Chairman Darrel Fehr called the meeting to order on April 13, 2015 at 8:00 pm. The supervisor present was David Clements. Other officers present were: Victoria Trinko-Clerk and Judith A. Prince-treasurer. See attached attendance sheet.
Certification of proper posting for the scheduled town board meeting: The notice for the April town board meeting was duly posted on April 8, 2015 in the 3 designated places within the Town of Cooks Valley.
Public Comment: Gary Yakesh displayed his water heater filter. He commented that two years ago he was changing his water filter monthly, but in the last month he began changing the filter weekly and that was not often enough to prevent his hot water heater from getting clogged. Victoria Trinko commented she had called the DNR [Chris Wilger] on April 2nd and April 12th 2015 to report sand blowing off the sand piles at the Chippewa Sands mine site.
Discussion and possible approval of the bids for the 60th Street road project:
Company cost per ton Total
Antczak $9.79 base coarse $27,093.83
Michels $10.41 for shouldering $4996.80
Michels $$7.51 for base coarse $19,087.96
Chippewa County 12.69 for shouldering $8883.00
Chippewa County $8.93 for base coarse $26,790.00
David Clements made a motion to award the bid for shouldering to Dave Michels Grading and Trucking at $10.41 per ton for a total of $4996.80. Darrel Fehr seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
David Clements made a motion award the bid on 60th Street road project for base coarse to Dave Michels Grading and Trucking for $7.51 per ton for a total of $19087.96. Darrel Fehr seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
Bids for 60th Street road project Asphalt
Company 58-28 oil 58-34 oil
Senn $53.84 $60.50
Monarch $49.46 $52.29
Chippewa County $48.34 $51.25
David Clements made a motion to award the contract for asphalt on the 60th Street Road Project to Monarch Paving for 58-28 oil @ $49.46 per ton. Darrel Fehr seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0. The reasoning for choosing Monarch Paving was to employ the same company using the same equipment with usage of a different grade of oil for comparison of the 50th Street road project with the 60th Street road project in respect to the durability of the roads with two different grades of oil.
County presentation of mine information by Seth Ebel: Seth Ebel and Dan Masterpole of the Land Conservation Dept. of Chippewa County gave a presentation of the operating sand mines in the Town of Cooks Valley. There are 10 permitted silica sand mines in Chippewa County with an additional three mines to be permitted. A poster was displayed depicting the streams and trout streams in the Town of Cooks Valley. Last year there was a dirty water discharge from the DS mine. Efforts have been made by EOG and the land conservation office to prevent this event from occurring again. Two of the three water gauges placed on creeks in the Town of Cooks Valley have been pulled due to lack of funding and sufficient data was gathered in the three years of the gauge placement by the water study group. Funding was found to continue with the water gauge situated on 10th Street monitoring Trout Creek, which measures the depth of the creek and the amount of water flow. The permitted Rogge mine has not come before the Town of Cooks Valley board but has a Chippewa County reclamation permit. This mine site is presumably undisturbed. Chippewa Sands ground water tends to flow southwest while Preferred Sands ground water flows primarily north towards tributaries and finally in Como Creek. The DS mine gradient has a southeast ground water flow. Preferred Sands and Chippewa Sands have held their storm water on site. The DS mine had difficultly containing the storm water as they don’t use rain water in the processing of sand. Their sand processing is done in Chippewa Falls. EOG purchased 40 acres [the Johnson property] to construct two storm water storage ponds while using flocculent to settle out sediment and installing control valves to regulate the discharge of storm water. This water will not be crystal clear and will contain residual flocculants but will be clearer than last summer. The discharge point will be the culvert on 135th Avenue. Other water storage ponds have been enlarged and some ponds may discharge the water on the Zwiefelhofer property. A higher grade of flocculent is used in sewage plants for potable water. There was expressed concern with the cumulative acrylimide in the waste sand used in reclamation plus the flocculent from the settling of sediment in the storm water ponds affecting streams and ground water. There is yearly monitoring of the waste sand. They are testing materials, ground water and surface water. Graphs of the amount of rainfall and ground water were displayed. In any given month, 12-14 million gallons of water is used in combination with the sand mines and agricultural use. Chippewa Sands and Preferred Sands have wet plants. The ground water fluctuation has been due to the amount of rainfall rather than the well usage on the mine sites. Typically, mine wells have lower usage of ground water than irrigation wells. Preferred Sands used 4-6 million gallons of water per month with no reduction in ground water. A graph was displayed showing all water usage. 