Luukas Palm-Leis, Reporter
At its April 8 regular board meeting, the Village of Arena Board of Trustees discussed a discrepancy in the clerk/treasurer report, voted on ordinance changes and the purchase of a new truck and heard maintenance updates for the village.
During discussion of the clerk/treasurer report, prepared by Clerk/Treasurer DaNean Naeger, Trustee Becca Raven Uminowicz questioned the reasoning for the March 20 candidate forum—which was promoted on the Village’s website—not being present on the report.
“I don’t understand why [the candidate forum] wasn’t on the board agenda, which was two days before. We should have approved whether or not we were doing this,” Uminowicz said. “It’s been the biggest secret, it’s all very suspicious. I don’t quite understand it and so I’m wondering why it’s not on the clerk report, because that would be the place to put it since DaNean took it upon herself to do this. I need more information about why this took place, why the village resources were used, and nobody’s talking about it.”
A candidate forum for trustee and village board candidates took place on March 20 at Grandma Mary’s in Arena. In the weeks leading up to the forum it was unclear who was organizing it, with Naeger stating “concerned citizens” had asked her to post the forum on the Village’s website.
At the forum, moderator Peter Huebner stated that Naeger had asked him to moderate the forum and that he assumed the Village was “putting it on”.
“It was a benefit to the community. Nobody, nobody paid for it. There was no money exchanged,” Village President Kate Reimann said, without elaborating on how the space was rented, or ownership of the paper and printer used for the candidate name signs at the forum that were printed and placed by Naeger, or if Naeger was using her personal or professional time to coordinate the forum.
“It’s passed. No, it’s passed” Reimann said, speaking over Uminowicz’s questions.
“I’m asking why this was not done through the village board, since we used the village board website to promote it?” Uminowicz asked once more.
“Because the village board didn’t do it, didn’t put it on,” Trustee Kathy Stoltz said in reply.
“Why did we use the village board then to advertise it?” Uminowicz then said. “We don’t advertise community things other than the tech support…It’s always just been Village activities.”
It’s clear from the exchange that Uminowicz was referring to Village of Arena activities as a governmental body, not general activities happening in the village of Arena.
Uminowicz remarked that the Village’s website does not promote any events on its calendar other than village board-related meetings and events or its monthly tech help sessions which are hosted at the village hall.
In the past year the Village website has only featured one non-village board or Village-related item on the calendar, being the village-wide garage sales in June 2024.
“This is a [V/v]illage activity,” Naeger said in response, without being clear as to if she meant Village of Arena activity endorsed by the government or an activity within the village. Uminowicz took Naeger’s response to mean the former.
“It was a Village activity? Okay, so who determined we were doing this? This is what I’m saying,” Uminowicz said. “Why was it not brought to the board?”
“If DaNean did this in her official role, it should be in the clerk report, if she didn’t do it in her official role then it’s not in the clerk report,” Trustee Matthew Schroeder said. “The question was if DaNean took this on and sought out people, why isn’t it in the clerk report? That’s the question that needs to be answered one way or another.”
The question was not answered. No members of the board or Naeger provided a response to the questions posed by Uminowicz or Schroeder in discussion.
Village maintenance updates
Zach Adams of MSA Professional Services, the village’s engineering firm, gave a brief report on Village projects. Adams noted that the Village’s sewer and well projects have been closed out and that necessary equipment purchases have been approved.
The board discussed the purchase of a new maintenance service pickup. The Village received several quotes for heavy duty up-fitted pickup trucks as a replacement for the Village’s 2001 Dodge. Trustee Kristen Shea motioned to purchase a 2025 Ram 4500 pickup truck for $93,569.50. All trustees except Uminowicz and Schroeder voted in favor of purchasing the truck.
Shea also provided a report from public works that noted a lateral sewer line on a homeowner’s property had broken and leaked sand into the sewer main and necessitated the Village call in a water jet cleaning company to prevent sand from damaging the Pine Street lift station.
Public Works Superintendent Richard Meili noted the eight inch sewer line had filled with three to six inches of sand for 167 feet.
Public works required the village board’s action to allow the bill for sewer jetting to be sent to the resident due to the issue stemming from their property. The motion to send an invoice to the property owner passed, with Reimann, and Trustees Shea, Uminowicz and Schroeder voting in favor, Trustees Brittany Carney and Melissa Bandell opposed and Trustee Stoltz abstaining.
Other board actions
The application for the Mary Jones and Yolanda Peterson Memorial Fireworks event and Sharon Street closure was discussed at the meeting. The board approved the application to close the street for the parade and the fireworks application for July 19.
The board heard comment from Brandon Dilley on behalf of the village’s little league baseball team, and unanimously voted to waive the park use fee for little league use.
An addition to Ordinance 18.10.010 was considered by the board as part of a discussion to rezone a plot of land in the village for use as a “hospitality center”.
The proposed addition would add the following definition: “‘Hospitality Center’ means short term rentals consisting of one or more residential units or similar facility that provides recreation, entertainment or lodging either to the general public or to private members.” The board voted unanimously to add the definition to the ordinance.
The board then discussed the rezoning of the property in question. The owner, who was present, noted that the intended use for the property after rezoning would be as an Airbnb rental. The board unanimously voted to refer the owner to the plan commission to have the property rezoned from commercial to residential.
Read about the changes to the board after the April 8 meeting:
