As is often the case, the public input portion of the agenda at the June 10 meeting of the Soldiers Grove Village Board was lively. Village resident Phil Carey once again appeared to bring up issues he is experiencing with flooding on Baker Creek, and ponding of water in his backyard.

“This is the fourth time I've appeared before this board, and unfortunately, it’s always in public input,” Carey said. “The very first time this came up in discussion was in July of 2024. The meeting minutes reflected it was tabled at that time for more information from the village attorney. My first question is, did you receive the e-mail I sent to all of you on the 24th of April? I thought that might have prompted this to get on the agenda for the May meeting. It didn't. I hoped that it would be on tonight's agenda. I didn't see the agenda until I got here - it wasn't on your website. It's not on the agenda again.”

Carey recounted that the village had told him that the topic of Baker Creek flooding, and what could be done to alleviate the problems on his property would be on the  board’s February agenda. He said that he’d been told the village was waiting on information from Delta-3 Engineers, and from the village’s attorney. Then, he was told it would be moved to the board’s March agenda.

“I was told tonight by Kaitlynn (the village clerk-Kaitlyn Ott) that Delta-3 hasn't created a plan, and now in June, a year after this flood, we still don't have anything from Delta-3, and we don't have a plan,” Carey pointed out. “Further, I was told that the dead fall would be removed from the creek and the willow thicket would be cut. There was an attempt to cut the willow thicket in September of last year, an eight-foot strip this way, an eight-foot strip that way. And he drove away. I came to you in October before I went back to North Carolina for the winter, and you assured me the deadfall would be removed, and the willow thicket would be cut.”

Carey said he’d provided board members with pictures from last year, and from this year, showing that the deadfall and willow thicket remain. He said he’d spent $1,200 this spring renting the equipment to remove the willow thicket himself, and experienced significant difficulty with willows wrapping around the blades on the machine.

“To my surprise, neither Jim Thoftne or Jerry Moran said they gave permission to the village for anything to be done on their properties,” Carey said. “They were shocked that I was taking the willow thicket out, and I was told by the village that permission had been given. Jerry thought Jim asked for it to be mowed, and Jim thought Jerry asked for it to be mowed.”

Carey also addressed the issue of who is responsible for maintenance of the flood control dike in the village. Carey had shared correspondence from Congressman Derrick Van Orden’s office indicating that the Corps of Engineers has no legal authority to advance any repairs, and that the State of Wisconsin passed legislation in the early 1990s that created a local management board to oversee the levee property. According to the e-mail from the Congressman’s office, the federal government then passed the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 which transferred the property rights to local/state authorities.

“The other thing I found out from Jerry Moran, who tells me he was your public works director for 23 years, is that there is indeed right of way for that entire levee, and that that the levee was modified, while he worked for the village. The village’s attorney said that it's the responsibility of the landowners, unless the village had previously done work on it. That's an ‘if.’ Now, Jerry has assured me work was done on that levee, so there's a lot going on here.”

At this point, there was some back-and-forth between various board members, the village clerk, and Phil Carey about whether the village attorney had written a letter as Carey had been told she would. The village’s attorney, Nikki Swayne, was present at the meeting and intervened to encourage the board to properly observe open meetings law.

“I'm uncomfortable with the discussion back-and-forth, and the reason for that is that it is arguably in violation of open meetings law,” Swayne said. “If we engage in a public audience session, in any conversation, it's a time to be heard. But the reason why it's important to not engage in discussion is that any members of the public who may find interest in the topic, aren't notified that that discussion may transpire.”

Swayne recommended that the board hear Carey out for his full, allotted three minutes, and then if any issues had arisen that the board would like to address in open session, to put the issue on the agenda of a future meeting.

Supervisor Vicki Campbell asked Swayne if the board could schedule a special meeting to address the issue prior to the next regular board meeting?

“If the board is inclined to hold a special meeting, you can do so with proper notice,” Swayne said.

Carey continued with his allotted three minutes of public input.

“The right of way on Third Street concerns me, because I'd like to go ahead with building a garage. When I applied for my building permit a year ago, I was told that the village would have to take care of the drainage issue. Yes, you have to take care of that drainage, but nothing's happening and nothing's changing. I don't have to take all that drainage water because you have no easement across my property.”

Village president Shayne Chapman said that the village intends to fix the culvert, which is not functioning properly.

Carey said he’d talked to Cole Fortney the prior night about the village abandoning Third Street, and was told that he is opposed to abandoning the right of way because he has gotten information that the village would like to maintain the roadway, and not only maintain it, but improve it.

“I was also told that if he doesn't want it, it can't be done,” Carey said. “That's not true - just last month you abandoned the roadway in the Kidd’s Addition by public hearing and majority vote. So if you can tell me that it's in the public's best interest to leave that roadway there the way it is, I challenge you that it's not, and I welcome this being on a board agenda for discussion.”

Myrtle Lake

Randy Swiggum appeared at the village board meeting to ask if the Swamp Project People could be allowed to continue their clean up efforts on Myrtle Lake.

