Town of Washburn

Bayfield County

Town Meeting Minutes

January 14, 2025

Attendance: Sandy Raspotnik, Scottie Sandstrom, Jim Park, Lynn Adams, Lance Twombly, Matt Lippo, Kim Bro, and Ronald Michael. Virtually: Wendy Stein and Alan Waite.

At 7:00 pm, the town meeting was called to order. Mike Harvey could not attend.

Meeting notices were posted in the two public places, on the website, and sent to Ashland Daily Press.

Public comments:

• Ronald Michael commented that his taxes went up 200% for the Town of Washburn and wanted to know why. Chair Raspotnik explained that the town has added the two loan payments (2021 Plow Truck and South Maple Hill Road Project) to town levy. S. Maple Hill loan will be paid off this year so it will not be included on Levy Limit Worksheet for next year. Previous levy (second lowest in county, only above Village of Mason) is not enough to cover rising costs for EMS/Fire, wages, road maintenance, etc. Budget will be posted on website.
• Lance Twombly suggested that guest speakers at town meetings have a time limit, as well as other agenda items, to keep meetings moving along.

 

A motion to accept the agenda by Supervisor Park and seconded by Supervisor Sandstrom. All Ayes, motion carried.

Scottie Sandstrom made a motion to accept the minutes for the December 10^th meeting. Jim seconded. All Ayes, motion carried.

Reports:

• Clerk report: Quickbooks Live Assisted Bookkeeping was not very helpful so it was canceled. W2s printed and mailed or otherwise distributed. Created a business account with tax exemption at O’Reilly’s in Ashland. Business card now on file at Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center for DOT drug screen lab work since payment is due at time of visit. There is now a February 18^th Spring Primary for the State School Superintendent. Spring Election will be on April 1^st. Open Records request for candidate information on file replied to via email.
  • Candidate list on Spring General Election ballot:
    • Chairperson (1): Sandra J. Raspotnik, Scottie Sandstrom
    • Supervisor (2): Matthew Tetzner, Alan Waite, Seth A. Vasser, Melissa Amrein
    • Treasurer (1): Christina Eliason
    • Clerk (1): No candidate
• Treasurer report: Choice Title asked if there were any special assessments. No, there are none. Financial packet given out to board members. Taxes collected so far are reflected on Profit and Loss. Budget posted on website will be year-to-date for that month.
• Road Crew report: Matt gave update on issues with 2015 truck. O’Reilly’s is more competitive in price than Napa. Snowplowing is going well. Overtime on Sunday to plow for storm. Got a new Milwaukee grease gun after issues with other one. Loader needs better tires. Will get a quote. Chair stated that Mike needs to track budget for Maintenance/Parts. Might make this a policy. Let board know about high-cost parts and how much.
• Chair report: No first-aid kits in town equipment so Mike ordered some. There should be tourniquets too. Looking into getting first aid training through County Nurse. Chair will ask other towns. Asked clerk to register Sandy and Scottie for Wisconsin Towns Association Spring Conference in Cable since Board of Review training will be offered. Chair is aware only one of them will be on new board. It may be possible for other registration to go to a new supervisor. Bill Bailey will be at next month’s meeting.
• Motion to approve reports made by Sandstrom and seconded by Park. All Ayes, motion carried.

Plan Commission: Kim Bro stated that landfill bill came in for monitoring and repairing cap. Over $40k and town paid 11%. It is half done. Current clay can be spread around better by a smaller machine to cover landfill. Needs to be re-vegetated. City is considering installing a gate instead of current rocks. Chair stated that there will not be new clay until 2026 with second part of City of Washburn’s road project. Will talk to city. The Comprehensive Plan draft will be ready by Feb. 4^th. Minimum 30-day review before 7 pm March 6^th Public Hearing at Town Hall. Public Hearing Notice sent to Ashland Daily Press for an end of month printing. Town Board will be at hearing but will not conduct town business. Plan finalized in February and may need to be tweaked after March hearing. Final plan approved by board at town meeting. Kim stressed how important it is to follow legal requirements since county and residents will have to follow once approved.

Development of Policy Book: Topic moved to next meeting.

Purchase a phone for clerk: Bayfield Wireless said that VoIP calls can be forwarded to a cell phone, but not texts. Will leave this up to the next clerk. Supervisor Sandstrom suggested revisiting this issue in March.

Mileage rate: Motion to follow federal government mileage rate made by Scottie, seconded by Jim. All Ayes, motion carried. 2025 rate is 70 cents/mile.

Clerk salary: Supervisor Park made a motion to increase clerk salary to $10,000/year, effective in April. Seconded by Supervisor Sandstrom. All Ayes, motion carried.

Previous (Old) minutes placed on website: Jim will work with clerk to scan minutes. Plan on doing one year/week. One year of minutes will be one document.

Items to be placed on future agenda: Policy book, landfill, solar, equipment review, town insurance (Stay with Holden? Yes), and annual newsletter (Lynn will do).

Authorize the payment of bills: Motion to authorize Check Details for December 11-January 14 made by Scottie Sandstrom and seconded by Jim Park. All Ayes, motion carried.

At 8:54 pm, a motion to adjourn was made by Supervisor Sandstrom and seconded by Supervisor Park. All Ayes, motion carried. Meeting adjourned.

Lance Twombly, Clerk