe in the 30 years of the village
adopting budgets, not a single person
[3:52] thought to ask this question.
Thankfully, one wise woman made that
[3:56] ask, and we were all told that the
answer would be provided. Fast forward 2
[4:00] weeks, and the meeting packet for
tonight lands on the lesson website. It
[4:04] even has the question specifically
called out in an RFC, but what does not
[4:08] exist? Well, the answer to that
question, instead we're directed to a
[4:12] cryptic spreadsheet that is provided,
lacking totals and columns or context
[4:16] needed to interpret the data. After
spending way too long with a calculator
[4:20] trying to re reverse engineer the
answer, I just called over the village
[4:23] to ask for help. No one in the finance
department was in the office on Friday
[4:27] at 10:19 a.m. to assist. I was
transferred to administrator Gabri.
[4:33] She was unable to unravel what a 1%
raise total was by looking at the
[4:37] spreadsheet either. [clears throat] Now,
if the administrator herself, who was
[4:41] intimately involved with the budget,
cannot decipher the answer, how's a
[4:44] resident supposed to figure it out, more
alarming, how is an educa, how is an
[4:49] elected official supposed to figure it
out and then be expected to make an
[4:53] educated decision on the budget? This
leads me to another topic for discussion
[4:57] on the agenda this evening. Discussion
to action on modified summer hours for
[5:01] 2027. I can say that I am 100% in
opposition to closing this building on
[5:06] Fridays or any additional holidays at
this time. The role of government is to
[5:11] serve the residents and this cannot be
done with the doors shuttered. And
[5:14] really, we're not being fair across all
departments either. Water, streets,
[5:18] police, fire, those folks are expected
to work and do their jobs every single
[5:23] day. Is the expectation that when it
snows on New Year's Eve that the roads
[5:27] will not be plowed? How about should we
close the pool on Junth, should a
[5:31] resident not be allowed to pull a permit
on Friday when it's sunny outside? Just
[5:35] cuz everyone else is doing it, we should
too, right? This couldn't be further
[5:38] from the truth. Making this change would
benefit the white collar and
[5:41] administrative staff while unfairly
leaving the remainder of the employees
[5:45] behind. Seems short-sighted at best. I
could support having one day per week,
[5:50] which was a later start, and offices
remained open later into the evening,
[5:54] though. This would provide increased
exposure to residents. If you're
[5:58] scheduled to work 8 to 5 and the village
hall is open 8 to 4:30, it's basically
[6:02] impossible for anyone to do business
here without taking off of work. Ask me
[6:06] how I know. Staying open until 6:00 or
7:00 p.m. would facilitate working folks
[6:12] an opportunity to come in here. If a if
the bank can be open until 6 PM on a
[6:16] Friday, one day per week, it's not
unreasonable for the village hall to be
[6:20] as well. Oh, by the way, where's that
PowerPoint presentation for tonight? It
[6:25] certainly doesn't exist in the packet.
Can we please make this stuff public for
[6:30] everyone to enjoy? It was missing last
time, too.
[6:36] [clears throat]
>> Um, it's in the packet, right?
[6:39] » It is in the packet.
>> Yeah, it's in the packet.
[6:42] » It was added today.
added today.
[6:44] » Yep,
>> it was added today.
[6:50] » Let's see. And last, John,
[6:55] 1506 Daily Avenue. Um, [clears throat]
what I'm here for is they're just went
[7:00] through and did Western did a water
check for all the houses. They came
[7:04] through and checked her. Make sure
you're up to date for the anti-scip.
[7:07] Well, I got a letter today. The guy came
to inspect my house. I got to replace
[7:11] faucet, which is okay. And then there's
a few other things I got to do that's
[7:15] really simple with a faucet. Today
[clears throat] I got a letter from this
[7:18] from Weston. It says in that letter that
I need a licensed electric licensed
[7:23] plumber to replace these things plus a
test.
[7:27] And to me, I don't understand why I need
a licensed plumber to threw three little
[7:33] things on a faucet. I go buy at Ace
Hardware and replace anti-ciphon faucet.
[7:39] I've done these for years, built houses,
I've done it for years.
[7:44] But my question is, if I got to have it
inspect like that, did he inspect every
[7:48] house in Weston for the anti-ciphon to
make sure it was working? If not, why
[7:54] should I have to have mine inspected by
somebody where I can have the receipt
[7:57] and say this is brand new? So, that's
something I got from the city of the
[8:01] Weston today. And I thought it was a
state ordinance, but then it says it's a
[8:05] Weston ordinance that somebody you guys
must have put in. My house was built in
[8:10] 1960 and it's been working fine since
then.
[8:14] So why all of a sudden this has got to
be can't be cut grandfathered in? That's
[8:19] my opinion on that. Okay.
>> Thank you.
[8:27] » All right. Uh let's see. Minutes from
previous meeting number four, approval
[8:30] of August 24th, 2026 joint budget
workshop meeting. Approval by both um
[8:36] committee and board.
>> Okay. So, we'll need a approval by HR
[8:41] finance and approval by board.
>> HR finance.
[8:45] » I'll make a motion to approve that.
>> Motion by Daniels. Is there a second?
[8:49] » Second.
>> Second by I forget your last name. I can
[8:52] never say Pavlo.
Any discussion on the motion?
[8:57] Not. All those in favor signify by
saying I.
[9:00] » I.
>> I. Opposed. Motion carries.
[9:02] » Okay. Same uh approval of August 24th,
26 for the board.
[9:06] » I'll make a motion to approve.
>> Motion by Beck.
[9:09] » Second.
>> Second by Emrling. Um all those in favor
[9:12] say I.
>> I. Opposed. So carried. Thank you.
[9:17] Unfinished business. Number five, review
and discussion of 2027 budget. Uh
[9:22] general fund review levy uh breakdown
for fixed fees, non-discretionary and
[9:27] personal expenses. All other funds
except utilities, wage questions,
[9:30] followup, benefits, renewal update if
>> just we're going to go to the Okay,
[9:36] thank you.
>> So we have a presentation tonight. I see
[9:40] there's still one more copy on the table
if someone would like a paper copy.
[9:45] Jessica and I will probably be going
back and forth on most of the slides
[9:50] until we get to the special revenue
funds. Then Jessica will talk about
[9:53] those. But if any of the directors want
to add any comments to I thought given
[9:59] we we grouped them all together, the
items that were under this agenda, we
[10:04] won't necessarily take them in order. We
thought we maybe would start with the
[10:08] wage and benefit estimate. So the the
chart that you had in the packet was
[10:13] both wage and benefits. So it took into
account the preliminary 10% increase
[10:20] that we received for health insurance.
Again, that's preliminary. We don't know
[10:25] that's where it will end up. But we did
account for that in the budget because
[10:30] that is what was shared with us by our
provider. Five.
[10:35] Then we did the zero, the one, the two,
the two and a half, and the three.
[10:42] Again, fund 21, which is where the TIFF
is. Those dollars have to come back into
[10:48] general. So the first slide is what was
the chart that was in your packet. The
[10:55] next slide
is just that percentage by fund. So, in
[11:03] general, a 1% raise, not taking into
account that the tiff is moving back to
[11:10] general, just that 1% raise is the
$17,583.50
[11:16] and then the subsequent two, 2 and a
half, and 3%.
[11:20] And it's broken by fund.
[11:27] » I think I would just pause there and
make sure that
[11:32] Are there follow-up questions? Is that
the information
[11:36] that was being looked for?
>> I think Christina, were you the one that
[11:41] asked that question? Is this what you're
looking for?
[11:45] » I Yes. Yeah, I think so.
>> I think it is. But the math isn't
[11:50] working for me as I do the math. And so
that's where I guess I'm getting
[11:53] confused because if I do like let's say
we take the wage and benefits, right?
[11:57] Because the general fund
>> the 2.7
[12:01] that's total right at what we're
expensing right now 0% correct in 2026
[12:07] » that's so 1% more would be what that
2.74 is
[12:12] that math [clears throat] didn't math
out for what I had there I had 1 or I
[12:16] had 2
73
[12:21] 4 73 so I guess
how was the formula written in this
[12:26] spread or like how is how did you get
that number?
[12:30] » You took all the wages in the general
fund. Some it's not a straight increase
[12:34] because the all the wages in the general
fund include all election workers which
[12:38] there was no scheduled wage increase for
includes all committees and board
[12:43] members and it's not a flat 1% increase
across the board because some of those
[12:49] don't have scheduled increases. I guess
maybe that's a note I would have put on
[12:53] here that like this 1% includes all
hourly and salaried staff getting 1% my
[12:58] and board members whoever else you just
listed not getting them because when I'm
[13:02] doing the math I'm like someone's not
doing math on this sheet correctly. So
[13:06] that would have been helpful to know I
think prior to to getting this or even
[13:10] just like an asterk on the bottom maybe
would be helpful.
[13:15] » Yes, my math and that'll be there.
That's why I was a little confused to
[13:18] begin with.
And then the difference category on
[13:22] below each one. What's that difference
doing? Is that doing the difference
[13:26] between the zero and the 1%. Or like how
what does the difference mean?
[13:32] » It's the increase. So under the 1% uh
278 299 that would be the increase over
[13:38] the 257600. So roughly about $21,000.
Right. Am I saying that right? So you're
[13:45] saying the difference what the
>> that difference is you know
[13:49] » oh good question actually why would
there be a question why would there be a
[13:52] difference
>> difference is with the estimate so we
[13:55] kind of shrunk this
>> um the original one was in the packet so
[13:59] the differences between the 0% in
benefits plus the estimate so the
[14:03] difference between the estimate and 0%
>> and a lot of that increases health
[14:08] insurance
[14:11] and WRS went up so that's would be the
257. It's It's based off the estimate.
[14:18] Um estimate's really not a great thing
to compare against. Um we gave you a ton
[14:23] of information and I guess this could be
a starting of a conversation if you want
[14:29] to clarify what you want us to bring
back, but there's a lot of information
[14:33] and a lot of interpretation. So it's a
great starting conversation.
[14:39] I
>> understand your question the difference
[14:41] on zero. Why would there be a difference
at zero?
[14:43] » Yeah. Yeah.
>> Okay.
[14:45] Do you understand that the 257600 under
zero? Am I What am I not seeing?
[14:52] » Benefits went up. Even though there's a
0% increase, the benefits are going up.
[14:56] » Okay. And are we are we figuring that
out?
[14:59] » And it's also what you're not seeing is
some people were only part-time because
[15:03] they were just
so
[15:06] » estimating 10%. What are we estimating?
10%.
[15:09] » 10% for health insurance.
>> Okay. So then that would correlate to
[15:11] the 10%. And then some don't have the
insurance. So that's why it's a little
[15:15] less in than a 2.720,
you know, whatever.
[15:19] » Okay. I think
>> I think it's next slide.
[15:28] » If you're looking for straight dollars,
[15:34] » sorry slide is just the wage. I was
going to say I see wages and benefits.
[15:38] So the next one, the other one is just
the wage.
[15:43] » Wage. Yep.
>> So then you would subtract the two just
[15:46] to find out how much the benefit portion
is.
[15:47] » Right.
>> So looking at that, you're obviously it
[15:51] is just wages. So under zero it's
nothing. And then 1717 and 88 and 87 for
[15:56] another full percent which would be a
little bit more than 17 but 175 which is
[16:02] about the same as the other two.
But you can't take column 0 times 1%
[16:07] because that's not going to give you
what is in 1%. You have to add in that
[16:10] odd u subset of people who So that's I
guess that's where the confusion was.
[16:16] » I was math here and this isn't mathing
out.
[16:18] » Glad I wasn't the only one.
>> Yeah, I couldn't figure it out. I know
[16:23] accounting is not forte. That's
Jessica's special special specialtity,
[16:27] but I could not figure it out either.
We so if you look at the spreadsheet
[16:32] there's a lot of hidden columns. We
could unhide them all and present all
[16:36] that information if you want to see it
but um people get really overwhelmed
[16:40] with a lot of numbers.
>> Could you send a spreadsheet like the
[16:45] spreadsheet itself and not just a PDF?
>> Sure. or
[16:51] » or just some just some notes just some
context to the numbers as you know maybe
[16:57] not all the columns but just some
additional assumptions that were used to
[17:00] calculate the numbers I think might be
beneficial so as we're looking at them
[17:05] we would know what the numbers what
numbers were used to get to the numbers
[17:09] that you have
>> without all the columns might be helpful
[17:12] too
>> and then could those notes be added to
[17:17] this second agenda that came out today
with this piece. Could that be added to
[17:22] that so that it's in the record and
public?
[17:26] » Sure. Okay.
>> We we did that last time. We we added
[17:29] the conversation about the priorities to
that.
[17:33] » I think this is a good example though
why you just don't take the information
[17:37] in pocket and try to understand it.
There's context behind it and it's
[17:42] important that we just don't put
information out there because then it
[17:45] gets misinterpreted. And I guess this is
a really good example of let's talk
[17:50] about the spreadsheet and what it means.
I just don't want you going off and
[17:53] thinking what it means. Um problem with
presenting the information ahead of
[17:57] schedule.
>> I would agree with that. But if we're
[18:00] prepping for meetings, it'd be nice to
know why the math isn't working. That's
[18:04] I guess just if we want to sit here and
be prepared to come to these meetings,
[18:06] it'd be helpful to know why the math on
1% isn't mapping out on 1%.
[18:11] » If it was just a 1% increase, that would
have been a really simple thing that we
[18:14] could have talked about during. There's
a ton of information. That's why we just
[18:18] didn't give you a 1% increase um at the
last meetings.
[18:23] » And just to clarify, Jessica, you said
that the benefits increase on here
[18:26] includes WRS and health insurance,
correct?
[18:29] » Okay.
