Neillsville City Council Discusses Recodification Process

Friday, May 17th, 2024 -- 3:00 PM

The Neillsville City Council discussed the recodification process at their meeting on Tuesday.

According to the unofficial minutes from the meeting, Mayor Dewey Poeschel reported that General Code has completed the editorial and legal analysis of the recodification process and provided a digital manuscript for the City’s review.

General Code has provided a list of 258 questions for the City’s review and response. Director of Public Works Luke Friemoth stated that he and City Clerk Rex Roehl have reviewed the list of questions narrowing it down to 44 questions to be addressed by the Chief of Police, Fire Chief, Health Officer and City Attorney.

The majority of the questions involved moving the fees out of the ordinances to a fee schedule, acknowledging statutory updates. General Code is not changing any of the City’s ordinances, they are just updating them. Extra user accounts can be set up for any Council Member who wants to review the digital manuscript and questions.

Neillsville Police Patrol Investigator Hunter Imm reported on:

• Trainings;
• Looking for one or two additional part-time police officers;
• The final cost for outfitting the 2020 Ford Explorer is higher than quoted;
• April parking enforcements, citations, warnings, incidents, office activity, officer activity, business patrol, citizen interactions;
• And Town of Mentor contract policing.

City Clerk Roehl reported on filing the Wisconsin Department of Revenue’s new Maintenance of Effort report for 2024. The City is required to certify that they have maintained the equivalent level of service in 2024 as they provided in 2023 for the first part of the year for law enforcement, fire and EMS services.

The City is not required to certify law enforcement, but both the fire and EMS had to certify response times, training levels, full-time equivalent personnel and operating expenditures.

City Clerk Roehl reported on the Tax Incremental District (TID) #4 Base Value Correction for Personal Property Removal as approved by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue Office of Technical and Assessment Service.

The TID #4 Base Value has been reduced by $98,800. TID’s #2 and #3 do not have Base Value adjustments because when they were originally created, they were vacant land with no personal property values. This is the result of the 2023 WI ACT 12 exempting personal property from taxation.

City Clerk Roehl stated that the Board of Review will be Monday, May 20, 2024 from 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. and City Hall will be closed Monday, May 27, 2024 for Memorial Day.

The Council also heard the various Committee Reports from the past couple weeks. Mayor Poeschel presented the April 22nd meeting of the Beautification Committee regarding:

• The Parks and Recreation Board action moving the park benches and picnic tables to the Beautification Committee;
• Discussion on murals;
• Discussion on Prock Park bridge and landscaping;
• Discussion on repairs and updating the Town Square Park gazebo;
• Update on additional military banners;
• Discussion on and approval to accept a monetary donation from the family of Fran Barlow;
• And discussion on and approval to place an order for Spring/Summer decorations.

Mayor Poeschel presented the April 23rd meeting of the Grants Committee regarding:

• Reviewed and updating the list of grants in progress;
• And discussion on opportunities available with Clark County being a part of the Rural Partners Network through USDA.

Council Member Clarissa Rochester reported on the May 2nd meeting of the Heritage Days Committee regarding:

• A discussion on security for the event with Chief of Police Mankowski.

Council Member Dan Clough reported on the May 14th meeting of the Commission on Public Works/Utilities regarding:

• Current activities.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.