The Owen Common Council held their regular meeting on Tuesday, July 23. Under Public Comment, Karen Hurd said that Owen will be part of the 69th Assembly District. She said all of the representatives for this area were drawn out of their districts. She said she has moved to the town of Withee. She also spoke about Milwaukee asking to be bailed out by the legislature. They had borrowed from their pension fund. The legislature gave them permission to raise a city sales tax. New employees in the city will be required to be part of the Wisconsin Retirement System and can no longer be part of the private pension that Milwaukee had. Hurd also said that fire, police and EMS need to be kept at current levels or 15% of shared revenue will be lost.

Eric Davidson appeared by video to discuss the city’s 2022 audit. It was the first time for his company to do the audit. He said they will issue a clean opinion for the financials as adjusted. The city is on a full accrual basis and capital assets needed to be added in. He said no adjustments were made in water and sewer. The city acted as a pass through agency for the funding for the storm shelter. The reconciliation dropped the city to a negative fund balance. Water has a positive balance, sewer does not. Davidson said that the notes are pretty standard. He spoke about the budget versus actual expenditures, saying the expenses were overbudget by about $175,000. One of the issues was that health insurance was allocated as a lump sum rather than by department. Alderperson Bob Wilczek asked how many corrections were made from the previous auditors. Davidson said previous audits were not in error, they just had to make adjustments to get things in the right spot. Wilczek asked if the 2023 audit would cost less. Davidson said they have begun looking at 2023 and noticed improvements in how things are being done. The school district should also be paying for the single audit for the storm shelter. When asked about when the 2023 audit would be done, he said they have scheduled dedicated audit dates and expect to have the audit completed by September. Mayor Scott Jalling asked how Owen compared with others. Davidson said Workhorse is a good software. He said Owen is subject to the same limitations as everyone else. There was more shared revenue for 2024. It is a tight budget as it is hard to raise revenues. He said others also have fund balances going down. He felt the utilities are in pretty good shape as the city has large cash reserves in the utilities. Jalling asked if there was anything out of the ordinary and Davidson said no. He had good conversation with both Clerk Tracy Rau and DPW Chad Smith. He said it is just a matter of training and adding some accounts. The health insurance will be put in separate accounts. They just need to make sure everything is allocated against different funds properly. The 2022 audit was approved.

Abatement of nuisance dogs on 4th Street owned by Laura Harmon was discussed. Chief of Police Patrick Fehlman said he has had numerous reports of these dogs being at large. They also bit a juvenile in 2021. Most recently a neighbor’s cat was found dead. Other cats have been cornered by these dogs. He was asking that the dogs be deemed dangerous because of their “propensity for aggression.” Dogs that are deemed dangerous need to be securely confined and if on a leash, they need to be muzzled. If there is another incident, the police can then impound the dogs, the owners can find other housing for them, or they can be euthanized. Harmon claimed the dogs did not bite anyone, that it was just a scratch. She said she does try to confine the doges. She has someone coming to put up a fence. Alderperson John Mauel said this has been brought up before the council three times. Harmon said that her four year old grandson lets the dogs out. She agreed that she should be more responsible. Wilczek said he saw the juvenile that was bit. He said these dogs have come after his dogs and his wife. He has had complaints from Harmon’s neighbors for at least six years. It has been addressed by three police chiefs and nothing has changed. Alderperson Pam Jaffke asked how long would Harmon be given to put up a fence. Wilczek suggested seven days. Fehlman said seven to 30 days, it was up to the council. The dogs also need to be registered with a potentially dangerous license. They also need their rabies vaccinations. Harmon said that Hene’s said they could do the fence in two weeks. Mauel suggested an August 1 deadline. Wilczek asked if the fence needs to have secured sides and a top. Fehlman said it needs to be completely enclosed. Jaffke said it was not acceptable for these dogs to be living in a city and asked how they would be kept from getting out. The person whose son had been bit said they couldn’t get proof of the dogs being vaccinated so her son almost had to get rabies shots. She said they didn’t go after Harmon’s for the emergency room bill. She said it isn’t the dog’s fault, it’s the owners fault. The dog was on their property the day before Terri Ernst’s cat was killed. She doesn’t want to have to worry about her dog defending her grandson. Wilczek said the dogs are also close to a park, apartment building, and trailer court with lots of kids. It has been a consistent problem for the past decade. Another resident said this has been an ongoing issue. They did not want it to get to this point, but her cat has been cornered and her dog has been bitten by them. These dogs were in her yard again in June. She can’t trust that her pets are safe. The council approved deeming the dogs vicious and potentially dangerous, set a deadline of August 6 for an enclosed fence to be put up and the dogs to be vaccinated and licensed.