>> Health insurance, life insurance, we're
[18:32] all getting older and life insurance, is
it cheaper when you get older? So,
[18:35] » it's true. That's all.
>> And it's still an estimate standing,
[18:38] right? It's not We don't have a firm
number yet.
[18:40] » We do not. And not on health insurance.
So, we have a firm number on WRS on the
[18:44] increase there. But,
and then life insurance, like those are
[18:48] our
>> life insurance always changes halfway
[18:52] through the year. So, we don't get a
really a heads up. Like, if it would
[18:54] have changed this past June, we would
know, but um for next June, I don't know
[18:59] if we've I haven't received any
information.
[19:03] [clears throat]
[19:11] I'm just going to scroll quick to while
we're still talking about wage and
[19:16] benefits to the rest of those follow-up
questions that were part of the RFC
[19:22] » because it was asked where are people
within the salary chart and we have that
[19:27] there we have 37 full-time and three
part-time and how that's broken down in
[19:32] the below the midpoint at the midpoint
and over the midpoint. point.
[19:39] Also, just an approximate number if all
the staff were to move to the midpoint,
[19:44] what that would mean.
And the total years of service only to
[19:49] the village of Weston within those 37
employees
[19:55] is 459 years. That's not in public
service. It's only to the village of
[19:59] Weston.
Um, we don't have any compression issues
[20:03] currently.
It was asked about merit and market and
[20:08] I did attach the form that we use for
merit and market and just detailed out
[20:12] the process
that comes back in in January and that
[20:16] form is completed by the department
heads.
[20:19] The 1% increase we just talked through
those two charts.
[20:24] Um
an approximate of what that 10%
[20:29] preliminary increase would be in health
insurance. Again, that's budget to
[20:33] budget, not actual to actual.
And then what is the average of our
[20:38] salary and the average of our hourly?
[20:46] So just in talking about wage, we just
also included a little information here
[20:50] about what is what is the cost if you
had to replace an employee.
[20:59] So sherm I know there's at least two
members of sherm here says that the the
[21:04] cost is between nine six to nine months
taking that from the average salary and
[21:10] then just a little bit more about the
direct and indirect costs.
[21:17] So,
if we make this very simple for us
[21:22] simple-minded people, are you telling me
that on the spreadsheet where it says
[21:26] under a 3%
um wage and benefit, it says the
[21:31] difference of $319,000
that if we give a 3% benefit or a wage
[21:36] increase this year that it's going to
cost us $319,000?
[21:43] Is that what this chart is saying?
>> Yes. Okay.
[21:50] » I think um just in my personal opinion
um
[21:56] I feel like these conversations are out
of order. Um I I don't know how I could
[22:02] possibly have a good conversation about
wages and employee retention when I
[22:10] don't have any idea what the overall
budget um is looking like. I just I feel
[22:15] like this is backwards.
[22:21] » Let's go a little bit more into general
fund. So, what we're we'll talk about
[22:27] more tonight in general fund is is 2026
leading up to 2027. We will start the
[22:33] general fund conversation just a little
bit later hoping to get closer to that
[22:37] final number on health insurance.
Um but
[22:44] kind of talking about how general fund
is broke apart.
[22:48] This is how operating expenses in a in
pyigraph and then in in number form
[22:53] broke apart for 2026.
The reason we're kind of sharing this
[22:57] for general fund is that's where that's
where the tax revenue goes, right? Your
[23:01] your there's no levy in in your utility.
Your levy is is in the general fund. uh
[23:07] you have a little levy in pool which
we'll talk about under special revenue
[23:10] but this is where that that tax levy is.
So right now uh and this will be what it
[23:17] is going forward right because we have
contractual agreements 55% of your
[23:21] general fund is public safety those are
contractual agreements.
[23:28] So we just broke that down. This being
by department,
[23:32] this being a little bit more up by major
categories just to look at it two
[23:36] different ways. So again, doing it in in
graphical form and then breaking apart
[23:41] those numbers.
personnel, non-discretionary, your
[23:46] utilities, your salt, your audit, um
your assessor, fuel, your other fixed
[23:52] fees, just noting out there, your your
two contracts uh of public safety are
[23:58] the essentially 52% over 51%.
And then your other expenditures
[24:08] just kind of showing when I mean when we
talk about levy and we talk about
[24:12] savings um that's not in that's not in
your other special funds that's not in
[24:17] your utility funds. We're we're talking
about general fund.
[24:21] » Just be quick with your fixed you said
this will be a fixed fee for the public
[24:25] safety but in reality if we're adding
three firefighters in 27 that's going to
[24:28] go up as well. Correct. It will go up.
But what I'm It's It's a fixed fee
[24:32] because you have a contract with them,
right?
[24:34] » So it's at least that much is what
you're saying.
[24:35] » Yeah.
>> Okay.
[24:36] » Jamie, what's the in the general fund
that other all other What is what falls
[24:40] into that? The 49459
>> usually contingency.
[24:46] » Okay.
[24:50] » What was that kid already?
>> All other
[24:53] 494
age.
[24:56] » It's usually contingency. That's what it
is. It's contingency and isn't it merit
[25:00] and market? It's our it's been the
15,000 for merit and market and
[25:04] contingency.
[25:11] » A lot of times we'll budget the funds
there and then when we need a budget
[25:15] adjustment, we'll take the funds from
there and put them to the appropriate
[25:18] department.
[25:26] So, every year there's this nice chart.
Um, Jessica does this nice chart as part
[25:30] of the budget book, but just shows you
the the prior year budget, the proposed
[25:37] budget, that net change, and then the
increase or decrease.
[25:41] And we we just wanted to show this
because in 2025, our net new
[25:45] construction was very good. That was a
big piece of that was that Amazon was
[25:50] done completely on January 1 and came
onto the tax ROS. And with that 2.29%
[25:56] increase in net new construction, that
gave us an allowable increase in the the
[26:00] levy of $131,390.
[26:04] But our increases just in our contract
with public safety were $293,000
[26:11] over that.
So in 2026, our net new construction is
[26:15] the 1.692
with that's that estimated increase
[26:20] 95,191.
We will have the onetime adjustment
[26:24] because of the closure of the TIFF which
we estimate at about $400,000.
[26:34] Adding one additional piece into into
this whole sort of revenue and
[26:38] expenditure mix. We just also want to
cover transportation aids
[26:44] and just reflecting
where we are getting that number back up
[26:50] and in and making those expenditures in
our transportation system so we can get
[26:55] to where we were with our GTA.
[27:01] With that said, we've taken those
increases in GTA, but we've decreased
[27:06] the public works budget. Some of that's
been transferred over to borrowing, but
[27:10] there's been less in public works even
though we're getting more GTA.
[27:19] » Do you want to add anything more,
Michael?
[27:24] » No. I mean, I guess the
crux of it is we we figure it out. I
[27:29] mean, well, you know, I have that grid
graphic just a little bit later. Okay.
[27:34] Yeah. I mean um so as you know I guess
we try to be very conscious too of you
[27:40] know kind of projecting out the
transportation aids that 2031 time
[27:45] period is kind of where everything's
going to likely plateau or even start
[27:49] coming down even more. So u the there's
a fixed formula and it has a six-year
[27:55] average and then it lags a year. So, you
know, we can I guess just to we have
[28:02] options for a few years, but then after
that, we just need to be conscious that
[28:05] we don't commit funds to a spot where
we're going to start losing revenue
[28:09] again. So,
>> I also want to point out I don't
[28:12] everyone sees that downward, but they
don't if you look at the actual numbers,
[28:17] those were very large $100,000,
110, 90, 80, those were reductions in
[28:24] revenue every year. Um, not a lot of you
are here, but that those were very tough
[28:29] years for the village. We we made a lot
of the magic happen behind the scenes.
[28:35] If you just saw, we have a levy increase
of $95,000 with a 1.6% increase back in
[28:44] 2012,
2014.
[28:48] Our levy increases weren't that much
more. So, we were covering a $100,000
[28:53] transportation aid decrease with a levy
increase of 95,000. Um, the staff here
[29:00] have had really hard times. So, when
you're talking about moving forward and
[29:04] a lot of surplus and there's something
somewhere, we already found a lot of the
[29:08] something somewhere um since 2012.
There's that was a very rough stretch.
[29:14] We have not had transportation rate
increase, the transportation aid
[29:20] increase until 2022. That was our first
year. I mean, the budget finally got a
[29:25] little bit easier. Um, but now it looks
like we're we're heading down eventually
[29:31] we'll be heading down again or at least
plateauing.
[29:35] » And you're estimating that plateau at 30
in 2030?
[29:38] » Some somewhere in there. Yeah.
>> Okay.
[29:41] » You know, I I guess Yeah. I my first
full year at the village was 2011. So I
[29:44] was like, "Hey, this is great." And then
every year after that, it was how do we
[29:48] plug a hundred plus thousand dollar gap?
>> 10 years.
[29:51] » Yeah.
>> And now it's going back up.
[29:53] » We're going back up. Yeah.
>> Thousand a year.
[29:56] » Yeah.
>> Approximately.
[30:01] » That's where we keep on warning. If you
continue to use transportation aid for
[30:06] non-transportation stuff, you're
decreasing that transportation expense
[30:11] number, which is going to eventually
limit the amount of transportation aid
[30:16] we're getting. So, just being conscious
of making sure that transportation aid
[30:21] is going to public works and streets.
>> Did that 10-year decrease happen in all
[30:26] municipalities?
>> No.
[30:28] » No. That's what I thought. I thought we
talked about
[30:30] » what happened was our tiff district had
a ton of in infrastructure
[30:35] and then when we stopped doing
infrastructure specifically the tiff
[30:39] districts cuz the hospital area was all
built up right so we stopped doing the
[30:43] infrastructure projects um we got had a
significant drop and it was also there
[30:50] were um really tough times in the
economy and our current administrator
[30:54] basically stopped our all borrowing for
all street projects um which hurt us
[30:59] even more.
>> I was just going to say this road aids
[31:04] are based on new construction and new,
you know, expenses. The more we spend,
[31:09] the more we get back.
So, if we cut back on it, eventually our
[31:16] transportation need a cut back.
[31:21] » Okay.
So, I thought it was this was a good
[31:25] opportunity because I I know we're
sounding a little gloomy, a good
[31:30] opportunity to kind of talk about why
are we in why are some of the reasons
[31:34] we're in this position. One of the
largest reasons is the net new
[31:37] construction, right? Net new
construction means that's all you can
[31:41] raise the levy. Even if the community
believes it's something that you truly
[31:45] need and you want and you are willing to
do, you can only raise that levy by net
[31:50] new construction. So, I found this was a
a good article. We can attach this to
[31:54] the the minutes, too, but I gave
everybody a copy, but it it just laid
[31:59] out a really good example, and we tried
to put it up there in graphical form. If
[32:03] your expenditure was $100 in 2020 and
your expense was $100 with your net new
[32:10] construction, you've you've paid your
bills. You've provided that service in
[32:15] 2025. Now, because you can only increase
by net new construction, your revenue is
[32:19] 124, but your expenses are 150. And
you're losing that gap every year. You
[32:25] you have to borrow, you have to raise
revenue, you have to do a referendum.
[32:30] There's you have to somehow work through
that gap every year. Um, this article
[32:36] was produced by the counties and you can
see on the second page there is not a
[32:40] county in the state of Wisconsin that's
not currently experiencing this gap with
[32:44] Bayfield County being having the most
extreme gap.
[32:54] So just the gap between cost to provide
governmentmandated services and the
[32:58] ability to raise the needed revenue
continues to grow.
[33:07] But one of the things that we know in
Weston is that we are being responsible.
[33:12] We are being collaborative. We are being
innovative and responsive towards this.
[33:17] And one of the reasons that we know that
is because of the Wisconsin Policy
[33:21] Forum. And we did include some slides
tonight with the the website to
[33:25] Wisconsin policy forum because we we'll
show you how to kind of work with the
[33:30] the research tool that they have on
there.
[33:34] But if you if you go to the website,
which I'll pull it up, looks like this.
[33:39] When you when you go, you can click on
research
[33:43] and you're going to get to all of their
municipal
[33:48] data set tools. They have lots of other
data that they do for school districts
[33:52] and you can contract with them if you
need research done. So there's lots of
[33:56] resources on this website but within the
municipal tool in the PowerPoint um I
[34:03] did include two slides
we can work through the others but
[34:07] here's for the example general
government uh expenditure the comparison
[34:12] village of Weston is at the bottom and I
did our other area municipalities is
[34:18] this comparison
and then also the property tax per uh
[34:24] per capita
the levy per capita and we're third to
[34:28] the bottom.
The dot on this chart represents the
[34:33] representation of residential to
commercial
[34:37] and tax base.
But if my
[34:43] on the website here are you can do up to
10 municipalities.
[34:48] I have the city of Marshall, the city of
Scoffield, Wisconsin Rapids, city of
[34:51] Wasa, village of Chrono, Rib Mountain,
Rothchild, and US. So you can see the
[34:56] lowest in general government.
It's been sitting for a while, so
[35:02] hopefully this works. No, we went back
to their general,
[35:07] but up here, you
you pick the municipalities. Right now
[35:13] it's it's it's picking the largest
municipalities in the state, but we can
[35:19] pick our
[35:23] whichever municipalities we would like
to use as a comparison.
[35:28] And you can run all of these scenarios
along the side. Street maintenance,
[35:34] fire, net police, basic spending,
property tax, shared revenue. So,
[35:43] we thought it was a good opportunity to
show the board and certainly if you
[35:47] wanted to take the opportunity to go and
see how other municipalities how Weston
[35:52] compares to other municipalities, you
certainly can.
[35:57] » I apologize, it's going to take me too
long to select the eight again to get
[36:00] them up, but they're the two in the in
the packet are the general government
[36:05] and the tax levy. and they do have
definitions of what they're including
[36:11] and all of that spending on the site.
