The Curtiss Village Board approved ….

The Curtiss Village Board approved a sewer agreement during a regular meeting April 7, as part of welcoming Wisconsin’s Drink LLC to the village. The business is planning to purchase Erdman’s Garage (1029 Meridian Street) and may occupy the building simultaneously for a while.

“We don’t have lots of wastewater,” said Scott Rogers, Wisconsin’s Drink, adding it might be one gallon for 300 gallons of product.

He says they provided one test sample so far. Larry Swarr, Department of Public Works, says they will need a few more samples before they can do equitable billing.

Swarr says the drain in the building, where production of the canned carbonated old fashioned mixes will take place, has a settlement tank around it, which can maybe serve as the equalization tank. He says they will need an agreement for the discharge because the sugar content will be over 250 milligrams per liter of BOD.

“As long as, with the agreement, that all looks good in terms of the limits and getting the PH to where it should be, and the BOD and everything,” said Jonathan Unruh, board trustee.

With that, the board approved the sewer agreement as written.

“Well, welcome to the Village of Curtiss,” said Betty Rettig, board president.

Alley usage, from Front Street to behind Erdman’s Garage, was also discussed. After some discussion, a surveyor already coming to the property will mark the alley, to give the village a starting point.

Swarr says stump grinding has been on his list for a while, but he just hasn’t gotten around to it. Todd Neuenfeldt, T& B Services, says the quote for $563 includes the stump on the village hall lot, as well as the stumps in the park.

Swarr said he had been planning on renting machines to grind the stumps themselves.

“We need to get it done and Larry is very busy,” said Rettig.

Neuenfeldt says he thinks the job will take a couple hours to complete and says he will start as soon as the ground is fit.

The board also considered going with the same vendor for branch chipping, at a rate of $50 per hour.

“The only reason I’ve been looking at doing something like this is obviously, trying to make our branch handling operation compliant with the DNR,” said Swarr.

The branch chipping will be on the agenda for further discussion next month, to give the village time to form a plan.

The village was awarded Local Roads Improvement Program (LRIP) funding, in the amount of $400,000 or 50 percent, whichever is less, for the Plaza/Matthias project, and is expecting to find out in April or May if they were awarded Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds, which would be a 20 percent village match, but has more red tape. “I was wondering if the project would still be cheaper to the village, if you went with the LRIP funding,” said Swarr.

The board voted to have Davy Engineering review and see which funding source is the better option for the village.

Board members also voted to increase the security deposit for the Community Center room rentals to $200. The rates were previously a $50 security deposit, per room, and a $50 rental.

“There has been more damage being done and the $50 is not covering what’s been damaged,” said Jane Stoiber, treasurer.

Stoiber says she hopes a higher deposit would be a better incentive not to damage anything.

Swarr asked if increasing the deposit would be financially prohibitive for some people to rent the rooms, but Stoiber and clerk Carol Devine said it shouldn’t be, because people get the money back if nothing is damaged.

The $200 deposit fee for the Community Center will take effect for all rentals beginning May 1.

The board also approved raising the credit card limit to $1,500, to give a little more breathing room. Members will also talk about potentially setting up a municipality charge account at Menards, during a future meeting.

Board members also approved participating in a one-month Water Warriors pilot program for phosphorus removal from the wastewater. Unruh thought it was a good way to gather information, in case the village ever wants to go that route in the future.

In the DPW report, Swarr says he is looking into what an alarm system would cost and entail, after a sewer backup into two basements March 24.

“I’m trying to take steps to make sure it never happens again,” said Swarr.

As a notice to the public, Open Book is scheduled for Thursday, April 21, from 1-3 p.m., and Board of Review is set for Thursday, April 28, from 4-6 p.m.