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