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

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

State of Wisconsin

Town of Washburn

Board Meeting Minutes 11-11-25

Call to order – meeting began at 6:44 p.m.

Those present were: Scottie Sandstrom, Matt Tetzner, Christina Eliason, Cyndee Marx, Seth Vasser

Others:  Bob Olson, Pamela McGillivray, Kim Bro.  On line:  Wendy Stein, Jim Park

Posted notice at Daily Press, Website, Town Hall and Tetzner’s Dairy

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Public comments: 

Pamela McGillivray, daughter of Bob Olson and lawyer, environmental and land use spoke.  She was not in attendance for the dust ordinance.  She’s requesting room for changes to dust ordinance to make it workable for everyone.  It’s about dust on gravel road from any trucks.  There are other vehicles that create this, as well.

She said that terms are not defined.  How do we know when excessive dust occurs?  Also, there is no limitation as to cost.  That open amount is not fair.  Also related, the ordinance contains a steep penalty for failure to pay bill.  That amount is excessive.  It is creating much turmoil for her family.

She is asking the Board to go back and think about how to make it more understandable and have stop gaps for amounts cited.  She suggested an amount for $3,000 for planning purposes.  The ordinance she refers to relates to dust mitigation from County C onto Hovey Lane.  There has been only one complaint from SW Hovey Lane.  Do dust mitigation control from that corner from neighbors who brought up the issue.

$500/day penalty is out of line with failure to pay with ordinances and state statues.  She said they are here as a good faith measure to resolve this.

Bob prepared a written statement.  They want to make it work but not on the back of unreasonable ordinances.

Scottie asked for a discussion on remedy to this.  Motion by Matt, second by Seth to open the floor.  All ayes.

Scottie said we need to get our lawyer, John Carlson involved.  Pam summarized in a letter what she shared.  She would be willing to have that conversation with Carlson to see if changes need to be made.  Scottie said he would work toward convening a meeting with them, our Board and Carlson, and obtained Pam’s phone contact information.

Bob got a quote for 3250 ft of paving the road. Northwoods Paving was $98,000.  (Cty C to his road 22 ft wide, with 2” asphalt thickness).

Seth moved out of public comments.  Matt seconded.  All ayes.

Seth made a motion to accept the agenda.  Matt seconded, all ayes.

Scottie made a motion to approve the minutes from five previous meetings.  Seth seconded to approve Oct. 14^th Closed Session Meeting, Town Boad Meeting, Oct. 14, Closed Session Meeting, Oct. 22^nd, Oct. 22 Budget Session Meeting and Special Closed Session Meeting, Nov. 10^th.  All Ayes.

Seth motioned to approve the budget, Matt seconded.  All ayes.

Dust Citation review and action. 

Scottie:  The citation we got from John Carlson is a general one he has used for other townships.  It can be applicable for any citations we may cite.   It’s the process for issuing a citation.  Scottie gave a copy to Pam for her and Mr. Olson.

Seth motioned to approve the citation ordinance.  Matt seconded.  All ayes.

Scottie signed it.  Cyndee witnessed it.  It needs a public notice of ordinance adoption for #2025-3.

Reports:

Treasurer –

For Nov 2025:

• We in a good position with $253,679 in the bank
• We will be paying the $37,400 invoice for crack sealing.
• We’re expecting a check from the State of WI for $50,000 more in shared revenue
• We have 2 CDs in the bank
• Snow plow letters have been received. 10 regular plowing requests have been received plus others, on request, based on time.
• 4^th payroll is done, will meet with Cyndee Friday to start training on QuickBooks.
• Bills are paid from up to Nov. 11.

Road Crew – Mike got some grading done in the national forest.

We are moving into snowing season and will try to get mowing done in the barrens on the side of road.  Some was done on FR236 this summer.

Mike was asked to get prices on signs, bicycle/walking and other- 6 signs at 45 mph would be $880.  Kim recommended at McKinley and S. Maple hill to C would have 45 mph limit.

There was discussion on other caution signs and where they should be placed in town.

It was decided to get 6 signs at 45 mph for now.  A motion was made by Matt, Scottie seconded.  All Ayes.  Motion passed.

Chair report – Scottie met with Emmer Shields.  He submitted the Town’s TRI application, which we have secured to be reimbursed 50% from the State DOT for the west 1-mile Engoe Road double-chip seal construction the Town will do in 2026.  Emmer will submit the application into WISLR for us.  Scottie also submitted the LRIP application for the portion of west Wannebo Rd (Pajala Rd to Church Corner Rd on Wannebo) to Emmer which Bob Anderson, town resident crafted for the Town, plus Scottie provided the narrative for the application, along with pictures and support letters were submitted.  A good narrative is important for people who look at application, safety is priority, tourist traffic along with the economic impact of logging, which is all included in the application.  The County CTRIC committee will review all Town applications within the County once all applications are in.  The Town always hopes for a high ranking within the submissions, which can lead to more chance of the application to be awarded.

On Nov. 6, Scottie emailed Brightspeed.  We have been asking since August for copies of invoices for the year.  They need to get us the documentation per month.  Scottie will continue to follow up.

