Town of Richmond

Board of Supervisor’s Meeting

July 20, 2023

Minutes

Chairman Karbash called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. Present: Karbash, Supervisors Dave Overbeek, Steven Wade, Tom Kraus, Deputy Treasurer Betsy Sheets. Absent: Supervisor Susan Miller, Treasurer Ann Seaver. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Motion to approve the Agenda by Overbeek, second by Kraus, passed unanimously.

Motion to approve the minutes of June’s meetings by Kraus, second by Wade, approved unanimously. Treasurer’s Report Sheets reports that no new activity in June. July’s report will show newly invested funds in Money Market and CD accounts.

Motion to approve the Treasurer’s report by Overbeek, second by Wade, passed unanimously. Board reports

Karbash – On Agenda

Overbeek – Reports the Insurance Claim for damage to the Ford F-450 truck has been approved and Roadman

McManaway is proceeding with coordinating repairs.

Wade – Had a person inquire about the effective date of the ATV/UTV ordinance, thanks to Roadman McManaway for posting the signs and thanks to Clerk Hayes for posting the ordinance as amended to include County roads.

Kraus – On Agenda

Karbash explains that Supervisor Miller is absent due to recovering from surgery.

Karbash reminds the Board that they should think about a Road Tour to identify the roads in need of repair so as to designate ARPA funds for those improvements in the Spring/Summer of 2024 and suggests putting on next month’s agenda.

Roadman McManaway reports that he has been putting up road signs designating the ATV/UTV friendly roads. He attended a Walworth County outreach session with surrounding Town representatives that day and reports that most townships are in the process of amending their ATV/UTV ordinances to include County Roads. The Walworth County Sheriff’s Department will be creating and printing a map of the roads that are open to ATV/UTV usage throughout the County. When completed it will be posted on the County web site.

It was reported at the session that County Highway P will be closed from Hazel Ridge Road to Highway M preventing access to Delavan from highway P.

McManaway reports that the County will be trying a new chemical spraying targeting wild parsnip among other invasive weeds.

Karbash advises that he and surrounding Town Chairpersons had a meeting with Whitewater Fire Chief wherein they discussed the weighted formula currently being used to invoice the Townships for Fire and Rescue services. The current weighted formula uses 25% based upon property valuations and 75% based on call volumes. Karbash has recommended using 15% for property valuations, but no final decisions have been made as of yet.

Richmond Township represents 15% of the almost 2 Billion in Total district valuation, and that is just the North half of the Township.

Richmond Township accounts for 3.2% of the total call volume.

The favorable news from this meeting is that Richmond Township’s portion of fees will be closer to $100,000 rather than the $150,000 as originally proposed. The City of Whitewater’s per call fees are lower than any of the Townships served currently as their call per population is lower.

There is consideration for using a 5 year average on the call volume portion of the equation.

The $1,000 per call charge will go away. Also, to help to reduce unnecessary calls, the Fire Department has been considering a nuisance ordinance and Karbash opinions that Richmond Township may want to consider one as well.

The City of Whitewater Fire Department is creating a new Board of Directors and they are asking each of the Towns served to nominate a person to serve on the Fire Department Board.

The Board will focus on fund raising and determining allocation for those funds. The funds would stay in the Fire Department budget and not transfer to the City of Whitewater.

Kraus motion to nominate Karbash as Richmond Township’s representative, second by Overbeek, passed with Wade voting yes and Karbash voting no.

Turtle Lake Association

Linda Szramiak presented some data on behalf of the Turtle Lake Association. Turtle Lake has NOT used chemicals at the request of the Lake residents to control aquatic invasive plant species. They have engaged in an ECO Dash program where divers pull the plants from the bottom and feed them into a large vacuum tube where they are taken to the surface, trucked and hauled away to fertilize a farmer’s field. This program is part of a multi-lake study with about a dozen other lakes. She requests from the Board a $2,500 grant to assist in these efforts.

Overbeek motion to approve a $2,500 grant, second by Wade, passed unanimously. Overbeek motion to pay the bills, second by Kraus, passed unanimously.

Overbeek motion to adjourn, second by Wade, passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted, Brian Hayes

Clerk