GAYS MILLS - It was a relatively short meeting of the Gays Mills Village Board on Monday, Jan. 11, but several important issues were addressed.

In new business, the board approved the Alcohol Beverage License Application of Michael Ehde for the M and M Bar for Class ‘B’ Beer & Liquor at 312 Main Street–pending the final sale of J&Js on Main Street to Ehde scheduled for January 18.

A motion to approve the license application was made by village trustee Aaron Fortney. It was seconded by Larry McCarn and passed by the board. 

The board also approved transferring the machine license from J&Js to M and M–pending the final sale on January 18.

In a related matter, the board approved the operator license applications of Tiffany and Melinda Ehde.

The board also approved the recommendation of the Architectural Review Committee to transfer administration of the North Mills and First Addition to North Mills Restrictions and Covenants to the Public Property Committee, a standing committee of the village board.

The action will be sent to the village’s contracted attorney Eileen Brownlee for review before it is adopted.

The matter of snow removal was brought up by village trustee Kevin Murray. He wanted to know what could be done to avoid a situation that occurred last year on School Street near Highway 131, when a property owner had snow plowed off their property onto the sidewalk effectively blocking it .

Murray noted that blocking the sidewalk with the snow pile forced school children getting off the bus on Highway 131 to have to walk on School Street until they got past the obstruction on the sidewalk.

Murray asked if it would be appropriate to ban using snowplows on village sidewalks.

However, after some board discussion, it was decided the current snow ordinance prohibits piling snow on the sidewalk already.

The village ordinance requires property owners to keep the sidewalk adjacent to their property free of snow, ice, dirt or rubbish.

Furthermore, the ordinance states that any snow falling between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. must be removed from the sidewalk by 6 p.m. All snow falling at other times must be removed within 12 hours.

Failure to comply with the ordinance allows the village to remove the snow from the sidewalk at the rate of $1 per linear foot, to be added to the property owner’s tax bill.

In other business, the Gays Mills Village Board:

• learned the village’s wastewater treatment permit had been renewed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-affirming that their individual phosphorus variance had been granted

• decided to hold a special meeting of the board on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. to coordinate the preparations for the meetings with six engineering firms that the village is considering hiring for future work 

• approved Emily Bialkowski, a village resident, to the Gays Mills Library Board

• discussed options for repairing the roof of the Old Mill Museum and decided to get input from the Friends of Gays Mills, a group which has shown interest in raising funds for the work

• approved 2020 Village Employee Health Insurance Incentive/Bonuses from the Health Reimbursement Account of $500 for each of three fulltime employees; $250 for each of the village’s two part-time employees and $100 for the quarter-time employee

• scheduled the next regular village board meeting for Monday, Feb.1 at 6 p.m.

Following a closed session, the board reconvened in open session and approved a new Memorandum of Understanding with Kickapoo Culinary Center Manager Jill Riggs, increasing her  commission from 20 percent to 25 percent for any kitchen rentals.

The board also authorized the purchase of a new computer for the village-owned, shared-use kitchen.