"Dirty" business

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin

The day after I was elected mayor this past April I was stopped out in the street by my neighbor come to congratulate me and share his satisfaction that I had won. “Now, you'll be my hero if you don't raise my taxes.” We both had a laugh at that not because I had uttered former

It wouldn't be prudent
to make such a promise

President George H.W. Bush's famous ironic one-liner, “Read my lips: no new taxes” in the run-up to the election (I hadn't); rather, we all know that if anything seems to defy the laws of gravity its the uncanny ability for taxes to rise. And up they go like a spray of helium-filled balloons no matter how hard municipal employees and representatives try and hold them down.

But did you know that right here in our town that Public Works Director Dan Knapp has a “dirty” little business going on that is actually making money for us instead of spending it? It's true. And the evidence for these “shady” goings-on sits like a small mountain outside the City Shop. There, like a miniature replica of the famed Matterhorn in Switzerland, is the gravel pile that while not gold sure makes us a pretty penny.

Okay, so it's not as tall as the Matterhorn but it's still the second biggest hill in town

And that wasn't the half of it

It works like this: a few years ago, with some help from some friends, we took out the old sidewalk leading up to our front door. It was cracked in multiple places and the earth was reclaiming much of it. Having dug it up, however, the debris had to go someplace and fortunately for us the “other” pile at the City Shop is the acceptable place to receive it. So a couple of trailer-loads later our now busted-up sidewalk lay among the assorted chunks of concrete and block gathered there deposited by local contractors and homeowners alike. Like the old shell game, we moved the mess in our front yard to the mess to the lee of the City Shop, making it their problem and not ours.

"Good" pile in the back, unprocessed concrete in front

We start with this...

...and we end up with what Dan calls "7/8 Minus"

But in the spirit of the old adage that one man's garbage is another man's gold, here's where Dan works magic. That pile of junk and old concrete looking like so much flotsam and jetsam that has been spat out of the maw of the earth is ground into gravel that officially is called “7/8 Minus”. During that process all the iron from the old rebar and wire within the cement is removed and shipped to Toy's Scrap & Salvage in Rice Lake to be recycled. They pay us to take all the iron filings from our old rock. As Dan deadpans it, “It beats going into a ditch around here.”

A certain grade of "gold" is in this hill

What's left is the “mini-Mattahorn” mountain of gravel lying directly north of the City Shop, a product that currently is going for $7/ton and sold to contractors and surrounding townships as well as to any individual with a dump truck. Mark Edwards, a crop farmer who lives in town and presently serves on the City Council, is not afraid to tell anyone who asks him how he feels about what we're selling: “The crushing size of the gravel (3/4” grade) just sticks together better and speaking as someone who is a customer myself, it just does a better job of providing a good base. Besides, we used to pay someone to truck our old concrete to a site to be crushed into gravel and then buy it back from them to be used on our own streets. Now we're making money off it and I think that's a better deal.” I agree.

But the deal gets even better because where does the money go? Dan puts it all in his outlay accounts to save for the replacement of new equipment. “My wish is that one day all our equipment will be off the tax rolls simply because we make enough off the sale of our rock to pay for them outright.” Now that's your city's tax's dollars at work doing what they can to keep our bottom line as low as practical. And Dan, we thank you.

Everything falls apart: streets, sidewalks and light poles on the Long Bridge

Douglas Street looking toward Second

“everything falls apart
then I get to try to put it back together
yeah, it falls apart
you can count on that, 
count on that
now whether it can”

“Everything Falls Apart” by Dog's Eye View

“The Second Law of Thermodynamics is about the quality of energy. It states that as energy is transferred or transformed, more and more of it is wasted. The Second Law also states that there is a natural tendency of any isolated system to degenerate into a more disordered state.” livescience.com

The way we were in 1993

In 1993, a week before our son Ed was born, we closed on our home on Fifth Street. That was an exciting moment in our lives: we were about to become parents for the third time and we were about to take ownership of our first – and to date – only home. In retrospect, it hadn't been an overly complicated process. We had met with a mortgage broker who had looked over our budget and had essentially set our price range. We could buy anything we wanted so long as we stayed within those parameters and at the time there were only two homes in Chetek that we could afford. So, we looked at both of them and chose Door Number 1. It was far older than the other house but it came with a double lot and a couple of extra (albeit small) rooms. For the grand total of $29,000, then, we closed on a five bedroom one hundred-year-old house that has been our home now for over twenty-three years.

Then

Taken a few years ago but pretty much how it looks now

Day 1 of Phase 1

Shortly after moving in – and taking a little time-out to have the baby – we began to realize that a little bit more than TLC was needed on our aging bungalow. In fact, a lot more. There was no insulation in the walls. There was no carpet on the floor. The windows were all single pane. The wiring, while still code, made you nervous just looking at it. As I recall, we were only going to do a “little” remodeling but as we have since learned you never do a little remodeling because in a house everything is connected together. If you're going to open up a wall – a plaster wall that is so brittle that it is beyond saving – in order to install fiberglass insulation then you might as well replace the wiring. And why not install new windows while you're at it? No sense tearing the walls open yet again? And thus it began, Phase 1 of many, many phases that have since followed.

