Post Messenger Recorder -

The New Glarus Village Board met on September 4, 2018, in the Community Room of New Glarus Village Hall. Before the meeting began a Public Hearing was held on the Street Abandonment adjacent to 319 and 410 4th Avenue. Justin Andreas told the board that he was the owner of 401 4th Avenue, and had no issues with the abandonment of the street. With no other comments, the Public Hearing was closed. Later in the meeting the board approved the abandonment.

During the Public Comment section of the meeting, Mark Hawley told the board that he felt Glarner Park was not the right place to build a new library. He added that he believes flooding issues have worsened over the years and that he believes that the west side location was a much better location.

Jeff Babler also spoke and also said he did not think that Glarner Park was a good site. Babler offered his services as a real estate agent to assist in finding other locations.

Following the approval of the Consent Agenda, the board took up the discussion of alternate sites for the library. Village President Roger Truttmann reminded visitors that the discussion was for the board only.

Trustee Shaun Dow told the board that he wanted the board to discuss the alternate locations after hearing the concerns regarding the Glarner Park site. He noted that the recommendation of Village Engineer, Pat Rank of Strand Associates, was to not use Glarner Park as the building site. He requested that the board look at commercial properties.

Trustee Peg Kruse reported on a conversation that she had with Pat Rank regarding the flooding issues on 3rd Avenue. She said Rank had told her that fixing the issue would require a retention pond to be built at the edge of the Village on Durst Road, a project that could cost millions to complete.

Kruse noted several options she would like considered, including abandoning Glarner Park as the site for a new library, returning 50% of the site preparation cost to the Library. She added that she felt the village should look into relocating administrative offices or consider demolishing the current Village Hall and rebuilding a two-story building utilizing an additional 40 feet toward the fire department to house both the library and village administrative offices, or use that building for the library with village administrative offices going elsewhere. She said there would be a cost savings to the Village by keeping the departments housed in the same building.

Both Anderson and Trustee Petra Streiff spoke about the importance of including the Library Board in discussions. Anderson noted that she had been told that the Village Board wasn’t interested in commercial properties, as that would remove them from the tax roll. She also asked about the need for upgrades for Glarner Park. Anderson added that the New Glarus Youth Baseball Association had estimated the cost at around $300,000, not including rest rooms or a concession stand.

Trustee Anthony Edge pointed out the number of projects facing the village besides the library and the park. He noted the $1.2 million estimate for a portion of 3rd Avenue reconstruction, and potentially millions for retention areas to correct flooding. He added that he believed that Glarner Park is not a good place for a new library.

Streiff told the board that in order for the library to adhere to the timeline that was approved by the Village Board in December of 2017, they would need to know very soon if the board was going to change their minds about Glarner Park.

There was a discussion about the library’s fund raising and whether they would be able to meet the goal set forth in the timeline. Streiff noted that the library believes they have met the goal and are working to prepare an agreement with the Village of New Glarus and the Town of New Glarus over the matching funds that the Town offered.

After further discussion, it was decided that an action item would be placed on the agenda for the next Village Board meeting to consider rescinding the project timeline.

Before adjourning, Village Administrator Bryan Gadow announced that Joe Cockroft had accepted the Public Works Director position and plans to start on September 24, 2018.