PRESCOTT – The Prescott City Council at its meeting Monday, March 27 approved the purchases of three Badger Book electronic devices to help poll workers and streamline the election process.

The cost of the three pad-style computers and related service was $8,543.95. The city had included $9,000 in its Capital Improvement Plan for purchasing of electronic election equipment.

The council tabled the purchase at its March 13 meeting, with questions on what the Badger Books would be used for. City Clerk Rashel Temmers stressed the Badger Books are not used for voting. They can be used to register voters, to log absentee ballots and as a poll book to check in voters on election day.

The Wisconsin Election Commission recommends use of them, with one available for every 800 registered voters. The Badger Books have been recommended for use by the WEC since 2017. Badger Books are the only electronic pool book authorized by the WEC for use in state elections.

“Within each polling place, Badger Books are connected securely to communicate to each other but do not connect to the internet or any other network outside the polling place,” according to the WEC. The Badger Books allow for quicker voter check-ins and “streamline post-election data entry and reconciliation.”

The Badger Books have multiple layers of security, and voter data is encrypted and secure.

Finance Director Beth Lansing said the Badger Books are used to check in voters only. Voting is still done separately on ballot.

“Nothing is changing,” she said. “The voters still mark paper ballots.”

She said there were more than 400 absentee ballots in the November election. Those can be “checked in” by just scanning them, rather than by logging all the information by hand.

“We are not allowed to touch the absentee ballots until the day of the election,” she said. “It’s a huge timesaver with the absentee ballots.”

The check-in at the polls will run quicker also. Right now, voters wait in line to check in at various tables where poll workers look at registration logs. With Badger Books, identification is scanned to check in voters.

Alderperson Maureen Otwell said she talked to two River Falls poll workers who went through Badger Books training.

“They loved it. They thought the process would be much smoother,” she said. “I think we should keep up with the electronic advances when they make sense and are clear.”

Fire chief Oath of Office

When Chad Johnson took over as chief of the Prescott Area Fire Association, there was one thing overlooked. He never officially took his Oath of Office. That was remedied, with Temmers holding a ceremony in front of city council members.

Johnson has been with the Prescott Fire Department since 1993.

An audit by the Wisconsin Department of Public Safety revealed Johnson had never been officially confirmed by the city council, which was unanimously done.

The council and meeting attendees gave Johnson a round of applause after his oath was sworn.

Garbage refund

Ruth and Anders Gredvig, 1832 Canton Road, were given a $303.50 refund for garbage service, as they were charged for a larger trash bin than they were using since 2018.

Ruth Gredvig appeared before the city council and said when she and her husband moved to Prescott, they called and had the large 95-gallon garbage bin replaced with a 35-gallon bin. The city’s garbage provider at the time, Paul’s Industrial Garage (PIG), brought the new bin.

The city charges for garbage service on its quarterly bills. Gredvig said when their first bill came in, she assumed she was being charged for the smaller size.

“We moved from Cottage Grove. Garbage was far more expensive there. We never really questioned the price of garbage in Prescott,” she said.

Consequently, they recently asked to switch to the larger bin. They were told by city staff they already had the larger bin and had been paying for it.

Gredvig said the city never changed its billing records when they ordered the smaller bin.

“The city needs to be held accountable for the employee who did not do their job properly in 2018,” she said.

Compounding the problem is that the size of the garbage bin isn’t itemized on the utility statements, which just listed the price for garbage service.

She said that if a refund wasn’t granted, she was going to file a complaint with the state Public Service Commission.

“We hope that a common sense and ethical decision is made,” she said.

City staff recommended refunding half the billing overage. The council’s Parks and Public Works Committee recommended at its March meeting that the full refund be granted.

“Personally, I was under impression the (bin) sizes were on the bill,” said alderperson Darlyn Hintz. “It makes me unfortunately believe we have to refund it.”

Finance Director Beth Lansing said she didn’t believe the city should be fully responsible, given the fact that PIG has already been paid the money by the city. As has the company that purchased PIG, GFL. An audit was conducted to make sure PIG and city records were in tune in 2020.

“How it got missed, I don’t know,” she said.

In a memo to the council, City Administrator Matt Wolf wrote, “After reviewing the details, the city was willing to work with the property owner to consider a 50 percent credit based on the fact that neither party has any evidence to show it was the other party’s mistake that caused the alleged overcharge. If the property owner has other information detailing there was a mistake on the city’s part back in 2018, it has not been provided.”

He noted that the city bills from this point forward will list garbage bin size.

Mayor Rob Daugherty opposed the full refund, fearing the city will hear from other residents.

“We’re opening up the door. I’m not saying they’re wrong. I’m not saying we’re wrong,” he said. “I don’t think the city’s at fault. I’d be willing to say they should get a full refund if it was the first quarter after the charge was made. After that, they should have looked at their bill.”

Hintz responded, “The paper trail starts with the utility bill. There’s no can size on there.”

“I don’t think the city’s 100 percent at fault. I don’t think we should reimburse the whole bill. What’s going to happen in the future – you can take it case by case or whatever – if you start paying peoples bills for them,” said Daugherty.

“The ethical thing to do is to make this reimbursement. I don’t see it becoming a big issue going forward,” said Peterson.