The same spot looks a little
different today

In twenty-three years of ownership, we have remodeled every room in our home – and some of them, twice! Front room, kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, staircase – the lot. With the help of generous donations from both sets of parents as well as taking advantage of the Community Development loan from the city, slowly but surely our now 120-year-old house has been transformed into the simple beauty that she is – or, at least, we think she is.

Not too many years ago

But you never really finish with a house, do you? I mean, truly – like the Second Law of Thermodynamics clearly states – everything falls apart. If you have kids running around, as we once did, things get nicked, dented, broke, scraped. Throw in some pets and new carpet gets stained or collects hair like a magnet collects metal fragments. Wood glue

dries and those beautiful rosettes you paid to jazz up your trim

The same corner this morning

display fall off the wall. Walls get smudged with dirt and grease. A seal comes loose in your upstairs bathroom tub causing water to pour like rain onto your brand new kitchen ceiling that has just been installed. (Yes, this happened to us). Again, everything falls apart. To own a home is to commit to a labor of love that never really ends until you sell it to the next owner.

Kleve Street by Chetek Veterinary Clinic

Now here's where I'm going with all this reminiscing: just like with our home or yours, our city property is always in a constant state of falling into disrepair. That's why municipalities have outlay accounts setting aside money to replace vehicles that will break down, equipment that will need maintenance and, ultimately, upgrade and facilities that will need to be remodeled or built anew. It is the way of things – everything falls apart – and like the song goes, “you can count on that.”

City Park Drive

Just last week the grinder came through and tore up a number of streets in Chetek – City Park Drive, Douglas Street between 2^nd and 4^th, Kleve Street between 2^nd and Tainter, and 15^th Street along Bailey Lake. It's part of the street maintenance schedule that is followed every year in order to ensure that Chetek remains a town with good roads. Instead of a patch here or there relatively long stretches of pavement are resurfaced for its aesthetic value. Plus, you get a better price that way. Next year another set of streets will resurfaced because as everybody knows the extreme temperatures we endure during the winter months contribute to our roads splitting, cracking and falling into a state of disrepair.

Currently we are a pole short out on the bridge

Right before Liberty Fest one of the light poles on the Long Bridge fell over. It wasn't run into by a vehicle. Straight line winds weren't the culprit. No, it just fell over. The pole, installed back in the 70's when the new bridge was built, just rusted out. Fortunately nobody was hurt. But when Public Works Director Dan Knapp informed

Thank God the pole fell on an empty road

Excel Energy about the matter he was informed that forty years ago when the poles went up they became city property. While the State handles any improvements the bridge may need, the poles are our worry. Who knew? And the pole that fell is not the only one in need of replacement. Yeah, everything falls apart.

This is the pipe outside of Ohde's front door

For those of you who do any walking in our downtown area you know that there are stretches of pedestrian pavement that vividly demonstrate the Second Law of Thermodynamics in action. There are sections in serious need of replacement. In front of Ohde's and the Flor building across from Gordy's there are city water pipes sticking up above the sidewalk creating a potential hazard to walkers and runners alike. A few years ago we were

This is in front of the Flor building

fortunate to tie into a grant that brought new sidewalks to the entire stretch of the south side of Dallas Street as part of the Safe Routes to School program. I don't think First and Second Streets would qualify for the same. So what's a municipality to do? You could encourage businesses and home-owners to replace the walk in front of their property but they will either have to pick up the entire tab or a part of it (with the city picking up the other part). Or you could do it the way Barron does it – spread the expense over the tax rolls under the premise that a safer and more attractive downtown area benefits everybody. Personally, I like that approach. Reality is most people are going to avoid an extra expense if they can help it. And if we leave it up to the individual there's a good chance we'll end up with a hodge-podge of new and old sidewalks strung together. That's why I opine that as long as we have a street schedule why don't we add to it a sidewalk-one? Because – yes, I'm going to say it once again like another beat of the drum – everything falls apart.

Which one is next?

I didn't run for legendary Chetek High School Cross Country Coach Dan Conway but I have it on good authority that among the plethora of witticisms and anecdotes he would share with his runners at practice was the old story about the king of a certain country who wanted all the wisdom of the ages gathered at his fingertips (obviously, this was way before Google) so he could pass it on to his posterity. So this regent commissioned certain advisers in his kingdom to go forth and collect every sage saying and wise counsel that could be known. They returned a year later with their work gathered into twelve volumes of comprehensive wisdom. The king was aghast. “This is way too large. People will never read it. Condense it further!” he thundered and then sent them out of the throne room. They returned six months later with three enormous volumes to present to their king. Once again he was disappointed with their efforts. “This is still too large. Condense it further!” This time the delegation returned a month later with the project now reduced to one behemoth book. Not surprisingly, the king disapproved of this solution as well and sent them out charging them to reduce the size of the volume once again. They returned 15 minutes later with a slip of paper and ceremoniously handed it to their liege. Upon it was a single five word sentence that in their estimation was the sum total of the wisdom of the ages that the king could pass on to future generations: There is no free lunch.

Coach Conway would share that story with his runners as a reminder that there are no short-cuts to success, that it's just you diligently applying yourself to your craft and learning from your mistakes. You can't get something for nothing. What's true in running and other matters in life also applies to those of us who own a home or call this city our home – if we want to continue to ensure our town remains a thriving, beautiful community we're going to have to invest in it on a regular basis so that our roads remain drivable and our sidewalks help us get from here to there without twisting our ankle or falling on our chin or backside.