EM tables decision on park reservation refunds during “Safer at Home” order
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound Village Board has postponed making a decision on whether to refund reservations for the village park until the first meeting in May.
The village park has been rented for May 16, May 23 and May 30, but with the COVID-19 pandemic and the governor’s Safer at Home order, no one knows yet if the people renting the park will be able to use it on those dates, said Pat Hahn, village clerk-treasurer, at the Elk Mound Village Board’s April 15 meeting.
The village board met remotely using the online program Zoom so that board members did not have to be in the same room as part of the social distancing guidelines during COVID-19.
Members of the public could also observe the meeting through Zoom.
Governor Tony Evers and Angela Palm, secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, issued a Safer at Home order that went into effect March 25 to slow down the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus that ordered people to observe social distancing and to only leave their homes for essential errands, such as buying groceries or going to a pharmacy, to maintain a distance of six feet between people when they are out in public, banned mass gatherings of more than 10 people and closed non-essential businesses
Safer at Home was set to expire April 24 at the time of the April 15 village board meeting.
Hahn suggested that if the park could not be used on the days for which there are reservations, perhaps the village could offer those who had reserved the park a different date, and if another date would not be acceptable, to offer a refund for the park reservation.
“This is no one’s fault. They could not plan for this,” said Steven Abraham, village president.
If the preferred date for the use of the park is not allowed either by the state, the county or the village, and if the event cannot be scheduled on a later date, then a refund would be in order, he said.
Abraham wondered if the group that had rented the park and had left dozens of bags of garbage and had offered to pay for the clean-up had, in fact, paid for the clean-up.
The group rents the park annually and presumably would be renting the park again this year.
Mark Levra, director of public works, said he was not sure if the clean-up bill had been paid, although he had notified the renter of the park of the village board’s decision.
At the March 4 meeting, the Elk Mound Village Board approved renting the Lions Club Park to Tou Xiong with the following conditions: payment of $689.12 for cleanup of the park after last year’s rental (cleanup included 49 bags of garbage over the 10-bag limit and a water spigot that was left running for more than 12 hours); to provide a 20-yard roll-off Dumpster; and to recycle.
Hahn said she was not sure, either, whether the village had been paid for park cleanup.
Payment for clean-up will be required before the group can rent the park again, Abraham noted.
Village Trustee Deborah Creaser-Kipp said she agreed that if another date will not work for the events planned in May, then the park reservation money should be refunded.
“No harm, no foul. It’s no one’s fault,” Abraham said, adding that refusing to refund the money would reflect negatively on the village.
Levra wondered if people should be notified now about finding a different date or if contacting the people who have reserved the park should wait until after the first village board meeting in May.
The first event is on May 16, Hahn pointed out.
Abraham said he was inclined to table the agenda item concerning park reservation refunds until the board’s first meeting in May.
The day after the Elk Mound Village Board meeting on April 15, Governor Evers directed Secretary Palm to extend the Safer at Home Order until May 26.
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Village Board:
• Learned that the Elk Mound Police Department had responded to 76 calls for service in March. The calls included seven animal calls, including three calls for raccoons, and 12 public relations calls. The Elk Mound Police Department also investigated one case of juvenile sexual assault, which was determined to have happened but not in Elk Mound, and the case was forwarded to the appropriate agency, said Police Chief Chad Weinberger. The police chief reported there had also been one drug overdose death in Elk Mound, three felony identity theft cases and one restitution hearing for a juvenile who had caused damage at the village park.
• Approved extending the Elk Mound COVID-19 Response Plan until the first meeting in May and then to review the plan again at that time.
• Approved appointing newly-elected Village Trustee Cynthia Abraham to serve in place of Village Trustee Rebecca Livingston on the Employee Relations and Property and Finance Committees. Creaser-Kipp will serve as the chair of Property and Finance Committee. Livingston decided not to run again for the position in the April 7 election. The motion also included re-appointing Carol Peterson to the Zoning Board of Appeals, appointing Joyce Price to the vacant position that expires in 2021 on the Zoning Board of Appeals, and appointing Bob Bachman as an alternate on the Zoning Board of Appeals. Village Trustee Terry Stamm said he would check with Price and Bachman to make sure they were still interested in the positions.
