Cadott Village Board; Team effort brings new flag pole to beach area
By Julia Wolf
A new flag pole is slated to go in West Riverview Park, thanks to a combined effort.
Village clerk Sandy Buetow explained that a citizen requested a flag pole get put up in the park, near the beach area, multiple times. Crystal Thom, Booya Days Committee member, happened to hear the request and agreed the committee would like to help with the project.
The flag pole needs to be lit, so Rolly Tichy, public works, said they would have to run power to the area, probably 5060 feet, since there is no power there currently.
“We’ll have to do some kind of landscaping, just around the bottom so they can put the light to shine on there, however that works,” said Thom, adding they are planning something that requires little or no maintenance.
Board member Russ Falkenberg says he has put the light on the flag pole before, so the light isn’t in the dirt and is harder to mess with.
Buetow says the only issue she thought of, is the village does not always hear when the flags are supposed to be halfstaff. Board members said they would find someone to take care of lowering the flag, when needed.
Board members agreed the village would pay the cost to run electric to the site and have the electric included on the village park’s bill. Booya Days will take care of the flag pole, flag and landscaping/concrete.
Katherine “Cookie” Kaste, library board president, was also present at the meeting, to discuss the proposed library budget.
Kaste explained they have worked on their budget and asked the village to increase their support by $3,000.
“The main reason that we are asking for this, is because we would like to try to make our wages more equitable,” said Kaste.
She says there was a study done of the wages in 53 libraries across 10 counties, with many of the communities roughly similar in size to Cadott, and Cadott was pretty low. Kaste says they would like to retain the people they have, especially with the job market the way it is.
Kaste says the library board has not approved the budget yet, so there may be some shuffling around there, to balance other areas of cost.
Kaste also pointed out that the amount the village paid toward the library, has remained the same since 2017.
Buetow says last year, the department heads provided their budgets to see where everyone is, before working to shave it wherever they could.
The village and library board will continue to work together, as budgets are set in the coming months.
Speaking of budgets, board president Anson Albarado said he would like to see the village representative at the Fire Committee meeting motion to reduce the department levy and the apparatus budget by $5,000 each, during the budget meeting.
Albarado says he realizes the department is trying to save for more equipment in the future, but knows the new fire truck is paid off, so it might be time to step back the apparatus budget some.
“I don’t know what is going to happen with the levy, but I’m sure the apparatus, I think, could go down a little bit, because we made extra payments there,” said Bart Chapek, board member.
Albarado says he would like it to be a point to make the motion and if it gets voted down, at least they said something.
“We need money for other things in the village, we really do,” said Chapek.
The board voted to have a village representative bring up the issue at a Fire Committee meeting.
Members also voted to pursue LRIP (Local Roads Improvement Program) and LRIP-S projects, to see if the village is able to get funds.
Len Schreiber, Cedar Corp., also reported three of the services were completed, as part of the Private Lead Water Service Line Replacement (LSL) project, and said it looked like Montana & Son did a nice job.
As a notice to the public, fall clean-up is Monday, Oct. 11. Cadott residents can put out one large item or six 30-gallon bags. Yard waste and construction materials are not accepted.
