Main Street Park, sidewalks and all the latest news about town

“Well, it's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town...”

- Garrison Keillor's regular lead line of his weekly monologue on Prairie Home Companion

The news from 220 Stout Street (our City Hall) usually comes in spurts: a retirement or a decision regarding, say, of initiating a boat launch fee followed by weeks on end of just business as usual. On the whole, it's been a pretty quiet summer with not much to write home about. But in the last month several things have come up that you might want to know about, such as:

The former Moulette property on Moore Street

The addition to Main Street Park

Back in May, I approached Barry and Cindy Moulette (owner of Lucky Days) and asked them just what they had in mind with the lot they owned behind Ohde's. As it happened they had shelved their original plans for the property and were more than happy to deal. There wasn't really a lot of dickering involved but with the council's full support, the city purchased the lot for just under $30,000 in late August. I reached out to all three lending institutions in town (Sterling, Heritage and First National) as well as to members of the Sletten family who had originally donated Main Street Park to the city. While I have not heard back from any

Cindy & Barry Moulette

of the banks, two members of the Sletten family have since sent in generous contributions toward this purchase bringing the cost to the city at somewhere around $29,000. The hope is eventually to put in a public restroom facility to accommodate the many guests that frequent our city during the summer months. In the meantime, we hope to pull up the concrete that is presently there this fall and throw down some grass seed until a proper plan can be developed.

New sidewalks

That was then

Back in January, visually impaired local resident Janell Lenbom Groskreutz, wrote a Letter to the Editor raising awareness of the woeful disrepair our sidewalks were in. “I am a blind individual who has been a proud citizen of Chetek for almost 20 years. My concern is the condition of the downtown sidewalks. They are sadly deteriorating at a rapid pace. As you can imagine, this poses a safety concern for me traveling with a cane or with my guide dog. My cane continuously gets caught in the large cracks and broken concrete. This poses the threat of tripping or even falling. This is also affecting the thousands of tourists who choose to visit and patronize our resorts, businesses, events and festivals.”

Janet wasn't the first to speak to this issue but it were concerns like hers that helped persuade the council this past spring to allocate funds from the budget to begin “Phase I” of our sidewalk replacement plan. City Inspector Joe Atwood was deputized to locate some of the worst stretches of sidewalk in the business district and designate them for replacement. Due to the ways that bidding is regulated in the State of Wisconsin, the most the council could earmark for one project is $24,999. Apple Valley Construction out of Sand Creek won the bid and a few weeks before Liberty Fest commenced to tearing up some old sidewalks and laying down some new. They finished the lion's share of the project and then backed off until the Fourth was in our rear view mirror. By that time, however, they were caught up in other projects. In the mean time, the council unanimously approved the allocation of an additional $24,999 for “Phase II”.

This is some of the new look

Last week, after a long hiatus, Apple Valley Construction finally returned to finish Phase I and complete Phase II. It's important to mention that no business will be assessed the cost of these improvements as it is the council's opinion that it is in everyone's benefit to have a presentable – and pedestrian safe – business district. My hat's off to them for their proactive decision on addressing this matter. And do the new sidewalks look great!

Purchase of a new garbage truck

I've learned a few things as mayor. Things like, we are the only remaining municipality in Barron County that still picks up our own trash (every other community contracts that service out). What's more, our town loves our “garbage guys”, “Tank” Davis and Aaron Robert. I'm told on good authority that at Christmastime trash isn't the only thing they pick up on their routes. And finally, every guy who presently works for the Public Works Department started their career with the city as one of the guys on the garbage truck. As glorious as it appears to a lot of little boys in town to have a job where you get to ride hanging off the back end of a truck, it's not so glorious in the dead of winter or in the pouring rain. It's hard on the back and knees too.

                            (we've got a few bugs to work out)

In late August, wardmen Cliff Bronstad, Mark Edwards and myself as well as the rest of the crew at the Public Works Department got a look-see of the new garbage truck that the council authorized purchasing at September's council meeting. It's a “one-arm” bandit that only requires one guy to operate. He'll pull up to your driveway and from the comfort of his cab extend the arm to pick up your barrel. Every household in Chetek will be assigned a 95-gallon can at no expense to them (details are still being worked out regarding the purchase of additional cans for families that request them). Yes, gone will be the day of putting your plastic garbage bag at the side of the road (actually, those days are already over; by ordinance every household is supposed to dispose of their trash in a trash receptacle). But on the flip side, you won't have to buy a garbage can as the city will supply you one.

"Let me put it to you in Spanish: No."

Since the news of the purchase got out the number one question I have been asked is, “Does this mean one of the guys is going to be let go?” As Jase Robertson of Duck Dynasty would put it, “Let me put it to you in Spanish: No.” It's actually gonna free up one of the guys to help with other projects around town so nobody is going off the city's payroll. Oh, in case you're wondering, we'll now be the owners of two garbage trucks as we'll need the current one to continue to service all the businesses in town. So “Tank” and Aaron will have two rigs to manage. The price tag for the truck and all the barrels will be about $100K and will be purchased out of outlay and utility monies.

Farewell Mike!

Wastewater Treatment Operator Mike McGinnis has finally called it quits. After over thirty-five years of service to the City of Chetek he has hung up his municipal plunger for the very last time. In August he had informed us that September 12 (his birthday) would be his last day on the job. But when the city rejected Central States' buy-out “deal” and he was informed by his union rep that he may stand to lose between 35-40% of his pension because of that decision, on September 11 he asked if he might put his retirement on hold until we could verify that information. After Mike left City Hall I called Lynn at Chetek Bakery and canceled the retirement cake we had ordered for the city council meeting the following night. Instead, I picked up a plate of apple bars as well as a cupcake in honor of Mike's birthday. But at the City Council meeting the following night he called an audible and announced that, in fact, he was retiring after all.

Mike in the center with his complimentary cupcake

I'm sorry, Mike, that you didn't get a sheet cake but only a cupcake. Nevertheless, thank you for all your years of service to the City of Chetek and especially for ensuring that the dirty water we sent you kept on being monitored and treated accordingly. I will miss your annual “State-of-the-Wastewater-Treatment-Plant” report. While it was never high drama like the State of the Union speech can be, you always broke down the science of it all into plain English so that laypeople like myself could understand how the plumbing works. You're a good man and I wish you the very best on your retirement.

The very next evening, the Personnel Committee interviewed six candidates for the Wastewater Treatment Operator position and at the end of the night it was clear that the very best applicant for the job was Rod Rhodes who has served as Mike's back-up at the plant for many years. He'll need to get some additional certifications but he is already up to speed and knows how the plant functions.

So, that's (some) of the news from this lake town where like Keillor's fictional Minnesota one, all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average.