The Argyle Village Board, at their meeting on Wednesday, August 5, approved adding some additional safety features to the park, like a sidewalk that goes from the parking lot to the new playground and painted crosswalks in the parking lot and also discussed recommendations from the Planning Commission regarding request from a village resident.
Kayla Nikula-Emberson, president of the Argyle Community Parks Foundation, discussed with the board about making the playground as accessible as possible with the sidewalk to the playground. The plan was to have a sidewalk that is six feet wide go from the parking lot at the flag disposal box to the American Legion’s plane then have it wrap around the playground to the north. The sandbox is the most flexible part of the playground design so I may need to be adjusted as to where it will end up once it is put back in. It is planned to go back in the same general area as it was before. The playground is currently in and much of the playground wood chips have also been installed. The sidewalk will be one of the last things to go in.
After fundraising has been reached for the sidewalk, the next campaign is to get benches along the sidewalk path. The benches will be just off the sidewalk path so it won’t impede the sidewalk space. The reasoning for the sidewalks to be six feet wide is to have two adults be able to walk comfortably side-by-side. It was asked if benches could be considered around the sandbox as well.
Haile Helfvogt made the motion to approve the sidewalk with Colton Ploessl seconding. The motion passed.
Helfvogt then brought up the thought of having crosswalks be placed in the parking lot in areas where children and adults travel from the park area to both the softball fields. She wanted to see a crosswalk near the shelter house across to the ball diamond and another near the top of the parking lot going across from the flag disposal to the softball concession stand. Those areas are frequent areas of travel for people and with the new playground, the village wants to make sure that people are safely able to get from one side of the park to the other.
There was discussion on which accounts would pay for the paint and possible crosswalk sign. The decision was to have the cost split between the Park and Rec account and the Parks department account. With these crosswalks going in, the paint can also be used throughout the village and painting no parking spaces behind the softball concession stand, to keep cars away from the crosswalk and from getting hit by possible foul balls.
Lancaster requests
The Planning Commission met with Dennis and Anne Lancaster on August 3 regarding their River Street property. The village would like to have their utilities recorded on his property to make sure they have easements to those areas. The recommendation from the Planning Commission was to go ahead and hire a surveyor to get the utility easements completed.
Lancaster requested to purchase a portion of the driveway from the village. Village board members didn’t see a value in retaining it. Lancaster wanted to purchase a small plot that ends at the blacktop next to his building. The street is actually not a public road from River Street down past the old Louie’s Pudding Factory. Village president Joe Schutte has asked the county GIS coordinator to get that removed from the map and hopefully that will then be removed on Google as well. Lancaster plans on creating a restaurant, cheese cave and wine tasting within that area and even some outdoor seating along the river. There was a thought of having some glamping options in the storage building near the river but since it is within the flood plain, that idea has changed. They want to make this area a destination for tourists. The Planning Commission recommended the village vacate that small plot of land and sell it to Lancasters.
The next request was to have access easement from the village’s property so that vehicles can have access into the warehouse building. At the time of the meeting, the village had placed cement blocks along their property line from the road access off of River Street all the way to the river right behind the power plant. This block wall blocked access into Lancasters warehouse. The village would like to protect the village infrastructure in that area and stated the blocks could be moved closer to both the power poles and diesel tank for that protection. The Planning Commission recommended providing access easement.
Another request was to have the easement on Lancaster’s land redrawn near the handicap fishing area so that vehicles are able to get into the subterranean shelter built into the hillside on the southeast side of the property. The Planning Commission recommended the village have the easement redrawn so that they can access that area.
The last request that wasn’t discussed with the Planning Commission was to have the property line on the northern part of the property go in a straight line from the warehouse to Lancaster’s other property behind the Mason’s building (from west to east), taking a small portion from the village. The village currently uses that for off street parking. Lancasters want to use that for additional parking.
Penny Monahan made the motion to approve all the recommendations from the Planning Commission with Ploessl seconding. The motion included that the village would sell the driveway portion of property to Lancasters for whatever it will cost the village for attorney fees and paying the surveyor, allowing the village to recoup their costs associated with the Lancasters’ requests. The additional land request from Lancasters would be discussed at a later date. The motion was approved.
