Town of Washburn – Bayfield County
Meeting Minutes
Closed Session
April 21,2026

This is a special closed session meeting of the board for the purpose of discussing personnel issues.

Call to order and roll call: Scottie Sandstrom called the meeting to order at 6:30.

In Attendance: Scottie Sandstrom, Matt Tetzner, Seth Vasser, Vicki Thoen

Proper public notice was verified: Washburn Town Hall, Website, Tetzner’s Dairy

Seth made the motion to go into closed session. Matt seconded. All ayes. Motion carried.

Matt made the motion that we exit the closed session. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Matt moved to exit the closed session and Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Adjournment: Seth made the motion to adjourn at 6:53, Matt seconded. All ayes. Motion carried.

Respectfully Submitted,
Vicki Thoen, Clerk

STATE OF WISCONSIN
Town of Washburn
Town Meeting Minutes – April 14, 2026

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Scottie Sandstrom, Chair.

In attendance: Board members – Scottie Sandstrom, Matt Tetzner, Seth Vasser, Vicki Thoen, Christina Eliason. Others: Mike Harvey (Road Superintendent), Sandra Raspotnik, Ellen Avol-Law, Sarah Beebe, Cyndee Marx, Bob Marx, Nori Schwenzfeier, Tim Schwenzfeier, John Carlson, Steve Tetzner, Ryan Vanderscheuren
Online: Wendy Stein, Kim Bro, Jim Park

Proper public notice was verified: Ashland Daily Press, Tetzner’s Dairy, town website, Town Hall

Public Comment: Sandy Raspotnik and Ellen Avol-Law reviewed the request from last month regarding resolution for transparency of voucher program cost with statement being added to the annual tax statements. Nori Schwenzfeier – commented on the dust ordinance, requesting resolution, stated the responsibility lies with the town. Cyndee Marx- stated that she is opposed to the school resolution. We need more info and accountability from school district regarding how many students are coming into district from other districts as well. Ryan Vanderscheuren – commented that he is opposed to the school district resolution to add voucher info on tax bill. Stated we should get the school budget annually and know where all of the money goes. Sarah Beebe – said that she is opposed to the resolution from the school board to add comment on tax bill. Christina Eliason – as a citizen not as a board member, stated she is opposed to the town board getting involved with the school board resolution. The Town should concentrate on Town business only. She feels we need all the budget numbers.

A motion was made by Seth to accept the agenda. Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Seth made the motion to approve the minutes from previous meeting: Matt seconded. All ayes. Motion carried.

School Board of Washburn Resolution- The board discussed their views on the resolution. Scottie stated that he is opposed to resolution and thinks the Town should be about town business. Matt said he received several messages about this topic and talked to Superintendent to hear both sides. He agrees with the town doing town business but understands both sides of the issue. The School District is considering a newsletter. Seth is for the resolution and thinks transparency is important. Scottie moved that we do not pass the resolution. There wasn’t a second to the motion. Seth made the motion to pass the resolution. Matt seconded the motion. 2 ayes, 1 nay from Scottie Sandstrom. Motion carried. The town will include a statement on the annual cost of the school voucher program on tax statements.

Update/Action on Town Dust Ordinance(s)/Town Roads Dust Mitigation -Seth moved to open the floor to town attorney John Carlson, Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried. Scottie presented the information from recent meetings and phone conversation with parties involved. The Board decided the following:
• The Town agrees to rescind Dust Mitigation Ordinance #2025-2. Seth made the motion that we rescind ordinance #2025-2. Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.
• The Town should adopt Ordinance #2026-1 Town of Washburn Fugitive Dust Ordinance for Unpaved Roads which includes posting signs with a speed limit of 15 mph for material hauling trucks. Seth made the motion that we pass Ordinance #2026-1. Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried. Scottie made the motion that we purchase two road signs for the 15 mph speed limit. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.
• The Town should invest in a salt/sand spreader for use of spreading Calcium Chloride. The estimated cost is $1800. Matt moved to purchase the spreader equipment. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.
• Bob Olson has agreed to pay for two applications of Calcium Chloride per season. The Town will offer dust mitigation to other residents once costs are calculated. Currently expected to be $1.50/foot.
• The Town will exercise its prosecutorial discretion regarding the enforcement of the new adopted ordinance.

