Town of Richmond
Board of Supervisors Meeting
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Minutes

Chairman Jeff Karbash called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.  Present: Karbash, Supervisors Susan Miller, Dave Overbeek, Steve Wade, Tom Kraus.  The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Motion to approve the agenda by Kraus, Second by Miller, passed unanimously.

Motion to approve the Minutes by Overbeek, Second by Kraus, passed unanimously.

Motion by Overbeek to approve the December Treasurer’s Report, Second by Wade, passed unanimously.

Board Reports
Karbash – Advises that the submersible pump and pressure tank for the Town Hall well has failed and efforts are underway to replace these items. They were installed in 1981.
Karbash also advised that he has an inquiry regarding property rentals in the Town suggesting that we should be more restrictive than the County, and will ask for this item to be placed on next month’s agenda.

Overbeek – Reported that a Safety Committee meeting was recently held with a tentative plan to reconvene on the 7^th of February, 2023 with an alternate date of the 9^th of February.

Miller – On Agenda
Wade – On Agenda
Kraus – On Agenda

Sheriff’s Liaison Hintz reported that the month was relatively quiet with no incidents to report.

Roadman McManaway reported that he has scheduled with an electrician for the wiring and hook up of electrical service to run the Town emergency generator. This activity to be performed the week of January 23^rd through the 27^th. Regarding the new well and pressure tank installation, McManaway will have to do some minor re-arranging in the shop to accommodate the new pressure tank. McManaway has conferred with his peers in some of the surrounding townships to gage their thoughts on the County’s recent ATV/UTV ordinance update. Most townships are taking a wait and see approach due to the logistical challenges of posting the roads where one township allows and another doesn’t.

Public comment –
Whitewater School District – Caroline Pate-Hefty reported that students worked hard to learn sign language for the school Christmas program. Also, students who participated in the investment club were given $500 to invest and realized gains of 9% were achieved by some as a real life learning experience.

Stephanie Hicks – candidate for the Whitewater School Board, introduced herself as a 23 year veteran of the Whitewater school district. She has 2 children in the Whitewater school system. She has been a Special Education teacher in the Milton School district. She earned a Bachelor’s degree and is working towards a Master’s Degree. Her reasons for running for the school board are; 1) To be a voice for the community, teachers, and students 2) to be an advocate for improved teacher retention 3) To be an advocate for special education 4) To ensure smart decisions are made for the school district.

Land Management – Public Hearing – Lawrence R. & Megan Jacob request for Conditional Use Permit: CR500004 – Create 1.5 acre SFR Building Site through a PRD, Property located at N7261 Hwy 89: Mr. Jacob explained with large maps to illustrate for the board he is asking to separate 1.5 acres from the C-2 zoned parcel and sell it, creating a PRD (Planned Residential Development) with a deed restriction on the remaining 8.5 acres also zoned C-2. Mr. Jacob advised that the deed restriction would allow only one additional SFR (single family resident) on the 8.5 acres. He advised the board he had spoken to the Dept. of Transportation to seek approval for a driveway access off of Hwy 89.

Concerns about setting a precedent were voiced by Eldon Stanton. Questions to clarify the acreage and details of the request were asked by Donna Stanton and Barb Ceas.

Chairman Karbash asked why not divide the property into two 5 acre parcels. Mr. Jacob responded that the current request would minimize the impact to their property while achieving the intent of having a minimum of two homes on 10 acres.

Speaking on behalf of the proposed conditional use were Joe Staller and Caroline Pate-Hefty stating they believed the development would be a positive addition to the township.

Supervisor Miller as Chair of the planning committee, articulates that the original proposal for 1.5 acres with an 8.5 acre parcel adjoining cannot be split up further, and that with only one residence allowed per parcel, is consistent with the intent of current zoning regulations.

Supervisor Overbeek opinions that subdivisions are being configured to preserve woodlands which is in line with Mr. Jacob’s proposal to have an 8.5 acre parcel.

Supervisor Miller motions to approve the conditional use permit as follows;
“To allow a SFR to be built on the 1.5 acre parcel provided approval of the proposed driveway is obtained from the Wisconsin DOT. With respect to the 8.5 acre parcel, approval for the building of a SFR requiring a deed restriction that prohibits that parcel from being further divided into a smaller parcel(s), and that that the 8.5 acre parcel require an easement for driveway access utilizing an existing driveway on an adjacent parcel of land owned by Mr. Jacob”

Second by Overbeek, passed unanimously.

Whitewater Fire & EMS Contract – First Asst. Chief Ryan Dion advises the board that the City of Whitewater passed the resolution to go to full time staffed Fire & EMS services. He reviewed the statistics for the number of calls experienced and the associated response times stating the current average response time runs approximately 5 minutes with a target to be under 2 minutes with a full time staffed department. Currently responders get the call and there is an added travel time to the station from their residence. With a full time staff they will already be at the station and can respond more quickly.  Supervisor Overbeek states that with 911 calls the response times have been averaging 6 to 7 minutes to respond to the call. Dion explains how the various area cell towers work in response to 911 calls for assistance stating that depending on where the call originates the response time can vary.