“We're just here to see if you're gonna allow us to continue our work to clean up Myrtle Lake,” Swiggum told the board. “We've submitted a packet of information for your review. Continuing our  work would also include our fundraising efforts.”

Trustee Vicki Campbell questioned the financial information provided by the group, saying their numbers “don’t add up.”

“If you look in the package, you'll also find the investments that we've made in assets,  like our Neptune rake that we purchased to progress with the project,” Swiggum responded.

Campbell then asked who has control of the group’s money, and who does the bookkeeping and accounting?

“Justice Benson is our president, and he oversees pretty much any kind of spending that we would do, which has been nothing since you guys kind of put a halt to us,” Swiggum responded. “So, we're just trying to be transparent as per your request. If you want to see our bank statements, we can do that too.”

Swiggum said the group’s bank account is sitting there with the balance that the board was shown in the packet of information they received.

“I don't know what else that you need to understand. You know that this project is all about helping our village and economic growth and making a great place for families and events that could help our economy going forward, right?” Swiggum said.

“But, if I can interrupt, Randy, you guys have been doing this since 2020, and you said it's going to take another 10 years to get this project done,” Campbell said. “What about the next three or four floods that come through, and you're back to the same spot we’re in now.”

“What if I could tell you more in depth about the scope of the project? First of all, we want to get some aeration going in there to get the oxygen level up where it's supposed to be, and try and get some of the weed growth down,” Swiggum explained. “The project finish is out there a ways because this is something that costs a lot of money to do, and without fundraising and without permission from the village, obviously we can't continue.”

“And I guess that's my point. You've been working since 2020. This is 2025. What have you done in the last two years?” Campbell asked.

“Well, the last year, you haven't let us do anything, Swiggum said. “Before that, we bought a Neptune rake, which allows us to remove the invasive weeds out of the pond itself. And we did have a permit last year from the DNR to be able to do so, but as per your instructions, we were not allowed.”

Campbell asked if the group has a DNR permit to remove the weeds for 2025?

“The permit we had for last year when we got shut down has expired. I've been in communication with a representative of the DNR with lakes and rivers and streams, and I basically just need to go in and renew that permit to be able to again remove weeds,” Swiggum explained. “After that, we’ll pursue diffusion and aeration to bring up the oxygen level, which will take the level of weed growth way down.”

“I guess my concern Randy, is that they've been trying to do this since I was 20. And you know, it was thousands and thousands of dollars, and nothing came of it,” Campbell expressed. “That was because of the floods. Because every time it floods, you're gonna have bikes and lumber in there, and I think you're just wasting money.”

“I disagree,” Swiggum responded. “There's been a lot of advances in what we can do and how we can do it. A lot of the big problem before was taking the material that would be dredged off site somewhere. We would contain that stuff, and not remove it from the site. It will be used as for landscaping and mitigation for floods.”

 Swiggum explained that with the dewatering bags, all of the sediment dredged from the lake is contained. And, after it's all drained out, there's new landscape materials that will come in, black dirt, and so forth.

“Where are the dewatering bags going to go,” village president Shayne Chapman asked. “I don’t think I want to see those in our park.”

“I’m shocked, I'm shocked. Also, I think everybody watching right now is going to be shocked as well,” Phil Carey commented. “These people have passion and commitment and drive to do something better than what has previously been done and failed, and you don't support them.”

“Is there a DNR permit that we can get to just drain it and fill it in?” Chapman asked.

“You're not telling me anything that I haven't thought about many times,” Swiggum said. “The research on this has been extensive. I can’t tell you how many hours I and others have put in to making this feasible. And if you are not willing to look at it, and try to understand and say, yes, okay, that might work or no, there's no way how that may work. But if you're just going to shut us down before even understanding how this possibility can go forward, it just seems a little ludicrous.”

“Can I add something?” Arleena Peralta-Roe asked. “Just a thought and suggestion. I suggest that you guys preview the plan we’ve presented, come up with your questions, and then sit down with the group. We can figure out what your concerns are, and what your expectations would be. We could come in once a month or once a quarter to let you know where we are on this plan, if things have changed, what we’ve learned… if you hold the group accountable, I think that's a good relationship.”

Peralta-Roe said that the group’s fundraisers were about more than raising money, but also about raising awareness.

Campbell moved that the board sit down with the Swamp People Project, and they can take the board through the whole project, the science part of it and the money, part of it.

“And then we can sit down as a group, your group, the board, and go through everything and then make a decision if we still feel that it's something okay to do,” Campbell proposed.

The motion passed unanimously.

In other business

In other business, the board:

• discussed whether the fire department should put up perimeter fencing for the Driftless Area Art Festival

• heard that over the last three weeks, the fire department had rebuilt the crows nest at the horse arena

• learned that the village would have to move fire hydrants, and 10-15 curb boxes on Church Street as part of the Highway 131 project in the next two weeks, and that communication around the project had been challenging

• agreed to acquire meters, and to begin to charge to use the showers in the park

• agreed to donate $400 to the Gays Mills Fire Department for the Fourth of July fireworks.