Reports:
Clerk: reported that 278 people voted during the Spring Election, April 7. 44 absentee ballots were issued, 38 were returned but one was rejected due to no witness signature, one was rejected because it was received on April 13. We had 60% voter turnout. Reminder that Open Book is scheduled for May 8 from 1:00 – 3:00 at the Town Hall. Board of Review is scheduled on May 20 from 6:00 – 8:00 at the Town Hall. See Notice posted on the website, at Tetzner’s Dairy and the Town Hall for guidelines. Annual Meeting is on April 21. Attended webinar for completion of Form CT Municipal Financial Report that is required by WI Dept. of Revenue.

Treasurer: looking into changing banks for our checking account, will present info at the May meeting. Presented current budget report. Will send out invoices for snow plowing next month. The bank accounts are reconciled for March.

Road Crew: Scottie recognized Mike for 20 years of service with the town. He was given a gift certificate to a local restaurant. He reported that things went well through the winter but it was a tough winter with ice accumulation and lots of snow. There are a lot of soft areas on gravel roads. Wants to buy a Box Scraper attachment for tractor. Lulich has one for $3000. Scottie made the motion to purchase the box scraper. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried. Back Hoe issues, Caterpillar was here again and the bucket works better now.

Chair: The DOT approved funding for Wannebo Road project at 69.72% of project cost. The project costs are estimated at $700,000 with $488,040 reimbursed by WIS DOT. Emmer Shields and Bob Anderson helped with application for the grant. Forrest Service mtg last Thursday. Scottie attended. Road Superintendents requested better cooperation and communication regarding logging and roads that need to be cleared/plowed. Mentioned Agenda items for Annual Meeting: board members will report on the past year, decide on driveway plowing for the future, change from electing Town Clerk and Treasurer to Appointment, Review pay levels for clerk, treasurer, and board members. Village Powers Resolution, Town indebtedness, open floor, and next Annual meeting April 20,2027

Seth made the motion to approve the reports. Matt seconded the motion All ayes. Motion carried,

Plan Commission – Kim Bro reported that Bayfield County is rewriting zoning policy and hosting public meetings. The one in our area is April 29 at Bayfield Town Hall at 6:30. Town Boards need to agree to be part of zoning, some zoning may change. We received a Driveway Permit request from Tracy DeFoe – need sketch of where the residence will be placed on property and will review in May if received in time. Share the road signs will cost $65 each.

Town Board Resolution for Transportation Funding as presented by the Wisconsin Towns Association: Seth made the motion to approve, Matt seconded. All ayes. Motion carried.

Scheduled Bid for West Engoe Road Double Chip Seal Project – request for bids will be in Ashland Daily Press Thursday, April 16 and Thursday, Apil 23. They will be reviewed at the May 12. Meeting.

Mowing the Landfill this Summer – Scottie talked to Duane Raspotnik to see if he would mow this summer. There is more to mow this year and he requested $700 for the summer. Scottie made the motion to move forward with Duane Raspotnik mowing the landfill for $700. Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Items to be placed on future agendas:
Kelly Traczyk from WEDC to share her role in upcoming solar project
Open bids for Engoe Rd project
Schedule Road inspection

Authorize the payment of bills – After reviewing the bills, Seth made the motion to authorize payments. Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Adjournment – at 9:10 Seth made the motion that we adjourn. Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Respectfully Submitted,

Vicki Thoen, Clerk

STATE OF WISCONSIN
Town of Washburn
Town Meeting Minutes – May 12, 2026

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Scottie Sandstrom, Chair.