[clears throat]
[36:15] So we we do have a lot
good going and we can do it right. Yes,
[36:23] we can. But tools in our toolbox kind of
going forward is it a reduction in levy
[36:29] funded services and what is that? Is it
an increase to fees? We've done some
[36:35] innovative service delivery and
partnerships.
[36:39] Are there others that folks are thinking
about? Referendum, taking on more debt,
[36:45] um completing more task in house instead
of contracting out, investing in our
[36:50] infrastructure, not letting it go beyond
repair. That has a lot to do with the
[36:54] GTA conversation or general
transportation aids. Or is it moving
[36:58] more street maintenance to borrowing?
Right. So
[37:05] where I wanted to dovetail this in
tonight is the strategic plan and we've
[37:11] we've talked about strategic plan before
and does this strategic plan still
[37:17] meet where we're at. This are just an
excerpt on our vision, our what, our
[37:22] mission, our why and our guiding
principles and then the four goals that
[37:27] came out of that strategic plan. But if
we're talking about these things about
[37:31] going forward and making any of these
changes, you know, do they fit within
[37:36] our vision for what we want to see
happen in the village going forward in
[37:40] the future?
[37:48] » I guess I just one of the things and I
don't want to get this wrong, so just
[37:53] please correct me if I'm going off the
wrong road here. Um but one of our
[37:57] issues also is our shared revenue. Um
when we became a village and we split
[38:06] the state gave us a very gold fair
revenue number.
[38:11] » They did correct it. Do you remember
that?
[38:15] » Two years ago they gave us a bump.
>> Okay.
[38:17] » They gave everybody a bump though even
the ones that were getting more than
[38:21] they should have. So because there was a
minimum that everyone got. um we did get
[38:26] quite a bit of bump and then moving
forward the legislation has that we're
[38:30] getting a percentage of sales tax. Um
last year I think we got $35,000
[38:36] additional shared revenue
>> because I know that was an issue and and
[38:40] then our population kept growing and
then they froze it
[38:45] » and so we didn't get anything. And when
you compare us to say other areas that
[38:51] have the same population and and all the
other things, our shared revenue is
[38:56] still far below
some of the other municipalities per
[39:01] capita.
>> In addition to that, I think it was 20
[39:05] 20 2010 2011 29 2009, our tax rate
stayed at $510 for three years in a row.
[39:15] Um the village is very proud of that,
but that was at the time where
[39:19] municipalities were allowed to increase
it net new construction or 2% trying to
[39:24] keep up with inflation and stuff. And at
the time our village president and our
[39:29] village administrator kept their costs,
they they they were making us cut back
[39:34] then. So in the time when government was
actually good and we were growing, we
[39:38] were already doing these
switching the funds around, moving money
[39:43] around to keep our tax rate low. So
we've been doing this for quite a few
[39:49] years um keeping the rate low for our
taxpayers.
[39:53] » Then you went into this formula where
it's based on new growth.
[39:57] » Yeah. And then they switched it. They
had net new construction or zero now.
[40:02] So, municipalities aren't allowed to
keep up with CPI.
[40:06] » I guess Barb, to your question, you can,
one of the things you can look at is
[40:10] shared revenue per capita. Um, you can
sort it by county. We're the fourth
[40:15] lowest in Marathon County for shared
revenue per capita. So, I mean, yeah, I
[40:20] mean, there's bunch of those things that
some of it we're just not going to
[40:25] change, right? We're not going to change
legislation overnight that,
[40:28] » but I mean, I know different ones will
make the comment. Well, one of the
[40:31] reasons we're operating at a much lower
scale than other municipalities in our
[40:40] good example, city of Marshfield, they
have a zoo, right? That zoo was formed
[40:44] years ago when they were able to have a
more flexibility with their levy. They
[40:50] had quite a bit of shared revenue. They
were a booming city back then and they
[40:54] were able to create those nicities that
some cities have that there's no way the
[41:00] village of Weston could ever afford.
>> I did shared revenue quick. I don't
[41:04] think I I got everybody on the bottom.
If there's another municipality we want
[41:08] to throw up there, just let me know. But
>> if you click on Weston, then it just
[41:13] highlights it.
>> Yep.
[41:17] » There you go.
So Rib Mountain
[41:23] is below us.
>> This is because Rib Mountain became a a
[41:27] village. This is the first year that the
they're included in the in the data.
[41:33] » But City of Los is the one that you're
missing.
[41:37] » Thank you.
[41:49] So second lowest just with those
comparables of our neighbors and shared
[41:53] revenue. But we did get a bump and we
are we're happy that it will increase
[41:58] now. There wasn't any opportunity for
increase before
[42:05] now that I have these pulled up. would
be um fire and EMS,
[42:12] Weston net police,
[42:17] Weston,
[42:21] basic spending,
[42:27] net operating expending,
[42:33] [clears throat] taxes is in the packet.
Shared revenue, municipal debt,
[42:44] fund balance,
[42:48] and individual income.
[42:59] » The individual income, is that like the
net of what a person makes in the
[43:03] village? Yes. It's
>> it's the average income per tax return.
[43:08] » Yes.
>> Yeah.
[43:10] » Of the residents, not the employee.
>> Yeah. Of all residents of all 15,89.
[43:26] » So hopefully you find this tool useful.
We thought it would just be a good idea
[43:32] to share it and then share it to talk
about, you know, we we do have some good
[43:38] things going on, but also how does that
reflect in our budget conversation of
[43:41] moving forward when we
are looking at these larger issues.
[43:51] » Okay. Then we're going to go a little
bit into special revenue funds.
[43:54] Sorry, going back to going forward
uh your list of tools. I was wondering
[44:00] what the uh village bond rating.
>> Are we at double A2?
[44:09] » And we'll have to be we haven't been we
will be rated again here soon.
[44:15] » That's an AML from that.
They just published a reoccurring of
[44:22] report movies did with us. We're a
double A3 with no outlook. Um it was
[44:29] issued August 2026.
[44:35] » Can you translate that for what that
means?
[44:38] » Good.
[44:42] » I um double A2 and double A1 are above
us. Um, to get to a double A1 you have
[44:49] to be a larger community. I believe we
were at a double A2 once, but I believe
[44:55] we dropped and that was a while ago.
While ago, maybe 10 12 years ago.
[45:03] I don't remember. Um,
what does that mean? That means that
[45:08] Moody's has looked through our stats.
They take our financial statements and
[45:13] they take lots of numbers off that, plug
it in their formula and they determine
[45:19] our rating. Any other help from those
that know?
[45:28] » You can only
>> you can only be as good as the county
[45:31] that you're in as well. So your rating
can't be above Marathon County which I
[45:35] believe Marathon County is double A2 if
I recall but
[45:42] » the ability to also for borrowing what
you get is your rate will be based on
[45:48] your bond rate
>> and we work with Ellers and they've
[45:52] given us every indication that we'll be
very competitive.
[46:00] Okay.
Go ahead. Can
[46:04] » I just ask why this was not an original
packet that we sent out? This is a lot
[46:07] of information and I want to share it
tonight. We want to talk through it. We
[46:13] don't want to just throw information out
there now that it's up there. People can
[46:18] look at the video and they can hear our
voice talking and explaining what you're
[46:22] seeing. Cuz a lot of it, if you're going
to go and interpret it, all of a sudden
[46:27] you have something in your head. Then
you come to meeting and we're telling
[46:30] you something opposite. What are you
going to remember? What you have in your
[46:33] head or what how we explained it. Now I
believe there should be two. There's the
[46:39] answer should be both. Right. You have
your opinion but there's also stuff we
[46:43] have to share that explains it.
We used to not even put it in the
[46:49] packet. I used it. Case in point two
months two weeks ago our agenda had uh
[46:55] um salaries for the board. That's the
only question I got. The only phone call
[47:00] I got was that the only thing people
talked about at the public meeting was
[47:03] that we're here to give ourselves a
raise. That wasn't it at all. We have an
[47:07] election coming up. We've got to
solidify what the what the salaries are
[47:10] going to be for the elected officials.
And there there was when I saw that on
[47:14] there and I knew it was going to be on
there. I knew for a fact that this board
[47:17] was not going to give itself a raise. I
I knew it. But because it was out there
[47:21] with nothing else other than that one
agenda item, everyone brought up how
[47:26] we're trying to give ourselves a raise.
It's not true. It wasn't true and it's
[47:30] too bad. And you know, nobody said
nothing afterwards,
[47:33] » but that's exactly what she's talking
about right there.
[47:36] » And and I I can get that and I can
understand it. But when I'm trying to
[47:39] prep for a meeting, right, I'm trying to
be educated and learn as much as I can.
[47:45] So, I spend a day, which is a full day,
prepping for a meeting. And now I have
[47:49] all of this information that is brand
new to me. So, how am I supposed to as a
[47:55] board member
offer a good opinion when this is the
[47:59] first time I'm seeing some of this
information in this format?
[48:03] » So, can you see where I would be
frustrated? But
[48:06] » that's also why we have more workshops
happening, too. This can all get brought
[48:10] up at the next meeting or the next
meeting. And I think we have what, three
[48:13] left?
Two for sure. Three.
[48:15] » Three. Three.
>> We have three left.
[48:17] » I'd rather talk through it. Have explain
[clears throat] what I'm trying to show
[48:22] you and then come back with questions
instead of a ton of questions and oh
[48:26] that's in my presentation.
I mean it can go both ways. I
[48:32] understand.
>> It's a it's a it's kind of a horse of
[48:36] piece. If this would have been out a
couple week a couple days ago and the
[48:39] seven of us would have had all kinds of
questions and finance and HR and we
[48:43] would have peppered staff with that,
what's the point of having a meeting
[48:47] when now we've got at least the gist of
it and now we can kind of decipher it.
[48:51] Still make some phone calls or some
emails, get some more answers.
[48:55] » I'm not I'm not saying either one is
right. I I get it that it's it's hard to
[48:59] get all that at one time, but um go
ahead Barb. Well, I was just going to
[49:03] say and this with Jessica's explanation
going through um like you said, we have
[49:10] other budget meetings that if we still
now we have this and her explanations
[49:16] that we have questions tonight or at the
next meeting to go through it. Like I
[49:22] said, yes, it's nice to have it in front
of us, but at the same time, I can
[49:27] understand what Jessa is saying that she
wants to give the presentation
[49:32] and then we can ask questions.
>> I think she still can, but having seen
[49:36] this ahead of time would have been nice
because then I'm I feel like I can't ask
[49:39] you anything because I need to sit and
look at this now. I don't I can't just
[49:42] be like what? like I hear what you're
saying and I I'm taking that in as I'm
[49:45] writing, but I just feel like this would
have been stuff that would have been
[49:49] helpful prior, especially some of the
notes on the income on the wages because
[49:53] that right off the bat I was like, "This
isn't making sense." And so
[49:57] » says, "I should have given it to you at
the meeting so I could walk through it
[50:00] though and then you wouldn't have those
questions."
[50:03] » I mean, it it's it can go both ways. I'm
willing to change.
[50:08] » I'm fine with that. We'll just
we will put it in the packet and it'll
[50:15] be a little bit lessformational.
We'll put this stuff. It's a really
[50:19] quick turnaround by the way with our um
duties finance. We we just I know we're
[50:25] here for budget and year end, but we
also have day-to-day activities that
[50:30] we're we're working through. We are
short we are not short staff, but we
[50:34] don't have a ton of people in the
department. Song and I are it. So um we
[50:39] will make sure that next budget meeting
>> we put it in the back
[50:47] » so everyone has adequate time.
>> Yeah.
[50:50] » I can also see it both ways too. Like I
totally get Jessica because I've seen
[50:53] media articles and stuff that
mischaracterized what's out there. But I
[50:57] guess the way I look at it as is every
decision that we make is looking at a
[51:02] $10 million budget. And I guess in my
world that's a really big number. I
[51:06] don't have that sitting at the bank. So,
it's not something I get to consider
[51:08] every day. And so, you know, if we had
to make a decision tonight that was
[51:12] consequential to $10 million, I don't
know that I would feel prepared to make
[51:16] a good decision. Um, looking at the
dollar amounts and the things that we
[51:20] do, you know, we're constantly having to
approve and make decisions on. I just
[51:24] for me, I like to be more thoughtful
about things that if I can be and it
[51:28] just for me, I struggle with that. If we
have to sit tonight about a bulk of this
[51:32] money, I don't know that comfortable. We
don't We have five five workshops, you
[51:37] know,
>> and at times years go by, it it almost
[51:40] seems tedious, but exactly for this
moment right here,
[51:44] » we've got more time. So, yeah,
>> one of the um slides we kind of breezed
[51:49] through was slide eight. Um we talked
about the 10 $9.6 million budget from
[51:55] 2026. Um I think we need to go back and
talk about that one a little bit. Um
[52:00] that slide breaks out personnel. I'll
label it non-discretionary, but
[52:05] basically expenses we can't get rid of
unless we're going to start chopping
[52:08] down street lights. We can't get rid of
$336,000
[52:12] expense. Um those that's all the gas and
electricity it takes for the village
[52:18] general fund does not include any water,
sewer, storm, um gas and electricity.
[52:23] This is only the village. Um we have
salt and sanding, street maintenance
[52:28] which has always been on the top of a
ton of surveys. that's very important to
[52:33] the village. Uh fuel and oil, we had 102
that will be going up for 2027.
[52:40] Assessor required audits required. Um
those are required fees, $1.3 million.
[52:48] And then we go down, we look at our
public safety, Mountain Bay, and South
[52:52] Area Fire Safer. Um over $5 million. So
when we're talking about a $10 million
[52:58] budget, we can look at the $2.5 million.
That's us. That's us people doing the
[53:03] actual service to the community. And
then we have the other expenditures,
[53:08] $763,000.
