In your tax bills you received a calandar for Refuse and Recycling Dates. The number on that calendar may not work. On the attached calendar is a phone number that should work. That number is 920-568-2510.
https://townofharmony.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Harmony-2021-Pick-up-Schedule.pdf
You should be able to click on the above link and it will upload. If it does not then please copy and paste to your web address line.
Please see the attached legal notice for the Caucus for the Spring Election that is scheduled for January 11, 2021 at 6:30 pm. This meeting will not be held via Zoom for legal reasons. We will set up two rooms here in the Office Building in the event we have more than 10 people show up.
https://townofharmony.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/1-11-2021-Caucus-Legal-Notice.doc
Waste Managment did not get Tarrant Road on Mondays pick up and a couple of residents on A. They have committed to picking these up on Thursday of this week. I will keep an eye on this and inform everyone should anything change. Our disapointment has been communicated in no uncertain terms.
Thanks
Tim Tollefson
The next Town Board Meeting will be Monday January 11th at 7pm. Please watch later for the agenda. All Town Board meetings will be held in person and via Zoom. We must limit the number of people allowed in the Town Hall. We encourage everyone to try the Zoom feature. It is very simple to learn and use. I learned how to use it so anyone can.
The new 2021 Dog License Appliction are now posted. To find the License go to “Community” just above this area. Click on “Form and Permits” you will then see “Dog License Application 2021” click on that and it will bring up the new license.
Please see the attached notice of Voting Equipment Audit
https://townofharmony.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/11-24-2020-Machine-Audit.pdf
This is an audit of the voting equipment used in the November 2020 General Election. This is not a recount of any ward but a comparison of how the Voting Equipment counted the votes of Ward 1 in comparison of a hand count of those ballots. This will involve approximatly 162 ballots being reviewed. These audits are mandated by state statute and the municpality and wards are selected at random by the Wisconsin Election Commission. Estimated time to complete the audit will be two hours. This audit is open to the public but we must limit the number of people in the Town Hall to no more than 10.
The Town of Milton Fire Department has provided great service to the residents of our town at a great value. Our 4 year contact ends in 2020. For the 2021 contract the price of the services provided has tripled in cost. The contract price in 2020 was $72,920 and for a one year contract for 2021 the new cost on the contract is $225,198. We also believe that in 2022 that price may increase more to a possible $495,456 as this is what was estimated at a meeting in September of this year and no major increase in 2021. This is why we were seeking a $300,000 increase in our tax levy at a meeting of electors scheduled for Monday Nov 9th at 7pm. Without a contract for fire services most everyone in the town would not be able to get fire insurance or the cost of fire insurance for you home would be so expensive that it would be unaffordable.
The Town has not looked to increase our levy in 5 years and was not planning to look to increase our levy this year but based on this espense we must. Remember, the smallest portion of your tax bill is the taxes that come to the Town. 8 cents for every dollar you pay. For every $1000 you pay in taxes about $80 comes to the town. Without the increase very little road work would be done in 2021 as the road work budget is the only flexible account. All other accounts are a set amount to be paid.
While the increase in our contract price is shoking, you need to understand why the increase. At this point, Milton and nearly all other fire departments are having problems recruiting fire fighters. At what they are currently be paid, you could make better money working as a greeter at Walmart. Fire departments need to ensure they are prepared to handle multiple calls. Several years ago, the Milton Fire Departmen and the Janesville Fire Department came to an agreement that both would repsond to emergency calls and the first one on sight would handle the emergency and the other would go back. This agreement should make us all sleep better at night know the speed of the repsonse will happen. Again this is a large increase but we need to support our emergency responders and building that team for the future and for the increase in population for all areas they cover. Please support the increase in tax levi limit for the future of the emergency services.
Please see the attached Notice of Public Hearings for Planning and Zoning
Thanks
Tim Tollefson
Clerk
I have received numerous calls and emails asking for information about the election. I wanted to take a minute to explain some procedures.
Many questions regarding if their ballot was counted and why does it not show in myvote. On election day if you voted in person, you stopped at the desk and our inspectors issued you a vote a number in our pollbook and you signed the poll book. Each hour we reconcile the numbers on the machine with the number in the book. If the voting machine says that 102 ballots have been entered the book needs to show that we issued 102 ballots. Every hour we were open those numbers matched and at the end of the night those numbers matched. When you entered your ballot in the machine your vote is scanned, a picture taken of both sides of the ballot and your ballot drops into the space below the machine. It drops in no certain order and when we open the voting machine, Ballots are everywhere and in no order Your vote is recoreded on an encrypted flash drive that can only be read by the County Clerks office. At the end of the night we pull all ballots from the machine and they are counted numerous times by a team of election inspectors to ensure that the number on the voting machine matches the exact number of ballots we have. We had 534 in-person voters on election day. All ballots are organized by voting wards. Once the vote and ballot count is reconciled the ballots are then placed in a sealed bag that has a serial number. The bag is signed off on by 5 election inspectors. Those bags and taken to the Court house where they are stored for 2 years. The entire process is open to the public to come in and watch.
For absentee ballots, we had 1216 ballot envelopes received. One of those ballot envelopes had no signature on the envelope and that ballot envelope was received the evening of Nov 2nd and the voter was out of state so could not be contacted. Another envelope was received that had only the instructions in the envelope but no ballot. So no ballot could be counted. 1,214 absentee ballots were entered into the voting machine and at the end of the night the same process happens. We counted, organized and sealed in a bag by ward, 1,214 Absentee ballots.
At the end of the night I delivered the two encrypted flash drives that also have serial numbers logged to the Town, to the Court House to be entered into the system and the counts are then posted to the Rock County website. Those counts on the County website matched to our tapes that print from the voting machines.
All ballots, inspectors statements, incident logs, signed pollbooks, voting machine tapes and any other documentation is sealed and securely stored in our safe and the following day all of that documentation that has been sealed and signed off on by the election inspectors is delivered to the Court House and checked in by the Clerks office.
Also other questions that have come up are people who registered to vote on election day do not see the registrations in myvote. You won’t until late next week. That infomation will be entered once the State has certified the election. Also you won’t see that you voted until late next week once the election is certified. Clerks actually have 45 days to get everything entered. While a Township has a small number of infomation to enter, it will still take me at least a full day to enter this info. Imagine what it takes for a city like Milwaukee, Madison or Green Bay. But I always start entering names of voters and election day registrations the week after the election.
So, if your ballot was taken by the voting machine, which they all were, your vote has been counted. If you were one of the two absentee ballots that were not counted that will show on myvote right now. If you have questions please let me know. Send an Email to townclerk@townofharmony.com and I will answer as quickly as I can.
Thanks for everyone voting, it was are largest voting day ever in Harmony. Thanks again!!
Tim Tollefson
Clerk Town of Harmony
There will be a budget meeting and meeting of electors on November 9th at 7pm. We will discuss the budget for 2021 and will hold a meeting of electors to seek to raise the Levi Limit by $300,000 to pay for a new contract with the Milton Fire Department that has increased by 3 times what the cost was for 2020. The cost in 2020 was $72,920 and for 2021 will be 225,158. It will also help to pay for road work in 2021 with scheduled projects being M-H Townline road from Kennedy to County Y and from Henke to Vickerman. A 2 year project. Also we would like to rebuild Wicox a project we have put off for 6 years, Chip sealing in several subdisvisons and more. I will post more on the contract with the Milton Fire Department in the near future.
Thanks
Tim Tollefson Clerk