2014 was a wet year so due to rainfall water usage was lower as less water was needed for irrigation and watering of the sand piles. Mines and irrigation are about equal in the amount of impact on ground water. Superior Silica in the town of New Auburn has done some seeding. Seth Ebel has been talking with Chippewa Sands and Preferred Sands about reclamation. Chippewa Sands is considering reclamation. There is a chance this may be started in the fall, but not likely. Reclamation is starting on the Superior Silica Mine located on County Highway DD. There was concern on how much land will be open before reclamation has taken place. Seth Ebel stated it is not economically advantageous to open more land than is needed as more money will be needed for bonding and more money involved in opening more land. Bonds are reviewed annually to determine the amount of money needed to reclaim the land. Darrel Fehr, “Why is Chippewa Sands allowed to leave their overburden so rough and not seeded as compared with EOG and Preferred Sands?” Seth Ebel: Chippewa Sands has subsoil that is clay and difficult to plant. Seeding has failed in the last couple of years. Free market is determining the development of sand mining and as the Town of Cooks Valley is zoned, people can lease their property for sand mining.
Discussion and possible action on budget categories: David Clements made a motion to move $500.00 from non-allocated funds to T-092 Treasurer office supplies leaving a balance of $8250.00 in non-allocated funds. Darrel Fehr seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
Approval of the March 9, 2015 regular monthly town board meeting minutes: David Clements made a motion to approve and place on file the March 9, 2015 regular monthly town board meeting minutes. Darrel Fehr seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
Reading by the Treasurer of the March financial report: The ending check book balance was $155,796.58 as of March 31, 2015. The total cash assets for the Town of Cooks Valley were $338,648.32. On April 27, 2015 , the town will receive a lottery credit of $27,304.67 and county settlement of $3217.68, transportation aid of $19,911.58 and EOG paid the $200.00 annual permit fee.
Reading and approval of the March bills: David Clements made a motion to approve payment of the March bills. Darrel Fehr seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
Building permits: Mark Clements-free stall barn, Ryan LaGesse-pole shed
Discussion and possible action of concerns pertaining to the plan commission: material arriving from the Learning Store.
Discussion and possible approval of appointee to plan commission: Darrel Fehr made a motion to retain Calvin Swartz
as a member of the plan commission. David Clements seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
Discussion and possible action on road ditch cleanup pilot project: David Clements made a motion to designate Darrel Fehr as a liaison to coordinate a possible group interested in a project of road ditch cleanup. Darrel Fehr seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
Discussion on draft of citation ordinance: A draft was constructed and will be posted in the three designated areas in the Town of Cooks Valley.
Chairman’s report – Fire Dept. –one ambulance call. An ambulance is proposed to be purchased in 2017. At the semi-annual Fire/Ambulance meeting, it was decided to split the office heads of the ambulance and 1st Responders. - Mine roads- Kevin [Curly] Zwiefelhofer requested a water well testing and structural damage assessment.
Dissemination of Information-Clerk’s report:
Future agenda items and business:
Discussion and possible action on budget categories
Building permits
Discussion and possible action on concerns pertaining to the Plan commission
Discussion and possible action on designation of snowplowing fund to County
Discussion and possible action on citation authority ordinance stat. 66.0113
Chairman’ report
Dissemination of information
Next regular board meeting will be May 11, 2015 at 8:00 p.m.
The annual meeting will be on April 21, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Adjourn: Darrel Fehr made a motion to adjourn at 10:06 pm. David Clements seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
Typed: April 15, 2015 Respectfully Submitted,
Approved: May 11, 2015 Victoria Trinko-town clerk