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

Town Of Washburn
Meeting Minutes-January 13, 2026

Meeting was called to order at 5:15 pm

Those in attendance were Scottie Sandstrom, Christina Eliason, Seth Vasser, and Matt Tetzner.

The Board went into closed session to conduct interviews to fill the vacancy of Town Clerk over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. WI Statutes s. 19.85 (1)(c).

Matt moved to go into closed session.  Seth seconded.  All ayes

The Board went out of closed session after interviews and discussion related to said interviews, over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. WI Statutes s. 19.85 (1)(c).

Seth moved to leave closed session, Matt seconded.  All ayes

The town board unanimously selected Vicki Thoen to be the new town clerk which will be appointed at our town meeting tonight.

Seth moved to adjourn the meeting, Matt seconded.  All ayes.

Recorded by Seth Vasser, Supervisor 2

State of Wisconsin
Town of Washburn
Bayfield County
Board Meeting
12/09/25

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m.

Board members present: Scottie Sandstrom, Christina Eliason, Cyndee Marx, Seth Vasser, Matt Tetzner

Public in attendance: Mike Harvey

On-Line: Wendy Stein, Jim Park

The meeting was posted at the Town Hall, Tetzner’s Dairy, the Town website and Daily Press.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Public Comments: None

A Motion was made by Seth to approve the minutes from the previous meetings.  Seconded by Matt.  All ayes.

Reports:

Clerk – Cyndee checked with Horton and Holden insurance after a notice that a tax bond or ordinance should be in place for tax collection time.  The cost would be $200.00. Christina was concerned about the time limit for this to take effect with tax statements going out already.  Realistically, the time frame is not feasible to set in place for this year.  The town board will be liable.  It will be addressed in 2026.   Seth motioned to approve.  Matt seconded.   All ayes.

Treasurer– We have $242,000 in cash.  We got the shared revenue for $55,000.   Christina went to Novus training.  The tax bills may get mailed out by next week.

Biggest thing over budget this year was maintenance.  We are, for the most part, on budget.  Fuel was half amount of last year.  Mike said we’re using trucks more instead of grader too.

Road Crew – Mike said first storm had some issues, the biggest was he got grader stuck out in the barrens.  He had to have Tomlinson’s pull him out.  Mike is managing by himself, but if there are any complaints from residents on plowing, he said there may be a delay.  He has to get main roads done first.  Then he works on school bus route.  If there are complaints on the roads residents should be told we’re doing our best.  He will call Joe Tetzner only when needed.  We should keep looking for someone else to do this.  It should be doable as long as residents realize that they are secondary to the main roads.

We are working on getting mower tractor fixed now.   Brakes, wheel seal and maybe bad injector.  We will see when Lulich can do it.  Should he drive tractor over or have them pick up?

Matt will check the charges and when they can do it.

Mike will order filters that are needed.

Seth asked if we’re going to look for an employee now.  Scottie said to look at level of hours for an employee in January for maybe hire in April, mainly for the mower.

Seth asked Mike if he can handle future snow.  Joe said he’s willing to help but he doesn’t work for the town and is busy enough but willing to fill-in.  We really need someone with a CDL.  Do we want to advertise for this?    Christina will put a note with the tax letter to note that we’re looking for person who might be interested.

Chair –

Scottie sent in the gravel portion of Sky Rd to DOT.  We have to send in each year to verify roads, and mileage.  DOT confirmed everything was done.  It’s no longer part of taxable road.

Bright speed – We finally got a good contact to assist us to get the documentation on what, if any amount we need to pay, per a monthly invoice total which we don’t understand.    We’re hoping to get a final answer soon.

We were sent an email on the solar payment but we didn’t budget for this.   Why do we have to pay in December instead of January?  We have the documentation and paid the bill.

Cyndee and I got an email contact from the Democrat party.  Either party could send recommendations on Election Inspectors.  Scottie had not heard of this but is a law.  It’s new to us.  A person was noted to us to contact.  Either party, by law, had an opportunity to send to contact us through November but we had already approved poll workers in November.  To make sure we followed the law, and to give the contact an opportunity to still be added to our group of poll workers, Scottie had a conversation with Elizabeth Hughes (who was the contact provided) and told her we can reopen this and approve her and offered her the chance to serve.  She said she would be fine to wait to be added when we have a vacancy to be filled, so we will contact her when that opportunity arises.

