Phone system upgrades on the way for offices

Cadott Village Board

By Julia Wolf

The Cadott clerk’s office, police department and public works department, are set to see upgrades to their outdated phone system, after Cadott Village Board members voted to move forward with updates at a regular meeting Nov. 4.

“There’s circuitry that is old and outdated,” said board member Russ Falkenberg.

Falkenberg said the issue probably would not have been discovered, had the village not made other changes to the system.

“The next thing that would’ve happened, is the system would have crashed,” said Falkenberg, though he added calls could be forwarded to cell phones in the event of system failure.

Sandy Buetow, village clerk, requested estimates to replace the system from multiple companies.

Falkenberg says, after talking to the technician who normally services the phone system, there is no repair option for the current system, because replacement parts are unavailable, even for the next generation.

Another option Falkenberg says the board could consider, would be to put in some inexpensive, multi-line phones.

“You would lose your ability to intercom between offices, which I understand is used frequently,” said Falkenberg.

Anson Albarado, board president, asked how long the phone system would be down for the replacement. Falkenberg said, with some advance planning, the phones should only be down for a couple hours.

Buetow said the estimates are comparable with each other, in terms of the goods and services received as part of the cost.

Randy Kuehni, board member, asked if funding is available to do the updates. Buetow said they do have the money available.

Members voted to have Citizens Connect do upgrades to the phone system for $5,568.90.

In other business, members also decided against changes to the Code of Ordinances about horse feces. Village resident Alec Jensen had asked the board to consider changes to the ordinance at a previous meeting, after having issues with horse feces left on the road near his residence and shoveled into his yard.

The Ordinance Committee discussed potential changes at a meeting held before the regular board meeting.

“We’ve decided to stay with what we’ve got at this point,” said Les Liptak, board member.

Liptak says any complaints of the issue will be followed up on by law enforcement. No vote was taken by the board.

Nicole Ebert also spoke to the board on behalf of the Cadott Community Association (CCA). She asked board members if they, or a group from the board, would be willing to partner with the CCA to create a plan for park updates. She said the plan could stretch anywhere from two to 10 years.

“The CCA is raising funds like the Chamber did and we would like to put these funds back into the park,” said Ebert.

Ebert said the collaboration between groups, could prevent overlapping plans for the same area of the park.

“We don’t want the batting cages in the same place as the beer tent we’re envisioning,” said Ebert.

Members suggested the CCA work with the Park Committee.

Len Schreiber, Ceder Corp., also updated the board on the Chilson project.

“The boring individuals will not honor their price next spring, so we are probably going to have to re-bid that project,” said Schreiber.

Members also passed changes to the language found in District R-2 Single Family codes. The changes allows for the replacement of structures, like decks or steps, where the structure does not conform to setbacks, without a variance, as long as the replacement is not bigger than the original structure.

“If they do want to expand that, then they have to get a variance,” said Kuehni.

The building permit issuer determines if the project is considered a replacement.

Following the regular meeting, members met for a budget workshop. During the workshop, board members and village employees met to discuss their monetary needs for the coming year.

“I know I have a big ask,” said Samma Johnson, library director. “I’m asking for a $3,000 increase.”

Johnson said switching the location of a trust and needed updates to the online catalog system software, account for much of the change, adding the software is a one-time fee.

Members also went over equipment and project needs for public works and other departments.

Another budget workshop is scheduled for Nov. 11, at 6:30 p.m.