Abatement of the nuisance property at 613 E. 2nd Street was also discussed. Wilczek said that several people in his ward have contacted him. They are concerned about their safety and the safety of their families. There are signs posted on the property saying they will shoot you. Someone’s dog has been poisoned. There was a juvenile spotted walking around the property with a gun. Neighbors are also concerned about rats. In addition, concern was expressed for any public works and police department staff that might have to go on the property. Chief Fehlman said he is asking the council to seek a court order for abatement. He has been dealing with this for two years, has sent letters, taken photographs, and issued citations. The judge gave her until May 1 to show improvement. He will continue to write a citation per week. There is a fence there made from pallets which is not allowed. The property owner claims the police are harassing her. Fehlman said he can try to find her help to clean up the property if she wants but she hasn’t reached out for that. He has issued six citations so far. The next step is to meet with the city attorney. The council approved moving forward to deem it a nuisance and work with the city attorney for abatement.

The August meeting will be moved to the Owen Senior Center due to the primary election being at city hall that day. The TAP grant was postponed as DPW Smith is still working on the numbers with Cedar Corporation and the DOT.

The city voted not to proceed with the PFOS litigation as they were requiring the city to do more testing than the DNR had required and each test costs $450. There is no guarantee that the city would have ever seen any money from the litigation due to their low PFOS numbers.

Alderperson Ray Kilty said they need to make some changes to the building permit process. He looked at Thorp’s permit and also spoke with building inspector Bob Christensen. He said the city needs to update both their procedures and the permit and quit letting things slide by. He is going to schedule a planning meeting to get it done. He would also like to make changes to the zoning map. Wilczek asked that the meeting be posted as a possible quorum of the council as he would like to attend.

Under the Fire Chief Report, Travis Serocki agreed with what Kilty had said. He said that occupancy types change faster than they do fire inspections. They are supposed to look for obvious defects. He said commercial properties need state approved plans unless they are exempt. Different plans are required for different occupancies. If the state approves the plan and local ordinances are met, then they can get a permit. Kilty said planning should review all permits. Wilczek added that different occupancy has different fire hazards. Serocki said he can shut a business down but he almost has to prove that something is going to happen. The local municipality can issue fines for violations. Mayor Jalling asked if the city is liable if something happens. Serocki said they could be if they issued a permit with no state approved plans.

The Gary Petersen Scholarship Temporary License was removed from the agenda. It has been too wet to do anything with the ballfield and the corn is not growing. They will try again next year.

After being delayed a couple of times, the council took up approval of a Class B combo liquor license. Both L.A.S.T. Ace Again and Red Daisy Girl were seeking the license. Tony Wallace from L.A.S.T. Ace Again said his plans were submitted to the state for review. Carey Hargot from Red Daisy Girl said she doesn’t need a state permit at this time. The building is less than 25,000 square feet making it exempt. The upholstery business in the back of her building does need to move, per city ordinance. She is already zoned in a business district. Wilczek said if doing a beer garden on the patio that would need to be fenced in. Hargot said that outdoor can be included, and Chief Fehlman agreed that liquor sold inside could be consumed on the patio with no fencing required. Jaffke asked Wallace when his business would be ready, assuming the state approved his plans. He said two to three weeks after approval, he could start. Hargot said she is ready now and is first in line for a license. Wallace changed his business name and sellers permit number, making that a new application also. The public was given the opportunity comment. Rick Nelson reminded the council that the license is an asset to the business and that the city has allowed a license to lapse. (Editor’s note: The license did not lapse. In 1997 when the law changed, the city issued a license it should not have to a business that didn’t get its paperwork in on time. When that got caught, the state took the license.) It will cost $10,000 to get it back and a bank is not going to do a mortgage without the license. Laken Potocnik said they had a meeting a while ago with the council and the license holders to discuss how things were going to be decided going forward. New businesses were to get licenses in the order they applied. She said a business is ready and asked why they were discussing this again. They agreed it would be first come, first serve. Stacy Wallace said they also agreed that the new owners of a business would get the license as long as it didn’t lapse. Potocnik said licenses don’t go with the building, at least that’s what she was told. Clerk Rau said that Kellie Hanson had to surrender her license before One Shot could get one. Mark Hanson also claimed that licenses stay with the business. Tim Swiggum said this started with Michelle Kind when she was clerk. Connie Pippin didn’t sell her business. He suggested getting an opinion from the tavern league. Wilczek said a license can be purchased from a surrounding township for $10,000 if one is available. Mayor Jalling said there are two businesses, one ready, one not, He said it will kill the livelihood of the business not ready. A motion to give the license to Red Daisy Girl, with Jason Thornton abstaining, was approved.

At the end of the meeting, Laken Potocnik asked why her issue hadn’t been put on the agenda. Mayor Jalling said it had to go through a council member to go on the agenda. She wishes to file a complaint against the chief of police and said she has already talked to an attorney. She again requested to put on the agenda.