In Attendance: Board members – Scottie Sandstrom, Matt Tetzner, Vicki Thoen, Christina Eliason, Seth Vasser (online) Others: Mike Harvey (Road Superintendent), Kelly Traczyk (WEDC), Ryan VanLanduyt (Bayfield Co. Energy Specialist), Mike Vavrus, Lance Twombly, Tom Cogger, Connie Cogger, Kim Bro (Plan Commission), Scott Sturgeon (Scott Construction)
Online: Wendy Stein, Jim Park

Proper public notice was verified: Ashland Daily Press, Tetzner’s Dairy, Town Hall, website

Public Comment: None

A motion was made by Matt to accept the agenda. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Matt made a motion to approve the minutes from the Closed Session meeting on April 14, the Town Meeting on April 14, the Closed Session on 4/21 and the meeting with the City of Washburn on 4/30. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Kelly Traczyk from Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, introduced herself and explained her role with the upcoming Town Solar Project. She is the Rural Sustainability Specialist. They are working on building a website and putting together a newsletter to keep board members informed about project.

Ryan VanLanduyt, Energy Specialist, Bayfield County Administrator’s Office stated that the project should start late June – early July. There will be an EV charger at the Town Hall as part of this project.

Reports:
Clerk: received Amendatory Ordinance No 2026-06 from the Bayfield County regarding changes to ATV designated routes. There will be a temporary amendment to the route on CTH C during the 2027 Hwy 13 road construction project from 8th Ave. to Big Rock Rd. The August town meeting is scheduled on 8/11 which is Primary Election Day. The board decided to change the meeting to August 8/18. Vicki has been working on updating the employee Handbook. The board agreed that we would prorate benefits for part-time employees based on the average hours worked. The Damage Assessment information from 4/17 storm was submitted to the County to receive emergency funding. The Town is responsible for removing debris from ditches and doesn’t have the equipment required. A quote was received from Tetzner’s Excavating and included in the information provided to the County. Matt made the motion to contract with Tetzner’s Excavating. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried. Mike will contact Joe Tetzner to schedule the work.

Treasurer: Our cash accounts are very healthy right now but there will be a spend down over the next few months. EMS/Fire contract payment of $73,997 hasn’t cleared the bank yet and the Truck loan payment of $30,514 is due in June. Snowplow invoices have been mailed out and 11 out of 16 invoices have been paid to date. Christina has check with other banks and found Northern State Bank will pay 3% on checking. Old National Bank doesn’t pay interest on our checking account. Scottie made the motion that we move the checking and savings accounts to Northern State Bank. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Road Crew: Mike reported that the new tractor is here and working well. Box Plate is on the tractor and doing exactly what Mike hoped. The Spreader for calcium chloride is here and the Share the Road and 15 MPH speed limit signs were delivered. He should be able to put up the signs in the next few days. The time clock no longer works. Vicki will research cost of new time clock. A culvert is needed on Dayton Road. Mike thinks 250 tons of gravel will cost around $6000. He reports that our new hire, Butch, is working out well and has been running grader.

Chair: Scottie reported that on 4/16 he attended the quarterly recycling meeting at Barksdale Town Hall. A new contract with Republic Services was signed. Waste Management was much higher. Dumpster Day is this Saturday, May 16. On 4/29 he attended a meeting with Kim Bro about some changes to zoning that the County is considering. On 4/30 there was a meeting about the Fire/EMS contract at the City Hall. The next meeting is June 4. The County asked that we change the name of the forest road known as Blueberry Rd to Forest Road 692 for clarity. The board didn’t object.

Approval of Reports: Matt made the motion to approve the reports. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Plan Commission-Kim Bro reported that the Plan Commission recommended that the board approve the driveway permit for Tracy DeFoe. Scottie made the motion that the permit be approved. Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried. Kim attended the meeting with Bayfield County Zoning. The biggest change that is being proposed is regarding how land divisions are done. There is a massive change in the general zoning ordinance. Any comments from the town will need to be submitted to the county by July 26. Our town zoning is from 1970. Much of the area is zoned as agriculture but is wooded. We will need a process for updating the zoning map. He mentioned that he would like to move forward with the brochure for the Town of Washburn and have it posted on Website so it’s printable. Matt made the motion that we post it on the website. Seth seconded. All ayes. Motion carried.

