BV village board hears about progress with fire district and wastewater treatment facility
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BOYCEVILLE — At their meeting held on Monday evening the Boyceville village board learned about fire department matters and progress on the upcoming wastewater treatment facility project.
In his report to the board village president, Luke Montgomery listed several meetings he attended including one he had with village board trustee Brad Stevens about fire district matters. Stevens is the village’s representative on the fire district board and has been working with the fire department as they search for a new fire chief.
“They seem to be handling it very well,” said Montgomery of Stevens and the fire board.
According to Stevens, Josh Pittman, who is the Town of Tiffany Town patrolman, has been appointed as the interim fire chief. Stevens said an ad that lists the qualifications for the fire chief position will run in the local paper for two weeks.
Stevens went on to say that he met with Chief Pittman, Boyceville fire board chair, Karl Hackbarth and Altoona fire chief, Mark Renderman recently. During the meeting they spoke about the hiring process for a new chief and best practices on how to update the department’s by-laws.
Stevens said the current bylaws are “way too loose”, especially in regards to the way false accusations are handled.
“I think we’re going in the right direction,” he said.
Montgomery thanked Stevens for his work with the fire department and fire board.
Shane Dennis from the engineering firm MSA told the board that his firm has completed the design plans for the wastewater treatment facility. The plans have been submitted to the DNR for review. MSA has also submitted a funding application to the DNR, said Dennis.
“So both of those are in the DNR’s hands right now,” said Dennis of the plans and application.
Dennis said he went over the plans with director of public works Craig Dotseth and village board member Jonathan Farrell to ensure the plans are exactly what the village needs. The next step is to wait and see what the DNR approves as far as funding. Dennis predicts that bidding for the project could start in January with construction happening spring to fall in 2025 and 2026.
Other Reports
In his report to the board Boyceville chief of police Greg Lamkin reported that his department had 194 calls for service in the village in October and BPD handled 95% of them. There were no use of force incidents or pursuits. Lamkin said calls for service were up 11% compared to last October. Last month the department issued 15 citations, made 11 arrests and had one mutual aid request outside the village.
Lamkin spoke about a few significant cases that occurred in October. In one case he was dispatched to a welfare check after a subject sent images of himself with a firearm and threatening suicide. With the assistance from Dunn County Sheriff deputies Lamkin was able to safely get the subject into custody. The subject was highly intoxicated and was charged with domestic abuse charges and intoxicated use of a firearm.
The subject was released from jail with bond conditions to not contact a resident in the village nor possess alcohol. He contacted her numerous times after his release and went to Cenex and purchased alcohol. The Menomonie Police Department was able to locate the subject in Menomonie and Lamkin referred charges on him for violating his bond and his domestic abuse no contact order.
During another welfare check that BPD conducted after hearing from neighbors that an individual had not been seen for several days, it was discovered that a village resident was having a medical emergency and an ambulance was called.
Lamkin mentioned a few other significant cases. In one case a driver was cited for operating without a license, second offense. He also issued a citation to a village resident and property owner for a chronic nuisance property after they have continued to fail to clean up the property.
Dotseth reported to the board about various street maintenance and repair projects that his department completed last month including fall street sweeping, patching and pot hole repair. His department also did several winterizing projects and repaired an air compressor.
Montgomery asked if anything of note had turned up on the newly installed cameras in the village and Lamkin said nothing illegal was detected with the cameras yet. Board trustee Jo Dormanen asked if the cameras are visible and Dotseth said they are.
Clerk/treasurer Brittany Halvorson reported that there were 100 absentee votes cast and 440 residents visited the village hall on election day. She said the election went smoothly despite the high volume of voters.
“It was very busy,” she said.
In other business the Boyceville Village Board:
• Learned from Halvorson that village employee overtime hours are down from last year.
• Tabled the review and approval of the 2025 levy limit.
• Voted to cancel the November 25 Committee of the Whole meeting.
• Voted to hold a public budget hearing on December 9.
• Voted to continue contributing 95% of village employee health insurance premiums for 2025.
• Voted to keep the current winter parking rules the same.
