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Weekly Meeting Recap

By Press Times Staff


De Pere School Board 

Masking policy

Due to the increased COVID-19 positive cases within the district, the School Board voted Monday, Jan. 17, to continue its mandatory masking requirement for its youngest students. 

After a lengthy, and sometimes tense debate, the board agreed to reduce the quarantine and isolation period to five days, per recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, but maintain the mask mandate for grades 4K-6.

According to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard, as of Wednesday, Jan. 19, of the 159 positive cases, nearly 100 of them are in the lower grades. 

Howard Village Board

Rezoning backed for apartment project

A planned development district (PDD) to construct five 14-unit apartment buildings near the intersection of Sherwood Street (County FF) and Shawano Avenue (County C) is moving forward.

At its Jan. 10 meeting, the Village Board supported a Plan Commission recommendation to rezone the 13.33-acre site at 3802 Shawano Avenue from R-5 Rural Estate Residential to a preliminary PDD.

Lexington Homes requested the PDD to construct what it calls townhouse/coach house-style residential dwellings with individual private entries and attached garages.

Community Development Director Dave Wiese said possible final approval could come Jan. 24.

Permit activity

Wiese reported the village issued 1,239 permits, with 616 projects, for a total cost worth more than $82.3 million in 2021.

His report included 94 new single-family dwellings and 33 new multi-family dwellings, with the value exceeding $29 million for single-family dwellings and $35.4 million for multi-family dwellings.

“You can kind of see with that trend of development, not only do you have a high number of units going in, but the costs have gone up, and it really raises those numbers up high,” he said, “$82 million, as reported, (Village Administrator) Paul (Evert) and I both worked on the report, and it has to be one of the highest numbers in the area, if not the highest.”

Howard-Suamico School Board

Open enrollment seats

The School Board voted Jan. 10 to stay consistent with a district plan to cap open enrollment seats.

For the 2022-23 school year, the district will have 20 open spaces in 4K and 40 open spaces in the high school.

As far as special education, open enrollment seats are limited to two seats in community-based early childhood, one seat in self-contained early childhood and 12 cross-categorical seats in grades K-4.

Jennie Garceau, executive director of student services, said special education open enrollment is dependent on regular education enrollment spaces available.

Bellevue Village Board

Dog Park to receive funds

At its Jan. 12 meeting, the Village Board voted unanimously to allocate up to $20,000 in park impact fees toward  improvements at the Laura and Peter Mossakowski Family Dog Park.

Planned park improvements include additional parking, a kayak launch connecting the park to the East River, boardwalk trails and a kids play area. 

“We need to finish the shade structure in the small dog area,” Jenny Wertel, with the dog park committee, said. “We had wanted to put this in just prior to COVID-19 and then, unfortunately, the cost of materials went up. If we have a shade structure completed by May 1, it will allow the dog park to be eligible for up to $7,000 of a grant from the Packers Foundation. We’ve been awarded that grant before, and having that shade structure completed, which was part of that initial grant, we have to have that done (to be eligible for another).”

If the deadline is missed, Wertel said the park would be ineligible for Packers Foundation grants for the next three years, noting the importance of board support.

“I absolutely applaud your effort and your interest in continually wanting to improve this park,” trustee Tom Katers said. “So I have zero concern with giving this additional amount. 

Suamico Village Board

Wetland mitigation bank backed

A resolution in support of a conservation easement for a wetland mitigation bank in the village was approved Monday, Jan. 17, by the Village Board.

Since 2014, the village has been working on setting up a wetland mitigation bank as a way to generate revenue by selling credits to third-party developers who disturb wetlands elsewhere.

The resolution states the village owns four parcels to establish what’s known as the Oussamigong Wetland Mitigation Bank, which has been approved for implementation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Chad Fradette, a wetland specialist from Evergreen Consultants who has worked with the village in getting the wetland mitigation bank established, said $120,000 would be set aside to manage the mitigation bank over 40 years.

The board also passed a motion to authorize staff to execute a commitment letter from Fortifi Bank for two letters of credit to finance the wetland mitigation bank project.

The two letters of credit – one not to exceed $1.4 million and another not to exceed $237,000 – include fees totaling $8,187.

West De Pere School Board

Recording meetings

The board briefly discussed its policy on meeting records in connection with a conversation about recording meetings as a secondary form of board record.

Board President Jenni Fuss said the item was added to the agenda “really just to communicate out what communication practices are as a board.”

“We will continue to have one record of our meetings – that will be the meeting minutes, versus a recording or any other way to keep record of the meetings,” Fuss said. “We have, as a best practice, always kept notes, and that will be what we continue to use as our way to document what happened at our board meetings.”

She said meeting minutes are available to the public as soon as they are approved by the full board, which usually happens at the next scheduled meeting.

Fuss said there will continue to be a virtual attendance option.

Open enrollment seats

The board approved a recommendation by district staff to not allow open enrollment students for the 2022-23 school year in both general education and special education.

The decision was based on class size limits, student-teacher ratios and enrollment projections.

“I want to remind people that it is not just based on classrooms,” Superintendent Dennis Krueger said. “Yes, we could build a bunch of classrooms, but it is also based on staffing.”

Village of Allouez

Board commemorates Lauder

The Village Board took pause Tuesday, Jan. 18 to recognize the passing of former code enforcement officer and longtime crossing guard Mike Lauder, who died earlier this month at the age of 68.

“We feel terrible for his family,” Board President Jim Rafter said. “We’re going to keep them in our prayers, and we ask you to do the same.” 

Ordinance adjustment denial

Board members denied a request to amend the village’s sex offender policies to allow appeals.

The request came from an offender who said he purchased property in the village without realizing that the property’s proximity to a school would make him ineligible to live there. 

The petitioner asked the board to consider making provisions to the existing ordinance to allow for an appeal process.

After listening to the petitioner’s points, the board unanimously voted against making any changes.

“The Department of Corrections has professionals qualified to (monitor sex offenders),” Trustee Chris Sampson said. “So, as much as in principle I like the idea of a local appeals process, I don’t see that as being effective.”

Ashwaubenon School District

Temporary masking mandate

Four district schools are under a temporary masking requirement following an increase in the percentage of students testing positive for COVID-19.

The district announced Cormier, Valley View, Pioneer and Parkview’s 10-day average of the percentage of students testing positive surpassed the 2.5% threshold set by the School Board earlier this school year.

As a result, masks will be required for students at Pioneer and Parkview until Jan. 28, and until Feb. 1 for Cormier and Valley View.

The board reaffirmed the policy at its Jan. 12 meeting.

Superintendent Kurt Weyers said the district wants to do whatever it has to for in-person instruction to continue.

“If wearing a mask helps us get through this surge… and we finish out the school year (in-person) fabulous, right?” he said.

Open enrollment seats

About a third of the more than 3,000 4K-12 students who attend school in Ashwaubenon do so under open enrollment, which in turn provides the district additional state revenue.

At its Jan. 12 meeting, the School Board set the number of new open enrollment seats at 571 for the 2022-23 school year.

Current open enrollment students are not required to reapply each school year.

Business Manager Keith Lucius presented the board with a recommendation for new open enrollment seats by grade and school building.

“(For 2022-23), we have increased the size (of available open enrollment seats) for each grade-level class, because what we’re seeing is a lower percentage of the students who actually accept the seats, or we give the seats to, actually showing up,” he said.

The board also approved new open enrollment seats for special education, which include one seat at Pioneer Elementary School in either the second or third grade and two seats at the high school for speech and language only.

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