Open Bids for Engoe Road Double Chip Sealing Project – We received two bids. Scott Construction – $39,185 includes patching the edges of the road with cold mix, double chip and seal. Fahrner – double chip and seal, bar seal broken edges, $74,144.
Matt made the motion that we move forward with Scott Construction. Seth seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Discuss and Decide on Roads to Bid for Crack Sealing this year – roads to consider for bids: (format for bid: ‘bid on normal crack filling and dip leveling’). The roads agreed on to be bid are: Church Corner Rd from Paulson Road to Wannebo (1 mile), Wannebo Road from Church Corner Road to Ondossagon Road (1 mile), Big Rock Road (1 Mile), W Maple Hill (1 mile), South Maple Hill from Church Corner Road to the top of the first hill (.3 mile), Scholl Road (.44 mile), for a total 4.74 miles. Scottie will get the request for bids posted in the Ashland Daily Press for 5/21 & 5/28.

Schedule Annual Road Inspection Tour – The road inspection will be Friday June 12 at 8:30 am.

Items to be placed on future agendas:
Open bids for crack sealing
Resolution to change Blueberry Rd to FR692

Authorize the payment of bills: after review of the bills, Seth made the motion to authorize payment of the bills. Matt seconded the motion. All Ayes. Motion carried.

Adjournment: Scottie made the motion for adjournment at 8:58 pm. Matt seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,
Vicki Thoen, Town Clerk

STATE OF WISCONSIN
Town of Washburn
Bayfield County

Special Town Meeting Minutes – March 26, 2026

The meeting was called to order at 6:33 pm by Scottie Sandstrom.

In Attendance:  Scottie Sandstrom, Matt Tetzner, Seth Vasser, Vicki Thoen and Mike Harvey

Public notice was verified: Ashland Daily Press, the Town Hall, the town website and Tetzner’s Dairy

Public Comment-None

Matt Tetzner made a motion to accept the agenda. Seth Vasser seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

Town Chair Report: The Board will meet at Scottie’s at 7:15 am on Saturday 3/28 to go to Cable for the WTA District meeting. Scottie reported on his meeting with John Carlson regarding Dust Ordinance and suggestions from Pam McGillvery. The board discussed various options. Scottie has another meeting on April 8.  We will keep it on the agenda for the April 14, 2026 town meeting.

Town Insurance Review: The board reviewed quotes from three insurance agencies. Will change to Rural Mutual due to better coverage at a comparable premium. Will raise deductible from $1000 to $2500. The annual premium is $18,024, which is within budget.  Seth made the motion to change to Rural Mutual, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion passed.

Tractor Financing Review: The board reviewed financing options from 3 local banks. Matt made the motion to move forward with Chippewa Valley Bank. Seth seconded, all ayes. Motion carried. The terms of the loan are as follows: amount = $181,000, for 5 years at 4.25%, with annual payments of $41,014.75.

Next Steps for filling Road Crew Vacancy: There was only one applicant that was really interested in the position. Options were discussed. Decided to have closed session at 6:15 on 4/14/26 to interview the applicant. Seth will contact the applicant.

Adjournment: At 8:00 pm Seth moved that the meeting be adjourned, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

STATE OF WISCONSIN
Town of Washburn
Town Meeting Minutes – March 10, 2026 

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 by Scottie Sandstrom

In Attendance: Board members – Scottie Sandstrom, Matt Tetzner, Seth Vasser, Vicki Thoen. (Christina Eliason absent-out of town)

Bob & Monique Mattson, John Carlson, Sandy Raspotnik (Washburn School Board President), Ellen Avol-Law (Washburn School Board Vice President), Connie Cogger, Tom Cogger, Kim Bro (Plan Commission), Shane Hanson (Northland Lawn & Sport), Pete Lulich (Lulich Implement)

Online: Wendy Stein, Pamela McGillvery, Jake Benson, Jim Park, Gerry Powers

Public Notice was verified: Ashland Daily Press, Tetzner Dairy, website

Public Comment – none

A motion to accept the agenda was made by Seth, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

