You probably heard...(stuff that's been in the news lately)

...about shelving the Sheriff's proposal to contract services with the County?

This is old news but at the March 9^th Council meeting, the council officially went on record 4-0 to politely decline Sheriff Fitzgerald's proposal for the city to contract police services with the county. If you read the article in last week's Alert, the gist of the council's reasons is the feedback they received from people in their particular wards and the fear that what looks like a deal now a few years hence may not look so good. “If ain't broke, don't fix it” essentially.

At that February 9^th Council meeting when the sheriff made his proposal, the local folks that spoke out were heartily in favor of Chetek P.D. But during the ensuing weeks I also had conversations with different business owners and citizens who encouraged me to not be afraid to listen to what the sheriff had to say. That being said at the present time I'm of the opinion that to contract our police services out would be, for lack of a better phrase, “the nuclear option.” Meaning, we have no other choice but to do so. And once we cross the Rubicon there is no easy way back – certainly no affordable way back: you get rid of your building, your cars, and your equipment. If that's so, then you better be dang sure that there are no other viable options. As far as I'm concerned, we're not at that juncture yet. It seems there's enough public trust in our current police force to maintain the status quo. What the future holds is anybody's guess. Rising health care costs for our city employees was a factor in reducing our police force by one full-time officer at the end of 2016. Hopefully we'll secure better rates when we go through the budget process again at the end of this year. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

That infamous stretch of road

...about the possibility of changing the speed limit on Highway SS?

Last week, Interim Chief Ron Ambrozaitis and I attended the Traffic Safety Commission meeting at the Justice Center. This quarterly meeting brings together Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald, Barron County Highway Commissioner Mark Servi, representatives from the DOT and the State Patrol, and all the police chiefs (or their designees) from Barron County municipalities to address traffic and safety matters throughout the county. At the February 9^th council meeting, Sheriff Fitzgerald informed me that we had been put on the agenda to discuss the speed limit on Highway SS north out of Chetek. I accompanied Chief Ambrozaitis to appeal to the powers that be about:

1. Increasing the speed limit on Highway SS north of Chetek to 35 mph from the current 25 mph from Heritage Credit Union to Pinewood Avenue (where it becomes 45 mph).
2. Decreasing the speed limit on Highway D west to 25 mph from the current 35 mph from Railroad Avenue out to the city limits.

The conversation that followed was educational, to say the least, and the long and short of it is I have good news and I have bad news. First the good news.

But if we do this it's 35 mph all the way out of town

Increasing the speed on SS north is, surprisingly, a relatively easy fix. However, it comes with a caveat: if we formally ask to go through with the change the speed limit would become 35 mph from Heritage Credit Union all the way out of town. That is, where it becomes 45 mph around Pinewood it would be reduced to 35 mph. Why? It's a DOT ordinance that essentially regulates speed based on 85% of the vehicles traveling on that section of road. So, we either leave as it is now or we increase it to 35 mph but, again, it would be 35 mph all the way to the former Snug Harbor Resort (which are the city limits). Interim Chief Ambrozaitis has already signed off onto it if we were to pursue this.

Highway D driving east into town

And the bad news? There is no easy way to reduce the speed limit on Highway D heading west out of town. What's more, if we were to pay for a DOT speed study in Commissioner Servi's carefully worded phrase, “it's a two-edged sword”: they may determine that the speed limit should be actually increased instead of decreased. His advice to us was, in so many words, maybe it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie.

Why change it at all? Well, here's my concern: after you cross through Railroad Avenue it becomes 35 mph and between Railroad Avenue and the city limits there are numerous households, the entryway to Faith Baptist Church and Parker Drive. What's more, if you're coming east into Chetek on Highway D everybody knows that a lot of vehicles are coming in “hot” as they come down from the overpass over Highway 53. But what if those DOT guys come, do their speed study and determine that, gee whiz, you really should increase the limit to 45 mph? Then we have a bigger problem. When I asked Mr. Servi just how much a speed study costs he matter-of-factly replied, “You probably can get one done for under 10, maybe even for under 5” (yeah, you need to add three zeroes after both those figures.) Given that I have had zero complaints from anybody affected on that stretch of road, I think it's better to leave it alone and hope people practice safe driving habits and watch out for those little kids playing in their front yard.

