The Withee Village Board held their regular meeting on Monday, July 14. Financial statements were approved and bills paid. During the payroll report, Trustee Nancy Amacher asked about carryover for vacation and sick pay. Clerk Ellen Niemi said that sick pay is carried over, vacation pay is supposed to be used, but occasionally a couple of days might be carried into the next year.
Under Committee Reports, Trustee Bill Kroeplin said the Withee Library had good results at Withee Days, but not as good as they had hoped. The Library Board will not meet next month. Amacher gave the board three handouts from Clark County Economic Development. They included a report on Clark County Unemployment Trends since 2012, when the annual average was 7.1 percent. The current average through May is 3.5 percent. There was also a report on Clark County Sales Tax Trends since 2017. In that year the total was $1,947,412.26. The total for 2024 was $3,087,235.75 and through June of 2025, the total so far is $1,459,180.69. The third report was a list of places to eat in Clark County.
Under the Police Report, Officer Jake Haugstad was asked a few questions by Amacher and Kroeplin about the reports. Amacher wondered how the information is generated. Haugstad said he can put in two dates and get a report for all the calls between them. Kroeplin asked if a call to Curtiss was mutual aid and if they only go if asked by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Haugstad said that was correct. Kroeplin also asked if it were possible to get a report on K-9 Jimi’s deployments. Haugstad said he hasn’t ever printed that report, but it could be generated. Amacher also wanted to know who initiates a welfare check. Haugstad said it can be initiated by anyone and that normally when someone is worried, it is because of unusual activity or being unable to contact the person. Kroeplin said the fire department sometimes gets the calls and refers them to the police.
Under the Public Works Report, DPW Derek Schad said that mowing lawns, particularly ditches has been a struggle due to the rain. He has been trying to give people time to get them done rather than citing them for violating the ordinance. He got the last caustic pump installed for the chemical room at the Water Plant. A bid for $2,460 from Petersen Seal Coat to do the Village Hall parking lot was approved.
The Property, Crime & Liability Insurance renewal was approved. The quote was down $1,675 from last year, primarily because of the removal of a truck. The total cost for 2025-2026 is $21,300.
The year-to-date budget was reviewed with Clerk Niemi noting some revenue items where all the money hasn’t come in this year. The second half of taxes hasn’t been received, nor has the rest of their state shared revenue. She also said they had to put the unbudgeted survey done by Denzine somewhere so it is currently in a miscellaneous account and will be moved at year end. They are looking into changing their phone service. It was also noted that a part was not included with the endloader that was purchased, so that line item is over budget. Crack sealing is also over budget and the overage will be covered by street repairs. They also haven’t expended any funds to the town of Hixon yet for road repairs.
Operator licenses were approved for Christian Klarr and Samuel Knorr. They will be working at Refuel Pantry.
Clerk Niemi got a quote on changing to Workhorse Software for the village’s water billing. The program will cost $5,100, the data conversion $700, and there will be an annual fee of $1,450. The company she currently uses has been sold and the new company can provide the billing software, but not generate the reports that she needs. She said most municipalities are using Workhorse. It will cost more but they can pay for the initial cost over two years. The program will be paid for by the Water Utility. They also offer other software programs for accounting, etc., but Niemi said she is not looking for those at this time. The board voted to make the change to Workhorse Utility software.