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Ordinance Restricting Certain Artificial Wake Enhancement:   ORDINANCE NO. 2025-001        Town of Palmyra, Jefferson County, Wisconsin AN ORDINANCE RESTRICTING CERTAIN ARTIFICIAL WAKE ENHANCEMENT WHEREAS, in the interest of public health, safety, and/or welfare, including the public's interest in preserving natural resources, the Town of Palmyra (“Town”) has the authority to enact ordinances covering waters within its jurisdiction if the ordinances are not contrary to or inconsistent with Chapter 30, Wis. Stats., and they relate to the equipment, use, or operation of boats or to any activity regulated by Sections. 30.60 to 30.71, Wis. Stats.; and WHEREAS, Blue Spring Lake exists wholly in the town; and WHEREAS, artificially enhanced wakes can cause environmental damage to lakes and lakeshore, including resuspension of sediment adding nutrients to the water and increased risk of algal blooms, turbidity, shoreline erosion, and threats to aquatic life and waterfowl; and WHEREAS, boats with ballast systems increase the likelihood of aquatic invasive species being introduced and spread on lakes; and WHEREAS, artificially enhanced wakes can damage shoreline, lake bottom, moored boats, and shoreline structures including docks; and WHEREAS, operating boats in a stern down manner creates downward prop wash, disturbing the lake bottom far below the wave zone, 20 feet and more below the surface; and WHEREAS, artificially enhanced wakes can endanger swimmers, anglers, and other watercraft; and WHEREAS, the use of ballast and wake enhancing fins can cause unsafe operation by causing the bow to rise obscuring vision forward; and WHEREAS, the Town submitted a draft of this ordinance to the Wisconsin DNR for advisory review at least 60 days prior to passage, pursuant to 30.77(3)(d), Wis. Stats.; and WHEREAS, the Town Board, after considering public comments and any DNR suggestions, determines that adopting this Ordinance is consistent with all other ordinances of the Town and would promote the public health, safety and welfare, including the public's interest in preserving natural resources; and NOW, THEREFORE, the Board of Supervisors of the Town of Palmyra, Jefferson County, Wisconsin, does hereby ordain as follows: Section 1. Applicability and Enforcement: The provisions of this ordinance shall apply to all waters wholly within the Town of Palmyra, Jefferson County, Wisconsin. This ordinance shall be enforced by all officers of Jefferson County, Wisconsin and all other individuals empowered to enforce ordinances in this Town. Section 2. Certain Artificial Wake Enhancement Prohibited   Prohibited Equipment. No person may use or employ ballast tanks, ballast bags or fins, or any other method, to cause a boat to operate in a bow-high manner, or which increases or enhances a boat's wake. Prohibited Operation. No person may operate a boat in an artificially bow-high manner having the effect of increasing the boat's wake. Such prohibited operation shall include wake enhancement by use of ballast tanks, or ballast bags, or fins, or continuous operation at transition speed (the speed below planing speed in which a boat is operating in plowing mode), and similar methods. For the purpose of this provision, “continuous operation” shall mean “operation that is not acceleration for the purpose of achieving a state of planing”. Certain Operations In no event shall any of the following operations be deemed a violation of this Ordinance, provided such operations do not use or employ ballast tanks, water sacks or wake enhancing fins: i) water skiing, ii) tubing, iii) cruising via pontoons, iv) wake boarding employing a tow rope; v) transition operation to empty a boat of bilge water, or vi)  transition operation of a boat accelerating into a planing condition. Related Current Wisconsin Laws Under Sec 30.68(4)(a), Wis. Stats. No person shall operate a motorboat so as to approach or pass another boat in such a manner as to create a hazardous wake or wash. Under Sec 30.68(4)(b), Wis. Stats. An operator of a motorboat is liable for any damage caused to the person or property of another by the wake or wash from such motorboat unless the negligence of such other person was the primary cause of the damage. Under Sec 30.66(3)(a), Wis. Stats. No person may operate a motorboat within 100 feet of any dock, raft, pier, or buoyed restricted area on any lake at a speed in excess of slow-no-wake. Under Sec 30.66(3)(ag)1, Wis. Stats. No person may operate a motorboat, other than a personal watercraft, at a speed in excess of slow-no-wake within 100 feet of the shoreline of any lake.                                 By adopting this Ordinance, the Town also adopts all of the above Wisconsin Statutes and all other state laws and administrative codes for hazardous wake and water draining/aquatic plant and animal removal.     Section 3.  Penalty. Wisconsin state boating penalties as found in s. 30.80, Wis. Stats., and deposits established in the Uniform Deposit and Bail Schedule established by the Wisconsin Judicial Conferences, are hereby adopted by reference, except all references to fines are amended to forfeitures and all references to imprisonment are deleted. To the extent that the penalty for any violation of this Ordinance is not provided under Wisconsin state boating penalties as found in 30.80, Wis. Stats., any person violating this Ordinance shall face a penalty of not more than $500 for the first offense and not more than $1000 for the second and subsequent offenses within one year. Deposits established in the WISCONSIN CIRCUIT COURT FEE, FORFEITURE, FINE AND SURCHARGE TABLES shall also apply to any violation.   Section 4.    Severability. Should any portion of this Ordinance or the affected Code Section(s) be held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder shall not be affected.   Section 5.        Effective Date. Upon adoption, this Ordinance shall take effect the day after publication or posting.   Ordinance introduced by Board member Martens, who moved its adoption.  Seconded by Board member Sauter.  AYES: Sauter, Martens.  NOES:  Gajewski.  ABSENT:  N/A  ADOPTED:  April 14, 2025.   Enacted: April 14, 2025                    TOWN OF PALMYRA     By    Frank Sauter                                                         Frank    Sauter     , Town Chair                                CLERK'S CERTIFICATE OF ENACTMENT  I hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was duly enacted by the Town of Palmyra Board of Supervisors on the date indicated above.   Dated: April 15, 2025              Michele Smith , Town Clerk     Posted on Town of Palmyra website News and Notices:     4/17/25

