Well 2 Cleaning Updates

Director of Public Works Nick Roskopf updated the Lomira Village Board on the cleaning of Well 2 during its meeting on Wednesday, December 10.

At the last village board meeting, the board made an emergency motion to approve cleaning the well for an amount that exceeded what was previously budgeted. Water Quality Investigations had discovered that the well was “extremely full of biofilm” and recommended extensive cleaning treatments due to a naturally occurring rise in radium levels within the well.

“Well 2 is still out of service. It’s been delayed and slow going with the weather. Today they were in, setting some piping to do some test pumping and getting ready to actually treat the well,” said Roskopf. “I got back testing for radium that was taken prior to the well being pulled. It came back high. It confirms that we’re doing this for a good reason . . . Hopefully, the cleaning will reduce the erosion and the release of that natural radium.”

“Do you know what the contaminant level was for the radium?” asked President Don Luedtke.

“I would say it’s probably double the recommended level,” responded Roskopf. “I also had the UW system in. They did some testing, some camera work, some investigating there. They’re looking at this. Radium as a whole for the state of Wisconsin is increasing, so they’re trying to trace it and track it.”

Roskopf finished his update, saying, “We’re doing everything we can without throwing millions at it, but it is extremely dirty.”

Board Matters:
• The board discussed granting an operator liquor license to Ann-Marie Scheerer. A motion to grant the license was made by Trustee Jennifer Priesgen and passed unanimously.
• The board also considered granting a tobacco license to 211 Lomira LLC dba (doing business as) Kountry Korners, Agent Akil Ajmerz. The motion to grant the license was made by Trustee Gary More and passed unanimously.

• Planning and Zoning Commission member and village trustee Joey Jewell informed the board of the commission’s recommendation to deny granting a conditional use permit to a resident to conduct an automotive mechanic business from their residential property. No motion was made to grant the permit.
• The board discussed passing Resolution #1064, exclusive parking rights for Haak Chiropractic on South Avenue. Dr. Joe Haak currently has an agreement to use 20 feet of the roadway for parking and contributed $12,000 toward roadway improvements. The resolution would grant Haak Chiropractic exclusive parking rights indefinitely. The parking rights would not be transferable if Haak’s property was sold. Trustee Jewell made the motion to approve Resolution #1064, which passed 6-1. Trustee Eric Kohlmann opposed due to the use of wheel tax funds to cover the remaining $5,925 of road improvements instead of abandoning the sparsely used portion of roadway.
• The board additionally considered passing Resolution #1068, community room fee for civic, non-profit organizations, and Village entities. The resolution requires these entities to submit a $100 deposit to use the community room. The deposit would be lost if the room is not properly cleaned or if the room is not used by the entity during the time it was reserved for, without canceling in advance. If the deposit is lost, the entities would be required to submit another deposit before using the room again. The resolution was created due to a repeated lack of cleaning and non-use during reserved times. A motion to approve Resolution #1068 was made by Trustee Priesgen and passed unanimously.
• The board discussed appointing Marsha Haasch, Mike Kietzer, Laurene Kietzer, Cheryl Schraufnagel, Maggi Vilski, Diane Wieneke, Doug Zimmerman, Kay Mayer, Gary More, Diane Kuehl, Bruce Sterr, Kathy Sterr, Christine Werner, Joan Wessing, and Sheryl Casper as election inspectors. The motion to appoint the election inspectors was made by Trustee Becky Alf and passed 6-0. Trustee More abstained.