At the August 17 Rushford Village Council meeting, it was unanimously decided that the Village Hall be the place of all special elections to be held by Rushford-Peterson School District. The district will be holding a special election this November to fill the seat of former School Board Director Kathy Wade, who resigned her seat in February after moving out of the district. A request from the district sought to hold the election at the hall and included a request for all future special elections as well.
“The Village has to send a resolution to Fillmore County to designate the hall as our polling place. With the special election this year, they thought they’d have to have it at every precinct,” explained City Clerk Mary Miner. “We can allow it here if all precincts are allowed to come here.”
According to Miner, the district also contacted Rushford City Hall, but there wasn’t enough room. The district will cover the cost of the elections, but at this time is unsure of how many election judges will be needed. This time, Village judges will be utilized as they’re all trained. However, it was noted that it’s likely the district will use their judges in the future.
Hosting the election at the hall will also require the Rushford Village Council to either cancel its first meeting in November or hold it after the polling closes. Special election polling is expected to run from 5-8 p.m., Tuesday, November 2.
Councilor Bob Hart asked whether or not the Village would be responsible for enforcing mask-wearing if mask mandates are reinitiated. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with COVID,” he added. “Would it be their responsibility?”
“It would be whoever is here running it as an election judge,” noted Miner.
The council also unanimously approved an increase to be paid to contracted Animal Control officer Robert Brand. The increase will see his base rate increase to $50 a month. Brand is paid by the Village quarterly. No one in attendance could recall the when the last increase was approved. “It’s been a long time,” said Mayor Dennis Overland. The per animal fees will remain the same.
Councilor Rick Ruberg questioned Brand’s responsibilities. Brand’s job includes picking up stray animals, dealing with animal noise complaints, wild animal complaints, and serving as a city liaison when animal owners don’t respond to communication from the Village. No record for instances per year was readily available.
The Village does require Brand to provide proof of insurance with his contract and rising insurance costs were noted as one reason for the increased monthly rate.
Community and Economic Development Associates (CEDA) representative Rebecca Charles was in attendance to discuss a change in the planned trail study. While the city is planning to partner with the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse to conduct the study, the study has now been bumped from the fall to spring semester.
CEDA will know by next week if a grant application to fund the study has been approved. The agreement has already been written up and will be signed only after results of the grant process.
Charles is also working on compiling information for the Village’s Comprehensive Plan, an ever-evolving list of community goals and parameters. A community survey will be going out in October. Once the responses are returned and added to the current information, Charles will present the details to the council. “We need to wait for the survey. It’s coming along. Slowly, but surely it’s coming,” she stated. The current Comprehensive Plan is available on the Village website.
During an update from Public Works Supervisor Trenten Chiglo, the council was informed that more road rock is coming and that the shed is ready for winter rock. Plans for road maintenance include work on Deep River Road and De Soto Road’s hill. “That’s going to be all the rock we budgeted for this year,” said Chiglo. “I didn’t want to rock the rest of Deep River Road now.” He expressed concerns about rocking the road with the current amount of traffic and compaction of the road, which would likely add excessive dust and loss of rock off the roadway.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting is Tuesday, September 7, at 7 p.m., at the Village Hall. The meeting is open to the public.
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