Um, those are up for grants. When I
[53:13] talked about that $763,000,
but when you're talking about a $9.6
[53:19] million budget, what you're talking
about is the 2.5 and the 763.
[53:25] The rest you don't have a ton of say on.
Um, some of you do have a say on
[53:29] Mountain Bay and some have a say on
Safer, but the rest of the board does
[53:34] not have a say. Those are
representative, those are joint ventures
[53:37] with other communities. So, um, I guess
this is a great spreadsheet to bring up
[53:42] and really help you focus on what does
this board really have a say on? And
[53:49] it's the 2.5 and the 763.
[53:55] » Do you have something to add? Yeah, I
mean you guys were talking about the
[53:58] meetings and some of that. I mean, when
I've first started here, we used to take
[54:02] was it a full day and kind of go through
the budget and have workshops at either
[54:07] offsite or in one of our, you know,
meeting rooms. And I know the feedback
[54:11] there at that time was that's a lot of
information for me to get in one day.
[54:16] And you know, so we started breaking
these out over the years and trying to
[54:19] do a little bit, you know, every every
other week just to try to allow people
[54:24] to get some information, come back with
questions, ask another question, come
[54:28] back. So I guess maybe that's a big
question. I I think we asked it earlier
[54:31] this year and maybe until you go through
the process, you don't actually realize
[54:35] what what your preferred method is. Um,
I think of it as, you know, when I was
[54:40] in in school, you you you go to class,
the professor gives a lecture, you write
[54:44] down some notes, and then maybe you have
to go to office hours later, you ask,
[54:47] you know, at the next, you know, class
period, hey, you mentioned this last
[54:51] week. What what did that mean? I guess
that's the purpose. We're not asking for
[54:55] this to be approved tonight. Just trying
to get it out there so that there's
[55:00] information, we can digest it and come
back. Um, I think that's that's
[55:05] important. you know, no, nobody's
saying, "Hey, this needs to be adopted
[55:07] tomorrow." Um, so I think that maybe
it's helpful. Um, I guess, yeah, you
[55:16] know, just trying to figure out how do
we best work together on these items.
[55:20] You know, we are a team. Um, you know, I
guess we as staff aren't saying, "Hey,
[55:24] we have no idea how to balance this
budget." Um, you know, if you wanted us
[55:28] to bring you just a budget in November,
we could probably say, "Hey, it's it's
[55:31] bud it's balanced." Um, and we've had
boards in the past that kind of seemed,
[55:36] you know, I'm talking, you know, 10 plus
years ago. Granted, we were losing money
[55:40] and they were just happy that we
balanced the budget. Um, but you know,
[55:45] we take the direction that we're given
and we try to make it work. So,
[55:49] » what is our final date? Just so everyone
understands when this has to be
[55:52] completed.
>> End of October.
[55:54] » End of October. Okay. To have enough
time to publish and all that.
[55:57] » Yeah. Because you have to do a public
hearing notice for November.
[55:59] » Okay. Right. So, end of October.
Okay,
[56:04] » special revenue.
>> Special revenue
[56:06] » number 20 2.
[56:11] » There we go.
>> So, this is just the preliminary 2027
[56:15] budget for our special revenue funds.
So, special revenue funds are funds that
[56:19] are used to account for revenue from
specific sources that are legally
[56:23] restricted to expenditures for specific
purposes. Uh, the first one we're going
[56:28] to look at is the refuge recycling.
this fund. We were we heard a lot about
[56:33] our large fund balance. Um at the end of
20
[56:38] 25 our fund balance was 156,000 and we
were very fortunate to have that very um
[56:46] nice cushion because this year fuel
killed us. With our new contract with
[56:53] harders, anything over $4 a gallon for
diesel, we're paying extra. Um, it's a
[57:00] lot. Um, I know I've been keeping you
updated in my monthly briefers. Um, we
[57:07] kind of had a projection for our 2027
budget and then I looked at the fuel for
[57:15] last month and I'm not so sure that our
estimates good. We may have to go back
[57:20] to the drawing board. But anyway,
looking at 2026, we're looking at a
[57:25] reduction of 62,000 in our fund balance.
Um, most of that is the fuel search
[57:31] charge. Um, with that, I'm not quite
comfortable with keeping our fee at
[57:37] $25.50.
[57:41] Um, might look at bumping it up to 210.
I think we'll be bringing this one back.
[57:46] I want to see what August did and see if
that um $62,000 decrease in fund balance
[57:53] is a good number or not. So, we'll be
bringing this one back. Um in this fund,
[57:58] it includes leaf pickup, bulk item drop
off, electronic recycling, refuge
[58:02] recycling services, i.e. harders, and
the yard waist site. Um we do administer
[58:08] this for the town. That's something that
we might want to discuss
[58:13] in the fund balance with some of town
funds to write, but going forward with
[58:18] not a lot of funds left, do we want to
talk to the town and say, "Okay, we need
[58:23] to be both paying more." So, that's just
a item topic for discussion um at a
[58:30] later time.
Any comments on the refuge recycling
[58:35] budget? Only piece I will add is because
we we've talked about this as
[58:39] administrators, everybody's contract has
a fuel escalator. So it isn't that is
[58:44] not unique to us.
>> It would have been in the other contract
[58:47] that we're that we had the tour.
>> We did have it in the other contract.
[58:50] The difference with the other contract
is they didn't do it monthly. And so if
[58:54] it if at the end of the year we had a
fuel escalator, we had it for a whole
[58:59] year. Now we do it monthly. We've just
had a very odd year when it comes to
[59:05] fuel.
>> The one month alone, and I'm looking
[59:08] August, it might be topping at an
additional $10,000. That's a lot of
[59:13] money in one month additional not
budgeted for. Um, at the time that the
[59:17] budget was created, we had no
anticipation that fuel would be going up
[59:22] like this.
>> So, if the by miracle would drop, you're
[59:28] still going to be the 10,000. No,
>> it's $4. It's4 $41
[59:34] when the escalator goes in.
>> But say it's it's $410,
[59:39] » we're going to pay that extra.
>> But then if it drops down to $3,
[59:45] » we don't get a rebate.
>> We don't get a rebate.
[59:47] » So by doing it in by the year
[59:53] » by doing it with the other contract,
we're able to budget. Right.
[59:57] » This way we're we are not able to budget
because we don't know because it's the
[1:00:01] month that the fuel went up. So
>> I mean I guess in in a way though we
[1:00:07] almost are going to have to budget for
it for the entire contract because I was
[1:00:10] trying to remember the last time diesel
was under $4 a gallon. So I Googled
[1:00:13] quick. So take this for what it's worth.
Google AI but it says statewide average
[1:00:17] for diesel in Wisconsin has been under
$4 since early 2024. Um, so I mean if
[1:00:24] that's accurate, I mean, and I can't
remember the last time I've seen it
[1:00:27] under $4. It's been well north of five
and in the five range. So I mean, in
[1:00:31] essence, we almost do need to budget for
it being that I mean, I guess the way I
[1:00:35] look at it because I don't see the world
changing overnight where diesel fuel is
[1:00:39] going to go down. I mean, it's almost
>> we have budgeted in the budget that you
[1:00:44] see it is budgeted. Um, is it enough?
We'll have to
[1:00:48] » So the 20550 is what we would adjust for
27.
[1:00:52] » Yes. [clears throat]
>> So 27 let's say remains we we go you
[1:00:56] know whatever $5 $2 just to clean that
up a little bit and but then after that
[1:01:00] you know it's a seven-year contract that
this will be ne uh year two right in 27.
[1:01:06] So now now it goes down to $3 and we
don't have that access in there. We
[1:01:09] could actually take it back down a few
>> we can change it once a year.
[1:01:13] » That was our thinking when we went to
20550.
[1:01:15] » Yes. We had a bunch of numbers that we
were considering and we didn't want to
[1:01:19] go too high. But now it kind of caught
us with the diesel searchcharge. Okay,
[1:01:25] good. As long as we can move that around
in the next six, five years.
[1:01:29] » Okay.
>> Once a year.
[1:01:30] » Once a year, right? I know it's once a
year,
[1:01:32] » but you'll get a good feeling on what
happened in 25, you know, or 26, I
[1:01:36] should say. So,
>> okay.
[1:01:39] » So, at this point,
users will be using some of the fund
[1:01:44] balance. So, we have
>> we're looking at using $62,000 this
[1:01:49] year.
[1:01:53] » Jamie,
>> just a
[1:01:58] kind of a different kind of question.
Um, do you know offhand or can you
[1:02:03] remind us or tell me where to look? What
what do our um residents like or dislike
[1:02:12] about our refu and recycling program?
Are there
[1:02:17] things aspects of it that they really
appreciate or things that we could do
[1:02:21] without um from that survey? Do we have
any information on that?
[1:02:26] » I think Valerie is still here. Yes. And
um know the one thing that I often hear
[1:02:31] is the events that we have because they
are free of cost. So, I think a lot of
[1:02:36] people save and wait until those free of
cost events occur.
[1:02:42] » And a lot of those are covered, right?
>> Yes.
[1:02:44] » And some of those are covered.
>> Some aren't, but some are.
[1:02:48] » But like the electronic recycling
doesn't come out of here. That that
[1:02:51] hauler has an agreement and can take
that that waste for free.
[1:02:56] » Yeah. The paper shred day event we do
get bills for. It's [clears throat] just
[1:03:01] a a straight fee though. not based on
tonnage and that's why we've opened that
[1:03:06] one up to the general public because we
thought we may as well get our money's
[1:03:09] worth out of that one.
>> And one of the advantages of moving to
[1:03:13] the harder agreement when we went to
that agreement was that they don't
[1:03:17] charge us for bulk item. We were charged
tonnage for bulk item drop off twice a
[1:03:22] year and they just included that as part
of the cost. So at that time that was a
[1:03:26] savings of about $55,000 if I'm
remembering correctly. And I I expected
[1:03:32] more um hardship, more calls on dropping
them off out of Ringle and I haven't
[1:03:36] received not one call,
>> not one.
[1:03:39] » The only the only comment I ever hear
and I really I have I have I have not
[1:03:45] taken hardly the calls that I used to
take from residents. But the only thing
[1:03:50] I would say that people ask for, I
really don't hear people saying that
[1:03:54] we're offering too much. Usually it's
the recycling. I get calls from people
[1:03:59] probably once a month saying, "Well, why
can't we do this once a week?" Because
[1:04:02] it's confusing to try and remember what
weeks are recycling weeks. That's
[1:04:07] realistically the only complaint I get.
>> If I have any confusion, I just go
[1:04:13] outside and look at my neighbors and I I
see two of them out there and I could
[1:04:17] Oh, I get my other one out there.
>> That messes up and then the rest of the
[1:04:22] neighbors like, "Crap, it's recycling
week." And then they all put their
[1:04:25] recycling out and then they're all off
>> or it's a Thursday to Friday on a
[1:04:28] holiday.
>> Yeah.
[1:04:30] » Yeah. Everybody's out a day ahead.
>> Where is the um
[1:04:34] recycling grant in here? I guess maybe
um Am I missing it?
[1:04:38] » Intergovernmental revenue.
>> Okay.
[1:04:40] » The top line.
>> Okay. I thought it was more than that.
[1:04:44] That's why I guess
>> Okay.
[1:04:46] » Initially there was a little bit of
route issues I think just getting that
[1:04:49] down. But you see the same thing with
the buses. every school year. They're
[1:04:52] just getting their routes down and
you'll see some, you know, sometimes
[1:04:56] they double back an hour later, but
other than that, not an issue at all.
[1:05:00] » We did price weekly recycling with this
agreement, too. And it [clears throat]
[1:05:03] just was, it wasn't cost effective. It
was cost prohibitive. So, we did we did
[1:05:07] price that.
>> Is the electronics recycling event a one
[1:05:12] standard cost or is it done by how much
we take in?
[1:05:14] » There's no cost
>> for the electronics recycling at all.
[1:05:18] all
>> gets to use it, gets to do, you know,
[1:05:21] part it out or do whatever with. So,
>> okay. So, do we open that up to anybody,
[1:05:24] too? I know a number of non Western
residents that were bringing stuff into
[1:05:28] that as well.
>> Yeah.
[1:05:30] » No, we we talked about opening that up
and we did and we sent the invites to
[1:05:33] our neighbors too, but I think a lot of
our neighbors have have also are doing
[1:05:37] events.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, there is no cost
[1:05:40] to the village at all for this event.
Um, the only time a resident or or
[1:05:46] whoever dropping off would be fee
charged is if you're dropping off
[1:05:49] something that's not acceptable through
the Wisconsin ecycle program but
[1:05:57] » and that's a lot of times that's
chemicals
[1:05:59] » and then the chemicals they can go
Marathon County right because Marathon
[1:06:02] County has certain time
>> as far as the east cycle stuff a lot of
[1:06:06] it be like for free or something
>> but a lot of things that they wouldn't
[1:06:11] take at the free event like your home
they would take
[1:06:15] » were either free free or for very low.
[1:06:20] » Okay. Any more questions?
>> No. Okay.
[1:06:28] » This is the aquatic center budget. Um we
do our best guesstimate this year. We're
[1:06:33] looking at
[1:06:37] » we're hoping to more or less break even
or have an increase in the fund balance
[1:06:42] of 8,000. So it's not a ton. We're
hoping the expenditures come in as we
[1:06:47] estimated, but it's going to be close.
Break even would be good good also.
[1:06:53] » Right, Lisa?
>> Um the 40,000 40,000 40,000 comes from
[1:06:56] room tax and 40,000 from tax. So $80,000
a year and that's regularly we do that.
[1:07:03] We don't change it. Um and we have the
same amount of people attending the pool
[1:07:08] or has that gone down?
>> It es and flows.
[1:07:12] » Yeah. So um this year we did
approximately well I think I did I send
[1:07:17] it to everybody.
