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Boyceville turns down half million dollar lease proposal for village land

The Boyceville Board reviewed a proposal to lease land around the water tower that now also houses cell phone antennas.

The proposed offer was made by Octagon Towers to acquire a 50-year easement under and around the communication tower located on Nordveien Drive in Boyceville and all related AT&T assets and improvements, including interest in tenant leases and all other related property. The offer for the 50-year lease was $500,000.00.

During the discussion, board member agreed that the lease figure was way too low with board member Jonathan Farrell saying that he would have a better feeling about the proposal if the figure was a million and half dollars.

At present the village receives about $30,000 annually in lease payments for the communication devises at that site that are on the village’s water tower and grounds. All members of the board agreed not to accept the offer.

Flower Baskets

The board’s attention was turned to the flower baskets that grace the 18 Main Street light poles during the summer. The board noted that the flowers in the baskets this year did not fare very well even though they were watered twice daily and fertilized regularly. The agriculture class at the high school planted the baskets and board members discussed that the baskets did not hold enough water for the plants to survive.

The board had a proposal from Rolling Hills for the purchase of 18 new baskets and plants for $50.00 each. A motion to accept the offer from Rolling Hills was voted down on a 3 to 3 vote.

Then a motion was accepted to purchased 16 baskets from Rolling Hills and have the school class do two baskets.

Update Clerk’s Office

After spending some time talking about the needs in the Village Clerk/Treasurer office, the board approved spending some $16,500 for updates including a new village website, a payroll program and new computers for the office technology. Funds for these upgrades will come from recently received ARPA funds.

During his report to the Village board, Police Chief Greg Lamkin, told the board that the $16,000 grant payment from the USDA for the new police car has been received and that the Dodge was sold for $3,750.

The chief noted that officer Vodenlich continues in his training and passed his Phase 2 exam and was awarded the Top Gun of his class. He also noted that the fall Drug Take Back took in 39.7 pounds of medications for destruction and his report stated, “We conducted another K-9 search of the Middle/High School and found no contraband.”

At the end of the meeting, Village President Lukas Montgomery asked that the December regular meeting of the board start at 5 p.m. to allow members to attend the school’s Christmas program.

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