Village of Mazomanie names new trustee, continues with plan to combine Police Department with Black Earth

Village President Gary Harrop and the Mazomanie Trustees discussed the village’s potential new Class B Liquor License, in a wide-ranging and at times necessarily speculative conversation at their May 28th meeting. Harrop told the story of the new occupants of the former Mazo Liquor building on Highway 14, who would like to open a “bar there with food service, sandwiches, this type of thing.”  “I think it’s one of those things where the cart got ahead of the horse,” said Harrop, explaining that the new potential business owners had failed to obtain a liquor license first. The building, according to Harrop, “is in the process of being remodeled and spruced up.”  “And wouldn’t you go and get a liquor license in the first place before you decide to do that, but that’s the issue,” said Harrop. Class B Liquor Licenses are given out by the state at a rate—according to the State—of one per 500 residents. The Village of Mazomanie has six licenses, and a 2024 population of 1,716.  “Don’t try to do the math” said Harrop repeatedly to the board. All six licenses have been assigned, so the village has no more Class B licenses to give out. State Statute dictates that a community may permanently sell one of their Class B Licenses for no less than $10,000. The Village of Mazomanie would buy that extra license and in turn charge the new license holder the same amount. Upon selling that license, the next owner must also pay that cost. “We don’t try and make money off of our commercial businesses or residents. We charge our costs,” explained Harrop. Clerk Angie Volkman has to do a lot of work just to get to the point where a license can be offered. Trustee Natalie Beil wanted to make sure Volkman’s time was being included in the costs charged for obtaining a new license. Beil was also concerned about the fact that the new potential owner did not come to the meeting. In her motion to table the item, she requested that the owner come to the net meeting. Ultimately Harrop restated the board’s sentiments with: “We need a commitment and an understanding from him that this could run $100,000.” The village selling the license can name their price. Mazomanie wants to ensure the new owner is committed. Harrop, at the April 23rd meeting, updated the board on the police department developments. He confirmed with the board that the topic should remain in open session as long as they are not discussing personnel matters or specific contracts. On Wednesday, both police committees from the villages met together for further discussion. Harrop said both boards tentatively agreed on the three deputies for the combined department: Officers Nate Teuscher, Alex Gonzales, and James Kartman. The committees will has out details like scheduling and costs will be split between the two villages.  With former trustee Latrisha Eilers departing, Dawn Forseth was appointed by the board to completed the term at the May 14th meeting. When the board opened bids for a $350,000 line of credit at their May 14 meeting, Harrop excused himself from the meeting. He no longer works for Peoples Community Bank and is no longer on the board but recuses himself out of an abundance of caution. The board ended up selecting the bid by The Peoples Community Bank, at a fixed rate of 5.79 percent. Lake Ridge Bank was the other bid with a 6.56% fixed rate and a $1000 loan fee. Marcia Miquelon, of Wild Rumps Circus fame, among other things, took a job nine months ago with UW-Madison Division of the Arts. There she met and began working with filmmaker Litza Bixler. The UW-Madison Division of the Arts brough in Bixler as the fall 2021 Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence. According to the University, Bixler is a choreographer, filmmaker, movement director, visual artist, and writer. She has produced work on stage, screen, galleries, and mountains. Bixler works across the spheres of art, performance, and film, and has been a working artist and educator since 1995. As part of a series being pitched to Wisconsin Public Television, Bixler is filming a fiction script set in a small town. Specifically, she is focusing on small town municipal government. Over the next few weeks she will filming interviews in the area.  The script used a method called “Verbatim Theatre,” which uses real life people’s expressions and ways of moving and ways of talking to create these characters. The village continues to explore having a Facebook page. There are specific First Amendment rights issues when it comes to allowing people to comment, as well as concerns over what to archive as a matter of public record. They will hold a teleconference with the village attorney to discuss those topics.  The board gave the formal go-ahead to the construction of a Fire Department Training Park in the village. Composed of three steel shipping containers, stacked two high, it will be located on Walter Road on the south Side of Highway 14, also connecting to Emily Road. The previous public works director allowed utilities to be built diagonally across the lot. Harrop said utility relocation was cost prohibitive, so the lot is considered unbuildable and is owned by the village.  Its proposed location is the entrance to a residential area, an area that Trustee Natalie Beil noted contained some of the higher land values in the village.  Initial plans included bleachers for the public to attend the expected once a month training activities, which will include (artificial) smoke, but no fire. The board seemed to cool on the idea of the Training Park like a public park, and multiple board members shared concerns about aesthetics and coloration of shipping container, going as far as to mention trees for screening and shrubs. Plans with more specific will be brought before the board at a later date. The park will be funded entirely from a private donation.