A motion to approve minutes from previous meeting was made by Seth, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

School Board of Washburn Presentation: Sandy Raspotnik presented information about the cost of the school voucher program to the school district.  She presented a motion to be made by Town of Washburn, to add a statement on the tax bills regarding these costs for transparency to taxpayers. Scottie made motion to open floor for discussion, Matt seconded, all ayes.  The public asked questions and made comments. Board decided it was good information for taxpayers to have, though Scottie shared that the Town should consider being involved in only that which is Town business, like the Board decided to do with the Website, and didn’t feel this request is Town business. Seth moved to close open comments and Matt seconded, all ayes. Seth moved to accept proposal to include sentence about voucher program expense, no second. Seth moved to table the topic until the April meeting.  Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

Dust Ordinance Update Presentation: John Carlson and Pam McGillvery discussed changes to Dust Ordinance to apply to the trucks and contractors. Must mitigate dust and could apply calcium chloride and post a speed limit of 15 mph on non-paved surface. Operators of the pit and haulers are responsible for mitigating the dust. Enforcement is an issue. Discussion was had on ways to enforce the ordinance The cost to apply calcium chloride is estimated to be $1500. The Board discussed and decided there was more work to do on the ordinance.  The Board needs to determine how much we can budget for the calcium chloride application. Perhaps the pit owner (Bob Olson) can pay part of it.  John Carlson suggested we adopt the changed ordinance. Seth moved to table until April meeting, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

Tractor Cost Comparison for Potential Action – Scottie made the motion to move this topic up in the agenda before reports, Seth seconded, all ayes. Motion carried. Representatives from Lulich Implement & Northland Lawn and Sport presented quotes for a new tractor. Lulich Implements quote for a new 2025 New Holland was the lower bid. Our 2005 tractor is worth approx. $15,000 on trade in. Scottie made the motion that we move ahead with the purchase of the New Holland, Seth seconded, all ayes. Motion carried. Vicki will reach out to area banks regarding financing options.

Reports:

Clerk: Board members (except for Matt Tetzner) have been registered for the Wisconsin Town Association District Meeting on March 28. Matt indicated that he will be able to attend so Vicki will send in his registration. Heart Graphics will print and process the annual newsletter for mailing. Including postage, the cost will be approximately $420. The town was overcharged in December 2025 by Chicago Iron & Supplies. Vicki reached out to them and a refund of $1818.80 was received on 2/26/26. Christina talked to Lynn Adams about the past due snow removal invoice from 2022-2023. Lynn confirmed it was added to the next property tax bill. The Wisconsin Town Association County unit meeting is scheduled for March 23 at 7:00. Vicki picked up the ballots for the upcoming election and the Assessment Roll Book. Currently there are requests for 30 absentee ballots.

Treasurer: the treasurer’s report was emailed to board members prior to the meeting since Christina was out of town.

Road Crew:  no report

Chair: Spring road load restrictions were sent to Ashland Daily Press and posted on the website. They go into effective on Thursday, March 12 at noon. Kelly Traczyk, a Rural Sustainability Specialist with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), would like to meet with us to discuss the solar panel project. We will invite her to the May Town meeting. Mike Harvey has mentioned he would like to attend continuing education. WTA is offering ‘Town Road School 2026’ in late April. The total cost will be approximately $700. Scottie moved to approve this expense, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

Matt moved that we accept the reports, Seth seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

Plan Commission: Kim Bro shared Public Road Access Frontage Requirements recommendations. The board reviewed it and approved it for submission. He shared the brochure about the town created by Trisha Miller. There are updates that need to be made and it will be upload to website and some printed. 45 mph signs will go up this spring in some areas. Discussed the idea of the town posting Share the Road signs about bicycles/pedestrians.  Seth moved that we post the signs, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried. The Plan Commission will share information about Dark Skys and light reduction at the Annual meeting on April 21.