Scottie contacted John Carlson, our Town Lawyer, to follow up on a document Bob Olson and his daughter provided us at our November meeting.  He suggested that Scottie, John and Bob Olson get together soon and see what they should consider regarding calcium carbonate application.  Bob asked if his daughter can be invited too.  John and Scottie said they’d like to do it the first week in February, then after the meeting, any options for changes to the Dust Ordinance, etc. would be reviewed with the Town Board for discussion.  John feels this would be the next best step.  Bob wants to have clarity on cost so he can bill his contractors.  Bob wants to apply around the Hove Lane corner.  Applying about 4 times a year will be good to discuss.  We want this to work mutually for the residents and Bob, considering this being a dirt road with ongoing challenges to mitigate dust.

Scottie posted both the citation and ordinance on the website.  If you want to look at it in person, contact Mike for review at the town garage.

Approval of reports:

Matt motioned to approve the reports.   Seconded by Seth.  All ayes.

Planning Commission   Kim Bro said there is no planning commission report.

Adoption of budget for 2026

A motion was made to approve the budget by Seth.  Matt seconded.  All ayes.

County Mowing Proposals

Scottie said if the county would do it with their equipment, at a cost of $148.31 per hour.  The majority of mowing can be done in the Town in 4 wks.  The other option is if the county provides labor and uses our tractor and fuel. That would be $53.48 per hour.

How much would we pay someone part-time?  Could that person do other tasks?  At the expected $24.00/hr. wage per mowing, our cost will be much better, though other tasks get stretched when employee is needed other than for mowing.  A hire of just someone for mowing, and supplementing with another part-time person for other tasks could be an option.  If we want to consider any option by the county, we could let them know in a couple months, but per our savings doing it in house, appears that the county option may be unattractive.  The Town needs to make the best decision to balance employees needed per the forecasted tasks to be done.  Mike suggested trying to find someone because they want to come to work because they may be retired and such a job could be a good fit.    Discern how many hours and what they will do, Mike said it would mainly be mower and grading and cold mix work and we may need someone younger who can rake, possibly a student? Having a CDL is preferred but not necessary.  Mike feels the town shouldn’t pay for a new employee to get a CDL.  We need to determine how many hours and profile someone that is needed for the Jan. meeting.  Mike does 4/10 hr. days.  A lot of truck hauling and grading Mike can do by himself.

Should we look at a part-time potential person to move into full time and have an incentive for the person to become full time with benefits in the future?  We will put on the agenda in January.

Items to be placed on future agendas

Equipment review – invite Bob Anderson, Road Advisor to get an update on how equipment/maintenance is proceeding, also with Mike’s input.

Authorize the payment of bills

Matt motioned to authorize the bills.  Seth seconded.  All ayes.

Matt Motioned to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Seth.   All ayes.

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

Respectfully, submitted by,

Cyndee Marx, Town Clerk

Town of Washburn
Meeting of the Electorate
12/9/2025

The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m.

Board members present: Scottie Sandstrom, Christina Eliason, Cyndee Marx, Seth Vasser, Matt Tetzner

The meeting was posted at the Town Hall, Tetzner’s Dairy, the Town website and Daily Press.

Public in attendance: Mike Harvey

On-Line: Wendy Stein

A motion was made by Seth to approve the amended town budget for 2026.  Matt seconded.  All ayes.

Seth made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Matt seconded.  All ayes.

Meeting adjourned at: 6:39 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted, Cyndee Marx, Town Clerk.

STATE OF WISCONSIN
Town of Washburn
Bayfield County
Amended 2026 Budget Hearing
12/09/25

The meeting was called to order at:  6:30 p.m.

Board members present: Scottie Sandstrom, Christina Eliason, Cyndee Marx, Seth Vasser, Matt Tetzner

The meeting was posted at the Town Hall, Tetzner’s Dairy, the Town website and Daily Press.

Public in attendance: Mike Harvey

On-Line: Wendy Stein

The proposed Amended budget for 2026 was presented.

The reason we need to amend the budget is at the last public hearing we were going to levy the truck payment for $27,238.12 and next year’s Engoe Road project for $35,000.  After clear review, the only thing we can levy is something we have a capital expense for, which is the truck loan.  The truck payment only can be levied hence the 2026 Budget will be so amended to reflect that change.

We had to pay money in December for the solar project so, we’ll reduce the forecast on the next year’s budget.

Seth motioned to approve the amended 2026 Town Budget and Levy.  Matt seconded the motion.  All ayes.

Seth moved to move out of Budget meeting.   Matt seconded.  All ayes.

Matt Motioned to adjourn the meeting.  Seth seconded. All ayes.

Meeting adjourned at 6:34 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Cyndee Marx, Town Clerk