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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

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Weekly News Blast

This week the 161st Annual Meeting of the Electors was held. Thanks are extended to all attendees. Our local providers, including ambulance service, fire and sheriff department; and our town appointees, including plan commissioner chair, zoning administrator, and webmaster provided their annual reports. It’s important to hear what occurred the previous year. If you’re interested know that most of these reports can be found on this website!

There were questions for our clerk and treasurer who provided the Annual Report. It was complete with reconciliations of funds for all months in 2024, our outstanding loan obligations, payroll amounts extended to all employees of the town, and more. Copies of the report are available online and included in a printable format.

There were several questions that evening but a few you might be interested in including:  

  • Whatever happened to the Nuisance Ordinance? The ordinance template has been shelved for now. However, the Plan Commission incorporated some of the nuisance concerns in its revision of the Zoning Ordinance
  • Why no more Zoom? Our subscription to Zoom lapsed. We were advised by our attorneys not to continue due to ongoing litigation. In doing so we are aligned with other Portage County towns and villages who do not provide this as an option.
  • Are the solar panels on the town hall roof paying off? Yes, but slowly. It is anticipated that it will take 9-12 years for the solar panels to pay for themselves (the life expectancy of the panels is expected to be 30 years). During the summer months, the panels offset the cost of the hall, garage, and streetlights (Mertz subdivision). During the winter months they help to offset the cost of the hall and garage.
  • When will the monthly board meeting minutes be available or can we get drafts? For town and village clerks statewide the first quarter of each year is the busiest, especially in an election cycle. So, our board meeting minutes are a few months behind. Clerk Schlapa appointed deputy clerk Kathy Rogers (welcome!) who will be helping her with minutes, among other things. Following the Annual Meeting I contacted the Wisconsin Towns Association, and this is what their lead attorney advised:

“The draft becomes a public record that can be requested once the clerk types them up into a format for board review.   State law does not require that a town post draft (or approved) town board meeting minutes on your town website.  So, that is optional.  But, again, a public record request could be made for them once they are typed up into draft format for the board.

  • Can we consider buying a used plow truck? Well, yes and no…Truck 22 is being “nickeled and dimed” – we need a more reliable service truck. This year the Town will close out the loan on the grader so we could consider another obligation on a new or used vehicle. It might be time to start looking for something that fits our needs…? We’ll look to our Treasurer Greg Hakala for some sound advice and to designate our Equipment Fund with vehicle/cost in mind.
  • Can something be done about the low or overhanging trees on some of our roads? During our upcoming spring road inspection this is something town officers and public works employees will be looking at. But, if you have a list of roads of concern, let us know!

Speaking of roads, depending on where you live you may have noticed that the edges of some unsurfaced roads were pulled up this week. The Town purchased a retrieving device that pulls in road material (gravel, granite, other) that over time has made its way into the road edges, ditches, and rights-of-way. By recapturing this material, we save a bit of money on road material. Then our grader operator can redistribute it throughout the drive surface. But be patient as the first few passes will be a bit rough. But over time and subsequent passes things will smooth out. When you see our grader operator Steve be sure to give a wave!

The winter/spring newsletter will be arriving at your home soon. If you do not get a copy by the end of the month, please let me know!

Enjoy the weekend, Sharon