Appointment of Plan Commission Chair and Plan Commissioner for New Term: Kim Bro to continue in position until April 30 2028. Caroline Twombly was appointed to another 3-year term. Motion was made by Scottie, seconded by Seth, all ayes. Motion carried.

Bid preparation for West Engoe Road Double Chip Seal Project: must notify state 7 days before we go out for bids. Scottie will notify state by April 7, Emmer Shields will assist. Request for bids will be published in Ashland Daily Press on April 16.  Bids will be opened and review at the May meeting.

Items to be placed on future agendas:

Statement on tax bills requested by School Board

Dust Ordinance

discuss plowing driveways next year

Authorize the payment of bills:  After review of bills to be paid, Seth moved to authorize payment, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

Adjournment: At 9:23 pm Matt made the motion to adjourn the meeting, Seth seconded, all ayes.  Motion carried.

STATE OF WISCONSIN
Town of Washburn
Town Meeting Minutes – February 10, 2026

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.

In attendance: Scottie Sandstrom, Seth Vasser, Matt Tetzner, Vicki Thoen, Mike Harvey, Kim Bro, Tom Cogger, Wendy Stein (on-line)

Public Notice was verified: website, Ashland Daily Press, and Tetzner’s Dairy

Public Comments: Tom Cogger presented a painting of the Town Hall that included history of the building.  It was painted by Connie Cogger. Kim Bro wrote the history. The building was built in 1905 and was originally a one room school house. The picture will be hung in the Town Hall.

A motion to accept the agenda was made by Matt, seconded by Seth, all ayes. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Seth to accept the minutes from the previous meetings, seconded by Matt, all ayes. Motion carried.

Reports:

Clerk: Tamarack Health no longer does random drug testing. Learned that they can be done at Essentia Health in Ashland. Will be getting that set up soon. Discussed moving payday from Tuesday after the end of the pay period to Thursday to allow more time to processed in Quick Books. Matt made a motion that we move payday to Thursday, Seth seconded, all ayes. Motion carried. Completed a housing survey for the State. In 2025 the Township lost one single family home on Lucia Road and added 4 single family homes. There is an outstanding balance of $1500 for snow plowing 2022-2023. The information isn’t in QB to determine who owes the money. Will research further.

The WI Towns Association meeting is March 28 at Lakewood’s in Cable. Let Vicki know if you will attend and she will send in registration.

Treasurer: Officially finished with the town’s duty of collecting taxes. Collected $664,235 in total for the first installment of the 2025 property taxes. Of that amount, the Town of Washburn will receive $50,871.78. Property owners have until the end of July to submit the second installment to the County Treasurer. There was an overpayment of $918.45 from two separate property owners. Checks will be sent to them for reimbursement. The bank is reconciled for January. A journal entry was made for $527 to force the reconciliation due to posting errors discovered in prior periods.

Road Crew: There has been a reprieve from snow so a lot of maintenance has been done. The tractor is at Lulich. The total price to fix the transmission is estimated at $26,000. $8000 was budgeted to repair brakes. Mike asked what a new tractor would cost and it was estimated at $202,000 for a New Holland tractor. Discussion was had on if we should fix it or work on replacing it.  Matt offered to research options. Scottie asked if we could share tractor with county Mike didn’t think so because it’s used so much in the summer.

Chair: Bayfield Elec needs to be added to insurance as loss payee for solar energy. We will include it when we renew our insurance at the end of April. Met with John Carlson and Bob Olson & Pam about dust ordinance. Pam mentioned ordinance NR415 and that our ordinance should be amended to match NR415. John agreed it would be good for us to amend the ordinance to agree with NR415. Our current ordinance focuses on the property owner and NR15 places responsibility on both the owner and the truckers. John will work with Pam to amend the current ordinance. Dayton Road – property going up for sale, we are supposed to maintain to within .26 of a mile. We aren’t maintaining quite enough on that road. There’s a culvert that needs to be replaced and in spring we will maintain based on our obligation. Jan 20 a meeting was held at Washburn City Hall including all the entities that have the responsibility of overseeing the reclaimed Landfill on South Maple Hill Road in the Town of Washburn, which include the City of Washburn, the Town of Bayview and the Town of Washburn.  Matt Dickenson of the WisDOT was invited to be present, also in attendance were Kim Bro, Don Jenicek from Town of Bayview, and Mary Motiff Mayor of Washburn. We want get as much clay as possible from the City of Washburn’s project next year to cover more of the landfill. When contracts are bid the city will contact the contractor and we could be first in line for that dirt. Scottie attended the quarterly meeting for the recycling center in Town of Barksdale. The contract with Republic will be renewed this spring. Sandra Raspotnik (School Board member) asked to be added to next month’s agenda. She wants electors made aware of the private school vouchers that are available. We will be adding supervisors and treasurer phone numbers to the website.