>> I sent it to everybody.
[1:07:19] » Yeah. So everybody got it with the
revenues and the attendance we were
[1:07:23] 25,000 some this year. Last year we're
like 28,000. Um but the increased prices
[1:07:28] for this year actually made our revenues
higher than last year even with more
[1:07:33] people attending last year than this
year because we did increase season
[1:07:37] passes. We increased daily pass prices.
Um, and our revenues actually ended up
[1:07:42] higher than we had projected up for the
year.
[1:07:45] » Are you are you working up like a longer
term plan for the pool for possible
[1:07:50] expenses? And
>> and [clears throat] that's that's one of
[1:07:53] the things that we had talked about
during one of these meetings prior is do
[1:07:57] we want to do a facility assessment
because we haven't had one done in 10
[1:08:00] years.
And that'll give you a breakdown of
[1:08:03] costs that you could expect like the um
report that was been done back in 2016.
[1:08:10] Is that an expense that you want to
incur or is that do you want something
[1:08:15] else done? As far as
>> how much was the last one?
[1:08:18] uh 15 I think it was around 15,000
[1:08:23] » and it's done by
>> done by water technology
[1:08:28] » not not a seller of product right
>> it's not like by kubichek
[1:08:32] » you know pool systems you know it's not
>> yeah they don't build they they are
[1:08:36] design firm
>> okay all right I have one question
[1:08:39] that's part yeah part two of people so
do we have a number back or any feedback
[1:08:44] on this newest expense that we're
expecting for this fix that has to Have
[1:08:47] we heard back on what that's looking to
cost us? And then is that included in
[1:08:51] these estimates?
>> No, that so that would be in capital.
[1:08:55] » Okay.
>> It would be a borrowed project. We put a
[1:08:58] number in for capital borrowing. Um but
since they have not completed the leak
[1:09:02] detection yet, we don't have a cost
estimate for the repair.
[1:09:06] » What number did we throw in for capital?
>> We threw in 100 100,000.
[1:09:11] » I think we had projected originally like
a 85,000
[1:09:15] expenditure for next year. Anyways, um
but I asked that we up it just because
[1:09:20] we just spent 102,000 on leak repair. So
why would I think another one would be
[1:09:25] less
just just to be cautious? Um so what
[1:09:30] you're seeing for the increase in the
pool budget is literally we we're
[1:09:34] projecting like a 4% increase for wages
for staff.
[1:09:38] So, and that's just a an estimate,
>> but those are those are
[1:09:43] » Y
>> those are Y costs, but we reimbured them
[1:09:46] for all wage expenses, and we haven't
seen our August billing yet from the Y.
[1:09:51] So, um we don't even know what our
current expenses are. We did an estimate
[1:09:56] for 26, but we're not sure where that's
going to land.
[1:10:00] » They just bill us once a summer. Do they
bill us? once a month, but usually
[1:10:04] they're usually two to three weeks into
the month following month before we see
[1:10:10] it because once you close out payroll
could include one week from
[1:10:15] July or you know so we expect it usually
around the third week of se September.
[1:10:21] So
we're projecting it to be lower just
[1:10:24] because the July one was actually a had
more pay periods in it than it typically
[1:10:28] does.
Stephanie shaking her head because she
[1:10:31] knows exactly how that system works.
[laughter]
[1:10:36] » One additional piece to that is the
school district piece and just that
[1:10:40] they'll be doing the community survey.
It does talk about municipal
[1:10:44] partnerships if we wanted to depending
on how that survey comes back explore
[1:10:48] municipal partnerships and what that
might mean.
[1:10:54] » What do you what do you mean by that?
Would we would
[1:10:58] could could mean many things.
>> If we wanted to explore a partnership,
[1:11:04] do we want to have one pool? What does
that pool look like? And we all
[1:11:10] contribute to that
>> with Rothschild.
[1:11:12] » No, with Everest also and possibly with
Rothschild and possibly with Scoffield.
[1:11:18] » So Scoffield and Rothschild decide to,
you know, term their pool. Um, Everest
[1:11:25] has made it known that they've got to do
some work or build another a new pool.
[1:11:30] So, do we want to do that together
somehow some way?
[1:11:34] I I it's worth a conversation.
>> Yeah.
[1:11:37] » Yep.
[1:11:40] » Has there been any more discussion in uh
potentially increasing the money we
[1:11:46] transfer from room tax to to the pool?
We've been at 40,000
[1:11:51] forever.
>> Forever.
[1:11:57] Besides me saying it in our meeting this
morning, probably not.
[1:12:01] » I mean, because we know there's a a
balance in room taxes right now,
[1:12:05] » but that's not that's not that's
>> Yes, I understand.
[1:12:09] » That's the 70, not the 30.
>> Yeah. So, um, but there's a balance in
[1:12:13] there for expenditures for like room
tax, um, for events, etc. that can apply
[1:12:19] for. But, uh, it was more of a joking
thing this morning like, can we increase
[1:12:23] for the aquatic center just because we
know we're running out of a line where,
[1:12:28] you know, yeah, we're projecting a loss,
but we have a fund balance that covers
[1:12:32] that loss.
>> So, room tax once it comes in is divided
[1:12:36] 7030. The 30 gets to stay with the
municipality and this 40 comes from that
[1:12:41] 30.
>> What's that?
[1:12:43] » Nothing comes out of the 70.
>> The 70 is [clears throat] goes is broke
[1:12:47] apart to the city. goes that goes to
CBA, right?
[1:12:49] » Yes.
>> But then it's at 42 and a half% and
[1:12:52] another percentage and another so it the
70 gets broke down.
[1:12:56] » But our question is could we apply as
municipality for the pool or tourism
[1:13:01] dollars to come back to the pool?
>> Well, another option is so right now
[1:13:06] approximately 130 140 goes to the
capital fund. Um that basically reduces
[1:13:12] our borrowing. If we wanted to decrease
the amount going to the capital fund, we
[1:13:18] could increase the 40 and just whether
we want 50 there. But at this point, we
[1:13:23] have not had a year where we've needed
to do that. So that's really why we've
[1:13:28] we have a fund balance. We're able to
maintain it. It goes up and down once in
[1:13:33] a while, but um with the fee increase
this year, it really helped to maintain
[1:13:39] the fund balance.
>> We went up $2 on a daily pass from five.
[1:13:45] » Yeah, we went from five to seven on our
season passes went up like 20.
[1:13:53] » Not a lot of talk on that, right?
>> No, no, there's lots of singles now.
[1:13:58] » Yeah. Okay.
But I mean, we're ultimately able to
[1:14:01] maintain our fund balance because we're
borrowing money to cover the big
[1:14:05] expenses to fix things when we're doing
our capital budget. Correct.
[1:14:08] » You wouldn't be paying for a $100,000
item with the [snorts] aquatic center,
[1:14:14] though. Kind of like we don't pay for
road work out of our general fund. We we
[1:14:18] borrow for items that will last more
than five years. That's usually the rule
[1:14:24] of thumb when you go to borrowing. You
want an item that will last preferably
[1:14:30] 10, but the village has done some street
work when we know that it's not going to
[1:14:36] last more than 5 years. We've still
borrowed for
[1:14:43] » it was longer than that.
[clears throat]
[1:14:46] » Any more questions
on the aquatic center?
[1:14:55] That's tiff number one.
[1:14:59] » Um, this TIFF is closing. We have our
estimates for 2026.
[1:15:05] Um, we'll have to see how those end up
yet. I'm not quite sure. Um, I think we
[1:15:10] have all our expenditures in,
but we're going to be waiting for the
[1:15:15] final audit, which we need to start
sending over paperwork now to the
[1:15:20] auditors so they can complete that. Um,
they will make the final determination.
[1:15:24] Once the final audit costs get accounted
for within this, we'll be able to
[1:15:29] determine the amount that gets allocated
to the other taxing districts.
[1:15:38] questions.
>> There's there's a large um other
[1:15:42] financing uses transfers just
>> that is going to go to debt service. We
[1:15:47] have a $10 million debt that we're
paying off
[1:15:51] » that was used for the tiff I assume.
Okay.
[1:15:54] » Yeah, it was a CDA lease revenue bond.
Um the it actually we call it the debt.
[1:16:01] It's actually not due till 2031, but we
did call it so we can close it down.
[1:16:08] Normally you can you can see where we
normally record it's a CD lease uh lease
[1:16:13] expense to CDA um we normally recorded
the
[1:16:19] revenue coming in and is increment and
then we transfer it to our CDA fund as a
[1:16:27] lease expense and this time because the
lease expense
[1:16:33] the amount of payoff was more than the
lease expense fence. So that's I just
[1:16:38] showed it that way.
[1:16:43] » Any questions on TIFF?
[1:16:50] » Go ahead.
>> CDA tiff number one.
[1:16:53] » This is the fund that we use to pay our
CDA debt out of. Um right now we have
[1:17:00] it's closer to
1.95
[1:17:04] in there. Um, we are acrewing interest
each month that we're holding on to
[1:17:08] those funds. They will be taking the
funds out of our account and then we'll
[1:17:12] be transferring the balance over to
associated trusts to pay off our debt.
[1:17:22] » Nothing exciting. We got two less funds
to talk about next year.
[1:17:28] » Um, this is TIFF district number two.
This is our Schoolfield Avenue project.
[1:17:32] um we have a large deficit and we're
anticipating
[1:17:37] um at the end of 2027 we'd still have
around $470,000 deficit.
[1:17:45] We're estimating an increment of
$270,000.
[1:17:49] Um the very sad part is if we had the
increment that we had in 2025, we'd be
[1:17:55] able to pay off our debt. Unfortunately,
the state slashed the value in that
[1:18:00] tiff. Um
and we are not able to do that for a
[1:18:06] couple years yet.
>> Questions
[1:18:11] that devaluation was end of 24 or
beginning of 25 when the state when did
[1:18:16] they do that?
>> Um beginning of 2025 is when our um
[1:18:21] reassessment went through. Okay. Right.
[1:18:27] room tax.
[1:18:31] » Um, this is the room tax revenue from
our local motel. We cut a check to the
[1:18:37] CVB and I I have a little note there. In
2025, of the $461,000
[1:18:42] that was paid to CVB,
197,000 went to the Weston account.
[1:18:48] Gives you an idea of how much funds that
our tourism commission has when they're
[1:18:53] giving out grants.
[1:18:58] And that's now including a ARB. I mean
the all the different avenues, all the
[1:19:04] different not just the hotels. Now we're
getting right 50,000 from online stuff.
[1:19:09] Yeah.
>> Y
[1:19:11] » I was just going to ask how often do we
recontract or renegotiate how much goes
[1:19:15] over there?
>> We just did last year and then we went
[1:19:19] into a two-year agreement. So we are
we're through next year 2027 when we
[1:19:25] would talk again.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:19:28] » This is it's definitely a conversation
we need to have. So those funds need to
[1:19:32] be used for tourism. The village doesn't
have a lot of tourism activities right
[1:19:36] now. Our fund balance in the Weston only
account is growing. Um I don't know if
[1:19:40] we have to have discussion about that.
Um but if we don't do a ton by next year
[1:19:45] at this time, we really need to have a
good discussion. We should not be
[1:19:50] carrying over those funds from year to
year.
[1:19:52] » We used to, but we haven't been in the
last couple years.
[1:19:54] » What did we used to do?
>> Because we used to keep it. It used to
[1:19:57] just roll right over. But about two or
three years ago, we did a heavy donation
[1:20:01] with DC Green. Yep.
>> Community,
[1:20:03] » the um Green Heck Turner building uh to
the tune of about 400 450,000.
[1:20:09] » It was quite a bit.
>> Yeah. And that's done now. Is that
[1:20:12] » Yeah. Okay.
>> But now we have these funds building
[1:20:15] again. The tourism commission. Um, we
don't get a ton of grant requests. I
[1:20:21] mean, we do, but
I don't know. It's something that we'll
[1:20:25] have to probably address.
>> I think a lot of people come to use our
[1:20:28] pool and stay at hotels. So, we could uh
a little little humor, but I mean, we
[1:20:33] could request some for that. So,
>> well, maybe
[1:20:37] » or parks or events. Yeah.
>> Looking at getting together with DC.
[1:20:42] Maybe that's a use for it too
without going into
[1:20:48] » right.
>> Okay.
[1:20:54] » And what is the balance right now?
>> The Weston only was it 250?
[1:21:00] » I think it's 230 up there.
>> That's only through quarter two.
[1:21:05] » Oh jeez.
Okay.
[1:21:10] » So, civic social and park trust.
>> The park trust is our park impact fees
[1:21:18] parkland dedication. We used to call
them parkland dedication. They're more,
[1:21:21] you know, correctly termed park impact.
I'll get that wording updated. Um, it
[1:21:27] shows the revenues coming in and the
expenditures going out. We have an
[1:21:33] estimated $15,000 we use this year. Uh
we have an estimated $15,000 next year
[1:21:39] and they're a lot of them are the park
improvements
[1:21:43] that we're able to use those funds for.
[1:21:50] Uh the other one is the civic and social
that includes our farmers market also
[1:21:55] includes our scholarship fund. Um in
2027 we're proposing to pay off a $500
[1:22:01] scholarship again. We haven't done that
for many years. Um the balance in CD has
[1:22:07] grown and I think we need to start doing
that again because that's the purpose of
[1:22:11] those funds to give out scholarships for
the school district. Um so we started
[1:22:15] that up again.
>> Well, there for a while we weren't
[1:22:18] earning no interest to pay anything.
>> No, but um the last renewal, so we just
[1:22:23] renewed it. We're getting 4.01 or
something like that. So that'll be a
[1:22:28] good chunk of interest again for 27.
Any questions
[1:22:35] » with that scholarship at the community
foundation?
