Spring Green, Wisconsin
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020 Vol. 1, No. 6 Free, Single-Copy
School Board decides virtual, in-person instruction dates
First round of winter weather hits the Valley
Emilie Conlon, Editor-in-Chief The River Valley School Board met late last week to discuss instruction for students between Thanksgiving and the New Year, voting on a plan to continue with a hybrid model of instruction through the end of 2020. Following going towards all virtual instruction earlier this month, through Nov. 30, the board decided that students will remain in virtual instruction until Dec. 4, and will return for in-person learning Dec. 7-23. Wednesday’s, Dec. 9, 16 and 23, will remain virtual learning days, as all Wednesdays have been since the start of the school year. Dec. 23 through Jan. 3 is the district’s scheduled winter break, and students will not attend school in-person or virtually. Following winter break, from Jan. 4-8, students will return to school virtually. Jan. 11, students will return to school in-person, with Wednesday remaining as virtual instruction days. The Sauk County Public Health Department recommended to schools to plan to have students attend school virtually from Nov. 30 to Jan. 8, while continuing with scheduled holiday breaks. “This time apart from congregating in the school buildings will work as a natural quarantine period to slow the spread of COVID-19 and allow students
Photos by Adeline Holte, Intern
Light snow and freezing rain blanket the Spring Green Municipal Golf Course thorughout the morning and afternoon on Nov. 24. According to the National Weather Service, over one inch of snow fell Tuesday.
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Township, village of Arena continue EMS discussion Emilie Conlon, Editor-in-Chief Following the failure of a referendum to provide funding for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) shared by the town and village of Arena, both municipalities are working to find ways to fully fund the services through 2021. Because the village’s referendum failed in the November election, it has re-budgeted for 2021, and can only cover 27% of the 48% of the EMS budget it is responsible for, said Village Clerk DaNean Naeger. The town is typically responsible for 52% of the funding. Town board President David Lucey said at a Nov. 10 village meeting that the town is pursuing avenues to exceed its levy limit to cover its costs. Lucey said the town board is expecting to exceed the limit by $75,000. At the fire board meeting on Nov. 19, the members of the fire board from the village and town met to discuss potential options for covering the remaining funding and keeping EMS services full time throughout next year. One option would include using the
fire board’s saving funds to fund the services through 2021, however using this option would drain the fund and offset scheduled 2022 purchasing of a new fire truck. This option would require both the village and township to uphold their required funding percentages for 2022. The board also discussed the village pursuing a secondary referendum in the spring to attempt to receive tax levy funding for the services, and explored using police officers as EMTs, which the board determined would cause too large of an overlap in services. The board discussed dissolving the volunteer EMS, but determined the option would be too expensive. The board also discussed the option of having the township present a written offer to the village to buyout its share of the services. The village would likely not receive any money from the buyout and would continue using the services, until an agreed up cost of services had been reached, in which case the township would bill the village for further
services. There was no action taken on this discussion at the meeting, and both municipalities are expected to revisit the topic Dec. 1, at the village board meeting. Other action and discussion taken at the meeting include: —Accepting the resignation of one full time EMT, who’s last day was on Nov. 21. The board discussed hiring a replacement from either a pervious or new applicant pool. The hiring discussion was tabled due to a lack of current funding from the village. —Discussion of one fire fighter testing positive for COVID-19 after attending a fire board meeting. It was reported that the individuals sitting directly on either side of the sick individual quarantined and have tested negative. —Two new members of the fire department will begin entry level training in January. —David Mueudt will retire from the fire department at the end of 2020. Shortly after the three Village of Arena referendums failed at the ballot box
on Nov. 3, Valley Sentinel sent a series of questions to Kate Reimann, current village president, and Paul Pustina, former village president and current village trustee. Reimann has not responded to requests, we will update the story if we receive a response. Below are Pustina’s responses. Valley Sentinel: How will the failure of the referendums affect the Village’s budget? Paul Pustina: The Village has stayed within State guidelines. VS: Had those items already been budgeted for next year? If so, what changes will need to be made and from where? PP: Even though the referendum for the purpose of employee retention and benefits did not pass. The Board earlier passed Resolution 2020-19 giving the employees a raise for 2021. This was done before final budget figures for 2021 were even assembled. I did not vote in favor of this resolution as promising raises before the next year’s budget numbers are accumulated is not
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