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Type B Notice of Partisan Primary

Notice of Partisan Primary and Sample Ballots
August 9, 2022

Office of the Jefferson County Clerk

To the voters of Jefferson County:

Notice is hereby given of a partisan primary to be held in Jefferson County on August 9, 2022,
at which the nominees for the offices named below shall be chosen. The names of the
candidates for each office, whose nominations have been certified to or filed in this office, are
given under the title of the office under the appropriate party, each in its proper column,
together with the questions submitted to a vote, if any, in the sample ballot below.
Information to Voters

Upon entering the polling place and before being permitted to vote, a voter shall:
• state their name and address
• show an acceptable form of photo identification*
• sign the poll book**

*If a voter does not have acceptable photo identification, the voter may obtain a free
photo ID for voting from the Division of Motor Vehicles.

**If the voter is unable to sign the poll book due to disability, a poll worker may write the
word “exempt.”

If a voter is not registered to vote, they may register to vote at the polling place serving their
residence if the voter provides proof of residence.

Where ballots are distributed to voters, the initials of two inspectors must appear on the ballot.

Upon being permitted to vote, the voter shall enter a voting booth or go to a machine and cast
their ballot. The vote should not be cast in any manner other than specified here. Sample
ballots or other materials to assist the voter in marking their ballot may be taken into the booth
and copied. The sample ballot shall not be shown to anyone so as to reveal how the ballot is
marked.

A voter who is a parent or guardian may be accompanied by the voter’s minor child or minor
ward.

An election official may inform the voter of the proper manner for casting a vote but the official
may not advise or indicate a particular voting choice.

Assistance for Voting

A voter may select an individual to assist in casting their vote if the voter declares to the
presiding official that they are unable to read, have difficulty reading, writing, or understanding
English, or that due to disability are unable to cast their ballot. The selected individual
rendering assistance may not be the voter’s employer or an agent of that employer or an
officer or agent of a labor organization which represents the voter. If a voter is unable to state
their name and address, an assistant may also do so for the voter.

At the partisan primary, the voter shall select the party of their choice. Voting for candidates
of more than one party may invalidate the ballot. The voter must cast a vote for individual
candidates.

Where Optical Scan Voting is used
• If a party preference is designated, and votes are cast for ballot candidates of another
party or write-in votes are cast in another party, only votes cast in the designated party
will count.
• If a party preference is not designated, and votes are cast for candidates (or write-in
votes are cast) in more than one party, no votes will be counted

Within the party of their choice, the voter shall fill in the oval next to the name of the candidate of
their choice for each office for which they intend to vote. To vote for a person whose name does
not appear on the ballot, the voter shall write in the name of the person of their choice in the space
provided for a write-in vote and fill in the oval next to the write-in line.

When using an electronic ballot marking device, Express Vote, to mark an optical scan ballot, the
voter shall touch the screen or use the tactile pad to select the party of their choice. The voter shall
then touch the screen at the name of the candidate of their choice for each office for which they
intend to vote. To vote for a person whose name does not appear on the ballot, the voter shall type
in the name of the person of their choice in the space provided for a write-in vote.
Spoiled Ballots

If a voter spoils an optical scan ballot, they shall return it to an election official who shall issue another
ballot in its place, but not more than three ballots shall be issued to any one voter. If the ballot has
not been initialed by two inspectors or is defective in any other way, the voter shall return it to the
election official, who shall issue a proper ballot in its place.
The voter may spoil a touch screen ballot at the voting station before the ballot is cast.

After Voting the Ballot

After an official optical scan ballot is marked, it may be inserted in the security sleeve, so the
marks do not show. The voter shall then insert the ballot in the voting device and discard the
sleeve or deliver the ballot to an inspector for deposit The voter shall leave the polling place promptly.
promptly.