Chairman Karbash then says he appreciates the inclusion in the new Fire & EMS contract that the city first bills the person receiving the services, if it’s not paid in 70 days it then is billed to the township. The township was previously being billed first, and would send the bill to our residents, and when the residents submitted the bills to their insurance company the insurance companies were denying the claims stating the bill lacked the necessary information. Karbash says the only other question he has is how we split up the 2% dues. Clerk Hayes explains that the contract reads that the 2% dues shall be paid to the City in proportion to the township area served. Former clerk Barb Ceas then explains that the practice has been to split the dues 50/50 between Whitewater Fire & EMS and Delavan Fire & EMS giving an example that if the fire dues is $5,000 – each dept. would get $2,500.

Supervisor Overbeek asks if the City of Whitewater Fire Dept. offers fire inspection services and Dion explains that yes they do, the service has been outsourced to a third party, however the city has just passed a resolution to bring this service back in house and a full time fire dept. employee will perform this activity bringing more consistency and manageability. Karbash asks if there is a charge for that service and Dion responds saying that right now there is no charge for this service, but there may be in the future. Karbash advises that this is an appreciated service for businesses because insurance companies offer the same service but are much more restrictive in their inspections. Dion clarifies that the service is for commercial businesses and/or commercial residential facilities with three or more units. Duplex and single-family units are covered by building inspectors. Dion goes on to explain that they have a reporting requirement to the state for these services as a part of the justification for receiving the 2% dues. Former clerk Barb Ceas advises that the township also has a reporting requirement regarding the 2% dues administered.

Motion to approve the Whitewater Fire & EMS contract proposal by Overbeek, second by Wade, passed unanimously.

ATV/UTV Ordinance – Chairman Karbash reads a portion of the recent County request to open up county roads to ATV/UTV usage, and their request to the township to advise if the town is interested in amending the town ordinance to allow ATV/UTVs on county roads.

Supervisor Wade explains that Richmond Township passed an ordinance back in October allowing for the use of ATV/UTVs on most town roads with the exception of a few near Whitewater Lake. Subsequent to the Town’s passage of that ordinance he attended a meeting of the county wherein they were moving toward opening the county roads to usage, however the townships would be responsible for installing and maintaining signage. In December the county asked for confirmation of our open roads, they had their records accurate and were asking at that time what we would do with the county roads if opened. Our Roadman Wally McManaway has had some discussions with surrounding townships to see what their thoughts are on this.

McManaway explains that Whitewater township is considering this for their rural areas, however the Whitewater Lake area residences continue to be opposed to opening up the roads to ATV/UTV use. He goes on to explain that the contact he has at the county has advised him that if Richmond wants to open up the county roads for use, we would have to purchase the signs, and put them up. The county would have specific criteria for the type of signs that could be used. We would have to coordinate with the county on where to put the signs because if there is a township that decides against this, and they border Richmond Township we would have to place no ATV signs beyond that boundary. McManaway discussed with Darien Township and they’re leaning towards opening up their portions of the County roads. Sugar Creek is currently undecided, and we don’t know what Rock County will be doing in this regard so while this isn’t overly complicated, we can’t proceed without coordination with surrounding townships.

Supervisor Overbeek opinions that we should try to work together with Darien, Whitewater and other surrounding townships before proceeding so we aren’t continuing to move signs around after each township acts individually.

Chaiman Karbash asks the board if they think we should consider amending our ordinance. Supervisor Wade opinions that our ordinance is worded such that all township roads are open with the exception of a few roads we designate in the ordinance. He opinions we could add County Roads to those designated as open in our ordinance. McManaway advises that the county correspondence states we have until July of 2023 to advise the county on the board’s decision.

Supervisor Overbeek suggests we should wait on making a decision until we can coordinate with other townships. Supervisor Wade opinions that each township uses basically the same boiler plate ordinance but there are subtle differences between them. This makes enforcement difficult for the County and keeping our ordinance as close to the County’s as possible is preferred.

Chairman Karbash asks Sheriff’s Liaison Hintz if he agrees that enforcement will be difficult unless coordinated with other municipalities and Hintz agrees.

Overbeek motion to move forward with the concept of opening County Roads within Richmond Township and our point person be Supervisor Steve Wade to work with the other townships so we can coordinate the timing of when we would make that effective.

Kraus second, passed unanimously.

February Board meeting date – Following discussion and a review of schedules it is decided to move the February board meeting from February 21^st to February 22^nd at 7:00pm due to the Spring Primary Election that will take place at the Town Hall on the 21^st of February, from 7:00am until 8:00pm.

Complaints – An anonymous complaint was received by three of the board members about the property at N6309 County Road P. Supervisor Kraus explains that the house, the buildings and the yard are immaculate, that it is a really nice place but there is a lot of equipment and junk in the barnyard. Some of the board members had not had an opportunity to go and look at the property. Chairman Karbash advises that no response is required as the complaint was anonymous and did not have contact information. Karbash recommends the item be tabled until the next board meeting allowing all board members to go and view the property.

Payment of Bills – Motion by supervisor Miller to approve payment of the bills, second by Kraus, approved unanimously.

Motion to adjourn by Kraus, second by Overbeek, approved unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Hayes
Town Clerk