The Gays Mills Village Board moved forward on borrowing the money to fund curb and gutter work, but delayed opening the sole bid received at the Monday, June 1 meeting.

The board unanimously approved a loan of up to $120,000 at 2.75-percent interest to cover the cost work on West Point Road, the north end of Rebecca Street and an area of Grove Street, as well as the curb work 200 and 300 blocks of Main Street.

The loan amounts will only be drawn upon as needed, noted village president Harry Heisz in response to questioning from trustee John Johnson. Johnson expressed concern at the possibility of paying interest on loan funds for work that the village had yet to accept a bid upon. Heisz clarified how the loan worked, noting it operated as a line of credit drawn up as needed.

Johnson also questioned how the decisions for work had been made, noting that as a member of the roads and streets committee, he had not been called upon to discuss the issues outside of the monthly board meeting. Further, Johnson noted that few, if any, of the village committees appeared to meet anymore.

While the board committees had met monthly in the past, trustee Al Zegiel noted that the board had decided a year or two previous to end the practice and only have committees meet as needed.

“The entire board took something like three meetings to go over the maps and decide which repair work to do first,” said Zegiel. “That was when Geraldine (Smith) and Ed Block were still on the board.”

Heisz requested the board decide if they should open the sole bid received for the curb work or seek additional bids, noting that once the bid or bids were opened the board would then need to decide what portion of the curb work was done. The $20,000 the board had determined to spend on curb work at the May meeting was only likely to cover about half of what was needed.

Given the available time, trustee Steven Welter told the Heisz he thought seeking more bids was the correct action to take.

The board voted unanimously to have Public Works Director Jim Chellevold seek additional bids before the project progressed.

In other business, the Gays Mills Village Board:

• heard a report from Sharon Murphy on the formation of five subcommittees on the Stump Dodger Trail committee

• heard a written report on activity in the Kickapoo Culinary Center

• approved two additional hires of a life guard and a pool attendant at the Gays Mills Swimming Pool

• approved Welter as a representative of the board to work with pool manager Miriam Simons

• approved all annual cigarette, machine, alcohol, and operator license renewals in one motion

• set the next meeting for Monday, July 6 at 6 p.m.