Town, village boards approve inspection agency registration; Village trustees approve Pell Lake weed harvesting contract
Meeting in successive back-to-back meetings on Feb. 13, the Bloomfield town and village boards both authorized, at the recommendation of Building Inspector Jon Mesler, the filing of an Application for Inspection Agency Registration with the Madison-based State of Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS).
DSPS is responsible for ensuring the safe and competent practice of licensed professionals in Wisconsin. The department also administers and enforces laws to assure safe and sanitary conditions in public and private buildings. It provides administrative services to the state occupational regulatory authorities responsible for regulation of occupations and offers policy assistance in such areas as evaluating and establishing new professional licensing programs, creating routine procedures for legal proceedings, and adjusting policies in response to public needs. DSPS licenses and regulates more than 200 different types of credentials.
The move will allow Mesler to conduct electrical inspections for new commercial construction in both the Town and Village of Bloomfield.
“This allows us to do commercial electrical inspection without it going to the state, having it put out to bid and having a different agency do it,” he noted.
Commission appointment
In other news on Feb. 13, the Bloomfield Town Board approved the reappointment of Frank Odin to the Fire Commission for a five-year term ending Dec. 31, 2027.
Members of the Fire Commission, which meets quarterly or as-needed in oversight of Bloomfield-Genoa City Fire & Rescue, include Odin, village appointees Gerri Dillo and Jeff Freres, and Village of Genoa City appointees Stephanie Parker and William Connors.
Odin is also a town-appointed member of the Police Commission, with a term ending April 30, 2023.
Weed harvesting
Bloomfield Village Board trustees, meanwhile, authorized entering into a contract agreement with Crystal Lake, Ill.-based Clearwater Plant Harvesters for weed harvesting.
A provider of mechanical weed-harvesting services in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and across the Midwest, Clearwater Plant Harvesters specializes in pesticide-free weed removal for lakes, rivers, ponds, harbors and other waterways. Its mechanical lake weed harvester operates like an aquatic mower, cutting and collecting aquatic vegetation up to six feet deep.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Pell Lake is an 86-acre seepage lake with a maximum depth of 13 feet and a mean depth of four feet. The lake bottom is 60% sand and 40% muck. Visitors have access to the lake from a public boat landing off Lakeshore Drive. Fish species present in the lake include panfish, largemouth bass and northern pike.
Aquatic invasive species found in Pell Lake include Curly-Leaf Pondweed, Eurasian Water-Milfoil and Hybrid Eurasian/Northern Water-Milfoil.
The village’s contract with Clearwater Plant Harvesters calls for a total 66 hours of weed harvesting at a cost of $185/hour across the span of three harvestings this summer.
