Luukas Palm-Leis, Editorial Intern
At the July 2 regular board meeting, the Village of Arena Board of Trustees voted to extend its policing agreement with the Iowa County Sheriff’s office through 2025 and to liquidate surplus police equipment.
In addition to discussing the on-going emergency services issues in the Village, the board also took action on a variety of public works issues, decided against a No Mow May ordinance and heard a report on a water services rebate with Arena Cheese.
Policing Agreement Questions and Extension
Iowa County Sheriff Mike Peterson attended the meeting and answered the board’s questions regarding the policing agreement with the Village — which was instituted after the complete resignation of the Arena Police Department earlier this year.
Trustee Matthew Schroeder questioned if the minimum of 4 hours of policing would be enough for the village.
“My personal opinion is probably not, but it’s what’s available right now, not only what the village can afford, but what I can supply for officer hours without having to hire more people,” Peterson said.
Trustee BeccaRaven Uminowicz followed up Peterson’s response, asking if this arrangement is sustainable for a long period of time for both the village and the Sheriff’s office
“Four hours isn’t too tasking on our staffing levels,” Peterson said. “If we start getting into 10 hours a week, 15 hours a week and beyond, then yeah, then we would have to hire more people.”
Peterson clarified for the board that the 1,375 calls for service per year statistic, which was discussed at a previous meeting of the board, was regarding calls directed to the Arena Police Department and not calls for service from residents of the municipality
Trustee Melissa Bandell questioned the Iowa County Sheriff’s office current staffing levels, with 43 officers of the recommended 64, from the office’s own reporting. Peterson responded that the department would not be able to hire for a couple years.
Following the discussion with Sheriff Peterson, the board considered extending its current agreement through 2025. The motion to extend the current temporary policing agreement to a full agreement through 2025 carried, with all members in favor except Schroeder and Uminowicz.
Police Equipment Liquidation
The village board also discussed the liquidation of current police equipment. Radios, laptops, weapons, squad equipment, a drone and both police vehicles were included on the list of items to declare surplus.
Uminowicz questioned the pace at which the village was working to sell the police equipment.
“I didn’t realize that we were definitely not willing to look into having a police officer for Arena, and now we’re going to get rid of all of our equipment? It seems premature,” Uminowicz said. “We haven’t even done any research on this, have we?”
Schroeder noted that the purchase prices listed on the resolution would not accurately reflect the fair market value of the equipment listed. He also questioned if some of the items purchased with grant money may not be able to be sold, as well as if the village ordinance would allow the board to sell police items without a head of the police department.
Uminowicz re-introduced her discussion about having a future police department.
“I’m concerned that we haven’t really talked about the idea of us having a police department… Because we’ve now extended the temporary to permanent, we are not going to have an Arena police department?”
Bandell answered the question, “No.”
Village President Kate Reimann brought up the results of the police survey and Uminowicz again questioned the inclusivity of it.
“It is not off topic to ask ‘why do we want to dispose of these things, look at these prices, if we have to then buy them again?’” Uminowicz asked.
“The point is, we’re not going to,” Reimann responded.
Schoeder, responding to Reimann’s comment, said, “I didn’t know that decision was made either. We’re temporarily in an agreement with Iowa County.”
Reimann and Trustee Kristen Shea noted that the police equipment would be unused through 2025.
“These are assets that are just sitting,” Reimann said.
“…in there depreciating, correct,” Shea said, continuing Reimann’s sentence. “So if we decide in 2025, that we need to have a police officer or a department of some kind, by that time, these things will have been sitting for another year and a half.”
The motion to declare the police items surplus, excluding grant items and a drone, was carried with all members voting in favor except Schroder and Uminowicz, who voted against.
Village Water and Sewer Projects
The board unanimously voted to accept a quote for $32,400 to perform maintenance on the water tower. This includes cleaning, installing an air bubble mixing system and interior dry paint renovations. This work is to ensure the water tower is in compliance for next year.
A payment application of $19,001.22 for the new wellhouse project was approved by the board. Final installation work includes connection of gas service equipment and commissioning of the new generator. The well house project was anticipated to be completed by June 28, but as of July 2, construction was still ongoing.
The board unanimously voted to approve an extension for the sewer line project’s completion date to July 31. The delay was reported to be due to poor quality work from one of the landscaping subcontractors working on the project, as well as waiting for Madison Gas and Electric to complete work on natural gas service equipment.
Other board actions
The board also discussed the UScellular offer to purchase the village’s cell tower. In the previous June 7 meeting, the board voted to gather more information before proceeding.
There was no response to an email asking UScellular for purchase information regarding the cell tower. The motion to maintain the current leasing agreement with UScellular carried, with all members in favor except Schroeder who opposed.
The board discussed the previously tabled No Mow May ordinance change. Shea noted that residents can obtain a natural lawn permit that requires inspection.
“One month is clearly not going to make that much of a difference.” Shea said, casting doubt on the practice of No Mow May.
Uminowicz reminded of all the bees and other pollinators in the month of May, stating, “One month, if you look at your lawn during May, there’s a lot of flowers.”
The motion to change the ordinance to allow for No Mow May failed, with all members against, except Uminowicz, who voted in favor, and Schroder, who abstained.
Read the entire Arena public safety series here:
