Elk Mound approves water and sewer budget of $319,455 for 2020
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound Village Board has approved a water and sewer budget of $319,455 for 2020.
The wastewater treatment plant now has a new permit from the state Department of Natural Resources and along with the permit came a list of compliance items, said Terry Stamm, village trustee and chair of the public works and streets committee, at the Elk Mound Village Board’s December 18 meeting.
The first payment on the loan for the water meters and the SCADA system will be due in 2021, and more requirements also will mean other additional expenses, Stamm said.
Pat Hahn, village clerk-treasurer, noted the first loan payment would be due in March of 2021.
The Elk Mound Village Board approved proceeding with an application for a state trust fund loan in the amount of $582,995 for 2019 capital projects at the August 7 meeting.
The capital projects to be financed by the loan included a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for the sewer and water utilities.
SCADA systems gather and analyze “real time” data and are used for monitoring and controlling equipment in a variety of industries, such as water and wastewater management, as well as telecommunications and oil and gas refineries.
At the July 10 meeting, the Elk Mound Village Board awarded the proposed SCADA project bid in the amount of $319,754 to L.W. Allen LLC.
Mark Levra, director of public works, reported at the December 18 meeting that the SCADA system is partially up and running.
Eventually, when the system is completely up and running, authorized village personnel will be able to access the SCADA system from a home computer or a smartphone, Levra said.
A water and sewer rate increase will probably be needed every year to cover the additional expenses, Stamm said.
The Elk Mound Village Board has been approving a 3 percent increase in the water rate and a 3 percent increase in the sewer rate, Hahn said.
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin allows municipalities to do a simple water rate increase of 3 percent without a public hearing or other requirements. The village’s sewer utility is deregulated, so the village board can increase the sewer rate at whatever percentage it chooses.
“We do not have much choice on (continued) rate increases,” Stamm said.
The Elk Mound Village Board unanimously approved the water and sewer budget for 2020.
Voting in favor of the motion were Stamm, Steven Abraham (village president) and village trustees Deb Creaser-Kipp, Gregg Kipp and Rebecca Livingston.
Village trustees Montana Grotthus and Paula Turner were absent from the meeting.
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Village Board:
• Learned that Elk Mound has been awarded a Local Road Improvement Program grant (LRIP) in the amount of $16,000 for Lincoln Street.
• Learned that the Elk Mound Police Department had started using the Zuercher data system as of November 13. The system will increase efficiency and will improve communications with the sheriff’s department, said Elk Mound Police Chief Chad Weinberger. The Zuercher system also will be able to generate a variety of reports, he noted, such as neighborhood reports and calls for service.
• Learned that the Elk Mound fire department has 21 firefighters in the village. Greg Kipp, fire board representative, also reported that Elk Mound Fire Chief Les Shafer had pointed out at the last fire board meeting this will be the first year since Shafer has been fire chief that the fire department has been over budget. The increased cost was related to the amount of training needed for firefighters and unexpected truck maintenance, he said.
• Approved reallocating $4,000 of the remaining wage budget for Limited Term Employees (LTEs) in the police department to purchase police uniforms and equipment. The item was tabled at the November meeting because the agenda item did not include equipment.
• Accepted the resignation of Montana Grotthus as a village trustee. Grotthus has moved out of the village and is no longer eligible to serve on the village board.
• Appointed Jesse Jenson to fill the remainder of the vacant trustee term created by Grotthus’s resignation.
• Received a recommendation from the Elk Mound Plan Commission for Abraham, as village president, to appoint Karla Benjamin to the plan commission.
• Approved re-hiring Mark Hollister as an LTE police officer for 2020. An LTE position is different than part-time, and because of the employee manual, an LTE position requires being approved every year, Police Chief Weinberger said. Hollister “is very good to us,” he said. Hollister works full-time for a sheriff’s department and also is the powerlifting coach at Elk Mound High School, the police chief said. He is “a good decision-maker, and you can’t put a value on a seasoned officer like him,” the police chief said.