[1:22:38] » No, through DC Everest. We'll work with
administration there and then when they
[1:22:43] give out their
>> Where's the money being held? Sorry.
[1:22:46] Where's
>> Oh, in the bank in a city.
[1:22:51] » Can I give you history?
>> That was the
[1:22:57] centennial.
when they has a centennial for West town
[1:23:02] Weston,
there was a group and they did they had
[1:23:08] money that they put into actually at one
point in time was in
[1:23:14] some saving trust. It was actually
bonds, but pretty soon the bonds were
[1:23:19] costing more.
They were charging more to so we took
[1:23:24] that out of there. It was there. We took
them out of there and put them into a
[1:23:30] CD, but there wasn't a real lot left
anymore by that point. But that's how
[1:23:35] the scholarship starts. It's actually
Weston Centennial Homeland scholarship.
[1:23:42] » Nice. Yep.
>> I'll just chime in again as a reminder
[1:23:47] for the farmers market, the
miscellaneous revenue, a lot of it is
[1:23:50] the tokens that we sell and then in the
farmers market expense, a lot of it is
[1:23:55] the tokens that we disperse. So, we we
take in the revenue from the credit card
[1:23:59] sales and then we give it to the vendors
as they turn in their tokens. The
[1:24:03] farmers market also includes the toilet
rental and this year included the
[1:24:07] improvements at Kennedy Park with the
electricity and stuff. Um,
[1:24:13] and I think that's about it
[1:24:19] » questions.
Any more?
[1:24:25] » We just had this one last slide just
about the future. One of the things we
[1:24:29] had done in the past, my understanding
is that it it was done before the this
[1:24:33] building was um put into place is we had
worked with Ellers on sort of a
[1:24:37] long-term financial plan. that's still
up on our website. Is is that's
[1:24:42] something maybe it's not exactly that
something that we would want to do going
[1:24:47] forward and maybe that dubtales with
strategic plan but just another way to
[1:24:51] look at the services that we provide and
and do some in-depth analysis of of each
[1:24:58] and then if time for there's any
additional questions.
[1:25:09] I think I would like to know on this is
the finance end of it because Jessica
[1:25:15] said something that I guess um I have a
little bit concern that we borrow for
[1:25:21] stuff that will last at least five
years. I hope we don't borrow for
[1:25:26] something
um that's gets paid back in 10 years
[1:25:31] last five years. We've so when we give
our outline to Greg what we're
[1:25:38] borrowing, he kind of puts the stuff in
the correct bucket. So we he controls he
[1:25:45] has a an estimate of the payoff. Like
when we get the debt documents back from
[1:25:52] Greg, he kind of has it structured um to
really fit the items that we're buying.
[1:25:58] » Because I remember back when we had
sweets
[1:26:03] street sweeper and we had to we're
looking at borrowing for a new one and
[1:26:08] the old one wasn't paid off yet.
[1:26:13] » Um, a lot of that what I'm talking about
is our street maintenance. We've been
[1:26:16] shifting we've been shifting to
>> Right. I know that's why
[1:26:20] » so if we accidentally pay for gypsing
out of how long does it We got
[1:26:26] stuff like that. So there is certain
things that we don't know.
[1:26:31] But I mean,
>> we paid for these microphones, which we
[1:26:34] want
>> doing some of the borrowing for the
[1:26:37] maintenance or the whatever. I can see,
you know,
[1:26:41] roads, you put them down and they're
supposed to last 20 25 years. But if
[1:26:46] you're talking something that you're got
a 20-year borrowing note, I don't know
[1:26:49] what they are, but and you're going to
be redoing it in 10, you're still paying
[1:26:55] it off. Um,
I have a concern.
[1:26:59] » Right. So when Greg does his
presentation, you'll see how he chunks
[1:27:05] certain of the assets in different
groups and then he has a selected payoff
[1:27:10] for that. Um I think we're looking
October 5th. That would be during our
[1:27:15] budget.
>> It would it would be during that budget
[1:27:18] workshop and I October 5th is just the
night that that Greg was already booked
[1:27:22] for the 21st. And I can remember even
like we bought computers and the
[1:27:26] computers didn't last that long. And so
I'm kind of I don't want to be borrowing
[1:27:32] for stuff that for long term they're
short term.
[1:27:37] » Okay.
>> All right. Moving on.
[1:27:41] » Yep.
>> New business.
[1:27:42] » Yep.
>> Number six. discussion, interaction or
[1:27:46] possible action on modification to FS
FLSA status for the engineer technician
[1:27:51] position from exempt to non-exempt.
[snorts] Mr. Pleasure
[1:27:58] need more explanation.
>> I don't think so.
[1:28:03] » I is it by law but more because he isn't
really a tax exe or
[1:28:11] » Yeah, I I guess
supervising
[1:28:15] him.
>> Yeah. I mean, before this meeting
[1:28:17] started at 6, I saw his car still out in
the parking lot. Um, he started this
[1:28:22] summer for us and, uh, his main project
right now is the Concord A project,
[1:28:29] which first started the week of August
17th. So, is it last week, two weeks
[1:28:34] ago, when we're doing payroll, all a
sudden I realized uh, he was set up
[1:28:38] incorrectly, but then I realized he
actually wasn't set up incorrectly. I uh
[1:28:43] had uh incorrectly labeled the position
when uh it was created. So I guess it's
[1:28:48] really just a a cleanup and I guess
that's the purpose of then asking for
[1:28:52] the uh back date so that you know going
back to essentially the week of the last
[1:28:57] full pay period he would be compensated
for the time he was actually out on
[1:29:01] site.
>> So how much are we looking at? I think
[1:29:04] it was maybe 16 or probably about 20
extra hours. Um
[1:29:10] » about how much?
[1:29:18] » Let's see.
20 time.
[1:29:28] » I'm guessing it's it's probably less
than $1,000
[1:29:31] and actual wages. There's probably some
WRS on there and some other things, but
[1:29:38] uh I mean realistically if we had a
consulting engineer out there, we'd be
[1:29:41] paying them over $100 an hour. We're not
nearly paying that. So, I guess it's
[1:29:48] just a a goodwill gesture to the
employee that uh they they're not, you
[1:29:52] know, essentially first week on the job
we're saying, "Hey, I need you to donate
[1:29:58] now uh you know, bunch of hours that you
gave us." So,
[1:30:01] » no, I was just wondering how much it
was.
[1:30:04] » But Isaac,
>> no. Um, no. Remes. Uh, Isaac is salary
[1:30:10] as the engineer, but we have uh an
engineering tech as our on-site
[1:30:15] inspector.
>> Well, they're paying fair numbers.
[1:30:21] » Okay. So, the finance should do it
first.
[1:30:24] » Finance first.
>> Recommend it.
[1:30:25] » Yeah. I have a question. So, we're he
was hired in spring, but we're only
[1:30:29] going back to August. That that's when
this project started.
[1:30:33] » Okay.
>> You didn't have overtime.
[1:30:34] » You didn't have over time until this one
started.
[1:30:36] » Yeah.
>> And we anticipate in this position will
[1:30:40] have a lot of overtime each year, more
in the summer than the winter,
[1:30:43] » correct? Yeah.
>> You have any I mean this isn't possible
[1:30:46] probably yesterday, but like ballpark
how many hours you think you envision
[1:30:49] this person working overtime?
Uh I mean if you average say an extra 10
[1:30:55] weeks
or 10 hours per week through for
[1:31:02] [clears throat]
what's May through October
[1:31:08] » six months so
24 weeks
[1:31:12] » his hourly wages
>> approximately so say about 250 hours
[1:31:17] give or take
>> probably
[1:31:19] » and then at an hourly rate of
[1:31:23] I say it's about 30
>> so 30 $35 versus if we did not have that
[1:31:28] position it' be $100 an hour
>> at least.
[1:31:30] » It's a huge savings.
>> Probably about $120 an hour. Yeah.
[1:31:33] » Huge.
>> Plus someone working for the villager.
[1:31:36] » Correct.
>> And then you know that in the off season
[1:31:40] he'll help with design and other other
items. So I mean this is a position that
[1:31:45] we had previously but uh [clears throat]
didn't do the on-site inspection part of
[1:31:50] it.
And it's capital project funds. It's not
[1:31:55] general fund. It's
yeah the cost that we'd be incurring out
[1:32:00] there.
>> Thank you.
[1:32:04] » I make thought his hand up. Did you?
>> He's done.
[1:32:07] » Oh, he just asked who the name was.
>> So, do you want to do finance first? You
[1:32:11] said
>> yes first.
[1:32:12] » Okay. So on behalf of the financial
question, even though he didn't incur
[1:32:16] overtime,
>> do we have to or should we put his I
[1:32:20] mean, if we're changing his status and
he should have been labeled that way, I
[1:32:24] realize he doesn't incur overtime, but
is it a legality thing? I just want to
[1:32:28] make sure that we're I don't know the HR
rules, but I just want to make sure.
[1:32:35] I I guess I I think it's okay because he
didn't
[1:32:40] as an employee he didn't he wouldn't be
able to say, "Hey, I was improperly
[1:32:45] paid." I don't think it changes anything
as far as a 40-hour week. It's just
[1:32:51] unless we want to go back all the way. I
I don't I I guess to to clean it up, I
[1:32:55] guess we could go back to his start
date. I mean, if we're saying we
[1:32:59] improperly classified him upon his hire,
>> again, I I'm I'm not a lawyer, but I
[1:33:05] would think you should go back to when
he was hired and didn't have any
[1:33:09] overtime. I mean, then we're only paying
him appropriately from the time he did
[1:33:14] incur it. But
>> if you stated we improperly classified
[1:33:17] him from the start, we probably should
put it back to the start. That again,
[1:33:22] I'm I'm not
>> I agree. No, this makes sense. There's
[1:33:24] no fiscal impact. It go back to the day
you started. Yeah,
[1:33:27] » I mean
>> that's the right thing to do.
[1:33:29] » Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[1:33:31] » Then that would change that number.
>> It would change the date but potentially
[1:33:36] not any overtime if he didn't have
>> any over time.
[1:33:41] » So change started.
>> Okay.
[1:33:44] » His start date was July 6th. So
>> or I would think we should go back to
[1:33:49] the sixth.
>> So on behalf of the finance and HR
[1:33:52] committee, is that your motion?
>> That is my motion.
[1:33:54] » Okay. We have a motion by record. Is
there a second?
[1:33:57] » Second.
>> Second by Daniels. Any further
[1:34:00] discussion?
None. All those in favor signify by
[1:34:03] saying I.
>> I.
[1:34:04] » I. Opposed.
>> Motion carries.
[1:34:07] » On the same motion going back to the
start date of I believe June 6th.
[1:34:11] » July 6.
>> July 6. Okay. Well, there'd be nothing
[1:34:14] to pay for that first month. Um
>> I move for a motion
[1:34:18] » by Hushin. Second by Barb.
>> Um any more on the question?
[1:34:24] » Hearing none. All those in favor say I.
>> I.
[1:34:26] » Opposed. So carried. Number seven,
discussion and or possible action on
[1:34:31] potential summer hours for 2027.
Possibility of closing on Friday
[1:34:35] afternoons. This could be just something
that we talk about a little bit tonight
[1:34:39] and then, you know, go through it with
some more bullet points, whatever the
[1:34:43] next three meetings. But it's just
thrown out there from the last meeting.
[1:34:47] Um, I did bring it up um because I think
there was some retention talk, some
[1:34:51] different things. I kind of checked
around. I know staff checked around on
[1:34:54] other municipalities as far as what
their hours are. I know um um I think
[1:35:00] right now our public works is a 4 day
410, right? Work week.
[1:35:04] » Uh they were this week we go back to so
the two holidays together, right?
[1:35:10] » But they still work their 40 out.
>> Yeah, they still working 40. Well, we're
[1:35:13] not talking about anything not working
40 hours. So, um but that's it's just up
[1:35:17] for discussion.
>> Yeah. No, I was just going to ask and
[1:35:19] because I know I asked you that last
meeting about the how they work the four
[1:35:23] days. So, can you just explain to me
again the public works?
[1:35:27] » Yeah. So, generally from Memorial Day to
Labor Day, we have four 10 hour days
[1:35:32] instead of five eight hour days. Um for
equipment starting, stopping um breaks
[1:35:39] that generally get more productivity out
of that day.
[1:35:43] » Um
>> they're doing their 40 hours just in
[1:35:45] four days, not five days. Now it's after
Labor Day. So you're saying you go back
[1:35:48] to the five days?
>> Yeah. Then kind of
[1:35:51] » at Labor Day then we go back to 58s. You
know, you don't get the early sunrise or
[1:35:55] um you know, so you have less sunlight
evening, too.
[1:35:58] » Yeah.
>> And staff's happy with that. They like
[1:36:00] the they'd rather do the four days or
>> you're never going to be 100% uh
[1:36:04] » right. I mean, some are
>> over 100, but
[1:36:07] » some still enjoy having, you know, maybe
Friday off um and would work 410s, but
[1:36:13] uh you know, I guess others, you know,
it kind of gets tiring after a while. Um
[1:36:19] so, uh I we do occasionally like for
leaf pickup, we'll sometimes last year
[1:36:25] we did it with our our mechanics where
they uh came in an hour early and also
[1:36:30] um switched off. One worked Monday
through Thursday, one worked Tuesday
[1:36:34] through Friday in 10-hour shifts. So
that um when the equipment was done for
[1:36:38] the day, they were able to go through
it, get it cleaned so that it was ready
[1:36:40] to go the next morning right away. Um
our value added work of picking up
[1:36:44] leaves on the curb side was able to go,
you know, as the operator used it and we
[1:36:50] weren't uh stopping early or, you know,
having to fuel up the machine, do things
[1:36:54] like that. So,
>> and then snow pl snow events just throw
[1:36:58] it all out the window. Yeah, some events
is
[1:37:01] » a good point.
