ELLSWORTH — As the East End Redevelopment Plan’s construction phase continues, the Village Board took on a trio of topics affecting the area’s future.

First on the docket was the approval of a series of village code changes to better align with village practices. The most heavily discussed item was parking permits for a parking lot in the area. With some of the parking being removed from Broadway Street, the village planned to redirect to a village parking lot off Broadway Street. With some residents in the area that need parking as well as businesses with no access to off-street parking, the village discussed an annual $250 parking pass.

The lot has 19 spaces, so in order to avoid completely filling the lot with permit parking rather than a mix of permit and free public parking, passes will be reserved for the residents and business owners without off-street parking.

The following areas were also changed from two-hour to three-hour parking:

• Broadway Street between Wall Street and Main Street
• Wall Street between Cross Cut Avenue and Morse Street
• Main Street between Broadway and Morse Street
• Village owned parking lots on Broadway Street and Wall Street

The village is going out to bid on the demolition of the 245 Broadway St. property. During condemnation proceedings, the village reached an agreement with the property owner to purchase the property for $1. The condemnation process was dismissed, leaving the village the property, authorizing the demolition process.

“I just wanted to say thank you guys for taking that on, because it should have been done a decade ago,” owner of neighboring business YB Urban? Angie Whelan said. “I know it wasn’t fun, I know it was long, I know you guys were really diligent… I know the owners that recently took on the building on the other side of that are also extremely grateful.”

The village was requested to address a maintenance concern on a bridge of a Broadway Street alley in 2024. Village Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer Brad Roy said a title search at the time showed the village did not have responsibility for the property. A resident then informed the village of a 1923 easement that does in fact give the village that responsibility.

“If the village wanted to accept that easement, a formal vote would be needed,” Roy said. “Our minutes do not go back to 1923, they start in the middle of 1924, so we could not search in the months around when this easement was made.”

Roy said nearby property owners were open to collaborating with the village to come to a solution. The board decided to table the item to define the easement and come to an agreement with the area property owners before making an approval.

Update from alleged altercation

Regarding a recent alleged physical altercation between Board Trustee Tony Hines and resident Sean Hall that occurred July 2 at Cenex, Trustee Dick Hines asked if the village could explore future options in protecting board members from future incidents. Hall was arrested for disorderly conduct, later stating over Facebook that it was Tony Hines who started the confrontation. Hall stated that Hines should have been arrested instead of him. Dick Hines also asked why Hall was arrested for disorderly conduct rather than assault.

During his monthly report, Police Chief Eric Ladwig said the district attorney is ultimately the decider on any and all charges that go to the court room. The disorderly conduct charge could be changed to assault, remain the same or be removed entirely depending on what the DA sees fit.

“Law enforcement’s responsibility when we go to a call like this is to secure the scene, make sure everybody’s safe and then restore order,” Ladwig said. “Today is day four, we got more pieces of the puzzle today. Once we gather all the pieces, then we send it to the district attorney’s office. We don’t charge anybody.

“We just present a full report as accurate as we can of what happened,” Ladwig said.

The board also floated the idea of increasing security for village meetings. Some board members expressed interest in having an on-duty officer at the door of each meeting.

Other business

• The village is going out to bid for refuse/recyclable material collection, as the current contract with GFL expires at the end of the year. It is the first time since 2012 that the village is going out to bid for the service.
• Approved the establishment of a line of credit at CCF Bank for current reconstruction projects to fill the gap before the village is reimbursed from its grant funding.
• Approved an ordinance amendment to require fire inspections in the village annually. The Fire Department Operating Committee approved a resolution that differed from the village’s semi-annual inspection requirement, so the board opted to align the two policies.
• Approved a $626,000 payment for the Grant and Piety streets project. A pair of public commenters spoke about their properties not receiving the work that they were expecting from the project, and Roy said he will contact the engineers to make sure the work gets done.
• Approved $2,100 annually to Minnesota Notification Solutions for maintenance of the six village sirens.
• Approved $3,300 toward a transfer in GIS mapping systems. The previous service used by the village recently shut down.
• Altered the deputy clerk position from part-time to full-time status.
• Appointed Public Works Director Matt Brand to the West Central Wisconsin Biosolids Facility Commission.