Seth moved to approve the reports, Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

Plan Commission – Kim Bro – Distributed copies of the Comprehensive Plan. There are 11 pages of things we committed to doing for 2025-2026. One area is Economic Development. good area to work remotely. Encouraged to promote Dark Skies, committee is working on ideas for this. Will include information in the upcoming newsletter. Every year members of the plan committee come up for re-election. Caroline Twombly is this year. Checking to see if she will run again.

Motion was made by Scottie to appoint Elizabeth Hughes as an additional Poll Worker. Matt seconded, all ayes. Motion carried.

Annual Newsletter Planning – mail by mid-March, approve at March meeting. Submit information to Vicki.

Finalizing and Approving Road Crew Hire Profile Ad – Seth updated the job ad . Seth will post on Indeed, Scottie will submit to the Daily Press. Vicki will look into FB admin credentials. Run Indeed until March 15. Use town garage phone number in the ad.

Plan for 2026 Insurance Policy Review- time to shop for new coverage. Rural Ins is a good option. Great Lakes Ins – Dave Martinsen. Get quotes by March Meeting current policy ends end of April

Items to be placed on future agendas:

School Board of Washburn President

Review applications (possible closed session to review)

Mower/tractor update

Appointing planning commission members

Dust Ordinance update

Authorize the payment of bills: after reviewing the check details for Jan. 14 – Feb. 10, Seth moved that we authorize the payment of bills, Matt seconded. All ayes, motion carried.

Adjournment: at 8:55 PM Seth made the motion to adjourn, Scottie seconded. All ayes, motion carried. Meeting adjourned.

Vicki Thoen, Clerk

Town of Washburn
Meeting Notes – January 13, 2026

Meeting was called to order at 7:00PM.

Those in attendance were Scottie Sandstrom, Christina Eliason, Seth Vasser, Matt Tetzner, Wendy Stein (on-line), Bob Anderson and Vicki Thoen

Public Notice was verified

Chair called for public comment:  None

A motion was made by Matt to accept the agenda, seconded by Seth, all yea. Motion passed.

A motion was made by Seth to accept the previous meetings minutes, seconded by Matt, all yea.  Motion passed.

Matt moved to approve and appoint Vicky Thoen as Town Clerk, Seth seconded, all yea. Motion passed.

No clerk report this month.

Treasurer report:
We are in a solid cash position.
We are halfway through tax collection.
Christina will cut people refunds for overpaid taxes after taxes are collected.
She would like to reimburse herself for cell phone bill $50.
Town bills are paid through Jan. 12.
Matt moved to pay Christina $961.45 (one third of clerk quarterly salary).  Seth seconded.  All yea.
Scottie moved to pay Christina $50 towards her cell phone bill.  Seth seconded.  All yea.

Road crew report (including Bob Anderson):
Scottie informed us that the Town of Washburn was ranked number 1 of the 11 Town LRIP applications in Bayfield County.  Ranking was done by the County CTRIC committee.  Applications now go forward for further regional and state rankings for announcement of funding approximately in late March.
Bob, our Town Road Maintenance advisor, shared some thoughts on town road maintenance
Bob informed us that the county tries to have one plow driver cover 50 miles for snow removal but Mike is covering over 100.
Mike is having a hard time keeping up with maintenance due to his snow removal work load.
He’s doing the bare minimum.
Maintenance is back logged due to Mike not feeling he could spend money on filters, etc. in the last fiscal year.
Mike would like to get an oil reservoir on wheels to make changing oil.

