With Lublin Days planned and making their debut this weekend, the Village of Lublin Board met earlier this month to discuss otherwise regular business on the village agenda.

With the outside temperature approximating 80 degrees Thursday July 11 at meeting start and air running inside to keep attendees cool, the board and citizenry quickly tackled several issues, including roads, liquor licenses, and a local rundown property.

Starting with licenses, the village board approved intoxicating liquor licenses, one for Kolve’s Corner Bar and the other for Lublin American Legion Post 547.

The Legion being approved first without issue, questions arose from the board as to Jerry Kolve’s plans for a garage, it being clarified that the motion to approve was for the current bar only. Kolve hopes to open a garage area for drinking but cannot sell alcohol from it at present. The property contains four lots “on premise,” with section 5.05.040 on “Alcoholic Beverages” deemed relevant to the discussion. Code Section 5.05 cites State Code Chapter 125 with regard to alcohol license provisions.

As to the license, Trustee Hermann Klarr stated the village could not “unilaterally” amend the license premises description, citing section 5.05.010 of the state statutes.

With Village President Madlon and Klarr in favor but Compagnone against, the license for Kolve’s Corner Bar, was approved.

Also brought up at the July meeting was a purportedly blind intersection at the junction of County Highways A and F, with the stop sign on Railroad Street set back from the intersection while County A intersects F at an angle, also having a stop sign.

With Trustee Compagnone raising concerns on the need to pull out from the stop sign in order to see, no firm solution was reached at the meeting.

Contacting this paper after the meeting, Kolve said that he was working with the county and that it was a county road issue, being that it involved the intersection of County Highways A and F. Kolve said road signs had been placed on either side of his establishment, one stating “Hidden Intersection” and another to “Watch for Wide Turning Trucks,” and that a station wagon had been placed at the corner to prevent people from cutting across the shoulder gravel.

Returning to Thursday night’s meeting, another resident from the west side brought up the need for “Watch for Children” signs on Taylor Road, asking if this could be considered by the village. The LRIP paperwork has been turned in for Railroad Street but not reimbursed yet, while village employee Jack Leja had turned in his notice.

In addition, Madlon said a fire inspection had been done for the village by Thorp Area Fire, and that the county was out with the boom mower cutting roadside ditches. The siren cover had blown off the nearby tower, he said.

“The siren cover blew off again and we have to get it fixed. I have a guy out here that has a lift that goes up 60 feet. When we get the siren ready he’s going to lift it up there.”

Also for discussion, was the alleged hazardous nature of what was termed the sawmill property, lcoated at W13384 South Street.

“Is there any way we can get the health department to condemn that building and get it torn down?” A resident asked of the sawmill. “One of these days and with Lublin Days coming…”

“The county’s okay with it,” Madlon replied of the property, stating that one aspect of getting a property on Sheriff’s sale was that you were allowed “to have a fair amount of time to raze it, tear it down, or fix it up.”

As to the village’s grass ordinance, meanwhile, Madlon had good news: every one in town had been cut some slack.

“Every one has been cut slack because of the weather,” he said of how things stood for lawn upkeep.

Moving on to financial news, Village Treasurer Pat Siudak reported May and June in sequence, not having been present for the May meeting.

“We had an automatic withdrawal for purchase of checks for $199.68,” she said of May. “Then we had  an automatic withdrawal for deposit tickets for $102.50.” Deposits for May totaled $48,132.11, while expenses were $3,936.62. Doing the math, this meant $44,195.29 more in revenues than expenses for May.

Moving to June, Suidak reported that the beginning balance was $102,123.13. Deposits had totaled $784.97, while expenses were $56,983.96, leaving a current balance of $35,924.14.

As for sewer department, Suidak reported that the starting June balance was $2,121.92, with Deposits being $4,579. Expenses were $2,820.03, while interest was $0.73, resulting in a final sewer account balance for June of $3,881.62.

Hi-Fi beginning account balance was $24,801.60. To this was added a deposit of $500, with expenses at zero and total monthly interest accrued of $6.16, making for a current balance of $25,307.76.

Following the financial update it was into the sewer report, with Department Manager Steve Apfelbeck giving the facts on village wastewater.

“We had two days over,” he said of June 22 and 23. With 14,100 gallons the average daily influent total at Lublin, a rain storm June 22 had led to a two day, with 25,500 gallons the day of the rain storm rising to 56,700 gallons the day after, before falling to 19,800 gallons on June 24.

“I have no idea why that caused that much of a difference,” Apfelbeck said of the cloudburst being four times the average. “I have no explanation for that.”

The month as a whole, meanwhile, had seen 423,200 gallons flow through. Also reported by Apfelbeck was news that a breaker had kicked out on June 11, kicking out again on June 24 from low power surges, as designed. With no new business to discuss in July, Lublin Days is set to arrive this weekend, with fun, food, and fireworks to celebrate before the cold arrives.

Speaking after Apfelbeck, Village Clerk Rita Niznik said that all DNR reports were in and up to date.

Come the future, meanwhile, energy costs could get spendy. Slated for August discussion, the LP buy-in was predicted to be spendy.

“It’s going to get a little spendy,” Village President Madlon said of this year’s prices. Last summer saw LP at $1.14 to $1.16 per gallon for summer, rising to top at $1.40 to $1.80 per gallon in wintertime. The price for Wisconsin residential propane was listed at $1.69 per gallon as of July 8 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or two cents lower than last October, rising through March before starting to fall again as the spring arrived.

The next Lublin village board meeting is Thursday August 8 at 6:00 p.m., in the village hall.