>> Yeah. No, but as part of that 40 hours
[1:37:06] in in four and a half is the fact that
that is actually more economical for the
[1:37:12] street crew because they can continue to
work not stop at 8 and come back. They
[1:37:18] can do the full 10-hour and it's not
it's more efficient that way.
[1:37:24] » We generally are doing more with our big
equipment. So, you know, even just
[1:37:28] greasing equipment, you know, pre-trip
inspections, those those take time. So,
[1:37:32] if you can uh if eight guys are doing,
you know, half an hour of pre-trip stuff
[1:37:37] in the morning, that's, you know, four
hours of time that we save on that last
[1:37:41] day for not having that going on. So,
>> but I meant I as I recall it was done
[1:37:46] because of it was more efficient than
the other.
[1:37:52] » That's the street crew which will
probably remain the same but we're
[1:37:55] talking about
>> I just wanted to make sure we had a
[1:37:57] clear differentiation between the
>> two or Mark I guess whoever wants to.
[1:38:00] Can you kind of go through the vision
for this like how are people going to
[1:38:03] fit their 40 hours in because I think
even with public comments tonight
[1:38:06] there's some misconception that people
are going to be working like 36 hours
[1:38:09] and getting paid for 40. So, I guess
kind of can you share the vision of what
[1:38:13] what you expect the hours to be, how
people are going to fit those hours in
[1:38:17] if they're not working Friday
afternoons.
[1:38:19] » Similar to public works, we would expand
that day. So, the examples that I gave
[1:38:23] like Rothschild, Coronair, and the city
of Scoffield, they do a 7:00 a.m. to
[1:38:28] 4:30 and then on Friday, they do a 7 to
11. Rip Mountain slightly different.
[1:38:33] They do 7:30 to 5 and then on Friday,
they do 8:30 to 1. I think one of the
[1:38:38] reasons they do it slightly different on
Friday is because they have their market
[1:38:41] on Friday at the municipal center at the
parking lot.
[1:38:45] » So city of Wasa does Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday 7:30 to 4:30 and then Thursday
[1:38:52] they do that later night and Friday then
until 12:30. So if if we moved this
[1:38:57] direction, we would have to have the
conversation if we're if we're going to
[1:39:01] go start at 7:00 or 7:30 and then maybe
it's not closing at noon but 1:00 on
[1:39:08] Friday.
>> So currently the hours are what?
[1:39:12] » 8 to 4:30
>> with a half hour lunch.
[1:39:14] » Correct.
>> Would a half an hour lunch still be
[1:39:16] expected?
I
[1:39:18] » think you have to.
>> Yeah.
[1:39:20] » Yeah.
>> Well, I do too, but I mean I just want
[1:39:22] to make sure. Okay. You're asking is it
going to have to be increased is what
[1:39:25] you're saying at work.
>> No, no. Hour be it.
[1:39:27] » Okay.
>> I know. At one point in time, we had
[1:39:29] tried this and it didn't work out real
well.
[1:39:33] » What didn't work out well?
>> Some didn't like coming in early,
[1:39:37] that early. I mean, you know, um they
didn't like working that late. Um it was
[1:39:44] all kinds of different, you know,
reasons. And then we had complaints that
[1:39:49] the office wasn't open on Friday
afternoon.
[1:39:53] Um, but I mean I guess
>> I think it was just Mark had offered it
[1:39:59] up as something different to
>> offer. But I mean, like I said, that was
[1:40:04] that was the issue we ran into, which
you know,
[1:40:09] » but not to say that the new, you know,
there's new people in there that it
[1:40:14] wouldn't work.
>> It had been tried before.
[1:40:18] » What department would this effect?
Everybody else.
[1:40:20] » Everybody else. We'd have to figure out
utility on Friday because somebody's got
[1:40:23] to be on call.
>> It wouldn't be for us.
[1:40:24] » It would change utilities at all
>> or parks.
[1:40:27] » Or parks.
>> Okay.
[1:40:29] » Likely. No.
Have we ever had a later like city of
[1:40:34] Wasa has on Tuesdays and they work till
600 whether this is summer or year
[1:40:38] round? This is probably a side note, but
do we ever have one day or have we ever
[1:40:43] tried one day where it's later? We just
don't have staff traffic. I mean public
[1:40:47] traffic coming in.
>> We haven't tried a a later that I'm
[1:40:51] aware of where we've stayed open past
the the 4:30.
[1:40:55] » Well, like tonight we were all here. I
mean, I think the city of Was is their
[1:41:01] meeting night. That's when they meet is
on Tuesdays. So, their staff is there
[1:41:06] and I mean, most Mondays
all department heads are here. I mean,
[1:41:12] it's almost 8:00 at night and we're
still here. So, I mean,
[1:41:17] » I'm just wondering if that would be of
benefit to the public for us to discuss
[1:41:21] if we're going to look at maybe hours
changing during the summer because I'm
[1:41:25] assuming you were just mentioning
summer, right?
[1:41:27] » That's what you were referring to. not
year round.
[1:41:30] Is that right?
>> I'm all over the board. I'm all over.
[1:41:33] » My staff is here until 5, sometimes six
o'clock during the summer anyway. Um,
[1:41:38] most evenings. So, I mean,
the building inspectors and myself stay
[1:41:43] until we get what we get done. So, and
we're all salary, so
[1:41:50] we're going to do that anyway.
>> We would always if someone needed an
[1:41:53] appointment at that at an off hour, we
would always accommodate an appointment.
[1:41:57] accommodate
>> the thing that we're not like we're not
[1:41:59] taking utility payments right now,
right? Like that that's the
[1:42:03] those things aren't aren't occurring at
that after hours time frame, but I think
[1:42:07] we'd always take an appointment.
>> All utility payments can go to Inner
[1:42:10] City State Bank. They collect for us.
>> Yeah. Or they can go to the Dropbox,
[1:42:14] which is 247.
>> You know, I don't know what the
[1:42:16] expectation is or the sense of urgency
for contractors or buildings, especially
[1:42:20] over the summer, but inspections to me
have always been something that I think
[1:42:24] about. If I was in that field and I knew
one day I couldn't get the service that
[1:42:28] I thought I could get. That's 20% of the
work week I can't get.
[1:42:32] » So, you know, would we stagger the
inspectors? Would we not? I don't know.
[1:42:36] » They take it by inspection appointments.
So, you really can't walk in here and
[1:42:41] expect to have an inspector here at all
times just because I mean, we always say
[1:42:47] this, the buildings don't come to us.
They go out to the, you know, they're
[1:42:51] out in the public inspecting. So, you
know, we ask, make an appointment, then
[1:42:56] you're going to get some.
>> Yeah. But, but, you know, prior
[1:42:58] administrations, um, I know that we had,
you know, a work day that we didn't work
[1:43:03] out.
>> Well, Al used to not work Fridays.
[1:43:06] [clears throat] I mean, he worked,
>> but after Al, you know, with Daniel, you
[1:43:10] know, I know there was a a work day that
was catchup day and you didn't do any of
[1:43:14] that. And I I I really struggled with
that. I talked to him often about that
[1:43:19] and felt that that wasn't right. if they
could have taken an appointment there
[1:43:22] and if they were taking appointments on
that day, even on an off day where they
[1:43:25] were only supposed to be inside.
>> Well, we always did if somebody called
[1:43:28] us.
>> That's fine. I didn't know that that was
[1:43:30] happening. Okay.
>> And they they've actually gone sometimes
[1:43:33] in the evening. Um
>> I know that. Yep. I know.
[1:43:36] » If somebody can't, they'll meet with
them after work early. I mean, we are
[1:43:41] we're always accommodating that way.
They just have to call.
[1:43:44] » Yep.
>> Okay. So, is this something we want to
[1:43:47] push off?
>> I guess I want to throw one other day
[1:43:49] out there. So, I guess let me be very
clear like this comment has absolutely
[1:43:54] nothing to do with support or lack
thereof for our staff. Our staff do
[1:43:58] great things. I frequently um share that
with people in the community. So, this
[1:44:04] is from a completely fiscal objective
question. I would like to I guess see if
[1:44:10] you guys could bring back some employee
feedback on what is the most important
[1:44:13] to them because if we look at all of
this holistically
[1:44:17] um with the increase in WRS increase in
health and a potential 3% cola the
[1:44:23] village would be you know trying to find
an additional $319,78510.
[1:44:29] Um there's already $15,000 budgeted for
merit and market on top of that which I
[1:44:33] don't think should go away because I
think our our high performers should
[1:44:36] have the ability to earn some extra But
we're also talking about, you know,
[1:44:40] closing Friday afternoons. We're talking
about additional holidays.
[1:44:44] I I don't think we can do everything. Um
there's a ways to add value without
[1:44:48] adding dollars. You know, if we're going
to cover the whole potential 10%
[1:44:51] increase in insurance, maybe we don't do
a cola. I'd like to hear from the
[1:44:55] employees like what of all these things
are the most important to them? Because
[1:44:59] even if we did have money for all this,
so say we we did the 319,000, we did
[1:45:03] the, you know, additional holidays, we
closed on Friday afternoons, then what's
[1:45:07] the bar for next year? Like what are we
going to have to do next year to
[1:45:10] continue to increase that retention and
engagement? Does that make sense? I
[1:45:15] think if you look at it from a holistic
perspective, we're talking about
[1:45:17] recruitment, retention, all of those
things. We're talking about a lot of
[1:45:21] different ways to do that, whether it be
financial, whether it be, you know, um
[1:45:25] through closing the office on Friday
afternoons, additional holidays. But I
[1:45:28] don't think we can do everything. Um, so
I guess if if employees had to and in a
[1:45:34] perfect world, if they had to pick
between all of these different things,
[1:45:37] what are the ones that are the most
important to them?
[1:45:39] » Are you equating the change of hours to
dollars?
[1:45:42] » I I think that there's a lot of ways to
add value for staff retention and
[1:45:45] recruitment that doesn't require actual
dollars.
[1:45:47] » That value would equate to
>> potentially, but again, we can't we
[1:45:50] can't do everything. And again, if we
did, you know, say we gave a few more
[1:45:54] holidays, we did the 3% colo, we covered
the increase in WRS and health
[1:45:58] insurance.
>> You keep on saying the holiday, the
[1:46:01] holidays would incur a cost.
>> Everything you've said is going to point
[1:46:05] » except the change of hours.
>> That's my point. If we do all of those
[1:46:09] things,
>> what are we going to do next year? Like,
[1:46:12] what are we going to give next year to
continue to try to recruit and retain?
[1:46:16] So, I guess I'd like to hear from staff
what is the most important to them so
[1:46:19] that as we're sitting here making a
decision about all of these different
[1:46:22] things, we're not taking them piece by
piece. We're kind of taking them as a
[1:46:26] whole look at all of them and with the
input of which of these things are the
[1:46:30] most important to staff.
>> Was it last year we did that survey
[1:46:33] staff the employee survey?
>> Last year we did the employee survey and
[1:46:37] right now we have a survey for um staff
recognition and appreciation
[1:46:42] » internal though just amongst ourselves.
Okay. Jim, I have a question. Of the 37
[1:46:47] full-time staff, I'd like to know how
many would be able to take advantage of
[1:46:51] the half day Friday or one o'clock
Friday, like sitting here utility, Sean,
[1:46:56] they're not going to get to do it. Of
how many? What's the percentage that
[1:46:59] could happen?
>> No park, no utility. Um, road crews
[1:47:02] already on it.
>> Parks. Parks. I mean, I think we can I
[1:47:06] think we can figure it out, but with
only four of us in the department. Yeah,
[1:47:09] » technically I'm a director so I would
probably be completely different
[1:47:12] schedule than the three that are in
there. So we still need coverage on
[1:47:17] Fridays.
>> So because of park rentals, etc. I mean
[1:47:21] we work every weekend all summer. So you
know just how do we do that with
[1:47:26] seasonals and then have four tens Monday
through Thursday and then
[1:47:31] two other different ones Tuesday through
Friday. You know, we just we'd have to
[1:47:35] work out the logistics just to make it
work. ballpark number that this would
[1:47:39] affect. How many employees?
>> I don't really want a ballpark. I'm
[1:47:43] sorry. I I want an actual number of how
many staff, sorry. Of who would actually
[1:47:46] get to take advantage of this?
>> I can wait till next meeting. I just
[1:47:50] want to
>> I was like I I mean there's 13 including
[1:47:53] you and public works.
[1:47:58] » No, I have to take out I have to take
out Isaac and you
[1:48:02] » Jennifer made the comment like her is
here until 5:00. like would she still be
[1:48:06] here till five o'clock because her staff
can't afford to take off Fridays? I
[1:48:10] guess I want everyone to really think
about is this for, you know, the 10
[1:48:13] office staff that want to leave early on
Friday or would 30 employees get to take
[1:48:18] off early on a Friday and it would be a
staff morale boost or is this
[1:48:21] » it'd probably be like less than 10.
>> Yeah.
[1:48:24] » Staff that would take off.
>> Again, our largest department is public
[1:48:27] works, right? Sure. You're you're nine
or 10, right? So, you'd take that off
[1:48:32] the top right away. 14
say 19
[1:48:37] » 20 that is public works streets
>> streets utilities
[1:48:41] » already doing it
>> that yeah
[1:48:43] » not utilities but
>> yeah that either are doing it or kind of
[1:48:48] you know our utility guys are here five
days a week
[1:48:51] » um
>> and is that good right is there is it
[1:48:53] fine that some people are going to work
five days a week and some people are
[1:48:55] going to be leaving early on Fridays and
like what's the the dynamic there is
[1:49:00] everyone good with everyone having
different schedules Some people already
[1:49:03] work 410s. Great. Works for them because
they got to take advantage of the
[1:49:05] daylight, whatever. So, if does that
work in the in the office? Like, is
[1:49:10] there
>> It's It's going to vary really because I
[1:49:13] mean like Reigns, he's there's still
going to be jobs going on on Fridays.