Highway SS south

And what about the speed limit on SS south heading toward New Auburn? Even Mr. Servi has no clue when that empty stretch between Second Street and the Brass Rail (at which point SS becomes 50 mph) became 25 mph. For what possible reason could it be posted 25 mph when there are no dwellings, no businesses, nothing but scenery in that half mile stretch of county road is anybody's guess. But now the Chetek Food Shelf is moving forward with plans to build a new facility on land that the city donated to them on the north side of SS. When that's completed, there will be steady traffic pulling in and out of the Food Shelf on the days they are open for business. At least we'll have a reason now to drive slower on that end of town.

We are on the agenda for the next Highway Commission meeting that is tentatively set for Thursday, April 6. At that time we will formally appeal for the change on SS heading north. It is not a “done deal” yet, so I would appreciate any thoughts or concerns you may have prior to this meeting.

...of the fiasco with the Central States Pension plan?

If you subscribe to The Chetek Alert, the front page article in this week's edition is all about the difficult place the city shop guys are in. With the exception of Director of Public Works Dan Knapp and City Inspector Joe Atwood, the rest of the crew all belong to the Teamsters Union whose pension plan – Central States – is going broke.

This week's headline news

That was a tragedy...and so will this be if things
go on as they are now

Part of it is beyond their control. According to their own numbers in 1980 there was one retiree for every four active employees; in 2016 there are now five retirees for each active employee. Also, in 1980 there were 12,000 employers compared to 1,500 employers in 2016. The math is enough to sink this boat entire. But add to it other market factors and – who knows? - bad fund management and it's like the Titanic hitting the iceberg: it's just a matter of time.

As the Alert accurately reported, the City is obligated to pay Central States a total of $48,000 year for our guys' retirement fund. Last May we received notification from the federal government that they plan to do nothing - i.e., there will be no bail-out like the government did in 2008 with the auto industry. By their estimate Central States will be out of money by 2026. However, it doesn't take someone with special skills to read the tea leaves: it will be insolvent way before that as older guys retire sooner than later in hopes they can collect some of their promised pension other than none at all. And what about our younger guys who are decades away from retirement? As it stands now they will be out. Squat. Nadda. But in the meantime we must keep sending in our check or pay them about $1.2 million to “get out” of the plan. We crunched some numbers and assuming 3.5% interest, we could secure some kind of loan and then be paying that back for the next 25 years. That's a cold bowl of soup to swallow!

The letter we received last May

So, what's the plan? Well, we're working on it and we have good reasons to do so. First, we want to do what we can for Tim, Mike and Joe who in the not-so-distant future will be turning in their yellow vests. Second, we also want to take care of Rod, "Tank" and Aaron who are going be with us, we presume, for some time. Thirdly, how does Dan adequately recruit qualified people to fill the positions soon to be vacated by Tim, Mike and Joe when he can't promise them that their position will come with retirement benefits? It puts him behind the 8-ball to say the least.

We're grateful for this crew (missing: Tim Berning)

I don't have a lot of answers I can share with you yet. And even our best solution won't be a slam-dunk. At most, it'll be some shots in the paint that may be heavily defended by the union. But we feel we have to try for the sake of the guys we have now and the guys – or gals – we hope to hire in the future. As soon as I can I'll let you know what we come up with.

The anatomy of a speed trap

Speed trap

noun

1. a section of a road where hidden police, radar, etc. carefully check speed of motorists and strictly enforce traffic regulations; sometimes characterized by hard-to-see signals, hidden traffic signs, etc.

                                                        Dictionary.com

As I have mentioned in several previous posts if there is one thing I get asked about more than anything else is – in so many words – “what are you going to do about that speed trap heading north out of town on SS?” Ask any officer be they local or otherwise and they will categorically deny that there is such a thing as a “speed trap.” Posted speed limits are just that: posted and meant to be honored. If, in our case, a Chetek police officer tags you going

Flash should know better

above the limit on SS or elsewhere within the city limits, well, yeah, you may earn yourself a ticket. Everybody knows that. But what if there is a stretch a road where it seems the police are not just catching occasional speeders but hunting for them regularly? Then conventional wisdom says you got yourself a speed trap.

This is a real website

How did SS north of town get so renowned that it made the National Motorist Association's national speedtrap exchange (speedtrap.org)? On that half mile stretch of road between Harrison Auto Body and the former Snug Harbor Resort there is Just Imagine Florists, the American Legion post, Heritage Credit Union, three storage units and essentially a whole lot of green space and yet the posted speed limit is 25 mph. Why? Even in front of the high school and middle school up the road in Cameron its 35 mph. so why is the traffic regulated to an Amish buggy-like pace on a relatively empty stretch of highway? The more cynical among us already have an answer: it's a revenue-making machine for the city. But is that really so?