Scottie moved to have Mike get this piece of equipment, Matt seconded.  All yea.
Bob would like to talk to the Town of Barksdale about how they pay for new equipment.
Bob provided a sample job description for someone to help Mike with maintenance.
Mike had a very hard time dealing with the ½” of rain that we got recently because the roads were so slick.
Mike brought Paul Gilbert to Scottie’s attention.  Paul has a CDL and approached Mike about helping with snow removal.  He has been put on our list of additional drivers on our insurance.  Paul has taken a snowplow truck out for practice.
Mike talked to Dave from Barksdale about how they keep the snow removed.
They have three part time employees that can help with snow removal.
Mike is worried that he can’t call on our part time people too often or we’ll “burn them out”.
Mike is optimistic about Paul’s work. He might also be able to help with maintenance.
Mike would like to consider hiring someone 30 hours a week, year-round if possible.
Bob wonders if cutting back on plowing would help Mike keep up with the work load.  Mike would rather do a top-notch job and keep the residents happy.
Scottie is concerned that oil changes aren’t getting done.
Mike says that if Paul can help with plowing then Mike can focus on maintenance.
Bob spoke about a 20-year road maintenance schedule.
Paved miles divided by 20=road miles.
14 paved miles / 20 = 7/10 mile per year.
Crack sealing is the most beneficial technique to prioritize to preserve a road.Scottie would like Mike and Bob to draft a statement for the Town newsletter explaining our maintenance strategy.
Back window of the grader broke.  Windshield was about $800.  We don’t know the labor cost yet.   A chain snapped when Mike was trying to pull out a truck that was stuck and broke the window.  Scottie called the insurance company and asked them to send us a digital copy of the policy.  The window may not be covered.  Scottie asked for a quote that would include full coverage on the grader.
Lulich will haul the tractor in for about $130.  The tractor needs some other work that they will look into.  He thinks the total bill will be less than $8000 including the brakes.
Matt moved to do the additional repairs to the tractor, Seth seconded.  All yea
The hydraulics on the front bucket of the loader acts funny.  Mike has had people look at it but they haven’t been able to fix it.
The ’93 ford truck needs a carrier bearing.
Mike thinks the rest of the equipment should be in good shape.

Chair Report:
Jolma informed Scottie that we need to add them to our insurance before they can procced.  It will cost about $100.
Scottie, Bob Olson, his daughter (also his lawyer) and John Carlson will sit down to discuss the dust ordinance.  Scottie will share what they discussed at our next meeting.
Brightspeed has sent us all of our invoices so that we can figure out the discrepancy with our bill.
Scottie got a notification that Google Meet, the meeting app for our on-line virtual connections, was cancelled because our credit card expired.  Scottie has moved Google Meet to his credit card in order to bridge the gap until we get a new credit card, though he feels the Town should forgoe having a town credit card.  Vicky will look into getting a PayPal account set up in lieu of a town credit card.
Cindy didn’t prioritize getting a cell phone for the town clerk.  Scottie thinks we should not get a cell phone for the new clerk and Vicky agrees.
Scottie filed for County Bridge aid for the North Church Corner Road culvert.  We will get 50% back of $22,251.35 total cost ($11,125.88)

Seth moved to approve the reports, Matt seconded.  All yea.

Plan commission: No report

Discussion on Crafting a Road Crew Hire Profile Ad:
There will be a link on the Town Website to the full job description.  Seth will review the job description from Bayfield County.  We’ll review it at our next meeting and post it ASAP after that and hopefully hire someone by March.
We will list the job on Indeed and Zip Recruiter, the local paper, and our Facebook page.

Seth moved to authorize the payment of the bills.  Matt seconded.  All yea.

Seth moved to Adjourn, Matt seconded.  All yea.

Respectfully Submitted,
Seth Vasser, Supervisor 2
Town of Washburn