TOWN OF BELL

ANNUAL TOWN MEETING

7:00 PM Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Community Center

 

 

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.  Officers present were R. Lindgren,

1. Kaseno, Allen Hahn, Jackie Eid, Andrew Sauter Sargent, MaryBeth Tillmans and Janice Olson. The Pledge of Allegiance was said.

 

 

ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES

 

1. Approval of Minutes of Last Meeting – J. Eid made a motion to approve

the minutes and Pauline Colamatteo 2^nd the motion. Unanimous decision.

Approved.

2. Annual Treasurers Report – M. Tillmans made a motion to approve the report and
3. Kaseno 2^nd the motion. Unanimous decision. Approved.
4. Selection of Town Attorney – J. Kaseno made a motion to continue using

Spears, Carlson Coleman. J. Eid 2^nd the motion. Unanimous decision.

Approved.

4. Selection of Town Assessor – M. Tillmans made a motion to have Greg Gardiner-

Gardiner Appraisal Service as the assessor and Y. Fleming 2^nd the motion.

Unanimous decision. Approved.

5. Selection of Bank – J. Olson made a motion to have Chippewa Valley Bank as the

town bank and A. Hahn 2^nd the motion.  Unanimous decision.  Approved.

6. Selection of Official Newspaper – J. Kaseno made a motion to have Ashland Daily

Press as the official newspaper and J. Eid 2^nd the motion.

Unanimous decision. Approved.

7. Review of 2021 – R. Lindgren gave a report.
8. Swearing in of Town Officers

The following officers were sworn in:

Jesse Kaseno – Supervisor

Gordon Anderson – Supervisor

9. Set Date for 2022 Annual Town Meeting – April 18, 2023
10. Status of Planning for Scenic Byway Visitor Center Grant – A presentation was

given by R. Lindgren. The Scenic Byway overall vision is to create a distinctive

collection of American roads and share their stories of their treasured places.

The Byway is a seventy mile stretch that starts just before the Brule River

and ends by the Ashland round about. The Fish and Wildlife and the US Forestry

are also submitting projects along the Byway. The Town of Bell is forming

jointly with them for the same grant. The Town of Bell has submitted the LOI to

meet the initial April 19, 2022 deadline. The deadline to submit the grant is June

20^th.  The joint name of the grant is the Wisconsin Lake Superior Byway Visitor

Amenities.  The Town of Bell of proposes to build a visitor center, which will

serve as a rest area, museum and an interpretive facility. It will provide information

about the byway south shore communities, including an exhibit featuring the

Red Cliff Band of Superior Chippewa and the abundant natural amenities along

the shores of Lake Superior.  For the Town of Bell byway portion, a group began

meeting March 22^nd and hashed out features of a potential floor plan and selected

an engineer(C&S). To aid in preparing an application and funding, ownership and

ongoing maintenance need to be considered.  The preliminary plan is for a 3000

1. ft building located by the toilets. It will include scenic byway information,

interpretive displays, a presentation performance area, 1200 sq foot space for

the museum, space for regional artifacts and exhibits. The additional features will

be four unisex toilets (two inside & two outside), two coin or card operated

showers and free foot showers outside, electric field charging stations, kitchen and

food serving area, improve waking trail along the beach to flowing well and

historical site and other things to be defined.  The town is preparing for state

funding with the DNR Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund for the town’s local

match. The town will be seeking private donations too. There will need to be

contracts for ongoing maintenance.

Mary Motiff, Chair of the Scenic Byway counsel spoke about the project.

11. Town Road Presentation – The presentation was given by M. Hipsher

 

New Business

1. Open Period for Questions/Comments

-Open House for Celebration of Life for Janette Fanta at the Fanta House 2-4pm

on May 28^th

-Questions about the Visitor Center

-Catherine Tietze made a motion that the Town of Bell establish a 6 month

moratorium on Class A Special Use Short Term Rental permit, to allow

the Town of Bell and Planning Commission additional time to make a more

informed and objective decision regarding the rapidly increasing number of

Class A Special Use short-term Rental permit applications within our small

community.  Y. Fleming 2^nd the motion.  Discussion was held.  C. Tietze

withdrew her motion and Y. Fleming withdrew her 2^nd.  Short term rental

is on the Town Board meeting following the Annual meeting.  This concern

will be addressed there.

2. Person of the Year/Good Citizen Award

The award was given to Mark Ehlers and Pauline Colamatteo.  They are always

there to greet new people.  They are very supportive of so many things that

have happened in this town for years.

 

At 8:46, Phil Moye made a motion to adjourn the meeting and A. Hahn 2^nd the

motion.  Unanimous decision.  Approved.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

MaryBeth Tillmans – Clerk