THE CITY REBORN FROM THE ASHES OF AMERICA'S MOST DISASTROUS FOREST FIRE
Athelstane Awarded $119,448 TRID Grant For Northway Drive
Issue Date: April 20, 2022
The Athelstane Town Board was officially informed at its monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 12 that the town has received confirmation that it will be getting funds from Wisconsin's Town Road Improvement Discretionary Program (TRID) in a 50/50 cost sharing program for work to be done next year. There were only 81 awards given in the entire state under this road improvement grant program this year. Athelstane's award is $119,448, which the town will match next year to complete the remaining mile on Northway Drive with 3 inch asphalt.
The financial meeting for the town board began at 6:30 p.m. All bills were approved for payment.
The regular monthly board meeting was called to order by Chairman Kelly Barnes at 7 p.m. in the town hall, with all town officers and five members of the public on hand.
Barnes reported they had a bid opening for the proposed 2022 Chip Seal & Fog Seal program for Northway Drive. It is broken up into two segments ?? one from Benson Lake Road to Jensen Road and one extending southerly another mile. The total from Benson Lake Road south to near Track 13 Road came to $235,323.97, which equates to $55,111 per mile.
Fire Chief Scott Durian reported the Fire Department had one meeting and two trainings during the past month, and responded to a report of a gas smell on Northway Drive. He reminded everyone to clean out and repair their fire number signs so locations can be found in emergency situations. He reminded everyone this is wildland fire season and the town does have an ordinance for untended fire violations.
Scott Durian reported the Planning Commission had no meeting.
Greg Reinhardt gave the Treasurer's report which showed the town had $18,879.06 in checking, $270,774.07 in General Money Market, $123,434.18 in Tax Money Market and $121,364.37 in the Local Government Investment Pool, for a total of $ 534,451.68.
Scott Durian reported the highway department cleaned up lots of tree debris from recent storms. Spring road bans are on. Some of the road beds are soft and some are still frozen
The board was advised that some assessments done by the assessor are done by the Income approach, and it is a state requirement to have an ordinance to address this. Supervisor Denis DeJardin moved to adopt Ordinance #33, "Ordinance Relating to Confidentiality of Income and Expenses Provided to Assessor for Assessment Purposes." Supervisor David Jose seconded and all voted in favor.
During discussion of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) the board was advised that if the town doesn't hire a consulting firm to write the application, there is about zero chance of getting any of these funds. If the funds are awarded, it would be an 80/20 per cent split with the town paying only 20 per cent of the total cost, but it would need to be an engineered project. Hiring an engineer would increase the total cost but with the 20 percent cost split the town would still come out far ahead, provided the grant is approved and the project is funded. However, if the project is denied the consulting firm/engineering costs would be out of pocket for the town and non-refundable. Jose moved to disregard hiring a consulting firm and try for a BIL grant without it. DeJardin seconded and all voted aye.
Barnes reminded everyone that the Annual Meeting would be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19.