In the last few months I've spoken by phone with Barron County Highway Commissioner Mark Servi on a couple of occasions and when I asked him about why SS is 25 mph. he thought about it for a bit and then said, “I'm pretty sure it has to do with the 'Safe Routes to School Plan.' In March of 2008, the City of Chetek with the full support of Chetek Area School District (note: the school had not yet consolidated with Weyerhaeuser School District) adopted the Chetek Safe Routes to School (SRTS) plan that eventually brought all those new sidewalks that went in on the north end of town (as well as on Railroad Avenue and elsewhere). According to the official application dated April 2, 2008, the SRTS Task Force, made up of a wide spectrum of school, city and county officials as well as several other parents and community members, already had an agreement with the county to reduce the speed limit on Dallas Street from 35 to 25 mph. No where in the seven page document is any mention made of Highway SS north, however.

NOT the actual document

About a month ago in Gordy's parking lot, like some clandestine exchange between a spy and a public official, “John” (okay, that's his real name but never mind), handed me a four-page memo from Mark Servi of the Barron County Highway Department to someone whose name has been blacked out. It includes a cover letter from Mr. Servi as well as a copy of the minutes from the Barron County Highway Committee Meetings from March, April and August 2008 that essentially gives us a time line of how SS went from 35 to 25 mph. According to Commissioner Servi, the County was “approached at the March 5, 2008, Highway Committee meeting by representatives of the City of Chetek. At that time, the posted speed limit was 35 mph for that section of road. The City of Chetek was working toward a 'Safe Routes to School' grant and one of the items on their prioritized list was speed reduction on both CTH SS and CTH D.” For those intent on looking for a 'smoking gun' there it is: we asked for it.

His letter details that following that request he met with a representative from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation who reviewed the request and in turn “advised that the speed limit should be lowered to 25 mph, taking into account the Safe Routes to School initiative.” With the thumbs up from the State, the Highway Committee approved lowering the speed limit to 25 mph on August 6, 2008. What is interesting about the minutes from that August meeting is that they indicate that the speed limit was to be lowered “from the Heritage Credit Union's driveway south to the intersection with CTH D' and that “we [i.e., the county] would work out the appropriate signage duties with the City of Chetek.” However no where in this four page document does it indicate why the 25 mph begins way out by the turn lane for Parker Drive instead at Heritage's driveway as originally noted. Perhaps that's detailed in other meeting minutes? Perhaps the guy put the sign in the wrong spot? Or was he directed to do so by some unnamed county or city official? I guess that's where conspiracy theories begin to gestate.

We are officially on the agenda for the Barron County Highway Committee meeting that will meet on April 6 to lobby for the following changes:

1. To change SS from 45 to 35 mph where currently the 25 mph now begins.
2. To leave alone the 25 mph sign that is currently posted near the Heritage driveway as it has stood since 2008.
3. To change Hwy D west from 35 mph to 25 mph between the railroad tracks to the city limits. There are a lot of homes where small children live on that stretch of road as well as an entrance to Faith Baptist Church and Parker Drive north.

In a few email exchanges between Mark and myself he cautioned,

“...you will need to come prepared to explain why the City wants the changes. Please understand that these are no longer just us agreeing. There are speed studies and DOT (Department of Transportation) concurrence that are needed to make any changes.” In other words, don't get your hopes up. There are yet a lot of hoops to jump through.

Everybody wants the same thing: kids getting to school safely and people driving responsibly. Those sidewalks on Dallas Street took a long time to get here and we're glad that they're there. But is it really necessary to slow traffic down to a crawl on a stretch of road you never see kids on? Inquiring minds would really like to know.

The Mayor Reads (and hopes you do too!)

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” Dr. Seuss

Tomorrow – March 2^nd - is Dr. Seuss' 113^th birthday. The Good Doctor is no longer with us (he left us in 1991) but since 1997, the National Education Association (NEA) has used his birthday as a springboard to a national reading event called “Read Across America.” The NEA's website provides lots of ideas for educators how to make this day fun and memorable but essentially comes down to inviting members of the community to come in and read to kids at Roselawn.

