South Central Reporter

Village of Germantown President and Board of Trustees Met Jan. 19.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The regular monthly Board meeting of the President and Board of Trustees for the Village of Germantown was held at 7:00 p.m. Those present included the following: Village President Duane Ripperda, Trustees: Ken Albers, Ken Brauer, Brad Schroeder and Jerald Schroeder. Clerk Dawn Lakenburges and Police Chief Jeff Wuebbles were also present. Trustees Roger Rickhoff, Michael Albers, Supt. Steve Mullins, and Village Attorney Aaron Epplin were present via ZOOM.

The minutes of the previous month’s meetings were available for review. A motion to approve theminutes as presented was made by Trustee Jerald Schroeder, seconded by Trustee Brad Schroeder. Motion carried.

Village President, Duane Ripperda, said the planning is complete and the first COVID vaccine day will be held tomorrow at the Legion.

President Ripperda signed a notice to the owner of the Red Deuce about the condition of the building since the fire in August of 2019.

President Ripperda said he has 5-6 farmers ready to take debris from the Debris Yard. Waiting for the ground to hard freeze.

Trustee Jerald Schroeder said the park is getting ready to do some concrete work at Schoedienst Park. The Village maintenance employees will do backhoe work for the project.

Police Chief Jeff Wuebbles gave his report next. Wuebbles said Jansen Chevrolet had a vehicle stolen from the parking lot. He and Officer Huelskamp will review cameras and work the case.

Supt. Steve Mullins reported Gelly Construction is nearing the completion of the Sewer Project. Trustee Ken Albers asked that the Water and Sewer Committee meet to discuss the problems with water main breaks and other issues before they present their final pay request.

Mullins said Korte-Luitjohan will be road cutting later this week to start the Water Project. They will start laying pipe as early as next week.

The IEPA has sent a letter to the Village concerning chlorine residuals and manganese in our water. They will be forcing the Village to install a water filtration system in the near future. Since this will be a high-cost project, the Village will have to explore every avenue for funding.

Trustee Brad Schroeder discussed a sinkhole at the end of Prairie Street behind Mike Eversgerd property. The maintenance department will repair as soon as possible.

HMG presented the Board with pay request #2 from Gelly Construction. Trustee Brad Schroeder made a motion to approve pay request #2 from Gelly Construction. Trustee Ken Albers seconded the motion and the motion carried. Motion carried.

Trustee Michael Albers said the Police Committee met to discuss Officer Huelskamp. Chief Wuebbles said Huelskamp has been working hard and if we want him to stay long term, we need to keep his salary comparable to other municipalities. Trustee Jerald Schroeder, chairman of the Finance Committee met as well and agreed upon a $3/hr raise. After a brief conversation, Trustee Ken Brauer made a motion to give Officer Huelskamp a $3/hr raise. Trustee Brad Schroeder seconded the motion and the motion carried.

Trustee Roger Rickhoff said Supt. Steve Mullins received an email from the ICC asking the Village to accept a monetary offer to close the railroad crossing on Prairie St. A discussion followed and the Board agreed that closing a RR crossing in town is not beneficial. President Ripperda suggested putting a traffic counter at the crossing to see how much traffic uses that crossing. This was tabled for another time.

Trustee Ken Brauer, Chairman of the Zoning, Subdivision & TIF Committee, said the Committee will meet this month to finalize the subdivision agreement for Ryan Linnemann.

Trustee Ken Albers made a motion to pay all bills as presented. Trustee Michael Albers seconded the motion and the motion carried.

Trustee Jerald Schroeder then made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Ken Brauer seconded the motion and the motion carried. Meeting adjourned 7:45 pm.

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