More police officers in Boyceville is paying off

BOYCEVILLE — Police Chief Greg Lamkin informed the village board that with a second police vehicle and the additional officer time, that his department has almost doubled the number of calls for service.

Lamkin noted that “…we wrote more tickets, had more activity, made a ‘dope’ arrest, had more traffic stops and ID people who are doing drugs in town.” He also stated that his department had what he called “kiddy porn cases” and informed the board that he had contact with a Ted Lopez who is charged with numerous felonies in Dunn County. A separate story on charges against Lopez can be found in this issue of the Tribune Press Reporter.

Lamkin’s monthly report to the board indicated that the police department had 91 calls for service in March. Included in his report was that they had 33 traffic stops with 14 citations issued.

Lamkin also asked the village Board to create an ordinance allowing the department to tow vehicles of persons that are driving without a driver’s license. “We need more authority to get these people off the streets,” he noted.  

Later in the meeting the village board was discussing whether or not to have a second police vehicle and Lamkin noted that he could schedule two officers at the same time and provide better coverage to the village. Village President Gib Krueger noted that he liked the idea of the second vehicle. Board member Brad Stevens noted that some people have questioned him about, “why the village needs two police cars?” He concluded that if they knew the result of the second vehicle they would support the idea.

After a short discussion, Krueger moved to keep the second squad car and revisit the idea in December.

Good Audit Report

The village board heard from Jonathan Sherwood of Clifton Allen Larson LLP, who presented the annual audit report of the village’s finances. Sherwood stated, “that the finances were very, very clean as usual, and he has no concerns about the finances of the village.”

He discussed the village’s debt and noted that the debt load is about 22 percent of what is allowed by state law. He also told the village board that the general fund balance at the end of the year was over $3.6 million, but cautioned the board that most of that money is non-spendable or pledged to projects that are ongoing. He noted that about $300,000 of those funds are unassigned which can fund village general fund operations for about two and half months.

Sherwood compared the year ending financials with those of 2015 and stated that both income and expenses were lower and noted that the tax level was less for village needs in 2016 compared to 2015.

He also presented the financials for the water and sewer utilities with both showing positive income revenues, but then he indicated that those two utilities had no large expenditures or improvements.

In other village matters, the board heard from Harry Joles about the summer baseball program. In his letter to the board, Joles stated that over sixty kids in six grades are part of the Boyceville program for this coming summer.

“We are a community organization, outside of the school, and all volunteer. The funding that you provide is used for equipment, umpires, and the organizational benefit of AAU. When you watch the kids play it’s your dollar that provides the recreation opportunity for the youth baseball in Boyceville,” Joles wrote.

Last year the village donated $3500 to the program and Krueger noted to Joles that he would put the item on the agenda for a special meeting.

In his report, Don Rose noted that the wastewater treatment plant was now discharging into the river. “We started on March 8th after we repaired the sand filter,” he said.

Krueger gave a short update on the progress of the new fire station and noted that the group will be meeting this Wednesday evening at the village hall and he invited everyone to attend the meeting. Krueger also discussed the proposed landing zone at the airport for emergency landing of an air ambulance, and noted that a state DOT representative would meet with the village officials about the highway 170 project. The special meeting will be on April 19 at 5 p.m.

The board approved an operator’s license for Halle Knutson.