The Blanchardville Village Board met on Monday, January 5 and discussed the lands north of the village as the plat has officially been recorded.
In mid-December the plat for the lands north of the village was recorded. Matt Miller from Vierbicher will get a recorded copy from Iowa County to pass along to the village board. This will help the village, Vierbicher and Town & Country Engineering understand how things will be moving forward this year with the land and see what opportunities there are. There are a couple interested developers for the land. The thought is to have more of a concrete plan going into this spring as to what is in store for the land and what types of lots can or will go on the land.
They are ready to go into the phase of what infrastructure is going to be done on the village land. As was discussed at the Committee on the Whole meeting on Monday, December 22, the Department of Transportation will have a contractor in the village working on the Hwy 78 project and they could have a crew install infrastructure into the land while they are in the area.
Joe Cockcroft felt that municipality utilities (water and sewer) should go into the land before electricity, gas, and fiber.
"That’s priority because you don’t want to take and have to be shifting sewer pipe because somebody bored in a gas line or somebody bored fiber through there," Cockcroft said.
Neal Klassy would like to see a design plan made up for the lots so that the gas and electric utilities would be placed in the backyards of properties for esthetics. Cockcroft agreed adding that with a design planned out a utility corridor could be added to allow for equipment to potentially get behind buildings at a later date.
Miller added that Alliant Energy will have to be part of this conversation when it comes down to it as all of those utilities will be underground as well.
Miller asked that the board approve the service agreement with Vierbicher for 2026 at a cost of a maximum of $10,000. This would cover $1,500 towards meetings, $1,500 towards miscellaneous items and $7,000 towards economic development, community development in the village and creating plan of what the village will agree to do with a developer so they can bring in certain things on the land.
Police workload
Police Commission chairman Steve Allbaugh
commented that under Wisconsin Statue 62.13 the police commission’s authority is limited to hiring and appointment, discipline, discharge, and reduction of rank. They don’t have authority over compensation, hours, staffing levels or budget policy. The discussion on the decrease in hours or increase in pay for Blanchardville’s Chief of Police Ryan Kumor will go back to the Public Safety Committee then be referred to the village board. The Personnel Committee will have a special meeting regarding this personnel issue on Monday, January 19 at 6 p.m. This will be all done in closed session.
Other business
Jake and Joy Ryser recently purchased the old Blanchardville Clinic building at 301 S. Main Street. They have recently been having issues with parking behind their building. They are working to renovate the property and the three spots that are designated to their building are being used by other people. Ryser stated he would be putting up signs but wanted to make sure he knew how many spots were his. He will be at the next public safety committee.
The board approved Thomas Hardin to the election inspectors. With his approval, that means the inspectors now have an even number when they are supposed to have an odd number. The board will now need to look for another election inspector or hoping someone will step down.
BCPI are hosting a new social event at Blanchard Hall on January 24 at 5 p.m. It is a potluck event where people will try to meet each other.
The Friends of Mckellar Park will be posting job applications for lifeguards for the swim pond soon. Those interested in those positions keep an eye out for ads in the Pecatonica Valley Leader or around Blanchardville. They are meeting with builders for the pond bathhouse. They are looking to get concrete poured in March.
The board approved:
– pay request from Portzen and disbursement requests for $292,226.
– service contract with the fire department.
– request from Public Works Director Rolly McGowan to rollover 40 hours of vacation time into sick leave. He was unable to use up the 60+ hours of vacation time from last year. The board discussed his request and decided to rollover all of his unused vacation time to sick leave.
– operator’s license for Jenna Ackerman.
– the payment in lieu of taxes pilot agreement of the Lafayette County Housing river view.