I started volunteering at Roselawn when our oldest daughter Christine, now 28, began her kindergarten year. Like a lot of parent-volunteers, I would come in and cut out paper stars or whatever Mrs. Anderson needed me to do. It was pretty infrequently and certainly not regular at all. But it was when our son, Charlie, was a student in Mrs. Roth's kindergarten class a few years later and Mrs. Schaff was her aide that my career as a weekly Read Aloud guy really began. This is how I remember it happened: I was volunteering in Ingrid's room and Mrs. Schaff was about to read a book when one of her charges needed some attention. So she turned to me and said, “Here read this, ” and left me with a room full of kindergarteners. It was Erica Silverman's Big Pumpkin and I had no idea that my life was about to change.

This book changed my life

What's so significant about Big Pumpkin? It's just a fun story about a witch, a ghost, a vampire, a mummy and a bat that work together to get a big pumpkin off the vine in time for Halloween. But sitting in front of those children, with a book I had never heard of before let alone read, I decided to have fun with it and quickly came up with voices to go with each character. Well word got around and before long I was invited to read to all kinds of classes and my side-gig as dramatic reader began. That's how it started. That was twenty years ago and our four children have long since left that building and graduated from high school but I'm still reading at Roselawn to kindergarteners, first and second graders. (In years past I used to read in all six grades but with keyboarding and whatnot, the older grades don't really have a slot for me to squeeze into now.)

Suffice to say, I've been reading at Roselawn for awhile now and somewhere along the way I became in charge of securing readers for “Dr. Seuss' Birthday.” It's really not too much of a hassle. I just need to find a couple dozen individuals who love to read to kids to come in and read to a class for fifteen minutes. It usually takes me about a week to fill out the schedule. The readers will come in at their designated time slot and either read something they've brought from home or their choice from Roselawn's “Dr. Seuss' Selection”. They don't need to read Dr. Seuss – it's a celebration of reading more than anything else – but it has to be something they can pull off in fifteen minutes (I usually dead-pan it by telling perspective readers, “So War and Peace or Anna Karenina is out”.) Over the years we've had school administrators, police officers, members of the fire department, soldiers, engineers, pastors, mayors to say nothing of homemakers and lots of high school students come in and read. Even now-retired Police Chief Mark Pedersen got into the fun of it as he always wanted to read to Mrs. Roth's kindergarteners. This year is pretty much a sampling of previous years with the exception that for the first time ever we'll have the City Clerk, Carmen Newman, reading to a class. Are they in for a treat.

Tomorrow I'll arrive at Roselawn at 7:30-ish, don the Cat suit and head to where the buses drop the kids off to welcome them all to school on “my” day. Every year there's always a few who try and pull my tail off (and one of these years someone is going to be successful at that) but it's all in good fun. And like the Cat said in his first book (The Cat in the Hat) - “It's good to have fun but you have to know how.” The Cat will read to the Bright Beginners as well as prowl about the Roselawn hallways in hopes of catching some of our guest readers in action – Acting Chief Ron Ambrozaitis,

Calhoun Memorial Librarian Carol Burhnam, Pastor Josh Toufar from New Hope Lutheran in Sand Creek (who once upon a time used to don the Buster the Bulldog get-up and chase the Cat around the playground before school began much to the delight of all the kids), and C-WHS Seniors and dramatic personae Amira Lunderville and Sarah Chuchwar – to name a few.

If you happen to catch this week's Chetek Alert, go to Page 10 (the back page of the first section) and you'll see the Mayoral Proclamation exhorting all kids in town to read something good in honor of the day. Of course, the magic of Seuss – if that is your preference – is that he usually wrote his stuff with the notion that his books would be read by children while sitting in the lap of a

A classic

caring adult. But it need not be Green Eggs and Ham or One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish tomorrow. It could be any number of Childrens' classics like Frog and Toad, Cows That Type or any of the Ian Falconer's Olivia books. Read a chapter from one of the Narnia Chronicles or my personal favorite chapter from The Hobbit, “Riddles in the Dark.” Or read a chapter from the Bible.

I'm thankful for audio books. I've listened to quite a number of them on many of my runs or on long road trips. But nothing quite replaces the immediacy and the intimacy of taking a book from the shelf, sitting down in a comfortable chair with cup of hot coffee at hand and reading to your child or grandchild. Here's hoping you'll make time to do this sometime tomorrow on the Good Doctor's day.