Weekly News Blast – Town of Grant, Portage Co

Weekly Blast: The Board held its monthly meeting on Wednesday. We’re trying a different agenda format to improve efficiency and shorten meeting times. A “consent agenda” allows usual items like minutes, committee and officer reports, financial reports, and invoices to be reviewed in advance of the meeting. When the meeting begins a board member can request that any item from the list be moved to the “regular” agenda for discussion and consideration. In this way any item where concerns or questions exist are scrutinized. Anything that remains on the consent agenda is approved by unanimous consent in its entirety. On Wednesday it seemed to work well, however it’s new so we’ll see how it goes. One item of interest (not on the consent agenda) was a Resolution regarding the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Plan prepared by the Wisconsin Rapids School District. The District includes Grant Elementary School right here in the Town of Grant. Recall some months ago we had an informational meeting for residents in the Mertz Subdivision just south of Grant Elementary. The residents did not want sidewalks for bike or pedestrians installed whenever the roads are reconstructed. Originally the Town included this option in two grants submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). Neither were funded, nor were two recent ones WITHOUT sidewalks included. In short, the SRTS Plan and the Resolution signed do not include any sidewalks within the Subdivision; only a short, cemented area at the corner of 85th/CTH WW at the request of the Portage County Highway Department. This, in hopes of a future enhanced crosswalk across the highway. This Resolution may be submitted with any future funding requests to reconstruct the roads within the Subdivision. However, if you have a million dollars sitting around, we’d be happy to start construction ASAP - ha! Have a safe weekend and be careful in the expected heatwave, Sharon

Posted on December 13, 2024, Edited December 13, 2024 by webmaster

Weekly News Blast

The Board met this week for their monthly meeting. We passed the 2025 budget – yeah! However, one of the big unknowns for next year will be our legal budget. We placed $25,000 in that line item, a large sum for any Town. Unfortunately, our insurer has covered what they will from the lawsuits filed by former Supervisor Heather Grys-Luecht. At Wednesday’s meeting another $4,000+ bill was paid to the attorneys representing the Town; now totally more than $7,000 in legal fees above our insurance coverage of $10,000. We anticipate that we will continue to receive more legal bills unless/until this case is settled or goes to court. It is because the Town itself has been sued that all landowners will be paying legal fees from town taxes. This, versus the case of the utility solar project wherein all our legal fees were reimbursed.

Just in time for the holidays you’ll be receiving your 2024 tax bills from the Portage County Treasurer’s office. You’ll also be receiving our Fall newsletter. There’s lots of news to take in including special reports from both the Portage County Highway and Solid Waste Departments.

Enjoy the weekend; at least it’s warmed up a bit. Sharon