GREENWOOD TWP- The town board here, on Dec. 10, declined to take action on a motion by board chair Carmen DeLuca to set the pay and office hours for the town clerk and treasurer and their deputies. Instead, the board agreed to consider drafting a written policy on the question sometime after the first of the new year.
DeLuca appeared upset that the board had authorized payment, at this meeting, for $100 in pay for a deputy clerk or treasurer in the previous month. The elected clerk and treasurer each select their own deputy, per state law, to fill in if they are unable to perform their duties.
“We talked about this in October,” he said. “We don’t need someone sitting here when Sue [Drobac] is gone.”
Drobac said she occasionally, less than once a month, has had to be out of the town hall office during the regularly scheduled office hours, for personal reasons such as medical appointments. The township office is normally open three days a week and the clerk and treasurer have used deputies to fill in when they can’t be in the office.
“I called today and John Bassing [the deputy clerk] answered the phone,” said DeLuca during the board meeting. He said Bassing informed him that Drobac was at a clerk’s training.
“John didn’t answer my question,” said DeLuca.
Drobac noted that a policy that allowed the clerk to take unlimited time away from the office, and just post they were gone, could be abused in the future.
“I am not going to abuse it,” she noted, but added that she sometimes did have to be away during her regular office work schedule.
Drobac is scheduled at the town hall office for 20 hours a week.
Currently, township treasurer Pam Rodgers is out of the area for the winter, and while she is able to do much of her work remotely, the deputy treasurer, Janelle Swenson, is working at the township office about three hours a week.
Supervisor Mike Ralston said the board should take some time to develop a written policy to cover the matter, and not act on the motion that DeLuca proposed. DeLuca rescinded his motion and it is expected the board will consider the issue again in January.

Ambulance subsidy
The board did vote, unanimously, to send the township’s second half of the 2019 ambulance subsidy to the city of Tower. The township is under contract to pay $15 per resident to the Tower Area Ambulance Service. The board had authorized the payment at last month’s meeting, but they had voted to wait to mail the check until they had more information from the city.
Supervisor Larry Tahija, along with DeLuca, had attended the meeting in Tower earlier this month that discussed the ambulance service.
“We won’t have a new contract to sign until June,” Tahija said. “We can wait to see what the other townships are going to do, and then decide what we are going to do.”
Tahija said the township does need to pay “one way or another” if they are going to have ambulance service.
Resident Lee Peterson urged the board to be more proactive.
“You should have our attorney look at the existing contract and make some suggestions on changes that would give us protections,” he said.
Peterson said that while six governmental units are part of the Tower Area Ambulance Commission, only the city of Tower makes decisions and spends the money.
Ralston said the township doesn’t have any risk, noting they are just contributing a per capita amount. The per capita subsidy helps pay the cost of purchasing new ambulances.
“I agree that we need a new contract,” Ralston said, “and we are not going to sign off until we have an agreeable one.”
Resident Joanne Bassing said the township should be able to review the ambulance department’s budget.
“They have never provided one,” she said.
DeLuca said the city’s new clerk-treasurer is working on providing that information, and Ralston agreed.
Peterson pointed out the city has had issues with their finances.
“Everyone is well aware of that,” said Ralston. “It is in the past. The people running it now are working to get it back on a level playing field. It just won’t happen overnight.”

Other business
In other business, the board:
 Set the Board of Audit for Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, after the regular meeting
 Appointed head election judges Kathy Lovgren and Carol Maus; election judges Colleen Lepper, Julie Stoehr, Ruth DeLuca, John Milbridge, Joan Mueller, Beverly Peterson, and Sue Drobac; alternate election judges Nancy Ralston and Steven Rodgers; and absentee ballot judges Kathy Lovgren and Colleen Lepper. The board was required to pass special resolutions noting the hiring of spouses of board members Carmen DeLuca and Mike Ralston and asserting their pay would be the same as other election judges at $15 per hour.
 Will review the questions on the sample broadband survey submitted by CTC. The township will need to pay costs associated with distributing the survey. The survey itself will be able to be completed online, but the township would need to send out notices of when it is available and how to access it.
 Discussed purchasing a security camera system for the town hall. The township currently has a quote for the installation of a two-camera system but discussed adding additional cameras in other areas. Supervisor Paul Skubic said he felt the township needed to have the security cameras in place to protect the female township employees. Joanne Bassing, in the audience, noted that this concern was sexist, and the township had a responsibility to protect all its employees. No action was taken, and the township will get a new quote to cover the option of adding additional cameras.
 Held the second reading and adoption of the updated fire department Standard Operating Guidelines.
 Passed a resolution agreeing to increase the PERA amount for fire department members who are vested in the pension to $2,500 per year, from $1,900 per year, effective Jan. 1, 2020. Fazio noted that the town board needed to understand that once raised, this amount cannot be lowered.