Police calls up in Village of Boyceville, board approves firm for two village projects

BOYCEVILLE — The Village board heard the monthly report from Police Chief Greg Lamkin that indicated that the department handled almost twice the number of calls so far this year as compared to a year ago.

They also hired a new engineering firm to work on a couple of projects for the village.

The Police Chief noted to the village board that the department answered 107 calls for service in May compared to 66 in April. He said that for the first five months of this year they handled 402 calls, compared to just 231 for the same time period last year. 

Lamkin noted to the Village Board that “traffic stops were up”, and he addressed a few other items that the department handled including a local woman who had been arrested on drug charges and now faces a theft charge for taking her mother’s Social Security benefits. He also noted that they charged two juveniles for theft from an unlocked garage and have I.D. a suspect in a juvenile sex case.

Lamkin informed the board that officer Jennifer Niehoff has resigned because of her employment with another agency. He also noted that Dodge squad car 311 is back in service with a new engine and new graphics. His report indicated that this vehicle has 60,917 miles.

The Board approved the hiring an engineering firm out of Rice Lake called MSA to work on two village projects. First they heard a report from board member Jonathon Farrell who informed the board that the committee has lost confidence in the village’s present firm and he moved to hire MSA as the Wastewater treatment consultants and they also approved MSA to work on the Main Street Project.

In other action the board approved a resolution to submit the Wastewater Compliance Maintenance Annual Report to the DNR with department head Don Rose informing the board that the report is some 28 pages long. The board praised Rose for getting a perfect 4.0 grade on the report with Village President Gib Krueger telling Rose, “you have done very well.”

The board also approved an idea from Krueger to hire a part time police officer to work with code enforcement. The Village President noted that as one drives around the village you can see various things that are not up to code. Later he noted that it goes beyond high grass, unlicensed cars, dogs or trash. The board approved having a board member ride with an officer to look at things that need to be corrected.

The board heard an update from Eric Turner, the Director of the Dunn County Economic Development Corporation, about the County Broadband issue. Turner stated that there are, “places in the county that have it and some places don’t have it,” referring to getting connected to the Internet.

He encouraged everyone to attend a meeting next Monday, June 19 at 6 p.m. at the Colfax High School. His report indicated that, “this community conversation will focus on learning more about where Broadband expansion is at in Wisconsin, what Dunn County is doing to assist citizens in gaining access.”

Farrell reported to the board that the village had received a request from the company that leases space on the village’s water tower for cell phone aerials. He noted that the request is that the company gets more control of the site and the cost. Farrell stated that they had a similar request two years ago and he suggested that the village write another letter indicated that the village is not interested in giving up revenue and that the site is the location of the water tower and the village will retain control of the site.

Heard a request from Trustee Mary Lagerstrom about house numbers on homes within the village. She noted that many homes do not have their number on the outside of the house and sometimes it difficult for emergency personnel to find the location of their call. She requested that a reminder be sent with the utility bills informing residents that they need to have the house numbers on the front of their homes.

The board approved renewal of license for firms and operator’s licenses for the next year. They include at Class A Beer and Class A Intoxicating liquor for Cedar Country Cooperative and Class B Beer and Class B intoxicating liquor to J & J Buck Shots and Fatboys Emporium.

Operator’s licenses were granted to the following: Matthew Leach, Cooper Larson, Lukas Hellmann, Haleigh Styer, Morgan Kuhn, Larissa Pelzl, Amber Kelly, Carrie Jones, Wayne Lagsdon, Katherine Hanson, Theresa Raehsler, Hunter Cormican, Patricia Loback, Katelyn Kegen, Halle Knutson, Dakota Raska, Paula Gramling, Kathryn Kunkle, Sandy Bechinger, Shannon Bakken, Ronald LeMaire, Brianna Crowe, Jolene Wolff, Donald Rose, Brian Marlette, Lisa Pederson, Bob Malette and Cory Green.