Boyceville Village Board discusses issues with Sykora Lane development, and camping at Freedom Park
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By Renee Bettendorf
BOYCEVILLE- At their board meeting held on Monday evening, the Boyceville Village Board learned from Village Engineer Eric Barclay about ongoing plans to develop Sykora Lane.
Barclay said there are two things that were recently discovered about the Sykora Lane development project. One is that quite a lot of earthwork would need to be done before the project could proceed.
About 2500 cubic feet of excess material will need to be hauled out of the site. He said the village could stockpile the fill and use it as needed for other projects or it could be offered to future home builders if they wanted to use it to level off the lots.
A second more pressing issue came up during the hydro flow test. This test is done to determine if there is adequate water pressure to properly utilize a fire hydrant. The test results showed that the water pressure in that area, due to the higher elevation, is not above the minimum requirement which is 20 psi at 500 gallons per minute.
This minimum requirement is a standard set by the WI DNR, according to Barclay. The hydro flow test showed that Sykora Lane has a 17 to 19 psi at 500 gallons per minute.
“We’re just below that threshold,” said Barclay. “There are a couple of options, of course they all require money to do”.
One option is to lower the area by eight to ten feet. But he said that would not be desirable. Another way to create more water pressure would be to install a water loop in the development.
After discussing water loops of different sizes, booster pumps and cisterns, the board directed Barclay to look into what it would cost to put in a ground water storage tank, a small water loop and a big water loop.
“We definitely need some estimates. I really want to keep going with Sykora Lane,” said Board President Luke Montgomery
Alcohol, Tobacco and Camping
The board approved license applications for the sale of alcohol, coin and tobacco ending June 30, 2025 to Cenex and both of the bars in town. Clerk/Treasurer Brittany Halvorson said that the Dollar General did not complete the paperwork for their license renewal. As a result they will not be able to sell alcohol or tobacco as of July 1.
Halvorson said Dollar General was warned several times about the application deadline. She said they will not be able to get a new license until they submit an application, put a notice in the newspaper and attend a board meeting.
After some discussion the board also approved a request for an extended stay at Freedom Park Campground. Halvorson said that according to a village ordinance, anyone who wants to camp at the park for more than 30 days has to request an extended stay from the board.
She said there is one individual who will go over the 30 day limit on June 26 and would like to stay until the first week in July. Halvorson said that while there have not been any issues with the current camper, it might be worth looking into the village’s camping ordinance.
“Is this a place to stay and visit friends for a few days or are we running a housing unit?” asked Halvorson.
Boyceville Police Chief Greg Lamkin said the person at the campground is in transitory housing. He said that over the years homeless people have stayed at Freedom Park because it’s a cheap place to set up camp for months.
“The question is going forward, how do you all want this to serve the community?” asked Chief Lamkin of the campground.
The board agreed that the camping ordinance should be reviewed soon.
Reports
The board heard from Director of Public Works, Craig Dotseth, that there have been issues with delivery trucks pulling up too close to the curb on main street and clipping the arms on the light poles that the hanging flower baskets are attached to. His department has had to repair several of them.
Village Trustee Jo Dormanen asked if there was anything that could be done to prevent this.
Dotseth said that now that the flower pots are there the arms are more visible and so it is not an issue currently. Going forward his department plans on removing the arms as soon as the flower pots come down in the fall.
His department has also filled potholes on Tiffany Street just east of highway 79. Additionally they completed the spring water system flushing and made it through two power outages, one on May 2 and another on June 6.
“There was no water loss and no sewer spills [during the power outages],” he reported.
The department worked with two groups of middle schoolers who did volunteer work for the community on the middle school’s annual service day. Dotseth said they painted 22 garbage cans and sanded and painted 10 picnic tables.
“Pafko was a big winner this month,” he said.
According to Chief Lamkin’s report there were 174 calls for service in the village during the month of May and his department handled 92% of them. There was no use of force incidents or pursuits and calls for service were about the same as last May. The department issued 11 citations and made 14 arrests.
Some significant cases that occurred in May included an incident of theft where Chief Lamkin learned that a business connected to a fire hydrant without authorization and took 2,500 gallons of water. The business was cited for theft.
In another case Chief Lamkin initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle after recognizing the driver from three previous traffic stops for driving without a license. The driver was charged criminally for operating without a license third offense and his vehicle was towed.
There were also three cases involving juveniles. One resulted in two high school students being cited for obscenity/lewd/lascivious behavior. Additionally there were two juvenile disorderly cases one resulted in the suspect being referred to juvenile authorities and the other was transported for mental health treatment.
In her report to the board Halvorson said a Department of Homeland Security person came and did a walk through of the Village Hall. They are offering some assistance with election related upgrades. She said the department will get back to her in four to six weeks with possible opportunities.
During the public comments part of the meeting the board was asked by Village Resident Trudie Chernak if there is a rule about how many meetings a village board member needs to attend. Her question was in reference to the fact that village trustee Ben Hitz, who was elected to the board last April, has yet to attend a village board meeting.
Montgomery said there is no rule for how many meetings a board member has to attend as of right now. Montgomery went on to say that Hitz was excused for several meetings because he is training to become a fireman and the meetings conflicted with that training.
“I expected him to be here tonight,” said Montgomery.
In other business the Boyceville Village Board:
• Learned from Halvorson that the gas pumps at the airport are bringing in a couple hundred dollars a month so far.
• Learned from Dotseth that some old road signs from the village were auctioned off for around $30 apiece, quite a bit more than the $2 they used to get for them at the scrap yard.
• Approved the Compliance Maintenance Annual Report as presented by Dotseth. The report is an annual review of the water/sewer system.
-Decided which trustees will serve on which committees.
