EM contracts with Davy Engineering for phosphorus limit preliminary compliance plan
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound Village Board has approved contracting with Davy Engineering to complete a phosphorus limit preliminary compliance plan at a cost not to exceed $15,000.
The $15,000 covers work that Davy Engineering would do this year, but the proposal presented at a previous meeting was for $40,000 to also cover work that would be done next year, said Mark Levra, director of public works, at the Elk Mound Village Board’s February 7 meeting.
Elk Mound has been placed on a schedule to meet the phosphorus limit, and the $15,000 will cover the preliminary compliance plan and the report that must be submitted to the state Department of Natural Resources in September, he said.
Instead of approving the entire $40,000, Terry Stamm, village trustee, suggested removing the $25,000 portion for next year and approving only the $15,000 for this year.
The village should wait before committing to spend the additional money until “we see where we are at with compliance,” he said.
Stamm is the retired director of public works in Elk Mound.
The preliminary compliance plan is the third phase of planning for the reduction of phosphorus discharge from the village’s wastewater treatment plant.
The compliance schedule has four phases, and the first two phases have already been completed.
The first phase was to assess residences and businesses to see if there is a way to reduce the amount of phosphorus going into the wastewater treatment plant.
The second phase was to assess the wastewater treatment plant to see if anything can be done to optimize the treatment process.
According to Tim Stockman of Davy Engineering, who spoke at the Elk Mound Village Board’s January 17 meeting, there are no particular sources of phosphorus going into the treatment plant that are beyond what would normally be expected, and nothing stood out in the assessment of the wastewater treatment plant.
Since the existing wastewater treatment plant is not able to meet the phosphorus limit, one option can include upgrading the wastewater treatment plant and adding more equipment. Another option is a “water quality trade” with another municipality, Stockman told the village board at the January meeting.
The DNR has set a phosphorus limit of .075 milligrams per liter for the village’s wastewater treatment plant, and the discharge was 3 mg/L in 2020.
Approving the $15,000 gives Levra the option to begin working with Davy Engineering on the preliminary compliance plan because “we need to get going,” Stamm said at the February 7 meeting.
The Elk Mound Village Board unanimously approved contracting with Davy Engineering for $15,000 for 2022 to complete the preliminary compliance plan and file the report with the DNR.
Election pay
In other business at the February 7 meeting, the Elk Mound Village Board approved increasing the pay for election workers from $9 per hour to $9.50 and from $9 per hour to $10 for the chief inspectors.
The election inspectors have not asked for a raise, but the last time the pay was increased was 2019, said Karin Wolf, clerk-treasurer.
Wolf recommended $10 per hour.
According to information Wolf provided to the village board, the Village of Boyceville pays $13 per hour, while the Village of Colfax pays $8 and $8.50 for the chief inspector, and Fall Creek pays $10 per hour.
Steven Abraham, village president, asked if the issue of election pay should go to the employee relations committee.
One village board member said he thought $9 an hour was a fair rate of pay.
The village board can keep the pay as it is, can do as has been recommended or can approve something in between, Abraham said.
Deborah Creaser-Kipp, village trustee, recommended $9.50 per hour and $10 for the chief inspectors.
The village board could look at it each year instead of increasing the pay “all in one fell swoop,” Abraham noted.
Cynthia Abraham, village trustee, pointed out that the military raises pay by 3 percent, and that a 3 percent pay increase would be $9.27 per hour.
An increase of 2 percent over three years since the pay was last increased would be a 6 percent increase, said Greg Kipp, village trustee.
A 6 percent increase on $9 would be $9.54.
Village board members could think about it, and election pay could be on the agenda for the next meeting in two weeks, Steven Abraham said.
What about the inflation rate over the past year? Stamm asked.
Few businesses give pay raises based on the rate of inflation, Steven Abraham said.
The Elk Mound Village Board unanimously approved increasing the pay for election workers to $9.50 per hour and $10 for the chief election inspectors.
Bartender license
The Elk Mound Village Board spent a fair amount of time discussing bartender operator’s licenses and approved tabling a bartender operator’s license for Tara Kathleen Cole, The Pourhouse, until the March 7 meeting.
Cole has cases pending in Dunn County Circuit Court that are alcohol related, said Chad Weinberger, Elk Mound police chief.
According to information available from the on-line circuit court access, Cole is scheduled for a plea/sentencing hearing March 1 before Judge Luke Wagner.
Cole is charged with three felony counts of operating while intoxicated (OWI 4th), operating with a prohibited blood alcohol level (4th offense) and bail jumping, and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
The charges related to OWI occurred in February of 2021, and the bar fight occurred in July of 2021, Police Chief Weinberger said.
According to the village’s ordinances, an applicant may be denied a license if he or she has had “an arrest or conviction of at least two (2) offenses which are substantially related to the licensed activity within the five (5) years immediately preceding the license application.”
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Village Board:
• Approved purchasing a computer from PC Doctor for $749.99 to replace a computer in the clerk-treasurer’s office used by village employee Julie Conlin. The computer has been shutting down unexpectedly, and then there have been problems bringing it back up again, Wolf said.
• Approved reversing the denial of a bartender operator’s license for Nicole Lorscheter. On the original application, Lorscheter checked “no” for whether she had been convicted of a felony, misdemeanor or other offense and did not disclose an arrest for disorderly conduct that was alcohol-related, Police Chief Weinberger said, noting that the charge was subsequently reduced to an ordinance violation. Lorscheter has had two disorderly conduct charges within five years, in June of 2018 and in June of 2019, he said.
• Upheld the denial of a bartender operator’s license for Terrel Larsen. In the last five years, Larsen has had three convictions related to alcohol, including public intoxication and having an open container, Police Chief Weinberger said.
• Upheld the denial of a bartender operator’s license for Ashley Prusinski. On the application, Prusinski checked “yes” on the box pertaining to prior arrests or convictions, which was related to obstruction of justice and involved open intoxicants, Police Chief Weinberger said. Prusinski did not disclose three underage drinking convictions from March of 2019, October of 2019 and March of 2020, he said.
• Approved a bartender operator’s license for Cassandra Jo O’Connell, The Pourhouse.
The Elk Mound Village Board meets next on February 21 at 6 p.m. at the Elk Mound Village Hall. The meeting also may be accessed through the online platform Zoom.