[1:49:16] So, he's going to have to be here. So,
he's somebody in office that would still
[1:49:20] have to be here on Fridays.
>> Sure.
[1:49:22] » All day. You know
>> who's that going [snorts] to be?
[1:49:25] » Was that
>> Who's going to do that?
[1:49:27] » Well, we're going to rotate.
>> If if it would be Rams, he's going to be
[1:49:29] out on site, right?
>> Sure. So the office would still be
[1:49:32] closed.
>> Okay.
[1:49:34] » But we would if if there were like parks
is going to they wouldn't necessarily be
[1:49:38] here. They're
>> Yeah.
[1:49:40] » Yeah. Same with same with inspections.
You know, if they have inspection
[1:49:44] scheduled for Friday afternoon, they
probably wouldn't take scheduled
[1:49:47] inspections. They wanted to be off on
Friday. So
[1:49:50] » So let's let's get an exact number to
come back [clears throat]
[1:49:54] » by department.
>> By department. Sure.
[1:49:57] » That was too far. And I want to come in
on what Brent was saying um
[1:50:03] and add to to that the fact of
presenting the hours that you're looking
[1:50:10] at if we did that Friday afternoons off
to find out which ones like I said which
[1:50:17] ones the staff would prefer because I
mean
[1:50:23] and I I would hope you wouldn't be
having two two different some coming in
[1:50:28] at 7 and some coming in at whatever. I
mean, is it the uniform?
[1:50:36] » Well, no. A stagger would be good. 7
>> 7 and 8:00 and or 7 and 8:30 and so the
[1:50:42] office is open from 7 o'clock to 5:30 or
7 to 6. That'd be great.
[1:50:46] » As long as they got their eight hours
in, I guess. Yeah.
[1:50:49] » That's that's not even a question
whether they get their hours in. It's
[1:50:52] what it's going to do to the residents.
you know what what kind of a lack of
[1:50:55] service or lack of attention or lack of
response. You can't come in, you can't
[1:50:59] use it.
>> That's that's the biggest issue right
[1:51:01] there.
>> That's what we ran into.
[1:51:04] » Okay. All right. So, go ahead.
>> I was just gonna
[1:51:07] » and then you, Michael. Yep.
>> I agree with what Trusty Olsson said.
[1:51:11] Also, I was I'm concerned about confu,
you know, confusing the residents.
[1:51:16] » It's like good
>> points
[1:51:19] conversation.
>> Okay, Michael. I guess I'd have to look
[1:51:22] back when I again, you know, 15 years
ago, we were open, I believe, 7 to 5,
[1:51:27] and we had some of our admin assistants
staggered. You know, they'd work 7 to 4
[1:51:34] maybe or 7 to 3:30, however that math
works out. And then one was, you know,
[1:51:38] they'd come in at 8. Um,
>> just the clerks for front desk stuff.
[1:51:44] Yeah.
>> But so, but at the same time, we we
[1:51:46] don't have that many clerks anymore. We
have less staff to do that. Um, you
[1:51:52] know, I personally probably put in
closer to 60 hours a week than I was
[1:51:56] here last night for several hours on a
holiday. So, I mean, a lot of this stuff
[1:52:00] doesn't matter to me and to several of
the other people that work here. Um, so
[1:52:05] I guess those are the things that as we
hear these,
[1:52:10] I just want to let you know it's it's
nothing personal. It's just we do care a
[1:52:15] lot as staff. We put a lot of time and
effort into this place. And
[1:52:20] I guess we we're doing what we can to
keep things going. Um I guess that was
[1:52:24] maybe the point of trying to go through
the the worksheets, you know, the the
[1:52:29] the municipal data tool. We don't get as
much money per capita. We don't spend as
[1:52:34] much per capita though either. And it's
because we have dedicated staff members.
[1:52:39] So,
you know, the these are good good ideas
[1:52:43] and we try to flex it as much as we can.
Um you know, but
[1:52:48] Sometimes I don't know I guess we've
tried a lot of things over history and
[1:52:54] sometimes I I just start seeing it
repeat and we get new people on boards
[1:52:57] and committees and I guess maybe that's
some of my frustrations start coming in
[1:53:01] is we used to do it that way but then it
didn't work out. We found out traffic
[1:53:05] died down after 4:00 so there was no
need to stay open till 5 or nobody came
[1:53:10] in at 7 a.m. Um
>> oh
[1:53:15] excuse me. Well, I'm in the clerk's
office and I get to work at 7:30 in the
[1:53:20] morning and I really don't take lunch
very often, which I should and I stay
[1:53:26] here till 4:30 or after. Um, I myself
would probably not leave because I have
[1:53:34] a lot to do right now and that's why I
get here early and I rarely take lunch.
[1:53:40] So, leaving on a Friday, I would not I
would just get behind more. So,
[1:53:47] and I agree with what Michael said. I
work really hard for the residents. We
[1:53:52] do our best to um answer their
questions, get to the phone, get up to
[1:53:58] the front. Um we care about them and
that's why we work so hard because we do
[1:54:04] care.
If we closed the office at noon, you
[1:54:08] were like it wasn't that it was close
you could leave but close so you could
[1:54:12] have like office hours that you didn't
have to deal with people interrupting
[1:54:15] you. Would that be helpful?
>> And that would be fine. But you know I
[1:54:18] hear people out here saying well people
wouldn't be able to come in and I want
[1:54:23] to serve the public. That's why I'm
here. So if I'm here
[1:54:27] » you would do it.
>> I would do it.
[1:54:28] » Okay. I should know if they're closed
off hours.
[1:54:32] » That's why I do it.
>> Friday Fridays aren't that busy anyway.
[1:54:37] Um with the staff down stairs on Friday.
It was just a couple of us or two
[1:54:44] Fridays ago.
>> It was easily handled, especially being
[1:54:49] short staff right now. We are down a
part-timer and we're down a full-timer.
[1:54:53] So front staff is a little short right
now and we're handling it just fine. And
[1:54:58] it es and flows too because like the
last week of the month there's not a lot
[1:55:02] of utility payments that come in. So the
mail is is not as heavy. The front desk
[1:55:08] is not as heavy. Even the phones are a
little quieter. But then when the first
[1:55:13] comes and the second and the third week
are pretty pretty strong with busyiness.
[1:55:18] So
>> when we talk about having off on Friday
[1:55:20] afternoon, we all have PTO and most of
us have more PTO than we know what to do
[1:55:24] with. And I think that's a really good
rational. We don't need to close the
[1:55:28] office. We don't need to flex our hours.
If people want off Friday, they need to
[1:55:32] just take off. And that way we can work
together and work around everybody's
[1:55:36] schedule cuz I know child care a lot
some places don't let you leave your kid
[1:55:41] more than 9 hours. Well, if we have to
work for 9 hour day, that that's a
[1:55:45] little bit of a stretch, right? I need
to leave. I need to pick somebody up.
[1:55:50] So, um, that's another thought. But I
know our previous part-time or previous
[1:55:54] full-timer really struggled at a
different municipality that had those
[1:55:59] longer days. So,
[1:56:04] » I just don't think this was offered as a
penalty for staff. I think we were just
[1:56:09] discussing different ideas to
>> offer staff. So, I don't want it to be
[1:56:14] looked at as negatively. I think it was
just
[1:56:16] » gives us this a possibility to give
staff more time off or allow them to use
[1:56:21] their 40 hours in a different fashion so
that they get more family time. So I
[1:56:26] just want to set that up. We were just
looking at ideas.
[1:56:28] » Yep.
>> And that's why I want that feedback
[1:56:30] because from listening to you guys talk
that here it does not sound like Friday
[1:56:32] afternoons is going to be very popular.
>> Like can we just answer question? So
[1:56:35] that's what I'm saying. Like that's why
I want to know the feedback because if
[1:56:39] we're making choices if it comes down to
dollars or if it comes down to other
[1:56:42] things like yeah we give you Friday
afternoons off but then you want it. So
[1:56:46] what good does that do? Okay. So we'll
follow up with some more discussion a
[1:56:51] little bit more actuals and we'll put it
back on our agenda. Okay. All good.
[1:56:58] » Uh let's see. Uh remarks. You want to go
in? Yeah. You want to call remarks from
[1:57:05] your committee?
>> Awesome. Yeah. For the finance and human
[1:57:08] resource committee. Any remarks?
>> Daniel.
[1:57:14] » Good. Thank you.
>> Yeah.
[1:57:16] » My only comment is I would if we do this
next year or the year after, whatever
[1:57:20] year, start with this one. Let's start
with this presentation first before we
[1:57:25] » put salaries and and increases on the
agenda. Um I like the joint finance. I
[1:57:30] was a big proponent of doing it as
sitting on the financial committee. Made
[1:57:34] sense for me to understand how we got
here. Um but I would have I would like
[1:57:37] to start with this next time. This one
made a lot of sense and really detailed
[1:57:40] all of our um expenditures and then
feels like we can head into um
[1:57:46] the stuff that's gets a little more
hairy.
[1:57:48] » Okay.
>> Nothing for me. So do you want to move
[1:57:51] into motion to adjourn for the
committee?
[1:57:53] » No, that's you.
>> That's what I'm saying. Is that okay? So
[1:57:56] this would end the joint session of our
meeting tonight. So the finance and HR
[1:58:01] committee looking for a motion to
adjourn
[1:58:05] by Daniel. Is there a second?
>> Second by Barb.
[1:58:09] » Yeah, I'm on your
>> I know. I just remember that. It threw
[1:58:12] me off for a second. All right. Any
discussion on the motion? All those in
[1:58:16] favor signify by saying I.
>> I opposed.
[1:58:20] » Have a good night.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um do we want to do a
[1:58:26] remarks from staff first trustees or
>> you can just do them after? It's okay.
[1:58:31] » Yeah, that's fine. Okay. So, uh board
trustees continue. Um motion to move
[1:58:35] into close session pursuant to Wisconsin
stat 19.85 parent one parent chief
[1:58:39] conferring with legal counsel for the
governmental body who is rendering oral
[1:58:43] or written advice concerning strategy to
be adopted by the body with respect to
[1:58:48] litigation in which it is or is likely
to become involved. Counter Weston
[1:58:52] Everest Metro Police Department EMPD
payout.
[1:58:56] » Move.
>> Move by Hermling.
[1:58:58] » Second.
>> Second by Zugami. Roll call vote.
[1:59:06] » Do I need to sign off because I'm on
Zoom,
[1:59:10] » right? You have to vote to go into close
session first, Trusty Claire,
[1:59:14] » and then you you I can put you in the
waiting room or you can drop off,
[1:59:18] whichever you
>> the board, can we keep her in, please?
[1:59:20] » No.
>> No. Okay. Then we're done. We're I know
[1:59:22] we're staying consistent. Okay. All
right. Did you hear that, Katrina?
[1:59:26] » Yep. I'm good with that.
>> Go ahead. Are you through?
[1:59:32] » Yes. She has to do roll call.
>> Yes.
[1:59:34] » Maloney.
>> Yes.
[1:59:37] » Mac.
>> Yes.
[1:59:39] » Um,
>> yes.
[1:59:42] » Yes.
>> Clark,
[1:59:46] » yes.
>> We are now in full session.
[1:59:49] » Give me a couple moments to Go to
meeting room.
[1:59:56] » Nice to see you.
[laughter]
[2:00:21] Uh, go ahead.
>> So, I'm going to make a motion that we
[2:00:23] take no action based on the conversation
that we had in closed sessions.
[2:00:27] » So, motion by Olsen to take no action on
uh the closed session uh conversation.
[2:00:32] » Second.
>> Second byling. Uh, any more on the
[2:00:36] discussion hearing? None. All those in
favor say I.
[2:00:38] » I.
>> Opposed? So carried. And uh let's see.
[2:00:43] Uh anything from staff, anything from
trustees? Any remarks?
[2:00:49] » Uh nothing from me. I'm glad to hear
Katrina's doing better.
[2:00:53] » And a future items are coming. You want
me to read all this? But we have three
[2:00:57] joint workshops coming up here.
>> Uh we've got when is our September 21st
[2:01:02] is our board night, too, right?
>> Yep. Okay.
[2:01:04] » Also at next Saturday.
>> Oh, Saturday we have the farmers market
[2:01:07] on the 12th.
>> Yep. 10 to 12. And then we have another
[2:01:10] one after that too. Uh here.
>> Yeah. I don't know who all intends to
[2:01:14] attend um next Tuesday, but we might
want to throw a possible quorum notice
[2:01:19] for next Tuesday as well.
>> He's got that out there for the town
[2:01:22] meeting.
>> The town meeting on next Tuesday. I I
[2:01:26] may choose to attend as a village
trustee. So yeah, Pam, you hear?
[2:01:29] » If there's going to be a group of three
or four of us there, do we have to do we
[2:01:32] have to public notice?
>> I don't know if we have to notice it for
[2:01:35] town. If there's three or four of us
show up at the another good
[2:01:43] » Yeah. I'm just a purely spectator. It's
Tuesday night.
[2:01:46] » It's Tuesday night and it's at
>> 6:30
[2:01:48] » 6:30. Yeah.
>> Um Jen usually sends out they send her
[2:01:52] » Jen will send us something out Wednesday
or Thursday to all of us.
[2:01:55] » It's right over here by our place in the
courthouse.
[2:01:57] » They haven't changed.
>> Nope. Not at all. Looking for a motion
[2:02:00] to adjurnn.
>> Some moved.
[2:02:02] » Motion by Olsson, second by Zagami. All
those in favor say I. I.
[2:02:06] » Opposed. Ajourned at 8:50 p.m. Thank you
everybody.