If there’s money involved, you need a roll call vote. For most other decisions made by local government, a voice vote will do. This along with other details was part of the recent civics lesson on display during the monthly village board meeting in Gilman October 14, during which Village President Jane DeStaercke and several trustees met to address monthly village business, as put down for the record by Clerk Candice Grunseth.

Before the monthly meeting for October could begin at the village hall, however, a fall storm with ominous clouds blew in from the west, bringing with them first cold rain, then strong winds, followed by a sudden temperature drop as cold air drove out warm, and finally some lightning mixed with sparse thunder. Meanwhile inside the Gilman Village Hall on Main Street, the furnace was working and the atmosphere calm. Quorum being present despite the absence of two trustees, the meeting could get started.

Called to order by President DeStaercke at 7:00 p.m. and moving quickly into acceptance of the previous meeting minutes and some vouchers, both approved unanimously. From there, it was straight to agenda item H, addressing a backed-up water issue in the alleyway between First and Second Avenues. A Gilman resident named Steve but known locally as “Bones” spoke up.

“What we’re proposing is to run 160 feet of storm sewer down to Second Street,” he told the village board. The affected space in question was owned partly by Gilman and collected water and and/or ice down near the sidewalk, depending upon the temperature. Running 160 feet of storm sewer from a proposed manhole in the middle of the alley at Romig’s northeast corner would help alleviate foreseeable water issues in the Spring on North Second Street, along with the liability attached to these. “We will install the pipe, get it up to grade, and let it go through a freeze thaw cycle,” Steve told the village board during his project proposal. Village trustee Greg Steinbach had a question.

“Do you have time to do it this fall yet?” he asked.

“We’re looking to,” Steve replied. Asking the village board to approve $7,500 but confident the project would cost less (“I don’t want to ask for $1,000 and come back to you”), Steve and four other people were reportedly putting money into the project as well. Trustee Eileen Grunseth had a question of her own.

“Is there a possibility that the people that have spoken at this point are going to back out and then it’s the village’s responsibility?” she asked.

“If everyone does back out, it’s something I want to get off my lot,” Steve said of the liability issue involved. Steve then asked if he could go to village public works director Rick Johnson with any problems and was given the go ahead. Rick in turn would keep the village board up to date.

With public funds on the line there was a roll call vote, the measure passing without a ‘no’ vote being registered. There was another issue though as well. That other issue involved trees and sidewalks, being sent to the Improvements Committee meeting Friday October 16 at 3:00 p.m., chaired by Steinbach.

From the alleyway issue business moved into the President’s Report, wherein winter and preparations for it took a prominent, though not a majority role. Specifically, DeStaercke told the board she had spoken with “Joel,” but that after taking on additional customers he wouldn’t commit to being on call for the village snowwise. DeStaercke had also spoken to “Josh,” who had previously worked for the village but had since gotten another job. DeStaercke recommended doing something with the snowblower which the public works director later said he had gone to the Stanley hardware store about. The Village of Gilman was also in the midst of a handbook revision and Staercke had also taken part in a six-hour webinar on “common mistakes” made by municipal governments, though few if any issues had bearing on the village itself. The biggest need for the handbook revision was getting rid of extra language. Included as well in President DeStaercke’s report was the news that a home scheduled for demolition was gone and a new one to replace it was coming soon, while negotiations around the mobile home court were reportedly going well.

“Everything seems to be moving along,” DeStaercke said. Gilman had been approached with an outside offer to purchase a mobile home area and had made some conditions on it, with the board waiting to hear back on these as of the October 14 meeting. But as for Gilman taking back the roads around the mobile home court?

“That was a firm ‘no,’” DeStaercke said, with public works director Johnson adding, “We vacated those years ago.” Meanwhile, landscaping on the west end of the village hall/library building was tabled for the present, and then it was time for the audit report. Trustee Grunseth filled the board in.

Grunseth told the board that Rod from Wipfli had been through and that everything was good, save the weakness almost every municipality had with regards to internal cashflow. The Clerk and Treasurer, meanwhile, had earned high praise from the recent auditor visit. Before long, it was time to adjourn, with motion made my Trustee Grunseth and seconded by trustee Mike Kinas. A budget meeting was scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, November 11 at the Gilman Village Hall, with the regular meeting to follow at 7:00 p.m., or upon conclusion of the budget meeting. To stay up to date or contact the village, readers can travel to its website at