The July 5th Village Board meeting started like any other with the relaying of the minutes from the previous meeting. It diverged from normalcy when Howard VonRuden unexpectedly appeared before the board relaying a noise complaint for the night of Independence Day. He was upset by the fact that there were people in the park using fireworks long after it had closed for the day as well as disappointed by the fact that there were not any officers on duty to help stop it. After police chief Brente Knutson assured him that he identified and contacted the people responsible, and the board promised him there would be someone on duty next year, the meeting continued.
The next item on their agenda was the police report. Chief Knutson started by stating that they had ordered more durable locks for the park bathrooms as the current ones had been destroyed from people attempting to force the doors open while they were locked. After that Mr. Knutson presented concerns regarding setting a maximum population for the community hall. Board Clerk Tammy Bekkum told the other members how to determine the maximum stating, “You divide the square footage by 30 for the first floor… and by 60 for areas above the first floor and it also depends on how many exits are there. We worked through this one other time I believe; I don’t think anybody was happy with the number they came up with so no signs were posted.” The Saturday prior to the meeting, there was a quinceañera being held in the building with 456 people present which was incredibly dangerous. It was made clear that once a maximum population had been decided there would need to be signs put up. The police report ended with a question regarding equipment for the new squad car, Knutson stated they would have it by the end of the month.
The next person called before the board was Al Erickson, the Public Works Director, for his department report. This was the lengthiest segment of the meeting as there was an abundance of projects to discuss. This included street improvements one of which was made to Broadway Street. There was a section of the street that was recently resurfaced that will be receiving a second coat on July 24th. There were concerns about the road being damaged by Amish “buggies” and Semis driving on it too soon after it was resurfaced, but it was determined there wasn’t any significant damage done before it hardened. There was then a lengthy conversation about a Cashton resident looking to buy a plot of land. The issue was whether the village wanted to buy back the land, which they reserved the right to do for the same price that it was sold, and sell it to the new buyer themselves. This is what they ended up deciding to do if the current owner was willing to sell. After discussing a few smaller projects, the discussion returned to the topic of the community hall. It was decided that all the banners were going to be replaced rather than just doing the ones that needed to be, this was to keep the date they were replaced uniform and keep it aesthetically pleasing as the replacements were going to look slightly different from the current ones. Next was the topic of the billboards within the hall as the current boards are in incredibly rough condition. It was suggested they be replaced with whiteboards, but this was met with a shaky response in fear that they could be easily ruined if someone decides to take a permanent marker to them. In the end, it was decided that they would wait to replace them until the community hall is repainted so they could determine whether a whiteboard, billboard, or neither is the best option with the new color scheme. The Public Works department report ended with a discussion regarding hiring someone to clean the community hall and the park with no meaningful conclusion.
As the meeting began to wrap up, library director Jill Bjornstad reported that 105 children attended their Summer Kickoff event. Then the board looked toward the future, notably wondering where to go next with funding the Splash Pad. Board member Jeremy Kuderer revealed that his wife managed to get the Splash Pad set up as the charity for an upcoming “Burger Night” at the Daily Brew in Westby sometime in the near future. Finally, the board discussed a few more minor agenda items before approving a motion to adjourn.