Additional park projects
Nikula-Emberson asked if the board could help put money toward purchasing more wood chips for the playground. The village has a budget of $3,500 for playground wood chips each year. The new playground area would require an additional amount of playground wood chips. Nikula- Emberson stated the Argyle Community Parks Foundation ordered the wood chips but wanted to add on to the order at that time for the additional wood chips. The total was $9,500. Helfvogt made the motion to put the village’s entire budget towards the additional wood chips now and realign the village’s budget for next year so they will have enough money to refresh the increased area. Ploessl seconded the motion. It was approved.
Kevin Slater has been working with Backyard LTD of Darlington to create the driveway near the Beaver shed. The driveway will go right alongside the tractor pulling track, east of the guardrail to the Beaver concession stand. The total cost was $3,500. The village already approved $1,500 for the project. It was requested that the additional cost come out of the Parks and Rec budget. Helfvogt made the motion with Ploessl seconding to approve up to $2,500 to come out of the Parks and Rec budget to pay for the driveway. The motion was approved. Old business Last year during the summer, Kurt Tollakson asked to put in a sidewalk and driveway. He came to the village looking for a sidewalk permit. The village did not have a permit. Unfortunately, during the construction, a water service valve was damaged. As a result there was work that the village had to do to fix the issue. At the December 10, 2025 board meeting, the issue came before the board and it was presented to have Tollakson split the cost with the contractor, Keith Helfvogt. Tollakson was charged $923.50 and Helfvogt was charged $1,847. Helfvoigt was later only charged the $923.50, splitting the $1,847 with Tollakson.
A sidewalk permit would be split 50/50 between the homeowner and the village. Tollakson asked if there was anything the village could do to solve the issue of not eligible for 50 percent of the sidewalk costs and the work that was done to fix the damages made. There were several contractors during construction and it could not be determined who was at fault as there was no permit issued. Since Tollakson had done the right thing trying to get a permit and go about doing things the right way, the village’s attorney stated that it was in the village’s best interest to agree to pay for half the sidewalk cost, assume the cost for the repair work and also refund Helfvogt as well.
The village now has a proper permit in place and has verbiage in place for any damages that might occur. Tollakson had not paid the $923.50 for the repair costs so he would not need to be refunded that amount. He would be refunded the 50 percent of the sidewalk. Helfvogt would be reimbursed the $923.50 he paid.
Monahan made the motion to reimburse all the parties involved with Ploessl seconding. The motion passed with H. Helfvogt abstaining.
The board also approved: – Resolution No. 6-2026 for Short Term Rental Ordinance.
– picnic license for Argyle FFA Alumni for the Thunderbridge Thresheree on Sept. 12-13
– Resolution Authorizing the issuance and sale of up to $104,349 taxable general obligation refunding bonds, series 2026A, and providing for other details and covenants with respect thereto, and approval of related financial assistance agreements. The village has entered into the Safe Drinking Water loan program to fund the lead service line replacement. The total project amount $1,132,841.20. This is a 20 year loan. Interest rate is 1.577 percent.
– Resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of up to $65,768 taxable general obligation promissory notes, series 2026B, and providing for other details and covenants with respect thereto, and approval of related financial assistance agreement. The village has entered into the Safe Drinking Water loan program for the lead service line replacement. This is 10 year loan term. The project loan amount is $1,133,902.20. Interest rate is 0.25 percent.
– refinancing general fund loan for Fairview Avenue with Woodford State Bank. The amount of $95,922.55 was added to the wrong loan during the process of asking for payments for Maddrell payments from the bank in error. This revised loan will be the same rate (all three loans were the same rate at 4.5 percent) The loan needs to be rewritten because there was not a large enough balance to add this amount to the general loan. The amount for the revised loan is $433,328.21 for five years at a payment of $98,889.84.
– to use Woodford State Bank to for an electric department loan of $484,790 for five years at 4.2 percent fixed interest.