Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

Weekly Blast!: Last week the scheduled notifications for the Weekly Blast were not sent due to a problem with our website provider. You must refer to our website to read last week’s news, which was posted but not notified. We apologize for any inconvenience. On Tuesday, the Town of Grant Board in collaboration with our Plan Commission held two public hearings. The first regarded two changes to our Comprehensive Plan: the solar overlay map and accompanying rationale. Changes included the final mapped delineations of Portage Solar LLC and Vista Sands Solar, and one brief paragraph describing status. The second public hearing included changes to our Zoning Ordinance re: data centers. At this writing they would be denied in every zoning district. There would be the creation of a “floating zone” titled industrial 2 should there be an interested party. Following, they would have to request a zoning change which would require public hearings at the town and county levels. In other words, unlike solar projects 100MW or greater where we, the Town did not have a say at the local level, in the case of a potential data center, the Town would indeed have knowledge of data center prospectors and the ability to deny or permit such an industry. Please tip your hat to the T. Grant Plan Commission members Jodi Lomma, Jeanne Eggebrecht, Kathy Lee, and Tom Reitter who worked proactively and swiftly on this critical zoning change. Glad we got some rain. Enjoy a bit of respite from the heat this weekend, Sharon

Posted on , by Dado

Weekly Blast

The Town Board held its monthly meeting on Wednesday. Here are several noteworthy items:

  • Road base material awards went to Earth Inc. for ¾” hard rock and to Red Rock Granite, Inc. for 1 ¼” screened red granite. To start, the Board agreed to allocate $14,150 to purchase hard rock to complete a section of Evergreen Ave. west of County Road F which began last year.
  • The final count on Tire Day was 358 tires collected with $2,344 received from residents. The invoice we received from Liberty Tire Recycling was $3,499.51 creating a differential of $1,155.51. This amount will be paid from our town budget and added to the 2026 operational costs of the Transfer Station. Sadly, this difference is due to “road-killed tires” that people live in our ditches and road rights of ways. If you ever see this happening, please note a license plate or other descriptive information that we can pass on to law enforcement.
  • Each year we receive a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for our recycling efforts. We received $2,289.05 based on two components: $1,841.99 from the basic recycling grant award and $447.06 from the recycling consolidation grant award. Thanks are extended to Clerk Stefanie Schlapa for compiling the required information for the Dept. on our behalf.

Last evening I attended the Ambulance Board meeting with our partners from the Wood County Towns of Grand Rapids, Rudolph, Seneca, Sigel, and the Village of Rudolph. Gary Johnson, co-owner of United Emergency Medical Response (UEMR) provided an update. If you were at the Town of Grant’s Annual Meeting you may recall two areas of concern which were reiterated last night:

  • People are calling 911 for “lift assists” instead of calling their family, friends, or neighbors. UEMR receives 2 to 4 of these calls per week. These people are not injured but need help getting off the ground, out of chairs, off toilets, out of their cars, etc. Although UEMR is happy to provide this service current state laws to not allow ambulances to divert from a lift assist to a “true” 911 call. UEMR’s concern, due to the large geographic area that they service, is that one day they may have to delay a response to a heart attack, stroke, or other emergency due to a lift assist where the individual has other options for assistance.
  • Accidental Medic Alert activations (bracelets & necklaces). UEMR receives about 2 of these calls per week. Like above, rather than calling 911, family, friends, etc. should be the “first alert” on the device rather than the ambulance. The life alert companies that boast about saving a life every so many seconds do so because they recommend 911 as the first call in a successful effort to boost their statistics. Garry reported that many times people activate these devices simply by rolling over them in bed. This results in UEMR sometimes breaking doors or windows to gain access to homes to find the resident sleeping.

It really is true…you learn something every day! Enjoy the weekend, Sharon