GAYS MILLS - The Gays Mills Village Board took steps at their meeting Monday night to change the collection of the entire Public Fire Protection Charge to tax-based revenue to be taken from the general fund.

Currently, the village’s fire protection charge takes $30,000 from taxes and takes another $17,000 for fire protection on the water bills. This means a substantial number of village residents that have well water and are not billed for municipal water are only paying for fire protection through the taxes they paid. Meanwhile, municipal water users are paying both through their taxes and again through their water bill.

The village trustees saw this as unfair. This included village trustee Josh Kasinkas, who has a well in a rural part of the village, and does not pay a water bill. Kasinkas said he wanted to pay his fair share for the fire protection service.

Gays Mills Village Clerk Dawn McCann told the board that to change the method of collection for the public fire protection charge would be an involved process. The village’s auditing firm would have to prepare numbers for an application to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to make the change.

The clerk also told the board that once the PSC took up the review for changing all of the fire protection charge to taxes and removing it from the water bill, they would also probably review the rates charged for water. There has not been a review of the water rates since 2014.

Both McCann and village president Harry Heisz thought some rate increase might be ordered. However, the village president believed the current state of finances in the water utility would probably only call for small rate increase.

After some explanation, from Heisz, McCann and village trustee Larry McCarn, the board came to understand if they sought the review from the PSC to  change the fire protection charge entirely to taxes and the PSC approved the request that’s what would happen.

At that point, village trustee Lee Ruegg moved to seek PSC review to move the fire protection charge 100 percent to taxes. The motion was seconded by Kevin Murray. The board passed the motion.

Recycling fee

In a related matter, the board discussed what to do about charging a recycling fee to cover paying a portion of the village’s recycling costs. The board wants to charge a separate fee for recycling service. That fee, though separate from taxes, could be attached to the tax bill. Creating revenue from the recycling fee would allow more tax money to be available in the general fund. The board tabled the matter after some discussion.

Another alternative for the recycling fee was to attach it to the monthly water bills, but that brings up the problem that a substantial number of village residents don’t receive water bills.

Lee stated she wanted to be sure that everybody contributes fairly across the board.

Coffee drinking area

The idea of creating a coffee drinking area and used book sale shelf in the hallway of Mercantile Center was introduced by JoAnn Gonos. 

Gonos began by telling the board the origins of the proposal.

“I want to purchase a bistro table with accompanying chairs,” Gonos explained. 

Gonos also said that books being discarded by the Gays Mills Public Library would be put on a rolling cart and a box or jar would be provided for the public to purchase the books at $1 for hard cover and 50 cents for paperbacks.

Gonos again repeated that in talking to Mercantile Center tenants, nine were in favor and two were not.

Gonos also noted she volunteers at the Gays Mills Food Pantry on Wednesdays, and on Saturday at the Gays Mills Clothing Pantry. Both operations are tenants of the Mercantile Center at this point, and located in the building. She noted that this would allow her to check in on the situation and clean if necessary.

Later, the coffee area proponent proposed the idea be given a 90-day test or even a 30-day test.

“We can discard the idea if it doesn’t work?” Gonos said. 

This reporter made a presentation to the board asking the proposal be rejected.

Charley Preusser, editor of the Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout, presented photos of some of the clutter which has accrued in the hallway. The photos showed the rolling cart for the books, the xylophone and two nine-foot long, six-foot tall signs formerly housed at the Kickapoo Museum.

Additionally, Preusser pointed out that the newspaper provides six padded-chairs in the hallway and the food pantry provides two plastic chairs. There are also two beautiful handmade cedar benches that were entrusted to the newspaper to make available in the hallway.

The editor said the chairs were used and available to people coming to the Mercantile Center. He said the newspaper had provided seating for the use of people coming to the Mercantile Center for the 10 years since moving there. However, he added the newspaper would remove the seating if that was what needed to be done.

Preusser reiterated that the best place to sell discarded library books was probably right outside the door of the library in the Gays Mills Community Commerce Center.

Board members including Ruegg and Murray indicated they did not think the Mercantile Center hallway was an appropriate spot for Gonos’ coffee drinking/used book selling proposal.

McCarn acknowledged that the hallway of the building did tend to accumulate clutter that was stored there. 

At one point, Gonos declared she was withdrawing her proposal to create a coffee drinking area in the Mercantile Center hallway.

Mill House roof repair

The board at the request of village president Harry Heisz discussed moving forward with a Mill House roof repair. The Mill House is actually a former power generating facility located at the dam on the Kickapoo River next to the Main Street bridge.

Heisz noted that the village had purchased bricks that matched the building’s bricks. However, he noted that repairing the building without a plan to repair the failing roof would not make sense.

Kevin Murray asked about bids that the village had already received. Those bids ranged in price from about $10,000 to over $50,000 depending on the extent of work and materials in each proposal.

There was brief discussion of the situation. Village trustee Seamus Murray explained choosing an option would depend on the amount of money that could be raised by the Friends of Gays Mills. The organization is committed to the preservation of the building.

Village president Harry Heisz indicated he would bring up the roof replacement costs with the Friends organization at their meeting on Thursday. Heisz said he would ask the group what they thought was the best idea and cost for the roof replacement. He would then bring back an answer from the group based on what funds they thought could be raised for the project.

In a related matter, Kasinkas asked about other improvements needed at the building including improvement to the railing of the building.

McCarn told the board that he had been to building recently and from tracks in the snow, it appeared children were playing in the area. There is a concern that someone might fall into the river.

McCarn suggested a cyclone fencing material with a rubber coating could be installed on the railing to improve safety.

In other business

In other business, the Gays Mills Village Board 

• passed a resolution authorizing the conveyance of Lot 24 in the North Mills subdivision to John Gibbs 

• passed a resolution authorizing the conveyance of Lot 25 in the North Mills subdivision to Phil Lee

• agreed to put a hold on Lot 26 in the North Mills subdivision until July at the request of Lee

• approved paying $100 toward targeted Facebook ads promoting business and residential real estate opportunities in the village

• received an update on beaver proliferation and failing abatement methods in an area just north of the Community Commerce Center parking lot, which is connected to the cutoff slough

• approved placing a swimming pool manager ad in the newspaper