Town of Bayview

July 8, 2025

Meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chair Don Jenicek.

Roll Call:  Chair Don Jenicek, present; Supervisor Mike Garnich, present; Clerk Kim Suske, present; Treasurer Kelly Warren, present; Supervisor Bill Bodin, present.

Others in attendance:  Lisa Alm, Lance Alm, Dana Noteboom, Kathy Noteboom, Mike Yonan.

Approval of Town Board Meeting Minutes from 06/10/2025:  Motion made by Bill Bodin to approve as written; seconded by Mike Garnich.  Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report by Kelly Warren:  Checking $56,480.02; Equipment $6,402.65; Room Tax $9,543.27; Contingency Fund $ 24,566.69; and Tax Levy Savings $64,922.54.

Citizen’s Concerns and Comments:  None.

Nina Albanese-Kotar memorial bench placement in Houghton Falls Nature Preserve (HFNP)—Discussion and possible action:  A bench is allowable under the terms of the easement with Landmark Conservancy.  HFNP is not and does not have to be handicap accessible.  We don’t want to overbuild it but it would be nice to have a place for people to rest.  There is a bench at the end of the trail but nothing along it.  Town needs to establish parameters for where benches are needed and to agree on design specifications for benches.  Town will not pay for memorial benches or their installation. Bill Bodin made a motion to approve Nina’s request for placement of a bench in memory of Craig Locey in HFNP with the location to be determined by the Board based on approval of the bench and placement according to the Town’s priorities; seconded by Mike Garnich.  Motion carried. 

Petition to Bayfield County from Lance and Lisa Alm to rezone property (Tax ID #6681) from Forestry-1 (F-1) to Residential-3 (R-3)—Discussion and possible action on Town Board recommendation:  Board reviewed written materials provided by Bayfield County Zoning Administrator Ruth Hulstrom, and  discussed zoning code, set backs, preferences of neighbors to the Alms, the Town of Bayview Land Use Plan, issues with “spot zoning,” and alternatives to rezoning such as the landowners obtaining a variance.  Motion made by Don Jenicek to disapprove the Alm’s request to rezone their property from F-1 to R-3 with the notation that the Town does not agree with the density of R-3 and instead recommends that the request be changed to a variance with the full approval of the Town Board and the neighboring property owners; seconded by Bill Bodin.  All in favor; motion carried.  The Town Board Recommendation Form was completed and signed and the clerk will drop it off tomorrow with Bayfield County Planning and Zoning Department.

Switch phone provider from Brightspeed to Norvado—Discussion and possible action:  Reviewed most recent bill from Brightspeed and proposal from Norvado for local and long-distance phone service.  Brightspeed costs us over $100 per month; Norvado would cost approximately $52 per month with connection charges waived.  Town will need to bury a line from the garage to the hall.  Motion made by Bill Bodin to accept Norvado’s proposal as our new phone provider; seconded by Mike Garnich.  Motion carried.

Proposal to redesignate Apostle Islands National Lakeshore as Apostle Islands National Park—Discussion and possible action:  Bill Bodin made a motion to adopt Town of Bayview Resolution 25-01 In Opposition to the Redesignation of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore to a National Park; seconded by Mike Garnich.   All in favor, motion carried.  Board signed the resolution and copies will be sent to all of Wisconsin’s elected Federal Representatives and elected local State Officials.

Future landfill work—Discussion:  Don Jenicek met with City of Washburn and Town of Washburn at landfill.  There is still work that needs to be done out there—need more fill, which will be taken from the City of Washburn during the 2027 road construction project, although we may need to get some out there sooner.  Need to keep this in mind for next year’s budget as there will be a cost to Town of Bayview.

Houghton Falls Nature Preserve:  No updates from the courts.  Still need to reinstall the donation container.

Business of the Quarter—Discussion and possible action:  Table until next quarter.

Road crew mid-year pay review:   Clerk shared pay information that she had requested from Towns of Washburn, Barksdale, and Bayfield.  Our pay is similar to the other Towns.

Roads Report:  Cutting grass; Potter Rd is all done; pumped pit toilets at Bayview Beach and there was a lot of garbage in there.  Fixed two blowouts on Kjarvick Rd and one on Friendly Valley Road (FVR).  Loggers are using Smith’s Fire Lane and FVR.  Trout unlimited has funding to get the beaver dam out of the culvert on the Little Sioux and can install an arch culvert there that leaves the stream bed open and will deter future beavers, all at no cost to the Town.

Board Comments:  Treasurer Kelly Warren shared info about how our Room Tax permitting is different from the County in that one person with two short-term rentals wrote to her and pointed out that he only needs one short-term rental permit from the County as his property, while it has two fire numbers, is on one tax bill;  in Town of Bayview, this same property needs two short-term rental permits due to the two fire numbers.  He would like us to consider aligning our permitting structure with the County’s however we are going to keep ours as is.

Correspondence:  Clerk shared communication from Bayfield County Planning and Zoning Dept. on two topics:

The Planning and Zoning Committee recommended approval of the Kevin and Amanda Roy rezone request from A-1 to R-3 for Tax ID 7046, and

The Bayfield County Board of Supervisors approved the creation of Section 12-1-108 Electrical Wiring Installation Regulations to the Code of Ordinances of Bayfield County.

Payment of Bills:  Motion made by Bill Bodin to approve payment of Town bills from June 10, 2025 to July 8, 2025 in the amount of $29,666.56; seconded by Mike Garnich.  Motion carried.

 

Next Town of Bayview Regular Board meeting is set for August 12, 2025, at 6 p.m. 

Moton to adjourn was made by Don Jenicek; seconded by Bill Bodin.  Meeting adjourned at 7:32 p.m.

 

 

Submitted by                                                                                                     Approved 08/12/2025

Kim Suske, Clerk

Vol. 17 page 9