We got an email from Lynn Devine that asked if our Town could be a food collection spot.  Our consensus is we won’t have people to man it.  If they have a drop off in Washburn, we can let people know.  Cyndee will let her know.    Seth moved to approve reports.  Matt seconded.  All ayes.

The Planning commission asking for approval on driveway permit for Eric and Brittany Sirrine driveway.  They have a gravel road now and one acre clearing.  It was recommended to approve.

Kim Bro noted that Tim Schweinzfier, a plan commission member, acknowledged that the new County building inspector from Clear Lake, has suggested that when we issue a driveway permit, the Town should provide the signed copy of it to the land owner.  It was agreed that a signed pdf copy will be scanned and approved and emailed to them.    Christina got a signed driveway permit check for $25.  Everything since mid-September, Christina has, and if will be checked if any driveway permit checks aren’t yet secured.  The most recent permit was for Norman and Susan Sessman.

Scan and send email to Sirrine’s and give back to Mike.  Cyndee will do.

Landfill – Scottie brought up to Kim Bro that we need to follow up regarding an ordinance to be crafted together for our Town, the Town of Bayview, and the City of Washburn.  We will use joint resolution as model.

Cyndee announced the Election Poll workers to be approved.  They are Ruth Hartzell, Lynne Borchers, Sarah Tetzner, Mike Vavrus, Christina Eliason,  Caroline Twombly and Cheryl Sandstrom.  Cyndee will notify them and get them their certificates and the Oath of Office signed.  Motion to approve them by Scottie, Seth seconded.  All ayes.

There was a motion by Matt to approve the budget.  Seth seconded.  All ayes.  The budget was approved.

Road Crew Future Planning and subs for snow plowing were discussed.  Matt talked to Joe Tetzner.  He would do early mornings.  Mike will contact him and set up time to meet.  Bill Mihalek and Pat Guski were also noted as possible drivers.

There was discussed on how they were to be paid and what rate   Would they be on payroll or sub-contractors and how many people were needed?  A wage rate for part time was agreed at $24.00/hr.    Scottie motioned to approve the rate.  Seth seconded.  All ayes.

We’re going to work with part-time snowplow drivers this winter and review whether to look at part-time hiring, full-time hiring or contracting with the county for spring.

Town Building Permits update

Regarding Invoicing for outstanding building permits that the Town is obligated to pay, Scottie asked Mr. Kegley (the new County Building Inspector) and wife Dawn about people outstanding with inspections.  We were given an estimate of $1,000 left to do. Christina has a check to send them on the current invoice.  Seth made a motion to approve, Matt seconded, All ayes.

Future agenda items:  The Olson ordinance:  Matt asked if can we do recycled blacktop? If we do calcium chloride over it, will it hold?   Mike will check with Sipsas and South Shore Sand and Gravel on recycled pricing.  Would it work and how much would it cost and how applications would be needed per year?  He will clarify the cost before the December meeting.

The Board Authorized the payment of bills.

Mileage and meeting pay sheets are due by November 30.

Seth made a motion to approve the bills.   Matt seconded.  All ayes.

Seth motioned to adjourn the meeting.  Matt seconded.  All ayes. The meeting was adjourned at 8:47 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Cyndee Marx, Town Clerk.

Town of Washburn
Bayfield County
Special Town Meeting
November 10, 2025

Present:  Scottie Sandstrom,  Seth Vasser, Matt Tetzner and Cyndee Marx.

At 6:07 pm, a special session meeting was called to order.

Agenda was posted at the town hall, Tetzner’s Dairy and on the website.

Seth made a motion to go into closed session, seconded by Matt. All Ayes, motion carried.

Seth made a motion to come out of closed session, seconded by Matt. All Ayes, motion carried.

At 8:18 pm, Scottie made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Seth. All Ayes, motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Cyndee Marx,

Clerk

STATE OF WISCONSIN
Town of Washburn
Bayfield County

The Town Board of the Town of Washburn, Bayfield County, Wisconsin, hereby provides its written notice and an agenda of the special public budget preparation meeting of the Town Board for Wednesday October 22 at 9:15 AM at the Washburn Town Hall. The meeting may be attended in person.  Virtual access will not be available for this meeting.

Agenda

1. Call to order and roll call
2. Verification of proper public notice
3. Pledge of Allegiance

4. Public Comment

Consider for approval or other action

1. Prepare 2026 Budget for potential review and action at the monthly meeting of November 11.
2. Adjournment

Meeting notice posted this 16^th day of October, 2025 on the Town’s website at https://townofwashburn.wi.gov

and at:  Washburn Town Hall and Tetzner’s Dairy

Scottie Sandstrom, Chair

Town of Washburn
Closed Session Board Meeting
October 22, 2025

Meeting was called to order at 8:00 AM by Supervisor, Vasser

It was verified that the agenda was provided to the Ashland Daily Press, posted on the Town Website, and physically posted at Tetzner’s Dairy and at the Town Hall.

Supervisor Vasser made a motion to go into closed session, Supervisor Tetzner seconded.  All ayes, motion carried.

Tetzner made a motion to come out of closed session, Vasser seconded.  All ayes, motion carried.

Vasser made a motion to adjourn, Tetzner seconded.  All ayes, motion carried.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Seth Vasser, Supervisor Two